Buying calves

[thesetat2013]

I am searching for some information about places where I can buy some Thai-French calves. Does anyone have information about places where I could buy them?

[DonaldBattles]

There is no breed of beef called Thai French. They are Braman grown in Sakorn Nakorn slaughtered and then sent to the Thai French company in Bangkok.

[kickstart]

That is a new one for me ,Thai -French , calves ,do you mean Charolaise x calves, like Kang Panpet , and Tark ,breeds, which are a Charolaise x Brahman ,about 65% Charolaise, and 35% Brahman ,if this is what you mean, these calves are reared on a single suckler system ,calves weaned off at 9-10 months , heifers kept back for breeding ,bulls sold for stock bulls ,or kept on for fattening .

Not easy to find ,calves only ,they are some dairy breeds x Charolaise about ,if you live in a dairy area ,should be able to find some ,by asking about,but a lot of dairy farmers are now keeping the Charolaise x calves back for rearing on themselves .

[DonaldBattles]

A few years ago I tried crossbreeding the French Charolais and the Angus with the Brahman it was very expensive and there were no positive results. The Brahman genes dominated.

Beef Pro in Supanburi is the largest commercial beef cattle grower in Thailand. Their disadvantage is that they slaughter their animals at 30 months in order to avoid mad cow disease. Pong Kham Yang (Sakorn Nakorn Province) the grower of Thai French brand of beef grow until the animals are about 36 months old or weight around 450 to 500 kg. At one time they were cross breeding with the Charlois but I think they stopped because of the cost of the imported seeman. This means that all of their steaks are larger. It is a good product but too expensive. They almost went broke when the head Frenchman died. I have reason to believe that Villa and Betagro bought heavily into the Thai French brand when they were closed and broke. I know that now all of the Thai beef at Villa is Thai French and very expensive. They drove the price up and are controlling this segment of the market. No matter what you do except for the tenderloin all Thai beef is tough. Aging 21 days helps some but you lose 21% of the body weight. The steaks other than tenderloin need to be mechanically tenderized in order to be tender. I found that the Thai beef was much better than the imported Australian grass fed beef. The problem is in the DNA of the Brahman. Importing calves from Australia and then fattening them is not economical. Naturally the Thai government people would want 10k of paper and a big bribe to get them in. What you see is what you get and it won't improve in the near future. Thais refuse to use corn to grain feed the beef cattle as it causes the tallow to be a light yellowish and they think the beef is bad. Kasert University tried for many years to breed a beef cow that was tender but never succeeded. HAVING SAID ALL OF THIS I HAVE BEEN OUT OF THE BUSINESS FOR A LONG TIME AND THINGS COULD HAVE CHANGED.

[thesetat2013]

Thank for the heads up on the Brahman calves. Would anyone know where I could purchase a couple of calves? I live in the south in Chumphon band have never seen them in this area and I have no interest in the local breeds.

[hugocnx]

I come from Holland and the black/white milk cows there produce reasonable beef. They do have these cows in Thailand too, so could that be an alternative?

[DonaldBattles]

In Korat Province the heart of the dairy industry there are a lot of black and white Holstein dairy cows. They keep these cows milking until they are 10 years old when they stop calving. Then they are slaughtered and sold for the meat. Needless to say a 10 year old cow does not make for a good steak. Chokchai has a lot of dairy cows. During the Vietnam war US built a big dairy there to produce Formost milk products it is still there. Saraburi an adjacent province is the center of the animal feed industry. Korat is high enough that it is conducive to growing a green grazing grass.

[kickstart]

A few years ago I tried crossbreeding the French Charolais and the Angus with the Brahman it was very expensive and there were no positive results. The Brahman genes dominated.

