How Loud are Calves?

[Safado]

We are thinking of replacing our sheep with a couple of jersey steers. One worry we have is the noise, as we live in on half acre lots. It's legal, but I don't want to annoy the neighbors too much. As long as there are two of them, and they have free choice food, will they make much noise? Is there anything I can do to "train" them to make less noise?

[springvalley]

Steers on the most part, are not very noisey. As long as you keep them fed and watered, they shouldn`t say much. A half acre isn`t much for pasture, I`m afraid your going to have a dirt lot after not to long, and your neighbors may not like that. Just something to think about. > Thanks Marc

[Safado]

I have a 55X20 Partially covered area, which is dirt, where they would spend most of their time, and I would be feeding mostly alfalfa hay. The "pasture" is 55X110, and they would be on it only when the grass has grown in.

This is the setup I currently have for 6 sheep, which I understand isn't as tough on the grass as the steers would be.

Another thing is I don't think we would keep them past around 600-700 lbs, as I would be doing the butchering myself, and can't handle an animal much bigger than that.

[myersfarm]

babies are loud..do not know what size you talking about buying...but they will need to be wean for 30 days or they will drive you crazy.......when talking of keep 2 calves you need to talk acres not feet.....you will spend more on feed and hay then you ever save.......unless buy a 600 lbs keep a couple weeks and then slaughter

[G. Seddon]

Your "pasture" is just 55x110 feet? It will be solid dirt in less than a week. You will have to feed hay 24/7. Sorry, that is no way for an animal to live! And you're worried about disturbing the neighbors?

[Safado]

Originally Posted by myersfarm

you will spend more on feed and hay then you ever save.......unless buy a 600 lbs keep a couple weeks and then slaughter

So around here a 600lbs jersey steer runs around 1.10-1.25 per lbs, though sometimes they are as cheap as $1.00/lbs.

I can buy poor quality hay (what I feed my sheep with excellent results) for 140/ton or very high quality cubes for 225 per ton. Is their feed conversion that poor, that it would take more than 2 tons of hay cubes to raise one out to 600 LBS? I am assuming $50-$75 in milk replacement, but that might be wrong.

[Safado]

Originally Posted by G. Seddon

Your "pasture" is just 55x110 feet? It will be solid dirt in less than a week. You will have to feed hay 24/7. Sorry, that is no way for an animal to live! And you're worried about disturbing the neighbors?

Sorry, I didn't realize horses had such a bad life, as that is the life my neighbors' horses have had their whole life.

[SquashNut]

Have you thought about rabbits?

[Safado]

Originally Posted by SquashNut

Have you thought about rabbits?

Yes, we've had meat rabbits (Silver Fox) for a number of years.

We do like beef though and have thought about raising our own for some time. I really hadn't considered it as "cruel" before, knowing how much of our beef spends the last few months. It sounds like it wouldn't be economical to raise it yourself if we can buy them cheaper at 600 lbs than raise them to that size.

[countryfied2011]

Safado, i am raising two bottle Jerseys, my little one month old steer is very very vocal when he is ready for his bottle, I can hear him at the house from the barn. The heifer, I think I have heard her maybe 3 times moo and it wasn't very loud.

As far as pasture etc, I am in the process of reading a book called Keeping a Family Cow by Joann Grohman and she talks about keeping her cow in her backyard. Also Backyard Homestead Produce all the food you want on a qtr acrea also talks about keeping a cow.

My MR cost me 42.00 per 25lbs, and I have already gone thru 3 or 4 bags and they are no where near being weaned. The heifer was a week old and the steer was 2 days old when i bought them. I have had them about a month and half.

[SquashNut]

Look at the feed lots and the chicken/egg growers that is cruel.
If what you buy is still on milk they could beller all day and night, you'd have to get a well weaned one.

[myersfarm]

Safado I have a computer that mixes my feed from a nutrisiona...it takes 31 pounds of food on a calf to gain 3 pounds..thats good hay top of the line feed ....THATS A BEEF CALF....dairy calfs will not gain more than that for sure..i do not know how much less it will be though

[myersfarm]

yes it is that poor 11 pound to gain a pound AVERAGE THAT IS ON 12% PROTIEN that is the mix if you feed more hay you will lower the protien and also lower the weight gain a day

Originally Posted by Safado

So around here a 600lbs jersey steer runs around 1.10-1.25 per lbs, though sometimes they are as cheap as $1.00/lbs.

I can buy poor quality hay (what I feed my sheep with excellent results) for 140/ton or very high quality cubes for 225 per ton. Is their feed conversion that poor, that it would take more than 2 tons of hay cubes to raise one out to 600 LBS? I am assuming $50-$75 in milk replacement, but that might be wrong.

[Safado]

Thank you both for the very good information!

Originally Posted by myersfarm

Safado I have a computer that mixes my feed from a nutrisiona...it takes 31 pounds of food on a calf to gain 3 pounds..thats good hay top of the line feed ....THATS A BEEF CALF....dairy calfs will not gain more than that for sure..i do not know how much less it will be though

I had no idea it was 10:1 conversion, though I guess that makes sense when I think about it. So from 100 Lbs to 600 LBS I would be looking at more than 2.5 tons of high quality feed, and should count on more like 3 tons.

Originally Posted by countryfied2011

Safado, i am raising two bottle Jerseys, my little one month old steer is very very vocal when he is ready for his bottle, I can hear him at the house from the barn. The heifer, I think I have heard her maybe 3 times moo and it wasn't very loud.

