Holstein steer needs to be weaned. Sell or keep?

Granny-pie · #1 12/13/14, 05:23 AM

I have a sweet 6 year old Jersey nurse cow. When she freshened 4 months ago I bought a Holstein steer to go with her heifer. She has kept both in fine shape and they have grown past my expectations. He is probably over 400 pounds and eating well. We have not milked her for ourselves, though she is broke to milk
She is showing the effects of heavy milking, and I can't seem to feed her enough to keep her from losing flesh. Despite a couple of flakes of alfalfa daily and 8 pounds of 16 percent grain daily she just puts it all in milk. She has free choice hay, same quality I feed my beef cows with calves.
I need advice for all 3 animals involved here.
I was so concerned with her body condition I had her tested for Johne's which was negative two months ago. Vet wasn't concerned and said she would probably lose more as she settled into lactation. At that time he rated her body condition at a 2 out of 5. She seems healthy, but painfully skinny and I am worried about her ability to deal with the cold. May blanket her.
Weaning Holstein: At 4 mo, 400 pounds could he do ok if I put him in with the beef herd? That way we could keep him long enough to sell him and recoup some of the money I have put into the trio. Otherwise, I could just sell him now and use the money to help get her in better shape.
Will her heifer just take more and continue to bring her down? Heifer weighs about 350 to 375.
My plan has been to wean the calves at 5 or 6 months and put a couple of babies on her and have her AI'd this spring. Now wondering if only 1 baby would work. She loves babies and is easy to graft on. I gave her a 4 month dry period before she calved.

Tango · #2 12/13/14, 06:13 AM

The obvious question is has she been checked for parasites? That said, there are hard keepers. I would decide depending on what I could afford to feed her and by her teats. Does she have sores? Some dairy cows are really hard to keep weight on but they are still generally healthy. As you noted they will just put extra feed into milk. Two calves isn't all that much though. It would be the same as one calf and daily milking. You would have to start milking her if you separated the steer until her production started to come down but she is in full swing right now.

I am using Chaffhaye instead of alfalfa for my goats and Jersey heifer calf right now and there is no waste. What they eat seems to fill them out better than the alfalfa hay. They are shiny with healthy weight and a 50 pound bag of Chaffhaye lasts a week for my small herd.

You will get different answers for selling or keeping your steer calf. I just want to say that putting him in with your beef herd at 4 months with no protection, no friend, he will lose the weight he has gained. I would keep him on cow or sell but I would also wait to sell at least another 2 months as long as your Jersey is healthy.

Granny-pie · #3 12/13/14, 06:30 AM

The vet gave her Ivermectin injectable. I will give her some Safeguard. Thanks.

DaleK · #4 12/13/14, 07:08 AM

Sell him now but don't short-change yourself. Unless you're in an area with no stocker market, I'd ask $2.50/lb and don't take less than $2.

Granny-pie · #5 12/13/14, 07:17 AM

There is a stocker sale today 30 miles away. Really thinking about taking him.

Granny-pie · #6 12/13/14, 07:23 AM

Now I am wondering how much I would have to milk her to prevent udder problems while trying to decrease her output. She has a very nice udder and teats and I don't want to cause farther problems. Will decreased demand produce decreased output?

SpaceCadet12364 · #7 12/13/14, 07:24 AM

His Butt would be be on the trailer. He will make some nice x-mas money.

Granny-pie · #8 12/14/14, 04:10 AM

SOLD! And I brought back a nice 775 pound Angus replacement heifer.

myheaven · #9 12/14/14, 06:54 PM

you can add some normal everyday corn cooking oil. add 1 cup to her grain and top dress with distillers grain. I have a skinny jersey too. I'm giving mine 15 lbs of 20% grain. silage corn, alfalfa and now straw as her poop is too runny.the oats straw is helping the rich feeds stay in her longer. mine has gained weight.

Granny-pie · #10 12/15/14, 05:19 PM

I had wondered if you could use corn oil with cows. It works well with horses, just didn't know with ruminants. Thanks for the tip. Also It looks like I could pick up some more with the grain.
She looked for the holstein I sold for a little while and called for him, and licked the dickens off her heifer for a while. Now she is settling down and isn't so upset.