What I wish I had known...

[Sphinx]

Or in other words, let me (and those reading) learn from your mistakes!


I recently bought two shorthorn calves. One was nearly weaned at 8-9 weeks (I weaned him as of Sunday), and the other is around 6-7 weeks, and I'm still feeding him two bottles a day. This is my first foray into livestock, and I want to do right by these guys so that they're the second happiest meat steers on the planet. I draw the line at massage, so I'll concede the happiest cows are the Kobe beef cows.

So, what did you do as a newbie that you regret? If you were to go back and do it again, what would you do when raising a calf?

 

[Cricket]

Welcome tp BYH! I always regret when I haven't had steers disbudded. I've got one now that has horns and he doesn't use them per se, but they are like a magnet for my elbow. (It was one of those things where I waited for a check, then my vet was gone for 3 weeks and then it was the height of fly season.)

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I would not treat them as a pet, ie: petting them on the head, letting them come up and chew your clothes, rub on you. It was a learning and now I know. But at 50 pounds all of this stuff is cute and fun. At 500+ not cute and fun anymore. Best wishes with your new cattle.

 

[Mike Fronczak]

I would have started with either Highlands (which I have now) or Galloways off the bat. We had two Jersey mix last year they were a good bit of work to get weight on, grain twice a day, challenged fences etc. I was glad when they went to the butcher. Those two were more work than I have into all 8 of our Highlands, even with one "problem child" (bottle feeding now).
You learn as you go, trust your instincts, I lost a heifer this spring, we had bought her 2 months earlier, I had a feeling something was wrong she was always off by herself. My gut said to separate her off & give her grain, but i also didnt want to encourage that behaviour we called the vet when she wouldn't get up, she had gotten run down between the bigger cows keeping her off the hay & her being pregnant (previous owner said she might be, which I wasn't happy about). Vet gave her a 30% chance to pull through, 10% chance of giving birth because she was small. His advise was IF she made it two months of heavy grain and butcher. She past that night. However even if I had seperated her and grained (before she went down), Im sure I would of lost her durring birthing, which would of made this year he'll being we had 3 more calves on the way. We had bought another one at same time, followed vets advise, she went to freezer. Turned out she wasn't pregnant, had 3 year molars (was told she was about 14 mos). The bull be also bought at the same time (from same guy)has grown some but it has taken time, some grain, etc. If he wasn't so calm & easy going he probably would of been at the butcher as well. There are a lot of people out there just looking for a quick buck, trying to sort through the good ones can be tough.

 

[Sphinx]

I'm trying to find that balance of tame and docile, but keeping the emotional distance for safety and for my own good. My neighbor raised a steer a couple years ago, and at the end, he was like a 900 lb puppy. Cute, but more than a little scary.

 

[redtailgal]

<y biggest regrets in the beginning was that I didnt switch them to a bucket sooner. It's easier, and they start eating grain and gaining weight better and sooner.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

When we had our first actual real pet steer a number of years ago that came with the bunch of other stockers he came home here with, I regret not knowing the proper way to make him submissive and me dominant, and not correcting him properly in the times he was disrespecting my space or doing something that I found out much later was actually dominance behaviour and not something that should be deemed as "cute." I wish I had known the proper way to be Boss Cow sooner! Now I do, and when I get something like that happen again, I'll be sure to not to repeat the past.

 

[greybeard]

I regret not following my instincts and buying every bovine I could lay my hands on last fall and winter when the big drought selloff was on here in Texas and prices were way down. Well positioned now, but it ain't happening this year--we had too much rain and hay is adequate everywhere here.