Post by thystledown on May 16, 2016 11:15:03 GMT -5
We sold the calf in my avatar at the 4-H calf sale yesterday. It was a great experience. I recommend this type of sale for buyers and sellers. Anyone could buy. The sale has two purposes--to raise money for the 4-H dairy club and to make show quality calves available for the kids. The prices were normal market prices and the calves had to be approved for sale and have their health papers. The sale was a catalog sale. The calves were fitted as if for show by 4-Hers the day before, and taught to lead. For us, we took the calf in Friday night. Teams of kids got them ready for show on Saturday and they sale was 1 pm on Sunday. There was time for early church in the morning, but the kids had to be there to get the calves ready for the sale (clean them up again/ touch up as necessary). Our September calf was the second highest selling of 9 Jerseys ranging in age from a yearling to a month old. I am convinced that being on her mom and grass made the difference. We did not have to put feed in to her. Jerseys sold between $700 AND $1000. Brown Swiss brought more and the most at any age--all selling over a thousand I think. There were two or three bred two year olds of various breeds that won't freshen until fall after the show season. They sold for less than $2000 each. The guernsey calves sold well. Holsteins were all over the board. I don't remember how the Ayrshires and Milking shorthorn did. One spring calf was certified organic. Our calf went to a show home with a very happy girl. It was fun to see someone so excited about our calf. The announcer gave the story of how we keep just the one cow and make so many dairy products and added "you know this calf has been babied! This shows you don't have to buy a junior calf for a young child to show. Sometimes we have some already trained where all the hard work has been done." It helps that our cow came from a show herd, so she has decent bloodlines, though nothing super fantastic. Production records are nothing to brag about. And my daughter got to learn a lot. She has always wanted to show cows, but I am too afraid of bringing home diseases. We drink our milk raw and test for disease. Going to shows seems to be asking for trouble. But this let her sort of show the calf and not bring her home. And she got the opinion, not of a judge, but of people willing to put their money down. Here's a pic of my daughter and another 4-H teen working on our calf "Bella".