christmas

whelan1

when i was young i always wanted a calf off santa - which i never got- got a stupid pram and a doll:o my son is 10 and has a half interest in farming would he be too young to give a calf to or am i reliving my youth ?

KatyMac

whelan1 wrote: »

when i was young i always wanted a calf off santa - which i never got- got a stupid pram and a doll:o my son is 10 and has a half interest in farming would he be too young to give a calf to or am i reliving my youth ?

My dad gave me a heifer calf when I was about 7/8. She was a blue white head that in due time was put in calf. She faithfully had a calf every year for 21 years and when the calf was sold or added to the herd the proceeds of the sale were put into my post office account. This was my launch into the wild world when I left school as it was never touched until then. Dad never missed the price of the animals as they were always referred to as mine and I helped look after the cow/calves. She was finally culled at 23 years old, in which time she had 21 calves only 1 of which died.

johngalway

whelan1 wrote: »

would he be too young to give a calf to or am i reliving my youth ?

Not a bit of it, perfect age, just supervise and advise him

Kovu

whelan1 wrote: »

when i was young i always wanted a calf off santa - which i never got- got a stupid pram and a doll:o my son is 10 and has a half interest in farming would he be too young to give a calf to or am i reliving my youth ?

Do it! I got one for my 18th, bit late but sure it was a heifer:D
It'll give him valuable insight from a young age to respect and be responsible for an animal of his own. Also he will learn about the value of his euro when it comes to any sale day:rolleyes:

ITFarmer

Good idea

lanod2407

To answer your two questions in order
NO
&
YES

Go for it - you'll not regret it ....... at the age of 10 whatever you do is generally going to be right. When he gets to 16 you won't have a clue .............. it's amazing how stupid you'll get in the space of the next 5 or 6 years!!!!

marknjb

my two boys both got calfs for their birthdays the youngest when he was 5 because he was allways farming mad he is now 9 and has two cows he sells the weanlings every nov he now has more money than i have (wouldnt be hard)the other lad who never had an intrest got intrested then so we got him one then they are now 9 and 10 and are cattle mad so go ahead u wont be sorry

Muckit

whelan1 wrote: »

when i was young i always wanted a calf off santa - which i never got- got a stupid pram and a doll:o my son is 10 and has a half interest in farming would he be too young to give a calf to or am i reliving my youth ?

Sounds like he'd prefer a pram and a doll ;-)

Sorry bad joke. Yes good idea, go for it.

dar31

brought no 2 (5 yr old girl) to the ihfa open day a while back, good day out, later we sat ring side to show her the stock being sold.
she sat there quitely taking it all in, till half ways through, 5 calves came in, she piped up to her gran dad with us "gran dad thats the one i want, will you buy it for me" excuses were made and she was told she could pick any one of the calves at home to be her own (calf sold for €3000). a couple of neighbors sitting with us got a good laugh from it
her self and her older sister were give the pick, and christened them james and whitesocks, and thought no more of it. now we cant pass a bloody field of calves with out stopping to go look for james and co.

funny thing is the oldest one picked any old calf, and her younger sister studied them for a few minutes and then picked the 2 nicest looking ones out of a field of 60+ calves.

5live

Perfect age for starting him. But remember the others will want one too so you cant show favouritism.

I remember taking 4 calves to the mart in '74 with my father and him being p****d off because the price was so bad so he decided to bring them home. So we loaded them up and went for a bowl of soup(big martday treat:o) in the mart yard and then drove home. When we got home there were 7 calves in the trailer:eek:. The prices were so poor that people didnt want to be feeding them or bringing them home so we all got a calf each and had to feed them every evening. As marknjb said, the money went into a savings account and i finally got my grubby hands on it when i went to college (and off i went and bought 8 friesian heifers:))

Bizzum

5live wrote: »

I remember taking 4 calves to the mart in '74 with my father and him being p****d off because the price was so bad so he decided to bring them home. So we loaded them up and went for a bowl of soup(big martday treat:o) in the mart yard and then drove home. When we got home there were 7 calves in the trailer:eek:.

You're really showing your age there! I don't quite remember that but the same thing happened an uncle of mine at the time. He often tells me about it, particularly the more expensive cattle get!

mjcom4d

Make sure it goes into an account or better still more calves

blue5000

Luvin this thread whelan. I remember taking the money box down off the top shelf in 1974, counting it and wanting to buy a calf off the old fella for 4 quid! No sale.....

I'd say go for it, hope it's a gud un

5live

Bizzum wrote: »

You're really showing your age there! I don't quite remember that but the same thing happened an uncle of mine at the time. He often tells me about it, particularly the more expensive cattle get!

I started young???:p

MidlandsM

Its a great idea. I remember Daddy doing this for me, a belguin blue bull calf it was. I was chuffed.

johngalway

mjcom4d wrote: »

Make sure it goes into an account or better still more calves

Great idea. Former dog warden bought old ewes off Dad for his young lad. From then on the young lad was in charge, putting down all the costs etc. Came back again years later and could tell us not only all about the ewes and how well they done, but how he done on the money side of it too. Valuable thing to learn early.

bbam

I'd say it's a great idea..
Seems like we've all been there and for me it was a great experience.

It's funny visiting my sisters farm, my nephew is 10 and grows by about a foot taller when he's showing off his cow that he got as a calf

Go for it.. you won't be sorry

Bizzum

Indeed it is a great idea!

I took a slightly longer route to my first heifer.
4 turkeys sold at christmas, bought a suck pig with the proceeds, sold the pig fat, bought a share in a weanling, eventually buying a heifer to bull but she got mastitis as a maiden!

moy83

Bizzum wrote: »

Indeed it is a great idea!

I took a slightly longer route to my first heifer.
4 turkeys sold at christmas, bought a suck pig with the proceeds, sold the pig fat, bought a share in a weanling, eventually buying a heifer to bull but she got mastitis as a maiden!

You have a good story there , sound like a farming version of bill cullen :D

Bodacious

Great thread.. Id say at 10 he is bang on ready for first calf.

My grandad gave me my first lovely Black white head heifer weanling from his FR house milking cow(milked her, made churn etc).. when i was 7/8 years.. she was bulled Sept 17th so was due June 17th and all my classmates can remember the countdown to due date on the school calendar:D