Feeder steers and heifers

[tncattle]

If I have the grass, facilities, $, and time. How much $ realistically can someone expect to make (profit) off 50 feeder steers/heifers if kept for 4-5 months?
I'm thinking of buying at around 400-500 pds. and selling in 4-5 months. Maybe this isn't worth it or just doesn't make sense, just trying to explore my options.
Thanks for critical advice because I know there are many things I'm probably not thinking of.

 

[JMichal]

completly depends on what you buy at and what you sell at, And your feed expenses. I have made profit, broke even, and lost. usually you do better than break even, if nothing goes wrong.

 

[bigbull338]

personally i wouldnt gamble on making a profit with stocker calves.theres too meny verables to account for.like was said you can make a little money or loose alot of money.your at the markets mercy buying an selling.if i was you.an i wanted to try something like that.id buy 10 or 15 steers pre con emm give their shots.an turn them out in may.an pull them in oct.an sell them an see if you make any money.keep in mind that its all very risky.

 

[Howdyjabo]

If you buy them right, keep them healthy, get decent weight gain and keep the feed costs down you can make some good money.
Lately You can play the futures(or puts) and cover your market risks(which is the only reason I think the live market hasn't crashed) .
50 head is not enough to market the best- need a whole trailer load- around 60-69 hd.

Or....... you can loose your shirt. Most beginners loose their shirt.But ya gotta pay for education and its worth it if you plan on doing it for years.

 

[sparky1]

I just bought 80head 1/2 bulls 1/2 heifers, paid 85 for heifers and 95 for bulls avg weight 375 lbs. going to keep em 9 to 10 months I figure after all said and done hope n to make $100 hd. Might make $50 hd but thats the gamble. Remember paper numbers can go both ways but have to have a plan and always try to improve on it

 

[SCRUBS620]

I just bought 80head 1/2 bulls 1/2 heifers, paid 85 for heifers and 95 for bulls avg weight 375 lbs. going to keep em 9 to 10 months I figure after all said and done hope n to make $100 hd. Might make $50 hd but thats the gamble. Remember paper numbers can go both ways but have to have a plan and always try to improve on it

How are you planning on feeding them and what do you figure they will weigh when you sell them. I have tried this a couple of years now on a very small scale. I have been buying in November and then selling in the spring. 1st year I broke even because they did not gain like I would have hoped they would and the market dropped. I'll have to wait to see this year but I have been feeding more aggressively and plan on selling in May or early June when the majority of the spring flush has been used up.

 

[sparky1]

I just bought 80head 1/2 bulls 1/2 heifers, paid 85 for heifers and 95 for bulls avg weight 375 lbs. going to keep em 9 to 10 months I figure after all said and done hope n to make $100 hd. Might make $50 hd but thats the gamble. Remember paper numbers can go both ways but have to have a plan and always try to improve on it

How are you planning on feeding them and what do you figure they will weigh when you sell them. I have tried this a couple of years now on a very small scale. I have been buying in November and then selling in the spring. 1st year I broke even because they did not gain like I would have hoped they would and the market dropped. I'll have to wait to see this year but I have been feeding more aggressively and plan on selling in May or early June when the majority of the spring flush has been used up.

I feed them all hay they can eat,during winter 5lbs 20% cubes hd per day, when grass greens its 6 lbs 20% cubes every other day with feed-n-a-drum feed supplement year round. I try to buy them right so when i sell I still get the same price per lb or more as when they were bought. Watch the futures when decideing when to sell right now I am waitn till late fall. tryn 2 get them to avg 775lbs.
I figure it will cost me $150 a hd to grow till selln but remember this is just paper numbers talkn.

 

[Jogeephus]

My cousin does this and has done so for over 20 years. He has some unfair advantages over most people but he uses these advantages to make it work for him. According to him, he said he will net $40 per head. This is a year end year out average over several years. He has lost his shirt on some but bought some pretty nice equipment on others. You got to have the numbers and you got to keep your death loss as low as possible. I definitely would not do it unless I had a good vet or knew a lot about treating illness. He prefers to background heifers since they can be turned into brood cows or sold as bred heifers if things go south.

 

[SCRUBS620]

I just bought 80head 1/2 bulls 1/2 heifers, paid 85 for heifers and 95 for bulls avg weight 375 lbs. going to keep em 9 to 10 months I figure after all said and done hope n to make $100 hd. Might make $50 hd but thats the gamble. Remember paper numbers can go both ways but have to have a plan and always try to improve on it

How are you planning on feeding them and what do you figure they will weigh when you sell them. I have tried this a couple of years now on a very small scale. I have been buying in November and then selling in the spring. 1st year I broke even because they did not gain like I would have hoped they would and the market dropped. I'll have to wait to see this year but I have been feeding more aggressively and plan on selling in May or early June when the majority of the spring flush has been used up.

I feed them all hay they can eat,during winter 5lbs 20% cubes hd per day, when grass greens its 6 lbs 20% cubes every other day with feed-n-a-drum feed supplement year round. I try to buy them right so when i sell I still get the same price per lb or more as when they were bought. Watch the futures when decideing when to sell right now I am waitn till late fall. tryn 2 get them to avg 775lbs.
I figure it will cost me $150 a hd to grow till selln but remember this is just paper numbers talkn.

So thats a gain of about 1.5 lbs per head per day. Seems pretty good. I have water issues so I cant keep them through the summer plus here in Indiana the grass will bury a 400 lb calf from april to june and then it shuts down fast after that. So I have the resources to carry them through June alright but after that it becomes expensive and a headache for me. I push them a little harder in the winter than I probably should and supplement with about 5lbs of corn per head per day once they are eating the grass well. I bought 325 lb calves in march one year and they gained between 2.6 and 3 lbs per day. Kept them about 100 days and they weighed about 600 lbs when they left mid June. I did pretty well that year.