Bred Cow Market has been Trumped !

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Stocker Steve

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Common solid mouth blacks here had been $900 to $1000. The last sale was standing room only, and the same kind of breds went for $1300 to $1400... Da boys are optimistic, again. :cboy:

Have you seen a big bounce in bred cow prices since November?
 
Sold one last November brought 750. Nice cow just bred a little later than the others. Sold a bred cow last week that was nice but a little flighty for 1350. Not near as nice as the cow I sold in November and not as far along.
 
midTN_Brangusman":2fdeqfvk said:
Sold one last November brought 750. Nice cow just bred a little later than the others. Sold a bred cow last week that was nice but a little flighty for 1350. Not near as nice as the cow I sold in November and not as far along.
That's about the same price difference I'm seeing here on quality aged bred cows as well.
 
Pretty decent bounce in California too. This week will be a good indicator, there are a couple bred stock auctions ahead of the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale this weekend. $1,400-$1,650 will buy an awful lot of good enough cows but there will be some of the absolute best bred heifers bring $2,000-$2,200 at some of these specials, of course, agey cows and cattle that are just lumber will bring noticeably less.
The desert looks good on our Nevada ranch and our cow numbers are down a little, while we kept quite a few heifers, I've got a need for a few loads of Spring calving cows that can earn a living in truly big, tough country. The only thing I've bought so far is 76 head of Red Angus/Hereford cross cows off of one ranch in Eastern Oregon. They are all year branded, just turned 6 years old, bred to calve in March to Lorenzen Red Angus bulls. They are really good cows but not quite fancy, I got them bought for $1,400.
 
js1234":1nfh5rwl said:
The desert looks good on our Nevada ranch and our cow numbers are down a little, while we kept quite a few heifers, I've got a need for a few loads of Spring calving cows that can earn a living in truly big, tough country. The only thing I've bought so far is 76 head of Red Angus/Hereford cross cows off of one ranch in Eastern Oregon. They are all year branded, just turned 6 years old, bred to calve in March to Lorenzen Red Angus bulls. They are really good cows but not quite fancy, I got them bought for $1,400.

How long will this kind of rwf cow produce in Nevada?
 
Stocker Steve":1uds5i6b said:
js1234":1uds5i6b said:
The desert looks good on our Nevada ranch and our cow numbers are down a little, while we kept quite a few heifers, I've got a need for a few loads of Spring calving cows that can earn a living in truly big, tough country. The only thing I've bought so far is 76 head of Red Angus/Hereford cross cows off of one ranch in Eastern Oregon. They are all year branded, just turned 6 years old, bred to calve in March to Lorenzen Red Angus bulls. They are really good cows but not quite fancy, I got them bought for $1,400.

How long will this kind of rwf cow produce in Nevada?
Given their teeth and the country they came out of, they'll wean 4 calves most likely. 3 at the worst. I view them as one of the best crosses going for our Northern Nevada high desert (5,200 feet) country. The only thing that would make them use our country better is if they had a pinch of ear (love a hint of Beefmaster in a Nevada range cow) to them.
 
Stocker Steve":2zuvvkhe said:
js1234":2zuvvkhe said:
I view them as one of the best crosses going for our Northern Nevada high desert (5,200 feet) country.

Do you see benefits to this RA cross other than the color?
Absolutely. In the last 10 years the Red Angus Association has done a much better job of moving their breed in a direction that helps to improve their commercial customers much more than the American Angus Association has. I'm 100% convinced (even though I don't own one, though that is very soon to change) that the "average" Red Angus bull today is a better tool for the commercial cattleman, at least here in the West than the "average" Black Angus bull.
Myself and Duane Martin Jr. discussed this at length at a cattle feeder function in Colorado over the Holidays and they are quickly forming the same opinion.
I feel that Black Angus breeders in particular and their association in general has become so obsessed with it's overwhelming dominance of market share and their desire to maintain it, that way too many inferior Angus bulls are being marketed by inferior breeders and name one's alike. Couple that with the bastardization of the "Angus Beef" programs (for the most part other than CAB, though they're not entirely immune) and you have a recipe for market saturation with an average animal that is many ways inferior to his relative from a few generations ago.
I'm trying to remain objective and I think I'm a reasonably honest participant in the situation. As an example, when I mention how they have diluted the "Angus Beef" programs in the name of selling more "Angus" beef, I feel like I'm speaking from a position of first hand knowledge. In the last 20 years, I've fed thousands and thousands of cattle through our cattle feeding segment that were no more 51% Angus than I am, and the programs took them with open arms, and paid the premium, with all my cards on the table, because they were black and could fill a boxed beef order.
While I don't buy as many Angus bulls as Martin Livestock who I earlier mentioned does annually, I do buy 50-70 Angus bulls a year depending on a few variables at the present between the CA and NV cow/calf operations and that takes me to a fair amount of bull sales and garners me an awful lot of sales pitches from an awful lot of Angus breeders and breed reps alike and these have been the observations I've made.
I have become convinced that outside of a very small percentage of sales, almost all Angus breeders who put on a sale would do the breed on the whole a major service if they cut the nuts off the bottom 10-20% of the bulls in their annual bull sales. Of course, that would drive down their receipts and possibly erode a little bit of that precious market share the breed cherishes.
That's not to say that I don't like Angus. I use an awful lot of Angus bulls and of the 25,000 or so stockers that we buy personally to run on grass annually, I'd say 80% of them have some Angus influence. They're an outstanding animal and that isn't going to change in our operation in particular or the beef industry in general anytime soon. Another of the strong suits of Angus is their crossbreeding value. They do an awful lot to put a little shine in terms of both appearance and perfomance on plainer cattle and bred to truly good cattle of another breed, such as Hereford, the resulting calf is truly fantastic. It's just that they are not without their warts and the current condition and outlook of the Red Angus breed helps to make these flaws a little bit more visible.
I feed an awful lot of cattle and I can tell you that more than anything else, if I had a gun to my head and had to pick one set of steers to go on and perform, grade and convert, all with an attractive COG, I'd pick a set of straightened out Red Angus yearlings from a commercial Red Angus based program that has been a Gridmaster Award recipient.
Of course, this is just one guy that's not smart enough to do anything other than punch cows opinion and I'm sure it will get some less than positive feedback, LOL
 