Beef Pro in Supanburi is the largest commercial beef cattle grower in Thailand. Their disadvantage is that they slaughter their animals at 30 months in order to avoid mad cow disease. Pong Kham Yang (Sakorn Nakorn Province) the grower of Thai French brand of beef grow until the animals are about 36 months old or weight around 450 to 500 kg. At one time they were cross breeding with the Charlois but I think they stopped because of the cost of the imported seeman. This means that all of their steaks are larger. It is a good product but too expensive. They almost went broke when the head Frenchman died. I have reason to believe that Villa and Betagro bought heavily into the Thai French brand when they were closed and broke. I know that now all of the Thai beef at Villa is Thai French and very expensive. They drove the price up and are controlling this segment of the market. No matter what you do except for the tenderloin all Thai beef is tough. Aging 21 days helps some but you lose 21% of the body weight. The steaks other than tenderloin need to be mechanically tenderized in order to be tender. I found that the Thai beef was much better than the imported Australian grass fed beef. The problem is in the DNA of the Brahman. Importing calves from Australia and then fattening them is not economical. Naturally the Thai government people would want 10k of paper and a big bribe to get them in. What you see is what you get and it won't improve in the near future. Thais refuse to use corn to grain feed the beef cattle as it causes the tallow to be a light yellowish and they think the beef is bad. Kasert University tried for many years to breed a beef cow that was tender but never succeeded. HAVING SAID ALL OF THIS I HAVE BEEN OUT OF THE BUSINESS FOR A LONG TIME AND THINGS COULD HAVE CHANGED.

I gave you a like ,a good report ,I have a few Brahman x cows and I have put Charolaise, and now Angus bulls on them ,we do not fatten them for slaughter ,sell them as store cattle ,at about 15 months we have used Brahman bulls ,the Charolaise ,and one of the Brahman bulls weighed about 300 kg , at about 15 months ,the Angus a bit less ,also the Angus bull I am using now ,is an import from the usa ,does suffer from heat stress ,on one of my cross bread cows ,on the Brahman cows no problem .. We have a local cattle dealer who likes to buy continental crosses .One reason I swapped from Charolaise to Angus ,is with Angus I have no calving problems ,a big Charolais calf on a small Brahman ,could give me problems.

I would agree with you feed them up to 30 months ,Charolais ,Angus ,and Brahman, not a lot of difference ,I sell them at 15 months gives me a better cash flow ,also cost of feeding ,I think with the margins I would not make that much more money ,if I took them up to 30 months .

There use to be a video on youtube about Beef Po .a big set up ,they fed their cattle on they own made silage , and they mixed their own feed ,a guy near me brought some heifers from them ,for breeding nice looking animals to .

@ hugocnx.

Some farmers try and fatten the Friesian bulls ,but feed is the problem, most fed rice straw ,as a roughage ,low protein ,and a low energy concentrate ,and maybe cassava waste 1.9% protein , cattle do not grow ,also cash flow ,or lack of ,most farmers cannot afford to buy a calf and fatten it up to 30 months , to long an investment, one guy I know buys and sells brewers grains and maize silage ,he does it and has a good few Brahman bulls too ,he has the cheep feed ,and the investment ,one other guy is a dairy farmer ,regular monthly milk cheque, and has the cash flow ( or his bank is still letting him) , I looked in to it a few years ago ,and on paper it did not work out ,and with the practical problems you would get ,I thought not a good idea.

[hugocnx]

>>@ hugocnx.

Some farmers try and fatten the Friesian bulls ,but feed is the problem, most fed rice straw ,as a roughage ,low protein ,and a low energy concentrate ,and maybe cassava waste 1.9% protein , cattle do not grow ,also cash flow ,or lack of ,most farmers cannot afford to buy a calf and fatten it up to 30 months , to long an investment, one guy I know buys and sells brewers grains and maize silage ,he does it and has a good few Brahman bulls too ,he has the cheep feed ,and the investment ,one other guy is a dairy farmer ,regular monthly milk cheque, and has the cash flow ( or his bank is still letting him) , I looked in to it a few years ago ,and on paper it did not work out ,and with the practical problems you would get ,I thought not a good idea. <<

Thanks for explanation Kickstart.