Hows this deal

[HOSS]

My neighbor has a pet red limi x char heifer that he raised from a bottle. She is now 27 months old. It is the only cow he has. Now that she is older and alone she has been going throgh their non-electric high tensile horse wire (not breaking it but riding it down) and seeking out other cows. She was bred to my bull at 21 months old. He has tired of fixing the fence and has asked me if I want her since she winds up in my pasture anyway. Once in my pasture with the herd she does fine and is easy to handle. He says he will trade her for one of my yet to be weaned steers. I have a red w/ white face steer that will bring less at the sale than my black ones and he said he would be fine with that because it will be freezer beef this winter anyway. The heifer needs a little more condition which she will get at my place due to my grass vs. his woods lot. I would be trading a weaned steer for a 6 months bred heifer. She is not black and is 1/2 char so I will probably get a smokey calf out of my balancer bull. Would ya'll make this trade?

 

[alabama]

What makes him think the steer will stay home alone?
If he waits 3 months the cow will calve and she should stay home with the calf.
It sounds like he needs a hot wire either way.

 

[bigbull338]

you have answered your own q.your getting an $800 to $900 bred heifer for a $500 or $600 steer calf.so in my eyes your coming out way ahead on the deal.

 

[HOSS]

If you think she is a good cow in good health then by all means trade. Anything you can do to benefit you and make money do it. To me she would be more valuable than the steer. My only concern would be her age and I would assume not having calved before?

No she has not calved before. She was bred 6 months later than I would have liked but he had no access to a bull and he was afraid to breed her to my Red Angus bull at the time due to his 2200 lb. weight. My RA bull had no problem breeding my 800 lb. heifers but he was worried about her getting hurt or having a big calf. I tried to explain that genetics dictate the calf size and not mature body weight of the bull. He was equating big bull = big calf. My RA bulls never went over 75 pounds at birth but I could not convince him. Anyway he waited until I got the young balancer who weighs about 1400-1500 lbs. I have two cows that were bred their first time as +2 year olds and haven't had any issues with them breeding back late or any birthing problems. My biggest concern was she only had intermittant access to minerals so I am not sure how that affected her early growth.

 

[HOSS]

What makes him think the steer will stay home alone?
If he waits 3 months the cow will calve and she should stay home with the calf.
It sounds like he needs a hot wire either way.

I'm thinking that he will ask me to hold onto the steer at my place until he is ready to butcher it. He has said that if wants to go this route and I would do this that he will buy a couple of round bales to cover the feed costs which should be more than adequate. I don't mind doing this as I consider him a friend also.

 

[Lammie]

Well, you are getting a bred heifer and he's getting some beef, so if it's okay to keep that steer at your place till he's ready, them I'd say you are doing him a favor and getting something in the bargain.

 

[larryshoat]

Well, you are getting a bred heifer and he's getting some beef, so if it's okay to keep that steer at your place till he's ready, them I'd say you are doing him a favor and getting something in the bargain.

I agree with Lammie, sounds like everybody is going to get something out of the deal .

Larry