Featured Got any pet's

I love the nature of hounds, I've tried to have a couple coon hounds for pets, but their nose and their stomachs tend to make them roam and get into trouble. Older female shepherds make the best all around trouble free stay at home family guardians and require the least supervision.

 

Most farmers will not sell their cows if they have good ones. You could probably make a deal with him to buy a feeder steer when he get's ready to take them to market. A steer would be more tender than a cow would be.

 

I own and sell AKC registered beagles, here is three pups of a litter I had last year.

 

Most people raising cows go for top price; so you can figure a 1,000 pound cow is gonna go for at least $1,000.

What we do is watch the local dairy farms. They have no use for male calves, so when the cows give birth, they either sell the male calves within the first week, or they kill them. I've gotten four calves at $80 each this way.

Then you gotta figure total cost of ownership. When you get them that young, you have to bottle feed them; typical bag of milk replacer is around $40-$50, and it lasts about a month or so. Figure 2-3 bags per calf as you wean them off it. I typically buy 40lb bags of 10% protein sweet feed at about $7/bag and feed them once a day; a typical bag can feed them three times until they get up over 700 pounds. They need hay, which costs around $40-$50 per roll; and then you get them as fat as you can around the 18-24 month point for slaughter.

I have ponds for watering; but those that don't, you gotta make sure they have a LOT of water available, so there may be water costs....

Figure that you'll get about 40-50% of the total body weight as usable meat; and where I'm at, about .56-.60 cents per pound hanging weight (how much meat is left after it's slaughtered and dressed), and processing fee....

So total cost of ownership is probably around $1,500-$2,000 ... but then, start taking a look at how much the different steaks and hamburger and stuff at the grocery store costs. By the time you figure how much you would have paid for the same amount of meat at Wal-mart, you end up saving at least $500-$1,000.

Sorry, just went on an info-sharing kick. I didn't start this until 2012, and have learned all this as I went along.

 

Have you checked Craigslist? They've ALWAYS got dogs and other animals people are trying to give away.

 

Dairy farmers do not kill their bull calves. If they do not sell them to people like you they will take them to the sale barn and run them through. They are always people either individual or at the sale that will buy them. They are not in business for a loss but a profit.

 

I guess it depends on the dairy farm, and what part of the country you're in....