Marketing dink heifers

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WalnutCrest

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Through a series of unplanned events, I am the proud (?) owner of five dink commercial BA heifers.

They're all around 8-9 months old and the heaviest one is maybe 300 lbs. The lightest two are twins and might not even be 200lbs. Four of them have clear eyes; one has a single partially blue eye. Good attitudes. I believe all were given one round of shots this summer.

If these were yours, what would you do?

I'm having difficulty deciding between selling them now and being done with them ... vs ... feeding them for 2-4 weeks to try to at least get a little condition on them ... vs ... keeping them through to spring grass to see if any catch up (low probability) and sell all that don't in the May / June / July time period.

While I'm figuring it out, I'm feeding them about 5lbs / head of DDG every other day, plus free choice hay and a good loose mineral.

Thoughts?
 
Have you wormed them ? I had a dink heifer " bought " that I wormed the heck out of her and put her on really good grass and creep. If a calf gets stunted its a #$#%^$^ to get them out of it and get them on the right path or at least that's been my experience. I have some really slow growing heifers out of one cow in particular but seems as though once they get up to 700# which seems like forever they really grow then.
 
Dinks and orphans are sold ASAP for whatever the market is - which is usually pretty good - amazing how many people like an extra challenge and are willing to pay for it. Too much hassle for very little payout for me. Focus time and energy on animals that have potential.
 
Aaron":823hs7rd said:
Dinks and orphans are sold ASAP for whatever the market is - which is usually pretty good - amazing how many people like an extra challenge and are willing to pay for it. Too much hassle for very little payout for me. Focus time and energy on animals that have potential.

That's a fair statement too.. I like the challenge as it lets me know what I need to do and try if I can find deals on them at the barn. I got plenty of grass... grain... hay so I try it.
 
WalnutCrest":3gftj4ra said:
Through a series of unplanned events, I am the proud (?) owner of five dink commercial BA heifers.

They're all around 8-9 months old and the heaviest one is maybe 300 lbs. The lightest two are twins and might not even be 200lbs. Four of them have clear eyes; one has a single partially blue eye. Good attitudes. I believe all were given one round of shots this summer.

If these were yours, what would you do?

I'm having difficulty deciding between selling them now and being done with them ... vs ... feeding them for 2-4 weeks to try to at least get a little condition on them ... vs ... keeping them through to spring grass to see if any catch up (low probability) and sell all that don't in the May / June / July time period.

While I'm figuring it out, I'm feeding them about 5lbs / head of DDG every other day, plus free choice hay and a good loose mineral.

Thoughts?
Got any pictures of them?
 
At 8-9 months old and the biggest one is 300 pounds they would be gone as soon as possible. So would their mothers, fathers or any other relatives of them. In fact in my case they would have been gone months ago. I don't waste time or money on dinks. I certainly do buy cows that are challenged but I find dinks to be a loser the vast majority of the time.
 
Would be gone and wouldn't think twice about whatever cheque shows up for them. Think of it as selling garbage, doesn't matter what the garbage started out as, or could have been - if someone wants to pay for it take the money and forget about them.
 
Sell them and let someone like me improve them and make money. Or if u have the time and feed, worm them, care for them and make a profit. Somewhere between now and the slaughterhouse someone will make money, might as well be you.
 
RanchMan90":l1sx0qz8 said:
WalnutCrest":l1sx0qz8 said:
Through a series of unplanned events, I am the proud (?) owner of five dink commercial BA heifers.

They're all around 8-9 months old and the heaviest one is maybe 300 lbs. The lightest two are twins and might not even be 200lbs. Four of them have clear eyes; one has a single partially blue eye. Good attitudes. I believe all were given one round of shots this summer.

If these were yours, what would you do?

I'm having difficulty deciding between selling them now and being done with them ... vs ... feeding them for 2-4 weeks to try to at least get a little condition on them ... vs ... keeping them through to spring grass to see if any catch up (low probability) and sell all that don't in the May / June / July time period.

While I'm figuring it out, I'm feeding them about 5lbs / head of DDG every other day, plus free choice hay and a good loose mineral.

Thoughts?
Got any pictures of them?

