Breds at the salebarn

[Beefy]

How many of these go to slaughter versus go somewhere long enough to have the calf and then whatever.
Is there like a cutoff as far as how far along they are or what?

 

[dun]

Not sure exactly what you're asking, but I've seen some of those old bred cows go either way. I've also seen cows deliver calves on the trailer on the way home. A friend of mine buys 3rd stage broken mouth cows, turns them out till the calve and hauls them back to the sale barn. He's been doing pretty well at it for the 4-5 years.

dun

 

[mwj]

Dun
I am going to look at that tomorow. We have plenty of hay and it looks tempting. Slaughter cows ranging up to 56cents locally with strong demand and 11-1250 lb. longbred aged cows at$525-650 makes me want to take a look. Young first trymester cows are going for around$1000 right now. Cow prices are all over the place and it makes me scratch my head.Kill cows of all classes have been very strong for the past year or more. If I can sell a cow back over the scales for what I payed it looks like a good risk for a cheap calf. Probably have the seats full of cow buyers tomorow with the same idea. Slaughter cows sell last so the slaughter cow buyers are usually not there when breds and stockers sell.
your friend
Mike

 

[Jake]

How many of these go to slaughter versus go somewhere long enough to have the calf and then whatever.
Is there like a cutoff as far as how far along they are or what?

this past summer I saw a 6 year old that was 8 months along go to slaughter.... tell me somebody couldn't have held her for a month and then shipped her for $$$ more...

 

[dun]

Dun
I am going to look at that tomorow. We have plenty of hay and it looks tempting. Slaughter cows ranging up to 56cents locally with strong demand and 11-1250 lb. longbred aged cows at$525-650 makes me want to take a look. Young first trymester cows are going for around$1000 right now. Cow prices are all over the place and it makes me scratch my head.Kill cows of all classes have been very strong for the past year or more. If I can sell a cow back over the scales for what I payed it looks like a good risk for a cheap calf. Probably have the seats full of cow buyers tomorow with the same idea. Slaughter cows sell last so the slaughter cow buyers are usually not there when breds and stockers sell.
your friend
Mike

In one way it's kin of like running stockers. He balances the stocking rate against pasture/hay resources. He'll adda a bunch when the grass really starts to come on then sell a lot when the grass starts to go away in the summer. He's been lucky over the years but this year it seems to be catching up with him. He's ahad a bunch of hard pulls and lost calves. Normally he has very few but he's had a half dozen or so in the past month. But the cows are in better shape then when he bought them so he may at least dollarwise break even. But that probably won't cover the feed they ate to get into that better condition.

dun

 

[mwj]

Dun
My thinking is they will be gone by late sumer. I have some old cows so the age doesnt bother me :lol: If they aren't in desent shape I am not interested. Don't have to have them so I can be picky! We see some decent older cows hit the mkt. this time of year because they don't want to buy a few rolls of hay. Doesn't make sense to feed them till they are heavy bred and then sell at a loss over$50 worth of hay. Will see what they have if anyone can get thru this darned mud to get anything loaded
your friend
Mike

 

[mwj]

Dun
My thinking is they will be gone by late sumer. I have some old cows so the age doesnt bother me :lol: If they aren't in desent shape I am not interested. Don't have to have them so I can be picky! We see some decent older cows hit the mkt. this time of year because they don't want to buy a few rolls of hay. Doesn't make sense to feed them till they are heavy bred and then sell at a loss over$50 worth of hay. Will see what they have if anyone can get thru this darned mud to get anything loaded
your friend
Mike

 

[milkmaid]

Along the same lines...if a feedlot ended up with a heavy bred cow that calved while she was there, would they let her keep the calf, or send it to the sale barn? ...like, if I called some of the feedlots and asked them to call me if they ended up with any calves...or would they tell me they have a waiting list ten pages long?

I don't mind bottle-feeding, and beef calves are sure worth more in the end than dairy steer calves...

 

[Dave]

Every winter I plan to buy breds that are selling at kill price or slightly higher. Some of them just last until mid summer and I ship them and their calf back (generally the old ones). Some stay around a year or two if they do a decent job of raising a calf. I have one out in the pasture that I bought in '97 for 25 cents over kill price. At that time the 1250 pound cow cost me $352. She has weaned a 700 pound calf every year since. I almost shipped her last fall because she is showing her age. I thought real seriously about it but kept her. She had another bull calf last week.
I have a limit on how much I will spend on them. If I can buy them for one bid more than the kill buyers I will come out every time. The few that lose a calf I go backwards on but not as much as I do on a cow that I have fed all winter. I try to buy enough of them that the average will work out in my favor.
Milkmaid, the feedlots I have been to just give the calves born there to the workers. I know one man who packs them home for his boys to raise. As you said they are worth more than holsteins, although holsteins are selling pretty well right now.
Dave

 

[Dee]

I bought 5 baby calves from a feed lot last year. THe guy bought "exposed" cows that were a little thin, just to put weight on and take back to the barn. I paid $150 for each, and there were three others taking calves also. The feed lot owner said he made more on that pen, just because of the calves he got to sell off. I just kept them for a few weeks then took 'em to the sale barn also.

 

[Beefy]

My main question was more along the lines of what Jake was talking about. I was wondering how many mid-heavy breds go to slaughter. seems wasteful to have all that energy going toward a calf that is going to be discarded. I doubt it happens all that much but i was wondering if there was like a cut off as far as how many months pregnant a cow going directly to slaughter normally is. i would think in most cases it would be well worth it to calve out a 5+.

 

[mwj]

I have sat and watched slaughter buyers buy them by the pot load at special bred cow sales because the price was low enough for them to make money! No differant than a 2 day old calf going for veal instead of being raised up to stocker or feeder size. Where the profit is determins where they go.
your friend
Mike

 

[TheBullLady]

When the grass is short and it's been dry for months a lot of bred cows go to slaughter here. I can remember seeing a pen at the auction of 7+ month old cows that was going on a kill truck.

There are some guys around here that do pretty well with the long bred cows.. calving them out and then sending the cows back. But you have to be careful of disease.. bringing in new cows all the time risks the rest of the herd. And you don't know what the cows are bred to.. so you need a decent pen or facility for calving problems, and they get a wild one every once in awhile that takes out a fence or two on her way to freedom!