Where to buy, what to buy, where to start?

[ourflockof4]

I want to try this too. I am finding that most weaned beef calves are around $800. Does that sound right??

If it's about 550 lbs then yes. Right now the market price for feeder calves is at $1.45/lb. Our local sale barns have been averaging $1.35-1.50/lb. Some people will also pay a slight premium for a healthy, off the farm calf that hasn't been exposed to all the germ at the sale barn.

Be carefull though. With the drought some poeple are weaning earlier so the calves are smaller. A 300 lb feeder for that price is not a good deal.

 

[promiseacres]

I'm kind of near you (winamac) my husband knows some beef producers and may be able to hook you up with a calf. He works on tractors all over NW Indiana so knows a ton of farmers. We were talking about getting one next year to raise. The one guy I"m thinking of has xbred I think. He let us make hay on his land this summer. I have no idea on price or anything...but can ask if things don't work out closer. The big thing around here (my DH says) is that not many raise their own but buy from Canada to feed out.

I'd love to get a mini or dexter but I think it'll be cheaper in the long run to get one from this farmer...he LOVES my husband's work on the tractors so I have an in with him.

 

[GLENMAR]

I think the weight they were talking about was around 400 lbs. So now I know not to pay over 1.50 per pound.
Thanks for the info.

Do you really save any money over buying beef in the store????? By the time you pay for some calves, feed them for 2 yrs and then pay to process them?????

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Do you really save any money over buying beef in the store????? By the time you pay for some calves, feed them for 2 yrs and then pay to process them?????

No.

 

[Goatherd]

GLENMAR wrote:

Do you really save any money over buying beef in the store????? By the time you pay for some calves, feed them for 2 yrs and then pay to process them?????

I'm sure your don't and I don't speak from experience. BUT...the comfort in knowing how the beef was raised, what it was fed, and how it lived would far outweigh the cost per pound for me. Someday, I hope to be able to do this.

 

[GLENMAR]

Do you really save any money over buying beef in the store????? By the time you pay for some calves, feed them for 2 yrs and then pay to process them?????

No.

That's what I thought.

 

[Cricket]

GLENMAR wrote:

Do you really save any money over buying beef in the store????? By the time you pay for some calves, feed them for 2 yrs and then pay to process them?????

I'm sure your don't and I don't speak from experience. BUT...the comfort in knowing how the beef was raised, what it was fed, and how it lived would far outweigh the cost per pound for me. Someday, I hope to be able to do this.

Yep! And I don't mind buying a bag of grain or shavings or baling twine for hay to feed my cows. But I WILL not go into a store and pay for good cuts of meat, 'cause I'm cheap. So we end up eating much better!

 

[Janice]

No Black Baldies? Wow. They are like Boers here. Every place that has cows here has Black Baldies in their field. We also have many, many Angus', Herefords, and tons of Angus crosses, such as the Black Baldy. We have many Holsteins and Holstein crosses and a few Galloways here. I know someone that has a dozen Holstein steers for meat right now. Holsteins are an excellent dairy breed but can be used as meat and the crosses are pretty good for meat. They do take longer to grow though.

8 acres should be more than enough for one cow. You are looking for a steer, right?

I would not use CL to find one. The prices will be WAY high esp. for a meat cow. I would talk to ranchers and go to a sale and get to know the ones that bring animals alot. I would never but a goat or sheep from a sale because they are all cull animals but here everybody brings their cows here. Good and bad.If you have an eye you can tell which are good and which are bad. There was this guy that breeds really nice Angus cows and he brought 8 PB Angus bulls that are registered to the sale. So I'm not sure about all stockyards but here we have nice and not so nice that is sold here. Get to know some of the better ones and maybe get one from his/her ranch.

Please remember that I do not own cattle. Everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt. Hopefully some of the real cattle people weigh in soon.

Can I ask a question from one of your comments? If people take their cull animals to a sale and you want to get (sheep) to feed out, then would these animals be ok to purchase? Or if they are culling them is there usually a bigger problem? Thx.

 

[GLENMAR]

Some one with more experience will hopefully chime in here. I was under the impression that the reason to be careful at sales it that they could carry disease home to
your healthy animals.

 

[Goatherd]

I was under the impression that the reason to be careful at sales it that they could carry disease home to your healthy animals.

That's certainly one thing that can go wrong. Regardless of where an animal comes from, it should be quarantined from your other animals until you can evaluate the health of the animal and see if the stress of moving it causes anything to develop which could be passed on to your resident animals.