# Jersey bull calf for meat?



## Michael W. Smith

Our neighborhood farmer raises Jersey cows, and I've recently been made aware that he sells his bull calves for $10.00 each, 1 - 2 weeks old. 

So that got me thinking, (what a dangerous action!) if I bought one from him (don't have to worry about a calf going through the auction barn and picking up whatever disease) and since it's already 1 - 2 weeks old, bottle feed it until it's eating solid food, band it, so the little fellow becomes a steer, and let him eat grass all Spring, Summer, and into Fall, give "it" a little grain now and then and then butcher him.

Is this a project really worth it? I know I'm not going to end up with a big monster, but should end up with an animal that provides some meat. On the plus side, I'm good friends with the butcher, so would receive a discount on the butchering as well.

Or is this a pipe dream and not even worth thinking about (or acting on)?


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## lilmizlayla

:cowboy:yes for you..and yes for him. Yes for you because they have been with their mother already and bottle feeding is easier if they have been with their mother and already gotten their first milk. Jerseys are hard to keep alive. 
Yes for him because at the auction he may get 2 dollars a head. I paid 3 for one and 7 for my bigger one..and 1 dollar for my other. It was my 1 dollar and 4 dollar one that survived..go figure. 

The meat is supposed to be really good. 

dont fall in love with those big brown eyes! They are really small and really sweet

just dont change your mind about butchering..jerseys are the nastiest when they are older..whether you have them castrated or not


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## Oggie

Might you be able to ask the farmer to keep the bull calf on the cow for several weeks longer? 

I would think that he would be much healthier and you'd be less likely to have a lump of spoiling veal on your hands.


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## Michael W. Smith

lilmizlayla said:


> dont fall in love with those big brown eyes! They are really small and really sweet


Well now, THAT could be a problem! Perhaps I should get 3 of them (hey they are cheap enough!) raise one for myself, and send the remaining 2 to auction. Maybe having 3 I wouldn't get so attached.


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## Peace n Quiet

If you can't feed him through at least one winter, it's probably not worth it. We butchered a jersey steer last fall. He was primarily grass/hay fed, with only 150 lbs or so of grain fed to him. The meat is excellent - far better than some beef crosses we've raised and well worth raising. 

However, he was two years old at butchering and hanging weight was around 800 lbs. The majority of that weight was put on in his second year of growth. Before that, he was all frame, no meat. I think if we had tried to butcher him before 18 months, we wouldn't have ended up with much meat at all.


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## PinkBat

I've picked up Jersey calves at the auction barn and raised them successfully. Very tasty meat. After they are all wrapped up in butcher paper you don't really think about those brown eyes anymore. Just pretend they were accidently switched at the butcher's....lol. Oh...and don't name the little fellow.


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## farmmom

I had a day old that my folks bought for me as a gift. He was $10. When he was 18 months old, and I had nowhere to put the meat, I sent him to auction where he sold for $250. He almost died on me a couple of times, but pulled through. He never got very big. BTW, his name was Bambi.


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## longshadowfarms

If you want to know what is in the meat you eat, it is worth it. If you're hoping to make an extra $, don't count on it. Make sure baby has a good start, at LEAST a week on mom, the longer you can pay farmer to keep him on some fresh cow milk, the better he'll be, even if you go there yourself and bottle feed him. The meat is excellent and if he turns into a pet, I'll bet he gets to be such a pest by 18 mo to 2 yrs that you're ready to send him away anyway.


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## sugarbush

Piece and quite is right. If you plan on only keeping it for one summer it will not be worth doing. By fall he may weigh 250lbs live weight and after butchering and cutting up you will end up with about 30 lbs of usable meat or less. You would know where the meat came from, but it will have costed you about $20.00 a lb after processing. Even a veal calf is kept for a full year before processing and that is on an all milk diet so they grow faster than a grain or grass fed calf.


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## TNtreasure

Many, many years ago, my grandfather sold six week old calfs as veal. I think they fetched a good price. No doubt, they would be delicious!


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## sugarbush

I cannot stand the taste of veal...yuk.
Anyway when your grandfather sold his calves as veal it would have been to a veal farm where they would have been fed until they reached about 500-600 lbs. They don't butcher veal at 6 weeks. I think 20 weeks is that absolute earliest that veal calves are butchered. Most places like them to reach 5-600 lbs and that takes time.


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## Mrs. Homesteader

We do this every year. We raise at least 2 for meat. We get them in the Spring when we have excess milk from our cow. Then we raise them to 18 months. Our customers love them. We have lots of repeat buyers. Ours are raised on milk and grass. At 18 months, the hanging weight on the whole steer is only around 300 lbs., so you don't get tons of meat, but it tastes good!!


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## SquashNut

We used to do this with holstein steer calves, You may get much more from them, much faster.


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## sleepydream21

Re: Not worth it if only keeping for one summer. I got two bull calves in Feb. We are going to butcher one in about 3-4 weeks. I don't know how much they weigh, but I am thinking quite a bit more than 250 lbs. I will try to post pics tomorrow and see what you all think. They are nearly as big as my yearling heifer.


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## big rockpile

If your keeping it two years yes.If I was going to do it again I would buy a Weaned Beef Calf around 600# put it on grass for the Summer then butcher it.Will cost more but some Good Beef and not have to worry about any problems with Bottle Feeding.

big rockpile


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## fellini123

We did it when we lived in CA. But we kept them for 2 years. We had 3, and we named them "Lunch" "Dinner" and "Hamburger." They were delicious!!!!
Even the kids had no problem eating them. 
Oh and Lunch was a pain in the neck could get out of anywhere I dont care how secure the fence was......
Alice


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## arabian knight

I buy mine Jersey bull calves when they are a week old.
It takes about 16 to 18 months to get them up to a nice wt.
The last one I was 17 months old and I got over 640 pounds of meat YUMMY.
Of course the last 5 months they get nothing but a grain mixture, as much as they can eat, "Total Feed" grain in front of them 24/7.
Yummy in the tummy as they are so tender, and nice sweat beef.
I have been getting Jersey calves like that one about every 2 years, and has been working out just great.


