rough day tomorrow...worry and dread update

[rockridgecattle]

well tomorrow is preg check day. That however is not the worry.
Our worry is or my worry is picking apart the herd. Deciding who stays and who goes. We already shipped out 29 cows. 9 were tempermental problem, 20 were shipped based on age ( 12 were still good cows, 5 were real old and not much in the way of teeth or calf size, three of them i think genetic issues). With downsizing as much as we are we decided to keep a relatively young herd since we would not be able to build numbers up as fast. So out with the old. Anything 1999 and older than went. Now it's anything open, anything that might have a problem--feet, udder, genetics, and anything we kept cause they weren't to bad in shape but were not the best in keepers.
We have 14 hiefers to preg check
I have three on the list
-one caught sucking on a cow
- 2 don't measure up in shape and size, kinda small, leggy etc
Then there is 61 left.
-three are the body shape of elk...vet's words
-two were kinda rude at calving and required a tranq
-three came off lush pasture thin as rails, and calves were nothing to show CT pictures about
- 1 has a genetic problem, her first calf was posted in the Coffee shop forum of the ugliest calf contest, she is pretty bad,
and her second had a deformed sack, so why keep her.
- 14 are good producers, just not enough hay. These will be the tough ones to cut.
A sad day tomorrow on the RR farm

 

[Bez+]

well tomorrow is preg check day. That however is not the worry.
Our worry is or my worry is picking apart the herd. Deciding who stays and who goes. We already shipped out 29 cows. 9 were tempermental problem, 20 were shipped based on age ( 12 were still good cows, 5 were real old and not much in the way of teeth or calf size, three of them i think genetic issues). With downsizing as much as we are we decided to keep a relatively young herd since we would not be able to build numbers up as fast. So out with the old. Anything 1999 and older than went. Now it's anything open, anything that might have a problem--feet, udder, genetics, and anything we kept cause they weren't to bad in shape but were not the best in keepers.
We have 14 hiefers to preg check
I have three on the list
-one caught sucking on a cow
- 2 don't measure up in shape and size, kinda small, leggy etc
Then there is 61 left.
-three are the body shape of elk...vet's words
-two were kinda rude at calving and required a tranq
-three came off lush pasture thin as rails, and calves were nothing to show CT pictures about
- 1 has a genetic problem, her first calf was posted in the Coffee shop forum of the ugliest calf contest, she is pretty bad,
and her second had a deformed sack, so why keep her.
- 14 are good producers, just not enough hay. These will be the tough ones to cut.
A sad day tomorrow on the RR farm

Some tough love coming your way.

My family and I were there for other reasons - all beyond our control.

I am now in the middle east because we need the money - so I wear a uniform and collect the tax free danger pay - all at an age where I should stand back and let the kids do it.

So .........

You do what I did - you take your entire family into the kitchen - sit them at the table - look them in the eye and tell them that you love them and it will be a tough day - but if you have to you will sell every G'dammed thing - and do anything required to keep it all together - because they are all more important than a few bloody cows.

Then you go out and do it.

Anything else is bullschitt - so do it and be very, very proud of who you are and what you are.

Stand tall and never whimper.

Your friends and neighbours will stand with you - if they do not - they are not your friends and neighbours and you can cross them off your Christmas card list.

I will think good thoughts for you today

Bez+

 

[Aaron]

We have been waiting for half decent cow prices for how many years now?

Take the opportunity to improve your herd. It's unfortunate you don't have enough hay for carry over on the 14 good cows...like a lot of people in the Interlake. However, your choices tomorrow will be setting the ground stage for a more profitable cowherd next year.

I just watched some cows sell for the same money as slaughter steers in Winnipeg on Friday. Time to cash in on the years of BSe. :cowboy:

 

[cypressfarms]

RR,

More than one way to look at it. All of the cattle you mentioned (besides the 14 because of lack of hay) should have been culled. This is what will make your remaining herd better. It's easy to keep unproductive cattle when prices are high. Your only doing what should be done in the first place. And that will inevitably make your herd better in the future!

 

[dun]

We did that 6 years ago during the 3rd year of the drought. Slowly (very slowly) have been building up and this year we're goign to cut to the bone so I have fewer cows to AI and only keep one bull. Made the list based on weaning weights, then on individual cows. One cow no matter who she's bred to throws a calf that is just inferior in shape, heavy enough, but the calves don;t resemble either the dam or the sire, another because she ran over me 5 years ago as a heifer, the list goes on.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Thanks all!
I all honesty, we can not justify buying hay at the prices the bales are or afford the cost of trucking with the crappy calf market. I hardly slept last night. I know we have been preparing for this day all summer, but now that it is here it's hard. Hubby snored most of the night...not a care in the world.
We worked hard these last couple of years to expand, now we have to down size. It's a smart move in these uncertain times I think!

 

[dun]

We worked hard these last couple of years to expand, now we have to down size. It's a smart move in these uncertain times I think!

