Keep calf?????

mlangfus · #1 12/04/08, 04:28 PM

As some of you know our Jersey recently had a bull calf. My question is because mom is a registered jersey and dad was a registered mini-jersey is it worth registering the baby or just sell him as a bull calf? We are thinking of keeping, but unsure. Looking for advise.

agmantoo · #2 12/04/08, 04:59 PM

Will the demand for the animal justify the fee for registration, provided that is possible? I doubt it! With that cross it will not bring sale fee where I sell feeder cattle.

Jalopy · #3 12/04/08, 05:03 PM

What purpose do you have for the bull calf?
He may be okay to become a breeding bull for another homesteader but most people will want a purebred instead of a 50/50. He could be steered and grown out for meat. But you will not want to keep him for breeding within your herd as keeping a bull is difficult in the first place and also he is related to his dam so he will have to be kept away from her once he matures. IMHO. Good luck with your decision making.

agmantoo · #4 12/04/08, 05:10 PM

To the bleeding hearts here I will disgust them and tell you your best option. Destroy the calf and get either a Jersey heifer or a beef breed bull calf and let the cow adopt it.

sammyd · #5 12/04/08, 06:24 PM

Sometimes reality can be disgusting......

KSALguy · #6 12/04/08, 07:39 PM

if his bloodlines are exceptional and from the best stock and a PRIME example of a potential breeder and if you have the space time and energy/money for keeping a bull i would keep him, (the nonsence about keeping him away from his mother is just that, NoNsence)

but if he does not meet these minimal standards i would castrate him and eather sell him as a bottle calf or raise him my self for meat,

ozark_jewels · #7 12/04/08, 08:08 PM

Jersey beef is delicious. The best in my opinion. He sounds like great beef to me.

Jennifer L. · #8 12/04/08, 08:22 PM

I would steer him for your own beef or ship him now. Whether he is registerable is not really the question, it's more like, is anyone going to want him enough to pay you a reasonable sum for him by the time you've kept him for a year. Unless he's fantastic, no one is going to be buying him because he's registered. Free stall dairys might use him for a clean up bull, but there's no big money in it. But if you need beef, I'd steer him now.

Good luck with him.

Jennifer

agmantoo · #9 12/04/08, 08:47 PM

With that calf being crossed with a mini it will bring less than $10 at a sale barn. If kept, after a year of feeding and caring for he will bring less than a $100 IMO. A Jersey heifer will bring ten times what this calf will bring in a year, a beef calf will bring 5 to 6 times what this calf will bring in less than a year. This calf is not an asset!

TSYORK · #10 12/04/08, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agmantoo

With that calf being crossed with a mini it will bring less than $10 at a sale barn. If kept, after a year of feeding and caring for he will bring less than a $100 IMO. A Jersey heifer will bring ten times what this calf will bring in a year, a beef calf will bring 5 to 6 times what this calf will bring in less than a year. This calf is not an asset!

It's tight, but it's right!

haypoint · #11 12/05/08, 04:42 AM

....and the purpose you bred this registered Jersey to a mini was.....?
We know that you have about a 50/50 chance of getting a heifer and that a registered Jersey heifer has value. We also know that in some places there is a demand for mini cows, really small ones. IMHO there is no market for a half way mini or an undersized Jersey bull or steer. If I were raising registered Jerseys, I'd use a good Jersey bull, if one is available, otherwise, I'd have her A.I. I'd hope for heifers and eat the steers.

If your place leans more towards a petting zoo, castrate him and make a pet out of him.
If you operate your place with a limited amount of money and must stay out of the red, then knock him in the head and be done with it. My guess your choices are somewhere in the middle of these two extremes.

ozark_jewels · #12 12/05/08, 07:13 AM

One year we left one of our Jersey cows to raise her small bull calf(we milked the extra). By 6 months old he was as big as his dam and as hefty as our Angus from all that good milk. So on hay/pasture, very minimal grain(he stole from his mother) and all the milk he wants, he was well worth butchering for healthy family beef by six months old.
If you need beef and can face butchering the calf, they make very good beef.
If his dam and sire are both exceptional, and you already have potential customers for a herdsire quality small Jersey, I would sell him now.

mlangfus · #13 12/05/08, 07:56 AM

I bought cow bred to a mini jersey. His sire is a Dexter Corner well know mini jersey. We will decide what to do with him in the next month. Thanks for all the input.

farmmaid · #14 12/05/08, 09:33 AM

Emily is absolutely right! Jersey meat from a steer is THE BEST beef you will ever eat. We just harvested a year old Jersey steer, fed corn from the fields the last 6 weeks.....the meat is wonderful!!!!! There is no reason if the cow's temperment is mild that you could not foster another calf also on her and still have milk for you!!!!!!

Ronney · #15 12/05/08, 01:35 PM

The problem is that he's neither fish nor fowl or good red herring and the call for Jersey bulls, even good ones, is not great. I agree with Emily and Farmmaid - Jersey makes for some excellent eating. Since you have the calf, put a ring on him, grow him out and give your family some excellent beef.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Yvonne's hubby · #16 12/05/08, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agmantoo

To the bleeding hearts here I will disgust them and tell you your best option. Destroy the calf and get either a Jersey heifer or a beef breed bull calf and let the cow adopt it.

i am certainly no bleeding heart, but I would keep the calf, raise it for about a year, and then destroy it, dispose of the remains in my freezer and feast on that rascal next year.

JulieLou42 · #17 12/05/08, 03:39 PM

Our 1/2 Jersey, 3/8 Guernsey at 10 mo. old has been just wonderful taste and texture on our table this past 18 months!!! Next steer is 7/8 Guernsey, and the vet who pulled him was raised on a Guernsey dairy and said he'll be good eatin' too. He's nearly 600# at 6 months, and being weaned presently.

cjb · #18 12/06/08, 07:47 PM

If one decides that a calf is completely worthless, is there no sense it eating it as veal? There has to be SOME worthwhile meat on there.

So far, I have sold 2 jersey bull calves - one for $50, the other for $100. I am hoping, hoping that I get a heifer this time.

haypoint · #19 12/06/08, 11:18 PM

A Jersey steer is worth raising and butchering. If you like veal, butchering a Jersey calf would yeild some meat. But, this little guy is a step or two smaller.
Makes me think about picking the nutmeats out of hickory nuts. There is tasty meat in every one, but the trouble picking it out is worse than picking wild strawberries.
How much is your time worth? Will the labor, hay and grain cost exceed the value of the meat?

cjb · #20 12/06/08, 11:46 PM

This is all interesting to me as I seriously considered breeding my Jersey to a mini-Jersey, trying to get a smaller heifer. I did wonder what a bull calf would be worth and would truly have a hard time bonking the little feller on the head, although I definitely see the practical side of doing just that.