Heifers Questions

[Kenany Farm]

Hey guys, i just have a couple of questions about buying heifers. I,m looking at a group of heifer that are 11- 12 months old Angus heifers sired by a top of the line low-line bull ( i was told). the issue here is that i don`t have a lot of Acres, and when i raised full size cows (1400 lbs+) it was devastating for the land, so i wanted to get into smaller cattle to stock more per Acre without overgrazing the pasture. back in the winter, i found a good deal on a herd of low line 3 heifers, 2 cows, and a bull not registered i paid way less than they were worth (not to mention the two cows were confirmed bred). After a while i sold them to a friend since i didn`t really like that they were so small. so, long story short i found these heifers they are the best of both worlds not too big, not mini either, and they look very nice. so my question is how much this type of heifers go for? is buying them now, and breeding them for next year will be worth my while? would breeding them to a low-birth weight bull a good idea, or should i start them with a low-line bull first time, then a low-birth weight bull when they fully mature? they are between 650-800 lbs, and the person is asking 1000 for the small ones, and 1100 for the big ones delivered. i live in Eastern Connecticut, and our prices usually less than the rest of the country, but this year prices are crazy,good open heifers go for 2500 people are asking. Thanks in advance

 

[Son of Butch]

I'm looking at a group of heifers that are 11- 12 months old Angus heifers sired by a top of the line low-line bull ( i was told)....so my question is how much does this type of heifers go for?
is buying them now, and breeding them for next year will be worth my while?
would breeding them to a low-birth weight bull a good idea, or should i start them with a low-line bull first time, then a low-birth weight bull when they fully mature?
they are between 650-800 lbs, and i live in Eastern Connecticut,

1. I don't know that there is much data collected to determine a true top low-line sire from an average low-line sire.
2. Price? 1.25 lb - 1.50 lb (1.75 lb if I really liked them)
3. Yes...IF you want to calve them June - September
4. I would breed them to a good smaller framed low birth weight Angus bull and forget about low-lines.

 

[Supa Dexta]

So what happened to your pasture? Over stocked and under managed? What's going to change this time? A smaller cow just has smaller feet and will still punch them up

Near any heifer is worth that for slaughter price alone. Agreed, forget the lowline idea, you didn't like them the first go round.

 

[ChrisB]

I would use a lowline bull on them for their first calf just to help avoid potential calving problems but after that I would just use a low birth weight angus bull.

 

[Supa Dexta]

They're cows. Stop babying them and making them have calves the size of puppies.

 

[Kenany Farm]

So what happened to your pasture? Over stocked and under managed? What's going to change this time? A smaller cow just has smaller feet and will still punch them up

My pasture is fine, grew better this year than it ever did before. here we have very good soils, and we had a good year with the rain. the overgrazing, and the under management was me trying to figure out the right stocking rate, i live in a small town, and they really don`t interfere with your farm, so i wanted to try things out to see what would be the best for the land, and how many heads to have on the farm, hence the medium size cattle options. i won`t over or under stock it this time. P.s i am no expert, and never had a family in farming, it is a passion of mine that i would like one day to do it for living, so that is why i,m posting this to have the kind experts opinion who would like to help a young man. thanks for the advice

 

[dun]

Do you have a plan for marketing your excess calves?

 

[Kenany Farm]

Marketing is not an issue, the issue is making a good marketable calves. i have a few loyal customers (Friends/ neighbors/Family) who buy beef from me. Also used to go the sale barn, and buy some steers, put weight on them, and take them back to the auction which was a really good learning experience, and got to meet a lot of people in this business. so either selling cuts or live calves at the auction would always have good outlets to market my crop.

 

[ChrisB]

They're cows. Stop babying them and making them have calves the size of puppies.

Actually they are not cows. They are heifers that are 1/2 lowline. The OP might get along just fine using a lbw bull on them; probably no different than using a larger birth weight bull on straight angus heifers. I guess it depends how close he is able to watch them when they get close to calving.