Cattle prices

[bird dog]

The reports out of OKC say that the market turned up this week because of the buyers wanting calves to ship to the mid-section of the country to put on grass. It seems that all of that moisture in the spring has now dried up into some flush pastures.

But I agree on one thing that y'all mentioned, its a week to week deal. I give up on trying to guess when to sell and just haul them when they are ready.

There was an article in one of the cattle mags this week that talked about what I have noticed. Weaning for 45 days is good but keeping them a few weeks longer is when they really start to gain. What I have seen is from fresh off the mama to 45 days gets you about 1.25 lbs/day gain. They lose some getting weaned and slowly get it back plus some. On the other hand. the additional two to three weeks longer weaned calves boosted the gain to close to 2 lbs/day for the entire period.

This is based on my program which is weaned calves on pasture and about 5 to 7 lbs/per head of creep feed fed every other day. The other added benefit is the shrink is negligible on these long weaned calves if they are marketed somewhere where they have something decent to eat and drink while waiting to sell. It is critical that calves that know how to drink from a trough when the temperature is hot like it is these days. One trip to the water trough will easily give you $10 of weight gain.

 

[gcreekrch]

We have been discussing this as well recently. Our prices aren't great here right now but not that "low" yet.
We have a strict vaccination protocol, we do a more labor intensive weaning for less stress and shrinkage and feed them for 45+ days minimum to please the buyers.
I'm not convinced anymore it's worth it all. This year we stopped the little things we've always done like magnets in any calves destined for the auction.
We do get a premium at sale every year as our program is well known with the buyers BUT I'm just not sure it's worth it anymore.
We are short on pasture at this point in the year which means decrease calf numbers earlier is a bonus but is it worth the "loss" we face at market for not having all the extra things we have always done for the buyers including long weaning.

Keep up the vaccination protocol, let the buyers know why you are selling early before you send them to town and take them straight off the cow to the sale.


Contrary to the fact that order buyers are living examples of why mothers of some eat their young...…. they do like to know the history of your cattle and will bid a little extra if the cattle are right and they have someone else that wants the same bunch.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

We have been discussing this as well recently. Our prices aren't great here right now but not that "low" yet.
We have a strict vaccination protocol, we do a more labor intensive weaning for less stress and shrinkage and feed them for 45+ days minimum to please the buyers.
I'm not convinced anymore it's worth it all. This year we stopped the little things we've always done like magnets in any calves destined for the auction.
We do get a premium at sale every year as our program is well known with the buyers BUT I'm just not sure it's worth it anymore.
We are short on pasture at this point in the year which means decrease calf numbers earlier is a bonus but is it worth the "loss" we face at market for not having all the extra things we have always done for the buyers including long weaning.

Keep up the vaccination protocol, let the buyers know why you are selling early before you send them to town and take them straight off the cow to the sale.


Contrary to the fact that order buyers are living examples of why mothers of some eat their young...…. they do like to know the history of your cattle and will bid a little extra if the cattle are right and they have someone else that wants the same bunch.

I'm a big believer in selling "reputation" calves.

 

[Double R Ranch]

I'm a big believer in selling "reputation" calves.

We always have been as well and it used to pay off but in our cruddy state now being smaller is almost impossible to survive and cover expenses alone let alone make a $1. All the extra feeding and "extras" like magnets, 45+ day wean etc doesn't seem to pay for itself at market these days. Now we're struggling to make them even pay for themselves. We haven't made any final decision but it's definitely something we've been discussing lately. Going to go to the next special sale and talk to the buyers who usually fight over our cattle and see what they say.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I'm a big believer in selling "reputation" calves.

We always have been as well and it used to pay off but in our cruddy state now being smaller is almost impossible to survive and cover expenses alone let alone make a $1. All the extra feeding and "extras" like magnets, 45+ day wean etc doesn't seem to pay for itself at market these days. Now we're struggling to make them even pay for themselves. We haven't made any final decision but it's definitely something we've been discussing lately. Going to go to the next special sale and talk to the buyers who usually fight over our cattle and see what they say.

All any of us can do is try to deliver to the market what the market wants. Doing it profitably is the challenge.

