Dairy Crossbred Heifer Calves

Future Farmer

What are them dairy crossbred heifer calves making at the moment?

mahoney_j

Future Farmer wrote: »

What are them dairy crossbred heifer calves making at the moment?

Good pbr Holstein heifer calves with good ebi and dams milk records available are making 500 at 2 weeks plus,I reckon x breeds no more than 300

frazzledhome

mahoney_j wrote: »

Good pbr Holstein heifer calves with good ebi and dams milk records available are making 500 at 2 weeks plus,I reckon x breeds no more than 300

Could this be your predjudice speaking or do you actually know?

freedominacup

frazzledhome wrote: »

[/B]
Could this be your predjudice speaking or do you actually know?

I'd say he might be trying to scope out some of the newer posters.

mahoney_j

Nope fact in a yard during week with a guy exiting milk and that was what he was getting for pbr Holstein calves with milk records.my quote in x breeds prices was where I believe market is.i certainly wouldn't pay 300 for a x bred,to be honest I wouldn't even buy one.

funny man

Future Farmer wrote: »

What are them dairy crossbred heifer calves making at the moment?

I sold 10 privately last week for €350 each. just be careful if you are buying make sure that they are bred from high BW bulls.

sheebadog

mahoney_j wrote: »

Nope fact in a yard during week with a guy exiting milk and that was what he was getting for pbr Holstein calves with milk records.my quote in x breeds prices was where I believe market is.i certainly wouldn't pay 300 for a x bred,to be honest I wouldn't even buy one.

Some one exiting milk?why?
Don't mind Frazzledhome I reckon he loves those xbreds too much!!

frazzledhome

sheebadog wrote: »

Some one exiting milk?why?
Don't mind Frazzledhome I reckon he loves those xbreds too much!!

Actually have no xbreds but when someone poses a question I'd feel they should get the facts not just someone's opinion

keep going

The thing has changed this year, used always be more demand for hols heifers but this year there is stronger demand for crossbred in calf heifers.

mahoney_j

sheebadog wrote: »

Some one exiting milk?why?
Don't mind Frazzledhome I reckon he loves those xbreds too much!!

Old age and no heir to the throne .the guy has a smashing herd,spring milk herd average 1750 gallons at 3.90 fat and 3.45 protein last year.he is going cobtract rearing heifers now.300 is what I know a guy is paying for first jex heifer calves out of holx br freisan cows

mahoney_j

keep going wrote: »

The thing has changed this year, used always be more demand for hols heifers but this year there is stronger demand for crossbred in calf heifers.

At show and sale in Nenagh this week over 160 cows sold not one x bred and prices between 1000 and 1950 for freisan cows calved.never seen x Breeds going through the ring.more farm to farm I'd say

Sam Kade

I was at a show and sale in Corrin last friday week excellent cows but only very few sold. The sellers were holding out for top price though. In Kanturk yesterday not a great selection of first calvers 900-1200 with many unsold also 2 yr old maiden heifers went to 600 no sale.

Anyone go to the dairy clearance sale in Macroom yesterday?

stanflt

Carmaross averaged 2k on thurs

Well up on two weeks ago

A 22 month old milking heifer made 3750

case 956

lad on dd with nr x looking for 220

keep going

mahoney_j wrote: »

At show and sale in Nenagh this week over 160 cows sold not one x bred and prices between 1000 and 1950 for freisan cows calved.never seen x Breeds going through the ring.more farm to farm I'd say

But who buys at these show and sales only a few easy targets and owners puffing each others stock

loveta

keep going wrote: »

But who buys at these show and sales only a few easy targets and owners puffing each others stock

I would say lads looking to buy milk, esp northern buyers.Each to there own once your making a profit but your average X bred does not look to hot in the ring compared to your milky HO

Sam Kade

case 956 wrote: »

lad on dd with nr x looking for 220

Tiny calves judging by the calf tags. What's the target weight for a 2 yr old jersey cross at calving?

mahoney_j

keep going wrote: »

But who buys at these show and sales only a few easy targets and owners puffing each others stock

Disagree on that,sellers were there from local and parts of limerick ,Clare and Offaly.loads of local buyers especially for the high ebi good type Holsteins .the smaller br freisan x Holstein were a praticuralky hot trade with prices around the 1600 mark.as for ur x Breds saw 3 going through the ring at an earlier sale.only made between 800 and 1000 and very little bidders.demand really isn't there at least in marts for that type of ainmAl

Gillespy

Xbred breeders need to pull the finger out and band together to start inflating the market for themselves. To the uninitiated, it reflects poorly on them what goes on in marts and sales.

mf240

Gillespy wrote: »

Xbred breeders need to pull the finger out and band together to start inflating the market for themselves. To the uninitiated, it reflects poorly on them what goes on in marts and sales.

