Bred heifers

[Jake]

Seeing A LOT of adds on craigslist for bred heifers. Would guess at some point the bred heifer market may drop a bit if all of these start coming on the market at the same time.

Anybody else seeing the same thing?

 

[tamarack]

What are some of the prices in your area ? I have some that I am going to sell this fall I have 1200 $ in them already hopeing to get at least 2000$ or am I dreaming :???:

 

[Aaron]

Neighbor was offered 2k for some very nice Horned Herfs bred BA and turned it down. He is not well, but won't take less than $2500. He is sick, not stupid.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Local market is soft right now, and I heard the limited sales were going for just over kill price, but guys are still expecting $2,000 + this fall. The most consistent market here has been black heifers. If the blacks are in small bunches - - the buyer just co mingles a pot load or two and trucks them to the Dakotas. Apparently they have too much free grass out there, and can pay more for heifers.

Red pricing is less consistent, and will sell for as much as $300 lower unless there is a big group. So I was buying red or rwf at $1400 to $1700 per head. Half were above average quality. :cowboy: I put a black limi flex bull on them for terminal calves.

The neighbor called last night and asked if I wanted to buy his cows. He is 71, and he knows I like to suffer...

 

[Stocker Steve]

Neighbor was offered 2k for some very nice Horned Herfs bred BA and turned it down. He is not well, but won't take less than $2500.

Did you buy that Welsh black bull yet?

 

[Aaron]

Neighbor was offered 2k for some very nice Horned Herfs bred BA and turned it down. He is not well, but won't take less than $2500.

Did you buy that Welsh black bull yet?

Numbers aren't quite there in terms of the cowherd yet. About 25 more and I will bring in the Welsh and Shorthorn for a test run.

 

[stocky]

All bred heifers are selling high around here. Some really good black springer heifers brought 3,000 tonight at a special cow sale. Some 915 lb black springers were 2250. Almost any color or breed of bred heifer is bringing much more money than it's quality says it should. I never cease to be amazed that when cows are more of an average price, heifers are cheap because people are hesitant to spend money on a heifer that may not be able to have a calf, may give up and not have the calf, may not give enough milk, may not claim the calf, may suckle down and not breed back, or may just lay down and die rather than have the calf. But, when cows are really high, people seem to forget all about the problems with heifers and just look at how pretty they are and pay a fortune for them. That is what is happening right now.

 

[glacierridge]

Further north we don't have such inflated prices.

I hope that means our markets well stay more stable and not crumble.

 

[plumber_greg]

I paid 2750 for some high quality simmi heifers. Registered, bred to Shogun. Came from Ok. gs

 

[Tim/South]

Was at a special heifer sale yesterday. Nice commercial black heifers, all bred. 505 heifers sold. Average price was $2587.50
These were not registered heifers. They were top of the line commercial heifers. Top groups were @ $4K each. Many went to Tennessee and Kentucky.
Never thought I would see a commercial heifer bring $4K.
Cattle numbers should increase 3 years from now. Every one I know is retaining heifers. Most of us have some momma cows that will need to cull in three years. The rebuilding of the national herd will take years.

 

[mncowboy]

Bismarckonline.com has bred heifers of all colors ranging from $2500 to $3000. I've always looked at it as take average calf prices and double it, that'll get you close to a bred female. If you're seeing 1200-1400 calves, I'd want $2500+ for bred heifers too.

http://www.aberdeenlivestock.com/market.aspx

Market Report for
Monday, August 25, 2014
Cattle: 337

Feeder Cattle sold fully steady on very good demand.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Weigh-Up Cows sold lower.
Cows sold : $108.00 to $119.00
Fed Cows & High Yielding Cows sold Mainly: $120.00 to $127.00
Bulls sold Mainly: $130.00 to $145.00

Fat Cattle: Lbs. Per/CWT
Eden Blk strs 1426 $158.50
Conde Mix strs 1327 154.00
Conde Mix hfrs 1244 151.00

Steers: Lbs. Per/CWT
Langford Blk strs 715 $240.25
Langford Blk strs 701 240.25
Frederick Lim Strs 733 240.00
Langford Mix strs 867 212.50

