Imported calves on donedeal?!

Bodacious

Whats the crack here? and i wonder is this good for cattle trade and/or possibility of disease introduction?(Same risks/preventative measures taken as with grown imported cattle i suppose)

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/livestock/2528636

greysides

I saw some imported calves a few years ago. Everyone involved should have been prosecuted. The calves were too young for transporting the distances involved and were in a bad way on arrival. Some died within a day or two, others died of pneumonia within a week or two. Those that survived had suddenly become expensive. I notice that viewing is invited in this case so I'd expect the calves to be better looked after. They also look older.

I can't see the tags to guess the country of origin. There would be a risk of importing Johnes Disease with them. That would probably be the worst disease to think about. Also the most likely bad one. Maybe they're guaranteed for a Johnes certified herd? Johne's is virtually impossible to eradicate once present. I doubt any herds could be guaranteed to be free of it, the nearest you can get to it is being certified clear for a number of years.

pakalasa

It really prooves just how messed up cattle prices have become when, we're starting to inport young calves.

whelan1

afaik these guys have been doing this for a while, theres also a guy in meath called bashford that does the same. From my past experiences of buying in , i think even from native herds you are taking a massive risk as even though the seller promises you the sun , moon and stars you are only buying in problems.

bbam

Nice lookin stock though
Wonder what the ones that actually land look like :rolleyes:

Bodacious

bbam wrote: »

Nice lookin stock though
Wonder what the ones that actually land look like :rolleyes:

might be like any of the fast food chains... It never really resembles the one in the picture?!

I wonder are they Simmental or Hr x or are they a dairy breed like montipeliards?

Charlie Charolais

Lads,

This is mad stuff;

Check out their website;
http://wicklowcattlecompany.ie/home/

Main page says they export stock now they're importing calves! just shows how mad the cattle trade is gone here, it’s really going full circle

Extract from website!
Top Quality imported Romanian & German Heifers calves for sale Simmentals, Limousin, Charolais heifers Replacements for your Suckler herd Calves arriving 15-18 September 2011 Come and select your own Animal Welfare & hygiene is of a high standard

don't fancy them myyself!

Muckit

Charlie Charolais wrote: »

Lads,

This is mad stuff;

Check out their website;
http://wicklowcattlecompany.ie/home/

Main page says they export stock now they're importing calves! just shows how mad the cattle trade is gone here, it’s really going full circle

Extract from website!
Top Quality imported Romanian & German Heifers calves for sale Simmentals, Limousin, Charolais heifers Replacements for your Suckler herd Calves arriving 15-18 September 2011 Come and select your own Animal Welfare & hygiene is of a high standard


don't fancy them myyself!

Makes sense when you think about it. It's costing them very little to import them if they're exporting stock. No point coming home with an empty trailer. They'd fit a hell of alot of calves on a trailer compared to the weanlings they probably export.

bbam

Any word of prices ?

whelan1

bbam wrote: »

Any word of prices ?

sure you ring them and let us know:D

cam1452

whats involed in importing this calves. what paper work has to be done

easymoney!

its on this weeks farmers journal,, importing calves from uk to drink excess milk !!! there selling them cheap enough to they reckon!
bit of a joke if you ask me if any disease was brought in what mess it would have on the trade...

charityboy

bbam wrote: »

Any word of prices ?

sim heifer around the 600 mark :eek::eek: they are pbnr

theroad

Went to a meeting a few years ago with this guy, back in the day when he was buying calves rather than selling them. He's a cattle dealer. Seemed like a clean operation, and they were buying for export, so it had to be right or else calves wouldn't have survived.

But buying calves in from abroad? Isn't that how BVD arrived here?

greysides

BVD has been here a long time, it's not recent.

whelan1

easymoney! wrote: »

its on this weeks farmers journal,, importing calves from uk to drink excess milk !!! there selling them cheap enough to they reckon!
bit of a joke if you ask me if any disease was brought in what mess it would have on the trade...

i have been at the local mart at the calf sales for the last few weeks, the most calves that where in any of those sales was 14, the ring was packed with buyers , there are not enough calves around to fill the need for the people that are over quota, 1 or 2 calves is not going to make a difference to their situation. Was talking to a guy that bought 5 of my calves- fr bulls- he said that he would need alot more but as most farmers are over quota they are holding on to the calves they have to drink the milk and not selling them

dar31

know the lads, what they dont know about calf rearing isnt worth knowing.
good tidy operators, dept inspector is in their yard every day of the week.

still thought i would not buy imported calves, too much of a risk.

sh1tstirrer

Typical Irish, when we are exporting cattle and calves it's great now that we are importing we are complaining about animal welfare and disease risk :rolleyes:

moy83

What kinda suckler cattle do they keep in romania ? Would most of their beef go to russia ? Ive never heard of romanian beef or cattle until now . Surely our own heifer replacements are as good as theirs ?

snowman707

we imported heifer calves and imported in calf heifers in the past,

would have no hesitation doing so again if I had to do, our herd wouldn't be be in it's present status if we sourced in Ireland

the calves were the some of the first imported and the only problems I had was trying to accommodate all the dept. vets and officials that called

crystalmac

moy83 wrote: »

What kinda suckler cattle do they keep in romania ? Would most of their beef go to russia ? Ive never heard of romanian beef or cattle until now . Surely our own heifer replacements are as good as theirs ?

Romania has very bad livestock breeding from what I have seen, I spent 10 years over and back to Romania, I lived in Romania for 5 years and seen very little good quality livestock, mainly the best livestock was produced by Dutch, Austrian, French &German farmers and other international farmers based in Romania, but the local Romanian farmers are improving in every way, but slowly, calves are maily exported because most farms are not set-up for calf rearing, most farms do not have enough housing for livestock, this will change in romania now, due to, up to 70% grants for new livestock housing from the EU, ,I was involved in farming sector and travelled all over Romanian and seen what was going on in the sector, there is huge opportunities in Romania in the agriculture sector, it is only going to get better, you can grow maize and have maize meal in your shed for a cost price of €45/ton approx, cheap feeding for the beef livestock and dairy sector, the dairy sector is only starting in the country, mainly driven by international farmers buying large farm holdings, most drop calves are sent to Italy & Germany. It is very hard for us Irish to compete with costs in Romania in the farm sector in so many ways.

pakalasa

whelan1 wrote: »

....there are not enough calves around to fill the need for the people that are over quota, 1 or 2 calves is not going to make a difference to their situation. Was talking to a guy that bought 5 of my calves- fr bulls- he said that he would need alot more but as most farmers are over quota they are holding on to the calves they have to drink the milk and not selling them

Why are so many farmers over quota? Would they not just go to, once a day miliking or just dry off the cows. The whole beef market has come distorted because of this.

cam1452

is there something abouts imported calves if you want to sell tem later on. will the irish factorys kill them. not really sure. hear the local farmers saying theres some catch when you want to sell them

razor8

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Typical Irish, when we are exporting cattle and calves it's great now that we are importing we are complaining about animal welfare and disease risk :rolleyes:

yes but generally for slaughter only