One and Done

[Dave]

The one and dones are all done. With the grass shortage because of the fire it was time for them to leave. They were on some irrigated pasture which is going to be needed by some long term cows who will be coming out of the hills shortly. The cows were going to go direct to the plant but they were dictating the delivery date. Normal year that would work because we would wean the calves on hay field regrowth. Again that grass is needed by others. So we weren't going to wean this year. So we needed to be able to ship the cows the same day as we could ship the calves. It didn't work out so the entire herd went to the sale yesterday. 85 cows with their calves plus a few odd ball cows and 2 bulls.
A few days ago here I did an estimate on value and costs. Our gross sales beat my estimate. After commission the check was a few dollars below the estimation. I am pretty happy. Cows were off a few bucks but calves brought more than I thought. The 15 biggest steers weighed 560 and sold for $3.10. The 12 biggest heifers weighed 540 and sold for $2.85. My 62 cows averaged a hair under $1,500. You can't buy old cows and expect them all to be number ones in the fall. We did good and now have to figure out what next year will bring. How well will the grass rebound from the fire? How will we be able to get miles of fence built? Once the fall rush starts cow prices will drop and make them affordable but will we have pasture for them? Change is constant. And through it all, all of us here realize how blessed we are.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Very good @Dave

I'm glad things worked well for you. And I hope others affected by the fires will come ahead as well!

Your calf prices are what ours was a few weeks ago. It took some really really good 5 wt steers to break 3 bucks Thursday.

 

[ClinchValley86]

What did the thin cows bring, Dave ?

 

[Dave]

What did the thin cows bring, Dave ?

The smaller thin cows weighed 900-1025 sold for $0.90 to $1.03. There was only about half a dozen of those. They were most likely the oldest cows. The vast majority sold in the $1.30 to $1.39 range. Only about half a dozen that went over$1.40. The cows averaged weighing over 1,200 pounds which is what I shoot for when buying.

 

[PPRM]

Glad things went well. I've been able to make some gas money when I have room on my trailer for a few top end butcher cows this summer, Chehalis to Hermiston as an example. $1.20 butcher cows don't advance but $1.40 butcher cows can advance $10-15/cwt

 

[Dave]

Glad things went well. I've been able to make some gas money when I have room on my trailer for a few top end butcher cows this summer, Chehalis to Hermiston as an example. $1.20 butcher cows don't advance but $1.40 butcher cows can advance $10-15/cwt

I am pretty sure we would have done better on the cows if they could have gone straight to Kuna. But it didn't work out. You might have noticed grass got a little short around here. Now to find a small army of fence builders....... maybe a large army.

 

[ClinchValley86]

Nice!!! I'd be tickled to death.

 

[PPRM]

I am pretty sure we would have done better on the cows if they could have gone straight to Kuna. But it didn't work out. You might have noticed grass got a little short around here. Now to find a small army of fence builders....... maybe a large army.

IMO, you did well with what you had and your circumstances. I have the cheap grader screening and fry waste to mix and feed cows up. As I was buying calves I would stick through the cow sale and find an occasional under 30 month that arrived late. Then, I started noticing cows that had “Gas money or better” in value between the west side and Hermiston. I still prefer to feed butcher cows up in value and gain holding them a month. But, the trade was too obvious to ignore

You’ve done really well on the hand you’ve been dealt in terms of marketing cows. It’s not all about the size and dollar price at the end. The value of where they started makes a huge difference.

 

[Travlr]

I am pretty sure we would have done better on the cows if they could have gone straight to Kuna. But it didn't work out. You might have noticed grass got a little short around here. Now to find a small army of fence builders....... maybe a large army.

Wish I was in better shape physically. I actually enjoy projects where you can see results.

 

[Dave]

Wish I was in better shape physically. I actually enjoy projects where you can see results.

They are guessing that there is over 1,000 miles of fence that the fire took out. That is going to be a lot of projects to do.