How much are Cow/Calf Pairs Worth?

[Travlr]

They quarantined us here and since VA was trying to become a bangs free state we got the pleasure of having to send everything to slaughter, positive or not.. Guess what a 3 week old baby is worth to slaughter. Nothing.

Jeezus... That's HARD. I wonder how many states are bangs free at this point? I was in Arkansas when we were checking everything that came through the sale barns.

 

[Buck Randall]

Jeezus... That's HARD. I wonder how many states are bangs free at this point? I was in Arkansas when we were checking everything that came through the sale barns.

All states are considered Brucellosis free now.

 

[Rafter S]

That and your cattle were required to be checked at your place, and all bangs infected were sent to slaughter and the rest quarantined for a significant time.

I assume different states handled it different, but here in Texas if you had a positive test than all the adjoining neighbors had to test also.

 

[kenny thomas]

I assume different states handled it different, but here in Texas if you had a positive test than all the adjoining neighbors had to test also.

Same here. We even had to sell a group of 4wt Holstein steers because we used the same tractor to feed at both farms. I'm pretty sure a steer couldn't catch or transmit bangs.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

I have orange tagged (brucellosis ) every heifer calf for the past 20 years or more. By doing so I have been able to ship any place without
worry of having someone come back on me. Doesn't mean they will top the market but I have had all heifers go on a single ticket probably
due to the brucellosis tags. What someone else does is up to them,,

 

[Rafter S]

I have orange tagged (brucellosis ) every heifer calf for the past 20 years or more. By doing so I have been able to ship any place without
worry of having someone come back on me. Doesn't mean they will top the market but I have had all heifers go on a single ticket probably
due to the brucellosis tags. What someone else does is up to them,,

I vaccinate the heifers I'm keeping or selling to an individual, but it never occurred to me to do the heifer calves I take to the auction sale.

 

[J+ Cattle]

What something is worth is determined by the buyer in what the buyer is willing to pay. Sometime the buyer has to be educated to know the true value and sometimes you just to wait for the buyer that values what you are offering.

There are a number of ways that we as cattle raisers can add value to cattle, castrating, weaning, vaccinating, AI, ET, etc. A Bangs vaccine is an extension of that mindset. Any heifer that I think might be retained in my herd or eventually bred and sold is taken to the local vet office for a Bangs vaccine. A few weeks ago, I took in 6 head, and it cost me $34.50 total, less than $6 per head. I don't know how they are making any money at that price, but I gladly pay it to increase the value of the heifers. I also collect a tissue sample using an Allflex TSU and send in for DNA and BVD testing. So far, I have not had much difficulty in selling a few 1st calf heifer pairs. I sold a few pairs last month for $2,000 pair.

 

[SBMF 2015]

That's what I was thinking too.

I'm one of those people @BC was talking about who are old enough to remember back then. I got to help with testing cattle quite a few times, and then sorting out the bangers to send to the auction (where they'd brand the B on the jaw) after the results came back. I don't miss it.

I've never seen the B brand used, but have seen several S (suspect) brands put on. Along with that pretty red steel tag and red ribbon that condemns them.

 

[Warren Allison]

What's a cow/calf pair worth?

The value of anything is the dollar amount someone is willing to give up to aquire it. The price of anything, is the dollar amount the owner is willing to accept to part with it. Whenever those 2 dollar amounts are the same, then we have a sale.

 

[tex452]

Sold a pair that brought around $1300 last week. Cow was #1000ish... calf was a month or so old.

This is what I saw today , some cheaper than that.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I also Bruc vaccinate all my heifers. All calves are BVD-PI tested. We are a Bruc free state, but if we had a breakout of it, my herd should be safe. Also, I sell breeding animals all over US, so some states (like CA) require it.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Watched some heifer pairs sell for 1700 today. And they were nothing special beside good ol solid black cows with good solid calves.

 

[CowboyRam]

A friend of mine took a couple pairs to the sale barn here recently. He got $1250 per pair. He also had some open cows at the same sale and he got $1000 for them. He said the cows with the calves were in better shape than to open cows.

 

[Dave]

This time of the year we just don't see pairs coming to town. 99.9% of them are up in the hills not to be seem until fall.

 

[Stocker Steve]

U$S 2,150 for good dispersal pairs w March calves

Half that for junk

 

[MurraysMutts]

I think they will be higher this fall...

 

[MurraysMutts]

Friday
4 year old pairs brought 1900
5 yr old pairs 1700

Just good ol honest cows with young black calves.

 

[kenny thomas]

11 pair and 1 bred cow here today averaged $2020 each.

 

[DCA farm]

I think they will be higher this fall...

I think They will
Either be higher or they will be giving them away cause no one will have hay to feed them. I've got buddies who ain't even started buying hay yet hoping for a better deal on it I told them
They better quit hoping and buy some now

 

[Dave]

There was a few pairs on Wednesday. They just split them. Bigger cows brought $1,300-$1,400 to kill and 150-200 pound calves sold by the head but worked out to nearly $2 a pound. Bought too much money to make them worth taking home.