Replacement Heifers

[HDRider]

Do you buy your replacement heifers, or raise them?

If you raise, what do you say your cost is?
If you buy, how much are you paying on average for your RHs right now? Say where you are if you don't display that, please.

Thanks

I read an article debating this and calculating RH cost. I'll go dig that up and post it later.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Do you buy your replacement heifers, or raise them?

If you raise, what do you say your cost is?
If you buy, how much are you paying on average for your RHs right now? Say where you are if you don't display that, please.

Thanks

I read an article debating this and calculating RH cost. I'll go dig that up and post it later.

We do both HD.

We paid $2,000 a head for 15 registered Angus heifers in the fall of 2012. They were bred and all but 1 calved within a 45 day window in 2013. The one that slipped her calve delivered successfully in the fall of 2013.

This year we are keeping back 10 heifers, 5 or 6 from that group and the others from our other cows. Since we aren't really hung up on watching the bottom line I never really gave their cost much thought. Assuming a sale barn price of $2.20 a pound and assuming we would have sold them at 500 pounds I guess we missed out on $1,100 apiece.

We kept 2 bulls out of the 2013 group and sold one to a man who just drove up one day and asked if we had a young bull for sale. He gave $1,900 for the rascal which made me pretty proud.

 

[bigbull338]

to answer your q yes to both.right now im keeping 3 reg heifers.2 from my herd bull.and from a 1st calf that i bought in late may.i gave $2400 for a reg beefmaster heifer in late may.she calved 2wks later.now i figure ill have well over $2000 in my home raised heifers before they calve.plus 3 lost calves waiting on them to wean their 1st calf.plus i can pay for bought cattle with 2 or 3 calves sold depending on what i give for the pairs bred cows or heifers.

 

[HDRider]

If I followed this article correctly they say replacements costs about $1,430 to raise to their first calf.
http://beefmagazine.com/blog/what-s-rea ... evelopment

I understand heritage, breed and such run that cost up. They also say it takes five calf crops to break even raising replacements.

I'd think if you kept cost down, and not counting land cost and depreciation it would not take five crops to beak even. What do you folks say?

 

[HDRider]

TT & BB, you both seem to be in the the ball park of that article raising RHs.

 

[cowgirl8]

Our situation is different. We keep heifers when prices are down on weaning prices so some years we keep nothing. We'll keep if we have extra grass left. Sometimes we dont sell anything until the new year and hold back every calf. We never keep so many animals that we max out our grazing. We always keep land open for emergencies.
We've never bought any commercial heifers or cows, back in the 90s when the kids showed sims, simbras and angus....but then its only a hand full. Everything else we raised. We do not feed special. We'll feed them creep when we wean them for a few weeks, but then they go out in a secure pasture, graze, eat hay and occasionally if its really cold we'll throw out cubes. So our heifers wont cost us as much as someone who is making payments on their land, or is leasing and having to buy feed and hay. We breed them at 14 months and get a calf at 2...We've thrown around what it cost to raise them and its around 1100, some years more some years less.....

 

[Don McCallum]

I kept 9 grade replacement, and I don't think they will cost me anywhere near 5 calf crops.

 

[bigbull338]

TT & BB, you both seem to be in the the ball park of that article raising RHs.

i try not to pull any punches with my thoughts.example i know where theres this reg 5yr beefmaster pair with a 3 month old bull calf.the guy wants $3000 for the pair.id consider buying her if the bull calf is worth keeping as a herd bull.if that was the case then the cow would be paid for in 1yr.but now heres the kicker shes exposed to a reg angus bull.so if bred to said bull the next calf would be of no use to me.so knowing what i know ill prolly pass on that pair.

 

[Tim/South]

I kept 9 grade replacement, and I don't think they will cost me anywhere near 5 calf crops.

I was thinking the same thing.

We retain our heifers. Usually try to keep a few each year. When we cull momma cows we want a young cow ready to replace her.

