How to run Stockers

[NorCalFarms]

I hope I have the right board for this ?.

I am curious about running stockers. I have always ran cow/calves, but I would like to have more flexibility on herd size. I try and sell everything but my cows and replacement hiefers by October so I don't have to feed anything extra though the winter, but sometimes come April I need a few extra head if I have the grass. I wouldn't be running a whole bunch, like maybe 20-50 head. The few guys around here who are doing this seem to buy them by the truckload, they will have 300 head one day and 0 the next. I would want to get them around April and have them gone in Sept. So at what wieght do you get them? How heavy do they want them to get? Where do you usually get them? How are you paid?

Any advice will be appreciated. TIA

 

[Razorback21]

NorCal,
Never been to California, but here in Southern Illinois and where my family runs cattle in the Ozarks, you are never too far from a sale barn where you can get odd lots of feeder calves or from a cow-calf producer that does fall calving. We
buy our calves at about 350-450 pounds in March and run them until early to mid October. At that time, ours are about 700-750 pounds. I sell them to a finisher or take them to the sale barn. Hope this helps!

Razorback21

 

[Larry Sansom]

Best advice I can give you - or anyone wanting to run stockers is to be at Bud William's Livestock Marketing School Nov 4-5 in Kansas City MO. 1-800-535-6051 or http://www.budwilliamsmarketing.com I went last year and was amazed at info he had and profit potential by marketing rather than just buy and sell. Cash flow, when to buy- when to sell, what weights to sell/buy.and a world of real world info.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Small to medium operators buy small lots of local calves. Big operators usually buy some local calves, but have to truck in additional pot belly loads to get the numbers they need in a size that makes money on grass.

Marketing is critical. Bud has a good "sell/buy" system but it is better suited for a year round feedlot than a grass based stocker operation. Similiar grass based approaches are retained owership (where you sell fats and buy back light calves in the same market) or advanced sales of your calves (right after you receive them).

Keeping them alive is critical. I have seen operators who raised home grown cattle for years really struggle with a trailer load of singles and assorted bargains.

Grazing management is critical. The quality of pasture requried for good ADG with young stock is much higher than the over grazed cow quality grass you see in many pastures.

Have a detailed receiving plan and your Vet's phone number written in a handy place, and then start small. Good luck. :!:

 

[Bama]

Some good advice above. The only thing I would add is that it is a lot riskier. You can loose if you are not careful. The calves I get in are from all over the place. I could be bringing in problems that are not prone to my area. I keep the stockers seperate from my regular herd. I also keep the new ones seperate from the ones that have been here a month or more. AS far as the weights to buy and sell at, Best answer I could give is it depends on the market. Look at what they are worth now. How much they will be worth later and at what cost to get them there. Also can you dump these and put others in their place to get a higher return.