Don't think I can make money off this one...

[milkmaid]

Ad in the paper for beef calves. Recognized the number from a fellow who had an ad LAST week; he told me he went up to the feedlots twice a week, picked up loads of 30-35 beef calves at a time (2wks to 1 month or so), and he was sold 15 loads out. HIS price was an even $300/hd. But he'd given me the number of someone who'd bought a load recently and didn't want all 35 calves. I never managed to get in touch with the lady...

...but, she had an ad in the paper this week. She wants $380 for the smaller calves (around 5 weeks) and $480 for the bigger ones. (That size only goes for $280-300 off a cow/calf split through the auction!)

Shucks, SHE'S making money, IF (big IF) she can get someone to pay that, but I don't see any way I can take those calves, put them on a nurse cow, and turn them around in 60 days before college starts and make any cash.

60 days x 2lb ADG = 120lbs of gain. 5 week old calf = 160lbs + 60 days gain = 280lb calf. I have to have $1.35/lb just to break even on the purchase price. :shock:

But, it was a nice idea - before I brought out the calculator. :?

 

[msscamp]

I would agree that you can't make money off these calves in your timeframe.

 

[Lammie]

I saw Calves in that weight range bring up to 1.80 the last time I was at the sale barn, two weeks ago. Little Holstein babies were bringing almost 300.00. I just won't pay that.

 

[dj]

A special dairy sale Tue. the bottle babies were bringing $400.
One sport bought 6. Then stayed to watch the reat of the sale.
One died in the pen waiting. I guess that means the others cost him $480 apiece??

 

[Alice]

I haven't been to the sale in a while. We decided that it was too hot to risk raising sale barn calves right now. In this heat, once they scour, it's a real challenge to bring them back around.

I've seen prices this high before, but only with holstein heifer baby calves (up to $700) and a few exceptional holstein baby bull calves, (up to $250). but not in the summer months.

We've decided that the only way anyone can make money at these high prices is to be able to buy LARGE, meaning buy 100-200 hundred or more. If someone can afford to do that, losing some wouldn't have the overall impact that someone buying 2 or 3 and losing 1 or 2 or 3 would have.

There are a couple of folks that buy LARGE like that at the sales here. They buy for large operations out of state. We all just sit and shake our heads, especially in the summer when there's no way to keep from losing some, and knowing that buying from the sale barn is a risk in and of itself. I don't know how they do it...but they just keep buying, and buying, and buying.

I'd go to the sale today just to see what the prices are, but I'm afraid I'd wind up buying something and my husband and I have agreed that we won't do that until the fall.

Last fall and winter and spring, I'd buy baby holstein bulls at the sale, marginal ones, and bring them home, get them healthy, then sell them. Made a right tidy profit. Now, the marginal ones are bringing more $$$ than I'm willing to risk on a sale barn holstein baby calf.

Alice

 

[mhoback]

My experience with calves from a feedlot is that they don't grow very well and they get sick alot.

 

[Lammie]

A special dairy sale Tue. the bottle babies were bringing $400.
One sport bought 6. Then stayed to watch the reat of the sale.
One died in the pen waiting. I guess that means the others cost him $480 apiece??

OMG, there is no way I can turn that around and make a profit. What are people thinking? I have a dairy steer that I paid 50.00 for! I have a solid black steer that I know is a dairy mix I paid 100.00. Those are my kinds of prices. I can make some money on something like that. In fact, they are healthier than the beef calves I paid more for. Back in January, the half-dead ones you are describing were bringing 20 or 30 dollars. If you have the magic touch, like Alice or Milkmaid, you can work with something like that. But there is no way anyone with any sense can pay 400.00 for that same calf.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

IMHO:

Anyone buying ANY unweaned calf (for any price) that still seriously needs the teat is asking for a LOT of work, effort, luck, feed $$, potential medical costs! There is a reason calves stay on mama for several months.

Buying and taking delivery on a weeks old or couple of months old calf is asking for it...IMO. [Note: We do "sell" some calves that young; HOWEVER, they are not weaned and available for customer to pick up until they are ~ 205 days old].

Ya got more time, money, energy, luck, and patience that I do...LOL!

 

[milkmaid]

You know, for $300 I'd take them on. Maybe even $325 if I had my hands on a good nurse cow for them. But I am NOT paying $380 for something that has to go on a cow (even if her feed is "free" aka pasture), and certainly NOT $480 for calves that are going to have a big grain bill attached.

Might give the lady 'til Monday and then see if she still has them, and offer a little less. I'm sure she can't have put more than $25/hd into them at this point, and I know what she paid for them, which I think gives me the upper hand. 8)

 

[Alan]

Lets flip this around.... how many of you would sell your week olds for $300 to $400 each?

