SoilBuilder
Well-known member
"I've never seen packers chase cattle in June."
https://www.beefmagazine.com/market-news/crazy-cattle-market
https://www.beefmagazine.com/market-news/crazy-cattle-market
Packers chasing cattle in June
- Thread starter SoilBuilder
- Start date
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
Demand is high. They’re trying to get ahead of the curve before things get more out of hand.
MurraysMutts
Well-known member
Just wait........
They are gonna get higher yet. When herd re-building begins, it's gonna get a bit silly.
They are gonna get higher yet. When herd re-building begins, it's gonna get a bit silly.
CowboyRam
Well-known member
I thought they were silly high last winter, I bet it is going to be worse this winter.
coachg
Well-known member
Can't wait, came in on the down side of the last cycle. 
Hpacres440p
Well-known member
So will heifer bulls be popular with the rebuilding? Asking for a friend…
Ky hills
Well-known member
We got a heifer bull, now if we could just afford some heifersSo will heifer bulls be popular with the rebuilding? Asking for a friend…
Dave
Well-known member
I would buy some heifers to breed and sell. Trouble is I have no where to put them. By the time some space opens up they would be getting bred as fall calvers. And no body around here wants fall calves. I guess I will have to sit this one out.
Don’t weaken, if you have the grass borrow the money. We haven’t seen the end of stupid yet. Bred cattle going to be high for next 2 to 3 years. Feeders the same.We got a heifer bull, now if we could just afford some heifers
MurraysMutts
Well-known member
I'm real excited to see what the pairs bring at the next special sale. Heck, the spring sales, they were getting awful close to 4000
They started some 2 yr old heifer pairs bred back at 2500 and it really took off! I thought Holy smokes they are gonna hit 4k!!
Sold at 3800 or 3850.
They started some 2 yr old heifer pairs bred back at 2500 and it really took off! I thought Holy smokes they are gonna hit 4k!!
Sold at 3800 or 3850.
greybeard
Well-known member
any thoughts what this will do on the consumer (retail) side?
yeah. askin fer a friend..sure I am...
yeah. askin fer a friend..sure I am...
When people can’t afford nose rings, tattoos, drugs, booze and cigarettes we should worry.
I'm becoming a speculator. We had a place with no cattle and I didnt want to fool with it in the drought. We have been getting some pretty decent rain lately. It looks like more may be on the way. I'm about to start dumping calves there. Steers may get sold in the fall depending on how the winter goes but heifers will likely be held until the spring.
If we get these gulf storms people won't be able to watch all that grass grow with out any cattle.
If we get these gulf storms people won't be able to watch all that grass grow with out any cattle.
1982vett
Well-known member
I don't know, I'm looking at a bunch right now. Sure is pretty.
farmerjan
Well-known member
We are in moderate drought conditions in Va with part of the state, right up here around where I am, into severe drought status. We had .8 inch rain last Wed evening... first rain in 3 weeks and that was the week of 6/3-6, it was a total of .75 inch over 3 days that soaked in and then dried back up with the 90 degree heat and wind.
With the prices the way they have been, we took 22 steers to town yesterday. Weaned off cows due to start calving again this fall... Pastures drying up, literally turning brown. They weighed average 480 lbs... a few lighter ones and most right at the 500 mark. They brought between $3.20 and 3.40/ lb.
22 steers NETTED a check of almost $34,000 after commissions; which were about $45 per head. They averaged over $1575 PER HEAD....
Hay is short, yields are down about 25-40% in some fields, with little rain this spring...second cutting does not look promising. We bought 60 rolls from a friend that makes alot of hay... as a cushion so we can carry our cows. We planted 15 acres corn this year and it is not looking good... plan is to use it to make silage, if it grows enough. We emptied the silage bunk feeding steers this past year and it paid off when we sold them. Planned to fill it and feed more this year but it is not going to happen. Even if we fill it, it will be used to just feed our own and not buy any to put together groups.
We have been culling old open cows, and some younger open ones that have other strikes... raised mediocre calves, like to test fences and get out, hard to catch in pens when the time comes.... stuff like that. We did keep about 20 open cows that were with a bull that got a scrotal hernia and his fertility went down... surprising that he got as many bred as he did... and we kept the best of them and put back to get bred... they will have calves early in the spring rather than late this fall. So we are losing 6 months with them. But we could not pencil out buying $2500-3500 replacement cows, especially with the dry conditions.
