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Pastured
Veal
Brood cows-vs-milk replacer
Rob Freeland
Situation:
You or a friend of yours is considering starting a pastured veal
operation. Here is a partial budget determining whether it is more
profitable to use milk replacer or brood cows to raise the veal
calves.
Facts & Setup:
Below are the costs that Bill Callahan of Cow-a-Hen Farm incurs
to raise 24 veal calves. The veal calves will be 3 months (1 season)
of age when they go to slaughter. Six brood cows will be kept year
round in the brood cow operation. The cows will be bought as cow/calf
pairs for $800 a piece, and calves in both operations will be bought
for $30 a head. The feed required for the brood cows is 180 square
bales per brood cow per season at a price of $2/bale. A total of
4 hrs of labor per day is required to feed the calves using brood
cows at start up, however the time required will decrease as the
season progresses. A total of 1 hour a day is required to feed the
calves on milk replacer. I gave the producer a wage of $8/hour.
Breeding is only required for the system using brood cows, 3 straws
per brood cow, and all calves will be vealed. This means the brood
cow system will only be able to yield 3 groups of calves due to
the necessity to dry the cows off before they give birth for the
second time. In the brood cow system after the brood cow’s
first calves (6 calves) are slaughter when the first group goes;
the producer will have to buy 24 calves per season just as in the
milk replacer system. The milk replacer system will yield 4 groups
of calves because the system does not require a dry off period.
Special equipment required for the brood cow operation would be
a head gate to graft calves to brood cows safely. The milk replacer
operation would require a special milk feeder, which will allow
the producer to feed many calves very efficiently.
Head gate being used in Grafting Process
Milk Replacer Feeder
Expenses
to Produce 24 Veal Calves & 2 year Projection
| |
1
group calves
w/Brood Cows |
2
yr Projection
(6 groups) |
1
group calves
w/Milk Replacer |
2
yr Projection
(8 groups) |
| Feed |
2,160 |
4,320 |
3,600 |
28,800 |
| Purchase
Cows |
4,800 |
4,800 |
NA |
NA |
| Purchase
Calves |
540 |
4,140 |
720 |
5,760 |
| Labor |
2,688 |
16,128 |
672 |
5,376 |
| Breeding |
1,080 |
1,080 |
0 |
0 |
| Other
Equipment |
1,200 |
1,200 |
400 |
400 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Total
Cost ($) |
16,568 |
31,668 |
9,492 |
40,336 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Veal
Sales |
9,360 |
56,160 |
9,360 |
74,880 |
|
Net
Income ($) |
|
24,492 |
|
34,544 |
|
Profit
Difference |
34,544
- 24,492 = 10,052 |
Conclusions:
The numbers above indicate that if one were to start a pastured
veal operation it would be better to raise the calves on milk replacer
then to keep brood cows. However both systems are profitable. Since
the milk replacer system is able to yield 4 groups of calves per
year instead of 3 it obviously is going to generate more profit.
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