Stocker Steve":bv509vo3 said:
js1234":bv509vo3 said:
I view them as one of the best crosses going for our Northern Nevada high desert (5,200 feet) country.

Do you see benefits to this RA cross other than the color?
Oh, and they seem to do a bit better with brisket. Not as good as an XB type but better.
 
We bought a number of cows starting in 2009. Usually had a max price, and always was color blind, so ended up with a lot of reds. On average they were better momma cows than the blacks. Currently breeding a lot of red and rwf w/ black simi for feeder calves. The top cut are awesome calves, but we do get a few duds from the variability.
 
an actual red angus is one thing. a red limousine is another..
 
ddd75":1btkfh98 said:
an actual red angus is one thing. a red limousine is another..
If I ever bought a limousine, I think it would be a baby blue one with horns on the front but I like to keep things understated.
 
Small bred cow sale here on Saturday. Only a few pairs, 1,300 pound black cows with 2 week old calves brought $1,275. Very few bred cows brought over $1,000. The majority were $700-$900. I bought 5, 3 mid aged, 1 old cow, and 1 heifer. All black and bred 6-7 months with an average weight of about 1,250. Paid $714 average. The most I paid was $800. The old cow helped hold my average down as she looks a little tough but I knew where she came from. Worming, minerals and better feed will help her a lot. These will all be one and done for me.
 
I posted on another thread that a couple of weeks ago we bought 10, 9 breds for spring calves and one with a month old calf, and they averaged 930. 4 we were buying for someone else and then he didn't want them, or our average would have been about 800 since we don't buy 1500 lb cows. We often buy the older or rougher looking cows and usually do okay on them; a little feed, minerals, worming and they will slick up and look good. Had 5 OLD cows some up open this last preg check, not unexpected, and they will all leave, so these last purchases will replace them plus. Always mouth them when we get them home, and only 2 were old, but at 6-7 months bred, they will make back their costs and hopefully a little more since they were in the $700 range. Cull pound cows are up over .50 for the most part and look to hold there, so the cows didn't cost that much over pound.

Sold 3 cull cows a couple weeks ago and they brought .48, .53, .55; weighing 1350 down to 900, can't remember exactly.
Good grass will give them a chance to raise a decent calf, make a little for the summer grazing.
 
Uneven demand here. Herd an Iowa sale sold the lead off heifers for $2100. :shock:
Guys who bought old cows last fall should make some $$$. Productivity does not equal profit.
I have a growing list of cows to short wean, sell in 2017, and then replace with $1/# 2016 heifers. :banana:
 
Dave":3kqxdgny said:
I bought 5, 3 mid aged, 1 old cow, and 1 heifer. All black and bred 6-7 months with an average weight of about 1,250. Paid $714 average. The most I paid was $800.

Dave - You are making the profit thing look too easy. Could be a bunch of bullish market timers jumping in now for the 64 cent heifers. :nod:
 
Stocker Steve":21b2wd9i said:
Dave":21b2wd9i said:
I bought 5, 3 mid aged, 1 old cow, and 1 heifer. All black and bred 6-7 months with an average weight of about 1,250. Paid $714 average. The most I paid was $800.

Dave - You are making the profit thing look too easy. Could be a bunch of bullish market timers jumping in now for the 64 cent heifers. :nod:

I was happy with them. Averaged costing 59 cents a pound for the five and the heifer drove that up some. Cows will put on some weight over the summer and kill for what I paid for them. All I will have against the calves is the hay between now and spring grass and the cos pasture rent. Hay is already in the stack and wrote off against last year's heifers. And my pasture rent is cheap. I probably should have bought more. There was a string of good looking Hereford that sold for $750 but they announced that they were bred Hereford..... that knocks a $100 off those calves when they sell. If I were going to hold them, I would have bought them and bred them back to a angus bull. But I don't want Herefords or a one and done deal unless they get real cheap.
 
Stocker Steve":225dsvbf said:
Dave":225dsvbf said:
I bought 5, 3 mid aged, 1 old cow, and 1 heifer. All black and bred 6-7 months with an average weight of about 1,250. Paid $714 average. The most I paid was $800.

Dave - You are making the profit thing look too easy. Could be a bunch of bullish market timers jumping in now for the 64 cent heifers. :nod:
I'm really liking the stocker cow deal right now, I like to keep a liquid herd myself. The same costs as a 500 lb steer, half the stocking rate but much lower risk. Buying first trimester cows when grass comes on will eliminate the need for bulls and give somebody a tax break in end of the year special sales as pairs :D
 
RanchMan90":23h3b351 said:
I'm really liking the stocker cow deal right now :D

I like stocker stockers but they do take more capital and can have more risk.

I was at a state cattlemen's event last fall when the BTO were comparing notes. A couple admitted the only 2016 group they were making money on was old cows. The cows usually come out of the Dakotas and are moved to greener pastures or a TMR pen for one more calf. Some are man eaters so the TMR pen is preferred.
 

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