Their low cost cows so they cost less simples.

TossL1916

loveta wrote: »

your average X bred does not look to hot in the ring compared to your milky HO

Exactly, they dont look too hot, but like with all females, human or bovine, its not all about the looks

TEAT SQUEEZER

just a toedipper regarding x breeds but couldn`t fault them for compactness, good legs/feet , good bcs and quality udders .. anything else is pure optics

kevthegaff

Maybe the reason theyre not for sale is lads want to keep them!

Timmaay

kevthegaff wrote: »

Maybe the reason theyre not for sale is lads want to keep them!

Agreed, the few I have I honestly can't fault them, fair enough they might not give the output of a HO in terms of MS, but they calf down and milk away all year with such little labour intervention (and lets face it, the price of labour is insane in Ireland).

Deepsouthwest

Gillespy wrote: »

Xbred breeders need to pull the finger out and band together to start inflating the market for themselves. To the uninitiated, it reflects poorly on them what goes on in marts and sales.

The reason the crossbreds don't sell well is the guys who breed them have super fertility and always have an abundance of heifers to sell, cross breeders never have to buy heifers unless they're starting out.
It's the same guys buying heifers in the mart every yr. The type who never have enough of their own heifers because their fertility is so bad they can't get their cows to hold to first service AI, and end up culling another high % of their cows because they're empty, and yet they can't resist the big strong 3 yr old Holstein, who's only there because she wouldn't go incalf at 15/16 mths, and will probably only last 2/3 lactations anyway!

Gillespy

How do holstein farmers sell heifers then? If they're that bad, surely he needs them all and more. Bit of a conundrum that.

I think the market has this one spot on.

freedominacup

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

The reason the crossbreds don't sell well is the guys who breed them have super fertility and always have an abundance of heifers to sell, cross breeders never have to buy heifers unless they're starting out.
It's the same guys buying heifers in the mart every yr. The type who never have enough of their own heifers because their fertility is so bad they can't get their cows to hold to first service AI, and end up culling another high % of their cows because they're empty, and yet they can't resist the big strong 3 yr old Holstein, who's only there because she wouldn't go incalf at 15/16 mths, and will probably only last 2/3 lactations anyway!

Much the same or slightly better than the Jex herd in greenfields so. I don't see longevity being much of a selling point based on that trial.

charleysurf

freedominacup wrote: »

[/B]Much the same or slightly better than the Jex herd in greenfields so. I don't see longevity being much of a selling point based on that trial.

would have thought the xbreds in Greenfields were performing admirably given the level of incompetence in management up there?

freedominacup

charleysurf wrote: »

would have thought the xbreds in Greenfields were performing admirably given the level of incompetence in management up there?

And the same could be said for many HO cows who only last 2/3 lactations due to poor management of them by their owners.

charleysurf

I totally agree, HO when managed correctly will last just as long as any other breed, problem is that level of management just isn't present in a lot of herds in this country and as a result has given HO an unfair fertility stereotype. would it not make a lot more since then for these farmers to downgrade to an animal which is more suitable to their management level?

Future Farmer

Some guys are managing their cows really efficiently & some guys aren't, across the board, both Hol Fr & Xbreds & the rest.

Different strokes for different folks I suppose, depending where you are.

At home we have limited land & so we have cows that are Hol Fr 1850-2250 gallon cows (a few either side), I don't think anything else would particularly work for us at the moment.

But some guys have really good systems with Xbreds, Br Fr, Mount, NR etc.

