Market is rough in MS!

[OleScout]

Sold 4 of what I thought were pretty nice calves yesterday.
Let them get too ripe I guess, should have hauled at 400-450.
Blk Hfr 680 $80 $544.00
Blk Str 545 $111 $604.95
Blk Hfr 565 $110 $621.50
Blk Hfr 585 $105 $614.25

I held the big heifer back last time I sold calves because I thought she was a little light. Would have brought a lot more then. 20/20 hindsight!!!
If I hadn't already bought hay I think I'd be another over sixty guy to just give it up and rent out or sell the pasture.
This is disheartening.

 

[skyhightree1]

Sold 4 of what I thought were pretty nice calves yesterday.
Let them get too ripe I guess, should have hauled at 400-450.
Blk Hfr 680 $80 $544.00
Blk Str 545 $111 $604.95
Blk Hfr 565 $110 $621.50
Blk Hfr 585 $105 $614.25

I held the big heifer back last time I sold calves because I thought she was a little light. Would have brought a lot more then. 20/20 hindsight!!!
If I hadn't already bought hay I think I'd be another over sixty guy to just give it up and rent out or sell the pasture.
This is disheartening.

3 dispersal sales this month. People are fed up

 

[Bright Raven]

It is going to improve or it is going to become an extinct vocation. It just can not stay like this.

 

[shaz]

There's no end in sight either

 

[Bright Raven]

If the prices are adjusted for the valve of money over time (erosion of the value of the US dollar) - I would bet the farm that the current prices being paid for feeders ranks among the lowest in the last 50 years.

 

[callmefence]

Sell your cows and buy hay equipment
Produce hay for the ones who do it as a hobby are think their cattle to good to sell
Any unhayable ground you have stock lightly with goats and hair sheep.......thank me later

 

[skyhightree1]

Sell your cows and buy hay equipment
Produce hay for the ones who do it as a hobby are think their cattle to good to sell
Any unhayable ground you have stock lightly with goats and hair sheep.......thank me later

:lol: I been doing that for 2 years but kept some cattle

 

[76 Bar]

Not just MS Old Scout...all market categories have been severely depressed country wide for an unprecedented length of time. When I got started in 1976 cull cows/bulls were ~ .15/cwt and top end calves .35/cwt. Perhaps BR will crunch the numbers.

 

[Bright Raven]

Not just MS Old Scout...all market categories have been severely depressed country wide for an unprecedented length of time. When I got started in 1976 cull cows/bulls were ~ .15/cwt and top end calves .35/cwt. Perhaps BR will crunch the numbers.

76Bar

Do you mean 35/cwt instead of .35/cwt? Or $35 dollars per 100 pounds standing, not 35 cents per 100 pounds standing. Which means you got 35 cents a pound standing in 1976.

Olescout's average on the 4 head was about 100/cwt. Or 1 dollar per pound standing.

To put apples to apples.

76Bar in 1976. Got 35 cents per pound standing.
Olescout in 2019. Got 100 cents per pound standing.

A dollar in 1976 had approximately 5 times the value that a dollar has today. So converting to today's dollars.

76Bar received compensation of $1.75 a pound.
Olescout received compensation of $1.00 a pound.

 

[skyhightree1]

Anyone want to take your cattle here?

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
3 483 483 129.00 129.00
1 510 510 116.00 116.00
13 557-573 567 125.00-125.50 125.31
19 600-636 628 116.00-123.00 121.09
6 692 692 120.50 120.50
32 704-749 711 116.00-128.50 119.78
1 890 890 113.00 113.00

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
1 485 485 129.00 129.00
2 538 538 123.00 123.00
4 686 686 124.50 124.50
1 775 775 110.00 110.00

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 3
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
2 570 570 107.50 107.50

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
4 344 344 110.50 110.50
1 380 380 90.00 90.00
3 400-420 408 90.00 90.00
8 452-490 457 104.00 104.00
14 556-583 566 100.00-105.00 103.05
13 609-646 626 107.50-108.50 108.02
18 671-680 672 107.00-107.50 107.03
2 730 730 96.00 96.00

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
4 365-395 373 94.00-106.50 103.19
6 449 449 100.00 100.00
6 523 523 93.00 93.00
4 578 578 100.00 100.00
9 688-695 693 103.00-106.00 105.34
1 740 740 89.00 89.00

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 3
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
4 461 461 86.00 86.00
4 538 538 95.00 95.00

Feeder Heifers Small 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
1 375 375 91.00 91.00
6 473-495 477 89.50 89.50
4 515-540 534 80.00-88.00 86.07
1 550 550 77.00 77.00
1 620 620 87.00 87.00

Feeder Bulls Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
4 331 331 134.00 134.00
7 417-425 419 121.00-128.50 126.34
10 486 486 110.00 110.00
11 550-575 560 85.00-105.00 100.64
13 648 648 94.00 94.00
1 685 685 85.00 85.00
3 713 713 94.00 94.00
1 830 830 86.00 86.00

Feeder Bulls Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
4 339 339 135.00 135.00
1 365 365 110.00 110.00
4 406 406 126.00 126.00
5 470-486 483 104.00-111.00 109.64
3 547 547 104.50 104.50
2 570 570 88.00 88.00
3 632 632 96.50 96.50

Feeder Bulls Small 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
3 423-430 425 78.00 78.00
3 503 503 98.00 98.00
2 568 568 92.00 92.00
3 665 665 82.50 82.50

 

[david1852]

sky- those prices look like the prices here in NC.

