The longer videos are a nice balance to the shorter ones. Short & sweet for updates, daily life etc. and longer ones for explanations, which are very interesting. Thanks for the content, I've been enjoying all the vids!
Travis, would you be willing to do a similar cash-flow explanation for starting, growing, and maintaining a cow-calf beef herd for a set number of years in the way you are envisioning? I liked the ones you did for corn and soybeans.
Young man you nailed it ,, I don't know anyone that has made any money with bottle calfs ,you didn't even add up your time input ,,oh ya I started that way 30+years ago ,had to learn the hard way,, ,,moo to you
We used to sell Calves from our Dairy Herd in the 1970s . The Heard is long gone now but we used to get an averidge of £50 that's about $75 back then . Tough times now , good luck Guys. Thank you for the excellent videos.
Yeah, you're singing my song ; it's pretty hard to even break even most years. Much the same the world over, really. I'm in Ireland and I remember the exact same situation your grandpa described when it was almost impossible to sell calves, then finding more of them in your truck in the evening. Things did improve, but the margins today are very tight and if you do the math, often non existent. Costs have quadrupled for all inputs. There are of course many lifestyle benefits from living in the countryside, being your own boss, and working with animals.
Sound reasoning. Hope you can avoid going to a full time day job. Love yours and Ryan's videos. I was raised on a dairy farm and we were married to it. Good luck.
This is very informative, thank you! Ive been doing a few calves a year usually around 10. I am interested in the draxxin, looked it up and there is a couple different ones. Which do you use?
Just bought 15 @ $37.50 85 avg. Weight. Last week bought 4 @ $25.00 85 avg. Weight, they threw in a new bag medicated milk substitute for free. At Blains that bag was $74.00. Some had Scour but doing fine with treatment. Thanks for your advice, from a Hobby Farmer.
I know what you are saying about bottle calves. My best friend raised them for 14 years. He always had 130 to 170 on milk at all times. He sold them between 5 and 6 hundred pounds. He had to quit last October and get a job in town. The AG industry is really hurting! If things don't change soon there will be a lot of Farmers selling out. Crop farming is bad but dairy is really bad! Farming is in my blood! It's very sad to see the way things are heading.
Usually old dairy barns don't fair well standing empty over winters. Raising my own calves during jan and feb weather was really challenging ,i couldn't imagine trying to raise calves from a sales barn
I used to buy calves at the auction, and did the same, considered them sick when I got them home and went from there. Did not overfeed the first day to help prevent scours. Really enjoyed buying the calves and getting them started. I figured 75 bushels corn to feed out.
Just curious say yo got 100 calves at $30 ea since your buying a lot , can’t you sell them at about $750-850 in 12 months ? I understand milk replacer cost a little but if you rotate the cows on pasture grow your own corn or buy it cheap you should be able to make some money there . I would skip the sale Barnes for buying calves maybe to sell some here and there when prices are high but there are other nitch markets where you can sell Holsteins at feeder widget 500 lbs or
That's why I am not going to raise calves right now unless I can get calves at 75 bucks a calf. I raised my calves up to finish weight but I only had only had one or two at a time. We implant our finishing steers at 400 pounds cause we still have the implants when we raised up to 500 lbs now we go to 250 then sell. But it's farming it's hard raising calves I know I our farm has been doing it for 8 years plus we custom raise heifers and we keep the bull calves from one dairy farm. Well take care Travis.
Nice video! For anyone interested in exact numbers I’ll be posting that on my channel. We basically raise them the same besides after weaning. I like to raise mine mostly on grass and he does mostly grain but it’s all up to what you have available. I’m not a crop farmer and we don’t have access to corn so that’s why we use mainly grass! Thanks for the update!
JTS, I will believe it when i see it. No one shares there EXACT numbers when raising bottle calves because no one i know of makes a penny doing it, Lets hope you really do share real numbers.
