What would a fair price for a healthy 5 day old calf fed colostrum? Purchased directly from farm not the auction barn. of Jersey breed? of Holstein breed? of other dairy/meat cross?
Ive purchased young calves to bottle feed for as little as 2.00 and as much as 20.00 at auction..Depending on how nice looking the calf looked. IM gonna guess if you were to go ask a diary guy he would tell you what hed want for his drop calves. Each Diary Guy may have a different price based on what he feels they are worth...Just make sure its gotten to nurse a little bit...They only get colostrum the first few hours from the mom, after that its just milk... They rarely sell the heifers, so they may like the idea of selling the bull calves to you rather than messing with having them trucked to an auction.
I think off the farm, every farmer is going to be different. Decide what you are willing to pay and then look for someone who charges that or less. I paid $30 each for 2 Jersery Bull calves off the farm about a month ago They were about a week old. I've purchased from this farmer before. He's known to have great stock and I've never lost a calf I've purchased from him. The price of an auction animal and the price of an off the farm animal is like comparing apples and oranges...just isn't fair. There is a great value added in purchasing off the farm and having those young babies (of any species) avoid all the horrible bugs floating around the auction house. That said...I do purchase from auction but, I also realize there is a BIG risk associated with doing so. I expect to have health issues and have to invest time in nursing an animal purchased there. Long story short, decide what you are willing to pay and go from there! Enjoy your veal!
