keep or sell?

[angus9259]

I would keep her till I was done calving to see if I had a twin I could graft. If I couldn't graft I would sell her - possibly rebred depending on time of year and such. If this just happened I would breed her and she'd still be in time for a bred cow sale somewhere.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I'm not saying i'm better than anyone or that my way is the only right way. But if I have a cow that I don't want to calve again because I think she will have problems, I go ahead and sell them while they are open instead of breeding for someone to take home.

 

[BRYANT]

I'm not saying i'm better than anyone or that my way is the only right way. But if I have a cow that I don't want to calve again because I think she will have problems, I go ahead and sell them while they are open instead of breeding for someone to take home.

thank you . That's the way it should be !!!

 

[stocky]

First thing I would do before making any other decision is get a month old fresh off the cow calf and put on her. That will cost around 500 dollars. By doing that, you just took a 1,000 dollar slaughter cow (guessing) and turned her into a 2000-2500 dollar pair for 500 dollars. After that your choices are sell the pair for 2,000-2500, or raise the calf and sell it for 1400, and keep the cow or sell the cow as a springer for 1800 (turning 1500 dollars into 3200). If you do not put a calf on her, your only choices are to sell her for 1,000 and put another 1,000 with it to get another cow, or keep her and spend 500 each year to keep her for 2 years until you sell a calf. All the decisions can be tough, the only easy one is put a calf on her.

 

[Dave]

First thing I would do before making any other decision is get a month old fresh off the cow calf and put on her. That will cost around 500 dollars. By doing that, you just took a 1,000 dollar slaughter cow (guessing) and turned her into a 2000-2500 dollar pair for 500 dollars. After that your choices are sell the pair for 2,000-2500, or raise the calf and sell it for 1400, and keep the cow or sell the cow as a springer for 1800 (turning 1500 dollars into 3200). If you do not put a calf on her, your only choices are to sell her for 1,000 and put another 1,000 with it to get another cow, or keep her and spend 500 each year to keep her for 2 years until you sell a calf. All the decisions can be tough, the only easy one is put a calf on her.

That is exactly what I would do. Although my calf might be a Holstein just because of availability.

 

[Lazy M]

Too much time and effort to graft one.. I'm too lazy. I had a couple set of twins and thought of grafting one of them, but their mamas seem to be doing too good of a job to mess with it.

 

[ANAZAZI]

Too much time and effort to graft one.. I'm too lazy. I had a couple set of twins and thought of grafting one of them, but their mamas seem to be doing too good of a job to mess with it.

Then just sell.

 

[stocky]

Anazazi is right. If you aren't able to throw a month old calf in the trailer with the cow for a couple of days, then all the advice available won't help. Just sell her and go on.

 

[Big Cheese]

I've read everyone's comments here and this can be a tough call. Shes lost two calves in her lifetime and if that was my cow she would be gone BUT it would matter if I have a replacement (I only work in replacement heifers out of my herd now that we've gotten our herd built up) for her that will breed around the same time she will breed back. She should breed back in about 2 weeks since she wont have a calf pulling on her so she SHOULD (key word here) have another calf in about 10 months. So unless you have a replacement that you think will breed and have a calf in say 12 months...it would be a hard decision to decide to sell or not. That would factor into my decision making. After all of that though I would probably sell her since she has lost two calves in her lifetime. Just my 2 cents on the matter.

 

[djinwa]

Sell her unless you're understocked. If you keep her plan on making excuses for her daughters as well. In the market that we're in cattle are profitable even if they miss every now and then but in lean times it only works when they don't miss and the only way to get to that point is to get rid of the ones that miss.

Yep, life is all about probabilities.

If cow issues could have contributed to the dead calves, but you just call it bad luck and keep them, you will find your bad "luck" will become more frequent.

Of course, most people think their bad luck is behind them, and it will all work out next time. Just like all those heading to our local casino.

 

[Lazy M]

I noticed this same cow standing for some fall steers that I haven't weaned yet. She had a whole group of 10 or 12 fighting over her. Never seen one come back into heat do quickly after calving. Maybe not having a calf nurse her made her cycle quicker?

 

[Big Cheese]

When we have one lose a calf for whatever reason they always breed back within two weeks

 

[Lazy M]

Ended up keeping the cow. She had a pretty nice heifer calf this year that I'll probably keep.. Of course that means 2 straight years that I haven't made any money off of her..

 

[dun]

Ended up keeping the cow. She had a pretty nice heifer calf this year that I'll probably keep.. Of course that means 2 straight years that I haven't made any money off of her..

It's hard to predict the future but selling her may have been penny wise and pound foolish. But keeping her could also turn out in the long run to be a mistake. You make your decisions based on best available information (and sometimes sentiment) and go with your decision, right or wrong in the end.

 

[JMJ Farms]

In my experience Charolais influenced cows give me the most trouble when it comes to "cleaning up" calves. Could just be me, but I've seen it more with char x than others. With that being said, I have several char x cows.

 

[Lazy M]

Ended up keeping the cow. She had a pretty nice heifer calf this year that I'll probably keep.. Of course that means 2 straight years that I haven't made any money off of her..

It's hard to predict the future but selling her may have been penny wise and pound foolish. But keeping her could also turn out in the long run to be a mistake. You make your decisions based on best available information (and sometimes sentiment) and go with your decision, right or wrong in the end.

Wise words, Dun. I think that most successful people that I know live by similar sentiments.

 

[midTN_Brangusman]

First thing I would do before making any other decision is get a month old fresh off the cow calf and put on her. That will cost around 500 dollars. By doing that, you just took a 1,000 dollar slaughter cow (guessing) and turned her into a 2000-2500 dollar pair for 500 dollars. After that your choices are sell the pair for 2,000-2500, or raise the calf and sell it for 1400, and keep the cow or sell the cow as a springer for 1800 (turning 1500 dollars into 3200). If you do not put a calf on her, your only choices are to sell her for 1,000 and put another 1,000 with it to get another cow, or keep her and spend 500 each year to keep her for 2 years until you sell a calf. All the decisions can be tough, the only easy one is put a calf on her.

I don't know about you guys but I would love to see these prices again!