Quality starts here?

[grassfarmer]

Cowman, I figure it out every fall but I can't remember the exact numbers. Roughly speaking to wean and feed through to December costs less than 80 cents/ day actual feed costs. On calves that are gaining 1.8lbs a day that's 44 cents/lb of gain - however poor calves have been in recent years we can all make money at these prices.
There is yardage but it's minimal - water, tractor cost to feed. I don't charge bedding and manure removal to the calves but to the grass growing operation - it pays for itself in that department.
As far as the preconditioning drug costs I give them 8 way and somnus ph in May, booster both at weaning plus pyramid 4. Assuming most people give 8 way as a minimum my extra drug costs are around $8-9 per calf. With no set backs and no pneumonia to treat you can't afford not to do this if you are retaining calves post weaning, in my opinion.
I was told by a smart operator when I moved here that every 10 days you keep a calf on the cow after 1st October costs you a ton of hay in the winter to make up on the condition loss on the cow. That may be an overstatement but the principle makes sense to me. Weaning in early October allows me to get the cows butter fat on banked grass and have them in summer condition at Christmas. This allows them to slide a bit through winter on a fairly cheap ration and still calf out in good shape.
With these in mind I wouldn't be tempted to keep calves on their mothers into early winter when they don't really need milk and the cows don't give much anyway but will pull their condition down anyway trying to produce. You get poorer gains on the calves and drop condition on the cows - sure it's an easier system I think that is why it is still so popular here!

[kpb]

cowman, actually each calf has its place I guess. When I say crossbreds work the best to feed I mean an exotic cross not a straight British cross. The very best feeding calves in my opinion are the Maines--either straight or crossed with anything half decent. I know this probably goes against the grain with some guys but I also really like the Chars to feed and I'm surprised and pleased that they are discounted right now at the auction mart. They gain very well for me.

Where the British calves work well for me is in the spring when you can buy them around 650 to 700 pounds, put them on grass, have them come off in the fall around 1,000 lbs, finish them for 90 days and have a real nice fat that will grade very well. If you try to feed them freshly weaned in the fall like the big exotics you'll end up with a butterball by January that is no good for anything.

I like my black baldie cows, crossed to black Simmi or Maine bulls. My cows never get grain, ever, have bush pasture all summer and as little feed in the winter as they can handle and have to produce a calf every year or go down the road. They always look rough going to pasture and great coming home. I think the black baldies are the best at managing this type of spartan existence.