Why wean calves?

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MurraysMutts said:
Over 7000 hd in Cherokee yesterday.
Over 2000 in Enid today.

Waiting on the market reports to drop...
Cherokee was WLAC yesterday.
Enid had a calf and feeder special today.

Fairview is having a calf/feeder special tomorrow.
I expect the price difference tween weaned and unweaned will be noticeable but whether its worth it or not will still be debatable.

Aha! Cherokee just dropped a report!
View attachment 10198View attachment 10199
Note they don't differentiate between weaned and unweaned on the report.
Enid will.
Fairview may or may not.
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For anyone that didn't notice this sale was a Regional qualifying event for the World Livestock Auctioneers Championship. Prices will almost be slightly higher.
 
Warren, I really appreciate the way you think about the industry. However, the tiny sale barn in your locale doesn’t represent a realistic market. Without a certain volume, and therefore, certain buyers, the bids get distorted, usually downward. Southern calves are discounted, mainly because of shipping costs to wheat pasture and as basis for feeder cattle going into the feed lots. Southern cattle are not of the quality of other parts of the country. Much closer than in years past, but not there yet.
 
MurraysMutts said:
I heard that too. I didn't get to go today.
That place is really coming along. The owner has a whole lot of TRY.

Did you notice any difference in weaned vs unweaned? My experience has been minimal. But with wheat coming on, I suspect the buyers who didn't plan ahead may be starting to pay a bit more.

All about timing...
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No, I didn;t notice any difference in price or weight. Saw some dumb moves, though. He announced that the next 40 something calves were form the same farm... weaned for 50 days and 1st round of shots. Didn;t say what kind. 1st batch was 10 black steers 9 Angus and 1 black baldy. They averaged 596 pounds, and brought $1.78. Next group wqas 12 steers. 6 Angus, 2 red baldies, 3 Charolais and 1 looked to be Hereford-Charolais. They averaged 590+lbs as well. They brought $1.56. Next group was 1 Hereford, 1 red baldy, and what looked like red Angus. These brought $1.54. I thought to myself " Wonder why he didn't run those 6 Angus in the 2nd group alone, and put those red and white steers, in with the 3rd batch?" Who makes that decision, the owner or the sale barn? It costs him 22 cents a pound x nearly 600 lbs x 6 steers. $132 a steer, so $792 ...having those 4 non-black steers in that second group. It never pays to sell cattle in a group..at least down here it doesn't. The people bid on the worst in the group, what he or she would be worth. But with 2000 head to sell, and 4000 coming next Wednesday, I see why the barn would want to sell them like that.
 
anewcomer said:
Warren, I really appreciate the way you think about the industry. However, the tiny sale barn in your locale doesn’t represent a realistic market. Without a certain volume, and therefore, certain buyers, the bids get distorted, usually downward. Southern calves are discounted, mainly because of shipping costs to wheat pasture and as basis for feeder cattle going into the feed lots. Southern cattle are not of the quality of other parts of the country. Much closer than in years past, but not there yet.
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Nothing tiny about this barn at all. On a typical Thursday, they sell more "head" cows than these other sales I have been watching put together. But you are right..no where near the volume of weigh calves as in some of the midwest sales I have been watching. I don't see any discount at all on our black calves... and I have been watching weekly for over a year. But you are so wrong in your last statement. I have noticed how superior the cattle, especially cows and heifers, in the southeast are to the things I have seen in weekly sales in other parts of the country. But down here, we have over 350 years more experience with cattle than the rest of the country. By the 1520's, people were rounding up cattle in Fla, south Ga south Ala, etc, and shipping them to Cuba and other Carribean islands, The cattle industry out west didn't really start til after the war of northern aggression was over... 1870's or so.
 
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Warren Allison said:
No, I didn;t notice any difference in price or weight. Saw some dumb moves, though. He announced that the next 40 something calves were form the same farm... weaned for 50 days and 1st round of shots. Didn;t say what kind. 1st batch was 10 black steers 9 Angus and 1 black baldy. They averaged 596 pounds, and brought $1.78. Next group wqas 12 steers. 6 Angus, 2 red baldies, 3 Charolais and 1 looked to be Hereford-Charolais. They averaged 590+lbs as well. They brought $1.56. Next group was 1 Hereford, 1 red baldy, and what looked like red Angus. These brought $1.54. I thought to myself " Wonder why he didn't run those 6 Angus in the 2nd group alone, and put those red and white steers, in with the 3rd batch?" Who makes that decision, the owner or the sale barn? It costs him 22 cents a pound x nearly 600 lbs x 6 steers. $132 a steer, so $792 ...having those 4 non-black steers in that second group. It never pays to sell cattle in a group..at least down here it doesn't. The people bid on the worst in the group, what he or she would be worth. But with 2000 head to sell, and 4000 coming next Wednesday, I see why the barn would want to sell them like that.
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I have never fully understood that myself. The guys in the back sort em up as they come in. I have seen some really weird sorts!
Sometimes a seller will say to sell em all in a group too.
 
