Bred cow sale

[Dave]

They had a bred cow sale at Vale yesterday. Sold nothing but bred cows for nearly 5 hours. That is a lot of cows especially there was a pretty low percentage of singles. 4 o 25 in the ring at a time. Very rarely cut one out. What came through the door got sold together. I got 4 bought. All black or BWF and all 4 months bred. Averaged weighing 1,135 and cost me $2,125. The highest selling group was 25 head of black heifers bred 4 months weighing over 1,100 that sold for $3,950. Early on there was several large groups of bred heifer which 2 guy bid up to around $3,600-$3,700. About half way through the sale two guys bidding on the internet kept the prices up. There was several bunches of broken mouth cows which I would have liked to buy but the internet guys paid $2,600-$2,800 for them. Too rich for my blood. They also had a lot of 3 month bred cows mixed in. Those are April calves which don't work for me.

 

[gcreekrch]

I just sold 80 bred heifers for $5700

 

[Dave]

I just sold 80 bred heifers for $5700

Do the conversion to American dollars and it is about the same money. And to think back in 2014 I was dancing on the tables at the Superior Sale when I sold 50 heifers for $2,000 a head.

 

[Silver]

$5700 CAD = $4072 USD. That’s a nice payday for a bred heifer.

 

[Dave]

$5700 CAD = $4072 USD. That’s a nice payday for a bred heifer.

I was guessing at the conversion but like you said that is a nice pay day.

 

[MurraysMutts]

There will be another cow special this Saturday. If I can remember, I'll post some results here.
I do remember 5000 dollar pairs from last time. From what I saw yesterday, prices were slightly down/steady at the regular sale.

 

[gcreekrch]

I stand corrected the guy took 130 of them.

 

[gcreekrch]

Now he’s talking about taking the cutbacks.

 

[Brute 23]

Had a rwf cow that has never held weight good but raised a pretty good calf. She was in decent condition and bred so I rolled her to make room for heifers coming in. She was a 17' model, 5mo bred, and bfought just shy of $3k. No complaints here. Got a few more that will probably go also. I would unload a lot of the older cows for $3K.

 

[Dave]

At that sale there were so many bred cows coming in late that the vet was struggling to keep up. The advertised ones had come in a day or two early and were done. Several times they announced we have more bred cows. So when they started to sell other things I walked out to the chute to check it out. She was preg checking cows. But I noticed in the pen they weren't aging them. Walked back to the chute. The vet recognized me. She said they cows had already been sold??? This sale they sell kill cows for a couple hours before the main stuff. So someone bought cows out of the kill pan and was having them all preg checked. Hmmmm if they are open ship them to the plant and break even. If they are bred you just bought bred cows for one bid over kill price. I am not going to do it but sure a short term way to make money.

 

[crossbreed]

My first stab at one and done is off to a strange start. Bought 4 with preg checks of 7 months to 4 months bred. That was 2 weeks ago. The 7 month dropped a big black bull calf over night and one of the 4 month bred has put me on the fence about 4 times now. She might go back as a 7 month bred in January

 

[bird dog]

Don't feel alone crossbreed. I had one last week that was acting mean enough that I decided it wasn't worth the effort to run her thru the chute and just turned her out into the group with the others. I don't like doing that but sometimes its just not worth it.

A few days with the group that are almost all gentle, calmed her down to where I could ride the s x s right up to her. The sale barn experience is not kind to these old girls. BTW the old girl was called short solid, 7 months and sold for $1.25 lb. Not many buyers lately for the old cruddy cows but plenty around for the fancy $3500 ones.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I watched a real nice broke mouth, 6 month bred cow thru the chute Saturday. I thought I might bid on her.
She finally made it in the ring and proceeded to smash both corners where the guys stand in the protective boxes. She went to slaughter.....
weighed 1360 at 1.35

 

[branxchar&charx]

I watched a real nice broke mouth, 6 month bred cow thru the chute Saturday. I thought I might bid on her.
She finally made it in the ring and proceeded to smash both corners where the guys stand in the protective boxes. She went to slaughter.....
weighed 1360 at 1.35

I figured the special cow sale in Fairview was going to be a bit pricey so I stayed home. Saw some pairs go over 5k online.

