Open Cows

[Gagab]

I was thinking what I was going to do with the open cows after I preg check on Tuesday. What do you guys think about putting the open cows back on the bulls, and then taking them to the sale barn about the middle of February. Where I have my bulls there would be plenty of grass, unless we get a lot of snow, may have to feed some. I was thinking they are worth more as a bred cow. There a few guys around here that do calve in the fall, one of my neighbors is one.

What is your thoughts?

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I was thinking what I was going to do with the open cows after I preg check on Tuesday. What do you guys think about putting the open cows back on the bulls, and then taking them to the sale barn about the middle of February. Where I have my bulls there would be plenty of grass, unless we get a lot of snow, may have to feed some. I was thinking they are worth more as a bred cow. There a few guys around here that do calve in the fall, one of my neighbors is one.

What is your thoughts?

Sounds like a plan but you have to wonder why they are open?

 

[Buck Randall]

Around here first trimester cows bring the same price as opens, and third trimester cows are only 2-300 more. Why not sell your open ones and bring home something that will have a calf on time?

 

[TCRanch]

2nd what TT & Buck said. Age & condition of the open cow is also a factor.

 

[bird dog]

Also agree with buck. Unless they are very young and good, all would go to the packers around here bred that short.

 

[Dsth]

good advise so far. I culled an open cow about two months ago that weighted about 1600 lbs. in good body condition and got a little over $1000 for her at the sale barn. I see on craigslist this morning that I can buy some pure bred angus cows due this year (No date listed) for $1000. If I needed cows, I would think that would be a step in the right direction. agree with Buck; short bred around here are now worth much more than cull cows. good luck and let us know what you decide.

 

[Brute 23]

I agree with the above. We palp and checked teeth on some old cows this week. Everything open went to the sale today. The breds with bad teeth were 5-6 months so I will decide in Feb weither to calve them out or sell as hb.

 

[Dave]

I ship open cows, period. And I do it as soon as possible.

That said when the kill cow market is low enough I consider buying those short breds in February/March. One bid over kill price. Winter is almost over so not much wintering cost in them. Off to grass where they should gain and be looking good. Calf them out in the fall and sell as pairs when the calves are about 4 weeks old.

But keeping an open cow to do that is a gamble I am not taking. She didn't breed before when she had the chance.

 

[Lucky]

Sell the opens ASAP. Keeping them with a bull to get them bred always seems like a good ideal but rarely pans out.

 

[farmerjan]

If you bury one or 2 then you are really behind. For the most part we sell opens.... 1st calf heifers will get a 2nd chance if they have raised a big calf and maybe just don't have the condition/weight. That could be due to the weather/grass conditions.... more our fault taking care of providing for them. But it is an individual choice.
And there was the case of a bull doing poorly so that group of 75% open got a run back to another bull. Since we calve spring and fall, they will lose 6 months, not a whole year. We have 22 back with a bull to be preg checked that came from several different pastures that were all a bit thinner than they should have been and had nice big calves. The cull cow market was terrible, so opted to keep these... they were all younger cows. They do not get another chance if they come up open this time. We did buy several breds at a couple of bred sales too. Gives us a chance to do a little shuffling and make some choices. Many of the breds we buy are older cows, but at the one bid above cull price, and the spring/summer looking at them, most have done a pretty good job of raising these calves. We are weaning calves now, and will feed quite a few until probably late Jan or early Feb then sell some. Hoping that the market does increase a bit come the new year. This China deal ought to help too.

 

[farmerjan]

We will check teeth and keep the old ones if they are bred well along; after they calve, we will put them with their calves at a pasture where they have no access to a bull, and when fall comes, there is no temptation to keep them again. We took 3 to the sale today, in pretty good flesh, NO TEETH, and they did average prices. 35-43. 1155, 1155, and 1200 lbs. The calves came home, will be in the weaned pen and eating some silage and grain with the rest. I had been feeding some grain at the pasture for the past 2 weeks, so they know what grain is and ought to transition well to the feed. They will look for "momma" for a few days, but those old cows didn't have much milk anyway. The 4 will probably hang around together too since they were pastured together and the one would come right down for the grain so I am not too concerned about a transition.

 

[Katpau]

I don't know where you are located or what your market is like, but here an open cow in the Fall will bring more money than a short bred one. I was told this years ago by a guy who owns one of our auction houses. For years I took his advice and sold all cull cows without having the sale barn verify pregnancy. This year I had 8 cows that I was culling who had been confirmed as 3 to 4.5 months pregnant. I decided to go ahead and have the sale barn verify so I could sell them as bred cows. That cost me a few bucks and the sale barn took a slightly bigger commission. Just like I was told, the open cows ended up bringing in more per pound and had less expenses deducted by the sale barn than the bred cows.

 

[NVS1]

They can be sold as breds only if they are 3 months + bred. If less than 3 months then they're pounded out. Your time frame will likely be less than 3 months. You could blood test with biopryn which will detect a 30 day pregnancy and market as a bred 2 months post positive test result and take the documented result to the sale barn.

 

[Aaron]

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

 

[Silver]

My neigbour takes his confirmed opens and puts them in a lot to feed them grain ration for 90 days. He claims that's the magic number of days to turn the fat nice and white. Then he loads liner loads of them onto his own trucks and hauls them the 6-700 miles directly to the packer. He claims he does much better doing that than pounding them out at the local auction barn.

 

[gcreekrch]

My neigbour takes his confirmed opens and puts them in a lot to feed them grain ration for 90 days. He claims that's the magic number of days to turn the fat nice and white. Then he loads liner loads of them onto his own trucks and hauls them the 6-700 miles directly to the packer. He claims he does much better doing that than pounding them out at the local auction barn.

I know of white fat cows that are contracted to the plant over the next three months. Converted from rail price to live they are worth $1.30. Big money to be made for those that fed cows this winter.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Isn't this a seasonal deal, that makes big money almost every winter?

 

[gcreekrch]

Isn't this a seasonal deal, that makes big money almost every winter?

I thought any chance to make big money in this business was a seasonal deal!

Most of those cows were bought for 80 cents or less and cost of gain would be in the vicinity of a buck. Canadian funds mind you.

 

[Silver]

It's good enough I plan on thinking long and hard (and wearing out a pencil or two) about doing this next fall.

 

[Stocker Steve]

But I don't have any open cows.