We shipped 55 head, 2 weeks ago..... upper 1.70's for some of the 475 to 550 wt steers.... some less.... 1.46 for some 450 wt heifers.... some for 1.20-1.30.....
Shipped 33 yesterday.... 1.62-1.65 for 2 smaller bunches of steers..... 1.39 for some just barely 400 lb. heifers and 1.29 for a group of 12, 499lb heifers.....
Cleaned out just about everything over 350 lbs.... just kept about 6 heifers to raise for replacements.... been able to buy some average bred cows and cow/calf pairs for 650-800.... some one and dones also.... figure that they will make some money....
A couple have a few nice heifer calves on them......might be some keepers.... might not..... but if you can get $600 + for a 5 wt heifer... it surely makes sense to take that and turn it into a bred older cow...... or put a little to it and buy a cow calf pair..... with the calf being saleable in 4-6 months.....
Trying to make it pay a little better....trading isn't always great.... but it is turning some money over and making a little... we bought some plain average heifers in the 7 wts to turn over, in the .70-.80/ lb range.... as there is a guy who will pay 1.00/lb for 6-8wts...figure we could hold them for a few weeks til he is ready for them.... armed them and several are pregnant... so will keep and calve them out.... sure there is a risk, but he will only take them open and they are a bit too far along to abort.... I am not real good at preg checking until they hit at least 5 months and I can feel a real calf moving... and I do not like to abort at that stage.... If I can't feel anything, they get a shot.... we have plenty of hay and silage so they are getting fed and will gain a little and make some both on weight gain and per lb on what they cost. Lost one too, so that is part of it.... But overall it is a little money made with not alot of effort....
Got a nice calf off a little heifer that was bought last year....didn't know she was bred.... she calved on her own, and bless her heart she did a pretty good job raising the calf considering how young and small she was.... calf made almost what she cost... and she will never get big due to being stunted.... but we will probably put her with the easy calving bull and if she rebreeds after a couple months off.... she will have her 2nd calf when she should have.... sure she will have a long dry period.... but she is a nice heifer that got caught too young.... decent disposition.... she will get a 2nd chance. So yeah, we don't always do things just for the financial gain....
