selling her

[milkmaid]

So I have a heifer that's now 18 months old and open. She's very hard to catch in heat, but with a lot of watching and plenty of drugs she's been bred twice with sexed semen, once with two straws of unsexed semen... so she's had 3 chances. She probably weighs about 1100 or so... big black angus/hol cross heifer that I intended to turn into a nurse cow, but I haven't the time or the money to play around with an infertile heifer.

Question is, if she were yours, would you try to sell her private treaty and see if someone wants to run her with a bull and take a gamble on her... or run her through the auction and see what happens... or run her through the auction and tell them she ought to go to slaughter? what's she worth, anyway? I've already made up my mind she's growing wheels, but I'm not sure what's my best option here, and what would be the best thing to do in terms of my reputation. I suppose it's perfectly possible she'd settle first service to a bull, so I'm a little reluctant to tell someone that she's infertile.

Thoughts, comments?

 

[I luv herfrds]

Since you asked here are my thoughts.
You have already tried to breed this heifer three times with no success. So you now have the cost of semen, if purchased, and or the cost of the tech unless you did the AI yourself.
Unless you know someone willing to try to deal with an open heifer and would be willing to try to breed her next year, I would just take her to auction.
Since you wanted her as a nurse cow you may be able to place her in the paper and sell her that way.
Both are a possible option to take a look at.

 

[fourstates]

Did you have a vet palpate her? Good vet might feel a problem.

Here, open, black... about .80/lb

 

[fit2btied]

I'd probably sell her and just tell them I had AI'd her but hadn't been able to get her to take. That will keep your reputation intact and the buyers can decide from there.

 

[bigbull338]

i know that you was wanting to get her bred for the reasons you stated.but she seems like the would be hard to breed even using a bull.so if i was you id haul her to the sale an take what she brings.with you being in collage you dont have time to waste on her.

 

[cfpinz]

I'd probably sell her and just tell them I had AI'd her but hadn't been able to get her to take. That will keep your reputation intact and the buyers can decide from there.

I'll second that. Or if you have a bull around, run her in with him yourself to satisfy your curiousity.

cfpinz

 

[dun]

Salebarn through the kill pen

 

[mitch2]

another option: she should finish fairly quickly, if you're already feeding some steers, you'd have a nice fat in short order. You'd get a much better return than slaughter price and she's only 18 mos old.

Michele

 

[sidney411]

Around here the auctions are pretty anonomnous. I have no clue whose calves are in the ring (unless someone recognizes a brand) If it were me and I just wanted to get rid of her now I would take her to auction, have her palpated, and see what she brings. I wouldn't say anything about being AIed unless specifically asked. I would not want to sell her private treaty unless she was sold as a butcher animal.

 

[angie2]

Tell it like it is. She is only one heifer ~ not worth your reputation. Around here auctions are NOT anonymous.

Takes a long time to build a good reputation, one bad decision to blow it, then twice as long to get it back.....

Besides ~ I hate getting burned. I know it is a risk, and has happened to me more than once. But I knew who did it, and that was the end of that.

 

[sodfarmer490]

So I have a heifer that's now 18 months old and open. She's very hard to catch in heat, but with a lot of watching and plenty of drugs she's been bred twice with sexed semen, once with two straws of unsexed semen... so she's had 3 chances. She probably weighs about 1100 or so... big black angus/hol cross heifer that I intended to turn into a nurse cow, but I haven't the time or the money to play around with an infertile heifer.

Question is, if she were yours, would you try to sell her private treaty and see if someone wants to run her with a bull and take a gamble on her... or run her through the auction and see what happens... or run her through the auction and tell them she ought to go to slaughter? what's she worth, anyway? I've already made up my mind she's growing wheels, but I'm not sure what's my best option here, and what would be the best thing to do in terms of my reputation. I suppose it's perfectly possible she'd settle first service to a bull, so I'm a little reluctant to tell someone that she's infertile.