 

[DCA farm]

At last Monday's sale 7/29/19
400-500 steers brought $1.15-$1.65 per lbs
500-600 steers brought $1.05-$1.48 per lbs
600-700 steers brought $1-$1.37 per lbs

400-500 heifers brought $0.95-$1.40 per lbs
500-600 heifers brought $0.90-$1.35 per lbs
600-700 heifers brought $0.85-$1.30 per lbs
Bred cows $400-$1100
Pairs $500-$1300

 

[skyhightree1]

Where I sell at...

https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/rh_ls143.txt

RH_LS143
Richmond, VA Tue Jul 30, 2019 VA Dept of Ag-USDA Market News

Lynchburg, VA Weekly Feeder Cattle Sale

State Graded Weighted Average for Mon Jul 29, 2019

Feeder Cattle 1390 (Steers 410; Heifers 693; Bulls 287)

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
2 380 380 140.50 140.50
3 446 446 141.50 141.50
29 464 464 147.00 147.00
78 550-558 550 136.50-140.00 139.86
63 635-638 638 129.00-135.25 135.05
20 730 730 130.00 130.00
2 755 755 114.00 114.00

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
22 371-375 371 134.00-144.50 144.02
65 459-490 460 136.00-146.75 146.40
51 535-543 543 131.00-141.25 140.66
21 625-636 635 120.50-132.50 131.94
1 700 700 125.00 125.00

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 3
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
20 363 363 129.00 129.00
18 450 450 129.00 129.00
6 556 556 117.00 117.00
2 615 615 118.50 118.50
1 665 665 110.50 110.50

Feeder Steers Small 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
1 350 350 110.00 110.00
4 467 467 107.00 107.00
1 635 635 102.00 102.00

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
5 342 342 133.00 133.00
45 460-495 461 119.50-127.50 127.31
133 552-561 553 116.00-119.50 118.83
59 644-645 644 104.00-114.25 113.55
15 734 734 103.50 103.50

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
62 350-352 352 124.50-130.50 130.31
137 420-449 449 125.50-128.00 127.63
93 531-548 547 117.50-123.50 123.31
29 638 638 109.00 109.00
2 655 655 105.00 105.00
4 718 718 104.50 104.50

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 3
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
21 370-377 371 102.00-119.50 117.80
45 430-445 444 104.00-120.00 118.97
22 516-543 539 102.00-105.50 105.04
2 637 637 106.00 106.00

Feeder Heifers Small 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
5 362 362 98.50 98.50
8 447 447 102.50 102.50
4 518 518 101.00 101.00
2 642 642 90.00 90.00

Feeder Bulls Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
8 358-375 360 132.00-139.50 138.52
28 409-415 414 144.00-146.00 145.58
34 488-490 488 120.00-135.25 133.90
34 561-580 562 113.50-126.75 125.95
17 623 623 118.00 118.00

Feeder Bulls Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
13 310-340 338 124.00-135.00 134.22
47 410-421 421 130.00-140.00 139.79
48 488 488 140.00 140.00
26 555 555 127.50 127.50
8 628 628 119.00 119.00

Feeder Bulls Small 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
4 360 360 109.00 109.00
11 405-445 409 100.00-113.00 111.71
6 491 491 110.50 110.50
3 551 551 106.00 106.00

Lynchburg, VA Livestock Auction
Weekly Auction for Mon Jul 29, 2019

Slaughter Cattle 187 head

Slaughter Cows 176 head

Slaughter Cows Breaker 75-80% Lean
850-1200 60.00-66.00
1200-1600 60.00-66.00

Slaughter Cows Breaker High Yielding
1200-1600 67.00-70.00

Slaughter Cows Boner 80-85% Lean
800-1200 57.00-66.00
1200-2000 54.00-66.00

Slaughter Cows Boner High Yielding
1200-2000 67.00-72.50

Slaughter Cows Lean 85-90% Lean
750- 850 28.00-39.00
850-1200 45.00-63.00

Slaughter Bulls 11 head

Slaughter Bulls YG 1-2
1500-2500 82.00-86.00

Slaughter Bulls High Yielding
1000-1500 95.00-97.00
1500-2500 91.00-98.00

Cows Returned To Farm 13 head

Medium and Large 1-2, 1-3 years old
750-900 58.00-76.00

 