Gary Watts Well that’s the reason I’m going to share them. I may not make any money or I might make a few hundred, but I’m going to share it because no one else does. Hopefully people will have some number proof on if you can occasionally turn a profit.
There is money in it you just have to work the margins and simply raising 1-150 calves do not give you any bulk order benefits, and if they do they're not that big of a cut comparatively. My family and I raise bottle calves to 400 weights and there is money in it, just not if you take them to a sales barn or sell them at weaning weight (generally).
Its purely a hobby unless you own the dairy farm and feed the calves out. The sale barn makes all the money and you do all the work. Cheaper to buy weaned beef calves when its all said and done. It is however, fun to do with children. Great video.
I worked a dairy farm an we did 130 to 138 twice a day an would rotate when the cow would get pregnant or would get sick with the other cows an a separate lot for the calves that are going to be coming into breeding time .
Well now, Thanks for another good Video. A man who thinks out loud learns more than one who cogitates in silence. There are many other ways of making money on a farm than raising calves. Search for opportunities that fit your interest.
Travis question is L are you ready for Spring to come in you guys said you guys do hay straw and alfalfa is alpha alpha consider grass but for kelse horses and the sheep And how do you set up a TH-cam channel like you and Ryan have I'm just curious I would deeply appreciate it Hey I am also one of your does biggest subscribers and I really enjoy your guys' videos take here Eric Kurtz
We raise alfalfa for our beef cattle. I don't know much about horses and sheep but I do believe they need more of a grassy hay than alfalfa. You tube is pretty straight forward when it comes to starting a channel. Just find something you're good at and build an audience. Take Care
I went and figured my cost of bottle calves vs just weaned in my areia and I get 15-30$ more from the bottle at beast -150 at worst and it's a lot of extra work. So I do not deal with trying to raise bottle feed cow.
6 ปีที่แล้ว +1
About this time last year we bought 25 Friesian bull calfs @ €50 from a local farmer and 15 heifer Hereford/Angus @ €110 from a dealer. I think €55-60 a bag for milk replacer, we de-horn ourselves, only 1 vet call later year. 100% survived, Was a very good. year
Interesting. For someone just starting out what is the best 4 farm animals to start with? (Best: Profitable, easiest to raise, easiest/safest to handle) Thanks.
We been buying angus cross breed calves from a dairy a mile up the road I raised 75 and lost 2 due to scours but they gain 2 as fast as a Holstein calves
I have a veggie operation I feed them what I can’t sell......cheap bills I say flip them quick, or raise them up cheap $3 a pound. Plus processing for the customer, 14 months
I like that he mixes it up. If we had a month of 20-minute vids, I'd certainly learn a lot, no doubt about it. I don't know if that would be a good thing for him or the viewers in general. Not every topic warrants a long video, but some of them certainly do. Since he does them the way he does (raw footage, for the most part), we get what he gives us. If I want to watch an ag documentary in 4K that goes over an hour, I know of several channels which specialize in that format. Travis does things his way, and that's okay by me. At the very least he keeps us on our toes.
I'd rather watch this and learn than watch some spanky high tech tractor that I can't never afford in my neck of the woods doing a demo just so they can make sales. To me, this is real farming. Stuff you can save a heartache over and not reinvent the wheel. Thanks for sharing . Very very insightful as usual.
dairy calves are poor converters of feed to meat , only good thing about them is they are easy to handle outside at pasture compared to cattle that were reared on cows
it does sound like it sounded like a much better idea before he went through and had to do the math and then he just couldn't warrant the expense and risk
Yea bottle calves are a pain in the ass. If you have the grass cow calf or a steer operation would be much more profitable. Especially here where i live in oklahoma were they can gain a ton of weight just on the grass. And raising angus in general is better I just got 1.79 a pound for 90 day weaned steers at 560 pounds. Calves around 450 were getting over 2 a pound.
September 2019 and calves are still over $100. I can't figure the economics. Risk and return should be reflected in price. The return is zero and the risk is high. Where is the demand coming from to keep the price so high?
