Shoestring
Well-known member
I have had good luck with the sale barn. Gotta pay attention. The word 'cull' gets a bad rap. Anytime you desire to sell a cow y have decided to cull.
( Always) does not allow much latitude for drought or death or gift or divorce or what ever reason to sellDoesn't matter where a cow is sold or bought. It's always one that someone else decided not to keep.....a cull.
Lee you know exactly what I meant...why do you always have to muddy the water..( Always) does not allow much latitude for drought or death or gift or divorce or what ever reason to sell
without the animal being a cull. All things have a season and the end is not always based on value.
Thanks for the refer, I'll look them up. It's been tough balancing the day job, building the ranch and finding time to talk to folks. I keep reminding myself that this is a 5 year plan and it's been 4 months.@TdJ someone may have suggested this, I didn't go back and read all of the hot air put forth in previous posts. I don't know your acreage, but look up the 44 farms. Kinda in your area. Might be of interest to you or someone else starting out.
Most small breeders I know way more about the performance of their cattle than most you will find at the sale barn. When buying from a small breeder many times he will know their age within a few weeks. At a sale barn it is a guessing game at best.Most Small breeders are focused on genetics and confirmation. And tend to be overpriced. They don't cull for performance and if they did you can't cull for performance if you never test it.
Couldn't have said it better myself. A few universities have done studies on commercial cow/calf producers just starting out. The number 1 factor to the operation's longterm financial viability was the initial investment per head in the breeding herd. This by no means is a recommendation to guy buy someone's junk at the salebarn, but bird dog hit it on the head. Go buy experienced solid mouth cows (no heifers--too pricey with more trouble and greater fallout, no old junk) and let them pay for themselves in a just few years.A lot of my best cattle came from herd sell outs at the local sale barns. Look for the barns that have the biggest amount of cattle to sale ans ask the owner if he will notify you when they have a herd sell out. They had a bunch of black angus 3 to 5 months bred from a sell out at West this week. Mid age and medium quality. Most of them went to the packers and the ones that didn't sold for less than $100 above packer prices.
For $850 you could get a experienced gentle cow that will calve in early spring. Let her raise the calf through the summer and sell it in the fall.. The calf will bring about what you paid for the cow,
These types of cows will give you some experience on how the sale barn process works and what to look for to fit your operation. Plus they are not so expensive that if one dies or disappears through the fence, the loss won't break you.