Question on Selling

[GA Farm Boy]

My herd is at a comfortable size (16 cows and 1 bull) for me to manage finally so therefore I doubt I will be keeping any replacement heifers in the next short while. If I need to cull a cow I will probably just sell the cow and buy/trade a heifer to take its place. I know this is not a big operation but it is has taken me eight years starting from scratch to get to this goal. I plan on growing in land and herd size in the future, but the next step is buying more land and starting the process on it again. I have found the land I want to buy, but it will be next spring before I will be able to purchase it. In the past I'm sure I have sold at the wrong time and weight but it was more of a needing operating money senerio versus a smart decision. I am trying to figure out if my best plan would be selling calves around the six month old weaning age, or wean them and move them to a seperate pasture with a creep feed and try to put some lbs on them. I believe I have pondered on this so long I have confused the two sides of my brain and now they are working against each other in a figure 8. If some of you suggest adding lbs to them please give an idea of what the ideal selling weight would be. I am in central Georgia.

Thanks,

 

[cmay]

Keep them as long as you have good grass for them. If you have good grass you shouldn't need to creep.

 

[Isomade]

Here the best bang for the buck is generally to wean for 45 days and sell in a pre-condition sale. Check with your local sale barn. They should have info on the program.

 

[cross_7]

i know nothing about your area or growing season or cattle market and etc.

in my area you can calve in the spring, wean in the fall and like iso said wean, vaccinate and promote your calves for wheat stockers and get a premium.
you can also wean in the fall and if you have wheat pasture (or maybe ryegrass in your area) and hold them till 750-800#'s and sell them as feeders.
the latter of the 2 puts more money in your pocket but it's going to depend on your resources.
holding the calves to 800#'s you get all the money thats made on them before they go to the feedyard,
selling in the fall which should allow to keep more cows, so that may make you more money.
that you'll have to put a pencil to.

 

[Jogeephus]

I wouldn't go to the trouble. I'd wean them to keep them from balling their heads off at the sale and lose weight but other than that I'd just sell them. I don't know where you are in Georgia but around here you will spend a lot of time and money for nothing if you pre-condition them. Buyers here will dock you for having fat calves because they want to group them themselves and ship them to backgrounders. While there is nothing wrong with your numbers you just don't have enough to get a premium for your efforts if you pre-condition them. If you could group them with some like cattle and get around 80 head together it would be a completely different story. I wouldn't waste my time or money on this cause every dime you spend extra is just coming off what you could have made. Of course, if you have plenty of food for them and its not going to cost you anything you could put as much weight on them as you can but this extra weight isn't going to amount to much money with the pricing system the way it is. JMO

 

[cmf1]

Once you figure it all out, you've got to be ready to throw it all out the window if the market changes.
A buddy of mine took a cull cow to auction on tuesday for me and hung around for few minutes.
He told me 450 lb weaners right off momma brought $2.25 lb.
That's a pretty good return on minimal inputs.

 

[Crazy Farmgirl]

I'd check with the local salebarn, they can give you info on what sells best in your area and when. Also checking with other farmers in the area to find out what they find works. In my area there is no salebarn close so I know a few farmers with smaller herds who time their calving together and then pool their calves together to have a larger group and sell directly to feedlots.

 

[thendrix]

I've been watching the Lanier auction (Gainesville) and the Calhoun auction (Calhoun) for some time now and according to their reports 300 - 400 weights are bringing the best. As they get bigger the price drops a little. Bred cattle are doing pretty fair as well.

My thoughts are if you have weaned calves to sell do it now.

 

[Anonymous]

Trailer wean them. The little but of shrink and bawling isn't worth the headache of weaning them yourself

 

[dun]

I've been watching the Lanier auction (Gainesville) and the Calhoun auction (Calhoun) for some time now and according to their reports 300 - 400 weights are bringing the best. As they get bigger the price drops a little. Bred cattle are doing pretty fair as well.

My thoughts are if you have weaned calves to sell do it now.

Unless you don;t have any grass why would you wean a calf at 3-4 months?

 

[thendrix]

I've been watching the Lanier auction (Gainesville) and the Calhoun auction (Calhoun) for some time now and according to their reports 300 - 400 weights are bringing the best. As they get bigger the price drops a little. Bred cattle are doing pretty fair as well.