Nonya Damnbusiness The price is only as high as 2 people are willing to make it. If you buy in quantity then buy from the source, cut out the middle man and the diseases that the sale barn incubates.
Making money on Holstein bottle calves almost isn't possible. Especially if you factor labor in on the deal. You might be able to put a few pennies in your pocket if you raise you own grain, buying it in bulk helps but if your like me with no way to handle bulk feed and have to buy per bag then it's costing you. The only way I am able to even come close to breaking even is selling package meat by the pound. I can't understand why colored cattle bring more per lb than Holsteins at butchering weight. And I've been around Holsteins my whole life and never seen one fattened on grass alone. If you could you would see pastures full of them.
not to long ago if you woud have been driving around farm to farm they woud have loaded your van whit stier bottle calfs as manny as you wanted hell even one that was just born they might even give the first milk from the mom they can't use ore sell it anyway I know farms that had to put down their calfs beause nobody wanted them. that was kinda heart breaking to see that happen to be honnest.
then they wont get replacement heifers. i raise bottle calves and i always go for the meat crosses. I've always wondered why these farmers don't just do what i do with all that "free" milk.
Antibiotic resistance has little to do with the animal being given the antibiotic. When an animal is on antibiotics it inevitably has bacteria that is not killed by the medication that is shed into the environment and moves on to other animals and reproduces. You animal may not show any sign of illness because it's never actully gets sick. One small bacterium won't make your animal sick- but it goes on to reproduce by the billions and all of those resulting bacteria have a greater % of resistance to the antibiotic your calf was on. That's why antibiotics should be used only at the first sign of illness- but be sure not to stop antibiotics to early or risk having the same issue with bacteria that your medication had not killed yet. We now have several known "super bugs" that have killed people via infection that did not respond to any antibiotic currently avalible. This is a direct result of over use of antibiotics in the livestock industry as that is (was prior to 2017) the # one use of antibiotics in the United States (to produce food). Buying bottle calves directly from the dairy is one way to avoid this. It reduses contamination and stress. It also cuts medication costs and cost of calves because most dairies would much rather sell directly off farm (as long as it's in sizable quantities) because it saves them time and money.
Loose one or two, buy a grand worth of supplies not mentioned. Waste a bunch of gas driving around and hauling them. You might be lucky to make a few grand for a whole lot of bs. It's good to let people know the margins of farming Travis.
you have not been thinking about getting an alpha laval calf feeder ?? transponder around the neck and they go and eat when they get hungry or set up on the computer how much to have and divide it 3 times a day so it takes care of it and you just need to fill the milk powder
Beef herds are more hardy, I would like to see the numbers on them. We don’t buy bottle calves down here for that reason. You don’t know what your buying. Genetics also play a role because we don’t want certain characteristics running around in our herds. Most of the time we see bad genetics being sold early so that the genetic problem isn’t seen yet. That’s why we put wheels under any cow or calf we see it becoming an issue with. The “bottle calf” idea would work great if you could guarantee the farm they came from but nowadays you can’t. You have to roll the dice and pray you bought a good set.
I just saw Travis comment. So 10k to raise 50 calfs × $110 per calf to buy. I thought you was saying 10k per calf to raise and $110 per calf to buy... I'm not a farmer just love the channel and learning what you guys do and I thank you all for doing it.. I was like holy crap....lol
I understand that you need to make a living but I challenge you to try something different for one year. Put the calves and moms together and see if: 1. You have more that enough milk for both the calves and to sell. How much milk will a calf drink at one feeding a half gallon? So, rotate your milking cycle so that you don’t milk for sale all your herd everyday. Divide your herd in two and rotate every other day and don’t milk any of your herd on Saturday. 2. Your live stock will be much healthier and will yield a much higher profit margin at the end of the year. I realize this sounds a bit out there however that is the way God created animals. They were created to nurse from their own moms who give off all the natural meds to protect them. Your medical coats will drop substantially. I worked on farms growing up and saw the different ways people treated their animals. No different than people, you know the moment you walk into someone’s property. You get a feel from the energy of the animals and people that live there. I’m not preaching I’m simply suggesting that there could be other ways that would yield happier, milk producing animals and less work for you. Good luck!
