Your kids and there young stock

The part time boy

I am a few years off this but I be interested in people taugh .

I like to encourage them to have a calf that's theres .

When I was young my cousin got given a calf that they kept and then had a few suckler cows out of the money .

I wanted one too but my father said no . You can buy one your self which I never did .

How looking back I don't blaim him. He got stuck in the milder quota so had no cows and few dry cattle . So money was tight and the lost sale of a bullock would have been a lot.

So my quistion Is if you give your child a free calf (and let be honest cost free rearing )are you giving them a big lump sum 2 years latter that they might have no mass in .

Or are you better to get them to save and buy there own calf ?

Kevhog1988

My boy is 5 and has his own jobs he has to do to earn "wages". he has about E200 saved now for a calf but i think well buy him ewe lambs instead.

The part time boy

theemigrant wrote: »

My boy is 5 and has his own jobs he has to do to earn "wages". he has about E200 saved now for a calf but i think well buy him ewe lambs instead.

That's actally a better idea ! Out of interest why a lamb instead of calf ?

Kevhog1988

The part time boy wrote: »

That's actally a better idea ! Out of interest why a lamb instead of calf ?

Were getting set up for sheep, less hardship for us with he sheep i think, Neighbour is very knowledgeable with the and a great help tbh . plus not as much of a loss if one dies as were only in a very small way.

Who2

Bought my first ewes with money i saved from everything from confirmation money to money from picking strawberries.I bought all my first calves, double suckled them on my fathers cows. Hadn't to pay for any of the upkeep on the agreement i put the majority of the money into a long term savings scheme. Done that for years and took it out to buy my first car. After all the saving it was all turned upside down into a ditch in less than 24hrs.

_Brian

Negotiations ongoing here at the moment, girls want to own some stock.

Likely buy a few suck calves, they will have to draw out savings from the Credit Union though to buy, and do some feeding/mucking out. Farm will carry the burden of feeding, will probably buy 8/10 sucks when we're at it.

whelan2

Kids have gotten calves from santa. Reared them and sold them on. Eldest lad now has a pb Angus heifer with her heifer calf. Have gone down the lamb route but I ended up doing all the work.

ganmo

Each of us had 'our' ewe and we'd get the money from her lambs so we'd be hopin for twins.
Then if dad reckoned the ewe was gettin gate we'd have to pick a new one

Username John

We always had a sheep growing up - I don't know if we bought them if were given them. Given them I imagine... maybe as lambs...

As others have said - the upkeep of the animals was free. You kept the money from the lambs... I don't want to say that it was a reward for the work put in, it was - but it was done more as an interest, a way to bring us on... it worked too, twas always great excitement when your ewe was lambing, and would she have twins or a single...

Prob different with calves and cattle maybe, as there is more money involved there...

Once I had a bit of money, I did buy my own cattle...

Odelay

Who2 wrote: »

Bought my first ewes with money i saved from everything from confirmation money to money from picking strawberries.I bought all my first calves, double suckled them on my fathers cows. Hadn't to pay for any of the upkeep on the agreement i put the majority of the money into a long term savings scheme. Done that for years and took it out to buy my first car. After all the saving it was all turned upside down into a ditch in less than 24hrs.

And that was when you learned the value of work?:)

Who2

Odelay wrote: »

And that was when you learned the value of work?:)

i drive a lot easier now.

Dunedin

My first calf was bought for £75. I had 50 in post office account (I was 11 at the time). It was the father who suggested me getting a calf and there was a big trade for freshly calved fresian heifers at the time so that was what I got. Father told me to leave a few pound in the po account so as not to close it so I paid £44 and he paid the rest. I still remember the evening the local jobber arrived with her

This was in 1986. If only life was still as simple.

The man in red and black

Dunedin wrote: »

My first calf was bought for £75. I had 50 in post office account (I was 11 at the time). It was the father who suggested me getting a calf and there was a big trade for freshly calved fresian heifers at the time so that was what I got. Father told me to leave a few pound in the po account so as not to close it so I paid £44 and he paid the rest. I still remember the evening the local jobber arrived with her

Brilliant. I paid 75pounds each for two black whiteheads as my first ones. I think it was around 1997. Would have been my communion money + extra savings. Bought a few more the year after for 25 and 35 pounds after the prices dropped massively. It was a great thing to give us interest in the farm.

L1985

We bought a calf with our communion money-really great way to get an interest.no charge for upkeep. It got you invested in the animals. I got a heifer and bred off of her-she was a nightmare looking back-needed a help with every calving and we eventually lost her calving.looking back I'd have sold her but dad kept her on as he didn't want to upset me lol

davidk1394

Its a brilliant idea I think. It encourages kids to have an interest in the farm, how food is produced and they value money. Started with 2 calves after my conformation and had 50 by the time i was 20. When i was 16 I bought a few hens, turkeys, ducks and a few pigs. Sold the eggs off the hens and ducks locally and fattened the turkeys for Christmas and the pigs for ourselves and 2 neighbors. For me it was a nice little income, I learned how to budget and I get good experience dealing with people and animals.

Keepgrowing

The part time boy wrote: »

I am a few years off this but I be interested in people taugh .

I like to encourage them to have a calf that's theres .

When I was young my cousin got given a calf that they kept and then had a few suckler cows out of the money .

I wanted one too but my father said no . You can buy one your self which I never did .

How looking back I don't blaim him. He got stuck in the milder quota so had no cows and few dry cattle . So money was tight and the lost sale of a bullock would have been a lot.

So my quistion Is if you give your child a free calf (and let be honest cost free rearing )are you giving them a big lump sum 2 years latter that they might have no mass in .

Or are you better to get them to save and buy there own calf ?

My 4 kids buy a calf each every year. I will not give one for free, I allow them pick there's and get a good deal. The animal is reared free for the year until it's sold.

We feel the experience of parting with their own money and doing a hard deal will stand to them.

Fixture

Growing up there was large family of us. Dairy herd. Whenever set of twins born we got one of the calves when it was your turn. I remember buying a bike after selling my first bullock.

We also got £1 for every cow we found calving - I cleaned up on that one!

Pidae.m

5 of us in my family and while everyone spent it on a new bike we were all made to buy a bullock off Dad with our communion money. I'm actually the only one of us farming now in my mid thirties & my siblings are still looking for they're return of their investment from the father

Westernrock

We always reared a few sucks at home, we would go to the mart and had to pick our own calf and pay. The first calf I bought ( char bull cost me £232) got pneumonia as a year old so my father decided no point taking any risks best get the vet.... we left him in a shed on the out farm while waiting for the vet and he hung himself in a gate, next year I chanced a white head twin heifer cost £22 everyone at the mart said she would never do she was so small.... she done grand till she broke her leg as a 2year old in the middle of a flat field
Don't know how I didn't give up after that start but brother had a great run with his calves and wouldn't set foot on the farm now, I was just the one that got the bug.......

Bullocks

Westernrock wrote: »

We always reared a few sucks at home, we would go to the mart and had to pick our own calf and pay. The first calf I bought ( char bull cost me £232) got pneumonia as a year old so my father decided no point taking any risks best get the vet.... we left him in a shed on the out farm while waiting for the vet and he hung himself in a gate, next year I chanced a white head twin heifer cost £22 everyone at the mart said she would never do she was so small.... she done grand till she broke her leg as a 2year old in the middle of a flat field
Don't know how I didn't give up after that start but brother had a great run with his calves and wouldn't set foot on the farm now, I was just the one that got the bug.......

Bit like gambling , the more you lose the more you want to get back at it !