buying calves?

longear · Jun 10, 2013

first time buying. My 13 year old want to raise some beef. he has raised a few jersey steers before. He wants a couple beef hiefers.

What should I look for in a calf? Not really concerned with breed I guess. More concerned with them not being crazy.

caseyc · Jun 10, 2013

All new calves/cows can be crazy when around
strangers. I walk my pens atleast once a day,
sometimes more. I hand feed alfalfa so it gives
the critters a chance to get to know me and get
used to me. No matter how many or how few you
have, there is always a wild one. Right now my
wild one is the only one I can't walk up too and
touch, but she is not scary at all. If an animal
makes me fear for my safety they grow wheels fast.
There's no way to really know until you spend some
time with them.

Casey in SD

caseyc · Jun 10, 2013

I forgot to ask, Why heifers? Does he plan to raise them, breed them and calve them? If so I would recommend getting older cows as heifers can be tough to calve out. You can have a perfectly calm and tame heifer until you have to pull the calf, then your culling her next week cause she's gonna kill you. If the purpose is for meat then again, I would recommend some steers as they grow faster and larger with less feed and bring a better price.

Casey in SD

Matt in TN · Jun 10, 2013

Get him involved in FFA and 4H. FFA was one of the best things I've ever done, period. Anyhow, both of them can educate him on livestock judging. Two of the things I look for in calves in a round hindquarter and a good topline. Long legs and long body are a plus, too. It seems there are a thousand things a commercial buyer will dock a calf for. Anything to get the price down... But a good topline and a round hindquarter will correlate to a good beef yield almost every time.

GordoSD · Jun 10, 2013

Get your Son involved in the selection process too. Have him show you what he learned using Google and the internet. And 4H.
Discuss long term plans, business plan, bookkeeping, will you be a $ partner or just floating the loan?
Who gets profit/loss?
Lots of things to be learned here beside how to care for livestock.

tomturkey · Jun 10, 2013

It is probably too late for him to show beef in 4H this year. They weigh and tag Feb/March??. But he will learn alot, he will need to keep a record book of feed bought. He will halter break thge calves. An added plus is the area business people support the efforts of the 4Hers and get them a good price for their calves after the county fair show. Many times a newbie will bring in a calve that beats out the commercial herd people inyour area. Its good for your kid gobble

longear · Jun 10, 2013

wow thanks for all the response. There isn't any 4h of ffa around us. I will be loaning him money to buy, he has saved money from jersey steers that he sold. I never thought about getting cows. but I will look into it now. His plan is to have a few cows then feed out steers to sell.

EricInSEI · Jun 10, 2013

You might want to look again.
Oakdale 4 H

caseyc · Jun 10, 2013

That's a long ways from where he's located...

longear · Jun 10, 2013

yes, there are 2 oakdale PA's

Nebraska Cowman · Jun 10, 2013

Any honest cattleman will help you with selection.

buying calves?

longear

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caseyc

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Matt in TN

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GordoSD

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tomturkey

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longear

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EricInSEI

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caseyc

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longear

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Nebraska Cowman

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