+bryanrooks21 I challenge you to try that yourself and see if your not bankrupt in a year. It all comes down to cash flow and paying the next person back.
Ok I’m not a farmer so this makes no sense to me. WHY would you “bottle” feed a calf? Isn’t that the reason God made cows. Even in women, studies show a baby fed milk of their own mother are the healthiest and is the most defensive way to care for a baby...any baby. I just don’t get it? Cows make milk for calf’s not so much for people.
bryanrooks21 in dairy you pull the calf off so that you can sell the milk. Without that you would never have milk. Cows don't just produce milk at will. So he buys calves from other dairies. That's how it works.
Also the reason you bottle feed calf's is so you can see how much the calf is eating and that it won't get scours and also if the calf is on it's mother then the chance of it getting mastitis goes up significantly.
bryanrooks21 today's cow are made to give 40-100L a day. So that to much for a calf and the mother will probably get mastitis if she dont get fully milked. I have the mother and the new born calf together in 4 days(so calf get the important milk)after I separate them and continue to give calf with bottle. About 6L a day
The longer videos are a nice balance to the shorter ones. Short & sweet for updates, daily life etc. and longer ones for explanations, which are very interesting. Thanks for the content, I've been enjoying all the vids!
Shalom! Keep em long Sir, and you are keeping it real. I am gaining much knowledge from you. Blessings to you and yours
Good explanation Travis. Keep up the great work
Great video Travis thanks for sharing
Very informational. Thanks Travis!
Travis, would you be willing to do a similar cash-flow explanation for starting, growing, and maintaining a cow-calf beef herd for a set number of years in the way you are envisioning? I liked the ones you did for corn and soybeans.
Young man you nailed it ,, I don't know anyone that has made any money with bottle calfs ,you didn't even add up your time input ,,oh ya I started that way 30+years ago ,had to learn the hard way,, ,,moo to you
We used to sell Calves from our Dairy Herd in the 1970s . The Heard is long gone now but we used to get an averidge of £50 that's about $75 back then . Tough times now , good luck Guys. Thank you for the excellent videos.
Yeah, you're singing my song ; it's pretty hard to even break even most years. Much the same the world over, really. I'm in Ireland and I remember the exact same situation your grandpa described when it was almost impossible to sell calves, then finding more of them in your truck in the evening. Things did improve, but the margins today are very tight and if you do the math, often non existent. Costs have quadrupled for all inputs. There are of course many lifestyle benefits from living in the countryside, being your own boss, and working with animals.
Mortality rates can be devastating. Good luck young man and keep up the honest farming appraisals!
Best video I've watched on here in a while,
Reposition yourself into a farm-to-fork operation. The new generation of farmer will conquer retail.
I loved it. Thanks.
Sound reasoning. Hope you can avoid going to a full time day job. Love yours and Ryan's videos. I was raised on a dairy farm and we were married to it. Good luck.
This is very informative, thank you! Ive been doing a few calves a year usually around 10. I am interested in the draxxin, looked it up and there is a couple different ones. Which do you use?
I like the long vids. I grew up on a farm I can talk til my face turns blue I know how it goes. Plus this is a very interesting topic.
I tend to let my videos get a little long. But when you have something to say no point in shutting the camera off.
There's a county by me that used to be the leader in the state (MN) with the number of dairy farms, there was around 180, now there's only 2 or 3
Just bought 15 @ $37.50 85 avg. Weight. Last week bought 4 @ $25.00 85 avg. Weight, they threw in a new bag medicated milk substitute for free. At Blains that bag was $74.00. Some had Scour but doing fine with treatment. Thanks for your advice, from a Hobby Farmer.
lots of good information in that video thanks for showing
I know what you are saying about bottle calves. My best friend raised them for 14 years. He always had 130 to 170 on milk at all times. He sold them between 5 and 6 hundred pounds. He had to quit last October and get a job in town. The AG industry is really hurting! If things don't change soon there will be a lot of Farmers selling out. Crop farming is bad but dairy is really bad! Farming is in my blood! It's very sad to see the way things are heading.
