Dairy Calves 2024

I’d have to agree.

I’ve no cows, all stock are bought in mainly as either suck calves or weanlings. I don’t but jex calves because I don’t want them and guess what, no one comes to my yard with them and forces me to take them either.

It’s not up to me or any other calf rearer to worry about what the dairy man will do with them if I don’t buy them, that his own problem.

For as long as there are people willing to buy jex, even at only a fiver apiece, they will continue to be born and sold on. If all the calf buyers refuse to buy them then the dairy farmers will have to rear them on farm themselves. Either way it won’t affect me and all the talking about it will make no difference either.

a good calf will always get a good price

Yes it happened us last year but we still got the best bad price on the day

Your still wet behind the ears

There is no cost to producing a calf...

Only a cost of getting a cow milking again...

The price of the calf exceeds the cost of keeping it in nearly all cases...

You wont have long to wait .From Paddy's day on next year you might be lucky to be able to give away calves .If shipping goes that is when the real fun begins .Imo the beef finisher are riding the rearer ,i have seen plenty of flaming year and a half aa/hr and halves sold only for double their weight this back end after the best year on reckord for beef

Beef finishing isn't that profitable, there are a lot of people looking at it and cutting numbers and stepping back after this year, yes the price was good but costs are gone insane.

Ultimately the problem is that food production is no longer valued by Society or Govt, especially in Europe.

The beef finisher might be faring better than the rearer but we are all on the same leaky boat.

You could see negative bidding in earnest then.

My thoughts exactly

I am a member of ifa, like a good few other people that's all. Don't attend meetings, never a county chairperson.....

Sure see what white clover said. You're not entitled to make money out of it. 🤔

Jack will never change it seems

You call it head in the sand I call it making hay when the sun shines. Maybe I will need to change my system going forward but for now I don't.

Unbelievable, its as if they think we're totally thick, same **** different day, same posters

There is only profit for 1 person out of any animal. My system and it works for me, I have my 20 suckler cows (would love more but couldn't manage them with been a part time farmer). AI all the cows, sell the bullocks in the mart at around 24 months in the 600 - 700 kg bracket, got €3/ kg average for them this year, heifers kept or sold for breeding, again anything sold €3.50 - €4 /kg this year. I also rear about 20 bucket fed calves (I have 2 small children, they love helping and its a good interest for them), I bring these so slaughter as I find you rarely get the full value for O grade stock like these in the mart at any stage. I also tend to buy in about 20 dairy bred stores around 450 kgs from end of August until Christmas, (2 or 3 at a time in the mart when I have time to go). My most profitable enterprise is the sucklers and has been since I took over the farm in 2015. Next is the store to beef and lastly is the calf rearing. But I need to keep at it as there is no way I would have the time to pick up an additional 20 store bullocks that will tick all the QA boxes (movements, age, grade O= min to get the 20 cent QA bonus and kills 300 kg +) in the factor from August to Christmas, I do be under enough pressure to get the 20 I need.

What I see happening around here now is the diary farmers are expanding and needing more & more land, so they are giving big rental money for land (€400 + an acre, I probably should consider it myself) that was once used by lads to rear dairy calf to beef / store, these lads are now gone out of the market for calves, meaning there is less customers for the dairy bull calves. If this continues then there will be no one to take these bull calves. So with less and less calf rears and no live shipping its looking like there is only one road for the bull calf from the dairy herd and that is calf slaughtering which will destroy the image for Irish Agriculture for everyone.

Id say the only way to move on the extreme calves will be to rear them to weaning and then give away to beef men. Or at small money. But then in a couple of years when they are all fit for the factory and they wont take them cos theres a glut, what happens?

Someone said the calf doesent owe you anything but you owe him for the years milk the cow will produce for you.