Pics very soon. It poured rain all weekend and I didn't feel like snapping pics in a downpour!

We had our two bottle babies delivered Thursday. They decided after about the second bottle that we are O.K. folks! We got an Angus/Simmental cross bull calf and a pure Angus heifer. (Boy, is she a pretty little girl!) They are supposed to be about three weeks old. After hitting several auctions and watching some teeny (mostly sickly-looking) calves, (at least one I saw with a big herniation of the abdominal wall) going for $260-280, we felt that at $275 for the bull calf and $300 for the heifer (delivered) wasn't bad at all. At least they didn't have to go through the stress of the sale barn and exposure to God knows what in that environment. The bull calf has had some normal and some runny stools, but not true scours; not yellow or bubbly; and he is eating calf pellets and some good quality grass hay in addition to his two bottles a day. If it doesn't clear up pretty quickly, I'll run a sample in to have tested for parasites I guess. Pictures forthcoming very soon!

We plan to keep and breed the heifer and we'll wait to see if the bull calf develops the small (more desireable) Angus head or the big blocky Simmental one. If he's small headed, he could be very desireable and saleable as a herd bull. If not, he'll go for beef.

Our goats Are Not Pleased with the new arrivals. Brie especially regarded them as if we had put baby dragons next door. Better after a couple of days now.

 Quote: Becky Shilling

Our goats Are Not Pleased with the new arrivals. Brie especially regarded them as if we had put baby dragons next door. Better after a couple of days now.

Hah! That's very funny, Becky.
Looking forward to seeing the pics.

I'm excited to have another cattle owner on the Forum!
Are these calves orphans? Most beef calves on on their mothers.

No, they were pulled so the guy could get his heifers open again more quickly.

If we had wanted to go strictly meat, around here you can get Holstein bull calves for about $110 and Jersey bulls for even less. After talking to the processing guy, he said at 800-1000 pounds, the biggest difference in processing would be in the percentage of top-quality steaks. Since I'm just about as happy with a hamburger steak as I am with a rib eye, that would have been O.K.

However, we wanted very much to find a nice heifer so we could have some calves of our own in the future. I think we got pretty lucky - she is a VERY pretty little girl.

Yes, dairy calves are cheaper, but it costs more to raise them.
Taking the baby away from the mother will only get the guy 21 days earlier on re-breed, it makes no sense, why would you feed a cow w/o a calf when one with a calf eats the same and raises the calf too? He already fed her for 9 mos for $300, he's nuts, but it's your gain!
Maybe this is the tail end of his calving and he's moving all moms and babies out to remote pastures
and these little guys are too young to go, whatever, it's great you have them.
Send photos!

Yes, dairy calves are cheaper, but it costs more to raise them.
Taking the baby away from the mother will only get the guy 21 days earlier on re-breed, it makes no sense, why would you feed a cow w/o a calf when one with a calf eats the same and raises the calf too? He already fed her for 9 mos for $300, he's nuts, but it's your gain!
Maybe this is the tail end of his calving and he's moving all moms and babies out to remote pastures
and these little guys are too young to go, whatever, it's great you have them.
Send photos!

Can't wait to see pics!!

Moooo!

I can't wait to see some pics. Cows are so neat.

Is hand raising a bull calf a good idea? I seem to recall hearing a mess of talk about it making them more likely to be human aggressive.

Well, you certainly don't want to encourage them to "play" with you. From what I've read, you never want to pet/pat them on the head because it encourages butting. I have seen some pretty nice bulls, but there really is no such thing as a bull you can trust. NEVER. They are just too big and potentially dangerous. We will make much more of a "pet" out of the heifer. He will probably be sold at about 10 months or so of age, depending on his weight. Anyway I grabbed some pics last night - it was near dark, but at least you can get a look. The heifer looks very red in the pics, though she is quite black. The close-up head is the bull calf.

First pic heifer is on the left, 2nd pic she's on the right.


http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e257/OkieAmazon/Calves/calves001.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e257/OkieAmazon/Calves/calves003.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e257/OkieAmazon/Calves/calves002.jpg