Do bull calves take a big hit?

[ChrisB]

I'm missing where the flaw is. Little help?

 

[inbredredneck]

keep looking chris you will see it

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

It alludes me too Inbred.

 

[cross_7]

only thing i can see is the 650# steer might not bring 1.75 like the 600# steer

 

[Dave]

Market report here had 600 pound steers at $1.63 and 600 pound bulls at $1.46. That is $978 for the steer and $876 for the bull. Now the same age bull may be heavier but he has to make up $102. And the bigger the bull the more the price goes down.

I will stick to cutting my calves at branding.

 

[inbredredneck]

only thing i can see is the 650# steer might not bring 1.75 like the 600# steer

Bingo we have a winner. Figure in the 5 cent slide(with todays markets make it a 7or 8 cent slide) the bull losses all the way around.

 

[B&M Farms]

only thing i can see is the 650# steer might not bring 1.75 like the 600# steer

Bingo we have a winner. Figure in the 5 cent slide(with todays markets make it a 7or 8 cent slide) the bull losses all the way around.

You are right Inbred. The 600lb steer will probably bring 5 to 8 cents more than the 650lb steer but the 650 pound steer will still bring more. It pays to implant. Here good 600lb steers brought 1.60 to1.69 last weekend. The numbers I used were just theoretical. The bull loses but not by that much here. They arent discounting bulls that much right now. Its not always like that.

 

[inbredredneck]

only thing i can see is the 650# steer might not bring 1.75 like the 600# steer

Bingo we have a winner. Figure in the 5 cent slide(with todays markets make it a 7or 8 cent slide) the bull losses all the way around.

You are right Inbred. The 600lb steer will probably bring 5 to 8 cents more than the 650lb steer but the 650 pound steer will still bring more. It pays to implant. Here good 600lb steers brought 1.60 to1.69 last weekend. The numbers I used were just theoretical. The bull loses but not by that much here. They arent discounting bulls that much right now. Its not always like that.

Reading what Dave is seeing they are knocking the **** out of bulls in Washington, same as here.

 

[houstoncutter]

ah the debate goes on. In todays market I would cut em and i would retain ownership throughout ...In a different market getem to 400 pounds dont cut or give em shots because the packer aint gonna pay for your time and just ship em...the packer is not gonna pay you for the lost weight, those steered calves are going to have ...and heaven help your figures if you have a calf that dies.

 

[inbredredneck]

ah the debate goes on. In todays market I would cut em and i would retain ownership throughout ...In a different market getem to 400 pounds dont cut or give em shots because the packer aint gonna pay for your time and just ship em...the packer is not gonna pay you for the lost weight, those steered calves are going to have ...and heaven help your figures if you have a calf that dies.

Packer buying 400# cattle? only in Texas. ;-)

 

[houstoncutter]

ah the debate goes on. In todays market I would cut em and i would retain ownership throughout ...In a different market getem to 400 pounds dont cut or give em shots because the packer aint gonna pay for your time and just ship em...the packer is not gonna pay you for the lost weight, those steered calves are going to have ...and heaven help your figures if you have a calf that dies.

Packer buying 400# cattle? only in Texas. ;-)

Sorry Inbred, if I confused you...the final stop for most of all these animals is the packer....they may change hands a few times, gain 6 or 8 hundred pounds along the way, but a stun gun is in their future. Normally their are a lot of these 400 pound calves sold here in Texas, thats what you see alot of in the grasslands of the Midwest, and nomally they would have come from Texas. Of course with our drought their will be a lot less people in the Midwest backgrounding animals this year.

 

[mwj]

ah the debate goes on. In todays market I would cut em and i would retain ownership throughout ...In a different market getem to 400 pounds dont cut or give em shots because the packer aint gonna pay for your time and just ship em...the packer is not gonna pay you for the lost weight, those steered calves are going to have ...and heaven help your figures if you have a calf that dies.