I did pick up two 7x5s today at okc west for ave $2550. One is not very tame but we'll see how she does in the next few days.

 

[Brute 23]

My first stab at one and done is off to a strange start. Bought 4 with preg checks of 7 months to 4 months bred. That was 2 weeks ago. The 7 month dropped a big black bull calf over night and one of the 4 month bred has put me on the fence about 4 times now. She might go back as a 7 month bred in January

Take her back tomorrow

 

[crossbreed]

Take her back tomorrow

It gets worse. Today she was laying down and looking like she had been there a while. Drove the mule down to make her move and she’s crippled in her front right shoulder or leg. Got the vet coming out tomorrow. Hope I can salvage or turn her into burger meat at worst. Bad way to start buying cows from the sale barn

 

[Dave]

It gets worse. Today she was laying down and looking like she had been there a while. Drove the mule down to make her move and she’s crippled in her front right shoulder or leg. Got the vet coming out tomorrow. Hope I can salvage or turn her into burger meat at worst. Bad way to start buying cows from the sale barn

You can't always pick winners. That is one of the reasons that I calculate in a 5% death loss. Another reason why I like to buy them for one bid over kill price. Can't do that too much this year. You only have a very short time in the ring to decide. Do they act at all snotty? Even head up watching the ring help. Did she walk into the ring or run in? Do they move good? How does the udder look? Sling bag, big tits? Does she look old? A lot of things to look at in a very short time and all while listening to the auctioneer

 

[crossbreed]

You can't always pick winners. That is one of the reasons that I calculate in a 5% death loss. Another reason why I like to buy them for one bid over kill price. Can't do that too much this year. You only have a very short time in the ring to decide. Do they act at all snotty? Even head up watching the ring help. Did she walk into the ring or run in? Do they move good? How does the udder look? Sling bag, big tits? Does she look old? A lot of things to look at in a very short time and all while listening to the auctioneer

You’re right about all that. Another thing to watch for is it a buyer or the owner bidding his own cows up. I usually bail at farm actions when I see that. I believe you are working a solid plan and it’s a way I can add heads when I have the grazing without actually adding to the herd.

 

[Travlr]

At that sale there were so many bred cows coming in late that the vet was struggling to keep up. The advertised ones had come in a day or two early and were done. Several times they announced we have more bred cows. So when they started to sell other things I walked out to the chute to check it out. She was preg checking cows. But I noticed in the pen they weren't aging them. Walked back to the chute. The vet recognized me. She said they cows had already been sold??? This sale they sell kill cows for a couple hours before the main stuff. So someone bought cows out of the kill pan and was having them all preg checked. Hmmmm if they are open ship them to the plant and break even. If they are bred you just bought bred cows for one bid over kill price. I am not going to do it but sure a short term way to make money.

In Arkansas I had two sale barns where I helped the vet bangs and preg check. It got be the inside scoop on which animals to look for and what to buy. I'm surprised no one else was willing to do the job. I made as much trading cattle as selling what I raised.

 

[Dave]

In Arkansas I had two sale barns where I helped the vet bangs and preg check. It got be the inside scoop on which animals to look for and what to buy. I'm surprised no one else was willing to do the job. I made as much trading cattle as selling what I raised.

Over on the coast I had a friend who was a herdsman for a dairy. The 2 of us would get in the pen with the kill cows and pick out likely looking cows. Push them into the corner where he would bump them. He had lots of experience and was good at bumping calves. Ones who bumped a calf we would buy for one bid over kill price. Some people figured out what we were doing. So if they saw us bid they would try to out bid us. We solved that by bidding on a cow who didn't bump a calf. They would bid and we would quit bidding to let them have it.