We are rotating at pastures but a couple places we may have to pull cattle if we do not get enough rain to get things growing again. We have several places that have thin shaley (spelling?) ground so not much topsoil and when it gets dry, the grasses just wither and that's it.
Keeping the heifers, we can sell them or breed them as the situation warrants. More flexibility....
I am thinking it will last for another year... then start to fall off and probably rather sharply...but replacements will be in demand for another couple of years..... but there is the whole election situation this fall so it is a crap shoot what could happen.
We have been selling some beef the past few years, and that has fallen off fast... people cannot afford to put out that kind of money for a half or whole beef.... and we are shipping through the stockyard because we KNOW we will get paid for them and there is no hassle of dealing with the processing either... selling when there is not so much in them as there is in a beef ready to process; and freeing up pastures for the cow/calf pairs.
With the prices the way they have been, we took 22 steers to town yesterday. Weaned off cows due to start calving again this fall... Pastures drying up, literally turning brown. They weighed average 480 lbs... a few lighter ones and most right at the 500 mark. They brought between $3.20 and 3.40/ lb.
22 steers NETTED a check of almost $34,000 after commissions; which were about $45 per head. They averaged over $1575 PER HEAD....
Hay is short, yields are down about 25-40% in some fields, with little rain this spring...second cutting does not look promising. We bought 60 rolls from a friend that makes alot of hay... as a cushion so we can carry our cows. We planted 15 acres corn this year and it is not looking good... plan is to use it to make silage, if it grows enough. We emptied the silage bunk feeding steers this past year and it paid off when we sold them. Planned to fill it and feed more this year but it is not going to happen. Even if we fill it, it will be used to just feed our own and not buy any to put together groups.
We have been culling old open cows, and some younger open ones that have other strikes... raised mediocre calves, like to test fences and get out, hard to catch in pens when the time comes.... stuff like that. We did keep about 20 open cows that were with a bull that got a scrotal hernia and his fertility went down... surprising that he got as many bred as he did... and we kept the best of them and put back to get bred... they will have calves early in the spring rather than late this fall. So we are losing 6 months with them. But we could not pencil out buying $2500-3500 replacement cows, especially with the dry conditions.
We are rotating at pastures but a couple places we may have to pull cattle if we do not get enough rain to get things growing again. We have several places that have thin shaley (spelling?) ground so not much topsoil and when it gets dry, the grasses just wither and that's it.
Keeping the heifers, we can sell them or breed them as the situation warrants. More flexibility....
I am thinking it will last for another year... then start to fall off and probably rather sharply...but replacements will be in demand for another couple of years..... but there is the whole election situation this fall so it is a crap shoot what could happen.
We have been selling some beef the past few years, and that has fallen off fast... people cannot afford to put out that kind of money for a half or whole beef.... and we are shipping through the stockyard because we KNOW we will get paid for them and there is no hassle of dealing with the processing either... selling when there is not so much in them as there is in a beef ready to process; and freeing up pastures for the cow/calf pairs.
coachg
Well-known member
Creeks have stopped running, hot and dry . Haven’t had a good rain since the first of June .
We had 3 different thunderstorms yesterday when we were moving those cows. Raining so hard you couldn't see...with the sun shining.. each one lasted about 5 minutes. All it did was turn the place into a sauna! We have been getting adequate rain on the Kudzu Place but not a lot....not like the flooding we had in the spring. The new place is all irrigated. Scott is still running it on the new bermuda and bahia fields, but has shut it off the beans, peanuts and corn.
I saw commercial heifer pairs bring $4,400.00 at an auction a few months ago. Some are saying 4,500-5,000 next spring if nothing happens to change things. Seen some 6 month bred bring 3 recently
kenny thomas
Well-known member
Im just not seeing where the profit is in 5000 pairs. Even if their calves average $1500 each year thats 3+ years to break even without adding any expenses. At least 5 years if you add expenses. In 5 year i think cattle will be lots cheaper. Hope im wrong.
If those are Canadian funds, Kenny $5000 Pare $2500 calf $4000 bred cow makes perfect sense to me
