Hobby

trg

All, my dad tips away with the main farming business. It's a small enough 30 cow suckler farm and keeps him busy. Its not overly commercial really but I like doing the little bit i do and he likes things as they are.

I've 3 kids and something bothering me lately is that they can't go next nor near the farm as the stock are too dangerous I think. They're 5 & 6 and when I was their age I was mad about being on farm, loved it. Especially the calves. At the time it was a dairy farm and there wasn't near as much danger as there is now.

What I'd love to do is have a go at is rearing a few calves with the kids, thinking maybe 5 calves from a dairy herd on the assumption they'll be quite and docile to human contact.

I'm trying to see will it instill a bit of a grá in the kids for the farming. Maybe it won't and so be it if not but one thing for sure is it won't happen as is. It just can't in my opinion due to danger.

So my questions to you all centre around practicalities of this plan....

Best breed to buy?

Best brand of milk replacer?

How many acres to set aside for the famous 5? Mid April before most stock get out around here.

Any thoughts and opinions welcome. This is a hobby, I'm not overly concerned about the cost.

Buford T. Justice XIX

trg wrote: »

All, my dad tips away with the main farming business. It's a small enough 30 cow suckler farm and keeps him busy. Its not overly commercial really but I like doing the little bit i do and he likes things as they are.

I've 3 kids and something bothering me lately is that they can't go next nor near the farm as the stock are too dangerous I think. They're 5 & 6 and when I was their age I was mad about being on farm, loved it. Especially the calves. At the time it was a dairy farm and there wasn't near as much danger as there is now.

What I'd love to do is have a go at is rearing a few calves with the kids, thinking maybe 5 calves from a dairy herd on the assumption they'll be quite and docile to human contact.

I'm trying to see will it instill a bit of a grá in the kids for the farming. Maybe it won't and so be it if not but one thing for sure is it won't happen as is. It just can't in my opinion due to danger.

So my questions to you all centre around practicalities of this plan....

Best breed to buy?

Best brand of milk replacer?

How many acres to set aside for the famous 5? Mid April before most stock get out around here.

Any thoughts and opinions welcome. This is a hobby, I'm not overly concerned about the cost.

Any breed will be quiet when they're being fed by hand but friesian bulls might be the best bet. They're reasonably priced so they won't take a large sum of money to buy and they are a quiet breed overall.

Angus or hereford calves will be a lot dearer but still quiet while the continental breeds will be dearer still and maybe not as quiet. Limousins I would tend to stay away from for what you're looking for.

An acre of ground would be more than enough for them for most of the year especially if you can fence it off into maybe 4 plots and rotate them through the 4 plots as needed? The will need a bit more when they get older though.

Milk replacer would be whatever would be on sale locally, really. The dearer ones tend to be easier mixed but all will be grand once used with warm water.

Best of luck with it and keep us posted on how you get on.

mayota

trg wrote: »

All, my dad tips away with the main farming business. It's a small enough 30 cow suckler farm and keeps him busy. Its not overly commercial really but I like doing the little bit i do and he likes things as they are.

I've 3 kids and something bothering me lately is that they can't go next nor near the farm as the stock are too dangerous I think. They're 5 & 6 and when I was their age I was mad about being on farm, loved it. Especially the calves. At the time it was a dairy farm and there wasn't near as much danger as there is now.

What I'd love to do is have a go at is rearing a few calves with the kids, thinking maybe 5 calves from a dairy herd on the assumption they'll be quite and docile to human contact.

I'm trying to see will it instill a bit of a grá in the kids for the farming. Maybe it won't and so be it if not but one thing for sure is it won't happen as is. It just can't in my opinion due to danger.

So my questions to you all centre around practicalities of this plan....

Best breed to buy?

Best brand of milk replacer?

How many acres to set aside for the famous 5? Mid April before most stock get out around here.

Any thoughts and opinions welcome. This is a hobby, I'm not overly concerned about the cost.

