Purebred herd verses commercial herd??

[Donnie Frazier]

I currently have 6 Angus crossed cows. I only have room for total of about 40 head and was working toward a herd of that size.

After giving it some thought I am starting to lean more in the direction of a Purebred Angus herd. My reasoning is it appears I can feed and take care of half as many cows and make the same money. For the most part it looks like registered Angus sales for sometimes twice as much as cross bred cattle. Is this true? My thinking is I can breed, feed and maintain 20 head of cows and come close to making the same profit I could with 40 crossed cows. All the time also saving on feed, hay and other expenses.

Thanks for your input.

DRF

 

[bigbull338]

I currently have 6 Angus crossed cows. I only have room for total of about 40 head and was working toward a herd of that size.

After giving it some thought I am starting to lean more in the direction of a Purebred Angus herd. My reasoning is it appears I can feed and take care of half as many cows and make the same money. For the most part it looks like registered Angus sales for sometimes twice as much as cross bred cattle. Is this true? My thinking is I can breed, feed and maintain 20 head of cows and come close to making the same profit I could with 40 crossed cows. All the time also saving on feed, hay and other expenses.

Thanks for your input.

DRF

to make money off reg cows theres a few things you need.1 is to buy the best reg cows you can.an breed them to the best bull you can.you make money off of breeding bull sales an replacemeny heifer sales.now that doesnt mean every calf you have is replacement quality.out of 10 bull calves a yr.youll be lucky to have 2 thats worth raising as herd bulls.

 

[jkwilson]

You need to be a salesman to make the premium money for purebred cattle. You won't get any premiums at the sale barn for registered stock. Unless you are a smart or lucky breeder, most of your calves will still go to the sale barn.

You also need to invest in much more expensive cows, or use embryo transfer and AI to improve your herd. Most breeds, a $2500 cow won't turn many heads. How many calves will she drop for you?

Pretty easy to get $800 tied up in a single calf before it ever takes its first breath if you are after the good stuff. That doesn't include the cow's upkeep. Because of that, you can't afford to spare any expense in vet services, vaccination and feed/minerals.

Labor-wise and feed-wise, it's pretty well a wash, but the cash investment will be higher.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I currently have 6 Angus crossed cows. I only have room for total of about 40 head and was working toward a herd of that size.

After giving it some thought I am starting to lean more in the direction of a Purebred Angus herd. My reasoning is it appears I can feed and take care of half as many cows and make the same money. For the most part it looks like registered Angus sales for sometimes twice as much as cross bred cattle. Is this true? My thinking is I can breed, feed and maintain 20 head of cows and come close to making the same profit I could with 40 crossed cows. All the time also saving on feed, hay and other expenses.

Thanks for your input.

DRF

Remember this you are going to haul most of those calfs to the salebarn. Very few calfs are seedstock animals, I carry papers on all of mine in my backpocket in case I get hit with a pain.
You are trying to play in a big money game that takes years to get a reputatation established.
It doesn't cost anymore to run purebred versus commericial but it cost a heck of a lot more to set up a purebreed herd.
Lot of difference in a 800 dollar cow and a 2000 dollar cow and both calfs bring 500 dollars at the salebarn.
Secondly I have seen it when gert's Simm's Char's Brammers, Herfs were the cats meow right now its Angus. This to shall pass.

Not to discourage your dreams I know one seedstock breeder that runs about 25 head and makes money. He is in a niche market for his breed if you want one.
So I quess the real question with that small of operation are you going to be filling a niche.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Secondly I have seen it when gert's Simm's Char's Brammers, Herfs were the cats meow right now its Angus. This to shall pass.

I sat 5 hours through the sale last Friday. That was all my grandson would allow me to do. There was no way I was going 16 hours with him there (he's only 8 months old). Angus cows weren't bringing anything. No one was bidding on them. If a man wanted to pick up angus cattle, that was the time to do it. Eared cattle averaged about $200 more for bred and pairs. That was the first time I had seen that in quite some time. There were probably atleast 6 young pure angus that went through fetching about $500 each. Most were bred for early fall calving. Probably about 2 dozen mid aged and then some aged cattle. I didn't keep count. Bro-in-law was with me and he likes angus. He was shocked at how cheap they were. I half expected him to bid on a few but he didn't.

I don't know what calves brought since I didn't stick around to see them come through.