[skyhightree1]

Where I use to buy...

https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/rh_ls148.txt

RH_LS148
Richmond, VA Fri Jul 26, 2019 VA Dept of Ag-USDA Market News

Blackstone, VA Weekly State Graded Sale

State Graded Weighted Average for Wed Jul 24, 2019

Feeder Cattle 260 (Steers 48; Heifers 121; Bulls 91)

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
2 438 438 130.00 130.00
9 500-548 543 127.00-136.00 135.08
1 565 565 127.00 127.00
17 630-640 638 130.00 130.00
1 690 690 130.00 130.00
3 720 720 127.00 127.00
1 785 785 127.00 127.00
6 846 846 123.00 123.00

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
4 429 429 129.00 129.00
2 543 543 128.00 128.00
1 635 635 129.00 129.00

Feeder Steers Small 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
1 670 670 115.00 115.00

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
1 400 400 121.00 121.00
9 469 469 121.00 121.00
8 510-535 527 122.00 122.00
22 561-595 568 115.00-122.00 121.34
11 632 632 118.00 118.00
4 650-695 666 113.00-118.00 114.30
2 720 720 97.00 97.00
2 835 835 91.00 91.00

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
6 368 368 118.50 118.50
17 450-490 453 108.00-120.00 117.18
1 500 500 110.00 110.00
9 554-575 556 110.00-115.00 114.43
17 610-644 637 106.00-113.00 111.64
2 728 728 94.00 94.00

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 3
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
6 457 457 106.50 106.50
3 547 547 105.50 105.50
1 670 670 91.00 91.00

Feeder Bulls Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
5 409 409 128.00 128.00
10 480-486 485 124.00 124.00
9 557 557 115.00 115.00
15 640-647 647 108.00 108.00
4 745 745 96.50 96.50

Feeder Bulls Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
1 330 330 120.00 120.00
6 429 429 129.00 129.00
1 490 490 102.00 102.00
11 500 500 119.00 119.00
7 556 556 110.00 110.00
15 652 652 107.00 107.00
2 715 715 92.50 92.50

Feeder Bulls Small 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
1 485 485 96.00 96.00
1 570 570 95.00 95.00
1 625 625 97.00 97.00

Blackstone VA Livestock Auction
weekly Auction for Wed Jul 24, 2019
All prices per hundredweight unless otherwise stated

Slaughter Cattle 22 head

Slaughter Cows 17 head

Slaughter Cows Breaker High Yielding
1200-1600 66.00-68.00

Slaughter Cows Boner 80-85% Lean
800-1200 50.00-58.00
1200-2000 56.00-58.00

Slaughter Cows Boner High Yielding
1200-2000 64.75-67.00

Slaughter Bulls 5 head

Slaughter Bulls YG 1-2
1500-2500 76.00-81.00

Slaughter Bulls High Yielding
1500-2500 90.00-92.00

Goats 28 head

Kids Selection No 1-2
40- 60 95.00-127.50 per head

Kids Selection No 3
20- 40 52.50-70.00 per head

Slaughter Bucks Selection No 1-2
100- 150 230.00-265.00

Slaughter Does Selection No 1-2
70- 100 85.00-115.00 per head
100- 150 140.00-157.50

Slaughter Hogs 17 head

Barrows and Gilts US 1-3
270- 300 56.00-60.00
300- 400 33.00-37.00

Sows US 1-3
500+ 32.00-34.00

 

[Dave]

One of my neighbors sold on the video yesterday. Got $1.62 for 6 weight steers and $1.43 for heifers about 550. Wife's daughter and SIL calves sell today. If history repeats itself those north Nevada calves will sell real well.

 

[snoopdog]

One of my neighbors sold on the video yesterday. Got $1.62 for 6 weight steers and $1.43 for heifers about 550. Wife's daughter and SIL calves sell today. If history repeats itself those north Nevada calves will sell real well.

That's in line with what's going on here, overall up 7.00 / hundred this week. We usually have a rally in august, hitting it right is the schnidt.