Alan

 

[HOSS]

I have been getting 3 or 4 day old jersey bull calves for my kids to feed and sell to add to their college fund. I pay 40 bucks each from a local dairy and have never lost a calf. My kids actually make a little money on them and get the experience / responsibility lesson at the same time. Those little boogers look so much like deer I am surprised that someone hasn't taken a shot at them from the road :lol:

 

[Lammie]

Lets flip this around.... how many of you would sell your week olds for $300 to $400 each?

Alan

ME! If I could have turned right around and sell my 50.00 calf for 300 or 400, you bet your a$$ I would have. No brainer. I just don't see how anyone does...

Guess I will have to try this game.

 

[TheBullLady]

lol.. funny this would come up! I just sold my three week old twin bull calf this afternoon. He's never been sick, got colostrum, but I split him off his dam to bottle feed. He'd been doing well, until I had a Brahman heifer calf. He thought it was his new mom, and worried the poor heifer to death! She tried to kick him off, but he was very persistant. I didn't want to pen him up, so I sold him.. $250. Black white faced bull calf. I'm glad to have him gone, and didn't send him through the auction barn. That's not the ideal situation, as I think they can pick up a LOT of diseases there.

 

[milkmaid]

I have been getting 3 or 4 day old jersey bull calves for my kids to feed and sell to add to their college fund. I pay 40 bucks each from a local dairy and have never lost a calf. My kids actually make a little money on them and get the experience / responsibility lesson at the same time. Those little boogers look so much like deer I am surprised that someone hasn't taken a shot at them from the road :lol:

Those Jerseys are going for $20/hd over here, IF the dairies can find someone to take them. Otherwise they just euthanize them - that was my vet's way of putting it. I've never tried raising the Jerseys before; more money in the holsteins...I think.

 

[Beefy]

milkmaid, i thought you only took on moribund animals?

 

[milkmaid]

:lol: No, most of the ones I pick up are healthy to start with. I've got three nice black angus/holstein calves coming home in the next week or so - two heifers and a bull - just need to figure out what I'm going to DO with them. I'd planned on this group for a long time but still haven't decided what nurse cow to use for them. Might end up buying another cow. :lol:

I almost ended up with a half-dead holstein heifer calf the other day, but she did die before boss decided he'd let me try my luck at saving her. Little depressing.

 

[3MR]

Lets flip this around.... how many of you would sell your week olds for $300 to $400 each?

Alan

ME! If I could have turned right around and sell my 50.00 calf for 300 or 400, you bet your a$$ I would have. No brainer. I just don't see how anyone does...

Guess I will have to try this game.

I think he was refering to calves you produced not bought. Assuming a $365 upkeep cost on the cow, you would have a gross profit range of -65 to +30, not many people would call that a living. Thats not even counting any other associated cost per animal.

Of course the producers originally selling the calves arent in the beef business. They make their money from milk production. Therefore, their bottom line would be different.

 

[HOSS]

I have been getting 3 or 4 day old jersey bull calves for my kids to feed and sell to add to their college fund. I pay 40 bucks each from a local dairy and have never lost a calf. My kids actually make a little money on them and get the experience / responsibility lesson at the same time. Those little boogers look so much like deer I am surprised that someone hasn't taken a shot at them from the road :lol:

Those Jerseys are going for $20/hd over here, IF the dairies can find someone to take them. Otherwise they just euthanize them - that was my vet's way of putting it. I've never tried raising the Jerseys before; more money in the holsteins...I think.

Around these parts Jerseys will bring average money. Enough that folks will buy them as fast as you can run them through. Not as much as Holstiens but enough to keep the kids interested. They are small, friendly and fairly hardy. I have seen week old bottle feeder jerseys sell for upwards of 100 dollars at the sale bar. It just depends on what some of the hobby buyers want and if they show up at the sale.

 

[Bama]

MM, buying and selling calves is just like the stock market. You are investing in something that you think you can make a return on. I am not familiar with holstens but it sounds like you could do better investing your money somewhere else. I think you did right by passing on these. When I purchase a calf I'm thinking if I buy it for x amount and sell it for z amount in y days how much did I make after taking out expenses. If I can beat that somewhere else I pass on the deal. I dab in the stock market and look at raising cattle in the same way.

 

[milkmaid]

MM, buying and selling calves is just like the stock market. You are investing in something that you think you can make a return on. I am not familiar with holstens but it sounds like you could do better investing your money somewhere else. I think you did right by passing on these. When I purchase a calf I'm thinking if I buy it for x amount and sell it for z amount in y days how much did I make after taking out expenses. If I can beat that somewhere else I pass on the deal. I dab in the stock market and look at raising cattle in the same way.

Thanks Bama, never hurts to be reminded of that. :lol: I've done really well in the past, but I think I've gotten pretty lucky too. I've also passed up a lot of good opportunities that I wished I hadn't - but I think this one with the beef calves starting at $380/hd is something that does need to be passed up. Especially when I'm bringing home some angus/holstein cross calves at nearly 200 less per head. Just a no-brainer; those crosses sell as good as straight beef -- so long as they're straight off the cow. LOL. And during the summer my feed costs are about nil.