Cow Sale

[Little Joe]

Went to an advertised sale today at a barn that is mostly goats and sheep, had 40 hd of longhorn/corriente cows. 3 pairs, a few opens, rest were 1st - 3rd period bred, very poor cows. I went thinking there might be a bargain to be had, average selling price was $500 with some going higher, I think the lowest was $425. There were no scales, but I'd guess these cows to weigh 500lbs average. I came home with an empty trailer. There was a guy there that bought some nice fat longhorn cows 3rd period bred from me a month or so ago for $450 each, I told him I had a little sellers remorse after seeing those prices. I thought I was doing good at that price as it was more than I'd paid and they'd raised me 2 calves each already.

 

[MurraysMutts]

That is pretty good for longhorn cattle. Least round here.

Some sold last weekend for .20
Bred or not, didn't seem to matter. Nothing over 650lbs

 

[Little Joe]

That is pretty good for longhorn cattle. Least round here.

Some sold last weekend for .20
Bred or not, didn't seem to matter. Nothing over 650lbs

I would've went in the .50/lb range but these were closer to the $1/lb range. I can't see giving that. The auctioneer kept talking up how high cattle prices were getting and what bargains these were. One of the cows had just calved this week, I bet the calf didn't weigh 40 lbs, couldn't blame the cow, she did the best she could with the condition she was in. The auctioneer said that these cows could live on just rocks, I believe that's probably what they had been living on too.

 

[MurraysMutts]

It looked like the ones that sold last week were doing just that. Rocks, dirt and twigs. They were pretty rough....

 

[Dave]

They had a little longhorn cow at the sale Thursday. I didn't look at the weight (ring scale) because I wasn't interested. I am guessing 650-700pounds. Bred 8 months. Sold for $275. It appears I wasn't they only one not interested.
Wednesday I bought 10 broken mouth cows all ultra sound preg check to be 7 or 7+ months bred. They averaged weighing 1,138. I averaged paying $838 a head. There is 3 blacks, 2 Char cross (1 grey and 1 yellow), 2 red brockle faced, and 3 solid red cows.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Hard to find cows here that weigh less than 1300#. Most are 1400 to 1500#. Some up to 1800#.

How heavy can a cow be and still thrive in the hills?

 

[Dave]

Hard to find cows here that weigh less than 1300#. Most are 1400 to 1500#. Some up to 1800#.

How heavy can a cow be and still thrive in the hills?

We just have a diet plan for those kind of cows. Most of the cows that heavy got that way in flat green pastures. We will see the occasional 1,400 and lots of 1,200 to 1,300 pound ones. It is more of a BCS thing. 6's are the norm. An occasional 7 if she parked in the right place for the summer. No 8's or 9's.
The best way to describe it is the cows spread out. Some places are steep and rocky with a good long walk to water. But there are some basins with good grass and water. Which area does a cow decide to spend the summer? And why do they choose the steep ones? Who knows, they are cows.

 

[farmerjan]

I'd have bought that longhorn because she would have paid you back in just the calf... My "lawn ornament" longhorn was a baby calf on a cow I paid 350 for. Someone had tried to dehorn the cow, and so had a messed up horn on one side. But okay dispositioned. Never bothered anyone and stayed relatively good flesh. Kept this heifer. Cow had a second calf, bull, polled from the angus. then came up open so got sold. This heifer had a nice black bull calf and it grew like all get out... polled.... and sold it for twice what the original cow cost. Last year she had a heifer... mostly white and black spots. Also polled. Cow is bred back by the looks of her, she is too wide (her horns) to get in any of our chutes. She has a nice even set of horns and is pretty quiet... will come up to eat and only shakes her head to keep others out of her immediate space. She also will stay and eat at a pile of grain on the ground until it is gone rather than go from pile to pile. She HATES stray dogs, and never see a coyote in that field anymore. Her calf is quiet and likes to eat a slice of bread from son's girlfriend's hand. If and when she comes up open, she will be hamburger and I want her horns. She has made me money and I have no qualms with her. I would buy another cheap one as she stays in very good condition on very little feed and her calves are all better than she is. She has the "cutest" little teacup of an udder and the calves are all roly poly fat so she makes enough milk and it must be high butterfat.
Gotta have something for the neighbors to talk about....