Agree 100%, I bought a few Angus calves, looked healthy but obviously got infected at the sale yard ! Scour went through our calves like wild fire!!
Usually old dairy barns don't fair well standing empty over winters. Raising my own calves during jan and feb weather was really challenging ,i couldn't imagine trying to raise calves from a sales barn
I used to buy calves at the auction, and did the same, considered them sick when I got them home and went from there. Did not overfeed the first day to help prevent scours. Really enjoyed buying the calves and getting them started. I figured 75 bushels corn to feed out.
Great video! Also, do you ever go to Belmont or Monroe salebarn? Or are those a far drive?
thi video is good, on point, length on those videos is not a problem
Like my dad use to say, his best year is may
be next year!
Excellent
Numbers sound pretty close to me. Farm till your broke. It's like you said. It's more about the lifestyle than anything.
Preciate ya. Good day.
Interesting video.
love longer vids in depth
Just curious say yo got 100 calves at $30 ea since your buying a lot , can’t you sell them at about $750-850 in 12 months ? I understand milk replacer cost a little but if you rotate the cows on pasture grow your own corn or buy it cheap you should be able to make some money there . I would skip the sale Barnes for buying calves maybe to sell some here and there when prices are high but there are other nitch markets where you can sell Holsteins at feeder widget 500 lbs or
That's why I am not going to raise calves right now unless I can get calves at 75 bucks a calf. I raised my calves up to finish weight but I only had only had one or two at a time. We implant our finishing steers at 400 pounds cause we still have the implants when we raised up to 500 lbs now we go to 250 then sell. But it's farming it's hard raising calves I know I our farm has been doing it for 8 years plus we custom raise heifers and we keep the bull calves from one dairy farm. Well take care Travis.
Nice video! For anyone interested in exact numbers I’ll be posting that on my channel. We basically raise them the same besides after weaning. I like to raise mine mostly on grass and he does mostly grain but it’s all up to what you have available. I’m not a crop farmer and we don’t have access to corn so that’s why we use mainly grass! Thanks for the update!
JTS
JTS, I will believe it when i see it. No one shares there EXACT numbers when raising bottle calves because no one i know of makes a penny doing it, Lets hope you really do share real numbers.
Gary Watts Well that’s the reason I’m going to share them. I may not make any money or I might make a few hundred, but I’m going to share it because no one else does. Hopefully people will have some number proof on if you can occasionally turn a profit.
There is money in it you just have to work the margins and simply raising 1-150 calves do not give you any bulk order benefits, and if they do they're not that big of a cut comparatively. My family and I raise bottle calves to 400 weights and there is money in it, just not if you take them to a sales barn or sell them at weaning weight (generally).
Tanner Wiethoff, you must be selling the packaged meat yourself to be able to make a profitt? Where are you selling your 400lb calves?
Its purely a hobby unless you own the dairy farm and feed the calves out. The sale barn makes all the money and you do all the work. Cheaper to buy weaned beef calves when its all said and done. It is however, fun to do with children. Great video.
Very Interested info on calves .
I worked a dairy farm an we did 130 to 138 twice a day an would rotate when the cow would get pregnant or would get sick with the other cows an a separate lot for the calves that are going to be coming into breeding time .
Very true
Just a quick question how much are u paying for a bag of milk replacer
Well now,
Thanks for another good Video. A man who thinks out loud learns more than one who cogitates in silence.
There are many other ways of making money on a farm than raising calves. Search for opportunities that fit your interest.
Whay kind of milk replacer do you use?
