cow calf pairs

[nobull82]

I have been thinking about buying some bred heifers and calving them out to sell as a pair and was curious on how many have tried it and if it was worth it. Also if I decide to try how old should the calf be before selling as a pair?

 

[cowboy43]

calving out a bunch of heifers without loosing a calf or the heifer and her calf , also having large vet bills, is sometime to think about. Calving heifers is a lot of work, they need to be checked 2 to 3 times a day. Buying bred heifers you know nothing of her background or what she is breed to. As expensive as bred heifers are loosing some takes the profit away. I have just about decided to stop calving out heifers because of all the trouble involved , you might think about buying heifers, breed them and sell before they calf, let someone else go to all the expense and work of the calving. Just my experience from dealing with cattle for 50 years. :cboy:

 

[Lucky_P]

Heifers can be a problem... some years everything goes great, other times it seems like everything goes wrong - even if they're home-raised and bred to known calving ease bulls. There's a lot more risk with them than with calving out experienced cows.
Only two calves we lost last fall were from heifers - one calved in a low spot just before a big rain and her calf drowned, the other led her day-old calf off into a pond and he couldn't get out, sucked in a bunch of muddy into his lungs and died. Two out of three heifers that calved this spring lost their calf - one dropped him in water-filled depression in the pasture, the other died while we were pulling it.

That said, I'll probably never get away from calving heifers...I'm not likely to find what I want around here, and you never know what you're buying if you're picking 'em up at the salebarn.

 

[Muddy]

The unknown sire is what it keeps us stay away from bred heifers. They could bred by a longhorn, a jersey, a Charolais, a mini or unproven bulls.

 

[Ojp6]

We buy bred heifers a lot of the year. Some we calve out and some we sell before they have it. This year we bought around 200 of them. We usually buy the lighter weight ones weighing in the 8's down in the money and then pour the feed to them after they have it so they catch up a little. Calved out 50 out of the 200 this year and only pulled 5 but lost 2 of them. Last year we calved 70 in the spring and pulled 30 so it just depends on your luck I guess. Lots of the pulls were just a little jerk because they were taking too long for our liking.


Most of them that calved on their own did ok. We have lost one heifer in the last five years and she died because she was sick and the calf died inside her and swelled up too big to come out. Sometimes their calves don't grow as good when the mothers are young and small. There will always be a few that won't take care of their calf as well. It's risky but we have 4 people checking them and ready to pull them and we keep our calf puller ready and we keep them up in a dry lot where they are easy to catch until after they have it. We've made money but it would be really easy to lose it if you didn't have good facilities and plenty of help for pulling. My dad can do c-sections too so that helps.

 

[fenceman]

My best and worst deals have come from messing with heifers.My worst was a oops Brangus heifer. I got in a private treaty deal with several cows. The man I bought from told me the bull had jumped the fence and he expected trouble. When time started getting close I left her in a big pasture , with heavy brush. I did start looking in on her every day.
On the day she didn't show up with the others. We started looking. It took us several hours to find her. She had been down in 100 heat all day. I was tired, hot, and kinda broke at the time. I panicked and made more mistakes. It was a total loss and a really bad deal.
Last year 10 years later I had a little char heifer I had bought at auction. Again a honest person had her preg.checked 7 months . She was small young and obviously a oops.
I bought her at slaughter price. Put her in a 7 acre pen by the house. Checked her several times a day. When she went into labor, after about a hour with no progress. We got her in the chute. With numerous pulls experience now, me and the wife calmly and successfully pulled the calf. Sold the calf about a month ago for what I paid for the cow. She's in My pasture now bred back. I could sell her today and be almost triple on my money.
Story told. My stance is bred heifers is a high risk high reward deal. If I'm paying big money. I'd rather have a cow with a calf or two behind her.
But if I can get those oops heifers at a good price I'll roll the dice. You need to have the facilities and the experience to pull the calf.

 

[TCRanch]

All of our heifers are pelvic measured when they get their BANGS at 11 months, bred at 15 months by a registered calving ease bull (EPD 13, average B/W 69 lbs) and yet that is absolutely NOT a guarantee. We've had a heifer calve & bail, would not mother her calf for a week (after we penned them together & forced the love), one had a calf that was mal-placed & had to reposition the calf & subsequently pull, one uterine prolapse & a couple pulls with just the chains because it was taking too long & they were tired. Did I mention 3 of the above were in the middle of the night when it's anywhere from 0 to 30 degrees? We take every precaution but we're also prepared to check them every couple hours and recognize there is always a risk. That said, we continue to calve out heifers because they come from our own stock and we know the lineage and we also have sold bred heifers at a premium price. For what it's worth, I would suggest a complete history of any bred heifer you buy - and plan to spend quality time with them during (and preferably before) calving.

 

[Nesikep]

I'll second what pretty much everyone has been saying... What sort of cattle experience do you have? have you assisted many before so you know what you're doing? do you have a good squeeze and the tools you'll need? All these things are going to be the difference between the long list of potential disasters everyone has spoken about, and being able to side step them.

when we started out in 1992, we bought 12 bred heifers.. they were from an 'organic' ranch, so they must be good right?.. we were such greenhorns we must have been the laughing stock of the area. The first year we had one cow push the calf under a stack of irrigation pipes, so it suffocated, and then she subsequently prolapsed.. another calf broke a leg, Lost another calf at birth (also suffocated I think?), and to top it off, the last one looked like she was FAR overdue, probably an 800 lb heifer with a 110 lb bull calf.. we lost both of those... So for calving season losses out of 12 births we lost 5 animals, and the prolapse cow was culled.
Further on in the season we lost another 2 cows to atypical pneumonia... it was a rough year!