 

[Dave]

I'd have bought that longhorn because she would have paid you back in just the calf... My "lawn ornament" longhorn was a baby calf on a cow I paid 350 for. Someone had tried to dehorn the cow, and so had a messed up horn on one side. But okay dispositioned. Never bothered anyone and stayed relatively good flesh. Kept this heifer. Cow had a second calf, bull, polled from the angus. then came up open so got sold. This heifer had a nice black bull calf and it grew like all get out... polled.... and sold it for twice what the original cow cost. Last year she had a heifer... mostly white and black spots. Also polled. Cow is bred back by the looks of her, she is too wide (her horns) to get in any of our chutes. She has a nice even set of horns and is pretty quiet... will come up to eat and only shakes her head to keep others out of her immediate space. She also will stay and eat at a pile of grain on the ground until it is gone rather than go from pile to pile. She HATES stray dogs, and never see a coyote in that field anymore. Her calf is quiet and likes to eat a slice of bread from son's girlfriend's hand. If and when she comes up open, she will be hamburger and I want her horns. She has made me money and I have no qualms with her. I would buy another cheap one as she stays in very good condition on very little feed and her calves are all better than she is. She has the "cutest" little teacup of an udder and the calves are all roly poly fat so she makes enough milk and it must be high butterfat.
Gotta have something for the neighbors to talk about....

All these cows go to the plant in mid August. That little cow wouldn't hang up for what she cost. And who knows what she is bred to. There are better bets than a little bitty longhorn cow.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

Cow is bred back by the looks of her, she is too wide (her horns) to get in any of our chutes.

if she has any practice in trees or brush she will be able to go through a chute just fine. they are like cats. agile and almost liquid. we bought a little bunch many years ago on a lark and they were so fascinating to watch. but they would go in the chute and just turn their heads sideways and dip down from side to side to get those big things right on through, never even touching metal with them.

on the other hand we did a big old black crossbred steer a week or so ago that had maybe 8 inch horns on him. could NOT figure out to tip his head even an inch or two. had to tie him up and cut them off before he would go through. sure would have been easier to do that with his head caught. it was a bit of a rodeo, he missed at least 4 brandings. LOL

 

[farmerjan]

She has been very good about figuring how to get her head turned just right to get into the hay feeder... but she got them stuck when trying to reach in through the calf creep gate... and I had to give her a little help to push and turn a little further than she was doing. My fault for putting the bucket inside the pen through the creep gate so the other cows couldn't reach it... didn't think about her trying... I just decided to not stress her and load her on the trailer to take her to the other barn where the head catch/chute is... there is a small head catch here but it will only acommodate the smaller calves when we tag or band them, and we just push a gate against them.... rube goldberg set up..... and if they have much size to them it is too hard to hold them... She would have to do a pretzel with her horns to get in that little thing... I have seen her turn her head and get in and out of the feeder where I feed some grain to the cows... but mostly now she just eats at the open trough type one.... she seems to know what she can do and can't do and I respect her for that. Not worth panicking over "confirming" her pregnancy.

 

[farmerjan]

@Dave I get what you are saying. For your area and what you specifically do, I get that she probably would not have made the grade. Wish she had been here...she'd be mine now.

 

[Warren Allison]

I'd have bought that longhorn because she would have paid you back in just the calf... My "lawn ornament" longhorn was a baby calf on a cow I paid 350 for. Someone had tried to dehorn the cow, and so had a messed up horn on one side. But okay dispositioned. Never bothered anyone and stayed relatively good flesh. Kept this heifer. Cow had a second calf, bull, polled from the angus. then came up open so got sold. This heifer had a nice black bull calf and it grew like all get out... polled.... and sold it for twice what the original cow cost. Last year she had a heifer... mostly white and black spots. Also polled. Cow is bred back by the looks of her, she is too wide (her horns) to get in any of our chutes. She has a nice even set of horns and is pretty quiet... will come up to eat and only shakes her head to keep others out of her immediate space. She also will stay and eat at a pile of grain on the ground until it is gone rather than go from pile to pile. She HATES stray dogs, and never see a coyote in that field anymore. Her calf is quiet and likes to eat a slice of bread from son's girlfriend's hand. If and when she comes up open, she will be hamburger and I want her horns. She has made me money and I have no qualms with her. I would buy another cheap one as she stays in very good condition on very little feed and her calves are all better than she is. She has the "cutest" little teacup of an udder and the calves are all roly poly fat so she makes enough milk and it must be high butterfat.
Gotta have something for the neighbors to talk about....