Are you doing veal with he bottle calves or what do they get sold as because here veal goes for around a grand per
Travis question is L are you ready for Spring to come in you guys said you guys do hay straw and alfalfa is alpha alpha consider grass but for kelse horses and the sheep And how do you set up a TH-cam channel like you and Ryan have I'm just curious I would deeply appreciate it Hey I am also one of your does biggest subscribers and I really enjoy your guys' videos take here Eric Kurtz
We raise alfalfa for our beef cattle. I don't know much about horses and sheep but I do believe they need more of a grassy hay than alfalfa. You tube is pretty straight forward when it comes to starting a channel. Just find something you're good at and build an audience. Take Care
I went and figured my cost of bottle calves vs just weaned in my areia and I get 15-30$ more from the bottle at beast -150 at worst and it's a lot of extra work.
So I do not deal with trying to raise bottle feed cow.
About this time last year we bought 25 Friesian bull calfs @ €50 from a local farmer and 15 heifer Hereford/Angus @ €110 from a dealer. I think €55-60 a bag for milk replacer, we de-horn ourselves, only 1 vet call later year. 100% survived, Was a very good. year
But there are some folks that just feed off pasture right?
Is it profitable pasture raising though?
We are pasture raising. Feeding grains is not natural or necessary.
Do you buy from Bloomington ?
Nice!!!(do you give college credit??)
its like a roller coaster ride..... and it only takes the smallest of things to ruin your whole operation...
Interesting. For someone just starting out what is the best 4 farm animals to start with? (Best: Profitable, easiest to raise, easiest/safest to handle) Thanks.
1.pigs. sell piglets.
2. chickens. sell eggs.
3. rabbits. sell pets,then meat.
4. sheep. sell lambs.
We been buying angus cross breed calves from a dairy a mile up the road I raised 75 and lost 2 due to scours but they gain 2 as fast as a Holstein calves
I have a veggie operation I feed them what I can’t sell......cheap bills I say flip them quick, or raise them up cheap $3 a pound. Plus processing for the customer, 14 months
i do the same, however, i prefer my beef at least 2-2.5 yrs old. much better flavor
You can buy bottle calves now for 10 dollars off the dairy here
14:07 "their whole purpose in life to lay and die" ))))
that's well said, yeah
Yep, lost 5 in 2 day. No more sale barn calves for us.
O ur Ryan's older brother just started watching good video
Travis: Why did the audio change at the 10:00 Minute mark?
I don't mind your long videos. They're usually pretty interesting. XD
I agree.
I like that he mixes it up. If we had a month of 20-minute vids, I'd certainly learn a lot, no doubt about it. I don't know if that would be a good thing for him or the viewers in general. Not every topic warrants a long video, but some of them certainly do. Since he does them the way he does (raw footage, for the most part), we get what he gives us. If I want to watch an ag documentary in 4K that goes over an hour, I know of several channels which specialize in that format. Travis does things his way, and that's okay by me. At the very least he keeps us on our toes.
same here
I'd rather watch this and learn than watch some spanky high tech tractor that I can't never afford in my neck of the woods doing a demo just so they can make sales. To me, this is real farming. Stuff you can save a heartache over and not reinvent the wheel. Thanks for sharing . Very very insightful as usual.
I agree with you they come from sell barn they are sick
Smart guy
With the work they are and the money not adding up don't see why you would.
Idk how Eric does it with bottle calves. I feed bottle Angus calves and think i am having good luck with that.
dairy calves are poor converters of feed to meat , only good thing about them is they are easy to handle outside at pasture compared to cattle that were reared on cows
Ty for the info. How many acres do you need to raise 50bottle calves.?.
Technically you could just raise him in a steer lot you don't necessarily need pasture
It's all fun and games until someone has to write the check.
it does sound like it sounded like a much better idea before he went through and had to do the math and then he just couldn't warrant the expense and risk
Yep. This is how you separate the people farming *for* money from the ones farming *with* money.