My thoughts are if you have weaned calves to sell do it now.

Unless you don;t have any grass why would you wean a calf at 3-4 months?

I didn't say wean your calves at 3 - 4 months, I said 300 - 400 lbs are the highest selling thing at the local barns and if he HAS weaned calves now might be the time to sell them.

 

[WORANCH]

Don't wean the calves till they're 7 or 8 mo old. Get the extra weight on, and then wean them on diesel fumes.

 

[SRBeef]

Is there a good USDA processor nearby? with 16 calves a year you could do what I do and wean the calves near 205 days, then graze and/or feed them (depending on local climate and resources) to about 13 months/1000 lb and sell for freezer beef. I recommend selling split halves.

The questions is can you sell 48 split halves at about 90 lb each? That may depend on where you are located. If you are close to Atlanta suburbs you may be able to develop a market if it is very good young beef.

Possible GROSS income then is 48 x 90 lb x (4.50/lb selling price - 1.00/lb processing and driving) = about $15,000/yr vs

Possible GROSS income selling 16 x 500 lb weaned calves in the fall at 1.65 = about $13,000/yr

Probably about a wash as far as net income goes as freezer beef is a lot more work and feeding them over the winter....

Hmmmm.....maybe I need to take a look at my own operation more than advising you on yours, eh?!

If those 16 calves averaged 600 lb in the fall: 16 x 600# x $1.65/# = $15,800.... Now if I can really get 1.65 for them in the fall.... good beef-breed 600 lb feeder calves sold for 1.57-1.78 at the most recent local Bloomington Livestock Exchange feeder sale 4/27.

http://www.bloomingtonlivestock.com/index.cfm?show=10&mid=79

Jim

 

[highgrit]

I like to sell mine at 500lbs. + or - a little. I have sold in Hawkinsville, Fitzgerald, Ashburn, and Oak Park and have no complaints at all.

 

[tom4018]

I've been watching the Lanier auction (Gainesville) and the Calhoun auction (Calhoun) for some time now and according to their reports 300 - 400 weights are bringing the best. As they get bigger the price drops a little. Bred cattle are doing pretty fair as well.

My thoughts are if you have weaned calves to sell do it now.

Unless you don;t have any grass why would you wean a calf at 3-4 months?

I didn't say wean your calves at 3 - 4 months, I said 300 - 400 lbs are the highest selling thing at the local barns and if he HAS weaned calves now might be the time to sell them.

We pull them off the cow at 180-205 day range , may hold them a little while to get a decent trailer load. Neighbor pulls his early in the 300 pound range and brags about what they bring per pound, but it pencils out better to sell in the 500 range. To me it costs about the same to keep the cow for a year might as well let her raise the calf.

 

[Jogeephus]

I like to sell mine at 500lbs. + or - a little. I have sold in Hawkinsville, Fitzgerald, Ashburn, and Oak Park and have no complaints at all.

In Fitzgerald a couple of weeks ago I watched 4 wts bring more (total dollars) than the 6-7 weights. That just don't make sense to me but if they want to pay more for a four weight and put the extra weight on them themselves who am I to complain. :???:

 

[uscangus]

i agree with dun that if you have grass why sell your calf. look around the salebarn prices to see if prices drop or increase. in my area, i would buy bred cows or heifers around sept to october when it prices drop because the weather and most people don't want cattle during winter. good luck.

 

[GA Farm Boy]

Thank you for all of the replies. It is nice having all of the opinions right here in front of me.

 

[snickers]

we sold 5 calves may 1st and did really well. 5 month old calf weighed 580 and we got 165.00 and he was a bull so we were happy. we sold a 2yr with calf on her side that brought 1300.00 yesterday and a 5yr with calf for 1500.00 and a SS jersey with calf that brought 1350.00. next week we are selling 5 SS 2nd stage cow's. i'll let you know what they bring. getting out of the business..

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I do not know your area very well but as long as you have grass i would wean at 6 to 7 months and feed to 800 or more if posible. this may vary from year to year but more often than not for me more pounds and weaning pays.