Raising Beef calves with Dairy cows or Goats milk

cedarvalley · #1 02/29/12, 11:02 AM

Hello all, i have been reading posts on here for a couple days and enjoy all the excellent info. here. We are a small farm of about 165 acres with a cow/ calf operation. We are considering getting a lot more into raising Beef bottle calves and purchasing either dairy cows or goats. Just looking for any information on management of both the dairy herd and the calves, we have raised many sale barn calves before on MR but have no idea on how to manage dairy cattle or goats. We thought this would provide a larger income on the acreage we have than just running 30 cow/calf pairs. Please let me know what you all think.

collegeboundgal · #2 02/29/12, 03:38 PM

this is what a lot of folks do. I myself have 2 nurse cows. first we milk them, then feed the calves. most folks just let the calves nurse strait from the cow. we do this because Im the type of person the HAS to know how much each calf is getting. I will say this, we have a belly milker. would I do this if we had to hand milk? H to the ELL NO!!!! lol. after giving it much though, to make this more profitable than doing MR, we'll need to have these cows for quit a few years, and even then, it's questionable. lol. when you add up the feed to cows, hay, time, and the over all price of the cow its self, (and unless you have some REALLY great friends/family, no time off) the MR is starting to look really good... lol. Plus, MR wont fall over dead if you miss the milk fever, chokeing object, dogs, ect. just go into it with open eyes. cows-even slaughter dairy cows-are not cheap at this time.

cedarvalley · #3 02/29/12, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by collegeboundgal

this is what a lot of folks do. I myself have 2 nurse cows. first we milk them, then feed the calves. most folks just let the calves nurse strait from the cow. we do this because Im the type of person the HAS to know how much each calf is getting. I will say this, we have a belly milker. would I do this if we had to hand milk? H to the ELL NO!!!! lol. after giving it much though, to make this more profitable than doing MR, we'll need to have these cows for quit a few years, and even then, it's questionable. lol. when you add up the feed to cows, hay, time, and the over all price of the cow its self, (and unless you have some REALLY great friends/family, no time off) the MR is starting to look really good... lol. Plus, MR wont fall over dead if you miss the milk fever, chokeing object, dogs, ect. just go into it with open eyes. cows-even slaughter dairy cows-are not cheap at this time.

Thanks, collegeboundgal, I have to agree with you on cost basis, but was thinking the calves would grow better and be healthier on the real thing rather than MR, how you put a price on that i dont know.

myersfarm · #4 02/29/12, 06:28 PM

I have 20 of milk cows I raise the calves with .....mostly dairy heifers but I get all the free calves from the beef farmers around..a free calf is a free calf that profit adds up fast....

ONE thing that really helps offset the price of MR verses Milk cows.....is the Milk cows Calf she has you get to sell... when prices were high on dairy heifers if I had bought the calf it would have been $250 to $300 they price will offset a lot of feed for the cows

cedarvalley · #5 02/29/12, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myersfarm

I have 20 of milk cows I raise the calves with .....mostly dairy heifers but I get all the free calves from the beef farmers around..a free calf is a free calf that profit adds up fast....

ONE thing that really helps offset the price of MR verses Milk cows.....is the Milk cows Calf she has you get to sell... when prices were high on dairy heifers if I had bought the calf it would have been $250 to $300 they price will offset a lot of feed for the cows

Meyersfarm; Do you put the calves directly on the cow or do you milk your cows and bottle feed? If so what kind of milking facilities do you have, and how many acres and what type of forage does it take for the milk cows?

myersfarm · #6 02/29/12, 10:38 PM

Cedarvalley I milk the cows in a milk barn I pieced together it is a 3 cows in a row surge one you can let out any of the cows or add any cow to any stall...I feed calves with the MILK BARS 5 to a pen ... I have 400 acres of fescue and 40 acres of bermuda grass I had 120 head of angus and just could not make VERY MUCH money for my time so ..I started raising Dairy heifers ..check out the thread on here SALE BARN CALFS..and you can see some of my pictures of calf set up