More risk raising replacements vs. feeders?

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Stocker Steve

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Some folks talk about the "high risk" raising replacements. Obviously you add the need to have them bred. I have also noticed that replacement price is not as consistent as feeders if you sell at auction.

Is there any other risk I am missing?
 
Any time you are raising cattle of that age there are risks. The only additional risk in replacements is the longer length of time that you need to keep them vs the shorter time frame for stockers for the feedlot.
 
Stocker Steve":24o6okgy said:
Some folks talk about the "high risk" raising replacements. Obviously you add the need to have them bred. I have also noticed that replacement price is not as consistent as feeders if you sell at auction.

Is there any other risk I am missing?
A lot will have to do with the quality of replacement heifers you have to sell. The extra time needed to raise a replacement adds a lot more cost to the producer. To get the extra money you will need the quality that demands that extra money plus the marketing skills to sell them.
 
you have to have an eye for quality replacement heifers.an you have to feed them properly to meet their potential.an know how to cull them at breeding time.
 
I have underutilized forage and facilites so wintering is doable w/o investment. I will retain any smaller ones since most folks want them super sized. I realize I have to hold them longer and so the price risk is higher. I currently have sorted off 29 above average blacks, plus 3 really nice reds I could not just send to the feedlot

Any tips on marketing other than big and black? It seems like the replacement price at special barn bred bred cow sales is inconsistent.
 
Stocker Steve":36kjv961 said:
I have underutilized forage and facilites so wintering is doable w/o investment. I will retain any smaller ones since most folks want them super sized. I realize I have to hold them longer and so the price risk is higher. I currently have sorted off 29 above average blacks, plus 3 really nice reds I could not just send to the feedlot

Any tips on marketing other than big and black? It seems like the replacement price at special barn bred bred cow sales is inconsistent.

Are you planning on selling them in the spring as open heifers or in the fall as bred heifers.

If you are going to sell them bred they had better be bred to something with real high calving ease, and something with a recognizable name if possible.
 
I think that the breds are a more risky investment. With feeders or fat cattle or pigs, corn.... you can buy futures, hedges... to guarantee a price. Unless you have a buyer locked up at a given price you can't guarantee anything with breeding heifers. I've had three operations that I know try to do this in the last couple years try this and all 3 got burned. One was bad timing, one was bad weather (no rain=no grass=no market for cows) and one was bad luck.

Now with all that doom and gloom, if you're not going to have much in them I see no reason not to take a shot. The national cow herd is small, when this economy turns people are going to be wanting higher quality meat products and that should in turn make the fats worth more=feeders worth more=breeding females worth more. One thing that I would look at is, if you can't get the price that you want can you make cows out of them yourself? Do you have the feed, facilities, time and motivation to add calving 30 first calf heifers?
 
I sold the big black ones and keep the best last fall. Shiny rwf and bwf the buyer did not want. Go figure.

Small heifers make me a little nervous but I calved 11 on grass this year and never pulled a calf. Buildt a calving corral back in the trees and only used it for one that would not accept her calf.

I have surplus feed. The market for bred stock is not strong in this area, so I have thought about trucking breds into SD...
 
Good replacements will ussually cost the same or more as their steer mates. You will have to cull the poorer and the open ones, which means you will most likely loose approximately 20% (you still have this income, but not as much as if they were sold as breds). Then you have the breeding expenses. AI, bulls, etc. Now you will have the inconvenience of where to run them, if your neighbor has cows and a bull you will have to watch close, so extra labor should be figured in as well.

Now the upside, last year we lost money in the feedlot but we made money on our bred heifers. Good bred heifers, especially Red Angus will draw a demand since their isn't nearly as many of them available.
 
BRG":302gsati said:
Now the upside, last year we lost money in the feedlot but we made money on our bred heifers. Good bred heifers, especially Red Angus will draw a demand since their isn't nearly as many of them available.

What size breds do buyers want in your area, and what is the price for good reds vs. good black angus breds?
 
Stocker Steve":18peukau said:
BRG":18peukau said:
Now the upside, last year we lost money in the feedlot but we made money on our bred heifers. Good bred heifers, especially Red Angus will draw a demand since their isn't nearly as many of them available.

What size breds do buyers want in your area, and what is the price for good reds vs. good black angus breds?

For somereason that 100 lbs mark is the magic weight. So if you are selling in Dec, they better be that or some just won't look at them. It is funny becasue then the same people want those 1100 lbs cows, that just doesn't happen.

Last year we got $1210 for our hundred head and we could have just kept selling as 1 guy took them all and their were 1/2 dozen more sitting there wanting them. We get calls all the time looking for good Red Angus bred and open heifers. Last fall lots and lots of black heifers sold from $950 to $1100. I am sure their were some that got $1200, but the majority was in the other area. Now the downside as a buyer, Red Angus replacement heifers are bringing a hefty premium as well. They will bring steer price or more, some as much as $15/cwt more than their steer mates. (Reputation cattle) Their will be quite a few replacment quality Red Angus heifers in Mobridge Livestock on the 8th and 15th of Oct. We will be their if you want some, as we buy quite a few for people, as long as they are our customers calves selling, and nearly all of them will be.
 

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