You need to look at the upside of downsizing. When you add from now you can be much more selectiver about what is kept/bought. That's what makes cutting down this year harder is other then the one that alwasy has a cat hammed calf, they're a pretty darn good group of cows and selected very carefully. We'll be getting rid of a dozen or so cows that have been really good in our herd with our managment

 

[rockridgecattle]

okay so we survived, no injuries
75 preg checked
3 open of that one hiefer was open, one that had her second calf and one that got woody tongue in the summer, she had her first calf on her
2 late 2-3 months along both had had their second calf
The heifer was in her own herd with her bull along with the woody tongue
1 late and one open was with their own bull
1 with another bull
each bull had (16 for the hiefer bull he was a three yr old)
the other bulls had 26 each in their own pasture.

Clear as mud?
We pulled out 24 to ship, including the ugliest calf, now two yr old, 4 we are going to see if someone wants to buy the meat because we have some good young stock that would be good steaks.

We feel good about the choices we made and hope that the herd will benifit from this hard culling...now to age verify the cows for the 20 cents per pound increase at the barn.

thanks for listening

RR

 

[Workinonit Farm]

okay so we survived, no injuries.......

We feel good about the choices we made and hope that the herd will benifit from this hard culling...now to age verify the cows for the 20 cents per pound increase at the barn.

thanks for listening

RR

Glad you made it through the difficult day. From what you describe, it sounds like you made some good decisions,wise decisions. Take some kind of comfort in knowing that you all are not alone in what you've had to do. Bez+ , once again, put it very well. I remember reading his many posts about the tough decisions he and his family had to make.

I hope the future holds better times for you.

Katherine

 

[1982vett]

Hubby snored most of the night...not a care in the world.

It would be inefficient for you both to lose and night of sleep. Glad y'all made it thru the day.

Was going to sort thru mine today to pull out several that need a little extra groceries but put if off till tomorrow, had a shower of rain this morning and a chance of more all day. Didn't want to get caught in the middle of something by rain.

 

[grannysoo]

It's tough. My herd has built up rather well over the last few years, and this year I have only 2 cows that I want to cull. Everyone else is looking good.

Times are tough, money is tight.

The one thing that gives me comfort?

Give us this day, our daily bread

Focus on doing what is right and best for today, with consideration given to the long term plan, but remember that if each day, we have our needs met, everything is good.

Works for me.

 

[rockridgecattle]

The one thing that gives me comfort?

Give us this day, our daily bread

Focus on doing what is right and best for today, with consideration given to the long term plan, but remember that if each day, we have our needs met, everything is good.

Works for me.

Works for us as well. In the end it all seems to work out. It's the getting through it that is hard. We are only human and sometimes it's hard to let go of what has been worked on so hard.

 

[hillsdown]

...now to age verify the cows for the 20 cents per pound increase at the barn.
RR

So what price do you get then, here it is the same verified or not for cull cows.

 

[rockridgecattle]

I will have to let you know HD on the prices this week, when we sell. From what i heard from hubby's side of the conversation with the auction mart prices have come down.

Two weeks ago Age Verified brought 20 cents more than non verified.
We had shipped some that were not verified and te price was 35-45 for good cows. But cows simillar in shape and size that were verified went 50-60.


Don't forget Ed Stelmac (?) has given an incentive to the farmers in Alberta to age verify. Here in MB we have not been given that. As for some reason, the buyers seem to price animals accordingly when farmers get a break. It happened here when we got a break cause of a feed shortage. The risk management program kicked in a few cents, then cow and calf prices dropped by just as much.

 

[hillsdown]

We shipped three culls all PB registered with rfid tags, I sent a copy of their papers with them. Averaged 1425 weight and we got 41 cents a pound. Sh@tty...

 

[1982vett]

Our chance of rain today got within two miles. Crapped out again. Slight chance in the forecast tomorrow and nothing for then next 10 days. I've just about had it. Maddest I've been since I quit my job 3 1/2 years ago. Got a bale of hay and headed to the lot with it. Pulled every calf 5 months or older and took them to the sale (tomorrow). Got home about an hour ago, it's raining now. Pulled 3 cows aside that need extra TLC, all three had calves that are gone now. Still holding out on selling cows.

 

[rockridgecattle]

We shipped out the cows today. So did alot of others. Over three hundred cows for tomorrows sale. And the market took a plunge today to cow prices dropped...tomorrow could be interesting. 1982Vett, watch out the market might take a dive.
HD ouch...the auctioneer and auction manager were unloading cows tonight. They said because the stock market dived today so will the cows.

 

[hillsdown]

Good luck with the sale tomorrow RR, I hope they do well for you.. :tiphat:

 

[1982vett]

Rockridge, the cattle market around here cratered about 3 weeks ago so I'm already prepaired for a small check. Just got caught with bad rain patterns this year. It just rained real good for a short time, guessing maybe 3/10ths or so. Hopfully more will follow. Even if I can get up to an inch or more, it will still be a month or more before the oats is ready to graze and pastures are just gone and without more timely rains they won't do much anyway. For sure this will buy another two weeks. It is just time let the calves go, regroup the cows and hope for the best. The cows with 4 month and younger calves are still in good shape and I'm hoping weather patterns will turn in my favor soon.

Good luck to you tomorrow, lets hope the cattle market and stock market turns up soon.

 

[dun]

I was looking at the sales reports fomr a number of salebarns and all of them show cattle numbers around 1/3 of what they were last year at this time.