Warren Allison said:
No, I didn;t notice any difference in price or weight. Saw some dumb moves, though. He announced that the next 40 something calves were form the same farm... weaned for 50 days and 1st round of shots. Didn;t say what kind. 1st batch was 10 black steers 9 Angus and 1 black baldy. They averaged 596 pounds, and brought $1.78. Next group wqas 12 steers. 6 Angus, 2 red baldies, 3 Charolais and 1 looked to be Hereford-Charolais. They averaged 590+lbs as well. They brought $1.56. Next group was 1 Hereford, 1 red baldy, and what looked like red Angus. These brought $1.54. I thought to myself " Wonder why he didn't run those 6 Angus in the 2nd group alone, and put those red and white steers, in with the 3rd batch?" Who makes that decision, the owner or the sale barn? It costs him 22 cents a pound x nearly 600 lbs x 6 steers. $132 a steer, so $792 ...having those 4 non-black steers in that second group. It never pays to sell cattle in a group..at least down here it doesn't. The people bid on the worst in the group, what he or she would be worth. But with 2000 head to sell, and 4000 coming next Wednesday, I see why the barn would want to sell them like that.
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From the description it sounds like non-uniform calves that have been bought, fed a bit and resold. I have to wonder if buyers are willing to pay as much as a whole group that look similar. What has made cattle here in SC more uniform is the loss of dairies. Over the years many of the beef herds had some influence. We did as my folks raised dairy calves on bottles and did well in the 50's and into the 60's. A bred dairy heifer was worth a lot to ship to FL and the steers would do OK but not great when sold. Some of the heifers stayed around and the influence lasted for generations. The other thing that kept calf prices down in the south was poor mineral programs. For some it was "no mineral" programs. We had speakers to tell us that calves from the southeast had little chance to survive the rigors of shifting to feedlots because there were no stored minerals in their liver to help fight disease challenges. Buyers counted on more death loss. Decent minerals have been a big help on the farm with overall function.

But the extra money here is in bunk broke and vaccinated calves. Any weight added is more weight sold. If you want to do it. But the prices in general are still better both north and west.
 
I added up the cow numbers for the 10 ranches in my little valley. The average is 470 cows per ranch. That is a pretty realistic number for the rest of the county and probably for the region too.
 
Warren Allison said:
But down here, we have over 350 years more experience with cattle than the rest of the country. By the 1520's, people were rounding up cattle in Fla, south Ga south Ala, etc, and shipping them to Cuba and other Carribean islands
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Methinks you need to re-skim your cattle history lol.
Well, Ponce de Leon did apparently bring a few cattle along on his failed mission to Florida in 1521……
 
Them heifers definitely brought good money. 60-100 days weaned. Full vaccinations. Wormed etc etc.
I only had one heifer in that weight range.
She brought 154 at 420. And she was red.
Spose if I had 30 of em they'd a done better? Lol
Screenshot_20211112-084914_Samsung Internet.jpg

However my unweaned bulls of same weight brought 175. Only 3 of them...
 
Silver said:
Methinks you need to re-skim your cattle history lol.
Well, Ponce de Leon did apparently bring a few cattle along on his failed mission to Florida in 1521……
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He died in 1521. He 1st established a settlement in Puerto Rico in 1508, Bimini in 1511. He landed in Florida in 1513. He carried cattle with him on all of his expeditions.
 
Warren Allison said:
He died in 1521. He 1st established a settlement in Puerto Rico in 1508, Bimini in 1511. He landed in Florida in 1513. He carried cattle with him on all of his expeditions.
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His exploration of Florida in 1513 was merely a visit. He died trying to establish a settlement in 1521. Point being, cattle were not being rounded up in Florida in the 1520’s and shipping them anywhere. When cattle did start to move they came FROM the West Indies. It is also worth noting that cattle from Europe were coming to North America entering what is now Canada at a very similar timeline.
 

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