This year I bought a calf puller after I had the foresight to borrow one before I needed it.. the new bull isn't heifer friendly, and I had to pull 3 of 4 calves, and 2 of those NEEDED the puller, but all went well in the end... I'm batting 100% birth to weaning over the last 100,.. experience doesn't come cheap though

 

[nobull82]

I do have the experience and the equipment. I guess I was thinking that if I calved them out I would get more money for the pair and then turn around and get more bred heifers. If i could calve them out 3 times a year I would have more cash flow then just selling calves once a year. I know its a lot of work but at the same time I wouldn't have near the input costs if I kept them all year. This could be one of my worst ideas I've had too.

 

[Son of Butch]

I do have the experience and the equipment. I guess I was thinking that if I calved them out I would get more money for the pair and then turn around and get more bred heifers. If i could calve them out 3 times a year I would have more cash flow then just selling calves once a year. I know its a lot of work but at the same time I wouldn't have near the input costs if I kept them all year. This could be one of my worst ideas I've had too.

No. It's not the dumbest idea, as long as you go into it prepared and with your eyes wide open.
Selling them before 120 days after calving would allow you to get a higher price as 3 in 1 packages (bred cow with calf) on most of them. And on the opens, it's still early enough to sell as open and breedable with calf at side to anyone willing to take a chance on them by putting them in with their bull. 3 x 120 = 360 days so 3 groups a year makes the math work.
Your input per head would be lower. But total inputs of course would be higher, but more than offset with increased revenues. Or maybe you would want to start with open heifers, breed them to sell as bred heifers, calve out any you don't get your desired price on and take it from there. If you are willing to do the extra work you will be rewarded, at the very least with valuable experience.
Thumbs up for your initiative and more power to ya.

 

[wacocowboy]

I hate calving out heifers. A lot of money to be made or flushed. I think I would rather buy old heavy bred or old pairs raise the calves and sale them both at weaning.

 

[skyhightree1]

My best and worst deals have come from messing with heifers.My worst was a oops Brangus heifer. I got in a private treaty deal with several cows. The man I bought from told me the bull had jumped the fence and he expected trouble. When time started getting close I left her in a big pasture , with heavy brush. I did start looking in on her every day.
On the day she didn't show up with the others. We started looking. It took us several hours to find her. She had been down in 100 heat all day. I was tired, hot, and kinda broke at the time. I panicked and made more mistakes. It was a total loss and a really bad deal.
Last year 10 years later I had a little char heifer I had bought at auction. Again a honest person had her preg.checked 7 months . She was small young and obviously a oops.
I bought her at slaughter price. Put her in a 7 acre pen by the house. Checked her several times a day. When she went into labor, after about a hour with no progress. We got her in the chute. With numerous pulls experience now, me and the wife calmly and successfully pulled the calf. Sold the calf about a month ago for what I paid for the cow. She's in My pasture now bred back. I could sell her today and be almost triple on my money.
Story told. My stance is bred heifers is a high risk high reward deal. If I'm paying big money. I'd rather have a cow with a calf or two behind her.
But if I can get those oops heifers at a good price I'll roll the dice. You need to have the facilities and the experience to pull the calf.

I agree and I can send pics of a very graphic oops heifer a friend had. He and I had to cut the calf out in pieces to get it out. Heifer died as well..

 

[Ojp6]

Another thing we have noticed is that when you buy heifers bred 7+ from the sale barn a lot of them will calves within a week or two regardless of whether they are really ready to have them.. Sometimes those calves are really tiny, we even had a couple in the 35-40 lb range. Also be careful with them. We have had several abort over the years right after we bought them too. Keep them from getting too stressed and try to avoid any that get to worked up at the barn.

 

[skyhightree1]

The risk and cost of a heifer... I would suggest buying older breds particularly 5-7 year old range bred 2-5 mos they are cheaper than the 7-8 mos bred atleast where I buy they are.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Also be careful with them. We have had several abort over the years right after we bought them too. Keep them from getting too stressed and try to avoid any that get to worked up at the barn.

Do you think they abort shortly after arrival due to stress, disease, or ???

 

[Ojp6]

Also be careful with them. We have had several abort over the years right after we bought them too. Keep them from getting too stressed and try to avoid any that get to worked up at the barn.

Do you think they abort shortly after arrival due to stress, disease, or ???

Some got sick and several were really wild and got really worked up. Only ever had one test positive for Bvd but we generally buy them pretty heavy bred. I'm not sure but the really wild ones that got too worked up at the barn have both aborted and gotten sick more than the calmer ones. I guess I don't know what causes it for sure. Doesn't happen all that often but just every once in a while we get one.

 

[angus9259]

I have been thinking about buying some bred heifers and calving them out to sell as a pair and was curious on how many have tried it and if it was worth it. Also if I decide to try how old should the calf be before selling as a pair?

I personally am trying to change my ways from "buying high and selling low". Bred heifers are very high and their value seems to drop as cows IF you can get them on all the ground alive otherwise their value goes literally into the dirt. Seems like very little money available in what you're suggesting in today's climate. Now if you can buy some old bred cows right and calve them out without much feed cost and then take them to the sale barn after - you may have something there.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have been thinking about buying some bred heifers and calving them out to sell as a pair and was curious on how many have tried it and if it was worth it.

I personally am trying to change my ways from "buying high and selling low".

I looked at some pairs this week. They were $2950 to $3150 for a sorted off middle age cow with a 150 to 200# calf. Even if you can split the calf on paper for about $800 -- you still have $2300 into a cow that might, might, last 3 years. This does not pencil out for me in a declining market.