As far as pasture etc, I am in the process of reading a book called Keeping a Family Cow by Joann Grohman and she talks about keeping her cow in her backyard. Also Backyard Homestead Produce all the food you want on a qtr acrea also talks about keeping a cow.

My MR cost me 42.00 per 25lbs, and I have already gone thru 3 or 4 bags and they are no where near being weaned. The heifer was a week old and the steer was 2 days old when i bought them. I have had them about a month and half.

Well, I think I'll put this project on the back burner. We've made money on the sheep (selling them for enough that we can't justify butchering them for our meat), so we'll probably keep going with that.

[DanielY]

Originally Posted by Safado

Sorry, I didn't realize horses had such a bad life, as that is the life my neighbors' horses have had their whole life.

Some people think things should be done a certain way because that is how they have sen it done all their lives. Then when they see someone else doing it differently it runs against their grain. Any more they turn to unfounded claims of cruelty to argue against it. The way you are looking at keeping a couple of calves is exactly the way I have seen calves kept all my life. Not cattle mind you since full size animals are turned out to large fields of grass. Not because it is any better way to keep them but it is a cheap way to keep them.

If there is any truth to the idea it is cruel to keep calves in a small space then why are they brought into a small pen for the best of care? such as when they are sick.

If there is actually an reason it is unhealthy for a calf to be raised in a small space I am very interested in knowing it.

I may be wrong but I was looking into this the other day. If my memory is correct I saw someone say that 15 lbs of feed will produce 1.5 lbs of weight gain. Not all of that is meat gain though. from there it gets very complicated as to how much meat you are actually getting since it is tied to the carcass quality etc. in a top quality carcass you will get 85% of hanging weight in the form of meet. In a low quality carcass as little as 60% of hanging weight is carcass. at 1000 to 1100 lbs it was saying you will end up with a 700 to 800 lb carcass.

what all that confusion ays to me is that about half the weight a calf gains is going to be wasted stuff like bones and what not. so I am only getting about half the weight gain in the form of meet. at worst it is even less than that.
I just settled on an average of 20 lbs of feed for every lb of "Meat" produced.

Hay here is $14 a bail without shopping around. assuming a bail is 100 lbs, which I would I have to feed a calf 2.80 in hay for every lb of meat.

Now since I don't think I can find calves that can read that and stay focused on the job. I doubt those numbers are going to work out in reality like they do on paper. Given a couple of glitches here and there along the way and my meat could easily hit $3.50 a lb just in hay. and I haven't figured buying the calf or having it processed. add 50 to 60 cents a lb for having it butchered packed and frozen another 50 cents or so per lb for the cost as a calf. and I have meet pushing $4.50 a lb in my freezer after working fairly hard at it myself. If there is any saving in there it is going to be hard to find. I can probably do just as well waiting for specials from the grocery store.

That is my story at the moment. I am not giving up but right now things look pretty safe around here for calves.

[countryfied2011]

If there is any saving in there it is going to be hard to find. I can probably do just as well waiting for specials from the grocery store.

Agree, We bought ours not to save money but to be able to grow our own. I definitely don't see any savings in it....lol If you count the cost of the heifer and the steer and all the money we have spent in MR, scour meds, bottles etc. not to include what we will spend after being weaned on hay etc....we will have very xpensive beef and milk products..

[myersfarm]

but thats why we let the cows go out and graze grass on there own...that cuts the cost down some

[gone-a-milkin]

A point I will make about keeping cattle in close quarters: the runny poo.
This is a real thing. In fact, more concern to me than the bawling they do at weaning.

I have no real issue with the size of your pens, as long as the cattle get adequate feed...and clean-up of used feed.

This is another reason folks let cattle out to pasture.

[myersfarm]

this is a sale barn with in 150 miles of me...check out prices on the jersey steers





Feeder Jersey Steers Medium 3
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
4 606 606 77.00 77.00 Value Added

Feeder Holstein Steers Large 3
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
3 250-280 262 111.00-116.00 113.66 Value Added
13 325 325 115.50 115.50 Value Added
3 393 393 91.00 91.00 Value Added
4 422 422 101.00 101.00
10 401 401 110.00 110.00 Value Added
2 475 475 101.00 101.00 Value Added
14 562-575 569 88.00-95.00 92.04 Value Added
4 632 632 83.00 83.00
23 615-645 635 89.00-94.00 92.72 Value Added
11 685-691 690 88.00-92.00 91.60 Value Added
5 749 749 88.00 88.00
9 710-715 711 90.00 90.00 Value Added
7 769 769 90.00 90.00 Value Added
2 805-825 815 86.00-90.00 88.02
7 856 856 90.00 90.00 Value Added

Feeder Holstein Steers Large 3-4
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
10 490 490 93.00 93.00 Value Added
9 641 641 89.50 89.50 Value Added

[WstTxLady]

Originally Posted by springvalley

Steers on the most part, are not very noisey. As long as you keep them fed and watered, they shouldn`t say much. A half acre isn`t much for pasture, I`m afraid your going to have a dirt lot after not to long, and your neighbors may not like that. Just something to think about. > Thanks Marc

I agree, half an acre isnt much. You will need to constantly have hay around & clean water.

We have a bull calf (mom didnt make milk when he was born) and he is only loud when he wants a bottle or extra food. Rest of the time he is quiet.