I am a Breeder now

[Dave]

This last weekend the boys and I were tearing down my old junk double wide so I can start building a new house. I couldn't get away to go to the sale so I tell Franny my friend / cow partner to buy any heifers or cows that would fit what I need. About 4:45 he calls to tell me that he got me 3 heifers and a cow. The boys are there working hard so I don't want to leave so I had Franny haul them home for me. Well yesterday in the mail there is a letter from the sale yard. I knew it would be an invoice from the sale yard telling me how much I owe them. But along with that was a set of registration papers for the cow. This is the first time I have ever owned a registered cow. Plenty of bulls but the first on a cow. She is a red angus and I only recognized one bull in her breeding but she is registered. I am pretty certain she has a purebred calf in her. Who is interested in her bull calf for breeding purposes? I would be willing to let him go for say...... $5,000.
Franny did good. An 8 year old cow that weighed 1,285, is six months bred for $1,350. A good thick cow. She doesn't have the best udder in the world but not terrible. And she is registered!!!!

 

[greybeard]

Sounds like a good deal on that bred cow, as I've seen some pretty 'generic/mutt ' looking breds go thru the ring and cost a lot more locally.

Dave, I've torn down a couple of those "mobile homes" over the last 10 years--what a pita!!! The last one, I used the backhoe to peel the roof off in one long piece of sheet metal, then folded it up with the front bucket, and chucked it on the scrap trailer--which made things a lot easier, but all that insulation, sheet rock, plumbing and fixtures were sure hard to get rid of.
There's some pretty good channel or H iron in the frames tho.
Overal tho, I wouldn't wish that job on anyone.

Good luck with your new herd members Breeder Dave.

 

[Dave]

We used a 135 JD excavator with a thumb to tear down the house. I had put a tin roof on it 10 years ago. We unscrewed that and saved it. The old roof was composition and the siding was fake wood (more like thick cardboard). Everything to the frame was stuffed into a over sized dumpster. The frame we cut into handling size pieces and I will haul that into the scrap iron dealer. The actual tearing down of the house to the frame only took 2 hours but three of us worked day light to dark for two days for the whole project.
For now I am homeless. Well I am living in a camp trailer in the front yard. It is a good thing it is just me. There isn't any extra room in my camp trailer. Beings as I am homeless maybe I can make a sign and stand on a street corner begging for money???

 

[greybeard]

Maybe--and apply for some federal bennies like Joe's free phone he hasn't got yet.

What kind of house you got planned?

 

[Alan]

Getting into seed stock now huh? Next it'll be get some ready for Denver! LOL. Sounds like a good buy, do you see the prices dropping a bit in the last few weeks around our area?

 

[Dave]

Maybe--and apply for some federal bennies like Joe's free phone he hasn't got yet.

What kind of house you got planned?

The new house is going to be 1700 sq feet single story 3 bedroom 2 bath. This was supposed to happen last summer but county permitting moved like molasses on a cold day.

Getting into seed stock now huh? Next it'll be get some ready for Denver! LOL. Sounds like a good buy, do you see the prices dropping a bit in the last few weeks around our area?

It has been up and down. The heifers he got me were affordable but certainly not cheap. 735 pounds at $1.92. Franny said there were some older black cows 8 months bred that went for over $2,000. He bought some bred heifers that came with my cow. They were registered red angus, bred 7 months and he paid $1,900 which he thought was a little too much. My crystal ball says that February will be a up and down month but it will heat up in March and April.

 

[Son of Butch]

My crystal ball says that February will be a up and down month but it will heat up in March and April.

My crystal ball says Dave the Red Cow will be a troubled cow.
She will wean just one calf valued at $1111.00
She won't breed back and you will ship her and receive $1144.00 for total gross income of $2255.
She and the calf will cost you $606 in feed, housing, fuel, utilities, tax, license, dealer prep and attempted breeding expenses.
2255 - 606 = 1649 - 1350 = $299 net profit for a 22% return on $1350 investment

Not bad....and if my crystal ball is wrong and she does breed back you will do even better.

 

[Dave]

My crystal ball says that February will be a up and down month but it will heat up in March and April.

My crystal ball says Dave the Red Cow will be a troubled cow.
She will wean just one calf valued at $1111.00
She won't breed back and you will ship her and receive $1144.00 for total gross income of $2255.
She and the calf will cost you $606 in feed, housing, fuel, utilities, tax, license, dealer prep and attempted breeding expenses.
2255 - 606 = 1649 - 1350 = $299 net profit for a 22% return on $1350 investment

Not bad....and if my crystal ball is wrong and she does breed back you will do even better.

My crystal ball says that this cow is in trouble either way. The cows I buy this time of year get shipped in the fall 99% of the time. So unless she does raise that $5,000 breeding bull her stay here is limited. I won't have nearly that $606 in upkeep into her.

 

[Jogeephus]

I won't have nearly that $606 in upkeep into her.

Sounds like you just don't know how to manage things properly. Its obvious you need a new truck and an aluminum trailer with sleeping quarters.

I picked some registered heifers a few years ago for a song. Far cry for what the rest of the registered heifers brought the day before at the sale but i didn't get free liquor when I bought them and they didn't have finger food. Same genetics though. If the people who bought them at the breeder's sale weren't hungover and sick the next day they would have been if they knew what I paid for mine.

 

[Dave]

I won't have nearly that $606 in upkeep into her.

Sounds like you just don't know how to manage things properly. Its obvious you need a new truck and an aluminum trailer with sleeping quarters.
.

I really could use that trailer with sleeping quarters. Note in the original post that I tore my house down this last weekend. There isn't a lot of extra room in that 24 foot camp trailer parked in the front yard. You never know when a bachelor like me might have the opportunity to entertain a guest....

 

[Jogeephus]

Yep and I've heard he smell of saddle leather makes them fillies frisky. ;-)