Cost to board heifers

[E in PA]

I'm paying someone to basically board 4 beef heifers since he has an open pen. It makes my life easier. I'm paying $100 a month per head, they are about 4-500 lbs. This covers hay and grain. Just don't know if I'm light or heavy. What i did was calculate what it was costing me a day to feed them myself and then doubled it. And before anyone says anything, yes I tried search. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Rydero]

I'm paying someone to basically board 4 beef heifers since he has an open pen. It makes my life easier. I'm paying $100 a month per head, they are about 4-500 lbs. This covers hay and grain. Just don't know if I'm light or heavy. What i did was calculate what it was costing me a day to feed them myself and then doubled it. And before anyone says anything, yes I tried search. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'd say you're being generous. They could probably comfortably be fed for $1.75/h/d including yardage on a ration that has them gaining 2lbs a day. You said it's making your life easier and it's only 4 so it may well be worth it and it sounds like that was your intent (you doubled your cost).

 

[farmerjan]

Most heifer growers here, that raise dairy heifers up to freshening, get in the neighborhood of $1.50 TO $2.25 per day. So I have to agree with @Rydero .... you are being very generous. But if it makes things easier/better for you then you are paying for the convenience. Are you satisfied with the way they look and are growing? If so, then you need to decide what you are comfortable with paying. If you are happy, then it works for you both.

 

[E in PA]

Most heifer growers here, that raise dairy heifers up to freshening, get in the neighborhood of $1.50 TO $2.25 per day. So I have to agree with @Rydero .... you are being very generous. But if it makes things easier/better for you then you are paying for the convenience. Are you satisfied with the way they look and are growing? If so, then you need to decide what you are comfortable with paying. If you are happy, then it works for you both.

They look good and i buy a lot of hay off him too. They are only going to be there for a few months. Also they are in a pen, not pasture so i kind of figured that should come into play as well. Use of facilities, type of deal. But i'd imagine almost all the dairy heifer operations are in a barn of some sort.

 

[farmerjan]

Another thing to take into consideration. I am thinking that maybe the heifers are there because of needing a "safe place" to get them grown without the chance of a bull getting to them? If they were to get bred accidentally too young, then you are looking at lute and all that to abort, and then trying to keep them from getting rebred..... so there is something to be saId for them to be in a pen where they are safe and well fed. I am thinking that it may be a bit high, but if you are happy with the situation and it makes it easier then that is the way to go.
Most of the dairy heifer raisers have them in lots with barn or shelter space, and many get pasture in the summer.... but alot are also fed silage as well as grain and hay to get the desired growth for them to be able to get bred at 14-16 months so they are calving by 2 yrs old.

 

[BigBear56]

Growing heifers is such a PITA. I've always kicked mine in with the feeder calves at weaning and fed them a high protein ration until about for 4 or 5 months but that gets expensive.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Any chance you would like to board another 100 head?

 

[Son of Butch]

You are his customer, in addition he makes money selling you hay.
I thinks he's slaughtering a lamb vs just shearing him.
$3 hd per hd per day max, over that is greed.
If it were a large group $2 hd per day.
just my 2 cents

 

[Son of Butch]

You are his customer, in addition he makes money selling you hay.
I think he should treat you better, he's slaughtering a lamb vs just shearing him.
$3 hd per day max, over that is pure greed.
If it were a large group $2 hd per day.
just my 2 cents

 

[Muletrack]

Gabe Brown spoke recently at the North Dakota Grazing Coalition annual meeting. He said if you expose heifers for 30 days and more than 50 percent of them get bred, you are feeding them too much. The idea is to select for an animal that will do well on what you give them, not spend extra on cattle that are just not equipped the do the job. Brown is, like Greg Judy, a leader in the Regenerative Grazing movement.

 

[Son of Butch]

Gabe Brown spoke recently at the North Dakota Grazing Coalition annual meeting. He said if you expose heifers for 30 days and more than 50 percent of them get bred, you are feeding them too much. The idea is to select for an animal that will do well on what you give them, not spend extra on cattle that are just not equipped the do the job. Brown is, like Greg Judy, a leader in the Regenerative Grazing movement.

Did he mention the age of the heifers exposed?
It seems like a very odd method of determining feed consumption.
But a good way to determine the selection of efficient replacements.

 

[WFfarm]

We pay $2.15/head/day to board our beef heifers. We take them out in November and pick up in April. They will get good hay and 14%protein grain. They have a barn and small pasture. It's our neighbor who will keep a few of his own heifers as well. We usually keep 2-3 heifers, but last year we had 70% heifer calves so we had 5 nice ones we kept. It's nice not to have another group to feed and house separately and have to worry about the bulls getting in with them. My brother and I both have off the farm jobs, so it helps the neighbor with some extra income.

 

[Muletrack]

Did he mention the age of the heifers exposed?
It seems like a very odd method of determining feed consumption.
But a good way to determine the selection of efficient replacements.

No, he did not mention age. I think he just means is as a cool adage. Efficiency is his point. He's our resident Regenerational Farming Guru. His book "Dirt to Soil" is a pretty good read. I am assuming he's talking about normal breeding age heifers -- born in May/June to be May/June calvers.

 

[ismith]

Seems like a lot to me. I figure I spend $500 a head for lease and hay, and if I sold at the local sale barn I'd barely make a profit, and taking into account labor and other expenses I'd be be breaking even at best.

 

[ismith]

Seems like a lot to me. I figure I spend $500 a head for lease and hay, and if I sold at the local sale barn I'd barely make a profit, and taking into account labor and other expenses I'd be be breaking even at best.

That's per year btw.