cost effectiveness of castrating?

[Brute 23]

Those articles are fine for the full time... sole income rancher. BUT those are few and far between... and getting less by the day.

FOR the majority of us who use cattle as an addtional income if you strictly look at the bottom line...it will not pay.

That is not even taking into consideration risk... because that is another can of worms.

Just a thought.... but I bet if you do a poll asking who uses their cattle for sole income and who uses it as a secondary income you might see something in common with this poll

 

[txag]

Those articles are fine for the full time... sole income rancher. BUT those are few and far between... and getting less by the day.

FOR the majority of us who use cattle as an addtional income if you strictly look at the bottom line...it will not pay.

That is not even taking into consideration risk... because that is another can of worms.

Just a thought.... but I bet if you do a poll asking who uses their cattle for sole income and who uses it as a secondary income you might see something in common with this poll

$25-$35/head is the same whether you have 1 or 100. it's money left on the table by not castrating. if you vaccinate, then you're already running them through the chute, so what's another minute (if you're slow) or two (if you're really slow) per calf to cut them? and if you don't vaccinate?......that is another can of worms. :lol:

 

[Brute 23]

Well if you have 100 calves... and you shove 20 in at a time.

One guy take off with wormer down the back... one guy on the right... one guy on the left both sticking... and then the guy who poured drops that and grabs the ear tagger it does not take long.

All three of yall go get 20 more. Repeat it and you are done in a couple hours,,, THEN you can get to the good part... BEER DRINK'N at the ranch because the ol lady thinks working cows is an all day affair.

Now... of you want to casterate... you have to individually take each calf in one at a time and cut with a knife, band, pinch what ever. You are talking about a HUGE time difference OR you have to catch them at birth and I am not one of those people who follow my cows around waiting for them to calf with my cell phone in hand... AND vet on speed dial.

Most of the cows don't even bring their calves out of the brush for a couple weeks. Some places I don't even get out to walk amongst the cattle... much less try to grab a calf. :shock:

 

[txag]

Well if you have 100 calves...

$25x100=??
$35x100=??

so it takes an extra hour? $2500-$3500 for an hour of work? not a bad payday. ;-)

 

[Brute 23]

Well if you have 100 calves...

$25x100=??
$35x100=??

so it takes an extra hour? $2500-$3500 for an hour of work? not a bad payday. ;-)

Its not that simple when you take into account the extra tools and equiptment you need to do it... AND if you can come and individually seperate 100 calves out and castrate them all in 1 hr... no misses... you are good.

Different people value time differently.

Not downing people who do castrate... but for those of use who don't it not because we are lazy or anything thing else. We just value out time more than the small profit.

 

[txag]

Its not that simple when you take into account the extra tools and equiptment you need to do it... AND if you can come and individually seperate 100 calves out and castrate them all in 1 hr... no misses... you are good.

Different people value time differently.

Not downing people who do castrate... but for those of use who don't it not because we are lazy or anything thing else. We just value out time more than the small profit.

Extra tools? Who doesn't carry a pocketknife? :lol:

AND I didn't say it could all be done in an hour. I said an extra hour. Remember.....you're already penning 'em & running 'em through the chute to vaccinate. ;-)

But you're right.....whatever works for you.

(Besides.....those bull calves going through the ring make my steer calves look better anyway. )

 

[Brute 23]

(Besides.....those bull calves going through the ring make my steer calves look better anyway. )

Most of my bulls go to the rodeo any ways.... :lol:

 

[somn]

SD and ND and Nebraska sales barns the dock will run anywhere from $10 to $15 dollars cwt.

For 500 lbs that would be $50 to $75. The numbers seem to keep getting bigger as the thread gets longer. I can see castrating calves for a gain like that but that is not going on around here.

Walt

What is the average # of head sold per draft at your sale barn?

 

[FROGHOLLOWFARM]

I band mine at about 2mos and run 4 or 5 in the chute at once and pack them in tight and it is very easy to band them instead of 1 at a time.imo

 

[Txwalt]

SD and ND and Nebraska sales barns the dock will run anywhere from $10 to $15 dollars cwt.

For 500 lbs that would be $50 to $75. The numbers seem to keep getting bigger as the thread gets longer. I can see castrating calves for a gain like that but that is not going on around here.

Walt

What is the average # of head sold per draft at your sale barn?

I'm not sure what you mean by draft. But if you mean how many head people are bidding on at a time its usually singles and pairs. Sometimes as many as 6 at a time.

Walt

 

[somn]

SD and ND and Nebraska sales barns the dock will run anywhere from $10 to $15 dollars cwt.

For 500 lbs that would be $50 to $75. The numbers seem to keep getting bigger as the thread gets longer. I can see castrating calves for a gain like that but that is not going on around here.

Walt

What is the average # of head sold per draft at your sale barn?

I'm not sure what you mean by draft. But if you mean how many head people are bidding on at a time its usually singles and pairs. Sometimes as many as 6 at a time.

Walt

Well that explains the reason you do not see a dock between bull calves and steer calves. You are not receiving any premiuim for your calves selling in such small head numbers in the first place. Go to the sale barns in the dakotas where they run 80 to 90 per draft you will see a dock. There is a big difference between buyers buying 85 head drafts that know the economic downfall associated with buying bulls and then there are buyers that buy singles and pairs or maybe six at a time they could care less about the economic downfall associated with buying bulls. Those buying big numbers of feeder cattle know exactly the loss of revenue when buying bulls because feeding cattle is the only way they make their living. On the other hand these hobby boys buying 2 or 3 or 6 head will never see the loss because it is not an important factor whether they make money or not as it is a hobby to them.

 

[BC]

The majority of the cattle sold in Texas sale barns are sold one at a time. The county I live in has about 58,000 beef cows and the average herd size is 33 (USDA Census of Agriculture figures). Many small producers who do not have enough calves of same sex, weight and quality to group.

We do see a dock of $5 to $7 per cwt. between steers and bulls over 500 lbs. Several of the order buyers carry steer only orders and others can buy bulls and steers mixed together. If you do not castrate your calves you are limiting the number of buyers who can bid on your calves.

 

[flaboy?]

Our auction runs one at a time unless there is a group of the same color and size, then they run them as a group unless you request otherwise.