30 sucklers is a bit more than a hobby. I’d educate the children about the dangers of stock and keep them supervised at all times, bucket fed calves might confuse things. Get the cows used to seeing small children as they can see them as a threat.

amacca

I would add

You will probably need

Straw for bedding

Some sort of shed or shelter maybe a large hutch to put the straw and the calves in

Optional but may not be a bad idea to vaccinate them ... cheapest would be rispoval intranasal I think (bovipast better but more expensive and requires a booster shot etc) + maybe blackleg (although I have never needed to do that here)...i suppose you could risk the vaccinations depending on housing, pasture they will be in but if it goes wrong it will probably be a vet visit etc

Then you will need to consider dehorning them or getting them dehorned fairly sharpish unless they are angus or angus x which only grow butts of horns....i use a crate and a gas dehorner but if you get them when they are young you can restrain them with a headgate and use an electric dehorner and they barely notice.

Squeezing early on is a good idea if you don't want to have to call a vet to do it later

If you are thinking of bucket feeding its O.K but not the greatest imo......a good teat feeder is best imo but there are a lot of bad ones out there, if it was me from experience I would go for a Wydale (blue feeder) or a milkbar (you can change the type of teat on them) but they are more expensive than the other ones which all have design flaws that will drive you nuts if you work with them for a while---expensive though...you might pick up the five calves for nearly the price of a 5 teat blue feeder the way things are going!.....remember you will probably be feeding twice a day for the first couple of weeks and imo if you are just starting out it might be safest to keep that up for quite some time although I switch them to OAD after about 5 weeks (I know others that claim to do it sooner but they have the benefit of whole milk/having them from birth etc)...a single teat bottle feeder would be very useful if there is one that is sluggish to drink or one that needs to be isolated because it gets sick......a stomach tube is worst case scenario here

Which brings me to the calves, If it is friesians you go for try get a blocky type british friesian ......if you end up with anything narrow feeding them will be a waste of time from the point of view of not making too much of a loss at this (although I know you have a different motivation for doing it)...if it was me Id go for angus and expect to pay between 120 - 150 a head...but if you could get a good type friesian between 50 - 80 then that would be better (assuming they really are a decent blocky sort and not extreme holstein)....do not for your own mental health get calves that are just off a cow....if they are already sucking a teat feeder thats an immediate reduction in hardship...they will look lovely just off a cow but will in some cases be utter hardship to encourage to drink from a teat particularly headstrong breeds and the condition will melt off them initially as the replacer won't be as good as whole milk .. you can see better what you are getting if they are already being teat fed....when you are buying a teat fed animal look at coat too..should be shiny and healthy if fed and bed well.


When it comes to milk replacer do yourself a favour and buy decent quality stuff (there may only be a few euro in the difference anyway) ...you want something with high % protein, skim based if possible and you want to work your way over the course of 3/4 days after getting them up to about 80% of max feeding rates for their age.....then close to max (for their age) over the next week ...I tend not to bump it up overly after that and instead provide fresh crunch (in small amounts at first) water and bit of straw to get their rumen going........start weaning slowly after week 7/8 to week 10/11/12 depending on how they are going...I provide ad lib crunch at that stage using an ad lib feeder ......if the weather is good they can be let out then, you can do it before if the weather is good.....on the milk replacer avoid anything with too much whey or palm or coconut...total hardship with scours with some of the calves

As they grow older you will need to get more acres obviously and consider what the will need for winter feed.....good luck, at five calves its very manageable and the kids will probably enjoy it no end.

Bass Reeves

There is a video series on calf rearing on agriland. Scroll through here and you will get to them
https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/category/green-acres/

Say my name

If they're 5 & 6 go for pet lambs instead.
Easier manage.

trg

mayota wrote: »

30 sucklers is a bit more than a hobby. I’d educate the children about the dangers of stock and keep them supervised at all times, bucket fed calves might confuse things. Get the cows used to seeing small children as they can see them as a threat.

Never said 30 cows was a hobby. The hobby is the few calves. I don't agree it'll confuse them.

They're well educated regards the danger of our suckler cows.

