wanting to know if i could make a profit off holstein steers. if i raised them from about 300lbs to about 700lbs in a feedlot set up. i would be buying my feed. if so what would be the best type of feed. does anyone do this and how are you doing. not lot of pasture for them.
holstein steers
- Thread starter trin
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Check the last issue of Drover's. There was an article in there on raising holsteins. It didn't really address bucket calves, it talked more of getting them from 350 lbs to finish, but you might pick up a couple of things that feedlots are looking for.
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
trin":259z353h said:
trin
I don't know the answer to your question, but have some points to ponder.
Your best profit opportunity will come from maximizing your specific "unfair advantage". Everywhere there are these advantages. The real challlenge is discovering and exploiting these advantages. Some possibilities are: source of underpriced calves, execptionally strong market for heavy yearlings, cheap feed (DDG, corn gluten, soy hulls, bakery waste, distillers mash/grains, etc) that produces lower than normal cost of gain. Your toughest competition will most likely be the large plains feedyards with their extremely effecient, high volume operations. Also there are probably some midwestern backgrounders with their low(est) cost feeds that can do an excellent job with holsteins.
Not trying to throw a wet blanket on you idea, just trying to point out what your competition will be.
I strongly urge you to focus on finding that "unfair advantage". It's out there some where. Most likely it will involve doing something out of the mainstream. Think outside the box and dare to be different. Remember, Bill Gates & Warren Buffett didn't achieve their wealth by doing what their neighbors did. I'm not saying that your neighbors are wrong, just that their unfair advantage could be vastly different from yours.
Some other points to remember:
1. In order to succeed, you must first plan to fail INEXPENSIVELY. Every new venture has a severe learning curve. You must budget for some initial failures.
2. Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement. There is NO shortcut for this process. However, you can reduce the expense of gaining the necessary experience, by learning as much as possible from the experiences(both good & bad)of others.
3. Statistically speaking, success is merely a byproduct of numerous failed attempts. We all have experienced more individual failures than success. Those who ultimately succeeded, learned from their (usually many) failures, & kept trying until they got it right most of the time. A good example is a child learning to walk. We all busted our backside numerous times before we were successful in walking. Same thing happened when we tried to run. Some of us not-so-young folks are having to learn that we can no longer do some of those things we used to do successfully. We must always be prepared to adapt and never ever give up!
Several years ago I figured out how to summarize the process I had used to achieve most of the ?success I have had. I call this Brock's Law and it says " If you do enough stumblin', you will stumble on to something"
I'm sure there are others on this board who will provide good advice.
Hope this rambling has some value as food for thought.
Good luck in all you do and Merry Christmas to all.
Do your home work and stumble on!
Brock
Remember the Reason for the Season
WarriorPatriot
Well-known member
You can make 1000+ on them if you sell them at about 2 yo 1500lbs. depending on where you live. Back in Indiana my cousins could make around 2500 for their 2 year holstein steers, just by giving them the right grain and get a lot of weight on them
farmer4620
Well-known member
Friend of mine takes em from bottle to finish....i take beef from 500-700lbs to finish. Buy em cheap, feed em cheap, sell em hi....you wont get rich but you should do alright. Youd pry be better off taking them to finish...just remember locker plants arnt looking for 1500 lb steers they want smaller cuts that come from 1200-1300 lb animals...that are bringing 80-85 cents at our sale barn. The friend of mine could do better if he paid closer attention to his feeding but he doenst understand even though 41% protein costs 2-3 dollars more per bag than 12% it really is cheaper in the long run
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
trin
Just had a conversation with my cattle auctioneer friend regarding holstein steers. He said that order buyers in our area will not buy thin holstein steers. They will only buy holsteins that are medium fleshed or better. Thin holsteins sell at a sometimes, significant discount. Example- good 6cwt holsteins bring $82-$85, good lighter weights will bring more. Thin 2-4cwt bringing from $50-$70. If this is the case in your area, there should be a good profit potential from buying the thin ones and putting on both weight and flesh. A feedlot type situation should accomplish this. Whenever you can find a class of cattle that will increase price per pound (positive margin)as weight increases, this improves the economics dramatically. With mainstream stocker/feeder cattle you have to overcome the negative margin(price/lb rollback) as the cattle get heavier. There will be some additional risk, as some of these calves are probably thin just because they are unthrifty animals due to a myriad of reasons. While you will probaby never be able to totaly avoid purchasing some poor doers, with experience you should be able to greatly improve your selection.
Another post suggested finishing the holsteins and selling as freezer beef. This approach should have significant profit potential. However they will have to be fed close to a year to get enough finish on them. For a startup operation cash flow is usually a major consideration. The freezer beef has a very long time lag for cash flow. Also, it takes time to build a market for the beef. A possible good combination may involve selling the vast majority as heavy feeders, while retaining a few to sell in the beef. The would give a little better cash flow, while keeping a pipeline of potential finished yearlings.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Merry Christmas and best wishes for all.
Brock
Just had a conversation with my cattle auctioneer friend regarding holstein steers. He said that order buyers in our area will not buy thin holstein steers. They will only buy holsteins that are medium fleshed or better. Thin holsteins sell at a sometimes, significant discount. Example- good 6cwt holsteins bring $82-$85, good lighter weights will bring more. Thin 2-4cwt bringing from $50-$70. If this is the case in your area, there should be a good profit potential from buying the thin ones and putting on both weight and flesh. A feedlot type situation should accomplish this. Whenever you can find a class of cattle that will increase price per pound (positive margin)as weight increases, this improves the economics dramatically. With mainstream stocker/feeder cattle you have to overcome the negative margin(price/lb rollback) as the cattle get heavier. There will be some additional risk, as some of these calves are probably thin just because they are unthrifty animals due to a myriad of reasons. While you will probaby never be able to totaly avoid purchasing some poor doers, with experience you should be able to greatly improve your selection.
Another post suggested finishing the holsteins and selling as freezer beef. This approach should have significant profit potential. However they will have to be fed close to a year to get enough finish on them. For a startup operation cash flow is usually a major consideration. The freezer beef has a very long time lag for cash flow. Also, it takes time to build a market for the beef. A possible good combination may involve selling the vast majority as heavy feeders, while retaining a few to sell in the beef. The would give a little better cash flow, while keeping a pipeline of potential finished yearlings.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Merry Christmas and best wishes for all.
Brock
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
trin":2i8fp16l said:
trin
Do a google search for "holstein steers" It will give you several good sites for all kinds of holstein feeding info, including suggested rations. A local area nutritionist should be able to suggest a least cost ration using feedstuffs available in your area. there is another post regarding holsteins ( http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15977) it mentions a tender lean program. while not personally familiar with it. Sounds like a supplement to use with shelled corn. Might be just the ticket for what you are considerating.
Good luck
Brock
