BM Dakota Pairs

[Stocker Steve]

The boys put one over on the hobby ranchers, again... They hauled in put together grain fed late calving BM pairs from the drought out area and re sold them for U$S 1350 to 1550 per. :? Most were on the high end. It would take free grass and a strong market to make this work. I bought an ice cream cone and went home to bale hay.

 

[RanchMan90]

Sounds like traders made out like a bandit. Do you think it's repeatable?

 

[Stocker Steve]

History says annually.
Usually they truck in late calvers looking for good grass after the fall preg checks,
but drought has moved up and increased the flow.

 

[SmokinM]

Now what you gonna do with all that extra grass? I know you hate having to bale it.

Momma wouldn't bite on moving so it wasn't me buying to stock a farm. I will keep working on her!

 

[Stocker Steve]

Found a semi retired guy that likes to custom cut and bale... He cleaned up the place with hay sheds for $15/bale, and did a great job. Yielded 198 bales from ungrazed paddocks.
Swath grazing some of the home place. Forage is mature and they are leaving about a third of it. Most of it has clover seed in it so there will be some re seeding benefit from that.
Cows will be cheaper this winter, and I have guys calling me to buy their hay, but I plan to be running more stockers next year.

 

[SmokinM]

Glad you got it all baled up. I would think stockers would gain pretty good on that knee high grass. Here 3wts. brought $.20 less than 5wts. Last week. Have you ever started with them that small? Can't help but think there is some good money to be made on those numbers.

Been jealous of your grass since I left. Been doing some planning on how to bring some of your ideas to my places here. Getting a few last details straight but I will be picking your brain again soon. Thanks again for the visit, I sure enjoyed it.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Once you go rogue and start trampling forage, it is very hard to stop, because you get more grass every year. Damm stuff will not stop growing. That's why I am trying RR soybeans. Even then you have to spray 2 or 3 times to be able to see the beans.

I used to specialize in < 350#, sometimes going down to 250#. That kind are not mature enough to grow well on a high percentage of perennial pasture roughage. Rye grass or wheat are different. So you need to yard them till they get closer to 500#, or grain them heavily while they nibble on grass. ADG is a key to profit.

A lower risk start up approach would be to pick up a couple light calves that match some of yours, mass medicate with the good stuff, and bucket feed them in a lot.