Fair price for a dexter/angus calf?

[raymilosh]

My dexter hiefer was accidentally bred by the ginormous prize Angus bull next door. The heifer calf was born about 3 mos ago. She weighed about 70 lbs at birth. she is cute as a button and the Angus farmer says she looks like a fine calf (I wouldn't know, I am new to having cows).
Her mom is a bit sassy, but she is allowing me to milk her anyway, so that's been really nice.

Our pasture is about 3 to 4 acres and currently houses 3 goats, a few chicken tractors and now 2 cows.
I'm wondering whether to keep and breed the calf or to sell her or to eat her in the fall. I'm thinking she'd be most valuable if used to breed to a dexter bull...but i dunno...I'm pretty much of a novice.

So what would you do if you were you and what is the price range you would expect to buy or sell the calf?

[genebo]

There's not a lot of value in keeping a cross bred heifer as breeding stock.

At the stockyards, with an all black hide, she'll pass for Angus and bring about $1 per pound at weaning age of six months.

Keeping her to eat, you'd probably want to feed her until June of 2010. That's when the grass is still lush and she's getting close to two years old.

You were lucky. 70 lbs is a very big calf for a Dexter cow. Even more so for a heifer. It speaks volumes about what easy birthing cattle Dexters are, that she was able to handle it.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[bookfarmer]

Don't know what a fair price would be, but I think at least market price and maybe a bit more if sold privately.

What caught my attention, however, was the breeding of your heifer by an Angus bull. We've been considering a Dexter but have been concerned about freshening her. A neighbor has Angus, but I thought the bull would probably be too heavy and would hurt her. Is that a danger?

[genebo]

That's a danger as well as the large calf size. She might survive it, but it's a risk.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[raymilosh]

I thought she may have been bred by that bull and had my friend who is a vet check her out and abort the fetus, having heard she would not be able to deliver such a large calf. We mistakenly concluded that she was not pregnant. OOps. So the calf was a surprise to everyone.
I have heard that to create a dexter angus cross, use a dexter bull and an angus cow, not the other way around.

I thought i remembered hearing that people get dexter angus/crosses cows and get them bred by pure dexter bulls. I think it is for the purpose of producing meat cows. I didn't get why they did that though...like why is that a good idea?

Oh and another question...why wait until she is 2 yrs old? is it because she will not be full grown until then?

[genebo]

Angus cows have a certain percentage of difficult births. That's why they place such great importance upon "calving ease" bulls that throw smaller calves. A Dexter bull is the ultimate calving ease bull. He'll throw calves smaller than any Angus bull.

Using a Dexter bull to breed a heifer of another larger breed is a way of conditioning the heifer with an easy first birth. After that, she should have an easier time of it.

I recommended waiting to put her in the freezer until she was nearly 2 years old because the meat doesn't develop full beef flavor until then. The marbling that occurs in her second year has a lot to do with how well the meat tastes and how tender it is.

The rule of thumb for breeding age is to breed them at 15 months to give birth at 2 years. That insures that the heifer will be fully developed and also perpetuates the annual timing of the birth. In other words, whenever she was born, her first calf will be born at the same time of year.

Another popular breeding time is to have her bred in June or July so she will give birth just as the grass comes in. That helps feed her during her lactation. It also avoids having a calf born during the really cold time of the year.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[raymilosh]

Thank you for those clear answers. Now i get it.