Just wouldn't work for us (might get a few Xbreds anyway - might not always be farming in same place/same system)

keep going

mahoney_j wrote: »

Disagree on that,sellers were there from local and parts of limerick ,Clare and Offaly.loads of local buyers especially for the high ebi good type Holsteins .the smaller br freisan x Holstein were a praticuralky hot trade with prices around the 1600 mark.as for ur x Breds saw 3 going through the ring at an earlier sale.only made between 800 and 1000 and very little bidders.demand really isn't there at least in marts for that type of ainmAl

Who buys 3 crossbreds, you need to be selling 30 at least.do you think someone putting a herd of 200 buys them in 2 s and 3 s in the mart.look I dont even breed jersey because dont think they make sence for herds less than 100 cows but if you are getting into larger herds they are the answer.ps I did try breeding jersy crosses but 3 heifers out of twenty seven calves I decided they weren't for me with my luck

charleysurf

just wondering why xbreds don't make since in herds of less than 100 or limited land base? I've 80 acres of marginal land with 85 xbreds on it. I wouldn't dream of using a HO with that type of land. its not all about the output, its more about how efficiently you can produce it that matters no?

Deepsouthwest

Gillespy wrote: »

How do holstein farmers sell heifers then? If they're that bad, surely he needs them all and more. Bit of a conundrum that.

I think the market has this one spot on.

Seems like u totally misunderstood what I'm trying to say. The subject of my post was the same guys who are buying heifers every yr and can never have enough replacements of their own. You seemed to take it as an attack on Holsteins, which it's not. I probably shouldn't be complaining bout these annual buyers too much either, I need these guys to buy my surplus heifers every yr!

Deepsouthwest

freedominacup wrote: »

[/B]Much the same or slightly better than the Jex herd in greenfields so. I don't see longevity being much of a selling point based on that trial.

To be fair I thinks it's only the 3rd or 4th yr of the trial in greenfields, so to expect them to have a lot of 4th lactation plus cows might be asking a bit much!

MFdaveIreland

any mystic megs in use folks think theres a market for X breeds post 2015. was toying up the idea of buying heifers and selling them at calving read for milk, any ideas? or am I mad

Sam Kade

MFdaveIreland wrote: »

any mystic megs in use folks think theres a market for X breeds post 2015. was toying up the idea of buying heifers and selling them at calving read for milk, any ideas? or am I mad

Not many want to buy heifers incalf, they want them calved and trouble free.

keep going

charleysurf wrote: »

just wondering why xbreds don't make since in herds of less than 100 or limited land base? I've 80 acres of marginal land with 85 xbreds on it. I wouldn't dream of using a HO with that type of land. its not all about the output, its more about how efficiently you can produce it that matters no?

The theory is that crossbreds strenghts are fertility and labour saving and work well in larger herds.on smaller land bases there is more potential milk in fr butthe calf and the cull also provide extra revenue and there is less pressure on the labour unit so they can spend more time managing the fr.every farm is different but its all about maximising the output at hhighest margin

freedominacup

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

To be fair I thinks it's only the 3rd or 4th yr of the trial in greenfields, so to expect them to have a lot of 4th lactation plus cows might be asking a bit much!

Try the start of the 6th season. You couldn't expect many 4th lactation plus cows in a herd with a 30%+ replacement rate though you're right about that bit.

frazzledhome

Future Farmer wrote: »

What are them dairy crossbred heifer calves making at the moment?

So OP, now that they've all stopped stomping their feet I can tell you that xbred calves are making from 350-450 depending on EBI. They are almost impossible to get as most are pre ordered by UK farmers.
Most guys have clients taking anything up to 70 bulling heifers at a time

MFdaveIreland

Sam Kade wrote: »

Not many want to buy heifers incalf, they want them calved and trouble free.

Sorry , I mistyped , I meant selling them calved, would it realistically require a parlour of some kind or another, or even mobile milking unit

Deepsouthwest

freedominacup wrote: »

Try the start of the 6th season. You couldn't expect many 4th lactation plus cows in a herd with a 30%+ replacement rate though you're right about that bit.

Wow, I did not realise they've been milking there since 2009. In their defence, or anyone starting out, replacement is bound to be high for the first few yrs. it would be near impossible to start a herd of 300 cows and not have to cull some performers and duds