 

[highgrit]

I have cows that if they have a heifer I take notice. Some cows have good heifers and others seem to have good bull calves. I keep what I feel is the best couple of heifers every year. Why would you sell your best replacements if they were out of proven stock?

 

[torogmc81]

I have cows that if they have a heifer I take notice. Some cows have good heifers and others seem to have good bull calves. I keep what I feel is the best couple of heifers every year. Why would you sell your best replacements if they were out of proven stock?

Agreed. You're going to know that heifer off your cow a lot better than one at a sale, assuming all else equal. Safe to say the more value one puts on maternal, DOC, etc.; then the more likely they are to retain their own??

 

[skyhightree1]

HD I keep about darn near all heifers as replacements. I have no idea what the cost truly is of doing that. I am having mostly heifer calves out of the cattle I just recently bought and im having a struggle on whether to keep them or sell them.

 

[bigbull338]

I have cows that if they have a heifer I take notice. Some cows have good heifers and others seem to have good bull calves. I keep what I feel is the best couple of heifers every year. Why would you sell your best replacements if they were out of proven stock?

let me see why have i decided to sell all of my top reg heifers if some1 wants them money.if i want to i can get $300 to $1000 over sale barn prices for my reg weaned heifer calves if people want them.plus they are still under priced from what over breeders get.

 

[highgrit]

Bigbull, what does that say about your cattle?? I would want to think that some of my best cows will give me a better heifer than I can afford to buy. If I didn't feel that way I would I would have someone buy me some new cows. Because it would be pretty apparent that I can't judge quality cattle. And Sky that's a way to build your herd up but quality takes a beating. I know this first hand cause that's the way I did it. A runty heifer will make a decent cow in 4 years time, but 9 times out of 10 she will have a runty calf. And it will always be a cull calf. With these kind of prices it's not a big deal. I still have a few of them cows left in my herd. And I'm glad I do, but the next drought their leaving. ASAP no need to try and feed a under achiever when times are tough.

 

[Nesikep]

I keep my own replacements, I like knowing their history, everything including gestation times is hereditary, and I know that some will always calf 4 days early, and some a week late. Pretty much all my replacements are halter broke, or at least not freakshows if i'd try, and they're all milkable as well... that goes a long way in making calving time less stressful. This year I'm only keeping 2 out of 7 heifers, and I've had 15 bull calves, usually I keep 3 or 4 as they do better in a bigger group.
I think the 5 years to break-even is about right regardless of whether they're purchased or raised, it's one of the reasons I don't cull old cows just for being old. If a cow does well up to 10 years, I'm going to want to get some heifers from her, so if I want 3 more, odd are she's going to have to get to 16 for that to happen. I think the 5 years to break even would prove true if you had to replace all your herd at that age... First calf or even 2 are always going to be a bit smaller, so only by the 3rd does the cow really start to work.

I keep costs down pretty well, but hay prices are pretty high in my area at $8/ 80 lb bale.., or $200/ton.. I feed my replacements well, so lets say 30 lb/day for a year (bred heifer in fall) is bang on $1100 in feed, so add the cost of the calf to that at about $1000 around here, you're at about $2100. I could buy cheaper hay, but it'll reflect in how they grow. My heifers are usually around 900-1000 lb at breeding, 12-1300 at first calf. I don't retain heifers that are under 600lb @205 days, and most are about 675... I've had some 750's but usually they didn't have the build I was looking for and passed on them too

 

[bigbull338]

highgrit i stumbled into selling calves this year as i usually keep all my heifers.back in 2010 i bought this collage bound boys 2 reg beefmasters.so he calls me 4yrs later and says i want to bring my cousin to look at my old cows calves.i say come on so they come look and find 3 show quality heifers on the cows.him getting ready to teach ag this year.ge says i can sell all your show calf prospects fast and he did.a boy called me and took those 3 heifers in a heartbeat.plus ive had calls wanting me to sell my last 2 keeper heifers.and i told them no.but the kicker is most herds dont have show calves every year.so next year ill see if i have anymore show heifers.

