Looking for bottle calves

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

Hello! We live in central Indiana and are looking for any cattle farmers that would be willing to sell us 3 or 4 day old calves and save us the trip to the sale barn, not to mention the selection of chilled calves! We will not be looking to buy until mid march as that is when our dairy goats wil be fresh. If anyone is relatively cose to our area or knows how we can buy calves right off the farm we would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

-- Lazy_Aston (dsowen@tds.net), January 28, 2002

Answers

Why don't you contact the local high school ag teachers in the county or the county agent to find out who the local cattle farmers are. Find out from the ag teacher if he knows if of them sell direct 3 - 4 day olds.

Hope this helps!

-- Katie S (cashcrop90@yahoo.com), January 28, 2002.


Went to the auction today with a friend. Didn't get anything. With this warm winter we are having they are going high!! about 150.oo for a drop calf. 3 years ago my girlfriend and I were getting them free if we would come and get them. Back then you could not sell them cause of the bitter cold winter we were having. I am in south central Mo.

-- Teresa (c3ranch@socket.net), January 28, 2002.

This is spoken as a cattle farmer. Don't buy calves from one directly. Chances are good the cow died or her udders had gotten so large the calf couldn't suckle. Either way it most likely didn't get clostrum. I have saved only one calf I had to bring in from the herd out of about a dozen. If at the livestock auction, ask the barn help why the calves are there if not dairy breeds. If they said it came in with the cow, but she was so old they split them as the price would be better that way, then it is probably OK. I haven't lost a sales barn bottle calf yet, but do try to be selective. If they are skitish, crapping white or won't suck on a finger, they can be someone else's problem.

Try dairy farmers, but make sure they have left the calf with the cow to get the clostrum.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 29, 2002.


They are sky high down here in KY. We won't touch them at 150-200, boys. The tiny runt bull calves that are half dead are 90. It's insane. If folks would quit buying at that price, they would have to come back down to a good price again.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), January 29, 2002.

Cindi:

It's a classic case of supply and demand at work. Demand is high because the cattle market is up a bit and they think they can eventually recoup the higher initial price.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 30, 2002.



We get ours from local dairies. What I did when I started raising bottle calves was get the phone book down and call around to local dairies, feed store ect. I would ask if they had any and then ask if they new anybody that did. I've bought from 3 different dairies and prefer the calves that I got at small mom and pop type run dairies. When you call a dairy, try to call around noon or 8:00 at night and you'll have better luck talking to the person in the know. Always ask about their first milk even though I haven't run across anybody that didn't make sure their babies had colostrum. Holstien calves make some good eating if raised until they are 15 to 18 months old. Good luck

-- sherry in Arkansas (chickadee259@yahoo.com), January 30, 2002.

i get our calves from a local dairy , registerable holstiens for 50- 75.00 each .

i wouldnt get any calf that didnt suck my fingers or look healthy , and chilling is such a danger...

-- Beth Van Stiphout (willosnake@hotmail.com), January 31, 2002.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