Post by mooo on Oct 4, 2008 17:03:59 GMT -5
I guess this gets filed in the *Don't take shortcuts* folder, under something you already knew, ignored, & then kicked yourself for doing it anyway.
So...I'm needing to get two more calves to put on Molly. I'll be weaning her fostered bull calf @ 4+ mo. and will replace him with two newborns and will leave Holly on for a few more months, until she's 5 or 6 months (Nov/Dec). Initially, I had wanted to go back to the dairy in Hutch, an Amish family dairy, to get the two new calves where I've gotten all the other calves I've bought this past year; but, it's a 187 mile trip, one way. Since I didn't have any plans to go that way for any other reason, I had the bright idea that I'd just go to a more local dairy, approx. 40 miles from home and get 2 of their Holstein or Holstein/Jersey cross calves from a dairy here. Hutch calves, $30 ea. / $20 ea. for the locals. Not a big difference either way. Fuel costs would be the major factor. A co-workers husband has been giving me grief about buying the Hutch calves telling me I'm paying too much as the price has only recently come down from $60, I paid $70 for those I got last fall. He kept bragging that he could get calves here for $20. That's all fine and dandy. I wasn't wanting feedlot calves, particularly, which I wasn't too sure that that wasn't what he was getting. Anyway, I had this bright idea & made arrangements to go this morning to pick two up at one of the nearby dairies. Well, when I arrived it was really foggy and there wasn't anyone nearby that I could find in the parking lot or pens closest to the parking lot so I wandered down to the maternity barn (I'd been told where it was) hoping to find someone there. On the way down I saw the worst assortment of Holsteins I've ever seen. Poor condition, some were smaller than all 3 Jerseys I've had, and they had udders so it was more than just a matter of them possibly being young. I couldn't decide if they'd already calved or if they were planning to, but if they were still bred they sure weren't carrying very large calves. I'm talking absolutely no preggo belly whatsoever. At the front of the barn in the alley there was a pitiful little dead calf, then there looked to be 1 calf bedded down in the maternity barn in a surprisingly nice looking bed of straw. Still couldn't find an employee. Walked a bit further, more sorry looking cows, a few Jerseys in this pen, still not a soul to be found. I made my way back up to the milking barn, still planning on buying 2 calves, even after seeing absolutely nothing that impressed me, already regretting the decision knowing that I'd have to really coddle these calves if they were going to survive. Near the milking parlour there were mastitis tubes thrown around on the ground, there were pigeons roosting all over the place and I have a huge hatred of feral pigeons. They're just filthy, dirty rats with wings. Finally a guy came out of the milking barn so I yelled at him & he went inside to go get someone to help me. STILL planning on going through with this mess. Thankfully that person wasn't very prompt because I was FINALLY able to decide once and for all that I didn't want to mess with calves from this facility. It stinks, I was just so afraid that I'd have made this trip for nothing, that I'd already made arrangements and didn't want to back out, etc. etc. etc. so that in the end I'd end up with sickly half dead calves. Ugh!
At any rate, sure, I might save a few $$ buying local from dairies that I do not endorse (management styles, feeding styles, etc.) but anymore I don't care. It used to be I could buy local Holstein calves and they'd be born with jet black glossy coats, bright eyes, & full of spunk like calves should be. I *knew* I wasn't going to get that this time. When I worked at Walco in 2000 it surprised the heck out of me that a woman who was raising bull calves from these dairies would buy all kinds of serious drugs, Micotil, Nuflor, etc. It just didn't make sense that she'd have so many problems with calves. Never had dairy calves that were in poor condition like what you expect from feedyard calves. Well, the almighty dollar is stronger than human dignity, obviously. I'm amazed at how few people in this world really care about quality of life for their critters.
So now I get to go back to what I should have done to begin with which is make the drive & buy my calves from the family dairy. They've gone to great lengths to make sure I had what I wanted, whether that meant buying calves from them or from one of the brothers that live nearby, they start the calves on wholesome milk from great looking, HEALTHY cows. The 'buy local' concept, while a good one, doesn't hold water when the 'local' is inferior, unfortunately. I figure the local dairy pulls the calves as soon as their born, tubes them with a minimal amount of colostrum before they're even able to stand, & ships them off by the time they're 24-28 hours old. Last calves I bought from Hutch, some of them were already a month old. The youngest I've gotten one is 3 days, I think. They're fed bottles and are kept until they're able to nurse & drink a bottle! If they're scouring they're not sold.
