Sale barn, again

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Jim62

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Sold 4 old cows today, black angus, 16 years old. The average weight was 1323#, average per pound was 37.18, and they averaged $492 per head.

About $150 each more than I expected. :eek:

Needless to say, I'm thrilled (and surprised). :cboy:
 
Sounds like you did good Jim. I didn't go this week ,but I heard they are still going up a bit.
 
Joy of Texas":1xhas2t6 said:
Sounds like you did good Jim. I didn't go this week ,but I heard they are still going up a bit.

Joy I got a call from a vet who was down in the heart of the drought. 3 to 5 year old pairs were bringing $500 to $600 but they were mostly angus. He bought 15 pairs because that was all he could haul. He hasn't bought angus for years but he took them at that price.

It must be really bad down there. We were 15 inches short of normal rain for '08. We got a quarter inch of ice last week. I am hauling water to the cows. He says, "Heck - we're in great shape :D
 
backhoeboogie":6tyiohjh said:
Joy of Texas":6tyiohjh said:
Sounds like you did good Jim. I didn't go this week ,but I heard they are still going up a bit.

Joy I got a call from a vet who was down in the heart of the drought. 3 to 5 year old pairs were bringing $500 to $600 but they were mostly angus. He bought 15 pairs because that was all he could haul. He hasn't bought angus for years but he took them at that price.

It must be really bad down there. We were 15 inches short of normal rain for '08. We got a quarter inch of ice last week. I am hauling water to the cows. He says, "Heck - we're in great shape :D
We've had 1 1/2 inches since October 15th. Depending on who's average rainfall numbers used, that puts us behind 18 - 25 inches in 13 months. Average would be 35-41 inches for the same period.
 
thats a good price for old cows.

the last time i sold pairs i got $900 for them. they are way, way off here still.
 
backhoeboogie":1yfb5prv said:
Joy of Texas":1yfb5prv said:
Sounds like you did good Jim. I didn't go this week ,but I heard they are still going up a bit.

Joy I got a call from a vet who was down in the heart of the drought. 3 to 5 year old pairs were bringing $500 to $600 but they were mostly angus. He bought 15 pairs because that was all he could haul. He hasn't bought angus for years but he took them at that price.

It must be really bad down there. We were 15 inches short of normal rain for '08. We got a quarter inch of ice last week. I am hauling water to the cows. He says, "Heck - we're in great shape :D
Bad doesn't even describe it down here. If you would look out you would swear we live in west Texas. Everyone is selling ,they can not afford to feed them. It is sad,I haven't seen cows this poor out of shape in years. But what can you do?
 
Joy of Texas":5abfnwxw said:
Bad doesn't even describe it down here. If you would look out you would swear we live in west Texas. Everyone is selling ,they can not afford to feed them. It is sad,I haven't seen cows this poor out of shape in years. But what can you do?

Plow some fire breaks but keep them small so that you don't have excessive amount of soil blow away. Hopefully you don't have wood fence posts.

Don't let anyone mow pastures because the sparks will start a fire.

Do a rain dance and pray for rain.

We sold way to many head in the '05 drought. It is hard to replace cows suited for this climate. Surely there is a happy medium there but I didn't find it. LOL they were telling me that people burned needles off of cactus in the 50's and fed it. All the prickly pear I saw was already dead and dried up looking like purple pieces of cardboard. Hopefully ya'll don't have it that bad.

If you are going to sell more cattle, I'd seriously look at trucking them out of the worst areas of drought if you can.
 
backhoeboogie":2hyw1oe2 said:
Joy of Texas":2hyw1oe2 said:
Bad doesn't even describe it down here. If you would look out you would swear we live in west Texas. Everyone is selling ,they can not afford to feed them. It is sad,I haven't seen cows this poor out of shape in years. But what can you do?

Plow some fire breaks but keep them small so that you don't have excessive amount of soil blow away. Hopefully you don't have wood fence posts.

Don't let anyone mow pastures because the sparks will start a fire.

Do a rain dance and pray for rain.

We sold way to many head in the '05 drought. It is hard to replace cows suited for this climate. Surely there is a happy medium there but I didn't find it. LOL they were telling me that people burned needles off of cactus in the 50's and fed it. All the prickly pear I saw was already dead and dried up looking like purple pieces of cardboard. Hopefully ya'll don't have it that bad.

If you are going to sell more cattle, I'd seriously look at trucking them out of the worst areas of drought if you can.

It is amazing the difference in 50 to 100 miles as the crow flies, I just got in from having one tractor stuck in the mud. Had to go get the big Massey to get it out. Pulled the neighbor out on Sat. had his 65 Farmtrac stuck over at his place.
 
We've only had 0.25" of rain since October 20. Very slight chance of little this weekend...don't hold your breath.

Our longhorns are doing ok. Feeding 14% bermuda to supplement zilch pasture, plus good minerals. We have staying power...helps that Longhorns can do well on 80% of what the commercial breeds require. Our BCS's in the 4.5 to 5 range which is very good for Longhorns. Don't want them "fat"...lol.

We don't do the Sale Barn gig. Those opportunistic buyers want to discount the usual "cutter and canner" prices by another 25% or so for Longhorns...vulture buyers for lean beef on the hoof...I don't think so!!
 
Caustic Burno":3luwk3mn said:
It is amazing the difference in 50 to 100 miles as the crow flies, I just got in from having one tractor stuck in the mud. Had to go get the big Massey to get it out. Pulled the neighbor out on Sat. had his 65 Farmtrac stuck over at his place.
I have one pasture that I didn't have to start feeding till December, it is about three miles from the main pastures that I started supplementing hay on last July.

I've heard and read some forecasts expect the moisture to return maybe in May. For areas that are just entering drought conditions this might not be to late for a decent year. For us that have been in drought conditions for 6 - 9 months it would be just in time for the hot dry part of summer. It would have to do a lot beneficial raining to overcome the normal summer heat and still produce a lot of forage. So I'm not really looking for much relief till September - October at the earliest. That is just the way I see it at the moment.
 
Running Arrow Bill":2ne65aeq said:
We've only had 0.25" of rain since October 20. Very slight chance of little this weekend...don't hold your breath.

Our longhorns are doing ok. Feeding 14% bermuda to supplement zilch pasture, plus good minerals. We have staying power...helps that Longhorns can do well on 80% of what the commercial breeds require. Our BCS's in the 4.5 to 5 range which is very good for Longhorns. Don't want them "fat"...lol.

We don't do the Sale Barn gig. Those opportunistic buyers want to discount the usual "cutter and canner" prices by another 25% or so for Longhorns...vulture buyers for lean beef on the hoof...I don't think so!!

We pretty close to your 0.25" RAB. As CB said, just a few miles makes a difference. It is a good thing I didn't plant winter wheat this year.

August was unusual for us. It was cool and we had some rain too. That was a nice recovery from July. If August had not bee what it was, we would probably be about as bad off as Vette.
 
hope you get rain before it is too late if it is not already. Good idea to make a firebreak. Might save homes, outbuildings or just that little bit of hay or grass that you have left. Texas Forest Service have started placing equipment and people in the hill country and rolling plains. Might be out there after our fire season, march & april, but hope you have rain before then.
 

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