Bucket fed calves

TUBBY

Lads,

Have tried finishing bullocks which in fairness left a few pound if bought middling right over last number of years. too dear last year so tried weanling bulls. not going well for me and will do well to break even.

With prices as they are, just wondering what peoples opinions are on buying in 5wk old calves and bucket rearing for sale in back end. Am willing to try anything once and mark it down as a disaster if not working.
Is it any way viable. I know sickness is the big issue but would ye consider it very time consuming or worth trying. Calves dear enough alright but not compared to mad prices for weanlings or stores.

Reason I thinking of it is small outlay. Easier on land. Can carry big numbers compared to finishing and most important, you are selling the dearest type of beast in the mart @ 350 - 400kg rather than trying to buy it with store to beef system. Also, if this is a reference year, number would be up even if stocking rate was much the same.

Other idea was buy older cows with calf at foot. bring on the weanling and sell. factory the cow hopefully for same price as paid for cow and calf:o

Any opinions??

case 956

TUBBY wrote: »

Lads,

Have tried finishing bullocks which in fairness left a few pound if bought middling right over last number of years. too dear last year so tried weanling bulls. not going well for me and will do well to break even.

With prices as they are, just wondering what peoples opinions are on buying in 5wk old calves and bucket rearing for sale in back end. Am willing to try anything once and mark it down as a disaster if not working.
Is it any way viable. I know sickness is the big issue but would ye consider it very time consuming or worth trying. Calves dear enough alright but not compared to mad prices for weanlings or stores.

Reason I thinking of it is small outlay. Easier on land. Can carry big numbers compared to finishing and most important, you are selling the dearest type of beast in the mart @ 350 - 400kg rather than trying to buy it with store to beef system. Also, if this is a reference year, number would be up even if stocking rate was much the same.

Other idea was buy older cows with calf at foot. bring on the weanling and sell. factory the cow hopefully for same price as paid for cow and calf:o

Any opinions??

Tubby your F***ing mad to buy calves and rear them on buckets. it is very labour intensive and expensive and wont get the same liveweight gain as a calve running with a cow and also ur only buying Angus or Hereford calves out of frieian cows. We use to do it up to 2 year ago got my way and they went v quickly and never again. Buy weanling heifers put incalf and sell either incalf or with calf at foot that where the money is made. limousin x Incalf heifers sold this spring for 1400 euro and if you can get gobs**tes to buy them for that exploit him:o

what happen

case 956 wrote: »

Tubby your F***ing mad to buy calves and rear them on buckets. it is very labour intensive and expensive and wont get the same liveweight gain as a calve running with a cow and also ur only buying Angus or Hereford calves out of frieian cows. We use to do it up to 2 year ago got my way and they went v quickly and never again. Buy weanling heifers put incalf and sell either incalf or with calf at foot that where the money is made. limousin x Incalf heifers sold this spring for 1400 euro and if you can get gobs**tes to buy them for that exploit him:o

i did that very expensive and a lot of work and in my option it is too late now to be buying calves. early feb or march born calves would be the only way to go.the calves this year are very expensive.selling incalf heifers is the way to go.too many things can go wrong with the bucket fed calves.you would have to dose calves often for worms.

bogman_bass

on the plus side you end up with nice quiet calves

reilig

bogman_bass wrote: »

on the plus side you end up with nice quiet calves

My father in law had his leg broken from a bucket fed calf a few years ago. The calf was 6 months old, he was carrying a bucket of meal out into the field, the calf playfully nudged him and knocked him. It wasn't pretty.

F.D

bucket feeding calves feeding 18 at the moment 20 mins in the morning and 20 in the evening have 8 allready weaned, thats making up the milk replacer and putting in meal and hay,bedding takes longer we have had no scour or virus but then the shed we have is wide open i only had to put up so plywood to stop the wind hitting them low down when it was blowing in from the open side when its not its taken away so loads of fresh air around them,
plus side no cow to feed, very dossile animals no matter what breed, you give them a great start at that age
on the other hand you have to buy them in the mart so you dont know what your really getting,
we try and buy some off the neighbours that way you know there good stock
to be honest we cant afford to buy stock any other way at the moment so its working out ok, at the end of the day the hard work is done by the lad selling them, getting them started on milk and over the scour stage

F.D

reilig wrote: »

My father in law had his leg broken from a bucket fed calf a few years ago. The calf was 6 months old, he was carrying a bucket of meal out into the field, the calf playfully nudged him and knocked him. It wasn't pretty.

That was unfortunate, but i think i would prefer them coming to me than having to look at them sucklers running to the other end of the field to get away from ya, been there done that and will never go back with some suckler weanlings we bought

bbam

what happen wrote: »

i did that very expensive

Compared to running a good cow and bull I don't see how it's expensive, I'd reckon it's alot less expensive than suckling...

what happen wrote: »

and a lot of work

Calves can be fed in about 1.5 to 2 minutes each if you have the right set up, it's all in the approach...

what happen wrote: »

and in my option it is too late now to be buying calves.

depends on he land, they need to be times to wean and be ready for grass, you don't want the weaned and house them for weeks and weeks waiting for grass which is obviously cheapest feeding..

what happen wrote: »

calves this year are very expensive

Indeed, but bargains are there if you look hard..

what happen wrote: »

too many things can go wrong with the bucket fed calves.you would have to dose calves often for worms.

We've been supplementing our sucklers with them for years and find them less work all round, you can be unlucky but then that happens with sucklers too....



Expectations are everything... no point in thinking you're going to be competing in the €1K weanlin range.. But the inputs are much, much less and a modest profit can be made if you run a tight ship..
We've made a modest profit on our bucket fed's, something I wish I could say about our suckler stock...

niallf

what sort of price would you expect to get for say an average bucket fed friesan bull calf born in spring , sold in october/november?

bbam

niallf wrote: »

what sort of price would you expect to get for say an average bucket fed friesan bull calf born in spring , sold in october/november?

Don't know about friesan but we just sold some good hex heifers, ~9 months old.. ~230kg's.. they made €200/€220 along with their weight. Have some similar bulls to sell but will run them on a bit longer...

easymoney!

wel im new to the site!!

im rearing 8 fr bull calves at the moment and im hoping to sell these in oct,, like the poster before i wonder what kind of money they will leave behind them !!!!