I am a cow/calf producer. I have thought about reducing the cow herd and I would see the calves all the way to finish. I am near a kill plant. Currently I background the calves and sell at a sale barn. Dairies in the area have a lot of black-hide beef on dairy cross cattle. Is there more money to be made selling finished beef cattle on the grid?
cash calves vs beef carcass grid
- Thread starter moses388
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
Lee VanRoss
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2020
- Messages
- 2,392
- Reaction score
- 2,682
With all due respect the answer to your question is, Yes if and No because.........
One of the first questions you will be asked is where are you located? I would implore you not to respond to the request in any way.
There are over 200 million people world wide that have access to this site and not all of them are concerned with your welfare.
Your question interests me as I have been thinking along the same lines and have currentlty held back steers to potentially finish.
They will be a year old this April and weigh in the mid to high nines. They are 3/4 RA -1/4 Corriente to 100% RA with the potential
(I hope) to finish mid choice.
One of the first things you will encounter is the amount of manure generated in a feedlot condition. Do you have facilities and equipment
to handle it? I like to pile feedlot manure for year to give it time to kill germination of as much weed seed as possible from any hay fed.
More power to you if you have no weed seed. Next thing is separating steers from heifers if you have both and again this involves facilities.
I am not asking breed or color which will probably come up and I would rate the question right up there with what type of wood smoke
is coming from the neighbors chimney.
A lot will depend on what you are doing now such as, Do you rotational graze? Move every day? Let grass grow 35- 40 days before
letting them on it again? Do you cut hay more than once a year? Are you in an area where corn is readily available for growth or
purchase? (don't answer here) You will soon find that pellets and or +$7.00 corn add up in a hurry once you get up over a 1000 lb
and a 3% ration. Above all the economy of volume of scale will in all probability hold trump card. It is hard to compete with a
5000 head feed lot on a cost per lb per day basis with a feed bunk and a 5 gallon bucket. Try not to become focused on a single
stream of revenue. This might be a good time to bring hair sheep into the equation (which I have not done) mostly because I
am unfamiliar with them and time remaining. I wish you well....
One of the first questions you will be asked is where are you located? I would implore you not to respond to the request in any way.
There are over 200 million people world wide that have access to this site and not all of them are concerned with your welfare.
Your question interests me as I have been thinking along the same lines and have currentlty held back steers to potentially finish.
They will be a year old this April and weigh in the mid to high nines. They are 3/4 RA -1/4 Corriente to 100% RA with the potential
(I hope) to finish mid choice.
One of the first things you will encounter is the amount of manure generated in a feedlot condition. Do you have facilities and equipment
to handle it? I like to pile feedlot manure for year to give it time to kill germination of as much weed seed as possible from any hay fed.
More power to you if you have no weed seed. Next thing is separating steers from heifers if you have both and again this involves facilities.
I am not asking breed or color which will probably come up and I would rate the question right up there with what type of wood smoke
is coming from the neighbors chimney.
A lot will depend on what you are doing now such as, Do you rotational graze? Move every day? Let grass grow 35- 40 days before
letting them on it again? Do you cut hay more than once a year? Are you in an area where corn is readily available for growth or
purchase? (don't answer here) You will soon find that pellets and or +$7.00 corn add up in a hurry once you get up over a 1000 lb
and a 3% ration. Above all the economy of volume of scale will in all probability hold trump card. It is hard to compete with a
5000 head feed lot on a cost per lb per day basis with a feed bunk and a 5 gallon bucket. Try not to become focused on a single
stream of revenue. This might be a good time to bring hair sheep into the equation (which I have not done) mostly because I
am unfamiliar with them and time remaining. I wish you well....
sim.-ang.king
Well-known member
If you have to buy feed, you're already broke to begin with. Even just feedloting the last 2 months will drain your profits, if you have to buy energy.
If you got your own corn, then go right a head.
Best thing is to background most of your calves, and feed a couple of the fastest growers, for yourself, and to sell for freezer beef.
If you got your own corn, then go right a head.
Best thing is to background most of your calves, and feed a couple of the fastest growers, for yourself, and to sell for freezer beef.
mwj
Well-known member
Corn going to the elevator and corn going into the feed bunk is the same price.
Can you tell us where we would have to be price/per ton feed costs to make finishing work?
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
If you have the feed. Going direct to the packers will give you more profit potential. Sell direct, but sell live not grid or on the rail. Over finished or under finished cattle will kill you with discounts. Selling live locks in the same price for the 1 prime steer and the 2 yg4 heifers in the load. You would be selling total pounds, no discounts.
Lee VanRoss
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2020
- Messages
- 2,392
- Reaction score
- 2,682
Unless one has been around them from birth I doubt if you can tell the difference by looking.
Probably as much variation within a group as between and a lot of that can be contributed to the cow family from which they originate.
Were I starting over I think I would concentrate on a highest percentage of ribeye to weight that I could find within a moderate frame.
I honestly think the grid market may be akin to hunting Big Foot! We'll see how it goes,,,,,
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
Is it?
Or should the corn in the bunk be priced at the cost of production?If the corn market completely falls out of bed and goes under the cost of production wouldn't you use the cost of production price?
The same can be said about valuing the feeder cattle you raise at the time they enter the feed lot.
Lee VanRoss
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2020
- Messages
- 2,392
- Reaction score
- 2,682
Corn in the bunk should be based on the price at the time of acqusition. fmpovIs it?
If the corn market completely falls out of bed and goes under the cost of production wouldn't you use the cost of production price?
The same can be said about valuing the feeder cattle you raise at the time they enter the feed lot.
Silver
Well-known member
Feeding out calves at a profit is a science I'm not interested in trying to master. I have long been interested in retaining ownership of my calves through to the end, but there are professionals that do that and do it very well and I don't believe for a second that we can do it as well or as economically as they can. So for me the route would be a custom feed lot.
Dave
Well-known member
I was just about to say the same thing. I know some people who have retained ownership by sending their calves to a custom feedlot. They have been very successful doing this for years. But beware you will find out pretty quickly your calves preform on feed.
sim.-ang.king
Well-known member
Going off the June board price as of today at $1.38/# live.
3.5 pound/day x $1.38= $4.83value of gain/day
7:1 F:G* x 3.5# gain= 24.5 pound of feed
$4.83/24.5#= $.19/# or $394.28/ton breakeven price, IF a steer was to gain 3.5ADG and avg. 24.5# of feed per day. Mostly based on a 180 day avg.
Corn is $253.44/ton currently, if someone will sell it to you at that price. Very doubtful.
(*pounds of feed : pound of gain ratio.)
