Cow prices

[Dave]

The sheet I get has individual cow ID listed. Mine have their ear tag numbers. I could go through things I figure out which cow is which. I did glance at a few that ai remember. I did buy #30 real cheap. I bid and no one else bid. Made me wonder what I missed. Loading her I saw she had a funky eye. Got her in the chute and decided that it was an old injury. We think she got snake bit on that side of her face. The eye never got better or worse. She only cost me $1,000. She killed for $1,375. I am declaring that a winner. And there is a real nice black steer calf out in the field with #30 in his ear.

 

[Dave]

Bought 2 cows on Wednesday. Both broken mouth cows 4 months bred. On Thursday I got an older cow that is 5 months bred and a younger pair. I am $1,070 average on the 4 of them. I could have bought a lot of better cows but why ruin my average price? There is lots of hay and it is cheaper this year so I am starting to buy early. The last two years with shortage of hay and high price I didn't start buying until February. That resulted in a lot more small young calves.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Bought a couple 5 yr old pairs today.
I bid on a bunch trying to find the top.
Another fella there wanted some too. Bid several 4 and 5 yr pairs to $1750, and he bought em.

Another smoother pair came in with a fairly fresh black heifer calf. I went to 1800 on her. Found the top!!
My buddy couldn't believe I gave that much. Next pair comes in, and the other guy opens at 1400. I bought her for 1450. Another nice lil black heifer calf. 5 yr old as well.

That brought my average down....
Too busy for pics. Vet at the barn worked all 4 of em. $27.14
Tagged to match etc. They should serve me well

 

[bird dog]

The 7 to 9 month short solid cows I have been buying are running about $150 over packer prices. The price is the same for the SS one's as it is for the smooth mouth ones.
A lot of them are sold by the pound so you have to watch out that they are not to big. I bought a red mot one today for $1.06 lb that weighed 1170. They called her 7 months.
She is actually a nice cow with a good udder. We'll see what she does with the calf before deciding what to do with her.

 

[Dave]

I got 5 yesterday. One that they mouthed as a 8/9 year old that is 4 months bred. They pounded her from the start. Cost me $0.97 which was one bid over the kill buyers. Three BM black cows with 150-200 pound bull calves for $1,600. B said someone needs to explain to my how those wont make money. They averaged weighing 1,380 a pair. And a 5 year old Hereford cow with a young black white face calf. They weighed 1,180 and cost me $1,500.
Today they didn't have any bred cows. About 25-30 bred heifers. All 4 months along bred to an Angus bull. Mostly Char/Angus cross heifers. Weigh in the 900's and sold for $1,700. I figured they were worth it but B already preg checked 180 heifers. If I were to drag home more heifers he would probably fire me.

 

[Dave]

I thought I would share a picture or two of yesterday's purchases. Not everyone wanted to pose for me so I didn't a good group shot. The Hereford cow looks high headed in the picture but she isn't. I think she is just wondering what I am up to.

 

[Dave]

There was probably close to 50 bred cows at the sale yesterday. One buyer got almost all of them. There was one bunch of Red Angus cows that was probably 30+. One draft of 14 of them sold together. 8/9 year old cows bred 5 months to a Red Angus bull. Cows weighing 1,400+. They sold for $1,800 a head. Too much for my ticket. I got one 5 month bred BM black cow for $1,300. And a Charolais cross pair for $1,375. Heifer calf weighing about 150. The pair weighed 1,220. The cow is a little to the thin side.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Scooping up the DEALS @Dave

Crazy how high those 8/9 yr olds are huh?

 

[bird dog]

Around here there has been very little difference in the price of bred cows after they get above age 5. They are all priced on yield as a slaughter cow plus a $125 (.10/lb) or so if they are over 6 months bred. Not many are interested in short breds that have to be fed through the winter.

Its hard to retain a 650 lb heifer for replacement when for the same price you can buy a decent SS cow bred 8 months.

 

[Dave]

Scooping up the DEALS @Dave

Crazy how high those 8/9 yr olds are huh?

Big cows too. As B said when I told him, they eat a lot of hay.

 

[RDFF]

It is a lot easier to feed a portion of a bale per day and have an idea on how much you are feeding. For instance right now there is 12 cows in the field. They have been getting a third of a bale a day. That is a touch more than I normally feed but they have been getting top bales so there is some waste. Once I get the 14 cows in the corral worked there will be 26 in the field. I will give them 2/3 of a bale a day. I put 2 bales on edge on the flat bed. Put the pickup in 4 low and as it idles across the field I flake off the appropriate amount of hay. It is spread out so everyone gets to eat and I feed just what they will clean up in a day.