I'm not sure they'd show up on film.

Without boring anyone in the details, having these cattle wasn't really ever part of my plan. I believe (but don't know) all the cows and the bulls involved in making these calves are currently in someone's freezer.

Just trying to figure out how to make a little lemonade...
 
kenny thomas":2a6w96n8 said:
Sell them and let someone like me improve them and make money. Or if u have the time and feed, worm them, care for them and make a profit. Somewhere between now and the slaughterhouse someone will make money, might as well be you.

Or they could loss money every step of the way between now and the kill floor. The feed a dink eats cost just as much per pound as the feed fed to a good growth calf. But that good growth calf takes less pounds of that feed to add on a pound of gain.
 
The question would be whether they are just hard and small from not getting enough to eat and will take off when fed or if they are true dinks that will never grow into anything.
 
Sell the dinks, sell the cows that raised the dinks, and regroup with whatever the money is and get something that won't raise dinks. gs
 
WalnutCrest":3ppt6can said:
RanchMan90":3ppt6can said:
WalnutCrest":3ppt6can said:
Through a series of unplanned events, I am the proud (?) owner of five dink commercial BA heifers.

They're all around 8-9 months old and the heaviest one is maybe 300 lbs. The lightest two are twins and might not even be 200lbs. Four of them have clear eyes; one has a single partially blue eye. Good attitudes. I believe all were given one round of shots this summer.

If these were yours, what would you do?

I'm having difficulty deciding between selling them now and being done with them ... vs ... feeding them for 2-4 weeks to try to at least get a little condition on them ... vs ... keeping them through to spring grass to see if any catch up (low probability) and sell all that don't in the May / June / July time period.

While I'm figuring it out, I'm feeding them about 5lbs / head of DDG every other day, plus free choice hay and a good loose mineral.

Thoughts?
Got any pictures of them?

I'm not sure they'd show up on film.

Without boring anyone in the details, having these cattle wasn't really ever part of my plan. I believe (but don't know) all the cows and the bulls involved in making these calves are currently in someone's freezer.

Just trying to figure out how to make a little lemonade...
Are they invisible? Lol It's hard to assess whether they will grow or not from my house.
 
Dave":mgnn7quk said:
kenny thomas":mgnn7quk said:
Sell them and let someone like me improve them and make money. Or if u have the time and feed, worm them, care for them and make a profit. Somewhere between now and the slaughterhouse someone will make money, might as well be you.

Or they could loss money every step of the way between now and the kill floor. The feed a dink eats cost just as much per pound as the feed fed to a good growth calf. But that good growth calf takes less pounds of that feed to add on a pound of gain.

That's the crux of the questions I'm asking myself.

Ojp6":mgnn7quk said:
The question would be whether they are just hard and small from not getting enough to eat and will take off when fed or if they are true dinks that will never grow into anything.

That's the crux of the questions I'm asking myself.

plumber_greg":mgnn7quk said:
Sell the dinks, sell the cows that raised the dinks, and regroup with whatever the money is and get something that won't raise dinks. gs

I'm not sure (as they weren't my cows or bulls) but I believe that the cows and bulls responsible for these calves are in someones' freezer somewhere. These calves just sorta showed up at my door uninvited, if you will. Just trying to make lemonade. Or a purse from a sows' ear. Etc.
 
Ojp6":hd4bs4y6 said:
The question would be whether they are just hard and small from not getting enough to eat and will take off when fed or if they are true dinks that will never grow into anything.
Good point, there is 2 farms in this area that I will not buy any of the calves because they are inbred and will not make any money. I buy what most people call dinks year round at a discount but you have to know why they are like they are. Usually, and notice I say usually, if they have some frame but are thin they will grow and make money. I don't buy short calves no matter what they cost.
 
Aaron":15lzsnnb said:
Dinks and orphans are sold ASAP for whatever the market is - which is usually pretty good - amazing how many people like an extra challenge and are willing to pay for it. Too much hassle for very little payout for me. Focus time and energy on animals that have potential.

2X
Used to even buy a lot of those, and then load them up with inputs.
Some could be turned around, and some not. On average not a good buy but very educational.
 

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