Heifers: Lbs. Per/CWT
Hecla Blk hfrs 770 $211.00
Frederick Red hfrs 847 202.00
Hitchcock Blk hfrs 945 202.00
Long Lake Mix hfrs 1075 185.00
Highmore Blk hfrs 1098 178.00
Highmore Blk hfrs 1140 171.00

 

[Stocker Steve]

All bred heifers are selling high around here. Some really good black springer heifers brought 3,000 tonight at a special cow sale. Some 915 lb black springers were 2250. Almost any color or breed of bred heifer is bringing much more money than it's quality says it should. I never cease to be amazed that when cows are more of an average price, heifers are cheap because people are hesitant to spend money on a heifer that may not be able to have a calf, may give up and not have the calf, may not give enough milk, may not claim the calf, may suckle down and not breed back, or may just lay down and die rather than have the calf. But, when cows are really high, people seem to forget all about the problems with heifers and just look at how pretty they are and pay a fortune for them. That is what is happening right now.

Small herd dispersal last month - - cows averaged about $1800 and bred heifers averaged about $2400. Go figure.
Perhaps I should cut back on the cow cull'in and sell some bred heifers...

 

[bigbull338]

all classes of bred heifers cows and pairs are high and will remain high for years to come.plus yall have forgotten that massive winter kill off of cows in the dakotas 2yrs ago.

 

[Stocker Steve]

all classes of bred heifers cows and pairs are high and will remain high for years to come.

Dakota demand is driven by rain and $2 corn. It should last till the next drought.

 

[Aaron]

Sale here this past weekend, pretty much all kill cows (75) sold for 2k or better. 1.20 to 1.30/lb.

Good, fancy open yearling commercial heifers were 1650 to 1850. All going to the feedlots. Some cow guys that were thinking of buying for replacements decided they were far too high. 1500 seems to be their limit.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Sale here this past weekend, pretty much all kill cows (75) sold for 2k or better. 1.20 to 1.30/lb.

Good, fancy open yearling commercial heifers were 1650 to 1850. All going to the feedlots. Some cow guys that were thinking of buying for replacements decided they were far too high. 1500 seems to be their limit.

An optimist would sell a big cow and buy back a bred heifer. Some dairy guys do it all the time.

 

[Lucky_P]

But Steve... most dairy cows only last an average of about 2.5 lactations. A bred dairy heifer has 2 or 3 years production in front of her - and the calf she's carrying is a minor concern. That 4 or 5 yr old dairy cow is likely running on borrowed time.

IF I were buying beef cattle, I'd sure rather have a good, solid bred cow than a bred heifer. On average, a heifer's calf is gonna be 60-70# lighter at weaning than a similarly-bred calf out of a mature cow - and, calving/mothering issues are a bigger headache with heifers...

 

[Stocker Steve]

IF I were buying beef cattle, I'd sure rather have a good, solid bred cow than a bred heifer.

Agreed.

Black bred heifers went $2,175 last week.

 

[cbcr]

... most dairy cows only last an average of about 2.5 lactations. A bred dairy heifer has 2 or 3 years production in front of her - and the calf she's carrying is a minor concern. That 4 or 5 yr old dairy cow is likely running on borrowed time.

This is true, but some don't even make thru the first lactation, with the Holstein especially, they have been bred to the point that they can produce more milk that what physically they are capable of. This is why crossbreeding with non-traditional breeds is gaining and growing in popularity. Fleckvieh, Montbeliarde and Normandy are strength breeds, and we are seeing these crosses equaling or even exceeding their Holstein herdmates on production, but they have another advantage too, increased solids. These cows are staying in herds longer too.

A few months ago one of our members commented that in a year that he had about an equal number of Holstein heifers and crossbred heifers born, that now he there is only 1 of the Holsteins left in the herd compared to 9 of the crossbreds.

Another benefit is that these crossbreds have better reproduction, lower vet and health costs.

In many herds that were breeding Holstein, they needed all of their replacements to go into the herd because of the cows that couldn't hold up for several reasons or died. Now with the crosses, many are having surplus animals to sell.

http://www.dairycattleregistry.com