Hello,
I'm doing trucking right now, I'm going to overseas shipping of livestock ,
Reply for more details please,
Yea bottle calves are a pain in the ass. If you have the grass cow calf or a steer operation would be much more profitable. Especially here where i live in oklahoma were they can gain a ton of weight just on the grass. And raising angus in general is better I just got 1.79 a pound for 90 day weaned steers at 560 pounds. Calves around 450 were getting over 2 a pound.
September 2019 and calves are still over $100. I can't figure the economics. Risk and return should be reflected in price. The return is zero and the risk is high. Where is the demand coming from to keep the price so high?
Nonya Damnbusiness
The price is only as high as 2 people are willing to make it.
If you buy in quantity then buy from the source, cut out the middle man and the diseases that the sale barn incubates.
Wow that's fuc*in gundam... cool.
Good decision. I am not sure how can make money with any animals
Concentrate on grains
for the shots that you give do you need a permit or anything to buy it?
With the cows you have do ya have 1 or 2 bulls that the calfs can stay with the cow an not buy calves from the sale barn.
10k to get them weaned then anther 6500 in feed to 500 pounds with a few more variables with the market being 20k I don't see it.
Not much draw to raise them.
Dairy farms are disappearing all over.
Making money on Holstein bottle calves almost isn't possible. Especially if you factor labor in on the deal. You might be able to put a few pennies in your pocket if you raise you own grain, buying it in bulk helps but if your like me with no way to handle bulk feed and have to buy per bag then it's costing you. The only way I am able to even come close to breaking even is selling package meat by the pound. I can't understand why colored cattle bring more per lb than Holsteins at butchering weight. And I've been around Holsteins my whole life and never seen one fattened on grass alone. If you could you would see pastures full of them.
If you prophylacticly treat the calves with antibiotics what are you trying to prevent? Anyone else can help me with the answer.
People are using antibiotics for things that antibiotics won't treat (like scours). Just throwing money out the window.
Where did you buy the milk replacer from?
im sure u can get it from a vet that works with cattle.. some vets work on cattle & some dont. u just have 2 no who does & who dont..
Trey Williams milk replacer come from feed store or feed mill. Farm supply stores also carry it.
Jeff Gixer oh I no where to get it I raise bottle calf’s my self and I just wanted to know where to get it that cheap
$85 a bag at tractor supply. I don`t know how long it last.
not to long ago if you woud have been driving around farm to farm they woud have loaded your van whit stier bottle calfs as manny as you wanted hell even one that was just born they might even give the first milk from the mom they can't use ore sell it anyway I know farms that had to put down their calfs beause nobody wanted them. that was kinda heart breaking to see that happen to be honnest.
If you can have some luck with corn this year and next you will make good why look at the weather world wide .
people need to breed most of their dairy cows to beef bulls, like charolais something to actually make the calf worth something.
then they wont get replacement heifers.
i raise bottle calves and i always go for the meat crosses. I've always wondered why these farmers don't just do what i do with all that "free" milk.
Antibiotic resistance has little to do with the animal being given the antibiotic. When an animal is on antibiotics it inevitably has bacteria that is not killed by the medication that is shed into the environment and moves on to other animals and reproduces. You animal may not show any sign of illness because it's never actully gets sick. One small bacterium won't make your animal sick- but it goes on to reproduce by the billions and all of those resulting bacteria have a greater % of resistance to the antibiotic your calf was on. That's why antibiotics should be used only at the first sign of illness- but be sure not to stop antibiotics to early or risk having the same issue with bacteria that your medication had not killed yet. We now have several known "super bugs" that have killed people via infection that did not respond to any antibiotic currently avalible. This is a direct result of over use of antibiotics in the livestock industry as that is (was prior to 2017) the # one use of antibiotics in the United States (to produce food). Buying bottle calves directly from the dairy is one way to avoid this. It reduses contamination and stress. It also cuts medication costs and cost of calves because most dairies would much rather sell directly off farm (as long as it's in sizable quantities) because it saves them time and money.
