05/26/2025
The days of $100 bottle calves are over.
Which, as a farmer that never made sense to us (financially).
If you're in the market for a (good)* dairy cow, be prepared to spend a few thousand dollars, and that's a deal.
We personally won't be selling any dairy cows for leas than $5K. Seems greedy, but let's break down the numbers.
To get a calf, you need a cow, and she needs to be bred. We keep a jersey bull. He has to be cared for 365 days for a few days of work. It's not a bad work schedule for him, if you ask us. 🤣
Mind you, not everyone can keep a bull, and those that don't either have to rent a bull or go with AI (artificial insemination), not artificial intelligence.
Though you do want an intelligent bull. 😅
A cows' gestation is 279 to 283 days. So, roughly 9.5 months. During this time, it is essential that the cow gets proper nutrition. Hay, minerals, etc.
We bale our own hay. So we don't spend money on buying hay (p***e), but we do spend time, energy, and money growing it. We usually get between 2 and 3 cuttings. We bale close to 45 acres of hay. 25 acres have only ever been for hay, and the remaining acres are grazed in the winter and fertilized naturally by the cows.
We feed our jerseys, a 24% protein custom milled organic feed. Each jersey gets up to 12 pounds of feed a day, plus this year we've added alfalfa haylage to their daily ration.
We purchase 2 tons of feed for the month. We spend $1600 per ton each month. So that's $38,400 a year in just feed. 🤔
So, the price of a calf could be attained by taking 1/3 of what the cow consumes throughout her pregnancy, as she is still milked, and we figure 1/3 goes to the calf growth, 1/3 for the cows body condition, and 1/3 for milk production.
If 48,000 pounds of feed costs $38,400, and each cow eats 12 pounds daily in a year. 12x365=4380 pounds of feed per cow per year.
48000 pounds of (yearly) feed divided by $38,400 =$0.80 per pound of feed.
4280x$0.80=$3424 to feed each cow for the year.
$3424 divided by 1/3 (33.33)=$1028 This would be just the feed costs (1/3) for the cow to grow a calf.
Then, we must add in the milk the calf consumes for 3 months. Roughly 2 gallons a day for 90 days. Which is 180 gallons at $16/gallon. Equals $2,880 is milk sales lost to feed the calf. This doesn't include any possible vet fees or medication fees (if needed for the cow during or after calving). We don't tack those fees onto the calf. We Tack them onto the cow.
So, in order to break even, we'd have to sell a weaned calf at $3,908.00. But who would pay that?
Selling a registered jersey calf from an A2A2 confirmed, disease tested, and free cow for $1500; we are still losing $1408 per calf.
Now, our fees are a little higher due to the costs of the organic feed. But it's what makes our milk superior. ❤️
This is why this year, we have decided to retain all of our future heifers, raise, train them, and breed them, and offer them for future sales at a higher price.
Farm math.. 🤣
