Drought Observations

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I won't touch on too much but here's something else to ponder on... lol

While we may get 200 inches of snowfall and -40 temps, our summers are temperate and rainfall is abundant. 90-100 degree temps are unusual and only occur ever few years. Our grass grows quick and recovers quick. The cows don't have to deal with extreme heat and drought stress. From what I've seen on here and what some buyers have told me we put more weight on a calf compared to the south (ie more profit). Wean and sell more lbs you make more, offsetting winter feeding costs.
 
Lee VanRoss said:
That's each TR. The ticket was $9580.50 for the 5 head. Sorry if I mislead you.
If I remember right there was a heavy steer that brought close to $2400.
It takes a strong constitution to stay with them if you decide to take them all the way.
I had a lame cow that I did not want to go into the winter and had to wait until the fats sold.
She brought $ 940 and change. I never stayed to see what come through after mine sold.
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They each weighed about 1444lbs and were heifers, still?...not cows? Those are great prices...for heavier heifers/cows. Someone wanted to breed them i bet.
I sold 3 head- 1 steer calf and 2 heifers this year at the sale barn for $3,300., 650lbs/700lbs/1,100. lbs respectively. I was pleased, especially bringing them in late in the drought. I didn't watch mine go through...check arrived in the mail 3 days later Wow! I was a bit shocked at the sale barn's unloading-dock...i had all this paperwork and identification to register and show vaccinations (thought it would take some time)...but they asked me my name and address (no identification required) all verbal, and then they gave me back a little slip of paper with the numbers of my cattle...took 20 seconds and i was back out on the road wondering what just happened. Eeeks, you mean anyone can rob cattle and take them to the sale barn? I was thinking it was some kind of big registration process with paperwork proof of ownership....nope.
Half of my newborn cattle grown past the color change are red angus, think my bull's mother or father was red angus. Do Red Angus fetch a little better price over black angus?
 
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@TexasRancher which barn sale? I took mine to Paris, no tags, no brand. They just put a sticker on them and gave me a receipt. A couple of days later I received a check by mail.
 
TexasRancher said:
They each weighed about 1444lbs and were heifers, still?...not cows? Those are great prices...for heavier heifers/cows. Someone wanted to breed them i bet.
I sold 3 head- 1 steer calf and 2 heifers this year at the sale barn for $3,300., 650lbs/700lbs/1,100. lbs respectively. I was pleased, especially bringing them in late in the drought. I didn't watch mine go through...check arrived in the mail 3 days later Wow! I was a bit shocked at the sale barn's unloading-dock...i had all this paperwork and identification to register and show vaccinations (thought it would take some time)...but they asked me my name and address (no identification required) all verbal, and then they gave me back a little slip of paper with the numbers of my cattle...took 20 seconds and i was back out on the road wondering what just happened. Eeeks, you mean anyone can rob cattle and take them to the sale barn? I was thinking it was some kind of big registration process with paperwork proof of ownership....nope.
Half of my newborn cattle grown past the color change are red angus, think my bull's mother or father was red angus. Do Red Angus fetch a little better price over black angus?
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TR> I would guess them to be spring 2020 calves, most likely implanted and destined for the packer from birth. Normally implanting would
preclude them from being breeding stock. They would have been consuming a little over 40 lbs of feed a day each assuming a 3% ration.
My relationship with the auction may be different from yours as I know grandad sent stock there over 60 years ago. They are into the 2nd and 3rd generation. I do not recall ever having an animal at the auction and not being there to represent it if needed. As far as I know we have done
that since 1800's. Until the hammer drops that animal is yours and and represents what you are producing and is a symbol of your reputation
as a producer. Now I don't haul anymore but a friend and neighbor does that for me and is on cattle feeder board.

