A36-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 8, 2000
Custom Calf Raiser Fills Need
While Marketing Skills
JAYNE SEBRIGHT
Lancaster Farming Staff
TELFORD (Montgomery
Co.) For many dairy farmers,
feeding calves is the most
dreaded chore they have to do.
However, Glenn Moyer of West
field Lane Farms in Montgom
ery County enjoyed raising
calves so much that he made a
full-time job out of it.
He’s done a pretty good job at
it, too. In the last five years that
Moyer has been custom raising
calves, he has maintained a calf
mortality rate of less than 1 per
cent, far below the state average
of around 10 percent. He hasn’t
seen a case of scours on his
custom calf raising operation in
more than three years.
Moyer raises 1,200 calves a
year from the age of one to three
days old to five months old. He
custom raises these calves for
five dairy operations, ranging in
size from 150 cows to 1,200
cows, located in Chester, Berks,
Lebanon, and Lancastci
County.
“Part of the reason my
custom calf operation works so
well is because I really enjoy it,”
said Moyer. “When I decided to
go back into farming, I evalu
ated our assets. Through custom
calf care, I am marketing my
skills, not just crops.”
Moyer purchased his farm in
1985 after working as a truck
mechanic for 25 years. Located
in Montgomery County and sur
rounded by development, the
farm came with very limited
acreage.
To bring income to the farm,
Moyer raised his own calves on a
part-time basis for 10 years,
buying beef and dairy-crossed
calves and then selling them at
local auctions.
Then, when beef prices fell in
1995, Moyer called around to
area dairy farmers, asking them
to raise their calves temporarily
until beef prices improved. The
temporary measure became so
successful that Moyer quit his
job as a mechanic and became a
full-time custom calf raiser.
Moyer’s father Raymond
comes to help Moyer with the
calves every day. Two high
school boys also work part time
at the farm. Moyer’s wife Nancy
works at a local doctor’s office.
Every Monday and Thursday.
Moyer heads out with his cus
tom-designed truck and trailer
for a 200-mile, six-hour trip. He
stops at each of the five farms,
picking up newborn calves and
delivering the five-month-old
calves. Once the calves arrive at
the farm, they are weighed and
placed in individual calf
hutches.
192 calf hutches line Moyer’s
farm. The calves in the hutches
are fed a 20/20 all-milk milk re-
Glenn Moyer of Montgomery County travels 200 miles
each Monday and Thursday to pick up and deliver calves
that he custom raises for five area dairy farmers.
placer formula from a bottle
twice a day until they are six
weeks old.
A 20 percent protein calf
starter and water is introduced
shortly after their arrival to the
farm. They are weaned at six
weeks, but remain in the hutches
until they’re eight weeks old to
make sure they’re weaned prop
erly.
“Bottle feeding encourages
the calf to arch her neck in such
a way that it closes the eso
phageal groove,” said Moyer.
“Bottle feeding also prevents the
calf from gulping too quickly
and stimulates the production of
saliva, which contains an
enzyme that aids in digestion.”
Moyer feeds the milk at as
close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit
as possible. He also feeds 8.8
ounces of milk powder to each
calf as opposed to the recom
mended eight ounces.
“It’s important for outdoor
housing to give the calf more
energy,” said Moyer. “Espe
cially in the winter time.”
Once the temperature falls
below 32 degrees Fahrenheit,
Moyer adds an additional one
percent powder for every degree
below freezing.
“Feeding more powder in
creases the energy provided to
the calf to keep warm during
cold weather,” said Moyer.
“That way you can get the same
performance from the calves in
the wintertime as in the
summer.”
While the calves are in the
hutches, they receive early
calfhood vaccines, including
Clostridium, H. Somus, Pas
turella H#, and Nasalgen. Once
they’re weaned properly and
eating the grain well, the calves
are moved into groups of 14 ani
mals.
An advantage to custom calf
care is that each group includes
animals all within one week of
age. The calves are kept in
group housing on the home farm
for four weeks and then moved
to a rented farm about a half
mile up the road.
“We keep the younger groups
on the home farm so we can
better observe the calves and
their progress in group housing
before moving them up to the
* other farm,” said Moyer.
Calves that are between three
and five months old are kept at
the second farm and stay in their
original groups of 14. Moyer
rents the pole building and
second floor of the bank barn on
the second farm from the Ruth
family, who retired from the jug
milk business several years ago.
When he rented the buildings,
Moyer removed the free stalls
from the pole barn and made
several pens that the calves
Fresh air, fresh straw, and fresh water are Moyer’s first three ingredients to raising
healthy and productive heifer calves at his custom calf raising operation.
progress through during their
stay at Westfield Lane Farms.
