opinions on these calfs for sale

[dieselbeef]

theyre both hiefers. i actually like the b&w one better..i do hate waiting to see a new animal make me any money..but i dont know if i could make a good choice on a cow after seeing it for 30 sec in an arena the size of a pickup truk. bout all i couod tell is if the bag looks any good...im not that seasoned...

i havent been able to get the nieghbor to poart with anyhting...that was my first shot cuz i hate to by anything unknown..

 

[CattleHand]

theyre both hiefers. i actually like the b&w one better..i do hate waiting to see a new animal make me any money..but i dont know if i could make a good choice on a cow after seeing it for 30 sec in an arena the size of a pickup truk. bout all i couod tell is if the bag looks any good...im not that seasoned...

i havent been able to get the nieghbor to poart with anyhting...that was my first shot cuz i hate to by anything unknown..

Well then my biggest advice is start going to the sale barn and get good at telling if a cow is good or not by looking at her for 30 seconds. Once you are good at that you got a lot more options. I just think it would be really hard to make ends meet buying such small calves and hoping they mature into nice cows.

What I could see those calves being worth is buying, fattening up and then reselling at 600 pounds or so if you can play the market right.

 

[hillsdown]

Not all of us producers are out to screw the buyer. I have some really nice commercial 7yr old 3 in 1's that I need to get rid of because I need to down size my commercial unregistered herd to make room for my growing purebred registered herd. Yes some are crooks but most are good honest people like yourself. I know it is hard to get back on that horse though if you have been burned before.

DB do you have producers around you maybe you can even make a trade, like feed for a couple good 3 in ones. The cow will drop a calf next spring or earlier and the heifer calf at the side can be bred at 15 months old and give you a calf in 2011 maybe even a heifer calf , as well as the original cow will give you another calf in 2011. Get a 6-8 year old as that is barely middle age in the beef bus. if they are cared for properly. Just one more thing to think of. Now by 2011 you have 3 more head than you started with. And if by chance they are all heifers your herd is well on their way.

With the heifers you are thinking of you will have 16-18 months of feed to give them before they are even bred and if IF they stick on their first breeding you will have 9 more months before you get a calf..

Just something to think about. Also have the cow palpated by a vet to ensure pregnancy and the seller guarantee that the calf is a single heifer( not a twin), I would vaccinate both animals at time of vet check unless seller has documentation from a cert. vet. It would also be in your best interest to take a look at their operation and especially the sire to the bred cow so you know what you are in for come calving.

BTW good job on posting the pics.. :tiphat:

 

[dieselbeef]

thanks..keep on with the advice..im readin all this stuff over and over til it sinks in

as for goin to the barn i still dont kow what a good cow ends up being til i see the price cuz i wont know where its goin..but i git yer idea....

i have been looking at some 3in 1's. that was my first look for. i have 2 hiefers that i traded some feed for. that deal went pretty good. they truned out right. huntin a deal i guess is what im doin..ive got time and the land is there whether i got cows on it or not. im basically cheap and am always trying to find good deal on something...i was thinkin them 2 last pics for 750 was okay but maybe a 3 in 1 is better . theyre bout 800 or so here. i end up with 3 animals in 2 yrs instead of 2

aahh..............the search goes on.

i appreciate the input ...sound advice
gary

 

[dieselbeef]

as a what..sorry...i failed english almost as bad as algebra

 

[Tatertot]

Its been my experience that those type of calves will not be able to breed back on time or hold condition well while raising a calf. Keep in mind most people are weaning their replacement calves at 7 months. I think most folks will agree that this is the healthiest if not most common way to raise a replacement. If you are dead set against buying cows you could still buy heifers from the barn.

About the 30 second evaluation. Can you take a look at them before the auction starts?

I understand your situation. Its a lot of money to drop without any kind of return for a while. I'm sorry for being rude in an earlier post and I hope this post will be some help or atleast something to chew on. :cboy:

 

[backhoeboogie]

Rannies. Traders.

You can make money but be prepared to deal with issues.

DB steers are a one way street. If the bottom falls out of the cattle market when it is time to turn the steers, you lose. With those heifers, you can always hold them and turn them to cows, even when they are not the type of cows you'd like to own. You can sell them as pairs when the market comes back.

I think you are paying to much for them tho.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I buy culls all the time.

SL

I have too.

You have estate liquidations going to the sale barn regularly. Sometime folks cull the wrong animals.

 

[CattleHand]

About the 30 second evaluation. Can you take a look at them before the auction starts?

Some places you can walk around the back and get a look at what will be coming threw. That way you have a good idea of what you may want, Ive seen people doin that. What is a three in one? A cow that is bred with a calf at her side? This has made me a bit curious, how many of you keep your heifer calves to breed later on? I can understand the people raising registered cattle doing that since they want to keep some specific genetics. Never knew commercial operations did, but then again Ive learned a lot since logging in on this board.