 

[cowgirl8]

highgrit i stumbled into selling calves this year as i usually keep all my heifers.back in 2010 i bought this collage bound boys 2 reg beefmasters.so he calls me 4yrs later and says i want to bring my cousin to look at my old cows calves.i say come on so they come look and find 3 show quality heifers on the cows.him getting ready to teach ag this year.ge says i can sell all your show calf prospects fast and he did.a boy called me and took those 3 heifers in a heartbeat.plus ive had calls wanting me to sell my last 2 keeper heifers.and i told them no.but the kicker is most herds dont have show calves every year.so next year ill see if i have anymore show heifers.

Our daughter is a ag teacher and her kids get steers out of our old cow herd. They do very well too.............forgot to get pictures, they are out of the bull everyone loves to hate...lol

 

[bigbull338]

highgrit i stumbled into selling calves this year as i usually keep all my heifers.back in 2010 i bought this collage bound boys 2 reg beefmasters.so he calls me 4yrs later and says i want to bring my cousin to look at my old cows calves.i say come on so they come look and find 3 show quality heifers on the cows.him getting ready to teach ag this year.ge says i can sell all your show calf prospects fast and he did.a boy called me and took those 3 heifers in a heartbeat.plus ive had calls wanting me to sell my last 2 keeper heifers.and i told them no.but the kicker is most herds dont have show calves every year.so next year ill see if i have anymore show heifers.

Our daughter is a ag teacher and her kids get steers out of our old cow herd. They do very well too.............forgot to get pictures, they are out of the bull everyone loves to hate...lol

the funny thing is i think im in with 2 ag teachers if their kids want reg beefmaster heifers.so ill gladly sell all of my show quality heifers to ffa and 4h kids at a fair price.ive got a heifer calf that will be shown at the 3 or 4 major livestock shows this and next year.

 

[greybeard]

I don't doubt the writer's data (Tho it's 2 year's old, since it's for 2011 weanlings) BUT, it looks at aspects from the buyer's perspective only, and uses data for a dry lot wintered heifer. We don't dry lot anything down here. It is also written during a period when the cattle herd was still in downsize mode due to both a 2011 Texas/Southwest and 2012 midwest drought. 2014 is a different ballgame altogether--Not so sure all that would hold true today.

That aside.......
Buying or raising a heifer to breeding age or 1st calf is a double edged sword and that brings up a question. None of us go to a slaebarn or breeder's sale to buy culls--we all want good replacements. Someone, raised them and did so profitably.
IF, it is going to cost the retained heifer's owner 5 calves worth of profit to recoup the cost of raising it, then does it not also stand to reason that it will also cost the seller of the breeding aged heifer the same? I would assume so--all conditions being equal.
And, if that is true ("Someone Somewhere" is obviously paying the cost from 6 months to breeding age/wt--they don't just drop out of the sky ready for you to buy them) then it would seem that the seller of the many thousands of replacement heifers bought each week is also in the same predictament the writer refers to in regards to lost 'selling opportunity at weaning'--and that cannot be correct. If it were, there would be no seedstock producers in the business today. The sellers of these breeding age or bred heifers are making $$ and lots of it otherwise, they would be selling all their weaning age calves.
So, for those who buy rather than raise their replacements, what's the difference? The guy sold you a bred heifer (or ready to be) and he made $ off the sale and probably will continue to do so--AND, it's a dang good bet, he's retaining many of his weanlings to continue in that same business.

 

[RanchHeifers]

The biggest thing that producers overlook when pricing weather to Buy/Raise their replacements is the number of producing cows that need to be taken out of production in order to make room for the replacements. When pricing these scenarios take into consideration for every replacement you attempt to add to your herd you need to take out almost 1 full producing cow to make room (pasture - limited resources).
For more information on this subject and interest pertaining to replacement livestock check out my web site http://www.Heifer.PRO
Thanks
Kit West