When do you plan to cut his throat and make steaks?

FIFY... farmers plant stuff in rows. Ranchers raise livestock.



Mike

if i farm and raise livestock does that make me a farmin rancher???not to be confused with a jolly rancher either.

I have no idea yet. I’m not sure if I want him when he’s really young or wait a year and a half and let him get big.

Me and the family are also having doubts that we can butcher him at the end of all this. I feeding him bottles man! Getting a little attached!

The fat does not taste right if you butcher a steer or cow to early. I would butcher him after 18 months sometime before 24 months. I have butchered 3 grass fed steers and greatly prefer corn finished for most cuts. I always corn finish now. The fat in the steaks is much better on corn finished beef.

Keith

Make sure to not feed him too much while on the bottle/bucket. They’ll act like they’re always starving, but thats okay. Feeding too much can lead to scours. Scours can lead to a dead calf.

Ok thanks for letting me know that! If my heart doesn’t allow me to butcher him, at 12 months old how much could I sell him for alive? Anyone know?

Ok, I fed him 2 litres in the morning and 2 litres in the evening Thursday and Friday. Today I’m starting to feed him 2 litres three times a day. Should be alright eh?

Been a while, but I think it 2 quarts in the morning and 2 in the evening. And I think they start lower and work up to that, but I can’t recall exactly.

What its worth at as a yearling will be dependent on market price, breed, and condition/phenotype. As bottle calves are weaned, they need the right nutrition to grow properly. It gets expensive so a lot of bottle calves grow up undersized and the price they bring reflects that.

Looking for an update on the calf! How's he doing? How are YOU doing?

We are picking up a Devon/Normande cross calf next week. Already weaned, so we don't have to do the bottle thing. Looking forward to having a bellowing idiot in the field again!

I was going to do an update on Wednesday, but I’ve been so dang busy! Blackjack is doing great! I wish I had a scale to weigh him and see how much weight he’s gained. He’s growing and we’re feeding him 2.5 litres three times a day.

Feeding him is so easy! My 4 year old kids feed him some days. He drinks his bottle in like 2-3 mins.
We banded him 9 days ago, so just waiting for his nuts to fall off now. I’ll post some pics tomorrow if I have time!

We plan on buying another calf. We love this!

Here’s some more pics!
A couple of the kids still in their pajamas giving Blackjack is morning bottle!





Meet Jill! Just picked her up yesterday!

Find some small feeders and mount them in those neat airy pens. Put some really well blended calf pellets in there and get them eating grain and ruminating as quickly as you can. The grain will create the rumaen quicker than hay will when young. That will get them on a forage diet quicker which will be lower cost, less labor and healthy as well.

Bryce

That’s exactly what I plan on doing very soon.