Selling off a 1 month old calf?

[Dexter]

I have a buyer wanting my 1 month old dexter heifer, sounds like they know cattle well, and are planning to raise her for dairy use. Cald is running with non handleable herd and the buyer wants to tame it while small.

They don't want to wait, and honestly I don't want to have trouble selling off all my calves come fall so it would be good to unload the one.

I'd imagine the calf will adapt at this point, right?

And how will mom react? Will she bust out, running down the road looking for her calf? What generally happens? She has a nice big udder, so she will become uncomfortable. And she isn't milkable- whe's wild.

Thanks for any ideas. I haven't promised anything yet, but I know they'll be by as soon as I give the word.

[RiverPines]

I no nothing about cows but if the cow isnt milkable, isnt the chance of milk fever really high?

[JKB07]

Originally Posted by RiverPines

I no nothing about cows but if the cow isnt milkable, isnt the chance of milk fever really high?

No....


Justin

[Shazza]

If mum is wild wouldnt her heifer calf be a good replacement for her....sell or eat mum later.

[cowkeeper]

Hi Dexter, I saw your cow pics in an older post. They don't look very wild. You also said you would be selling for 4H and folks wanting to milk. If they were mine, I would be making a place to socialize and handle your cows, like a covered pen with a stanchion in one corner. That way, you could perhaps milk your cow for a while, at least the excess milk the first few months. It will give you a better idea of her udder traits and milk capacity. Also, if you are selling the calf at such a young age, you would be able to make sure the dam's udder is not developing any problems in drying off so soon after giving birth. It would also give you a place to do some handling on the calves as they grow, so they would be socialized early. Dexters are very smart, and it doesnt take long for them to figure out there are treats for them in the handling pen/stanchion area..ck

[G. Seddon]

I think it will be difficult to transition a 1-month old calf from nursing its mother to a bottle. How are they planning to feed this calf? Factor in the removal to a new environment to the stress of being taken from its mother at such an early age, and I see problems. At one month, I imagine the calf is probably unvaccinated. If it's going to a place with other cattle, it will be exposed to a whole new set of germs.

Taming an older calf can be accomplished with time and patience.

I hope you'll consider what's in the best interests of the animal(s) while weighing the pro's and con's of doing this.

[Dexter]

Yeah when I say wild, I mean only that they are not handleable. Reaching under to milk one will get you kicked. I have been taming them down first by eating from a bucket, to hand feeding grain, to having several getting pet on the head only while heads in the bucket.
They need plenty of work yet.

Cowkeeper, I fenced them into a small area for winter to handle them and have made progress, but not enough to milk one.
And G. Seddon, that is why I am asking here. Like I said, I haven`t promised the prospective buyer anything yet. I wanted to research the pros and cons.

The buyer plans to get her on to a cow he has in production, failing that, bottle.

While I would rather keep this little heifer for myself, the cow came pregnant with an unknown bull (PB) so can`t be registered, and my project includes keeping only reg`d animals for breeding.

[G. Seddon]

Originally Posted by Dexter

While I would rather keep this little heifer for myself, the cow came pregnant with an unknown bull (PB) so can`t be registered, and my project includes keeping only reg`d animals for breeding.

What is PB?

[Dexter]

Bull was a registered dexter, as was the cow.
While not registerable, she is pure dexter.

[Onthebit]

how do you know the unknown bull was registered? If you know the bull was registered then you know the bull and you can register the calf.

[G. Seddon]

If I'm not mistaken, the CDCA requires DNA to be on file for every registered bull...Canadians, please correct me if I'm wrong? Therefore, I think the parentage of this calf could be verified and then she might be able to be registered.

[Dexter]

I now see I left important details out. Here we go. The cow came from a range herd. There were 3 registered dexter bulls with her. Nobody know's who's the daddy.

So, she can't be registered, therefore she is worthless to me, as well as anyone else serious about breeding, so I need to sell her at some point. She comes from a cow with seemingly good dairy conformation. I think if someone wants to raise her for dairy, she'd be worth more to them, than a lightweight for slaughter.

The questions remain... if I were to sell a calf at this age, how will the cow react? And with good care should there be any concern for the calf?

I know a lot of people purchase day olds with mixed, but often excellent results. This one has simply had a full month.

Thanks again.

[G. Seddon]

If the 3 bulls are indeed registered and have DNA on file with the CDCA, then you pull tail hair (according to their lab's instructions) on the dam AND the calf; then the lab can examine those results and figure out which of the three bulls is the sire (if the bulls are closely related, this can be difficult).

Yes, the cow will be upset. And so will the calf. It will completely depend upon the expertise and abilities of the people attempting to graft this calf onto a nurse cow and/or bottle. A day-old calf is probably easier to graft or bottle feed than a month-old calf.

My advice is to wait until the calf is AT LEAST 4 months old and reliably eating some grain and plenty of hay. That said, I don't wean until 5-1/2 to 6 months of age.

[mamahen]

We bought a one month old. Farmer was happy to sell at that age - cow didn't care, there were other calves and she would mother them, too.

BUT no other farmers would sell at that age, they wanted the bigger bucks that goes with the bigger weaned calves. We wanted a friendly calf. We were tickled when we finally found this one. We did pay out the nose for her. $200 and they delivered her. But she wasn't wild as a march hare, surprisingly. And was very healthy. His 10yo son pulled her off the trailer. She never balled and only kicked me once. Within a week we were tethering her.

We put her in a box stall & she took to bucket feeding the first day, no problems. Her mom was a "wild" beef cow. By that I mean, just a herd of beef cows, not especially tame, but willing to come to people for feed. Not as tame as dairy cows.

[genebo]

I leave my calves alone until they come to me to make friends. Usually 3-4 months. Until then, mama teaches them. I raise some very friendly calves that way, that are still respectful.

I've heard that bottle calves can sometimes be too friendly, failing to respect your authority. They grow up thinking you are equals.

Genebo
Paradise Farm

[copperhead46]

Back to your original question.......Ask the prospective buyer if they could wait till the heifer is at least 2 months old, she would be a lot better able to do well, if she's left on her momma that long. A lot of times it's really hard to get a calf to nurse a bottle if it's been on it's mom for more that a week or two. Having said that, if she gets hungry, she would more that likely take to a nurse cow. Her real momma will dry off. Just make sure she's not getting any extra feed or high powered hay. Keep her on sparse rations for a couple of weeks.
P.J.

[lasergrl]

I raised a 4 week old longhorn heifer last year. Buyer at the auction didnt want the calf so I got her. Took 2 days to get her to eat from the bottle but she did. After that she still had to be caught to give her the bottle. She would take it but was still wild after 2 weeks, had to corner her to feed her. I'll bet a different breed would be easier!