new to cattle, calf question

[casusbelli]

Never raised beef. Neighbor and I are thinking of going on halves, neither of us has kids still at home, so half a head for the freezer is all we want. My question is, i've read here that being all alone is not optimal for a calf. Would be have to get two, or would the maternal/motherly old mare in the field suffice for its company???

[lakeportfarms]

They do best with another cow or steer and when they "compete" for feed when you are finishing them. You may want to consider a smaller breed like the Dexter, easy to manage, good beef, and you won't have to worry as much about the stocking rate for your property as much as a larger breed. You could stagger their ages by a year to cover near term and long term. You may find with a smaller Dexter you can each take one whole steer for your freezer which solves your lone steer problem altogether.

[idigbeets]

Do you have everything you need to feed, water, house, and contain a potentially 800-1500lb animal? Know anyone who raises cattle for a living to guide you if it becomes ill? Is there a livestock vet in your area?

I'm not trying to discourage you, but if all you want is a 1/2 cow for freezer beef, go buy one....

[casusbelli]

Originally Posted by idigbeets

Do you have everything you need to feed, water, house, and contain a potentially 800-1500lb animal? Know anyone who raises cattle for a living to guide you if it becomes ill? Is there a livestock vet in your area?

I'm not trying to discourage you, but if all you want is a 1/2 cow for freezer beef, go buy one....

And continue to mow and waste the 1 acre pasture? That is too small for hay farmers to fool with? I'm already wasting 1 acre as front 'yard' (well, it has fruit trees), 1 acre backyard (well, it has a garden and more fruit), and an acre of combined pond and swampy area. The one field behind the barn i could at least get something off of!

[G. Seddon]

I agree with idigbeets.

I don't believe that one acre can provide what a horse and a beef animal would require.

[idigbeets]

1 acre? No farmer will haul equipment in to try and make hay off that. Heck by the time I get moving it is time to turn around. An acre will make you 1 or 2 round bales at most....

NOT worth the effort. If you do not want to mow an acre, ask someone to bring in a few goats, or sheep. A cow will eat an acre, but it is not enough for the entire growing season, and you'll need hay etc. The economics of scale are working against you. Also, processing costs.... around $75 to kill, .50/lb for cut/wrap, more depending on if you want burger patties, sausage etc.

Lets say you get 1000lb steer over 1- 1.5 years (assuming you bought a weaner) ... you'll end up with around 350-450lbs of meat at the end Your processing costs alone are by hanging weight, around 600 lbs most likely, so you're in for about $400 just to kill and wrap this animal. You could grain feed this animal, throw out some protein tubs... all that will shorten the fattening up time, but will cost you $$$$.

Feeding costs, 1 acre will feed that cow for about a month, maybe 2 at most. Then what? It takes 30 days to regrow... you'll need more ground, or hay. Costs are around $60-200/Ton depending on location. More in some areas even....

You'll need to feed that cow about 1 square bale (50lb) per day (assuming you bought in a weaned calf at 400+ lbs). That's about $5-8/day in feed. Maybe less, maybe more.

Do you see where I am going here?

[kycountry]

Here is some figures.. prices may vary in your area. All figures are a touch high..

Round bales of cow hay is $30 (some as low as $15) equals 1200 lb of hay.
50lb of 12% cattle feed is $7...

Calves need 1.5 lb per day per 100lb body weight of feed
They need 4-6 lb of hay per 100lb body weight.

If you buy at 400lb process at 1000lb you will average feeding at 700 lb body weight.
1.5 times 7= 10.5 lb dry feed daily..
6 times 7= 42lb hay daily.

Cost of feed per day is $7 /50 times 10.5= $1.47 a day
Cost of hay per day is 30/1200 times 60(allowing 18lb for waiste)= $1.50

Average weight gain would be 1.5 lbs per day, 600 lbs of weight gain total. It would take 400 days to finish.

$800 for a 400 lb steer... $1200 to finish him out.

600 lb hanging weight at $0.35lb processing charge = $210.
400 lb finished meat with $2210 total cost..

You would have about 5.50 a lb in it. If it's worth that much to keep an acre cleared and know what your eating.. go for it.. if not, buy from the store, it's cheaper!

