Best weight to sale beef cattle and be most profitable?

[tanzensgal]

Looking at raising a few beef cattle. My idea is to buy weaned calves put weight on them and then sale them to make some extra money. What is the best weight to sale beef cattle (heifers and steers) and be the most profitable. I was thinking around 500 to 600lbs? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[B&M Farms]

Most good calves will already weigh 500 to 600lbs or more at weaning. Its not so much how much they weigh when you sale them as it is how much the weight gain cost you.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I do alot of this and what i would do is buy 275 to 350 pound calves some could be weaned but if not have a good lot to put them in to wean give type a and seven way blackleg and a injectible dewormer keep them up for a week and then turn out on grass if you have any. i don't know where you are and what your local market is like so i can't give you a exact answer on when to sell but i can tell you that buying any calf big enough to wean and feed for me i have to put more weight on them than from 300 to 600 it's more like 800.

 

[tanzensgal]

Thanks for the reply. I am assuming at this weight they will be between 1 1/2 years to 2 years of age. Thanks for the advice on the vaccanations also. Are black cattle still worth the most? I grew up on a cattle farm but I am just now getting back into it myself. Do have grass and was thinking about feeding them cattle feed also.

 

[bigbull338]

if your wanting to buy calves to put weight on them id say buy 300 to 400lb calves.put them in a lot for a week or 2 an get them on feed an hay give them their shots worm an turn them out.now when to sell id feed them till 700 or 800lbs an then sell them.the feedlots are wanting those weights of calves to go right in the feedlots.

 

[Dave]

There is more money made or lost with purchase price than there is trying to shoot for the perfect weight to sell. The things which you have the most control over are purchase size and price.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Thanks for the reply. I am assuming at this weight they will be between 1 1/2 years to 2 years of age. Thanks for the advice on the vaccanations also. Are black cattle still worth the most? I grew up on a cattle farm but I am just now getting back into it myself. Do have grass and was thinking about feeding them cattle feed also.

At 300 pounds they will be about 4 months old and it takes about 7 months to get them to 800 so they would still only be around a year.black cattle can still be the best selling again i don't know your local market but you have to know what to buy a good charolais cross or red calf is allways worh more than a low end black so you have got to know what to buy.yes you will feed them grain but again you have to figure out what you can afford to feed and still come out.

 

[chippie]

You can also end up losing money too. There are many things to consider. How much land do you have? Will you have to feed hay?
Will you be feeding grain? What sort of pens do you have? Do you have a way to handle the cattle?
Also, where you live can make a difference too. I live on the Texas Gulf Coast and we really don't get a real winter, so keeping one during the winter is fairly easy.

If you are just starting to get into cattle, and you need to build facilities for handling them, you may not make much money the first year.