Don't have enough time to invest in getting cows used to seeing the kids enough. Can't watch them, the stock and do the work properly. It would take months imho.

By the time they'd have sense enough they'd have no interest.

I might be wrong.

trg

Say my name wrote: »

If they're 5 & 6 go for pet lambs instead.
Easier manage.

You're right no doubt but I've zero experience of sheep.

trg

Thanks Bass, Buford & Amacca. Be used to the blackleg and dehorning jobs alright but cheers for the reminder, tasks to add.

I'll let ye know the progress

mayota

trg wrote: »

Never said 30 cows was a hobby. The hobby is the few calves. I don't agree it'll confuse them.

They're well educated regards the danger of our suckler cows.

Don't have enough time to invest in getting cows used to seeing the kids enough. Can't watch them, the stock and do the work properly. It would take months imho.

By the time they'd have sense enough they'd have no interest.

I might be wrong.

Sorry, I didn’t read your post properly. I meant when the cows are in the shed and you and children can be in feed passages. Yourself and children could see calves in creep area in safety also.

Say my name

trg wrote: »

You're right no doubt but I've zero experience of sheep.

Ye''ll learn together then. :pac:

Every youngster deserves to hold a bottle feeding a lamb.
Don't take this the wrong way but it was covered above. You get calves and if you've not much experience of rearing them your heart could be broken with scour and ibr and what not and bringing in other things that your father's herd may not be vaccinated for and could be an expensive lesson for all involved.

Get lambs and the youngsters can feed them themselves and cuddle and play with. They won't be able to that with calves. It'll be you that'll have the job of minding them. You'll have to mind the lambs too but it's a lessor amount of mixed milk and feed needed and smaller expenditure for the same task of getting them interested in farming.
Somehow I have the feeling the calves might be more for yourself. Now you can tell me where to go but that's my thoughts.

* my own father had ducks, hens, rabbits, geese, guinea fowl, ponies, donkeys, sheep, horses, cows, dogs, cats, goats - to get the next generation interested.

wrangler

Say my name wrote: »

Ye''ll learn together then. :pac:

Every youngster deserves to hold a bottle feeding a lamb.
Don't take this the wrong way but it was covered above. You get calves and if you've not much experience of rearing them your heart could be broken with scour and ibr and what not and bringing in other things that your father's herd may not be vaccinated for and could be an expensive lesson for all involved.

Get lambs and the youngsters can feed them themselves and cuddle and play with. They won't be able to that with calves. It'll be you that'll have the job of minding them. You'll have to mind the lambs too but it's a lessor amount of mixed milk and feed needed and smaller expenditure for the same task of getting them interested in farming.
Somehow I have the feeling the calves might be more for yourself. Now you can tell me where to go but that's my thoughts.

* my own father had ducks, hens, rabbits, geese, guinea fowl, ponies, donkeys, sheep, horses, cows, dogs, cats, goats - to get the next generation interested.

I have people come to me for lambs ''for the kids'' I tell them they'll be sick of them in a few weeks and i don't give them.

amacca

wrangler wrote: »

I have people come to me for lambs ''for the kids'' I tell them they'll be sick of them in a few weeks and i don't give them.

I might drop over for a lamb "for the freezer" so!

Grueller

wrangler wrote: »

I have people come to me for lambs ''for the kids'' I tell them they'll be sick of them in a few weeks and i don't give them.

Santa Claus

wrangler

Grueller wrote: »

Santa Claus

I talked a friend out of buying a pony for his kids last year, he bought two pups instead, he told me last week (when i met him out walking the same dogs) he's delighted he didn't buy the horse.

trg

Thanks again to everyone for their input on this.

Went with 5 HE bulls from a neighbour dairy herd. Paid enough for them I'd say but zero hardship and he gave me a lend of his teat feeder which I was delighted with.

They were used to the teats, crunch and straw. We've been very lucky as they've been completely hassle free and it's enjoyable for all. The oldest lad of mine was nervous after getting a playful puck 5 minutes after that arrived but he's flying it now with them.