[idigbeets]

You're forgetting all the labor and infrastructure costs to hold that steer in as well. Also 400 days to finish, all grass fed is probably on the short side. 100% grass fed/finished cattle take 24-27 months to really get all the marbling and fat one wants on the carcass.

So that would be 18-21 months you'll be responsible for the care of this animal. Just things to keep in mind.

[casusbelli]

thanks, all you write is very important to consider.
I didn't give all details, of course, but the horse has an adjoining neighbor's lot, plus is fed, so not at all wholly dependent on my acre. Mainly uses it to run/stretch her legs.
So while i have you two 'on the phone', can you reply to this:
It'd be really nice to only have cattle 3 seasons a year, and not over-winter. But cows are slow growing i know.
Veal is high quality costly meat. Yet beyond the veal stage, everyone grows their beef out to full-grown. Why is there no 'in-between'? Taking a 9 to 12 month old to market? wouldn't it be more tender than the 20 month? Is it a matter of economics, getting that last big fraction of muscle? Is it a matter of slaughtering when the animal is mainly bones and not meat? IOW, does nobody with limited land like myself buy a weaned calf, grow it out 3 seasons (supplementing in midsummer when grass slows), and slaughter in late Fall????? Surely they would pack on weight during those 8 months....

[kycountry]

Originally Posted by casusbelli

thanks, all you write is very important to consider.
I didn't give all details, of course, but the horse has an adjoining neighbor's lot, plus is fed, so not at all wholly dependent on my acre. Mainly uses it to run/stretch her legs.
So while i have you two 'on the phone', can you reply to this:
It'd be really nice to only have cattle 3 seasons a year, and not over-winter. But cows are slow growing i know.
Veal is high quality costly meat. Yet beyond the veal stage, everyone grows their beef out to full-grown. Why is there no 'in-between'? Taking a 9 to 12 month old to market? wouldn't it be more tender than the 20 month? Is it a matter of economics, getting that last big fraction of muscle? Is it a matter of slaughtering when the animal is mainly bones and not meat? IOW, does nobody with limited land like myself buy a weaned calf, grow it out 3 seasons (supplementing in midsummer when grass slows), and slaughter in late Fall????? Surely they would pack on weight during those 8 months....

Let's look at the logical side for a minute.

The calves would be 1-4 months old by your math if they go to slaughter at 9-12 months old after being fed 8 months.. weaning 4 month old calves is not unheard of, but I wouldn't consider it good practice either.

Now. A calf is just like our kids. An 18 month old calf is about equal to an 18 year old kid. You can't fatten one of them little suckers up when they are growing like a weed and bouncing off the walls with energy.. when they slow down on the growing, you can pack on the fat. So that's why most are finished out at or above 20 months old.

Another reason is in order to get good tender meat, they need to be actively rising in body weight and fat for the finishing process. Late summer through early fall during the heat, calves will 'fall off' grain feed and grass is tough and lower in digestible nutrients. Grain produces heat when it is digested.. This slows growth almost to a stand still. Fat is not being stored at the rate it takes to produce a high quality cut.

The point is, you can slaughter one at any size, but in order to produce a good quality cut in the cheapest price range per pound it takes time. The best 3 season operations I've seen, buys in the early fall to finish out on the lush, high quality early spring green up. They buy 600+ weight steers and sell finished beef in the 1000 lb range.

I'm sure someone else could answer this better cause we only run 30 head and have limited finishing facilities.

[idigbeets]

The bone to meat ratio will be way off if you slaughter early.. and you pay by hanging carcass weight (bones still in)..... so you're paying a lot of $$ for bones.

Good 100% grass finished cattle will not be ready until 22-27 months. There are people who push it shorter w/ genetics, really great grazing management etc, but they are few and far between. My cattle take 24-27 months, period. USDA allows up to 30 months for prime cuts.

[casusbelli]

Those are both excellent answers and satisfy me. Thanks! My family never raised beef - obviously - so I didn't know.
I guess I should either commit to four seasons/long-term, or look at faster growing, smaller meat sources. Something between hares and kine!

[kycountry]

Bad time to start, but you have to start somewhere..