Longhorns are just as maintenance free as Corriente, and will wean off a black, polled calf that will also bring more than his momma cost, when bred to the right bulls. We use them when we run up on them at a good price, but tend to mostly use Corriente for breeding to Angus bulls for a couple of reasons. Horns are number 1. Around here, people that raise Longhorns tend to do so for the novelty. Most are registered and they selectively breed for huge, wide horns, like the cow in @Hippie Rancher's profile pic. These are harder to work in traditional facilities. Corriente horns... not so much. Longhorns tend to cost more around here, too. We will use them down on our infamous south GA "Kudzu ranch" because a pure LH will wean a bigger calf, lots of times, than the Corriente will. And, we don't hardly ever do anything with or to them, but if we do, we use horse and rope...no working facilities on the place, just a corral.

All of the Criollo cattle.....Longhorn, Corriente, Pineywoods, and Fla Cracker/Scrub.... tend to be excellent mommas and have plenty of milk for their calves, in my experience. And I agree with you: I bet it has a high butter fat content.

 

[tex452]

I bought 4 LH cows about 2 months ago not palpated. They averaged $240/.
1 had a calf about 2 weeks ago.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

Longhorns are just as maintenance free as Corriente, and will wean off a black, polled calf that will also bring more than his momma cost, when bred to the right bulls. We use them when we run up on them at a good price, but tend to mostly use Corriente for breeding to Angus bulls for a couple of reasons. Horns are number 1. Around here, people that raise Longhorns tend to do so for the novelty. Most are registered and they selectively breed for huge, wide horns, like the cow in @Hippie Rancher's profile pic. These are harder to work in traditional facilities. Corriente horns... not so much. Longhorns tend to cost more around here, too. We will use them down on our infamous south GA "Kudzu ranch" because a pure LH will wean a bigger calf, lots of times, than the Corriente will. And, we don't hardly ever do anything with or to them, but if we do, we use horse and rope...no working facilities on the place, just a corral.

All of the Criollo cattle.....Longhorn, Corriente, Pineywoods, and Fla Cracker/Scrub.... tend to be excellent mommas and have plenty of milk for their calves, in my experience. And I agree with you: I bet it has a high butter fat content.

believe it or not that is a f2 braford steer.

 

[Warren Allison]

believe it or not that is a f2 braford steer.

Well, he'd probably win a prize at a Longhorn show! What do you mean by f2? I assume he is the offspring of an f1 Brahma x Hereford that is crossed with...what?

 

[Hippie Rancher]

Well, he'd probably win a prize at a Longhorn show! What do you mean by f2? I assume he is the offspring of an f1 Brahma x Hereford that is crossed with...what?

don't know what the bull was, but yeah he was a first calf out of a f1 brahma x hereford heifer. we had mostly hereford bulls at the time but there were a few others around including another crossbred bull (I think he was braford, but maybe something else crossed with brahma. he belonged to a cousin who was here helping)

that steer could clear a 6 foot fence like it was a parking lot curb. took 10 + years to finally catch him.

 

[TexasRancher]

@ Dave Nice Cattle and I really liked your wood fencing enhancements...all natural. Take note of Dave's fencing all. Pretty cool.

 

[Dave]

@ Dave Nice Cattle and I really liked your wood fencing enhancements...all natural. Take note of Dave's fencing all. Pretty cool.

Lodge Pole pine poles. A permit from the forest circus cost 3 cents a foot. You have to find a cut the poles yourself. Still the cheapest way to build a corral here. It won't last forever but it will out last me.

Sat through a lot of feeder cattle yesterday to get to a few bred cows. Got 3 cows bought. Saw a lot of 5 weight steers bring over $2.00. I think the highest was $2.19 for a group of about 20 507 pound steers.

 

[1982vett]

Eye opener yesterday at the sale, some first calf angus type pairs sold for $2000+ yesterday. The cows and calves together didn't tip the scale over 1000lbs.