You're right anyone can haul a critter to the sale barn but it may not turn out well if that animal is not yours! No I do not perceive Red or
Black as having an advantage at this stage. Quality sells, at least it did the other day. I run Red Angus on the top side and have been for
the past 20 years but I like quality of any color. I don't know to what extent you are involved with the engineering or your time constraints
but if you have time to get acquainted with the auctioneers it can be time well invested. Now I will share something personal, I would much
rather pick guitar than push cattle up a chute or tag newborns. I rate them about equal at the end of the day. LVR
 
chevytaHOE5674 said:
I won't touch on too much but here's something else to ponder on... lol

While we may get 200 inches of snowfall and -40 temps, our summers are temperate and rainfall is abundant. 90-100 degree temps are unusual and only occur ever few years. Our grass grows quick and recovers quick. The cows don't have to deal with extreme heat and drought stress. From what I've seen on here and what some buyers have told me we put more weight on a calf compared to the south (ie more profit). Wean and sell more lbs you make more, offsetting winter feeding costs.
Click to expand...
And probably very few parasites other than maybe flies-growing season too short
 
TexasRancher said:
They each weighed about 1444lbs and were heifers, still?...not cows? Those are great prices...for heavier heifers/cows. Someone wanted to breed them i bet.
I sold 3 head- 1 steer calf and 2 heifers this year at the sale barn for $3,300., 650lbs/700lbs/1,100. lbs respectively. I was pleased, especially bringing them in late in the drought. I didn't watch mine go through...check arrived in the mail 3 days later Wow! I was a bit shocked at the sale barn's unloading-dock...i had all this paperwork and identification to register and show vaccinations (thought it would take some time)...but they asked me my name and address (no identification required) all verbal, and then they gave me back a little slip of paper with the numbers of my cattle...took 20 seconds and i was back out on the road wondering what just happened. Eeeks, you mean anyone can rob cattle and take them to the sale barn? I was thinking it was some kind of big registration process with paperwork proof of ownership....nope.
Half of my newborn cattle grown past the color change are red angus, think my bull's mother or father was red angus. Do Red Angus fetch a little better price over black angus?
Click to expand...
In many parts of the country the red will be much cheaper than the black even if they are the same quality. They could be half brothers and the black will be much higher in this area.
 
chevytaHOE5674 said:
I won't touch on too much but here's something else to ponder on... lol

While we may get 200 inches of snowfall and -40 temps, our summers are temperate and rainfall is abundant. 90-100 degree temps are unusual and only occur ever few years. Our grass grows quick and recovers quick. The cows don't have to deal with extreme heat and drought stress. From what I've seen on here and what some buyers have told me we put more weight on a calf compared to the south (ie more profit). Wean and sell more lbs you make more, offsetting winter feeding costs.
Click to expand...
Land is more productive up there, and land costs are detached from ag uses in much of the southern part of the U.S., now.

But in the end, if profitability is how much net profit you make in dollars divided total input you put into an operation converted to $, then, really, it would depend on looking at capital, operational, labor, and tax aspects of the operation, including tax savings and land profits when sold. And add in the different models of commercial, seed stock producers, farmer/feeders, traders and land flippers, timber combined with crops/grazing etc., it gets really complicated.

So, actually, not so easy to get the baselines set that will set up good comparisons.

But I will say that when I look at how some of these guys can get 5 cuts of alfalfa and grow 200 bushel corn on their places and feed 200 head of 1400lb angus cattle, I am sorely tempted to break one of the Good Lord's commandments about not coveting :).
 
Otha said:
Yes were I live is just a big sand dump. And unfortunately the only ground that has native grass is the hill tops that are too poor for the coastal to spread to. That stuff is a weed to a native grass stand. We are trying to get a little patch of native type grasses in the next few years but haven't got the coastal killed out of the patch yet. I wonder if a more course stem Bermuda like Tifton would stockpile better?
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No experience. My place has some Klein grass, KR Bluestem, common Bermuda, and then a mix of natives. Before the drought we usually had a decent amount of Texas winter grass.

Different ways to approach what you are trying to do. The expensive option is to try to use equipment to make the land do what you want it to do. Every time I looked at that option it seemed like a money loser.

The better option seems to be to try to slowly use your cattle to encourage your land to go in the direction you would like, and, at most, to simply buy some native seed mixes and put them out cheaply during the winter and see if anything sticks. However, the soil PH, bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi, and other soil life tend to decide what can grow there anyway, I think. I tried for three years to get certain things to grow and was not successful in any meaningful way. Example: I put out some special silver river clover and yellow clover mix and let it go to seed in the spring and early summer. It had myriad seed heads and looked great. I thought it would begin to grow voluntarily on the spots where I planted it, at least. No such luck. Just an expensive food plot. And the deer are just as happy with plain old oats in the plot.

