looking to buy first cows

[aaronbrown68]

i live in southeast Colorado and have 70 acres at 9800 feet in elevation i am looking into purchasing a couple cows i have been looking at craigslist trying to find some but the prices ive been seeing seem on the high side what kind of price should i be expecting to pay for calves or for heifers would love heifer calf pairs.

 

[A.J.]

I can't really tell what prices should be like in your area, but a lot of cattle on Craigslist are way overpriced. Some are priced fair, and you might find a good deal every once in a while, but your thinking they are priced high on there is probably accurate. What kind of prices are you seeing? Is there a sale barn anywhere close by to you you could go to and see what price take home cattle are bringing? That might be a good starting reference point.

 

[wbvs58]

You need to be buying close to home to make sure you get cattle that are well adapted to your altitude. If Vic was around (3waycross) he could give you the drum on pap scores etc.

Ken

 

[kilroy60]

I'd stay away from craigslist and buy from a local who sells private treaty. Know the person who you are buying cattle from or at least know that they have a reputation for selling quality cows. Good luck.

 

[Son of Butch]

i live in southeast Colorado and have 70 acres at 9800 feet in elevation i am looking into purchasing a couple cows
i have been looking at craigslist trying to find some but the prices i've been seeing seem on the high side
what kind of price should i be expecting to pay for calves or for heifers would love heifer calf pairs.

Yes many craigslist sellers list cattle to flip or to sell (looking for a Sucker) before taking them to the sale barn.
Sometimes they find a sucker (Jack Pot) sometimes they don't and since it costs nothing to try, so what
if the Fish aren't biting... then just take 'em to the sale barn and nothing lost.

Your local sale barn is a good place to find out what cattle are actually selling for in your local area.
Craigslist only tells you their asking prices, but not what they are actually bringing.

Minnesota young cow/small calf pairs weighing 1400 lb/pair $1600-1725

 

[aaronbrown68]

i just got home from our property dont have internet service up there yet we are going to be going to one of the sales barns on Tuesday. the prices on craigslist varied from like 2-3000 for heifers and pairs

 

[Nesikep]

With your elevation, I must reiterate what wbvs58 said.. make sure they're accustomed to your high elevation!!

 

[coachg]

Find a local breeder or go to a farm cattle sale not the stockyard. Sometimes you can buy a three in one; cow , heifer calf, and the cow bred back. Maybe more money up front but you get what you pay for.stay away from Craig's list

 

[Son of Butch]

Find a local breeder or go to a farm cattle sale .....

A farm sale is an excellent recommendation and whenever possible bring an experienced friend along.

Human nature being what it is, most newbies just looking for a couple of cows will get taken in private treaty sales
by many 'local breeders' because few respect or expect any repeat business from them.
A dozen will pop up in righteous indignation saying "Why I never" and those are the very first I'd be wary of.

 

[farmerjan]

Go to the local sale barn and LOOK. KEEP YOUR HANDS TUCKED UNDER YOUR BUTT AND WATCH. Get a feel for the prices. Agree that Craigslist is usually WAY high....and yes, cattle acclimated to your elevation is important.Any friends that can help that have some experience? One other thing, DON'T start with heifers....get some mature cows with calves that already know what they are doing....or better yet get some steers and see how you like it and how they do. Buy in the 5-600 lb range....most likely already weaned and you can put some weight on them and sell at 8-1000 lbs. See if this is what you really want to do. Cows with calves also will need a bull or artificial breeding to get them pregnant for the next calf and are a year round commitment. Steers can be grazed during the good months, and not wintered over if you don't want and are much easier to get your money back out of plus hopefully a bit of a profit while you get your feet wet. Plus one other thing, at those elevations, do you have a predator problem? Smaller calves on a cow are much more suseptible to coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, even a rougue bear, than a 600 lb calf that is fairly fast on it's feet.

 

[aaronbrown68]

well i just got home, we left Tuesday morning about 9 am for the auction by 2 pm we where the proud owners a 1300 lbs pregnant cow with a 150 lbs calf for $1200 we loaded pregnant cow into the bed of a 06 f350 with side boards and the calf went into the back seat and drove 4 hours home

and if your thinking the story ends there you are mistaken but im going to bed ill explaine the rest of the story tomorrow

 

[farmerjan]

Waiting with bated breath for " the rest of the story" .....

 

[wbvs58]

I'm all ears.

Ken

 

[greatgerts]

I'm ready to hear of the adventure as well.

 

[aaronbrown68]

ok here is the rest of the story. so after the long 4 hour drive we get to the property its raining i back the truck up to a dirt pile to unload the cow first attempt im still a little to far so i back up a little more by the time i get to the back of the truck my friend already pulled the pins for the door on the rack and the cow barged its way off the back of the truck i was hoping to get a longer rope died to the cow to lead her up to the pen that we where going to keep her till i built a bigger pen so i went to try to heard her back to the pen and of course she didnt want to go where i wanted her to go. while im chasing the cow my friend and my girlfriend took the truck and the calf up to the corral and just let the calf out to roam in the corral instead of the pen i had for them i walk back up to the corral and next thing i know the calf slips threw the fence and heads down the hill after momma. so we decide to wait till the rain is over to go looking for them. we went out a couple times with no luck we where about to abandon the search cause we had walked 35 acres up and down hills tripping over downed trees when we finally spotted the cows we tried to herd them but we couldn't see well enough and they ended up getting past us and back down the hill so we gave up the next morning we and drove around looking and found momma cow but we didnt find baby so we decided to go to town and get a few things we needed. when we got back we still didnt see the calf no where so we decided to herd momma cow up the hill to her new pen hoping calf would find its way up the hill looking for momma and again another storm this one much more severe with lighting strikes hitting everywhere around us so aftter the storm we walked and drove for hours looking for this calf but with no luck so we give up and wait till the next day when we finally let momma cow out to look for her own calf we followed her to the far side of the first 35 acres where she made three large circles before heading back up to the corral then she went back to the far side of the far side before making her way down to the slough on the second 35 acres and sure enough there was the calf laying down in the slough we left calf and momma alone for a while so she could feed before we herded them up to the pen. momma cow and calf are now safe in their pen surrounded by electric fence

 

[A.J.]

Sounds like quite an adventure. You never can tell what cattle will do when they get to a new place. Glad momma and calf are safe and sound.

 

[wbvs58]

You did well in the end.

Ken

 

[farmerjan]

Isn't owning cattle FUN ??????? Glad you finally got them to where you wanted, look at it this way, you got some extra " exercise and dropped a few pounds in a short period of time so are now entitled to an extra helping of dessert!!!! Hope you plan to get a second one for company. If possible, keep her in there for a bit to get her used to you and FEED her some grain or something so she associates you with " TREATS " and call her even if she is right near so she also sees and hears you and gets grain and she will associate seeing and HEARING you with getting something good.
Congrats on managing to get her and the calf where you wanted. She could have been ornery and headed for Timbuktu instead.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Welcome to the cow business.

 

[aaronbrown68]

well unfortunately our little bull calf died today of abdominal bloat