 

[Stocker Steve]

So if you don't sell any cattle, have you really lost money ranching? ;-)

 

[snoopdog]

The future , for the small guy, is to gather as producers and offer potloads of like cattle. 52000lbs will sell better than 1 or 2 at a time, fill the orders , with less effort. Get with your neighbor, put a group together, and cut the sharks out.

 

[ccr]

we sold 7 head last week - northeast texas

these were red angus pot bellied yearlings

 

[sim.-ang.king]

October is traditionally the worst time of year to sell. Hold them till spring, or buy cattle now.

 

[bird dog]

"Get with your neighbor, put a group together, and cut the sharks out."

You haven't seen my neighbors cattle. They have no desire to improve their sorry calves or their sorry pasture. Granted its tough when it hasn't rained in 60 days. There are good commingled weaned calf sales where small timers can do pretty good but very few want to put in the effort to do so.

Its hard to fathom how cheap some animals are selling for at the sale barn today. Dairy steers are a quarter a pound. Some junk calves can hardly get a bid. If you want an animal for the freezer, you can buy some secondary big calves or cripples for less than you would spend at Del Friscos for one meal for you and the wife. Fence has got the right idea. Problem is I don't want to spend my time on a tractor or make the investment for the equipment.

 

[Bigfoot]

I've been in the game since the early 70's. I don't remember getting over $100 cwt for weaned calves, until recent history. It also wasn't that long ago, I could buy a steel fence post (heavier than whats made today), for $1. That post cost $5 today. All of my inputs have risen accordingly. Feed hasn't gone up too terribly much, but neither have commodities. I also used to feed a lot of shelled corn.

I also used to background a bunch of cattle. Years ago, there wasn't that much risk in backgrounding. They might drop $10 cwt over a 3-4 month period, but that was about as bad as it got. There has been some serious volatility in the market over the last 5-6 years. You could absolutely lose your hind end in a very short amount of time.

I actually prefer backgrounding to cow/calf. Do two big groups a year. Not nearly as much hay to have to fool with. Drought catches ya, and your not under the pressure to "save the herd", and throw a bunch of money down a dry hole. Also, back when cattle were larger framed, you got more groth on grass, than with this stuff were raising now. I'm not holding up a breed, but a group of charlois cross calves, used to flat grow some frame on grass/hay and a few pounds of feed a day. All these 1000-1100 pound cows bred to low birth weight bulls.........Give me a break, they're calves are just not gonna grow that much in 120 days. When you was buying 400 pound calves for .80, and selling 700 pound calves for .70.......You could make some money.

 

[sstterry]

Kenny Thomas and I had an exchange about Corbit Wall speaking in our area. (He actually had two speaking engagements within an hour drive of me this week). Kenny says that Wall believes that things are about to get better. Just take that for what it is worth.

 

[snoopdog]

October is traditionally the worst time of year to sell. Hold them till spring, or buy cattle now.

I agree, if you mean weanlings. Weather and temp fluctuation adds a lot of risk to the buyer.

 

[Bright Raven]

1. It also wasn't that long ago, I could buy a steel fence post (heavier than whats made today), for $1. That post cost $5 today. All of my inputs have risen accordingly. Feed hasn't gone up too terribly much, but neither have commodities. I also used to feed a lot of shelled corn.

2. Also, back when cattle were larger framed, you got more groth on grass, than with this stuff were raising now. I'm not holding up a breed, but a group of charlois cross calves, used to flat grow some frame on grass/hay and a few pounds of feed a day. All these 1000-1100 pound cows bred to low birth weight bulls.........Give me a break, they're calves are just not gonna grow that much in 120 days. When you was buying 400 pound calves for .80, and selling 700 pound calves for .70.......You could make some money.

1. Time value of money covers a lot of tracks. The human mind is easily persuaded that all is well if we are still receiving the same amount in "face value" for our goods and services. What a cattle producer receives for his goods has been frozen in time on a "face value" basis. But the value on a "buying power" basis has been decimated. When I was working on my rotary cutter this summer (Bushhog Brand), the castle nut that holds the stump jumper on was $29.00. I thought I had been in a hold up and robbed. If cattle prices were as inflated as that, we would be getting 500/cwt for feeders.

2. The seedstock industry frowns on too much frame. I know an old buyer who worked for years at Flemingsburg who still likes what he calls "having some leg under them". He is the brother in law to my next door neighbor. He has told me a couple times that he likes my cattle but that they are too fleshy and need some leg under them. I keep telling him that I don't raise them for sale buyers. Lol