Now to add this one to the *dumb blonde* file ... and I'll be going to Hutch in a couple of weeks for some GOOD Jersey calves from a FAMILY (not a corp.) and I'll gladly pay every penny it takes to get me there & back. I'm even going to be ambitious and buy some of their fresh raw milk & try to make butter for the first time in my life!! lol
So...I'm needing to get two more calves to put on Molly. I'll be weaning her fostered bull calf @ 4+ mo. and will replace him with two newborns and will leave Holly on for a few more months, until she's 5 or 6 months (Nov/Dec). Initially, I had wanted to go back to the dairy in Hutch, an Amish family dairy, to get the two new calves where I've gotten all the other calves I've bought this past year; but, it's a 187 mile trip, one way. Since I didn't have any plans to go that way for any other reason, I had the bright idea that I'd just go to a more local dairy, approx. 40 miles from home and get 2 of their Holstein or Holstein/Jersey cross calves from a dairy here. Hutch calves, $30 ea. / $20 ea. for the locals. Not a big difference either way. Fuel costs would be the major factor. A co-workers husband has been giving me grief about buying the Hutch calves telling me I'm paying too much as the price has only recently come down from $60, I paid $70 for those I got last fall. He kept bragging that he could get calves here for $20. That's all fine and dandy. I wasn't wanting feedlot calves, particularly, which I wasn't too sure that that wasn't what he was getting. Anyway, I had this bright idea & made arrangements to go this morning to pick two up at one of the nearby dairies. Well, when I arrived it was really foggy and there wasn't anyone nearby that I could find in the parking lot or pens closest to the parking lot so I wandered down to the maternity barn (I'd been told where it was) hoping to find someone there. On the way down I saw the worst assortment of Holsteins I've ever seen. Poor condition, some were smaller than all 3 Jerseys I've had, and they had udders so it was more than just a matter of them possibly being young. I couldn't decide if they'd already calved or if they were planning to, but if they were still bred they sure weren't carrying very large calves. I'm talking absolutely no preggo belly whatsoever. At the front of the barn in the alley there was a pitiful little dead calf, then there looked to be 1 calf bedded down in the maternity barn in a surprisingly nice looking bed of straw. Still couldn't find an employee. Walked a bit further, more sorry looking cows, a few Jerseys in this pen, still not a soul to be found. I made my way back up to the milking barn, still planning on buying 2 calves, even after seeing absolutely nothing that impressed me, already regretting the decision knowing that I'd have to really coddle these calves if they were going to survive. Near the milking parlour there were mastitis tubes thrown around on the ground, there were pigeons roosting all over the place and I have a huge hatred of feral pigeons. They're just filthy, dirty rats with wings. Finally a guy came out of the milking barn so I yelled at him & he went inside to go get someone to help me. STILL planning on going through with this mess. Thankfully that person wasn't very prompt because I was FINALLY able to decide once and for all that I didn't want to mess with calves from this facility. It stinks, I was just so afraid that I'd have made this trip for nothing, that I'd already made arrangements and didn't want to back out, etc. etc. etc. so that in the end I'd end up with sickly half dead calves. Ugh!
At any rate, sure, I might save a few $$ buying local from dairies that I do not endorse (management styles, feeding styles, etc.) but anymore I don't care. It used to be I could buy local Holstein calves and they'd be born with jet black glossy coats, bright eyes, & full of spunk like calves should be. I *knew* I wasn't going to get that this time. When I worked at Walco in 2000 it surprised the heck out of me that a woman who was raising bull calves from these dairies would buy all kinds of serious drugs, Micotil, Nuflor, etc. It just didn't make sense that she'd have so many problems with calves. Never had dairy calves that were in poor condition like what you expect from feedyard calves. Well, the almighty dollar is stronger than human dignity, obviously. I'm amazed at how few people in this world really care about quality of life for their critters.
So now I get to go back to what I should have done to begin with which is make the drive & buy my calves from the family dairy. They've gone to great lengths to make sure I had what I wanted, whether that meant buying calves from them or from one of the brothers that live nearby, they start the calves on wholesome milk from great looking, HEALTHY cows. The 'buy local' concept, while a good one, doesn't hold water when the 'local' is inferior, unfortunately. I figure the local dairy pulls the calves as soon as their born, tubes them with a minimal amount of colostrum before they're even able to stand, & ships them off by the time they're 24-28 hours old. Last calves I bought from Hutch, some of them were already a month old. The youngest I've gotten one is 3 days, I think. They're fed bottles and are kept until they're able to nurse & drink a bottle! If they're scouring they're not sold.
Now to add this one to the *dumb blonde* file ... and I'll be going to Hutch in a couple of weeks for some GOOD Jersey calves from a FAMILY (not a corp.) and I'll gladly pay every penny it takes to get me there & back. I'm even going to be ambitious and buy some of their fresh raw milk & try to make butter for the first time in my life!! lol