long haired calves discounted

[denoginnizer]

I was just noticing that long haired calves were discounted pretty heavily at some of the sale barns.
Is this mainly a breed type issue ? Is there anything a person can do to make the winter coat change to a summer coat faster?
Wormer have anything to do with it?

 

[Crowderfarms]

I was just noticing that long haired calves were discounted pretty heavily at some of the sale barns.
Is this mainly a breed type issue ? Is there anything a person can do to make the winter coat change to a summer coat faster?
Wormer have anything to do with it?

Some Cattle just have longer hair than others. Most of the Cattle in this area have shedded out their Winter coats. Wormer plays absolutely no role in hair lengths.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

They will find anything they can at the sale barns to discount cattle. Hair,horns,nuts,warts bla bla bla. Just a bunch of BS to run the price down. Won't taste a darn bit differant.

 

[jersey lilly]

Havin yer cattle on a good mineral program will help em slick off that winter hair faster. Also makes their coat shinier.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I was just noticing that long haired calves were discounted pretty heavily at some of the sale barns.
Is this mainly a breed type issue ?

Some breeds like Galloways and Highlanders do have more hair, but many of the long haired calves in late spring are poor doers.

 

[Howdyjabo]

"They will find anything they can at the sale barns to discount cattle. Hair,horns,nuts,warts bla bla bla. Just a bunch of BS to run the price down. Won't taste a darn bit differant."

You are right they won't taste a bit different when they hit the plate. But someone has to manage them till they get to the plate and thats why they are discounted. More trouble= discount


As far as discounts for long hair-- Its an "indicator" of calves that won't do as well. Not true for every one of them but buyers are playing the game of odds.

 

[Susie David]

Ours look like kids giving each other haircuts...the amount of daylight triggers the shed along with temps rising. Allour pines are slicked from the rubbing.
Most folks are in the same boat so there isn't any real discount up here except for the color issue.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

They will find anything they can at the sale barns to discount cattle. Hair,horns,nuts,warts bla bla bla. Just a bunch of BS to run the price down. Won't taste a darn bit differant.

well some of it seems like bs.but nuts and horns is a legitament discount if were not gonna spend the time it takes too castrate,dehorn, vaccinate then we should exspect a discount cause the buyers have too do it and usually at a later more stressfull age

 

[dcara]

Went to a buyers clinic a month ago where the order buyers talked about things that they would discount a calf for. Lots of factors go into what they are willing to bid on a calf (such as whether they have a truck payment due or not). But one of the things they said was that they generally wanted to see good hair on a calf because they would typically perform better on northern feed lots (i.e. more available homes = more demand). There are exceptoins though. Lots of times their customers (packers, and other feeders) tell them exactly what they want. Such as "2 yellow steer 6 weights to go to such and such place". If the place they are going is a southern feed lot during the summer then they look for not so much hair, and probably not black.