So maybe just manage around what you have and hope it improves bit by bit with proper grazing rotation.
 
callmefence said:
I'm pretty confident rmc has never rolled a bale of hay and probably hasn't known which end of the cow to put in for to long. And I bet he learned that on YouTube
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Hey, lots of good lectures on beef cattle by A&M, OSU, University of Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc on YouTube. I learned a lot! 😂
 
Rmc said:
But your claim was that these benefits far out way the downside of below freezing temps . And the benifit of rain actually having more nitrogen then snow.You are claiming the reason why some in the north can feed hay for six months and turn a profit while some in the south can't feed a month of hay and make a profit.
That doesn't even get into the increased nutrition requirements of cattle in freezing temperatures compared to the nutrient requirements of cattle in the south.
You still have offered no viable explanation or proof of your claim that those in the north with freezing temperatures have a environmental advantage that increases profits then those that raise Cattle in the south and in nonfreezing environments.
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He stated an opinion, he didn't say he was going to build a university level class on that basis. Looking around and seeing things, taking to people from those areas, then forming an opinion doesn't require an exhaustive study supported by links and peer reviewed papers. I really don't need a link to tell me my barn roof gets wet when it rains, my grass grows better if we get rain, the grass in some parts of the country provide more nutrients and are of a better quality than other places, or if my hayfields do better after a year when we have snow, I just see it and believe it, and if someone tells me those things and they have experienced I tend to believe them. If you don't believe them then it's you that needs to provide the links and reports providing empirical data proving it's wrong
 
i had a farm in cold cloudy ohio for a while. crop land i turned into grass. had to concrete a lot due to 8' top soil never reaching a bottom. wet all the time. 3-4 months growing season is it. one year we didn't get any grass growing until into june. feeding hay usually around halloween. feeding hay for 8 months really.... really... really.. sucks. had to build a feeding barn, hay barn, etc.. all on concrete. never leave the concrete, or its 1' rut the first time. 2' the 2nd. pushing dirt with the axle on the 3rd.

yea you can make a lot of tons of crops... but feeding so long pretty much throws that out.
 
If you had to feed hay 8 months of the year in Ohio you were doing something very wrong. I'm 600 miles north of Ohio (in an area that gets more cold and snow in 1 winter than Ohio does in 10 years) and I graze May thru November (sometimes December if snow holds off).

I will say that mud can be a problem. But I'll take mud all day over never ending drought like the south.
 
rocfarm said:
Hey, lots of good lectures on beef cattle by A&M, OSU, University of Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc on YouTube. I learned a lot! 😂
Click to expand...
Welcome roc.
Yes Lots of lectures.
They provide information. Sometimes good, sometimes bad . You take that information and apply it and it can become knowledge. You apply it in different ways over a period of time and it becomes experience. One thing for sure. Anyone can Google a subject and post a link. We've got a few around here that think it qualifies them in some way.
 
chevytaHOE5674 said:
If you had to feed hay 8 months of the year in Ohio you were doing something very wrong. I'm 600 miles north of Ohio (in an area that gets more cold and snow in 1 winter than Ohio does in 10 years) and I graze May thru November (sometimes December if snow holds off).

I will say that mud can be a problem. But I'll take mud all day over never ending drought like the south.
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i'm not sure.. the grass would never grow. maybe you guys get more sun up that way. we just never got any sun until almost june.
 
libertygarden said:
@TexasRancher which barn sale? I took mine to Paris, no tags, no brand. They just put a sticker on them and gave me a receipt. A couple of days later I received a check by mail.
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Really? I took mine to Decatur, no tags, no brand. They just put a sticker on them and gave me a receipt. A couple of days later I received a check by mail.
 
TexRanch---Just out of curiosity, why did you haul them all the way to Decatur when there are plent of decent sale barns (like Athens) much closer?
 

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