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Central MN | I'll go against the grain and say go for it. If you want to do something you have to start somewhere. Baby calves I would say handle the stress of being hauled very well if they have a shorter ride seems like any movement with larger calves causes a lot more stress. When you start with cattle there is gonna be a learning curve regardless I feel of knowing when an animal is sick and when to treat etc. The first few weeks can be a challenge at any size and once you can get them past that point they seem to do fine. I'd rather lose that calf when I have less money stuck in to it $35-50 (couple days old) compared to $400 on 500lbers especially if your plan is to take them to finish anyway. While you're starting out maybe go with trying to raise two groups of 25 say 8 weeks between rather than 40 at once. After you get a better handle of it then go with 40 or more. 25 animals to run through a chute for vaccinating, implanting or mass treating when needed especially etc can be time consuming if you dont have state of the art facilities like the big feeders. But with that amount of animals you dont need to have the big equipment or the extra investment either. Groups of 25 also should be big enough to catch the attention of some packer if you choose to go that route rather than auction. Also if you decide you want or need to sell at 5 or 800 lbs it still gives you a nice even group to sell as feeders.
If you email me I can get you some numbers later on I dont have ours in front of me at the time.
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Feeding out Holsteins?
