How Much Feed?

[Hobby Farm]

We are considering getting a Jersey for a family milker, then feeding out her calves for freezer beef. I would plan for the calf to be born in early Spring and put it out to pasture for that Summer/Fall then feed hay over the Winter, then put it back on pasture in the following Spring and finally butcher in the Fall. Has anyone out there ever followed this timeline and kept track of how many pounds of hay it takes to feed out a calf.

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Great plan if you're planning on raising a beef steer.


You're not going to get far with a dairy calf though. You will need to supplement with grain--LOTS of grain--in order to get them to fatten up enough to be suitable for slaughter. You may be able to get away with grazing and hay if that grass and hay is EXCELLENT quality hay (like better than horse-hay quality) and grass. You won't get that quality throughout the year no matter what you try to do--it'll be even worse come summer and fall unless you've planted annuals for great quality pasture during that time period. You're better off supplementing throughout the whole time as they graze or are fed hay.


Now to answer your question. Figure on feeding around 3% of the calf's body weight per day in dry matter ration. Multiply that by the calf's body weight and add on the moisture content (by multiplying by the as-fed dry matter content of the hay) and you'll get your results--approximately.

 

[ourflockof4]

It may be helpful for you to read this thread I posted a little bit ago

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=23108

It doesn't mention hay much because you will have a very hard time finishing off on hay. You would need to be feeding dairy quality alfalfa and it still wouldn't finish well without the grain. If you get a milk cow and plan on raising it the same way make sure you get a low volume producer from a pasture based dairy. Unless you need 80 lbs of milk a day and plan on feeding the cow a good ration with grain.

 

[Cricket]

We raise dairy steers for beef for ourselves. We put up our own hay, bales on the small side--probably 40lb? The first 3-4 months they don't eat much hay, but my 8 month old steer now eats about a bale a day. I have friends that start theirs in January and butcher at about a year--that's probably the least expensive way to do it. I don't give much grain--they do actually grow eating grass and hay. It will probably depend on where you live as to how you feed.

I doubt you'd have to worry about getting 80lbs of milk a day unless you really push production with grain and/or silage.

My cows tend to lose condition right before the snow falls--they'll spend the day pulling at the last of the green grass and ignore their hay once the edge is off their hunger. Once their options are reduced, the weight goes back on.

I butchered a Jersey Holstein cross in December at 18 months. He taped 1000lbs, and hanging weight, quartered, was 400lbs. I usually let them go a few more months, but no beef left in the freezer!

Have you had raw Jersey milk before?

 

[Hobby Farm]

We raise dairy steers for beef for ourselves. We put up our own hay, bales on the small side--probably 40lb? The first 3-4 months they don't eat much hay, but my 8 month old steer now eats about a bale a day. I have friends that start theirs in January and butcher at about a year--that's probably the least expensive way to do it. I don't give much grain--they do actually grow eating grass and hay. It will probably depend on where you live as to how you feed.

I doubt you'd have to worry about getting 80lbs of milk a day unless you really push production with grain and/or silage.

My cows tend to lose condition right before the snow falls--they'll spend the day pulling at the last of the green grass and ignore their hay once the edge is off their hunger. Once their options are reduced, the weight goes back on.

I butchered a Jersey Holstein cross in December at 18 months. He taped 1000lbs, and hanging weight, quartered, was 400lbs. I usually let them go a few more months, but no beef left in the freezer!

Have you had raw Jersey milk before?

Thank you and others for the advice, I appreciate it. I have neighbors who have Holstein bulls and Angus bulls and I go to church and live near a vet who could AI for me if I want to go with a full blooded Jersey. Sounds like I'd get a better beef if I used the Holstein or Angus.

Yes, I've had raw Jersey milk, and I love it. I still prefer to drink our goat milk, but the jersey milk is great for all other milk needs (cheese, yogurt, butter, ect...)

 

[Cricket]

You don't, but definitely don't!, want to breed to a Jersey cow to a Holstein bull, as the calf would be too big. (In this area, a lot of people breed their first time calving Holstein heifers to a Jersey bull).

There was a recent article in a farming magazine where they are breeding Jerseys to Limousine cattle--they are supposed to be easy calving and you still get the beefy growth. No first hand knowledge, but sounded interesting.

 

[animalfarm]

Along with what Cricket said, the Jersey x Angus bull makes a decent calf and the Jersey will not have any calving difficulties with this route. Calves usually come out pumpkin colored and change over to black if you are curious.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

I heard something similar about Jersey-Angus crosses. I have skepticism about Jersey-Limousin crosses (no, Limousin isn't spelled "Limousine"--limousines are long cars. ) more because of the disposition issues that come with Limmis. You can get similar problems with Angus, but not as bad as with Limousin cattle.

No you're not going to do very good with Jersey-Holstein crosses. Putting a Holstein over a Jersey cow is just asking for trouble. And you're breeding dairy to dairy which is really counterproductive and counterintuitive to what you're trying to achieve in raising an animal for beef. Like I said before, you're just going to be doing a lot of graining than grazing or feeding hay. You're better off with a dairy-beef cross or a 100% beef cross to raise a beefer on just pasture one part of the season and hay on the other. Even so, you still may need to grain a little (though not nearly as much as with backgrounding and finishing a dairy animal for beef) just to add a bit of marbling and make the fat less yellow in colour.

 

[jhm47]

No matter what breed you use to cross on the Jersey cow, you MUST be sure that you use a proven bull that is easy calving. There are Angus bloodlines that will cause problems with calving, and you should be aware of that. The diversity in all major breeds allows a person to find bulls that will excel in almost any trait.