Purchasing calves
The profitability of the dairy beef enterprise depends largely on the quality of calf that is purchased. Poor calves lead to poor feed efficiencies, weight gains and thrive, and potentially high mortalities. Purchasing from reliable suppliers and ensuring to purchase calves that are good weight for age is crucial to limiting calf mortality and morbidity.
Section 2 of the Teagasc calf rearing manual provides guidelines to purchasing calves for the dairy beef herd,
- Chapter 4 Choosing and Sourcing your Calves (pdf).
- Chapter 5 Transporting the Calf From the farm of Origin (pdf) provides details of how to promote welfare during the journey from farm of origin to the dairy beef farm.
- Chapter 6 Habituation to a new environment (pdf) provides details of how to manage your dairy beef animals successfully once they arrive into your farm yard.
Teagasc recently released a pamphlet, guiding farmers on all details of dairy beef production, from sourcing calves, to housing, health and economics. Buying Dairy Calves for Beef Production (pdf).
A recent video series highlights the importance of purchasing good quality calves, and details how and when they should be transported. Calf Rearing- Procurement and transfer of calves