The calves at this facility are
fed an 18 percent protein calf
grower mix and alfalfa hay. The
alfalfa hay is purchased from a
Cumberland County crop
farmer and tests between 20 and
24 percent protein.
Shortly after arriving at the
second farm, the calves are
dehorned. A catwalk enables
Moyer to monitor the calves’
progress at the second farm
while he is feeding them. Before
they leave to go back to the
owner at the end of five months,
Moyer gives the calves a nine
way vaccine and weighs them.
One of the reasons why Moyer
only raises the calves to five
months old is because that age
group requires mostly pur
chased feeds. “We don’t have a
lot of land here,” said Moyer.
“Once the calves reach six
months old, the farmer can start
introducing forages, which we
don’t grow.”
In addition to weighing at ar
rival and departure, Moyer also
weighs the calves monthly. This
is how he invoices his clients.
Charging by the pound, Moyer
said that the average cost to
raise a calf in his operation is
around $3OO.
In their contract, Moyer and
his clients agree to fulfill certain
responsibilities. The calf owner
is responsible for feeding the call
colostrum, dipping the navel,
and putting eartags in the ears
for identification.
Moyer handles all feeding,
vaccinations, and care of the an
imals from the date they’re
picked up until when they arrive
back at the owner’s farm at the
end of five months. He also fig
ures transportation into his costs
for raising the animals.
Although his calf mortality
rate stays below one percent,
Moyer agrees to maintain a mor
tality rate of less than four per
cent in the contract. If the
mortality rate rises above four
percent, Moyer pays the owner
the cost of the lost calves. If he
loses a calf but is within the
four- percent mortality rate, he
still reimburses the owner for his
charges to raise the animal.
“My three favorite health
products are fresh air, fresh
water, and fresh straw,” said
Moyer. “Too many people rais
ing calves rely on antibiotics and
ignore those first three prod
ucts.”
While Moyer does use a vari
ety of antibiotics to treat illness,
he only uses them on an as
needed basis. “We had one of
the harshest winters ever this
year, and I only treated one calf
who suffered from respiratory
problems,” said Moyer.
According to Moyer, the bene
fits in custom calf care to the
dairy farmer are endless. Here
are a few.
1) More attention is paid to
detail than the dairy farmer can
provide.
2) The farmer has better
started calves than they would if
raised at home.
3) A mortality rate of less than
one percent provides a definite
economic benefit to the dairy
farmer. The state average for
calf mortality ranges between 10
and 12 percent.
4) Calves are grouped closer
age groups, so the housing and
care is given to more uniform
groups.
5) The focus is 100 percent on
raising calves. Moyer is not in
volved in milking cows or rais
ing crops, so he is giving the
calves the attention they need.
Moyer has a waiting list of 12
farmers who want to have him
custom raise their calves. How- -
ever, he hasn’t taken on a new
client in more than three years.
Moyer doesn’t do preliminary
testing on the calves before ac
cepting them from his clients be
cause he knows he can depend
on the farmer to provide him
with healthy calves.
“I only work with progressive
dairy producers,” said Moyer.
“If I couldn’t be absolutely cer
tain that they fed the calves the
recommended amount of colos
trum, then I would be dealing
with the wrong clients.”
“They need to care about the
calf s welfare as much as I do, or
it wouldn’t be worth their in
vestment to get me to raise the
calves,” said Moyer.
The major advantage to
Moyer’s custom calf care opera
tion is that both the producer
and Moyer benefit from the
calf s performance.
“Since my fees are perfor
mance-based, both the client
and custom raiser benefit when
the calf does well,” said Moyer.
Another benefit Moyer finds
in custom raising calves is the
ability to pool the ideas and
suggestions from one client to
benefit all of his clients.
Several of Moyer’s clients
Hlave come to him by the recom
mendation of their veterinari
ans. “In addition to working
closely with our own vet, I also
work closely with the veterinari
ans of the dairy farmers who
supply the calves,” said Moyer.
“One of the veterinarians came
to our farm and liked what he
saw so much that he recom
mended me to other farmers.”
Although Moyer isn’t inter
ested in taking on any more cli
ents, he does see custom calf
raising as a tremendous oppor
tunity for someone looking to
get into farming in an alterna
tive enterprise.
“It’s really hard to believe
that in agriculture there is such
a need for a service and so few
providing it,” said Moyer, who
is not aware of anyone else in
Pennsylvania specializing in
custom calf care.
“It does take a lot of care and
attention to detail,” said Moyer.
“Your calf raising skills really
have to be honed in before going
into custom raising.”
A LESSON
WELL
LEARNED...
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