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SC Wisconsin | I was buying newborn cross calves and feeding them right with my holsteins. I quit buying the crosses and went back to all steins. I feed whole shell and pellets, and the crosses finished faster but like you said were 150+ pounds lighter than the steins. Every dairy farmer ive dealt with thinks that since they have Angus blood and they are black calves, they are automatically worth $100 more per calf. Where I'm at, if you send them to the barn they will be 5-8 cents higher on the finished end than holsteins, so they are only going to net you the same dollars in the end if it were a holstein that weighed the same at finish but you paid less money for. Granted they might have a slight increase in efficiency and turn dollars faster, but you've got more risk with a $200 calf vs a $100 calf.
I think to do it right you would have to split them up post weaning, and put the crosses on a little lower net diet than the steins to frame them up some and cheapen up cog. But if you want to feed them all the same you're really not doing anything but moving more money. Just my .02 | |
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