Posted on 12/03/2013 2:18:20 PM PST by TheRhinelander
Any cattlemen out there? I'm thinking about raising one for meat. It would be more like free range veal as I'd get it in April and slaughter it in October.
Any experience? Is this a good idea? I'm trying to avoid hay which is expensive. Is that long enough to get good weight? Anything to watch out for?
We always named ours. My SIL wouldn’t eat our wonderful steaks because I said it was “Tim”.
thank ya for that
Depends on when the animal is weaned. A fall calf will be weaned at 450 to 500 lbs in the spring. Weaning trauma will slow gains if he isn’t weaned right - he should be weaned with a strong fence between mama and baby so they can touch and smell each other through the fence. Much easier on both (and less racket).
Don’t cut a bull calf early - if you are going to butcher at around 600 lbs, don’t cut him at all. He will not get gamey (too young to breed) and he will put on more muscle faster, so more meat. He will not suffer the setback from the castration, and he will naturally put on more muscle. I have achieved very good weights by not castrating until after weaning. And, if you instruct your butcher, you will have some tasty mountain oysters for a meal - YUM!
Have never eaten veal for just that reason...or lamb. Can’t stand the thought of eating a baby animal!
I had a system, get a pig (about 40 lbs) in October, butcher it in march. They don’t smell and are easy to raise that time of year and get to 200-250 lbs. In march I would get a 250-300 lb steer and butcher it in October. No hay no bad weather. It would get to about 600lbs +/-. I live in Missouri. I now have 3 dexters to keep the grass down but the system worked great!
there is an ole adage to folk like you
” gotta be smarter that what you are F&*(#$............ with
“If you buy an animal in April, keep in next to your house and plan on killing it in October, your kids and your wife will have made a pet out of it by then, given it a name and they will refuse to eat it. Not only that, they will never forgive you for killing Suzie.”
Winner winner chicken dinner!
(oops!)
My great grandfather did that one year. My mom and her cousins made a pet out of that cow. And yes, pretty much refused to eat it.
One animal on grass is going to be fine - unless you add your time to the equation.
Don’t be afraid to give it a go - you will no doubt make a mistake or three, but it sounds like this won’t be a one-time deal for you, so you have a chance to learn and improve your methods.
Raised correctly - especially if you raise a 2 year old to 30 months - you will get MUCH better beef than in the store. If you raise and finish it on grass, it will be high in omega3s, so tastier and healthier than what you can buy in the store.
“Then buy an Angus”
Since he’s eating it himself, I would recommend a Wagyu.
There are FAR superior meat over Angus. Professionals raise Angus because the Wagyu premium is not sufficient to overcome a slightly smaller cattle, unless you are integrated all the way to the store.
I sell Wagyu directly to stores/restaurants and Japanese distributors, in a small way -— about 300 head.
The rest are Angus. Angus is just not spectacular, and if you are going to put in the effort to raise an animal by hand, you might as well do it right.
“You do NOT want to raise one animal by yourself, especially because it sounds like you aren’t familiar with animal husbandry.”
you got any time before you thow that out there ?..... seriously, even a Yankee has survived that threashold
Be very careful with the molasses buckets. They can be very high in urea if you don’t buy the right brand. If you have plenty of grass, you shouldn’t need one anyway - I’ve only ever used them in winter as a cheap way to get energy to my animals in order to fight the cold and keep them on the gain.
My brother-in-law raises Charolais, good looking cattle. I do not know the reason for the preference, however.
You'll find that it's generally easier to raise two calves than one. Calves of dairy breeds particularly are social animals and will more readily thrive with companionship.
As others have suggested, read up on the issue, but expect to learn on the job. You'll also discover that when you have beef, you'll get invited to lots of school and church picnics.
Good advice. Best to know where your feeder comes from - and you can get good ones at the auction - but be careful. Some of your top stock is sold in larger lots, so maybe you can make an arrangement with someone who bought a large lot to sell you one. Depending on the auction, you are sometimes able to choose some or all if you are high bidder on a large lot - or, if the high bidder does not take the whole lot, you can buy your choice at the same price before they re-auction the remainder (the advantage is, you get your calf, because the next high bidder might take them all).
Always give calves numbers; never let the kids give them names.
Another idea - look for 4H calves (or fair calves or project calves - all the same thing). You get a good quality animal, you know where it’s from and how it has been raised. In my experience, a project calf bought in April is going to run about 800 lbs
But pigs require better fences! :)
It would be a whole lot easier to buy a cow from a farmer and then have it butchered.
that is a very plausible scenario.
Yup. Makes sense to go the auction a couple of times ahead of when you want to buy to get a feel for how things work.
Also, when you go buy at the auction, they usually expect you to get your animal(s) out of there pretty quickly.
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