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## Jean in Virginia

Otis the Jersey was the best tasting beef we've ever had. Yummo.


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## Common Tator

How long do they need milk?


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## pastelsummer

Oh yes they are good meat but you have to let the grow until 2 years as they are a slow growing meat. If you can manage that 2 years then go for it the only meat i like better is a jersey holstien cross mmmmmmm yummy


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## Pops2

sugarbush said:


> I cannot stand the taste of veal...yuk.
> Anyway when your grandfather sold his calves as veal it would have been to a veal farm where they would have been fed until they reached about 500-600 lbs. They don't butcher veal at 6 weeks. I think 20 weeks is that absolute earliest that veal calves are butchered. Most places like them to reach 5-600 lbs and that takes time.


actually they may have been immediately slaughtered & butchered when sold. it's called bob veal and is the most tender kind but the cuts are small like a lamb.


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## arabian knight

Common Tator said:


> How long do they need milk?


I am still feeding milk yet a 2 months old.
Now I have only one, so I will feed milk till the 50 pound bag of milk replacer (Non-medicated) is gone. 
Which will take the calf to nearly 2-1/2 months of age.
And at that age, the calf is eating grain just fine, and drinking plenty of water out of a bucket, and starting to eat hay.


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## jwal10

There are 2 kinds of veal calves, the bigger ones that are milk fed 6 mos and you buy in the store as veal. Older than 6 mos is baby beef. The little dairy calves that are 2-6 weeks are processed in chicken pot pies, no kidding....James

http://www.3men.com/3men.htm#Veal


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## jwal10

Buy the little guy and get extra milk if you can. Usually if it is a dairy, they milk the cow and feed the calf by bottle. They will feed them about a week, but a dairy cow gives more milk than the calf can take. If you can, get all the milk the mother gives and freeze it. Then when you get the calf, thaw this rich colostrum and feed to the calf until it runs out, then go to the milk replacer. Gives the calf a better start. A jersey steer needs to be 18 mos and then grained heavily to be best but not too long as the fat gets too thick and is very yellow. Jersey beef is well marbled and is very tender....James


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## Callieslamb

I just sent a jersey steer to the butcher - 18 months old - 630+ lbs hanging weight. I bought him for $25. There will be milk replacer costs - buy the best with the highest fat content - it will save you a LOT of worry. Feed them milk for 2-3 months - give them free choice hay and fresh water. They will grow well for you.

I know many here have said that it isn't worth it....but I don't plan on letting our steer go so long again. My next steer is already in the barnyard. I will only keep him 14 months or so. I do encouarge you - if you can't keep them over the winter, to feed more grain so they will gain weight a bit faster. I never fed mine much grain - maybe 3-4 lbs a day. Feed them GOOD hay, not brown, stemmy stuff.

I think it was worth it.


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## 7thswan

Please don't confuse Veal with young beef, totaly diffrent. Yes it would be a great idea, make sure you worm it properly and finish it with grain long enough before you butcher.


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## Freeholder

It may be worthwhile to purchase whole cow milk at the store to feed it, at least until it starts eating some solid food (goat kids start nibbling on hay by the time they are a week old -- when do calves start eating hay/grass?). Maybe cut it half and half with milk replacer if the replacer is really less expensive than the store-bought milk. Goat kids have a higher survival rate with whole cow milk instead of milk replacer, and I suspect that the same would be true of calves.

Kathleen


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## arabian knight

A person feeds 2 Quarts of milk twice a Day.....
WoW~!!!! Whole milk from the store???? To feed to a calf??????
A Gallon from store in whole milk???? Each and every Day??? 
No way would that be worth while, or even money wise.
And at 55 bucks for 50 Pound bag of Milk Replacer, that lasts over 2 Months per calf, It is Way way more economical to feed a bag of milk replacer~! Not to even mention the special mixture of milk that is just for a calf, all the vitamins, fat and protein, no way would a person even consider to even supplement with a whole milk from the store.


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## TSYORK

I purchased one from a friend of mine who runs a diary for ten bucks. I weaned him at two months old, and from then on he got grass, hay, and some grain. I had him butchered at 18 months old, and his hanging weight was 425 lbs. It's some of the best meat I've ever eaten.


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## Mutti

Our Jersey heifer is bred now ....she was lonely after her mom did a spread eagle on the ice and we had to have her put down so we asked our neighbor if he has a calf for company(and meat) $250 for 3 month old Angus...twins to a bull calf so we are raising her for beef. A good deal as we didn't have to deal with bottle feeding although we've done that often enough. They both come up morning and evening for a taste of corn and all the pear and apple windfalls we pick. Keeps them from getting to independent! DEE


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## Ramblin Wreck

longshadowfarms said:


> if he turns into a pet, I'll bet he gets to be such a pest by 18 mo to 2 yrs that you're ready to send him away anyway.


Amen to that. I bought a Jersey steer at auction that had been made a pet by the previous owner. That nutty cow thinks it is a dog. The other day I had to stop the tractor in the pasture to take a cell phone call, and he took that as an invitation to come play. When he wasn't prancing around playing head butt with the loader bucket, he was nearly ripping the rear fenders off scratching his back. I can't wait to get that aggravating bovine to freezer camp. FYI: He was way thin when I bought him a few months ago, but he is fattening up nicely.


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