Suckler Replacement strategy

jfh

i had a bit of a 'discussion' with the boss about this earlier & said it though it out here to get some debate going;

Option A: buy in calves & rear
Option B: buy in as weanling
Option C: buy in as heifer on point of calving
Option buy in cow with calf at foot

with option A, takes a long while to get a return on investment, i'm pricing calves at the moment & there a bit too expensive around the 400 mark.
you'd be doing well to get a calf feed on milk replacer to calve down at 24 months, 2 winter's feed & so if your finishing, you have 4 years before you make a return. you could double suckle here too if time was available for the first couple of weeks.

Option B, the quality heifer was expensive last autumn, hard to know how they'll bred. some poorish weanlings turn into the best cows

Option C, was at a sale in jan, where i hoped to buy, but around 1400 upwards for nice Simmental, older cows were probably better value.

Option D, this one i haven't seen in a while but at least you get to see what kind of calf the cow will produce so better idea of quality & you could fatten cow later on.

tractorporn

jfh wrote:

Option A: buy in calves & rear Option B: buy in as weanling Option C: buy in as heifer on point of calving Option buy in cow with calf at foot

We were low on milk here so went with option A buying calves from Fresian not Holstein stock. I know it's a longer option but you have to remember you still have the cows they are replacing rearing a calf for sale and then the price of the cull cow as well so it doesn't cost as much overall!

tanko

Option E. Breed your own replacements.
Doesn't suit everyone, can be done if using Ai. It has it's pros and cons.

Kovu

tanko wrote: »

Option E. Breed your own replacements.
Doesn't suit everyone, can be done if using Ai. It has it's pros and cons.

There's a four star bull of my own at home when I begged, pleaded with and cajoled his mother for a heifer. Short of sacrificial offerings to some God of Moo, I bet sods law will give us all bulls to the replacement bulls we used this year!

Miname

Tried all of the above and currently buying a few really nice weanlings to run on and bull next backend and again next spring. Bulling heifers go mental money so im working off the pretence I've a better chance pick up value and fool myself into thinking they are cheaper by buying them at lighter weights. Buying springers or cows with calves at foot I'm finding all bring problems bar it's a clearance sale and then it's not worth it financially with the price they go. Buying calves off dairy cows to breed with my own limo bull but so far got 1 heifer of a batch of 16 of these I have.

blue5000

I heard of one extreme case where a lad had lmxch cows with very poor milk. He bit the bullet and used a fr bull for 1 year.

I'm using a maternal angus bull, he's +13kg for milk. With factories cutting for over 400kg dw and paying a bonus for aa cattle, hopefully it's the right choice. The bonus might not always be there though. I don't think I'll have many U grades after him though.

OP I reckon if you bought a few calves every year and reared them you'd have quieter cows anyway, docility is very underrated.

Teagasc reckon the net margin in dairying is only €150 per cow at today's milk prices. I reckon if they used a continental beef bull they could double the net margin! Fr bull calves are €110, any kind of continental calf is €400.

farawaygrass

OP I reckon if you bought a few calves every year and reared them you'd have quieter cows anyway, docility is very underrated[/quote]

110%. Few cows calved here already, all home bred angus. All but one 1 I could put the calve sucking in the calving pen and the cow would wait quiet. Made life easy and they don't go mad when they see you and possibly hurt the calf.
I know it's a pain rearing calves, especially come may or June-we double suckle them and leave them on the cows that long and a bit longer too.
But I reared calves 2 years ago that will be calving down soon and you could get in the pen and rub them down. Real Pets. Such a comfort.
Calves for me all the way anyhow.

on the river

I agree with tanko, you know what you have and where to go.

With the right AI bull you can transform a ordinary herd to something special.

However, if you work away from home this may be a difficult task to perform.