Dairy cattle grazier Ross Smaill, of Green Island, said the rising cost of milk powder had stopped people from rearing calves from the dairy industry.
"The idea of paying $110 a bag has chased a few people away."
Dairy farmers are paid about $30 for each bobby calf sent to the meatworks days after it was born.
Milk powder is a cheaper way to feed calves than removing milk from the vat when the payout was $10 per kg of milksolid.
Mr Smaill believed dairy farmers should be selling the calves to rearers for cheaper than $80-$120, depending on their genetics.
A farmer selling surplus calves for $50 each made more sense, as it would increase demand by reducing risk for a rearer.
At $50, farmers would be earning more than putting the calf on a bobby truck.
However, farmers often wanted to get bobby calves away as soon as possible because they were drinking "good colostrum" which they would rather be feeding to their breeding heifers.
Dairy farmer Gerald Holmes, of Henley, said the cost to feed a bobby calf for the four days before a truck arrived to take it to the meatworks was about the same as the $30 payment.
A rearer he usually sold 140 calves to each year bought only 100 calves this season.
"It is hard to find good rearers."
He was rearing about 40 surplus calves, a mix of bulls and heifers, and was hoping to find someone to sell them to.
If more rearers entered or returned to the industry, he wondered where they would run the calves.
Dairy farmer Ryan Sutherland, of Henley, said it was "business as usual" in terms of where his surplus calves went.
"You sell what you can and you bobby the rest."
Dairy farmer Anthony Bishell, of Riverside, said he sold as many calves as possible to rearers.
"Unfortunately, we have to bobby the rest."
When he talked to Southern Rural Life, the cows had produced 300 calves and nearly 20% had been put on the bobby truck.
There was a shortage of rearers due to rising costs of inputs including milk powder and calf pellets to raise calves.
"It is putting a lot of people off."
The price a rearer paid for a calf remains the same, about $80, no matter the beef slaughter price at the time.
Dairy farmer Matt Paul, of Henley, said bobby calves were collected daily and rearers usually collected calves twice a week.
A bobby calf was the responsibility of the farmer for four days.
If a rearer was late to collect a calf, then the farmer could care for it for a week.
Consequently, any profit margin made on selling a calf to a rearer was reduced by the cost to feed it milk and pay for a NAIT tag.
Dairy farmer Robert Scurr, of Momona, said calf rearer numbers had "dried up" in past seasons after many lost money due to rising costs.
However, he felt there were more rearers buying calves this season due to rising confidence in the beef market and being able to sell them after growing them to 100kg.
Demand for dairy-beef cross calves was strong.
"Which is great."
Some rearers were repeat customers and others were buying for the first time following an introduction by a livestock agent.
One of the rearers buying his calves was a neighbour, so it was easy for them to collect them regularly.
Ideally, rearers could collect calves at least twice a week.
If farmers needed to care for calves for longer than expected, it became a hassle.
"You want to get rid of them regularly so space and labour can be dedicated to the ones you want to keep."
When there were fewer rearers, they would often only take calves in August, but as demand was stronger, surplus calves were being bought in September.
He hoped the beef market remained strong to maintain demand for calves from the dairy industry.
Dairy farmer Philip Wilson, of Outram, said he would rather sell a calf to a rearer than put it on a bobby truck.
Demand from rearers for his $125 Holstein Friesian bull calves was steady this season.
Last season, rearers only wanted calves in August, but this season the demand continued to September.
Dairy farmers could probably be charging more for calves, but rearers were taking a risk, as the slaughter price could drop, the price for feed could rise or calves could die due to a challenging season.
A Taieri dairy farmer, who asked not to be named, said he sent as many bobby calves away as possible this season in a bid to increase demand, hoping to lift the price he could charge rearers for calves next season.
He believed rearers should be paying more for calves, especially if they included beef genetics, such as Hereford, to cover the costs to dairy farmers to supply calves.
A calf drank about $4 of milk a day and a NAIT tag cost $5.
If a farmer puts more bobby calves on the truck, there were fewer beef cattle being grown for processing, which keeps the slaughter price high for the farmer’s cull cows.
"It is good to get rid of those beefies because they compete with me in the market."
The sale of surplus calves generated about $5000 of about $2 million revenue generated by his business .
As the calves were a small part of his business, he did not give it much attention.
"The milk is where my energy and attention goes, so if I can’t sell a calf, I’ll bobby it, as it’s too much hassle."
Bobby calves were picked up daily, which saved his business money, compared to holding on to them to wait for a rearer to pick them up.
His main priority was producing milk and not beef.
"I’m not a beef farmer."
