Comments on: Raising Dairy Beef: Little Calves, Big Profits

By: grace worman

grace worman — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 04:22:12 +0000

You’ve got to be kidding me.
Anyone who’s ever raised calves know how incredibly hard this can be.
Scours.
Pneumonia.
A never ending list of problems just waiting to jump on a calf and try to kill it.
Anyone who thinks they can successfully raise calves for profit better not quit their day job.

By: James

James — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 20:04:26 +0000

The numbers here are not realistic. If you think you’re netting $4,400 in profit on a feeder dairy steer, you are crazy. At best you can expect a profit of under $1,000 per steer at retail prices. Don’t get your hopes up homesteaders. You will find out the hard way how little this author knows about the market. And it is extremely rare that a dairy steer grades prime.

By: A.P.

A.P. — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 03:17:24 +0000

Your calves should be eating @ 2lbs of feed per day if your doing a good job raising them. You also should never feed calves hay before four months old. Their rumen is developed enough yet to digest those forages. Lastly milk replacer is @ $55 a bag at our local vet supply. It’s high quality and most dairies in the area use it to grow their heifers. You should never have to use more than 50 lbs per calf.

By: George W Crossman

George W Crossman — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 21:41:11 +0000

If you are bringing in $960 per calf, why not just spend the extra $10 or $15 per calf on the milk replacer? To milk goats just to justify such a small savings doesn’t make cents.