Incorporating Stockers- Any Advice Welcome!

[californiacattle]

Hi y'all!
I hope I'm posting this to the right board—

We have plans to slowly start incorporating stockers to our operation. We are currently and have always been a commercial cow calf op, but for the last few years we have been considering moving forward with stockers. We have decided to now pull the trigger for a great number of reasons—

One of them being a huge wreck we got into last year that severely impacted our herd size. This bad storm in turn had one positive outcome, our pastures were able to recover greatly. Especially with all of this rain we have been getting in California. So now that we are more confident in our forage than we have been in the last few years, we want to add some stockers.

Does anyone have any advice they would like to share when it comes to adding stockers? I greatly appreciate any and all—I believe there is something to be learned from everyone! More specifically- if you also have any advice you could share when it comes to buying from auction (what you look for, avoid, etc.) I would definitely appreciate it! I like to frontload myself with as much information as possible.

Thank you very much!

 

[Travlr]

Why did your "pastures were able to recover greatly"? And tell us about the "wreck".

And where are you in Cali? You should post the area on your profile so we know north/south/coastal/mountain/desert. A lot of advice is dependent on knowing what you have to work with.

 

[californiacattle]

Why did your "pastures were able to recover greatly"? And tell us about the "wreck".

And where are you in Cali? You should post the area on your profile so we know north/south/coastal/mountain/desert. A lot of advice is dependent on knowing what you have to work with.

Our pastures were able to recover from the severe California drought that we were experiencing the past few years. With less cattle to graze and much more rainfall than we have seen in years, our hills and valleys are looking great!

We are located in Southern California. I meant to add that in my post and forgot so thank you for asking.

The wreck that we had was with a range bull that got to our herd and impregnated our cows. Terrible genetics, don't know where he came from. We lost almost every calf that was born and many of the cows as well.

 

[Travlr]

Our pastures were able to recover from the severe California drought that we were experiencing the past few years. With less cattle to graze and much more rainfall than we have seen in years, our hills and valleys are looking great!

We are located in Southern California. I meant to add that in my post and forgot so thank you for asking.

The wreck that we had was with a range bull that got to our herd and impregnated our cows. Terrible genetics, don't know where he came from. We lost almost every calf that was born and many of the cows as well.

Still encourage you to edit your profile to include location.

Did you shoot the alien bull? Do you have any pics of him and/or the calves that survived? What kinds of cows are you running?

Glad to hear your pastures are returning. Fingers crossed for the future...

 

[californiacattle]

Still encourage you to edit your profile to include location.

Did you shoot the alien bull? Do you have any pics of him and/or the calves that survived? What kinds of cows are you running?

Glad to hear your pastures are returning. Fingers crossed for the future... you! I will do so!

Still encourage you to edit your profile to include location.

Did you shoot the alien bull? Do you have any pics of him and/or the calves that survived? What kinds of cows are you running?

Glad to hear your pastures are returning. Fingers crossed for the future...

Thank you! I will do so!


Regrettably no, I do not have any pictures of the survivors & none of that bull. He was some sort of Charolais cross is all I could tell and he was taken care of but unfortunately all of the damage had already been done. I only got a few photos here and there of the ones that died. Here is a pic of a pair of twins that came out of a mama that we've had for a few years. She's always produced good healthy calves, and these little ones both died within a few days.
We run commercial cows and breed em with Brangus bulls. We've always been proud of our calves until this last year. An extreme bummer but we're trying to look at the positive and start our stocker incorporation.

Thank you I appreciate that. We are keeping ours crossed as well!

 

[GoWyo]

Maybe that bull was BVD PI or carried something else just as bad. Those calves look sick.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

Thank you! I will do so!


Regrettably no, I do not have any pictures of the survivors & none of that bull. He was some sort of Charolais cross is all I could tell and he was taken care of but unfortunately all of the damage had already been done. I only got a few photos here and there of the ones that died. Here is a pic of a pair of twins that came out of a mama that we've had for a few years. She's always produced good healthy calves, and these little ones both died within a few days. View attachment 26618
We run commercial cows and breed em with Brangus bulls. We've always been proud of our calves until this last year. An extreme bummer but we're trying to look at the positive and start our stocker incorporation.

Thank you I appreciate that. We are keeping ours crossed as well!

Thank you! I will do so!


Regrettably no, I do not have any pictures of the survivors & none of that bull. He was some sort of Charolais cross is all I could tell and he was taken care of but unfortunately all of the damage had already been done. I only got a few photos here and there of the ones that died. Here is a pic of a pair of twins that came out of a mama that we've had for a few years. She's always produced good healthy calves, and these little ones both died within a few days. View attachment 26618
We run commercial cows and breed em with Brangus bulls. We've always been proud of our calves until this last year. An extreme bummer but we're trying to look at the positive and start our stocker incorporation.

Thank you I appreciate that. We are keeping ours crossed as well!

Did you have blood work done ?

 

[tex452]

How many cows can you run in a normal year?

 

[puzzled in oregon]

How many cows can you run in a normal year?

They have moved this topic to the "Feedyard Board"

 

[wbvs58]

Maybe that bull was BVD PI or carried something else just as bad. Those calves look sick.

I think you are on the money GoWyo. BVD can have a devastating affect on a naieve herd.

Ken

 

[californiacattle]

Maybe that bull was BVD PI or carried something else just as bad. Those calves look sick.

That's exactly what my thoughts were.