Silver
Well-known member
So are the calves being sold right now weighing between 550 lbs and 700 lbs born around August or ?
Not paying much for weight
- Thread starter Muletrack
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Stocker Steve
Well-known member
Long line.
One new renter pulled out in August because he could no longer keep hungry cattle in the fence.
Got some fall rain and pasture grew back about 2" by end of September.
Neighbor called me and asked if I would rent the pasture for the rest of the year?
If they are mostly on grass we can raise to 800lbs as cheap as 600lbs in TN. It usually works out to an extra $200.
SmokinM
Well-known member
Most of mine are August/September calves. The one I had pushing 700 was a 11 month old Charolais/Angus cross. Not saying this is right or wrong or even what I want but I doubt I own a cow that will break 1200#. I have a herd of 3R cattle- right place, right time, right price. Most are angus base but have several couldbe's as in could be anything in them.
Silver
Well-known member
How much do you suppose this cow weighs? I haven't weighed her so your guess is about as good as mine other than I have been up close to her in person.
kenny thomas
Well-known member
1400+-
Silver
Well-known member
I think you are high by 75 lbs. Either way, this is her 2020 calf:
This calf weighed 835 lbs at 210 days of age. Didn't see much tame pasture either, mostly swamps and aspen trees. Sold the calf as a 4H calf (too big for that IMO, but they wanted him) for a 15 cent discount to the group he would have sold with so he got $1,670 CAD. The cow calved again this year on the same date, same week she has calved every year for her whole career.
kenny thomas
Well-known member
I can't get them that big even with supplements
Dave
Well-known member
Neighbor bought a couple of loads of cows out of that dessert country down by Burns. The sell told him that "these cows raise a 600 pound calf every year." That fall after they came out of the hills him and I were looking at the calves. He told me what the seller had said. Pointing at a calf I said he didn't lie, there he is the 600 pound calf. There was about 80 of them that went 400 pounds. But the seller said they raise a 600 pounder. Not they all raise a 600 pounder. Turned out those cows had been on the flat ground down by the lake south of Burns. Here they got turned out in Rye Valley where the ground is steep enough that the cows need climbing gear to get around.
I had 3 years in a row that my February-March steers averaged over 700. But that was over on the coast with much better grass than I have here.
I had 3 years in a row that my February-March steers averaged over 700. But that was over on the coast with much better grass than I have here.
Silver
Well-known member
It takes forage to reach genetic potential.
Rydero
Well-known member
So what have we learned? It probably doesn't pay to wean and feed calves up much over 600lbs. Which probably means it doesn't pay to wean and feed calves at all.
Yes the $/lb drops down but $/hd is still higher for a heavier calf by differing degrees depending where you live.
A moderate sized cow can wean a calf upwards of 700-800lbs in 7 months under the right conditions but not in Virginia or in the odd exception where Dave lives in Oregon.
So it does pay to bring in heavier calves if it's done without added inputs, weaning or increasing cow size to the point of creating hay burners.
Also never rent pasture from Steve's neighbor.
Yes the $/lb drops down but $/hd is still higher for a heavier calf by differing degrees depending where you live.
A moderate sized cow can wean a calf upwards of 700-800lbs in 7 months under the right conditions but not in Virginia or in the odd exception where Dave lives in Oregon.
So it does pay to bring in heavier calves if it's done without added inputs, weaning or increasing cow size to the point of creating hay burners.
Also never rent pasture from Steve's neighbor.
Stocker Steve
Well-known member
Milk thief?
Silver
Well-known member
Nope
SmokinM
Well-known member
Would that be an average example of your herd or is that the higher end? Either way that's impressive and not anything I envision seeing in my herd any time soon.
Out of curiosity how are the bugs there in the summer? Do the cows fight flies and mosquitos? I know you get cold snowy winters but I still think that is not as hard on cattle as the near freezing rain we get.
We have oppressive heat and humidity all summer with bugs galore driving them nuts then cold wet winters with mud knee deep for months on end. Not making excuses for my cows but with what they put up with I think if they knew we had a Democrat for a governor they would all bust out and leave. I know I threaten to everyday but can't get the boss to pack up and come with me!
Nice cattle no matter the environment.
I have one, she is a Charolais-Simental mix. Her daddy was 1200 as a yearling. Most of the others, nowhere near that.
Silver
Well-known member
This is certainly not an average example. But it is not an outlier either. I just posted it to show what is possible, ant that a cow can do that and breed back year over year. That cow is 10. We do wean many calves in the high 700's. Last year we filled a tri-axle liner with steers that averaged 728 lbs, there were more but they didn't fit lol.
Cattle here do not hole up because of flies typically, but they do a lot of grazing in the trees where flies tend to not be too bad but the grass isn't great. Mosquitos can get thick. We are fortunate not to have to fight oppressive heat and I think cattle do much better in our temperatures.
But we only really have not much over 60 days of good grass growing weather so the calves need to be of an age to really take advantage of it when it happens, in my opinion. By August the native grasses have mostly lost their appeal and it gets hard to keep them on it, and by the second week of Sept. they are often breaking down the fences to get on the regrowth on the hayfields.
Stocker Steve
Well-known member
There is a lot of growth in most genetics today. Weight is nice at the sales barn, but it is hard to imagine a cow that is weaning 800 to 1000 pounds lasting long in the real world.
I know there are bull studs doing this routinely, but the ones I have seen use either a lot of creep feed, or a silage supplement on pasture. Bull calves that wean at less than 800# are "moderate".
I know there are bull studs doing this routinely, but the ones I have seen use either a lot of creep feed, or a silage supplement on pasture. Bull calves that wean at less than 800# are "moderate".
I know two other commercial outfits that run high percentage Simmental cattle and wean similar weights to Silver. I tease them and say I can't afford to raise them that big but in reality they are making their cows pay.