Saw some really good looking cattle of all breeds that were worth more than people were bidding. It was a good time to buy if a man had something to feed.

 

[Frankie]

I currently have 6 Angus crossed cows. I only have room for total of about 40 head and was working toward a herd of that size.

After giving it some thought I am starting to lean more in the direction of a Purebred Angus herd. My reasoning is it appears I can feed and take care of half as many cows and make the same money. For the most part it looks like registered Angus sales for sometimes twice as much as cross bred cattle. Is this true? My thinking is I can breed, feed and maintain 20 head of cows and come close to making the same profit I could with 40 crossed cows. All the time also saving on feed, hay and other expenses.

Thanks for your input.

DRF

Donnie, that's what we've done. We're limited in the number of head we can run. But we make more money from selling registered Angus than we could make selling the same number of commercial animals. It's harder; you don't need to buy a good bull. You need a good AI program if you're serious about making money with Angus. You'll need to identify a market for your registered stock. My suggestion is to get out to some sales this spring, especially the sales that will be where you market your cattle. Talk to some breeders. Learn about pedigrees and then decide. Good luck....

 

[houstoncutter]

How long have you been in the cow biz. You dont learn it overnight and hopefully you never stop learing, or its time to get out of it. If you have been in the biz at least 10 years and you have a passion for the purebred market go for... Just remember you better know your product cold, cause their are commercial guys like myself that will try you... If you know your stuff we will deal, if not you will be considered a flash in the pan and you want be able to give us a bull. Not trying to be harsh, but just stating some cold hard facts.

 

[Donnie Frazier]

Thanks for all the input so far. Some of you are so right in your thoughts. I have to become a lot more knowledable in bloodlines and what is working and what isn't in whatever breed I have.

I wish there was some kind of crash course somewhere for raising and selling cattle. There are so many abbreviations and terms used in the cattle business that I have yet to figure out. I have had some expensive lessons so far. To be honest in the back of my mind I can't help but wonder if I should be going in any direction with cattle??

I really enjoy messing with them and working them but I want to make profits. I have no intention of doing it as a hobby. I don't like it enough to do it and not make money. The government was going to pay me $109.00 per acre for 15 years to put the same land the cows are going to be on in a crep program with pine trees for 30 years. I decided against the 30 crep program contract thinking I could make more with cows. I hope I was right?? Time will tell.

I live in eastern NC and around here at the sale barn if it isn't black you just about have to give it away and that is no exaggeration. Take care,

DRF

 

[rattler]

Donnie in our neck of the woods black sell's better.But i have alway's liked red.Red cow''s cost less use a black bull on them get black calf's.

rattler

 

[novatech]

Being in the regesterd cattle is a heck of a lot more work.
It is all about marketing. If you do not have a market set up you may as well be in the commercial bussiness. It takes years to develope this market and a lot of associating with the right people.
This is on top of what others have said in the other posts.

The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Donnie, if you're still learning the cattle business, stay away from the purebred side. If you're anxious to begin making money _right away_, stay away from the purebred side.

My family has been in the commercial cattle business since the 1800s, and I continued that trend when I took over. 4 years ago, I became disappointed with the trend that purebred cattle had taken and decided to get into seedstock operations on my own. In those 4 years, I have yet to make a nickel on my purebreds because I've been building my own herd up, attending PB sales, and getting myself better known to the breeders and commercial cattlemen that wish to use Shorthorns in their breeding program. This will be the first year I will have bulls for sale, and I have exactly 2 that I feel are worth having my name attached to.

As someone mentioned, very few of your calves will actually make the grade for purebred stock. It will vary from year to year and bull to bull, but don't count on more than 30% of your offspring to make the grade. Or at least don't count on more than that if you wish to be a responsible breeder who is concerned with improving (or at least maintaining) your selected breed. The other 70% will simply be market calves, and they will be smaller than good commercial calves from a proper crossbreeding program.

Rod

 

[CowpokeJ]

Why don't you cross some Gelbys with some of that A word. Sell f1 replacements.

 

[Cowdirt]

I really enjoy messing with them and working them but I want to make profits. DRF

Donnie,
Have you ever run a cattle operation by yourself? If not I would try my hand at the plain ole cow business first to get the experience. I have good cows but not great cows. That's where I plan to stay. I don't do this cow thing now the best I know how so why would I go to the next level. If you don't really enjoy it, you won't last long no matter whether you go commercial or seedstock. MHO.