Do bull calves take a big hit?

[spinandslide]

I keep hearing people talk about weanling-yearling bull calves get docked in the sale barn over steers..

Is it true? how big of a dock do you usually take?

Im just curious..I see afew guys are adamant the calves are steers before they go to the sale..and some others who sell them as is..and don't seem to mind.

 

[Isomade]

I keep hearing people talk about weanling-yearling bull calves get docked in the sale barn over steers..

Is it true? how big of a dock do you usually take?

Im just curious..I see afew guys are adamant the calves are steers before they go to the sale..and some others who sell them as is..and don't seem to mind.

Nickel

 

[spinandslide]

really? that is all?? even on the coming yearling bull calves?

 

[tncattle]

younger ones do better than older in our area but right now everything is doing better.

 

[Isomade]

Different places are different. That's what I usually see here. It don't sound like much, but that's 40 bucks on an 800wt animal. If you're selling 50 of em it's $2000 You lose out on.

 

[Douglas]

A lot easier to manage in the pasture with cow and heifers coming into heat. I have had a late bred cow getting chased around by little bulls all day long.

 

[spinandslide]

hmm..interesting..Id always thought it was more then that..the way folks talk..

mabey it was "worse" when the prices werent so high.

 

[Isomade]

hmm..interesting..Id always thought it was more then that..the way folks talk..

mabey it was "worse" when the prices werent so high.

Even for a small breeder you have to figure how many steers/bulls you will sell in your lifetime. Just say its 500, we'll at 650lbs that's 16,250 in lost income. There are a lot of ranches around here that sell that many in a year or two and $8000-$16000 is a lot of money to lose in a year.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

in my area 90% of males that go through the sale are intact....... so all thing are pretty much egual

 

[ALACOWMAN]

A lot easier to manage in the pasture with cow and heifers coming into heat. I have had a late bred cow getting chased around by little bulls all day long.[/quote] that and aggravating the pi$$ out of herd bulls, trying to get things done... make his job even harder, knocking them out of the way

 

[spinandslide]

hmm..interesting..Id always thought it was more then that..the way folks talk..

mabey it was "worse" when the prices werent so high.

Even for a small breeder you have to figure how many steers/bulls you will sell in your lifetime. Just say its 500, we'll at 650lbs that's 16,250 in lost income. There are a lot of ranches around here that sell that many in a year or two and $8000-$16000 is a lot of money to lose in a year.

so, when you are selling in larger quantities, you are more apt to feel the "Sting" then if you sell just 20 or so at a time?

This makes sense..the guys that are adamant you have steers are huge ranches..the guys who sell them still intact are smaller..no more then 15 or twenty a year they take to the salebarn..most times less..under 11..

I was just curious on what the true "hit" was that Ive been told they take...I imagine with the cattle population as low as it is..they are taking what they can get (the buyers) and liking it?

 

[dun]

hmm..interesting..Id always thought it was more then that..the way folks talk..

mabey it was "worse" when the prices werent so high.

Even for a small breeder you have to figure how many steers/bulls you will sell in your lifetime. Just say its 500, we'll at 650lbs that's 16,250 in lost income. There are a lot of ranches around here that sell that many in a year or two and $8000-$16000 is a lot of money to lose in a year.

so, when you are selling in larger quantities, you are more apt to feel the "Sting" then if you sell just 20 or so at a time?

This makes sense..the guys that are adamant you have steers are huge ranches..the guys who sell them still intact are smaller..no more then 15 or twenty a year they take to the salebarn..most times less..under 11..

I was just curious on what the true "hit" was that Ive been told they take...I imagine with the cattle population as low as it is..they are taking what they can get (the buyers) and liking it?

The smaller producers a lot of times just don;t want to bother cutting them and to them 35-40 buck a head isn;t much to lose over all. I may be wrong but 35-40 bucks for 5 minutes work is a pretty good return on investment

 

[LRTX1]

Do bull calves grow faster than steers?

 

[inbredredneck]

an implanted steer will outgain a bull in the feedyard. an implanted steer will outgain a implanted bull as well, I would almost guess that a non implanted steer will outgain a bull in the feedlot as well.

 

[SRBeef]

A lot easier to manage in the pasture with cow and heifers coming into heat. I have had a late bred cow getting chased around by little bulls all day long.

Also by weaning time you will have some heifers bred by bull calves. And that is a real problem. You almost have to separate the bull calves from the heifers and cows by 7 months. I believe my vet charges $6 or $8 each to cut the bul calves during our spring workup. Money well spent in most smaller operations especially. Also castration of buls over 500lb is muchtougher on them and risk infection etc more than when they are younger. Jmho.

Jim

 

[highgrit]

I feel Dun hit the nail on the head.

 

[Isomade]

I feel Dun hit the nail on the head.

:nod: :nod: :nod:

 

[bigbull338]

we send the calves to the sale as bulls.since they are half beefmasters it really doesnt matter.because they going to get docked for the ear.our barn sales mostly bull calves.so i dont much if any diffance in price anyway.

 

[SRBeef]

we send the calves to the sale as bulls.since they are half beefmasters it really doesnt matter.because they going to get docked for the ear.our barn sales mostly bull calves.so i dont much if any diffance in price anyway.

BB, Do you separate the bull calves from the heifers at any point? What age do you sell your calves? If the price is the same and you solve the other problems there is some merit to using nature's implants.

Jim

 

[bigbull338]

we send the calves to the sale as bulls.since they are half beefmasters it really doesnt matter.because they going to get docked for the ear.our barn sales mostly bull calves.so i dont much if any diffance in price anyway.

BB, Do you separate the bull calves from the heifers at any point? What age do you sell your calves? If the price is the same and you solve the other problems there is some merit to using nature's implants.

Jim

jim
we sale all the bull calves at 8 months or older.i like to salw them at the 8 month mark.but every now an then 1 will slipp by.no we dont pen the heifers away from the cows or bull.an we do not have a prob with heifers getting bred to early.most get bred to calve at 2.an some calve later than 2.i know its a crazy way but it really works for us.knock on wood we rarely have any calving probs doing that.we had a 3yr old heifer calve a month or less ago an she weighed 1200lbs more or less an we had to pull it.then we had some 900lb heifers calve on their own no help at all.there was no reason why the big heifer couldnt calve on her own.