need advice raising cattle for meat

[airwolftruker]

i am planning on getting 2 beef calves in the spring. 1 for me and 1for a friend.
i would like to find bulls that are about a week old and bottle feed them. But im having troubles finding cattle that young.
Also, my friend that i'll be raising a steer forwill pay me for the beef when its slaughtered.
i have to buy my hay, and hay has doubled in price.
plus feed keeps going up.
I plan on keeping the steers for about 1 1/2 years
im a little worried about what i'll have to charge my freind for the beef.
To be fair, how should i charge him?
Live weight, hanging weight?
Im not interested in making alot of money out pf the deal.
I would like to cover my expenses then maybe cover part of my processing.
any suggestions would be helpful. And thankyou in advance.

[G. Seddon]

[QUOTE=airwolftruker;6123218i would like to find bulls that are about a week old and bottle feed them. But im having troubles finding cattle that young.
[/QUOTE]

Honestly, I doubt there are many who will sell beef calves that young and why should they? Their mothers can provide for them better than any bag of milk replacer. I'd suggest you contact a farmer in your area and arrange to buy a couple of weanling steers, not bulls (about 6-7 months of age); provide proper fencing, clean water, loose minerals, and hay (kept out of the elements). Keep track of your expenses. I'm sure others can advise you about what to charge for beef.

[SpaceCadet12364]

I would look for dairy bulls if you want to bottle feed and raise. With beef calves the only way you will get one is if mom dies during birth or shortly after. And most ranches have a cow that will feed someone elses calf neighbor has three one is a reg. lowline. Or buy a feeder(weaned). Goodluck.

[arnie]

If you want a lot of hamburger and crock pot beef dairy breeds are fine and cheep to buy as calfs.but if you are going for prime tender steakes beef breeds are what you want but the calf are usally not sold till after weaning or a few hundred pounds .ld make an aggrement with your friend to keeping good records or pay as you go for feed and butchering so there won't be a big suprise at butchering - payup time. the reason farmers make a profit on beef is they have pasture or grow there own feed eliminateing the middle man buying all the feed can get expencive .you's may be better off to take advantage of the depresed drought flooded market and buy a older beef yearling and put them in or the fatening and pampering prior to butchering espically if you don't have a few acres of grass :-) :-)

[sammyd]

Steins will part out just as well as any beef steer. Plenty of high yielding choice black and white steers going through the packers....
Usually cheaper to get into and with the right feeding you can turn them around quick.
If you have the money or the corn, you can make excellent beef with a dairy steer in 14 months.

Better check into hay and feed prices in your area before hauling any animals home...Then you need to make sure your pal understands what it all means before agreeing.

[Cliff]

Jerseys make excellent sweet, tender meat. Big holsteins to me take too long - they spend a long time growing a huge frame then take a while to fill out. But I grow them out on pasture with no supplemental grain, they might do differently with grain.

[dayna]

I would have to agree. I live on a dairy farm in Maine and we sell week old bull calves for $40 to some of the locals. They are cheap but take a while to fill out. I have a holstein now who is 15 months old and is pretty tall and boney. He too is just out on pasture and I actually think he's lost a few pounds this summer because he's so active compared to what he was (in a 14x14 stall eatting silage while he was smaller this winter). We raise some of the freemartins here for beef and some of the accident/injured cows also become beef. I think its way better quality than the super market and get quality steaks out of them. Some of the older ones we get more hamburg but I think thats pretty typical. I by no means am a professional its just my opinion but I would agree with "sammy" but would give them the full 18months to fill out