They're going outside the weekend and I'm going back to the same lad for a few younger Angus. More for my sanity now to keep tipping away morning and evening.

cute geoge

trg wrote: »

Thanks again to everyone for their input on this.

Went with 5 HE bulls from a neighbour dairy herd. Paid enough for them I'd say but zero hardship and he gave me a lend of his teat feeder which I was delighted with.

They were used to the teats, crunch and straw. We've been very lucky as they've been completely hassle free and it's enjoyable for all. The oldest lad of mine was nervous after getting a playful puck 5 minutes after that arrived but he's flying it now with them.

They're going outside the weekend and I'm going back to the same lad for a few younger Angus. More for my sanity now to keep tipping away morning and evening.

It is a great pity a small grant does not be given to suckler farmers to reduce numbers of cows and replace with rearing calves from dairy herd .Surely a good hereford/angus calf done well will leave near or equal profit as a suckler calf .I sell a few hereford calves and I think they seem good value to buy compared to all the hardship of calving continentals and mad lunatic calves you could hardly herd!!!

Anto_Meath

cute geoge wrote: »

It is a great pity a small grant does not be given to suckler farmers to reduce numbers of cows and replace with rearing calves from dairy herd .Surely a good hereford/angus calf done well will leave near or equal profit as a suckler calf .I sell a few hereford calves and I think they seem good value to buy compared to all the hardship of calving continentals and mad lunatic calves you could hardly herd!!!

I do rear a few bucket fed calves every year for 2 reasons.
1 it gets the kids interested in stock. A heifer I bought the 6 year old (€90 as a suck) had twins the other night she is delighted with her new stock.
The second reason is 10 / 15 bucket fed lads running with the limos help keep them quite as there will always be a few pets in it that would follow a bucket with a shake of nuts in it. Leaves doing any work with the bullocks stress free.
I prefer buying calves in the mart than from a farmers yard though as you can pick up better stock. In a farmers yard you nearly always have to bring 1 you don't really want.

MIKEKC

cute geoge wrote: »

It is a great pity a small grant does not be given to suckler farmers to reduce numbers of cows and replace with rearing calves from dairy herd .Surely a good hereford/angus calf done well will leave near or equal profit as a suckler calf .I sell a few hereford calves and I think they seem good value to buy compared to all the hardship of calving continentals and mad lunatic calves you could hardly herd!!!

If the Hereford/Angus calf will leave near or equal profit as the suckler calf why should the taxpayer have to give a grant?.

lab man

MIKEKC wrote:

If the Hereford/Angus calf will leave near or equal profit as the suckler calf why should the taxpayer have to give a grant?.

and looking after the dairy mans left overs again, the suckler herd is ruined here in ireland in a very few short years imv

MIKEKC

lab man wrote: »

and looking after the dairy mans left overs again, the suckler herd is ruined here in ireland in a very few short years imv

Agree, but a lot of people refuse to face reality.

Bass Reeves

MIKEKC wrote: »

If the Hereford/Angus calf will leave near or equal profit as the suckler calf why should the taxpayer have to give a grant?.

Most suckler farmers are half afraid to quit in case there is a suckler downsizing grant. Lads would also have to adapt there setup. They need a separate shed away from existing suckler's. To do it efficiently they need to set up a paddock system for calves, Sucklers are already receiving about 180/head in different schemes

Bass Reeves

lab man wrote: »

and looking after the dairy mans left overs again, the suckler herd is ruined here in ireland in a very few short years imv

The reality is that a suckler bred calf need a beef price of 4.5+/kg and to be carried over 400kgs DW to be viable neither which will be there for the forseeable future. The product if above 400kgs is outside UK market specification. Dairy bred beef with Fr, AA and HE bull calves priced at 50, 100 and 150 euro would be profitable at a 4/kg price +/- 20c/kg depending on time of year produced. AA calves are an issue at present but this may be solved over time.

lab man

Bass Reeves wrote:

Most suckler farmers are half afraid to quit in case there is a suckler downsizing grant. Lads would also have to adapt there setup. They need a separate shed away from existing suckler's. To do it efficiently they need to set up a paddock system for calves, Sucklers are already receiving about 180/head in different schemes

fair enough bass, but i brought 4 orange limo on the last Tuesday last august born first of feb well bred off simx cows weighed 430 to 470 kgs off the cow got 700 to770 euro after haggling where is suckling going when a proper decent price isnt given its a great thing to leave a mart after selli g your stock and think i can do something with that cheque. iykwim, this crack about 180 in subs is bollox cause it comes at the wrong time of year roughly 8/10 weeks from xmas instead of giving it in march april so a man can pay for fert or fencing or even buy a few calves straight out instead of getting credit sorry for the long post lab man

trg

Well very early days here of course but not averse to pushing it on a bit to see where it takes us.

Re the sucklers, I dunno, very demoralising. Again today they were let down to a field beside house and wife and young lads where on lawn doing their own thing and a couple of the cows go over to the fence with wild heads on them. I'm just pissed off with them.

The lack of any major profit doesn't help.

I don't have a plan yet, I'm not going to try pull the rug out from underneath the father of course. Ideally he'd like a change too but not comfortable forcing it either.

We'll tip along with the few calves for now and see I guess.

Bass Reeves

lab man wrote: »

fair enough bass, but i brought 4 orange limo on the last Tuesday last august born first of feb well bred off simx cows weighed 430 to 470 kgs off the cow got 700 to770 euro after haggling where is suckling going when a proper decent price isnt given its a great thing to leave a mart after selli g your stock and think i can do something with that cheque. iykwim, this crack about 180 in subs is bollox cause it comes at the wrong time of year roughly 8/10 weeks from xmas instead of giving it in march april so a man can pay for fert or fencing or even buy a few calves straight out instead of getting credit sorry for the long post lab man

In the factory a U-bullock at a base of 3.8/kg ( and we have only seen it for 120-150 days in the last two years) weighting 380kgs DW will make 1550 euro in the factory. An O- Fr bullock killing 360 kgs DW will make 1320 euro. an O+ HE bullock weighting 340kgs DW will make 1350 euro.

Now many lads will that that suckler bred bullock to 450 DW and Kepack will penalize him 20c/kg and he make 1750 at that base or kill him as a U16 month or u24 month bull after eating 2 ton of ration

What I am showing you is the economics of keeping a cow to produce a calf is just not in it. The FJ and the IFA are selling lads a pup in regards to sucklers. It took 6-8 years to build up the 180/cow not IFA are on about 300/cow it will take another 5 years to reach that if it evens happens.

Flatted BPS, put in place a proper greening and enviormental scheme and direct subsidy to an animal with a commercial market. But no IFA will talk about upwards only convergence, they are again on about a rescue package for winter finishers. The average suckler cow produces 0.8 calves/years. The economics are not in a suckler cow.

It not nice what I am saying I am just pointing out the harsh realaties. What you have to ask youself is when will beef price rise to make itself commercially viable for sucklers. If we had 50% of the suckler cows we had now there might be a market for that product

lab man

Bass Reeves wrote:

It not nice what I am saying I am just pointing out the harsh realaties. What you have to ask youself is when will beef price rise to make itself commercially viable for sucklers. If we had 50% of the suckler cows we had now there might be a market for that product

im not disagreeing with you at all there was great cows and cattle up to 5/7 yrs ago the genomic schemehas rightly skrewed it in my view to say if you had low stars all you had to do was go down to thedairy guy buy a few lm x fr heifer calves and bingo your replacement values were back on target have a calf of them narrow yokes and youll get well paid alright

Bass Reeves

lab man wrote: »

im not disagreeing with you at all there was great cows and cattle up to 5/7 yrs ago the genomic schemehas rightly skrewed it in my view to say if you had low stars all you had to do was go down to thedairy guy buy a few lm x fr heifer calves and bingo your replacement values were back on target have a calf of them narrow yokes and youll get well paid alright

A lot of the Beef Genomic scheme was based on the lad finishing cattle at sub 16 months bull out of a shed or 24 month bullock as well from a shed. So you needed an animal that would attain a FS easy at those ages and at weights sub 400kgs DW. Most theory on sucklers is done on goodish farm land. You look at the demo farms all are based on good large farms. There has been very little research done on suckler production on marginal land and without rye grass swards.