Thoughts, comments?

well, in the past, if i really wanted to go all out in getting one bred,(and liked challenges) i put her on a wt gaining ration. give muse, ade, then on natural or lutylase heat, a dose of cystorelin and breed twice. also, surely you must know someone who could trailer in a yearling bull to make sure she was bred. you state hard to catch in heat, so she may be having little or uneven heats and be cystic.
just depends on how much time you have to devote to this. also the season of year surely helps with a spring breeding.
other choice, just bag it and load her in trailer on sale day, i am sure she would bring a good price.

 

[dun]

Around here auctions are NOT anonymous.

Same thing here. Some folks just THINK they are.

 

[Angus In Texas]

I'd send her through the ring for slaughter..... it is never good to pawn off your problems on someone that is unsuspecting.

 

[Jogeephus]

Sounds like you got a lot in her. If she were mine, I would put her in the feed pen and finish her out and sell her as finished meat. Sure wouldn't take much to finish one of that size out and I'm sure I could make more money doing this than putting it in the sale barn.

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

HAMBURGER :lol:

 

[Keren]

If she were mine, it would depend on how GOOD a heifer she is.

Is she was exceptional, the type that you look at and say 'Gee it would be a pity just to chop her head off' (come on, I know all of you have been in that situation before) - then I would see if someone wanted to try her with the bull. I would be totally honest with her, saying she wont take to AI, but since she is such a nice heifer, I didnt want to just eat her.

For example, I went out and did some foot trimming for a lady the other day, she had four goats she didnt want anymore - all her problem ones. One was beating up the others and killed a kid. One kept getting its head stuck in the fence. One had broken its hip and just couldnt keep up with the herd anymore. And one was a fence jumper. So I took them to put in my cull paddock - they would just go to meat. But the fence jumper was an OUTSTANDING doe and I thought it would be a pity to not breed from her. But I dont tolerate jumpers. So, as it happened after the foot trimming I was going out to tattoo another lady's goats, and I know she has high fences (horse fences) and she doesnt mind jumpers so much. So the doe went to her. And hasnt been a problem at her place.

Another example - a very good heifer of ours has had exceptionally bad luck at calving, and because she was so good phenotypically and genetically, she got more chances than we would normally give. First time round she had a very large calf, and the stupid vet wouldnt do a caesar, so he euthanazed the calf and did an embryotomy. Second time round, she was halfway through the pregnancy and she got pestivirus and aborted. Next two years she didnt cycle, vet thought (better vet than the previous one) it was left over scarring from the pestivirus. Second year of not cycling she mothered a calf that wasnt hers, grooming it and looking after it and it even sucked off her (not that she had any milk). Year after that she calved on her own, and she is now one of the best producing cows we have.

On the other hand, if it is just an average heifer, like you said you dont have the time or money to waste on her. So in that case I would sell her as a fat.

Sorry bout the novel (think I got a bit carried away).

 

[Beefy]

sell her at the salebarn and be done with it. she probably wont go back to a farm anyway and if she does, chances are she'll settle right away with a bull. do they normally announce why you are selling cows at your salebarn?

 

[dun]

If she were mine, it would depend on how GOOD a heifer she is.

My opinion only, but it seems she's showed how good of a heifer she is. If she wont breed she's pretty much a light boned steer with an identity crisis.

 

[milkmaid]

Well, thanks for all the thoughts and advice. Haven't completely decided yet what I'm going to do, but I'll probably decide in the next couple days. Mostly need to decide if it'd be worth it to feed her out. We already butchered one steer this fall and don't need another critter - had to rent a locker for the steer as it was due to not enough freezer space (and we have three! LOL), so unless I have someone to sell her to...

There's a fellow I know pretty well who calves in Aug/Sept and might be willing to take a chance on her for market price. I can't keep her; not even an option because I'd be at school when she'd be due to calve, and I don't own a bull which eliminates the possibility of selling her later as a short bred. I'm just not willing to keep trying to AI a heifer that won't take. My vet said he used two straws this last time, and BTW, he's a very, very good vet and does all my repro work. My other heifers all settled.

 

[hillsdown]

I would find someone to put a bull on her and go from there.But JTBC your vet put the two straws in her at standing heat and then 12 hours later right?