Talk me through a calf please?

[GBov]

We have a pen empty at our 4H grounds and there seem to be quite a few calves on Craigslist right now so I have a few questions.

Roughly how much hay will a calf get through in a year or year and a half?

Do I need to feed any grain?

I know you can raise a calf on just grass but its going into winter so there isn't any grass until the rains come again in the spring. Will Coastal Bermuda hay be good enough if it has free a round bale under cover and can eat what ever it wants or will it need special hay?

And MUST it have company? And if so, will a goat work? We have just paid for a Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goat buckling and he could live with the calf.

I am sorry to bombard y'all with questions but I like all the facts before I go getting an animal

[Catalytic]

According to the "books," figure 3-6% of body weight per day in hay (ie: a 100lb calf eats 3-6lbs of hay per day) For a 1200lb steer/cow, that would be 36-72lbs of hay a day, roughly one square/rectangle bale a day ($4-5/each around here) or 1-2 round bales a month ($35-50 around here) Coastal Bermuda in my area is good (I haven't seen what part of FL you are in) but the cattle folks around here seem to prefer peanut hay. I actually just bought 5x6 bales of organic grass hay (not sure what kind of grass) for $25/bale from a local organic dairy.

I don't know what a 4H pen is, but I assume it's something not near your home? From what I understand, cattle need company, but many families have a single dairy cow...however, it of course has the family to socialize with. I only have one cow, but she shares barn and pasture with 5 goats, Horses are pastured around the outside of the cow/goat area, but the horses want to be buttheads, so they aren't allowed in with them.

I can't answer your other questions, sorry, I have very minimal experiences with cows yet.

[Callieslamb]

Are you growing this calf to eat or to show? If you want to show it, you will probably want to feed grain to get it large enough soon enough. Many don't feed any grain, but it takes longer to get it to butcher size.

My steer has 6 sheep as buddies right now. If I separate them away from him- he bellows all day. Wether they need a buddy or not depends on the cow and how they were raised, but I see my steer out in the pasture more often and for a longer amount of time when the sheep are out with him. His cow buddy went to freezer came a few months ago. I don't like to keep just one of any animal but if we had sold him like planned, we'd have lost our shirts on him. He will go to the freezer when I get tired of buying hay for him.

[GBov]

Cow will be for eating! Yum yum

Thanks for all the info, have much to think about before jumping in to a new project.

And a 4H pen is a pen we built at our 4H grounds so yes, its 5ish miles from the house. Cant have hoof stock at home

[haypoint]

have you read through the 4 pages of Sale Barn calves?

[GBov]

Originally Posted by haypoint

have you read through the 4 pages of Sale Barn calves?

Nope! But I have learned enough with just reading the odd post to only buy an older, weened calf or better still, a 6 months plus steer.

Not up to bottle babies with my schedual!

I will have a look at the Sale Barn Calves thread sometime today, if my computer lets me. Its haveing fits today for some reason?