First! Hey travis.
Loose one or two, buy a grand worth of supplies not mentioned. Waste a bunch of gas driving around and hauling them. You might be lucky to make a few grand for a whole lot of bs. It's good to let people know the margins of farming Travis.
you have not been thinking about getting an alpha laval calf feeder ?? transponder around the neck and they go and eat when they get hungry or set up on the computer how much to have and divide it 3 times a day so it takes care of it and you just need to fill the milk powder
I've considered it in the past
Beef herds are more hardy, I would like to see the numbers on them. We don’t buy bottle calves down here for that reason. You don’t know what your buying. Genetics also play a role because we don’t want certain characteristics running around in our herds. Most of the time we see bad genetics being sold early so that the genetic problem isn’t seen yet. That’s why we put wheels under any cow or calf we see it becoming an issue with. The “bottle calf” idea would work great if you could guarantee the farm they came from but nowadays you can’t. You have to roll the dice and pray you bought a good set.
10% loss from sale barn would be excellent........
Ohio --500 pound Holsteins are $.74
Back in the day they youst to knock the bull calves in the head
Is that 10k per calf?
Approximately 10K to raise 50 bottle calves. $110 per calf
If it was 10k per calf I'd be investing in bottle calves with Travis! !!
I meant 10k per calf to raise. Not make 10k per calf..lol
I just saw Travis comment.
So 10k to raise 50 calfs × $110 per calf to buy.
I thought you was saying 10k per calf to raise and $110 per calf to buy...
I'm not a farmer just love the channel and learning what you guys do and I thank you all for doing it..
I was like holy crap....lol
Yes I thought that after ...that's probably what you ment lol
Never forget, you can make nothing sitting at the house :)
When spring comes, and they are weaned, put them in all of your empty "PASTURES ".FREE FEED!
John Haas and corn now is cheap. The pastures at the other farms are practically empty in the summer.
i drink soy milk
I understand that you need to make a living but I challenge you to try something different for one year. Put the calves and moms together and see if:
1. You have more that enough milk for both the calves and to sell. How much milk will a calf drink at one feeding a half gallon? So, rotate your milking cycle so that you don’t milk for sale all your herd everyday. Divide your herd in two and rotate every other day and don’t milk any of your herd on Saturday.
2. Your live stock will be much healthier and will yield a much higher profit margin at the end of the year.
I realize this sounds a bit out there however that is the way God created animals. They were created to nurse from their own moms who give off all the natural meds to protect them. Your medical coats will drop substantially. I worked on farms growing up and saw the different ways people treated their animals. No different than people, you know the moment you walk into someone’s property. You get a feel from the energy of the animals and people that live there. I’m not preaching I’m simply suggesting that there could be other ways that would yield happier, milk producing animals and less work for you. Good luck!
+bryanrooks21 I challenge you to try that yourself and see if your not bankrupt in a year. It all comes down to cash flow and paying the next person back.
I challenge U to ride Godzilla across the world
Its super easy to ask others to do the hard work.
Well said. I thought the same thing. Amen.
Ok I’m not a farmer so this makes no sense to me. WHY would you “bottle” feed a calf? Isn’t that the reason God made cows. Even in women, studies show a baby fed milk of their own mother are the healthiest and is the most defensive way to care for a baby...any baby. I just don’t get it? Cows make milk for calf’s not so much for people.
bryanrooks21 in dairy you pull the calf off so that you can sell the milk. Without that you would never have milk. Cows don't just produce milk at will. So he buys calves from other dairies. That's how it works.
Also the reason you bottle feed calf's is so you can see how much the calf is eating and that it won't get scours and also if the calf is on it's mother then the chance of it getting mastitis goes up significantly.
bryanrooks21 today's cow are made to give 40-100L a day. So that to much for a calf and the mother will probably get mastitis if she dont get fully milked. I have the mother and the new born calf together in 4 days(so calf get the important milk)after I separate them and continue to give calf with bottle. About 6L a day