Gift from the Neighbour

cjc

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Got Sassy a little buddy!

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babsbag

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Sassy will like that. :) I like raising everything in pairs or more. I have a preemie goat baby right now in the house and he is alone. I am thinking of pulling another kid and bottle raising it just so he will have a buddy. I need to wait a few more days and make sure that he is going to make it before I add another bottle kid for no good reason. :)

I don't have pasture unless we were to plant and irrigate and it cost $$$ to run the well so I can't keep cows as pets. I am pushing it even thinking of a milk cow. I saw an ad for a bred milking shorthorn with a 4 month old calf for $600.00. Of course they "say" she milks well, is an easy keeper, etc. but for that price all four of my eyes had better be open. But what it did is start my thinking about a cow...again.
 

farmerjan

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So, I have to ask. Is she a GIFT or a can you raise this FOR US ? kind of thing? Boy, it'd be nice for most people to have a "give it to you" neighbor like that!!!! She is cute, I have never had a jersey that wasn't cute.
You really paid for that angus calf. Here hol bull calves are in the $60. range and beef calves when you can find them are anywhere from $50 to $150. Saw one go through the stockyards that the momma died for $15. a couple of weeks ago. I should've bought it, but didn't want it to be a month or more old when this heifer calved.
I am now keeping my eye open for one as I have a 1/2 jer 1/2 hol heifer due in the next month. Bull bred to an angus so am not sure of an exact date. She is not real friendly, so it may be a bit of a battle, but I will try to put calves on her. She does come right to the gate to come in for grain, which I am giving her a little so that I can get her to keep coming in. Got to get a neck chain on her this week and see if I can get her to go in the head catch so that I can work with her. I will take her calf away as soon as she calves so that I can convince her to take a couple more grafted on her. Then I will bring her in to her calf and get a couple more on her and bring her in and out for a couple weeks until she accepts them, then they will be able to go out with her.
She wasn't supposed to get bred this soon, I planned for her to have an early fall calf, hoping that my ankle/knee issues would be doing a little better. Oh well, you do what you gotta do.
 

farmerjan

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Sassy will like that. :) I like raising everything in pairs or more. I have a preemie goat baby right now in the house and he is alone. I am thinking of pulling another kid and bottle raising it just so he will have a buddy. I need to wait a few more days and make sure that he is going to make it before I add another bottle kid for no good reason. :)

I don't have pasture unless we were to plant and irrigate and it cost $$$ to run the well so I can't keep cows as pets. I am pushing it even thinking of a milk cow. I saw an ad for a bred milking shorthorn with a 4 month old calf for $600.00. Of course they "say" she milks well, is an easy keeper, etc. but for that price all four of my eyes had better be open. But what it did is start my thinking about a cow...again.

A pair like that at $600. is a good deal around here. I would jump on it if it were here, providing she didn't have any obvious faults. If she weighs 1000 lbs she is worth .50 to .70 a lb as a cull cow so she is worth the price alone here . Don't know what your prices are out there.
 

cjc

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So, I have to ask. Is she a GIFT or a can you raise this FOR US ? kind of thing? Boy, it'd be nice for most people to have a "give it to you" neighbor like that!!!! She is cute, I have never had a jersey that wasn't cute.
You really paid for that angus calf. Here hol bull calves are in the $60. range and beef calves when you can find them are anywhere from $50 to $150. Saw one go through the stockyards that the momma died for $15. a couple of weeks ago. I should've bought it, but didn't want it to be a month or more old when this heifer calved.
I am now keeping my eye open for one as I have a 1/2 jer 1/2 hol heifer due in the next month. Bull bred to an angus so am not sure of an exact date. She is not real friendly, so it may be a bit of a battle, but I will try to put calves on her. She does come right to the gate to come in for grain, which I am giving her a little so that I can get her to keep coming in. Got to get a neck chain on her this week and see if I can get her to go in the head catch so that I can work with her. I will take her calf away as soon as she calves so that I can convince her to take a couple more grafted on her. Then I will bring her in to her calf and get a couple more on her and bring her in and out for a couple weeks until she accepts them, then they will be able to go out with her.
She wasn't supposed to get bred this soon, I planned for her to have an early fall calf, hoping that my ankle/knee issues would be doing a little better. Oh well, you do what you gotta do.

She is a gift that I get to keep :). They just wanted to make sure she went to a good home,it wasn't worth the few hundred dollars they would get for her. Their daughter really loves the mother of this calf so the daughter insisted her dad call me and ask me if I would take the calf. I have his daughters 4H cow from last year as well. They are great neighbours to say the least!

Ya did I ever pay for that calf haha. My husband is half Chinese so we have been calling the calf Guí Li, said like Gway La. Means too expensive haha. Oh well, he is a dam good looking Angus calf that's for sure.
 

farmerjan

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That's wonderful that she is yours to keep. And if the angus works out, he is well offset by the jersey heifer.....will you be able to eat him? or sell him?
My jer/hol cross surprised me a bit early, has a heifer calf and now I am trying to find a couple of bull calves to graft on her. No one I trust has any bull calves....that never happens...usually can find a couple. Got a few more phone calls out, there are some farms that I won't get calves from as they always have issues and I am not intending to have sick ones or to bury them. The new momma has a pretty decent udder and I don't want to have issues with mastitis or have to milk due to my crazy schedule right now, so calves are the answer...if I can find a couple. Always something. We had beautiful warm 65* yesterday, then it got windy and is supposed to drop into the 20's tonight. Then 70's by the weekend. Never seen anything this up and down that I can remember.
 

cjc

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That's wonderful that she is yours to keep. And if the angus works out, he is well offset by the jersey heifer.....will you be able to eat him? or sell him?
My jer/hol cross surprised me a bit early, has a heifer calf and now I am trying to find a couple of bull calves to graft on her. No one I trust has any bull calves....that never happens...usually can find a couple. Got a few more phone calls out, there are some farms that I won't get calves from as they always have issues and I am not intending to have sick ones or to bury them. The new momma has a pretty decent udder and I don't want to have issues with mastitis or have to milk due to my crazy schedule right now, so calves are the answer...if I can find a couple. Always something. We had beautiful warm 65* yesterday, then it got windy and is supposed to drop into the 20's tonight. Then 70's by the weekend. Never seen anything this up and down that I can remember.

I am not sure what I will do with the little guy. Likely sell him as a yearling. Our other neighbours usually try and pick up a cow or two off of us to raise for the farm status we get in BC. If you have 2 cows on your land you don't have to pay property tax...for the most part.

Question for you on my jersey heifer calf. I let them run around in our riding arena during the day...it is for horses of course but we don't ride anymore so it has become a bottle calf paradise. The riding arena is filled with sand. The silly calf keeps eating the sand! I called another calf raiser and she said she probably just wants something gritty in her stomach and she has access to hay and grain both of which she is putting in her mouth. I can't leave her in the riding arena because I just cant get her to stop eating sand! Any idea? The only thing that comes up on google is that she is missing something in her diet, but what is she missing?!
 
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