Crazy market

[Cross-7]

Futures don't look good
Light wt bringing as much or more than calves 200# heavier

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Higher than 2011 and I wasn't complaining back then

Welcome back Cross-7

 

[Cross-7]

Higher than 2011 and I wasn't complaining back then

Welcome back Cross-7

Thank you

I can't figure it out
400# are strong
600# are way off

Paying 1100 for 4wt calves
I can't see a profit based on the futures contracts

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Far be it from me to try and figure out.

 

[TexasBred]

I haven't bought nor sold anything recently nor even gone to a sale but just reading sale reports and listening to folks talk just about everything is down considerably down this way especially from 4-5 months ago.

 

[Cross-7]

I haven't bought nor sold anything recently nor even gone to a sale but just reading sale reports and listening to folks talk just about everything is down considerably down this way especially from 4-5 months ago.

And the futures are all over the place from day to day
Up the limit one day and down the next

Lots of paper cattle being traded

 

[TCRanch]

We were going to sell our steers tomorrow but when we talked to the owner of the Sale Barn he said we should wait until the week after Thanksgiving or the first of the year. He's also familiar with our calves & said he would market them prior to the sale. We're just going to trust his judgment on this one.

 

[Cross-7]

He may know something that's not apparent

 

[bball]

Last I heard (bout 3 was ago) lots of fat cattle being held over(getting even heavier) hoping for prices to get a bit stronger instead of moving them cheap. (Same feeders that were bought for top dollar last year and now with the decrease beef demand/increase supply, very little profit margin, if any???)

 

[Bigfoot]

I've bit off a lot for a poor boy. I need the market to rise------Sure nuff

 

[Cross-7]

I've bit off a lot for a poor boy. I need the market to rise------Sure nuff

The guys buying 4wt calves seem to know something
After the first on the year, spring going into summer may be a different deal

Like my buddy says that runs lots of stockers
Chicken one year
Bones the next
You hope on 5 yr average you win more than you lose

 

[Toad]

A friend of mine bought a bunch of 4 weight steers this weekend for $1.70 and $1.79. I think he will be able to make money on them.

 

[Bestoutwest]

I was thinking about doing a couple stocker calves over the winter but everything's about $1.40/lb right now, and like everywhere else, larger calves are less. No way can I jump into that and expect to make money.

 

[Kell-inKY]

Educate a newbie here, I realize this is a dumb question,

I just took an infertile 3YO heifer to the auction, she weighed 1470lbs, got .69 cents a pound for her, cleared less than $1k after fees. She was really healthy, really fat and ALL black.

Why would one of my little steers be worth close to the same as her?

I know they will slaughter her and make hamburger most likely, but we are talking zero input into her vs. a whole lot of feed into that steer, and time. Is it because they will be making steaks out of him?

 

[Howdyjabo]

calves eventually go into the fat market- which makes high end cuts. And the buyer will be making money for every lb they put on it(hopefully).
cows go into the hambuger/canner market- -- all the low end cuts. And what you buy is what you sell- there is no growing a profit.

Hopefully Cows will always bring less/lb than calves-- sometimes enough so that the calves end up bringing more /hd

And Your cow sold low-- a cows price/lb is based on what her meat yield will be. She might have been short and too fat.

 

[Kell-inKY]

Thanks,
and yes, she was a little short and lots of fat

 

[boondocks]

Educate a newbie here, I realize this is a dumb question,

I just took an infertile 3YO heifer to the auction, she weighed 1470lbs, got .69 cents a pound for her, cleared less than $1k after fees. She was really healthy, really fat and ALL black.

Why would one of my little steers be worth close to the same as her?

I know they will slaughter her and make hamburger most likely, but we are talking zero input into her vs. a whole lot of feed into that steer, and time. Is it because they will be making steaks out of him?

Could you have made out better putting her in your freezer or selling her in halves or quarters? That's a lot of meat for that price, even if she was past the point of steaks

 

[Supa Dexta]

Same story up here, mid 400lbers bring 1600, and 600lbers bring 1500... wtf. I should have sold calves months ago at the lighter weight and been done with em.

 

[Aaron]

Same story up here, mid 400lbers bring 1600, and 600lbers bring 1500... wtf. I should have sold calves months ago at the lighter weight and been done with em.

Oh come on now...this is nothing new. For almost 10 years, it has made little sense to put on anything extra over 500 lbs on a calf. Common sense tells you that if a 500 lber is worth $1500, a 750 lber should be worth $2250, which it isn't. So your doing a pile of work and risk for a fraction of what you got paid for the first 2/3rds.

 

[Son of Butch]

I just took an infertile 3YO heifer to the auction, she weighed 1470lbs, got .69 cents a pound for her,
cleared less than $1k after fees. She was really healthy, really fat and ALL black.

Could you have made out better putting her in your freezer or selling her in halves or quarters?
That's a lot of meat for that price, even if she was past the point of steaks

Canner & Cutter Boxed Beef is currently $1.75 lb
Last hamburger cow I butchered was 1150 lbs live weight and hung 650 lbs or 56.5% of it's live weight
Yours was fat and sassy and probably would have hung closer to 58%

1470 x 56.5% = 830 lbs hanging weight
830 lbs x 1.45 = $1200
1470 lbs x .69 = $1014

Selling in quarters or halves as a hamburger cow at $1.45 lb hanging weight plus processing would have been a win win deal.
Some greedy people advertise young beef slaughter cows as grass fed beef and ask way over $2.00 lb hanging plus processing.