C&D Farming..oh what a life!

[Baymule]

There is a dairy a couple of counties away and they sell Jersey bull calves at 3 days old for $20. They are cute, but i have no desire to have a bottle calf, I'd probably kill it out of ignorance. So we paid $500 for a steer that we will get in August. Our friend is keeping the steer in the lot and feeding him, we are picking up Cornish Cross chicks August 12 and 6 are for him. We'll feed and raise them in exchange of him feeding our steer. I think that's a pretty good deal.

 

[farmerjan]

There is a dairy a couple of counties away and they sell Jersey bull calves at 3 days old for $20. They are cute, but i have no desire to have a bottle calf, I'd probably kill it out of ignorance. So we paid $500 for a steer that we will get in August. Our friend is keeping the steer in the lot and feeding him, we are picking up Cornish Cross chicks August 12 and 6 are for him. We'll feed and raise them in exchange of him feeding our steer. I think that's a pretty good deal.

Very good trade off.....Jersey makes good beef to eat. The bull calves are the same here, cost very little since they are not the favorite to feed out due to the smaller sized at slaughter age.

 

[Baymule]

My mistake, I'm not getting a Jersey from the dairy, I'm getting a Hereford and Charolais cross from our hay guy.

 

[Bruce]

Ive decided that I no longer want people taking “tours” of the farm.

Oh, not sure if I mentioned, Chris bought a new feeder pig? Named her Marie...my middle name . She’s 422lbs!

Sounds like someone already fed her ... a lot!

Our friend is keeping the steer in the lot and feeding him, we are picking up Cornish Cross chicks August 12 and 6 are for him. We'll feed and raise them in exchange of him feeding our steer. I think that's a pretty good deal.

I'd say you got the good financial end of that deal!

 

[Baymule]

We get our steer in August when the pigs go to slaughter. The Pig Palace and the pen are big enough for a steer. I already have a date in March for slaughter, then we'll get pigs again.

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

@Baymule ...everyone tells us..hint hint, @farmerjan, tgat we need to keep them at least a few years? But, now that we’re getting so attached to them, of course we know that we have to butcher...but, as I always say, we’re bad farmers...we don’t like to “cull” anything....even to feed us.

These guys are a blast and doing sooo great! Wide eyed and doing high kicks! I had a rabbit buyer today..wanted to see the farm..I stammered, stuttered, but did pretty good at holding my ground. I pointed at things, and explainEd why we couldn’t go for a tour. They were bummed...but, just couldn’t do it. Chris is out buying another freezer for Marie..this makes #5...full freezers! Yep..you read that right! That does not count the refrigerator ones. I told him I still want to be able to buy my ice cream in bulk when we go to the cheap grocery store that’s an hour away...we get about 15-18 1/2 gallons every time. Plus the milk, plus the other pig...etc...yep, we’re nuts!

I lost a bunny to GI Stasis last night. She was sold to some people already. It got sick so the6 brought her back. Ok, this is part of the reason that im rethinking selling to kids?? This was a pretty expensive rabbit. This bunny got sooooo stressed under their care, that fast....ugh!! I had to do an “autopsy “ to make sure it wasn’t something that could affect my herd....when I saw it’s guts soooo impacted ...I was...ughhhhhh...I had been syringe feeding, yogurt, water, raspberry leaves, plantain, everything...she was crying out in oain. Honestly, if she was mine, I’d have put her down. I was about to call them to ask, but she jus5 passed. Poor girl. Now they wanted to buy another one from me!!! I agonized alllll night. I referred them to a friend that sells $15 meat rabbits..they are more sturdy and a good starter rabbit. I spent an hour with these people before I let them take tgat bunny...trying to reach them...plus I send very very detailed notes about rabbits. Sooooo, rabbit people...how do YOU wean out who to sell to? I don’t want to sell to people like this..but in the spring I sold to a lot of children that are doing great jobs! And for some it teaches responsibility!! Ugh. Enough of that..got to go milk!

 

[rachels.haven]

If it's any consolation, adults kill rabbits too. Just know it's not your responsibility if someone sits on their rabbit, or strikes their child's rabbit until it's crippled every time their child does or does not do something they want or don't want (my mother almost called the cops for that one, but foster care is only marginally better than abusive home, and sometimes worse), or sometimes rabbits just randomly die. My mom didn't weed out buyers, but she knew stupid people kill rabbits, and some would even blame her and want free replacements to go on killing. If it gets too bad raising price is a good bet too. I think she had a very limited guarantee/contract on what she was responsible for, especially after a few years, but always answered questions and encouraged them to bug her for emergencies (and not vets, omg, one vet in the area would KILL rabbits with bad care). Some people do "tail lights" health guarantees. Once they can no longer see the tail lights of the vehicle carrying off the rabbit their health is up to the owner, and it seems cruel, but there are a lot of stupids and weirdos out there that want buns to do weird and stupid things to. You never can tell. Age of caretaker doesn't even always correlate to success or failure of the rabbit keeper either as you're seeing.
Any time you sell anything there's a risk and that animal is out of your hands, but success equals to possibly a happy future for all involved and the start of someone's new hobby and the "joy" shared.

Did the stasis rabbit always have dry grass hay and water available? While not strictly necessary on the right pellets, hay always seemed to "absorb" dietary mistakes and changes. I guess grooming and avoiding hair balls would be important too for your breed. Mini rexes don't take as much as your lion heads when it comes to grooming...

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

@rachels.haven ....sooo, yes, I go over everything with buyers..this breed was a lop, so really no reason for a hair all at this age. Yes, it should’ve had water at its house? Under my care I was syringe feeding it water..,and yogurt...Offering hay, raspberry leaves..plantain...Calf mana, oats...she wascsooo darned thin. Every custOmer gets my cell number, and is told to call, even at 4am...but, when I was asked about a guarantee...I said simply...I guarantee, that while under my care, they get the best care that I can give, I do my best possible...but, once it leaves, I can’t control, the circumstances..,of its feed and care, etc. honestly, this has really soured me to sell to new owners..aka for pets. Just a bit ago, a breeder friend texted me, and has the same situaction...their kit died, after two weeks...but unit sounds like the new owner put it under stress, I’m sick of people thinking rabbits “are easy”!

 

[chickens really]

Sorry about the Bunny. Stop selling them at 8 weeks and keep them till 10 weeks. Here Pet stores only sell 12 week old bunnies. Bunnies have very sensitive stomachs to feed changes and being taken away from the only place they know causes stress on any animals. Possibly the Bunny had underlying health issues and wasn't even the owners fault? You can't get to upset when selling animals because that's the business you chose. Of course we all want fantastic homes for our baby animals but once they leave it's not our responsibility anymore. If they knowingly neglected the Bunny I don't think they would have brought her back.
My last litter of puppies I was dooped by a puppy seller. Meaning they bought my tiniest puppy and resold her at a higher price. I definitely worry about my puppies and what ever else I sell as babies. The Mare I sold with the agreement of promise of first refusal and they sold her at auction before asking me if I wanted her back. Selling animals can be a wonderful thing, it also can be disappointing.

 

[rachels.haven]

Sheesh, sounds like you're doing what you can.
You could always wait a few weeks to sell them like chickensreally said, but it sounds like you're doing a good job.
Hang in there. I'm sorry.