Having said all that the economics are still crazy. The problem is not that these calves were narrow they will all grade R+ or better the problem is that beef prices have dropped from a base spread 3+ years ago of 3.9-4.4/kg to the present time where we are looking at a summer peak price of 3.5/kg maybe. That price difference is taking 350-500 out of the factory price of an animal. At the same time costs have increased

trg

Oh ffs the forecast here was very good and smashing morning so let out the calves. I even had the kids paddling pool blown up and a barbecue at the ready twas so good!

Anyway now there's a thunder and lightning and a nice drop of rain. It's down for a few hours.

Should they go back in? Or are they as well off out in it?

trg

Weighed the calves yesterday, between 226kg and 287kg. Happy enough I think. ADG of 1.1kg or so. Had added a few friesians, they were a nice bit off, 0.85kg ADG.

Not that I'm mad to sell but what would the herefords make I wonder?

6.5 months old, 4 of the 5 are pretty good shape.

Bass Reeves

trg wrote: »

Weighed the calves yesterday, between 226kg and 287kg. Happy enough I think. ADG of 1.1kg or so. Had added a few friesians, they were a nice bit off, 0.85kg ADG.

Not that I'm mad to sell but what would the herefords make I wonder?

6.5 months old, 4 of the 5 are pretty good shape.

The HE should make a bit more than 2/kg. They must have been off a good HE bull if they have gained 1.1kgs/ day. Seldom see HE out gain FR cattle. I be slow selling them HE I consider squeezing them on decent silage and a small bit of ration they will gain away over the winter. This time next year they should be flaking stores you might even be able to slaughter them off grass at 20 months

trg

Bass Reeves wrote: »

The HE should make a bit more than 2/kg. They must have been off a good HE bull if they have gained 1.1kgs/ day. Seldom see HE out gain FR cattle. I be slow selling them HE I consider squeezing them on decent silage and a small bit of ration they will gain away over the winter. This time next year they should be flaking stores you might even be able to slaughter them off grass at 20 months

Cheers Bass. Was thinking maybe of putting on DD anyway and if I get London for them I'd let go but if not I'd go with the store idea. No experience of finishing

Who2

You’ve the work done and won’t get your margin selling now. Store them over the winter and have them saleable next back end.

trg

This bunch went to mart anyway. 4 x 492kg made €1,040 & the worst of them @ 450kg made €890.

Happy enough and good experience for all.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117990075#Comment_117990075

How did the Friesians do. They left a bit of a twist. After the first 3-4 months with calves and hey are we say enough to manage.

funkey_monkey

@trg - how did get the kids get on with it all? Did they get much out of it?

trg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117990682#Comment_117990682

Very easy manage to be fair.

Those friesans were heifers, bought for 350 in May reared and sold Christmas week for €850. Just lucky the way things went there market's wise.

The wife got a scare health wise during the week so we need to drop the pace big time of life in general so thinking of sitting down the father to plan things a bit better. And by that I mean giving the sucklers the road.

trg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117990974#Comment_117990974

Not really I would say. The eldest likes the thought of them iykwim but that's it really, wouldn't be wanting to come with me or anything.

I'd still bring him on when possible all the same, for company really!

funkey_monkey

Half thinking about going drystock route here too. Buy in some suck calves in autumn, feed them over winter so they hit grass at an age to make use of it and be easier on it than the sucklers. Get a cycle going, might be handier when working off-farm too.

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117992987#Comment_117992987

They'll come good with time. Usually a bit of machinery perks their interest. Forcing it only results in one thing though.

