For sale-CT: Randall steer calves for ox team

[Horace Baker]

I have a well matched pair of Randall steer calves to train as an ox team for sale. Born within 36 hours of each other, 1/3/2010 and 1/5/2010. They are started on the bottle and seem to have calm and gentle dispositions. Asking $750. for the pair, plus Vet costs. (health papers).

Contact me at pblang@gmail.com or at our website, Howland Homestead Farm.

[Cheribelle]

Never heard of them, but those are sure some pretty calves!

[Up North]

Those are some mighty fine looking stock HB.

[tinknal]

Never heard of them. Beautiful markings.

[Horace Baker]

Thanks. They are a sharp looking pair if I do say so myself.

[deineria]

Oh my! They are lovely to look at!

[tinknal]

I checked out your website and your registry's website. Very interesting.

[springvalley]

Yes they are nice looking calves , a little to pricey for me for oxen for bull calves, but good luck.

[tyusclan]

Originally Posted by springvalley

Yes they are nice looking calves , a little to pricey for me for oxen for bull calves, but good luck.

Yeah, I thought so too. I understand that they're rare, and if these were bulls going for breeding stock I would think that's about in line. But $100 each is about all I would want to pay for two-week old steers.

[Horace Baker]

Originally Posted by tyusclan

But $100 each is about all I would want to pay for two-week old steers.

That's fine if you are buying unneeded and unwanted male calves from a commercial dairy, but to everyone else in the cattle world male calves aren't a by-product, they are the product. The price I've put on the calves is what it is not because they're rare, but because as a cow-calf operator I need to get something close to their meat value.

For someone not shipping milk, the calf is the one time a year they have to capture value to recoup the fencing, Vet, breeding, machinery, feed, and myriad other costs incurred by the brood cow. She will have eaten several tons of hay in the winter. Of course a wage for the farmer is simply a joke. If $100/cow was all the payback a beef farmer could get per year, cow-calf farmers would be extinct overnight.

If someone wants a Holstein or Jersey bull calf they're in luck, but if they want a minor or beef breed, the price has to be what they're really worth. Those calves are worth a lot more than the asking price to me as rose veal, I just want to see them have a life.

[tyusclan]

Originally Posted by Horace Baker

That's fine if you are buying unneeded and unwanted male calves from a commercial dairy, but to everyone else in the cattle world male calves aren't a by-product, they are the product. The price I've put on the calves is what it is not because they're rare, but because as a cow-calf operator I need to get something close to their meat value.

For someone not shipping milk, the calf is the one time a year they have to capture value to recoup the fencing, Vet, breeding, machinery, feed, and myriad other costs incurred by the brood cow. She will have eaten several tons of hay in the winter. Of course a wage for the farmer is simply a joke. If $100/cow was all the payback a beef farmer could get per year, cow-calf farmers would be extinct overnight.

If someone wants a Holstein or Jersey bull calf they're in luck, but if they want a minor or beef breed, the price has to be what they're really worth. Those calves are worth a lot more than the asking price to me as rose veal, I just want to see them have a life.

I understand the farmer making a profit, and I'm certainly in favor of that. But in my opinion if you want to get meat value for them then you need to put the meat on them and sell them as beef steers at 18 months old or so. Or if they're worth your asking price as veal calves then I would think that's what they need to go for.

With bottle calves you have a lot of time and money to invest in them whether they are butchered for beef or trained as oxen. I would not want to buy bottle calves at what the meat value will be in 18 months, and then spend that 18 months and the money to put that meat on there. I also would not be willing to pay for bottle calves almost what a trained team of steers would bring.

I meant no offense, and I wish truly wish you well in selling the calves. They may well be worth what you're asking to someone for what you wish to sell them for.

[DianeWV]

Horace Baker-Those are a fine looking pair! Fine looking!! I viewed your website and you all are to be greatly commended for your conservation efforts of this breed. So a big hats off to you and your efforts.

I have a big interest in draft animals and oxen. Some of Ray Ludwig's writings, praise and discuss the benefits of using Linebacks as oxen. (I would assume the Randall's are probably a separate/distant breed. Not real familiar with the particulars of the breed.)

I have a team of working steers that I personally trained from the Summer 2008 to now. They are a little over 1 1/2 years old, Holstein x Milking Shorthorn cross. I work and have consistently used them on our farm.

For someone who uses draft power on their farm or homestead, knows that the animals you personally train will most likely be with you for a long, long period of time. You must start with good stock.

I commend you on these Randalls and wish you great luck and success in all your endeavors. Take care.

[Horace Baker]

Thanks.

[Cheribelle]

Thank you for posting this. I have really enjoyed the learning experience from the websites and links, I followed them all. Wonderful stuff!

[francismilker]

HB,
I enjoyed watching the "farm tour" clip on your website. Looks like a real neat place. I especially love the terrain and the way the slopes are used in order to access top barn floors from ground level. Great web page and good looking stock! What does a young heifer sale for? (simply curious. Conneticut is a little far for me to travel!)

[Horace Baker]

Thanks for the comments. Yes the terrain is used to advantage, but believe me at this point I'd trade mountain scenery for gentler slopes and fewer rocks, ha ha. I usually ask $800. for a heifer.

[francismilker]

Originally Posted by Horace Baker

Thanks for the comments. Yes the terrain is used to advantage, but believe me at this point I'd trade mountain scenery for gentler slopes and fewer rocks, ha ha. I usually ask $800. for a heifer.

Isn't that the way it always is? Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder! It's hard to see the beauty in things when you're pounding on rock for days trying to get a posthole dug! I guess I see the same thing from my point of view. I've got lots of ravines and trees on my place and get to wanting more flat ground that's more tillable sometimes. I think it's our human nature to look at the greener grass on the other side of the fence. You still have a pretty place though.
If I had a few more dollars in my pocket and could arrange shipping of a live animal (Lord only knows what that would cost me) I'd be looking in to one of those heifers. I enjoy experimenting with differents breeds around my hobby farm.

[Horace Baker]

Is it a case of "the grass is always greener' if it's true? The only flat places on the whole place are those that are man-made.

[Up North]

Francismilker, how about when we're both rolling in the dough we split the cost of a trip out east and we can both get some Randall heifers? It's my dream to have some Randall's some day. Talk about the ultimate in american heritage breed cattle! There is a Randall cow at the zoo here in Wichita and she is just gorgeous. Heather

[Horace Baker]

Originally Posted by Up North

There is a Randall cow at the zoo here in Wichita and she is just gorgeous. Heather

Yes, that is Sunflower, she is the granddaughter of my first Randall.