Hard Cull'in in 2020

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Stocker Steve

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Shipped 6 big old cows yesterday who were slow to breed back. Can not make any money feeding hay to a big cow that weans a small late calf. They averaged 1595# full of balage. My prices ranged from 44.5 to 58.0 US cents. Steins were in the high 30s...

Shipped the 8 year old bull who was getting very stiff. He brought 77.5 cents. Will miss him a bit.

Still have 50% of the herd that are below average. So I put 14 cows on the new cull list.
 
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I'm feeling better about the 15 or so I sent down the road late February at a lot better price. Never got a chance to replace them and had plenty of grass that dried up since it stopped raining in September. The remainder haven't attacked the good hay I put out yesterday as I thought the would so maybe I'll have a few more weeks on the grass I have before they change their minds about it.
 
Had a dirt surfing neighbor tell me today to plow up the entire farm and grow soybeans. I told him I did not want to be a Chinese Communist tool. That said, there will be some hard cull'in this winter.
 
Had a dirt surfing neighbor tell me today to plow up the entire farm and grow soybeans. I told him I did not want to be a Chinese Communist tool. That said, there will be some hard cull'in this winter.
Here it is 160-180 days to spring grass. We figure $2 a day through the winter. Culls are bringing $600-$700 +/- a head. That might work but it might not.
 
Would it be better to feed the under performing cows till spring then sell them as a pair if they are breed?

There are spread sheets out there to estimate the return from carrying cows. Big variables are carrying cost due to feed price and cow size, duration till you sell due to today's date vs. calving date, estimated selling price due to color n age n calving date n death loss...

Hard to make money carrying culls in snow country unless you have a strong rising market or are able to buy them in late winter. Some scenarios here:
1) big fleshy cow - - probably not
2) smaller lean young black cow - - probably yes
3) cheap hay and able to take a mineral credit - - probably yes, but yearings could pay off better
4) old red cow - - probably not
5) July calver - - probably not

Pasture stockpile is gone. Hard to get over $1000 for a June calving pair. So time to sort some cows and wean their calves. Mine averaged $802 to kill in November.
 
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A local cow trader that backgrounds has his pasture full of 5 to 6 hundred pound cross bred cattle heifers and steers. Could be waiting until after the first of the year to work them off. Also they may have a clue that cattle prices are due to rise. The owners are feeding hay and grain each day and what ever little picking the cattle can get from the pasture. Looks like they may have in the neighbor hood of 1000 head.
 
Under performers should always be culled. No matter what the market or feed situation is like.
We know a guy that has a pasture full of underperformers, but he gets them cheap at the sale barn. Shake your head and bite your tongue.
 
Depends on your feed and your market and your management. Calving out cheap cows that have big tits and bad attitudes does not work for everyone. If you are not an above average manager - - you are usually better off buying pairs.

The only good buys I have made consistently are on rwf bred cows. They get heavily discounted here, but are above average mothers with above average dispositions.
 
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We did the same a couple weeks ago and get about the same prices. I'm culling hard right now. Hit most any thing that had bad feet, udders, etc earlier in the year. Sent some cows that weren't bad but just old recently when their calves got weaned. Going after bad attitudes next. Any thing that has that big "B" by their name in the spreadsheet is next.

That's going to leave us mainly with good, young, cattle that will be worth taking thru.

I hate going thru these dry times but a good purge and reminder is never a bad thing.
 
I did what I do every year. Sold the culls and opens, retained heifers. Culled as usual for attitude, age, feet, bags, poor performance.
Got the sheet on the cows today, $.66 for the older cows straight through, $.70 for the "E" cows, $1.15 for heiferettes, and $1.55 for heifers. You'll have to do your own conversions to foreign dollars.
Cow weights were up a bit this year. Could be because they have been on dry hay for a month rather than coming in off washy grass. Cows were about 1,460 lbs, heifers at 1054.
 
Sat on my hands today. They probably ran 30 broken mouth cows bred 6 months through the ring. Trouble was they were all big fat cows weighing 1,400-1,500. Those kind were bringing 54 - 55 cents to kill. Can't pay that much this early in the winter and be able to come out. A person needs to put a pencil to things before going to the sale and be willing to come home with an empty trailer.
 
I hauled 3 cull bulls to the sale barn yesterday. This auction broadcasts their sale on the web so I was able to watch them sell a few minutes ago. 3 bulls averaged 2,150 lbs and got $1.14. Not sure why they got so much, nothing else went over a dollar. But at that price my cost per year of use is somewhere around $260 not including maintenance.
 
A local cow trader that backgrounds has his pasture full of 5 to 6 hundred pound cross bred cattle heifers and steers. Could be waiting until after the first of the year to work them off. Also they may have a clue that cattle prices are due to rise. The owners are feeding hay and grain each day and what ever little picking the cattle can get from the pasture. Looks like they may have in the neighbor hood of 1000 head.
I have read some of the "experts" that say they expect prices to improve after the first of the year.
 
I hauled 3 cull bulls to the sale barn yesterday. This auction broadcasts their sale on the web so I was able to watch them sell a few minutes ago. 3 bulls averaged 2,150 lbs and got $1.14. Not sure why they got so much, nothing else went over a dollar. But at that price my cost per year of use is somewhere around $260 not including maintenance.
Well done! I haven't seen a cull bull for even close to $1.00 in a while.
 
Going for a new hip this coming Tuesday. Been planning a herd reduction of some sort since last June. Projections made on $1600 bred cows went out the window Wednesday. We sold 300 of our bottom end, older and late calving cows that averaged 2079 across the board.
Kept our open cows and have bought another 100 65 cent cows to carry some money thought the New Year. They are on good feed at our son's place. Thinking a 300 lb gain in 100 days and maybe 25 cents higher price once the glut is gone. We implanted these cows to see what the results were for ourselves.
Thursday regular sale had a few late arrival bred heifers in it. Picked up two for $1050. Maybe they will double in value in ten years time.

Can't take it with you when you're gone,
But I want enough to get there on...
An I ain't ever growin' old.....
So I keep on rollin' with the flow.....
 
Well done! I haven't seen a cull bull for even close to $1.00 in a while.
Remember both Silver and Gcreekrch are in Canada. When you calculate the exchange rate their prices are about what things sell for here. The last I knew the exchange rate was 0.73. It goes up and down almost daily so that rate may not be current.
 

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