Our son, Tommy, when he was just a baby with some of our bottle fed Jersey calves. As you can see, bottle fed baby calves are very friendly!

About Us

Experience the Joy of Jerseys for yourself!

Bull Calves:

Fairview-Springhill Farms is once again offering 3 day old Jersey Cross bull calves for sale. These $65 calves have been with their mothers for three days and fed only their mother’s rich colostrum milk.

 

Place your order early as these calves are only available on a first-come first-served basis in March, April and possibly early May. Once your calf is born you will be contacted as soon as possible so that you can make arrangements to pick up your calf. Your calf may be a purebred grade Jersey or a Jersey crossed with either a Normande, American Milking Devon, or Milking Shorthorn.

 

Why would I want to buy a bull calf?

Of course, every situation is different, but in the past, people have purchased these calves for a variety of reasons. Some want their children to have the experience of caring for a calf. Some use these animals to graze their rural landscape, rather than mow it. Others will use them as a means to secure land use taxation on their property . And some people know a little secret, Jersey beef is extremely tender and tasty. By buying your calf so young you may even want to train it as an ex, the choice is yours and the sky’s the limit!

 

When you buy your calf direct from our farm it will avoid the stress and disease exposure of a public auction. People often report a lower death loss and a higher rate of success with farm fresh calves.

 

Once you get your calf home you can safely wean it off of milk in about eight weeks. Some growers wean as early as 6 weeks and others as late as 12 weeks, it all depends on your skills and individual calf’s needs.

 

To place your name on the waiting list you can either call and leave a message at 540-869-1327 or drop us an e-mail at grass@fairviewspringhillfarms.com.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Fairview—Springhill Farms

Why would I want to buy a bull calf?

Of course, every situation is different, but in the past, people have purchased these calves for a variety of reasons. Some want their children to have the experience of caring for a calf. Some use these animals to graze their rural landscape, rather than mow it. Others will use them as a means to secure land use taxation on their property . And some people know a little secret: Jersey beef is extremely tender and tasty. By buying your calf so young you may even want to train it as an ox; the choice is yours and the sky’s the limit!

 

We will have a few heifers for sale this year in April and May!
Until 2010, we have kept all our heifer calves and raised them to be milk cows. As you know by now, we are a seasonal, grass based dairy. That means all our calves come in March and April. In order to have a tight calving window, we have to make sure our girls are all bred in early summer. For most of our calves, that schedule works fine (they are born in March, then the following June they get bred for the first time, and have their first calf around 2 years of age). For some of our calves born later in the season (April and May) getting bred at barely one year of age and having their first calf before they are 2 years old is a little young, we feel. In a non-seasonal dairy this is not a problem, since they purposely stagger the births of cows to have milk flowing all year long. They can wait until the heifer is a full year old and then breed her. In our situation, if we waited to breed her, she would be out of our seasonal window. So, we decided to keep only our heifer calves born in March. Animal health and low-stress milking is our number one priority.

 

How are heifer calves different than bull calves?

Unfortunately, guys, in a dairy, it’s all about the girls. If you get a heifer calf from us, you can raise her to be a dairy cow, which is worth a lot more than a beef cow (which is what most people raise our bull calves to be). She can be a family milk cow or you can purchase  calves and rather than bottle feed them, you could train them to nurse from her. Whatever you decide, your heifer calf will have our dairy genetics—and while we aren’t registered or purebred, what we have developed over the years is good grass-fed, grazing dairy genetics. Our mama cows are good grazers—they prefer foraging for grass, they have a body size suited to grazing, and they have udders that are good for milking. Your heifer will come from a long line of good grazers, and you’ll reap the benefits of having grass-fed milk for your family!

 

Heifer calves are $225 each, and they are also kept on their mother’s rich colostrum milk for 3 days. We will also start them on the bottle and keep them until they are 1 week old before you pick them up.

 

How are the heifer calves and bull calves similar?

 

Both heifers and bulls have the same genetics—you can expect your heifer or your bull calf to be a cross-bred, grade, not purebred. We have a lot of Jersey genetics, but your calf could also have Normande, American Milking Devon, Milking Shorthorn. 

 

When you buy your calf direct from our farm it will avoid the stress and disease exposure of a public auction. People often report a lower death loss and a higher rate of success with farm fresh calves.

 

Once you get your calf home you can safely wean it off of milk in about eight weeks. Some growers wean as early as 6 weeks and others as late as 12 weeks, it all depends on your skills and individual calf’s needs.

 

To place your name on the waiting list you can either call and leave a message at 540-869-1327 or drop us an e-mail at grass@fairviewspringhillfarms.com. Make sure you let us know whether you are interested in a bull or a heifer, and how many you want.

We look forward to hearing from you!