buying calves

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Bub

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so what does everyone look for when buying calves to feed out / pre condition
 
weaned 3 wks or more and healthy, hopefully they've been worked and 2 rounds of vacs, but not a deal breaker
In addition width across the back, rump and chest indicating muscularity, hair appearance would already have been determined when assessing their health.
 
skyhightree1":29vsfnvk said:
Bub":29vsfnvk said:
so what does everyone look for when buying calves to feed out / pre condition

Cheap and looks like I can make money off of it.
Cheap and good are hardly ever synonymous lol. There are undervalued classes based on weight and gender such as thin cattle, longtails, cuttin bulls etc. What do you think is a good buy today?
 
Bub":1znavtg8 said:
so what does everyone look for when buying calves to feed out / pre condition

What kind of volume? If it was just a couple you could just buy whatever looked cheap regardless of whether they matched or not. If it was over 10 or 15 you could just as well buy something that would match when you sell it. What can be bought worth the money right now depends a lot on your location.
 
I bought a dozen heifers weighing 520 yesterday for .95, and loads of 8 weights are worth pretty close to 1.20 right now, there would have to be a quite a bit of profit in them if you kept them that long.
 
Ojp6":3cihdns7 said:
I bought a dozen heifers weighing 520 yesterday for .95, and loads of 8 weights are worth pretty close to 1.20 right now, there would have to be a quite a bit of profit in them if you kept them that long.

I saw Iowa boys buying them for $1 to $1.08. Sounds like you are on a roll. :banana:

I still have my 2016 heifers, so I guess I also bought them for $1/#.
 
Stocker Steve":235kqjli said:
RanchMan90":235kqjli said:
What do you think is a good buy today?

They were giving away 5 to 6 wt heifers.
Have not been in the barn recently.
X2 I'm gonna try to graduate to them when I shed these lightweight heifers @ 400 lbs in February. Can just about buy 5-6 weights for the same dollar amount.
 
RanchMan90":eaedacoc said:
Stocker Steve":eaedacoc said:
RanchMan90":eaedacoc said:
What do you think is a good buy today?

They were giving away 5 to 6 wt heifers.
Have not been in the barn recently.
X2 I'm gonna try to graduate to them when I shed these lightweight heifers @ 400 lbs in February. Can just about buy 5-6 weights for the same dollar amount.
If u have heifers weighing 400 in February why not just keep them. You will already have the work done.
 
kenny thomas":1mzirsvm said:
RanchMan90":1mzirsvm said:
Stocker Steve":1mzirsvm said:
They were giving away 5 to 6 wt heifers.
Have not been in the barn recently.
X2 I'm gonna try to graduate to them when I shed these lightweight heifers @ 400 lbs in February. Can just about buy 5-6 weights for the same dollar amount.
If u have heifers weighing 400 in February why not just keep them. You will already have the work done.
It has crossed my mind. I like the flexibility of sale timing and low cost of gain of little cattle. There's only 40 Angus heifers in this group. I bought them December 9 for $1.36 weighing 350 lbs= $476. So I'll have $500 in them after vaccinations and sales commission, it costs me 50¢ a day to feed them (5 lbs of 16% ration and free choice hay and mineral). I'm sure they shrunk quite a bit after I got them home from weaning. My target market if February (400 lbs @ $1.50) or May ( 700 lbs @ $1.30), going off okc prices.
 
The 700 @ 1.30 is a money maker. The 400 @ 150 even if that is possible sure won't make much. Why not feed them at least 8 lb if they are 400lb. Through the winter it may take more than that to make them grow.
I buy small thin calves year around but try to make them weigh 700+ before I sell.
 
kenny thomas":2odrg3sj said:
The 700 @ 1.30 is a money maker. The 400 @ 150 even if that is possible sure won't make much.
I buy small thin calves year around but try to make them weigh 700+ before I sell.
Sounds good, thanks for the advice :tiphat:
 
For the last month or so here in the Shenandoah valley heifers are running .90 to 1.05 lb for any size from 350 to 800 lbs. Maybe come spring the smaller ones will pick up a bit, but it will be hard to make much money on them after feed costs. Bull calves are running .10 to .25 lb less than steer calves here lately. And herefords are taking a real beating...
 
750# feeder cattle
Nov '16 1.24
Dec '16 1.30
Jan '17 1.30
Mar '17 1.26
May '17 1.24
Aug '17 1.25

Seems to me Dec 9th 350# @ 1.36 won't translate to Feb 9th 400# @ 1.50 looks more like maybe 1.39 in my opinion
but I don't know anything about okc prices... so don't go by me

I bought 620# hols strs @ .65 last week after buying 480# hols strs @ .95 six weeks ago
(I thought it was a heck of a deal) $50 head less for steers weighing 140# more
 
RanchMan90":3sei6oaq said:
kenny thomas":3sei6oaq said:
RanchMan90":3sei6oaq said:
X2 I'm gonna try to graduate to them when I shed these lightweight heifers @ 400 lbs in February. Can just about buy 5-6 weights for the same dollar amount.
If u have heifers weighing 400 in February why not just keep them. You will already have the work done.
It has crossed my mind. I like the flexibility of sale timing and low cost of gain of little cattle. There's only 40 Angus heifers in this group. I bought them December 9 for $1.36 weighing 350 lbs= $476. So I'll have $500 in them after vaccinations and sales commission, it costs me 50¢ a day to feed them (5 lbs of 16% ration and free choice hay and mineral). I'm sure they shrunk quite a bit after I got them home from weaning. My target market if February (400 lbs @ $1.50) or May ( 700 lbs @ $1.30), going off okc prices.
If they only gain 50lbs from dec to February you bought the wrong kind...
 
RanchMan90":33hhdl5o said:
skyhightree1":33hhdl5o said:
Bub":33hhdl5o said:
so what does everyone look for when buying calves to feed out / pre condition

Cheap and looks like I can make money off of it.
Cheap and good are hardly ever synonymous lol. There are undervalued classes based on weight and gender such as thin cattle, longtails, cuttin bulls etc. What do you think is a good buy today?

I look for something I think just needs some tlc and i think I can make a dollar on it. but lately have not fooled with calves only breds or pairs
 
Kingfisher":ws45vz8x said:
RanchMan90":ws45vz8x said:
kenny thomas":ws45vz8x said:
If u have heifers weighing 400 in February why not just keep them. You will already have the work done.
It has crossed my mind. I like the flexibility of sale timing and low cost of gain of little cattle. There's only 40 Angus heifers in this group. I bought them December 9 for $1.36 weighing 350 lbs= $476. So I'll have $500 in them after vaccinations and sales commission, it costs me 50¢ a day to feed them (5 lbs of 16% ration and free choice hay and mineral). I'm sure they shrunk quite a bit after I got them home from weaning. My target market if February (400 lbs @ $1.50) or May ( 700 lbs @ $1.30), going off okc prices.
If they only gain 50lbs from dec to February you bought the wrong kind...
Probably did. They melted off 30 lbs the first week bawling and walking the fence. That would put them at 2 lbs average daily gain now til February. That may or may not be attainable, only the scales will tell. Gonna try bumping up the feed as suggested.
 
Stocker Steve":1lffhnkt said:
They were giving away 5 to 6 wt heifers.
Have not been in the barn recently.

Hey guys, new to the forums, and I don't mean to hijack someone's thread. What do you guys mean by 5 to 6 wt, or 8 wt.

I did a search in the forums and the search told me it was too common of a term, and google had a lot of fishing knowledge.

Thanks!! :heart:
 

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