Preconditioning calves

[denoginnizer]

I have a neighbor that preconditions calves . What is a fair price for this service. If a deal is worked out I will be taking my calves to his place. 50 cents per pound of gain sound right? Any advice on this would be helpful as I have never preconditioned before.

 

[Bama]

If you have the time and facilities why would you want to let someone else do it for you. They are just cutting into your profit in the endgame.

 

[denoginnizer]

What facilities would I need?

 

[denoginnizer]

Also, I only have about 50. Several of us were going to put ours together so that we would be able to make a few loads(transfer Truck). They tell me I will make more money by doing this. Maybe 50.00 more per head.

 

[Lngvew]

You got 50 head to condition at .50/lb gained. On average they gain 3.0 lbs/day ($75.00 / day your cost) Condition for 30 days you wind up with a $2,250.00 bill. Assuming your calves will weigh 500 lbs. after the conditioning period and sell for $1.20/lb. = $30,000 - $2,250 you come out with $27,750 to pay your bills. If you sold the 50 head at 410 lbs. for $1.20 = $24,600 Looks like you could make $13,150 ($263/head) based on these assumptions. If I have used the wrong weight or price the numbers will be quite different. I would suggest you look at your calf weights and area market price and push the pencil. I think if you can get them conditioned (feed, pastured, watered & labor) for .50/lb gained is a good deal. I cant feed a growing calf for a $1.50 a day ( Feed @ $8.00/100, calf eats 20 lbs/day works out to $1.60/day) ?????

 

[TUCO]

howdy mr. lngvew

i never was to good at my ciphering lessons. but $13,150 ??????

did you mean $27,750 compared to $24,600 = $3,150 and thats a heck of a diference from $13,150

and dont forget about who pays for all the stuff other than grass and feed, like shots and doctering etc.

mr. denog, i now that mr. lngvew was just giving you some what ifs but what do you think about them price and gain asumptions $1.20 a month later on for a 500 pounder preconditioned ... compared to $1.20 for a 410 pounder right now and right off the teat? ya reckon they gonna gain 3 per day average over them 30 days? at least you wont be moving em real far so maybe you wont have hardly any health problems with them calfs.

i reckon if you really can put 90 pounds on em in 30 days for $45 plus maybe the cost of some shots and none of em gets sick or dies and if you can then sell em for $108 more ... well then i reckon youd be a little crazy not to take that deal. work you own numbers out and tell us what you decide. and if you get em preconditioned please come back next month and tell us how it all worked out for you

 

[dun]

It's that getting sick part that breaks your back. When we delivered them to the backgrounder a USDA grader assigned an estimated value based on the calves muscle, weight, frame and condition. It was pretty much a well educated guess and for the calves that dropped out he was very close. Our calves ranged from 46 -48 1/2 cents per pound of gain. Except the one that got sick and was 64 cents per lb of gain. As it was we figured after yardage, feed, medication, etc we netted an extra 30 some bucks a head, except the one that had gotten sick and he was a break even.

dun

 

[bigbull338]

if you have an extra pasture you can pre con your own calves b/c basically all they need is weaning worming an shots broke to the water trough feed bunk an hay bunk feed for 50 calves would be bout 6tons or $1200 so you would make money if you did it yourself scott

 

[denoginnizer]

if you have an extra pasture you can pre con your own calves b/c basically all they need is weaning worming an shots broke to the water trough feed bunk an hay bunk feed for 50 calves would be bout 6tons or $1200 so you would make money if you did it yourself scott

What kinda feed?

 

[sidney411]

I precondition my own calves and sell strait to a buyer. I do on average 20 at a time, several times a year and have a bulk feeder I use. I buy bulk feed from the local feed supply, they will custom mix what I want. All I did was go in and tell them what I was doing and he gave me his suggestion of mixed salt limited ration. Give them their shots and feed them - that's about it. It's not hard, but like was said, there is a risk involved. Good luck!

 

[Lngvew]

Sorry folks, I do bout as well at math as I do at typing. I made a typo, should have caught it, $3,150 or $63.00/head is correct. Thank you Mr TUCO for pointing it out. You are correct also that it was a what if situation and fully agree that Mr Denog should make the decisison based on his production and area market.

 

[jerry27150]

the first couple of weeks they will shrink from losing mom & baby fat. they claim if you don't keep for 45 days after weaning, don't bother

 

[stocky]

I agree with jerry on this. if things go well, they will weigh about the same in 20-30 days as they did when you weaned them. you cant count on the 3 lbs per day gain in that first 20-30 days.

 

[certherfbeef]

Tried it one year. Lost my butt, kinda like creep feeding the calves. I couldn't find the profit in it. Not to mention my labor.
Now the calves are weaned on sale day and hauled to the barn.

 

[dun]

the first couple of weeks they will shrink from losing mom & baby fat. they claim if you don't keep for 45 days after weaning, don't bother

You might want to look at your weaning process. We fenceline wean and the calves are heavier after a week then they were when they came off of the cow. It isn;t much but the gain is there. We don;t push them for the first 45 days or so, just pasture with a couple of pounds of grain a day. They average around 1 1/2 pounds a day gain for that period by the time they leave here.

dun

 

[bigbull338]

you can feed them corn or a grower feed or a creep feed an they will go though a weaning sweat for 2wks if you pre con and work your calves means they can sale an go on grass alot easier with less stress then load same day you wean an sale them scott

 

[sidney411]

I also fence line wean our calves for the entire weaning/preconditioning phase. I sell at 30-45 days weaned and I have kept detailed weight records throughout the process. I have proof of gain throughout the entire process - from weaning to sale. There has not been a decline in weight at any stage. Faster gains are noted in the final weeks though.

 

[BC]

I bought some calves at my local sale barn one year and sent them to Ranch to Rail program. 4 bulls and 1 steer. The steer gained 140 lbs in the 63 days we backgrounded them, the bull calves we had to cut averaged 61 lbs gained in 63 days. Calves were on good pasture and got a couple of pounds of feed per day. My cost of gain was about $0.43 per lb.

 

[jerry27150]

dun, i have been fence line weaning since long before it was ever mentioned by anyone. if you have good milking mother cows, your calves will have baby fat & that always has to disappear when they leave mom's side. then they will gain more muscle & growth. in 55 years i have never seen one not shrink for at least a week, even if on good grass right next to mom & running in the same pasture with the rest of the herd. i never move the calves. i move their mothers to the next pasture over.

 

[dun]

dun, i have been fence line weaning since long before it was ever mentioned by anyone. if you have good milking mother cows, your calves will have baby fat & that always has to disappear when they leave mom's side. then they will gain more muscle & growth. in 55 years i have never seen one not shrink for at least a week, even if on good grass right next to mom & running in the same pasture with the rest of the herd. i never move the calves. i move their mothers to the next pasture over.

It must depend a lot on the age you wean. By the time they're 6-7 months old they nurse more for a pacifier then nutrition. But some of it may depend on the forage base they're on also.
We've weaned the same way for years also, wasn't until about 10 years ago that I first saw the term "fenceline weaning". I figured some college type came up with the term but was glad to know it had a name. We alwasy used to just call it weaning!

dun