Cattle Futures
- Thread starter Lucky
- Start date
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We can insure feeders for that time for $2.00lb that is about as good a guess as anything, that is Canuck bucks. With the carnival ride we are on the market could be who knows where. Drought, grain prices, wars....
kenny thomas
Well-known member
Are you talking about a pot load or singles? Pot loads look good for the fall.
Lucky
Well-known member
Pot load. I'm trying to decide if I should just turn them out on grass or buy another load of feed and kick them in high gear until sometime in July. It's $63 a head to feed them. Today's OKC market had 650# bringing close to what 875# brought.
kenny thomas
Well-known member
Livestock Risk Protection could be your best friend with all that is going on.
August is way above now but 9wts are sometimes hard to trade here in the east.
August is way above now but 9wts are sometimes hard to trade here in the east.
Dave
Well-known member
I see that the feeder futures are up across the board today. I didn't look at July but November futures closed at $1.84. B told me on Saturday that you could insure 600 pound calves for November at $1.89. He is thinking about locking in a couple loads. I told him you never go broke by locking in a profit.
Peace
Well-known member
Do yours weigh 650#? If they do, why would you put another dime into them or take the risks involved in keeping them? Do you have something else that could eat that grass and make you money doing it?
They could go up when you sell in July, they could also go down.
Stocker Steve
Well-known member
Yes.
Feed will be expensive for a couple years. Old theory says grass cattle VOG will be high, since it competes with corn. I think the packer consolidation and TMRs have suppressed current day VOG...
You will want to own heifers, that were protected with LRP, when the drought breaks. Drought monitors say this will not be in 2022. I updated my cull cow list.
Sell steers -- sort heifers hard -- buy crop insurance.
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Lucky
Well-known member
Yes I'd guess them at 650# now. I'll worm them and weigh a few in a couple weeks to get a good avg. I've been keeping them on straight grass until July for several years and it's worked out really well for me. This year seems like it could be really good or really bad though. I'd sure hate to miss the boat at a $1.89 or $2. @900#
I've just got the mother cows to let graze or give the grass a break this spring. Buying smaller calves doesn't look like an option right now. My gut tells me prices are going to be really good in July/August, we might be shipping beef to Ukraine to feed starving people.
BC
Well-known member
Lucky, that $2.00 was Canadian dollars. Do the conversion and then make decision.
Dave
Well-known member
There is no July futures but the August futures closed today at $1.79. I would seriously look into LRP insurance. I know several big producers who are doing that this year. This a tough year to guess the market. There is just too much going on in the world.
kenny thomas
Well-known member
A couple months ago this fall was up to 1.89 on the futures. I encouraged several in my area to lock it in. Each one said all was going to be good and didn't do it.
Dave
Well-known member
November futures were still at $1.84 yesterday and moving up.
My favorite weight to buy. What have you been seeing 9 and 10 weight's going for Kenny?
kenny thomas
Well-known member
Not been seeing any that big. Feed and hay is too high to keep them through the winter.
farmerjan
Well-known member
Seen a few in the last 2 weeks. $1.00 /lb or less. Not the greatest but with a little feed, will kill out. We actually bought 2 that were not crazy for a couple of kill dates we have coming up in April and June....Got one here for the April date, and then 2 scheduled for June. One of these bought ones will work good. Then have a date in July, Aug and Sept.
Dave
Well-known member
Neighbor B sold some today. I was at the sale and wrote down the results. He had 15 head of 829 pound Char cross steer sold for $1.53. 22 head weighing 756 sold for $1.58. 9 Heifers weighing 691 sold for $1.36. 9 heifers weighing 768 got $1.32.
farmerjan
Well-known member
There are just not enough in the 7-9 wt range here for the prices to be as good. It is mainly all cow/calf guys here and they sell the fall calves in the spring and the spring calves in the fall. Hay costs too much to feed out the heavier weights. And most don't have the room to run them bigger. There is a guy a bit north of us that used to have a dairy and he buys many of the 7+ weights... I think he puts up corn silage and that makes a good feed for the heavier ones. But he also buys alot of the bigger bulls too and must have a good market for them. I don't know if he cuts them or not. It also depends on who is at the sale. If there aren't alot of that size, and then the couple that might buy that size aren't there that day, they go cheaper. It seems there is a better market for them out your way @Dave than in this area.
Dave
Well-known member
There is a number of feedlots within an hour's drive of that sale. A couple of them are fairly big lots.
Those steers would have been sold earlier except back them they were bulls. We were going to brand and work this last bunch of claves. B was out of town and his son left in charge. The night before the branding the cows made the great escape. All the gates were open up into thousands of acres of range. Instead of saddling up, grabbing the dogs, and taking off at a long trot up the hills, the son said well they got out nothing we can do. We wouldn't have caught 100% of them but we would have got more than 80%. So they came out of the hills in the fall as bulls. So rather than take a beating selling as bulls they were cut and fed for a couple months. I don't know what his feeding cost were but I am sure it worked out over the price he would have got selling bulls.
farmerjan
Well-known member
Even with the "snafu" with them getting out and all, the other thing that the neighbor there had going for him is there were the "numbers" ... not just one or two. Sure it wasn't ideal for him to have to cut and feed, but with the overall prices having gone up he should have made out decent. Glad for him.
