Black-and-white calves thrive

Wednesday, 15 March, 2000

By FW staff

BRINGEM in; its beginning to be worthwhile to market and sell black-and-white dairy calves – especially when compared with the alternative. That is the message from Chelford Markets Nigel Ashley.

He welcomes a slow but steady improvement in the prices the three or four regular buyers in his market are ready to pay. Slaughter calf prices have risen from £5-8 to £12-15 in the last few weeks. Even plain individuals make £10, while meatier ones are bid to £15 or so.
And that is in the face of increased offerings, as dairy farmers begin to get the message. “Words getting about that theyre worth keeping,” says Mr Ashley. Mondays market handled 92 Holstein bull calves, compared with 69 the previous week.

“Is it a black-and white calf, or a white and black calf?” asks Alder Kings Peter Kingwill. His colleague at Chippenham, David Brown, also qualifies his reaction to a definite increase in demand for killing calves.

“Wed still run into problems with extreme Holstein types. And some big dairy farms just wont feed them before sale. The problem is that some people have got into a `wholesale slaughter frame of mind – killing eveything, even if its a beef cross.”

The company has contacted all its calf customers, urging them to resume market sales.

East Anglian feed compounder W L Duffield & Sons has launched a scheme in association with Lincolnshire-based Allied Livestock to encourage dairy farmers to finish their bull calves on cereals. It will offer a guaranteed minimum price of £1.42/kg dw, although the price currently stands at £1.58. A credit package for calves and feed is available.