Lesson learned

[Shoestring]

Success! I figured out a new (to me) way to lose money. In a market that favors black cows. I bought a 7/old red n white cow. Old? Check. I called her Drowsy. Cheap? Yep. I figured, to flip them. 50/50 chance that she was heavy bred to a black bull of some sort. HOW can you lose? 1) nope. She had a heifer calf.
Genius here figures that she must have been bred to a longhorn. Calf was pretty. What Calf isn't? 2) she calved early. Now, I feed her, because, you do . Now I have a couple of more dollars in her. She never gained weight! She is now called Drowsy, or, Bones. So, I say to self, "no more, sell and hope to break even." 3) Self wants no part of that ****! Maybe put weight on her. Kept them another month. More dollars, still no weight gain. Back to the Sale barn. Fingers crossed, yep. LOST money. Not just lost money, nope. Her and calf sold for less than I paid. AND then the sales fee's. I read about it how many times? Lesson = if you see one that no one is bidding on, do not bid. That simple. Darn, darn, darn! p.s. at least it wasn't the corriente that went across. Leaving on a positive: I picked up a couple of nice big WFB, n the bull is happy.

 

[Lazy M]

Success! I figured out a new (to me) way to lose money. In a market that favors black cows. I bought a 7/old red n white cow. Old? Check. I called her Drowsy. Cheap? Yep. I figured, to flip them. 50/50 chance that she was heavy bred to a black bull of some sort. HOW can you lose? 1) nope. She had a heifer calf.
Genius here figures that she must have been bred to a longhorn. Calf was pretty. What Calf isn't? 2) she calved early. Now, I feed her, because, you do . Now I have a couple of more dollars in her. She never gained weight! She is now called Drowsy, or, Bones. So, I say to self, "no more, sell and hope to break even." 3) Self wants no part of that ****! Maybe put weight on her. Kept them another month. More dollars, still no weight gain. Back to the Sale barn. Fingers crossed, yep. LOST money. Not just lost money, nope. Her and calf sold for less than I paid. AND then the sales fee's. I read about it how many times? Lesson = if you see one that no one is bidding on, do not bid. That simple. Darn, darn, darn! p.s. at least it wasn't the corriente that went across. Leaving on a positive: I picked up a couple of nice big WFB, n the bull is happy.

Hope she didn't drop a bunch of johnes contaminated manure at your place..

 

[faster horses]

My husband always says "your first loss is the easiest to take." I can't think of a time when that wasn't right on.

 

[MurraysMutts]

No pictures?
What's WFB?

Heck dang near ANY bottle calf is bringing close to 300 around here. I hit a cheap one every now and then. I won't give that.

U must've not got her bought right..

 

[Dave]

You are right. Most of the time if nobody else is bidding they are seeing something that you are missing. That is not 100% of the time but generally true. The one where you can make money is if you see something that is keeping them from bidding and know that you can fix it quickly and cheap.

 

[Shoestring]

No pictures?
What's WFB?

Heck dang near ANY bottle calf is bringing close to 300 around here. I hit a cheap one every now and then. I won't give that.

U must've not got her bought right..

White face baldy

 

[Shoestring]

No pictures?
What's WFB?

Heck dang near ANY bottle calf is bringing close to 300 around here. I hit a cheap one every now and then. I won't give that.

U must've not got her bought right..

@MurraysMutts as much as I enjoy your pictures, didn't think I had one of her. N yep, i didn't realize that she was that old. She got aged this time. Probably last calf.

 

[Brute 23]

That can't be. Every one on here makes money with auction barn cows.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I ran a BM bred cow number today. With our high hay and pasture prices it showed that I would lose $48 per head. Still too much winter to go.

 

[Dave]

I ran a BM bred cow number today. With our high hay and pasture prices it showed that I would lose $48 per head. Still too much winter to go.

Sure you would say that. I am starting buying today. I do plan on being real picky.

The one I messed up on was last week. They had a lot of fall pairs. The groups sold for $1,300-1,400 a head. But the odd singles and doubles sold for $800-900. How much bigger will that calf weighing 150-200 today be than one born in March come next September.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Sure you would say that. I am starting buying today. I do plan on being real picky.

Snow is up to the axel in spots and another artic vortex just hit. With low temps here, high price of feed, and a BM cow - - I would need to be feeding a lot of beet byproduct to have a chance of making it work.

 

[Dave]

Snow is up to the axel in spots and another artic vortex just hit. With low temps here, high price of feed, and a BM cow - - I would need to be feeding a lot of beet byproduct to have a chance of making it work.

Counted bales and there is enough in the stack to feed 45 cows from February 1 to April 15 when grass comes on. I know it will take a month to put together 45 cows so I got to start.
There is a bull, cow, and two big calves who wandered down out of the hills in the front field where purchased cows will go. They have been eating snow covered regrowth for 3 weeks. Not fed at all. So if the snow would melt a little more there is some pickings for cows to work on.
There is half a dozen more late migrating cows headed down the canyon. They will come by here today. When that happens the cowboys will pull these free loaders out of my field. B hasn't got over excited about getting cows out of the hills. But I know a couple other guys who still have some cows out.

 

[Stocker Steve]

We are getting an old-fashioned winter.
Usually, no usable grass till second week of May.
No country for old cows.

 

[Warren Allison]

Cows, horses, cars,..most anything....my grandaddy taught me " You make your money when you buy, son. Not when you sell".

 

[Shoestring]

Cows, horses, cars,..most anything....my grandaddy taught me " You make your money when you buy, son. Not when you sell".

(Son? you are so cute). agreed. Posted so perhaps someone will learn from my mistakes. Another thing dad tried to teach me: if it flies, floats, or ???something, RENT it. Ignored that too.

 

[MurraysMutts]

(Son? you are so cute). agreed. Posted so perhaps someone will learn from my mistakes. Another thing dad tried to teach me: if it flies, floats, or ???something, RENT it. Ignored that too.

May have done better to let her raise the calf til weaning. Even if she looked like crap, the calf may have helped cover the cost of her and her groceries.
Meh. What do ya do?
Win some. Lose some. I've lost some...

 

[Dave]

Education isn't free. I buy 40-50 one and done cows every year. They aren't all winners. And the first time I bought cows at a sale was over 50 years ago. Some will always be losers. It is about having the average work in your favor.

 

[tex452]

You are right. Most of the time if nobody else is bidding they are seeing something that you are missing. That is not 100% of the time but generally true. The one where you can make money is if you see something that is keeping them from bidding and know that you can fix it quickly and cheap.

We bought a beef master heifer that had a cut on her side for a little bit of nothing, about 700lbs.
We doctored her up , and she healed up fine ( couldn't tell she was ever cut) we raised two really nice calves out of her (red angus sire), we sold her for $1,475.00 with her third calf on her side
It doesn't always work out that way.