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117993050#Comment_117993050

One bit of advice I'd give you if your going to rear calves from this time of the year on is - vaccinate them when they land with something like Rispoval RS+Pi3 or Bovilis IBR or RSV, and when they are weaned off cmr give them a 24/7 Smartrace (or simular) bolus each. I assume you have hay or barley/wheaten straw to feed them as they get stronger along with silage as IMO weaned calves don't do well on silage alone.

funkey_monkey

We usually get a few in Apr/May time but it means we never get a minute as there is always something in the shed. It's a bit late in season to be buying them in IMO. Even at that time of year we'd have to get them Rispoval - one year we missed out on it and it caused us heartache. Yes - we give them good clean straw to eat and crunch x2 daily. Not taken in any at this time of year before so wouldn't have fed anything that young on silage previously.

I've not heard of the Smartrace bolus - will look into that. Just wondering though if the crunch should contain sufficient minerals and trace elements. Will have to look into that more closely.

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117993618#Comment_117993618

Give them a mineral bolus especially if rearing during the Winter as they are not out nipping at grass. Having said that we always mineral bolus calves once they are weaned and eating meal. These are the ones that we use

https://www.agridirect.ie/product/smalltrace-calf-boluses

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117993050#Comment_117993050

You would bebetteroff buying bucket fedweanlings or runners. Suck calves are a struggle this time of year. They usually areexpensive enough as well.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117993059#Comment_117993059

Ifthere only interest in farming is in Machinery I be keeping them away from it. Next thing is they are not doing there books as at 16 or 17 they go doing tractor jockey for the summer and they think it a great life. They have money when very few of there friends do. If they have no interest in stock forget about it

Albert Johnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117994774#Comment_117994774

I'd agree Bass about better value in buying runners or handy weanlings. I think it was Athenry yesterday there looked to be middle of the road HEX bulls circa 150kg at around €320. They were all first move and 4-5 months old. It hardly paid whoever rared them given what they'd have made at 10 days old. If you took your time at big weanling sales from now on its surprising what you'd buy from €450-550 in off colour suckler cattle. They'd be easier minded than sucks from now on in my opinion especially in a shed and in the same airspace as bigger cattle.

funkey_monkey

What are runners - not familiar with that term?

Albert Johnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117998069#Comment_117998069

My take on it was that they were something between a suck/drop/baby calf and a weanling. With dairy bred stock you'd usually be talking about a reared calf weaned off milk where's the suckler equivalent would be coming straight off the cow. Something young and circa 100kg-220kg would be what I'd describe as a runner. I've heard them referred to as "lumps" in the North.

funkey_monkey

Gotya - just noticed some on Wicklow Calf Company web page. Searching for runners and calves on Google took me into the world of athletics.

We usually buy in when they are around 1 month old - the bit of feeding them means we usually end up with very docile cattle that are easy to work with. We go for heifers, not bulls. Anything promising can be a replacement for ourselves or can go as bulling heifer or springer. Rest go to finishers, or whoever wants them at mart.

We got in a couple of young lumps/runners before, but the preference was always to get ones still needing milk - although we were buying in May, so that might be different.

Anyway sidetracked the thread here. @trg hopefully they'll develop an interest over time. Not sure how or if you can speed up that interest other than take them along with you and show them the ropes and get them involved. I remember as a kid standing just watching stuff happening or running after sheep and it bored me to death. Would be good if some of the other parents on here gave some tips for you, but you've a long road ahead with them so I'd not be trying to speed things up.

trg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117999053#Comment_117999053

Ah I'm not worried about it at all. It'll come in its own time or it won't. I'm happy that a system will be here for them to help with safely if they want to. Up to them after that

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117999147#Comment_117999147

Much better future outside farming now anyway. they all have individual personalities. A friends child that's not a farmers son has four dairy farms that he relief milks on and he's 15. He has other good little businesseses going on too.

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117999782#Comment_117999782

Don’t ya love seeing little goers like him. No doubt he’s in demand. Lads like that who keep their head will go far in life