2 - Quantities Useful in Developing a Heifer Raising Budget Reference Summary For the dairy producer contracting a custom operator to raise heifers, frees up farm resources which may be more efficiently utilized by an expanded milking herd. Disadvantages include the need to transport heifers and increased health risks. A check list of responsibilities to be defined in an agreement is included as well as budgeting guidelines. There are only a handful of commercial custom heifer feeding operations and even fewer that have been established long enough to qualify as successful businesses.
Most agreements involve small numbers and part time labor utilizing otherwise empty facilities.
Many are seasonal and based on nonworkable pasture land on a neighboring cash crop operation. Despite its unpopularity, custom agreements for heifer raising can have major benefits for both the dairy producer and the custom feeder. To the dairy producer, the main benefits of a having heifers raised on a custom basis involve freeing up resources for other uses. Moving the heifers out can reduce the requirements on the dairy farm for housing facilities, feed, feed storage, labor, management, manure storage and land base for manure application. This producer looks at the space, feed, time and management resources used by heifers as resources that would otherwise be available for milking cows.