Calves 101
This is our newly added page, and it is under construction.
Thank You Dusty, for this idea. We appreciate all our visitors suggestions to make this site great for all.
I am unsure as to how this page should go, so I guess
I will start with some basic information on raising calves, and see where it goes.... So here goes! If you have
other ideas or comments as to this page, feel free to contact us. Anyway, lets start with
some calf raising information, and thoughts :-)
Let's start with our thoughts on purchasing your calf or calves.
We believe the best place to get a calf or calves, is of course
direct from it's farm or ranch location. We find this to be less stressful for the calf or calves, and also you get
a good idea as to how the calf has been treated, and the environment it comes from. This is a big plus, especially if
the calf is very young. The younger these guys are, the more fragile their system.
Getting to know who you are getting your calf from, to us
is important. Through our "live and learn" experiences, we have learned that one the hard way. When we first
got into raising our calves, we began purchasing some of our calves from one dairy (who's name we won't mention), which seemed
to be great, we were getting our calves direct from the farmer, good breeding stock, fairly large herd ect.... We had
met the owners, they were nice, helpful ect...
We had never raised calves before and wanted to get off on
the right foot, have the best calves, from the best places ect... We paid premium price for these calves, which were
worth it, because they came from a closed herd, good breeding stock, were given colostrum, and were really nice sized healthy
calves.
We were so excited, and went weekly to pick up that weeks
calves. We brought them home, named them, cared for them...
We were told when raising calves to get used to fatalities
("if you want 10, buy 15"). We knew the mortality rate in calves was high, especially in the few day old to week or
two week old stage... We were doing everything we were told, consulting our vet, and anyone else who we knew had successfully
raised calves, as we were struggling! Our calves looked healthy to start with, but we were losing a lot, and even some
that looked perfectly healthy, would be dead at the next feeding. We were very frustrated, not to mention spending a
lot of money, and losing a lot of calves. We ended up taking calves to the University for autopsy (80.00 a piece). We
were paying premium for our calves, feeding, medicating, ect... and once dead paying another 80.00 to figure out why...
In the mean time, we were still getting our calves weekly
from our dairy farmer (which for some reason seem to be getting smaller looking, and less healthy looking, on every pick-up,
and there seem to be less of them also)... Like I said, we were new and clueless!
On our last pick up from this dairy, we arrived to pick up
our calves, pulled our trailer up to our normal position, and went in to see our new babies...
I can't remember if there were 3 or 4 calves, but I do remember
being very excited, as the farmer had told me about one calf that I had been waiting for, for a long time, and he said that
they finally had one! He described him (the calf) to me and I couldn't wait to see him! Upon seeing the calves
waiting for us, we noticed that there were not as many as he had told us we would be picking up, they all looked small and
sickly (one could not get up), they seemed very hungry, and the beautiful one he had said would be there was gone. Steve
looked at me, and said no way are we taking these calves. At that time, the son of the farmer came into the barn, I
was still trying to get the one calf to his feet. The son looked at me (with a cattle shocker in hand) and said, "oh,
he won't get up? I'll get him up." At this point, we knew we had made a mistake in our judgment, and decided we
would rather not take anymore calves from this dairy.
In the weeks that followed, we found out that the reason we
were losing our calves, was they were not getting the colostrum as we were told. We also suspect that the reason the
calves we were picking up, were decreasing in numbers and size, and looking different, was that he knew we did not know much
about calves, and pawned his smaller, weaker calves to us (charging us premium price), and selling his nice calves somewhere
else. "Live and Learn".
Anyway, we made it through that experience and learned :-)
Now back to our subject.
If you are unable to get your calf direct, you can go to a
local livestock auction, or sales barn. If you have never been to an auction or a sales barn, it is where sellers bring
the calf or calves (or other livestock) to sell. The livestock for sale is placed in front of the crowd (individually
or in groups), and the crowd bids on them, with the highest bidder winning.
Things to remember when purchasing from a livestock auction
or sales barn, are that these animals are under stress from the transport, the other animals, the noise ect... They
have also been exposed to several other animals, and area's where several animals go in and out on a regular basis, this can
lead to increased sickness and illness. Unless you are familiar with the sellers and the auction environment, you may
not know what the calf's previous environment or treatment has been.
We have found that, unless you are experienced, and knowing
exactly what you are looking at, you can get really burned. Any calf, can become very expensive if it needs medication,
or veterinary treatment, not to mention the time spent in, caring for a sick calf and recovery, which in the end seems to
stunt them from full potential permanently anyway.
It is wise to keep your sales barn or livestock auction animals
separate from your other animals for a period of time, just to make sure they are healthy before introducing them. It
is also wise, to take off your auction clothes upon arrival home, and prior to contact with your other livestock or animals.
A little prevention goes along way, they say. There is nothing worse than introducing something into a herd you
have worked so hard to keep healthy.
Don't get us wrong, we are not against sales barns or livestock
auctions, nor are we forming judgment on the animals sold or purchased there. They are easy markets for both sellers
and buyers. There are just aspects that need to be taken into consideration (like the number of animals in and out of the
premises (healthy or ill), the condition of the animals ,where they came from, how they have been treated, how they have been
transported, how long they were in transport, how long they were at the sales barn, how old they are, what kind of care this
animal has gotten or will be getting ect...), when purchasing or selling livestock at an auction or sales barn, and certain
expectations and precautions should be taken.
As we said, bringing any calf home can be a costly experience
if the calf gets stressed or ill (which is very easily done anyway in calves), not to mention that several of the illnesses
these guys get are contagious and easily spread, sometimes even to other species. Getting a bargain animal, can be a
blessing, but more often than not, it is a frustrating, time extensive, expensive experience, that can end up devastating
if you are not careful or experienced. Even the most experienced, take caution purchasing and selling at livestock auctions
or sales barns.
Well, that is our thoughts for now. Will be adding more,
as we said "still under construction". Please let us know what you think. Thank You.