 

[hillsdown]

I got started buying older commercial 3 in ones . Then I bought some open commercial replacement heifers..Then I decided on a specific breed and decided to stay small but purebred registered .

CH, 3 in ones are exactly what you thought and yes good commercial operations keep a percentage of heifers each year for their own replacements.

 

[Cowdirt]

About the 30 second evaluation. Can you take a look at them before the auction starts?

Some places you can walk around the back and get a look at what will be coming threw. That way you have a good idea of what you may want, Ive seen people doin that. What is a three in one? A cow that is bred with a calf at her side? This has made me a bit curious, how many of you keep your heifer calves to breed later on? I can understand the people raising registered cattle doing that since they want to keep some specific genetics. Never knew commercial operations did, but then again Ive learned a lot since logging in on this board.

Cattlehand, I keep replacement heifers from my commercial herd for the some of the same reasons that registered breeders do. It's a good way to upgrade a herd. It probably is not cost effective but I have a good chance of winding up with "keepers".

 

[1982vett]

Take a look at these average calves and compare them to those in your pictures. Try to look past the color of hide, but do look at the difference muscling, look down their backs at their thicker top line and rump. If you start out with a better calf you should end up with a better cow.


View attachment 1

 

[kenny thomas]

1982vett, now that is some good looking calves.

 

[Tatertot]

Good post Vette.

Look at their bellies. Pot belly vs. Vettes pics.

 

[1982vett]

Hey thanks for the complements. First full season with this bull. Looks like he is getting my calves back in shape. Course the green grass isn't hurting either.

 

[BC]

What is the big deal about having a dairy cross for a mother cow. He is in Florida which usually has ample forage. After their first calf, they can be bred to a heavy muscled bull terminal cross for a very market acceptable calf.

Here in East Texas, we have used Holstien X Brahman and Jersey X Brahman cows for years. When they are bred to Angus or Hereford bulls, these heifers can be kept for replacements fhat will have good milking ability. We can do this because of forage availibility. Areas west of I-35 in Texas and the western states do not have the forage resources to do this.

 

[Tatertot]

What is the big deal about having a dairy cross for a mother cow. He is in Florida which usually has ample forage. After their first calf, they can be bred to a heavy muscled bull terminal cross for a very market acceptable calf.

Here in East Texas, we have used Holstien X Brahman and Jersey X Brahman cows for years. When they are bred to Angus or Hereford bulls, these heifers can be kept for replacements fhat will have good milking ability. We can do this because of forage availibility. Areas west of I-35 in Texas and the western states do not have the forage resources to do this.

Nothing wrong with dairy cross calves. Whatever these calves are I think they were weaned too early. I would bet they had minimal input or non at all when they were weaned. Potbelly calves in my experience do not gain well. If they are kept in a commercial operation for replacement they will seem fine with their first calf. But, they won't hold condition with a calf on them. They won't breed back on time. Now I realize that where I'm at we don't have the best stocking rate. Even so, why would anyone want a whole herd of hard doing cattle?

The other problem I have is there is no uniformity to the calves in the first pictures. If they are part dairy they came from several different operations. If that is the case then the seller is just a cattle broker. That is an equation for trouble even for an experienced cattleman. I hope I'm not giving bad info. So, if you think I'm wrong I'd like to hear it. I'm not too old to listen.

 

[Jogeephus]

If you can get them cheap and put some cheap weight on them I think you could make some money. When you make some money, put this on some good stock. But you can make money buying culls and putting weight on them. Just be sure you are paying a cull price.

I was thinking on something similar to this business model.

 

[2/B or not 2/B]

DB, you can go either way. I certainly understand the $ issue. If it was me, I'd invest in one proven cow over two or even three not so great quality unknown heifers. Even if the heifers put calves on the ground in 2 or 3 years, what if they end up having poor udder structure, don't mother their calves, or don't breed back? If you have to sell them for slaughter and start over, all that time will be lost. We're in a similar situation and probably should have just sold all our cows when we inherited them and then bought a few good registered breeding animals. Didn't do that of course. Had to do it the slow, hard way! I learned my lesson and am not gonna buy any more sale barn cows (since I don't have the eye), and no more attempts at turning junky heifers into golden cows. Instead, we are investing in one or two good quality breeding animals each year and we'll build our way up from here.

 

[1982vett]

SirLoin, The tags are in the right ear for no particular reason. The right ear is just the ear that is most convinient to get to for a right handed man with a busted wrist. But I guess it is old habits mostly. When we used ear marks, Dad tipped the left ear and notched the right. So when I started running cattle I kept the right ear notch. Now I just put the tag in the right.

They are close to being the same size mostly because they are about the same age. Also, I'll have to admit, the two in the second picture are a bit older. The reason they appear to be the same size as the ones in the first is an illusion. The pictures are cropped. The ones in the second picture are farther from the camera when the picture was taken so they appear to be the same size as the ones in the other picture but probably weigh around 450. That is why the show more "bloom" than the ones in the first picture. The ones in the first picture are about 1 1/2 - 2 months old.