SBMF 2015
Well-known member
Dave said:SBMF 2015 said:Dave said:You have missed some of the obvious answers to your dilemma.
1. Go to year round grazing. Cutting out feeding hay will lower your costs.
2. Raise your weaning weight. You can do this by buying a top bred bull. Some would suggest SAV, possibly an American bull.
3. Rent pasture for extremely low price. You can do this by renting from the government (BLM. USFS)
4. Direct market all your beef. Everyone needs beef. Take for example your BIL's cousins who knows a guy who owns a freezer.
5. Raise special breeds such as mini's. They sell extremely well to the suburban population.
6. Get into the purebred market. I hear there is a huge demand for Black Angus bulls right now. Take advantage of this under supplied market.
7. Raise and sell bred heifers. With the expanding national beef herd this is a real winner.
Have I given you enough ideas? :welcome: Or insulted enough people? :cboy: :hide:
Well, while I like some of your ideas especially #7. Some of the others don't fit in the Midwest or are just as risky as the open market.
1)4-6" of snow is about as deep as I've ever seen a cow dig for grass, that's a lot of work for what she gets. Then the creek freezes over, hard and the cows are forced to eat snow until you can get them moved home where the feed and water tank is.
3) There is no BLM, USFS land for grazing in Illinois.
4) What do you do when your BIL's cousins who knows a guy who owns a freezer. Gets his freezer full of your beef and the check doesn't clear? It doesn't even have to get to the freezer. It could still be hanging at the locker and they back out. Now your stuck with a hanging beef and no cash.
6) Probably 33% of Angus bulls for sale should have been cut when they were weaned. We are flooded with low quality black bulls. Last May you could have bought 40 yrling Angus bulls for scale price at our local sale barn's May bred cow sale. Every production catalog I've seen this year has had several yrlings that would have made nice club calves.
None of the above was to be taken seriously. I am certain the Steve understood that. It was all done in sarcastic humor. I have done #7 the bred heifer deal (Steve knows that). Made good money doing it. But there is no way on God's green earth that I would be doing that right now.
Okay.
I still would look at breeding hfrs here. If you could get them bought right. 3yr olds with calves at there side brought $2,000-$2,350 earlier this month. That's pretty avg for an April bred cow sale here. Bred hfrs here in February brought $1,600-$2,200.
That should work.