How to raise a beef calf for butchering

Raising a Beef Calf for Butchering

In this post, I will outline the process of raising a beef calf for butchering, covering the following topics:

Acquiring Your Calf

• Livestock Auction: The simplest way to acquire a calf is by attending a livestock auction. Farmers bring their livestock here to sell to the public. An auctioneer will announce the price for each calf, and you can place your bid by raising your hand. If bidding makes you uncomfortable, the auction house can connect you with a buyer or bidder for assistance.

• Buying Directly from Farmers or Ranchers: Another option is to purchase a calf directly from a farmer or rancher. Dairy farmers often bottle-raise calves after separating them from their mothers, as the mother cow produces significantly more milk than the calf needs. Male dairy calves are some of the best beef available and are typically sold at a lower price because dairy farmers have more calves than they can manage. Ranchers usually allow the mother cows to raise their calves, but sometimes issues arise, such as the mother passing away or the calf having difficulty nursing. While these situations are less common, networking with ranchers can lead to finding a good deal on a calf.

Feeding Your Calf

Once you have your calf, it’s crucial to know what to feed it:

• First Two Months: For the initial two months, the calf will require milk or a milk replacer. It’s also advisable to provide calf starter grain alongside the milk.

• After Weaning: Once the calf reaches three months of age, you can wean it off milk. From this point on, it will need grass or hay as its primary food source. While you can continue to offer some grain feeds, the majority of the calf's diet should consist of grass.

• Final Month Before Butchering: In the month leading up to butchering, you can switch to a grain-only diet. This approach prevents the calf from consuming weeds in the grass that could impart a slightly bitter taste to the meat. Ultimately, the choice between grass and grain flavors comes down to personal preference, with many people favoring the leaner, purer taste of grass-fed beef.

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Will pickle juice kill grass and weeds without using an actual herbicide

 Testing the Efficacy of Pickle Juice on Grass and Weeds 

Today, we have a fantastic opportunity to experiment with something we've wanted to try for a while: Will pickle juice kill grass and weeds? We've often heard that a salt and vinegar solution can effectively eliminate grass and weeds without damaging the land or introducing harmful herbicides or pesticides into our garden.

Here at our personal farm, we are committed to being chemical-free. We believe in avoiding outside chemicals, and this philosophy guides our practices.

Our Approach

• We started by using a weed eater to mechanically cut down the weeds along our fence line.

• Next, we applied a mixture of salt and vinegar to see if it can halt the growth of remaining weeds.

We plan to treat half of the fence line first and then come back to the other half to determine if this solution truly works to kill weeds and prevent regrowth.

Additional Insights

What's particularly interesting about this project is that we have a lot of one-gallon glass jars for personal storage. While you can buy these jars separately, it's actually more cost-effective to purchase them filled with pickles. If our experiment proves successful, we can utilize these jars to store our flour and other items securely, protecting them from pests.

Moreover, we get to enjoy the pickles ourselves or feed them to our pigs—there’s no waste involved! Plus, we are left with vinegar and water, which poses the question: Do we have a safe alternative to commercial herbicides?

I'm genuinely hopeful this project works out, as it is significantly cheaper than other options available on the market. The value we gain is incredible; not only do we obtain the jars, but we also get weed killer and delicious pickles. It's hard to believe it could be this good!

Raising a heifer calf on a bottle

  Giving a heifer calf a chance at a long and productive life by starting with bottle feeding  

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Mattie is not the first heifer calf I've raised on a bottle, and she certainly won't be the last. Yet, there’s something uniquely special about her. Every once in a while, you form a remarkable bond with a cow, and I can’t quite explain why. I know that every rancher I’ve met has experienced this connection.

From the very beginning, we recognized that Mattie was exceptional. We acquired her from a local rancher who believed she had potential despite being blind in both eyes. At just three days old, she was weak, blind, and had patches of hair missing from her back due to a fever.

After a few antibiotic shots and a significant amount of tender loving care, this little 40-pound calf began to recover. Although she was surviving, her growth was minimal, but at least she was alive. Then, around two months old, she contracted a severe case of the flu, and it seemed like she was slipping back toward death.

Thanks to a round of medication and a bit of luck, she pulled through once more. However, it wasn't just luck; it was her incredible will to live. For a week, during my daily check-ins, I expected to find her lifeless, but she refused to give up.

Mattie's determination to survive is a significant reason why she holds a special place in our hearts. I admire a tough cow—one that will work hard for her food and stand her ground against coyotes. Mattie certainly fits that description.

Now, Mattie is ready to become a mother. We’re eagerly counting down the days until she is due on January 1st. I’m keeping a close watch on her to ensure her first delivery goes smoothly.

She has come a long way from that frail, 40-pound calf.