I have a round bale unroller on my tractor loader. It's just as easy to feed a portion of a round bale the same way... just pick it up off the ground when you've fed enough, and park it till the next day. I'm feeding a few hundred head, so I always finish out a bale, but the principles are the same.
Here, if you don't have the squares stored inside or under a tarp, they'll be completely spoiled by water. And they're harder to keep the bulk of the bale up off the ground to avoid bottom spoilage too. Rounds I can store nicely outside uncovered with hust their netwrap (I store them in tight end to end inline rows up on "bale rails"... a pair of posts set about 20" or so apart to keep them up off the ground), with very little spoilage at all... can store from one year to the next for end of year remainders..., and then start feeding the old ones first of course.

 

[Travlr]

There was probably close to 50 bred cows at the sale yesterday. One buyer got almost all of them. There was one bunch of Red Angus cows that was probably 30+. One draft of 14 of them sold together. 8/9 year old cows bred 5 months to a Red Angus bull. Cows weighing 1,400+. They sold for $1,800 a head. Too much for my ticket. I got one 5 month bred BM black cow for $1,300. And a Charolais cross pair for $1,375. Heifer calf weighing about 150. The pair weighed 1,220. The cow is a little to the thin side.

I wasn't there so I can't comment on the quality of the cows... but if those red Angus were high quality cows they might have been a good deal. I understand the mindset of buying the cheapest thing you can get, and of watching for deals that no one is bidding on, but sometimes some pricey cows can be the best deal of the day. I'd be watching those girls carefully if they were the right kind.

 

[ClinchValley86]

I wasn't there so I can't comment on the quality of the cows... but if those red Angus were high quality cows they might have been a good deal. I understand the mindset of buying the cheapest thing you can get, and of watching for deals that no one is bidding on, but sometimes some pricey cows can be the best deal of the day. I'd be watching those girls carefully if they were the right kind.

So true.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Char pair
Black pair
Black herf pair
Hereford pair.

All sold in one group today. 5 year olds w 150lb calves. $2050/pr
No me....

I did bid a couple nice 3x5+ black cows up to 1625. They sold at 1775

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Dave - when you say the pair weighed xxxx - do you mean they give you the weight of the cow AND calf together?

 

[Dave]

Dave - when you say the pair weighed xxxx - do you mean they give you the weight of the cow AND calf together?

Yes, the weight for the pair. Both sales have ring scales. So before they start selling the total weight of what ever is in the ring pops up on the reader board.

Char pair
Black pair
Black herf pair
Hereford pair.

All sold in one group today. 5 year olds w 150lb calves. $2050/pr
No me....

I did bid a couple nice 3x5+ black cows up to 1625. They sold at 1775

$2,000 is my limit on pairs. They better be pretty good for me to bid that. Subtract $100 for heifer calves. Subtract $200 for older cows.

 

[Dave]

I wasn't there so I can't comment on the quality of the cows... but if those red Angus were high quality cows they might have been a good deal. I understand the mindset of buying the cheapest thing you can get, and of watching for deals that no one is bidding on, but sometimes some pricey cows can be the best deal of the day. I'd be watching those girls carefully if they were the right kind.

They were too expensive for my program. They will work better for someone planning on getting 2 or 3 more calves out of them, Also big heavy cows don't work well in our environment. Steep ground, sparse forage, and miles between water.

 

[tex452]

I went to the sale Wednesday, and cows were down since the last time I been in late summer.
Just one cow brought $1 a lb , last time I seen fat cows bring $1.20.
Pairs were selling down along with breds.
I came close to buying some but I had to keep reminding myself we are full at the moment.
Calves were selling good, we sold 5 calves and a cow, the cow brought $.85 over 900 lbs and in good shape.

 

[Dave]

My son was here with the grandkids and it was his birthday. So I didn't go to the sale. It was a feeder calf special so the bred cows wouldn't sell 8:00-9:00. I called a friend who does some order buying there and told him what I wanted. I told him 4-5-6 months bred cows and pay up to $1,300. He called at 9:45 and told me he got 10 cows. 6 of them pregged at 5 months and 4 at 4 months. They averaged weighing 1,254. He said they just pounded them he paid between $0.98 and $1.08 with an average of $1.02. They cost $1,281 average for the 10 cows. Not all of them are BM cows. There is 3 spread mouth, 2 solid mouth, and 1 that is a 3 year old. Two Char cross cows, one red brokle face, and the rest are black or black white faced. He did good for me and I got to spend the day with the grandkids instead of sitting at the sale watching feeder calves sell for hours.

 

[Logan52]

I was going to go to the Richmond, Ky. cow sale yesterday, but I always seem to find something that keeps me home. Decided to just watch on the internet. Richmond is usually a good market for weigh cows. They also age and preg check all the head cows.
Anyway, lots of good sized young cows, bred 4 to 6 months, under $1,000. They gave up and started selling them by the pound. That did not help much as most cows brought 80 to 85 cents. We are bone dry here and hay is short. I am already putting out hay a good six weeks ahead of normal. There was no stockpiling this year.
I sold weigh cows back in August and early September for $1.05 to $1.17, one cow cleared $2,000. They sure would not do that now.