Packer buying 400# cattle? only in Texas. ;-)

Sorry Inbred, if I confused you...the final stop for most of all these animals is the packer....they may change hands a few times, gain 6 or 8 hundred pounds along the way, but a stun gun is in their future. Normally their are a lot of these 400 pound calves sold here in Texas, thats what you see alot of in the grasslands of the Midwest, and nomally they would have come from Texas. Of course with our drought their will be a lot less people in the Midwest backgrounding animals this year.

With $6 corn last year there was not much grassland for your bulls in my part of the midwest :cowboy: Do you suppose they are still bulls when your packer applies that captive bolt?

 

[BC]

[/quote]
With $6 corn last year there was not much grassland for your bulls in my part of the midwest :cowboy: Do you suppose they are still bulls when your packer applies that captive bolt?[/quote]

I buy for a small order buying company. The owner is always telling people that their bulls will outweigh steers so why cut them. I asked him why he tells them that when steers are worth more. His answer - "That is how I make a living. I buy the bulls at a discount and add value to the calf by making a steer out of a hobby farmers bull calf".

 

[heath]

Do y'all cut or band? Whenever I do steer one, I've always cut but there's always a chance for infection.

 

[Dave]

I was at the sale this Saturday a pen of about 12 head of 600 pound steers came in. They spotted one bull in the group and cut him out. Sold the steers as a group first and then the bull by himself. Same man's cattle. He was a ringer for the rest of the bunch except he was still a bull. The steers brought $1.83 and the bull brought $1.49.

I know the guy who raised these. He does a pretty good job. This calf must have got out or just didn't get caught when castrated the bunch. It sure would have been worth his time to catch him later.

I don't know the age of this calf but he was within 10 pounds of the average for the other 11 head.

 

[ANAZAZI]

I was at the sale this Saturday a pen of about 12 head of 600 pound steers came in. They spotted one bull in the group and cut him out. Sold the steers as a group first and then the bull by himself. Same man's cattle. He was a ringer for the rest of the bunch except he was still a bull. The steers brought $1.83 and the bull brought $1.49.

I know the guy who raised these. He does a pretty good job. This calf must have got out or just didn't get caught when castrated the bunch. It sure would have been worth his time to catch him later.

I don't know the age of this calf but he was within 10 pounds of the average for the other 11 head.

Maybe the bull was a few weeks younger, it would explain both that his weight was close to the steers and why they missed him at banding?

 

[inbredredneck]

I was at the sale this Saturday a pen of about 12 head of 600 pound steers came in. They spotted one bull in the group and cut him out. Sold the steers as a group first and then the bull by himself. Same man's cattle. He was a ringer for the rest of the bunch except he was still a bull. The steers brought $1.83 and the bull brought $1.49.

I know the guy who raised these. He does a pretty good job. This calf must have got out or just didn't get caught when castrated the bunch. It sure would have been worth his time to catch him later.

I don't know the age of this calf but he was within 10 pounds of the average for the other 11 head.

$204 seems like it would be worth my time, but there is a feller on CT with a handle of bullsomething or another from Texas who won't do it for any less than $250. Seems crazy.

 

[Dave]

It sure would have been worth his time to catch him later.

I don't know what the story was. I will find out next time I see him. I know that they said the calves were all vaccinated and had the booster shots too. One would think that when you had them caught and giving them shots that someone would pull out a pocket knive. I know I would.

But it sure answered the bull/steer question because these calves were like peas in a pod. Probably as uniform a group of calves as you can get from a guy who runs 40 or so cows.

 

[B&M Farms]

Do y'all cut or band? Whenever I do steer one, I've always cut but there's always a chance for infection.

I guess there is always a chance either way you go. If you cut just cut a third to half the sac off so the wound can drain well and dope it with an antiseptic. I've never had a problem so far. I do spray the wound with fly spray if the weather is warm.

 

[inbredredneck]

Do y'all cut or band? Whenever I do steer one, I've always cut but there's always a chance for infection.

If I buy bulls, I cut them with a Newberry.