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Selling Light Calves vs. Leaving Them on the Cow?
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<blockquote data-quote="Alberta farmer" data-source="post: 696797" data-attributes="member: 8978"><p>Steve: I guess it depends what you want to do with those calves. The last three years we never bothered weaning at all! Just left them on the cows right through the winter.</p><p>We intended to sell these calves as yearlings off grass the next fall. It sounds kind of crude but it worked out fairly well. I figured I wanted a lean and mean calf to hit the grass running....and that is what I got! Basically the cows weaned the calves about January other than some younger cows who fed their calves right up until they calved again(had to remove the big calfs). Most just kicked the calf off. No sick calves. No corrals to clean out. No packing feed to weaned calves.</p><p>The cows were fed 22 lbs. of fairly decent hay a day and all the good straw they wanted. We added a half ration of hay(11 lbs) for the calf. May/June calves probably averaged around 650 lbs. on May 1 when they went out on banked grass. Sold late august/september at an average 920 lbs(steers) 875 lbs (heifers...not including replacements taken out).</p><p>Hay was 3 cents a pound so total hay per day was 99 cents. Started feeding Dec. 14 ended April 30 so cost to winter cow and calf was 137 days X .99 = $136 plus straw, which I have a hard time pricing as I bale my own but would expect to be another 25 cents a day maybe so add on another $35 for a grand total of $171 for cow and calf.</p><p>We never had problems with breeding back. They pretty well all hit the 70 day breeding season starting on July 20th.</p><p>I don't know if was the best way but it sure was easy. The cow herd is mostly Herford/Angus with a bit of Simmental thrown in. Probably average about 1350 lbs.</p><p>We used to calve in Jan/Feb aiming for a 700 lb. calf by November. I got lazy and decided I'd had enough barn calving in 40 below weather about 7 years ago. Got sick of messing with weaned calves after about three years so tried the above system. Sometimes being lazy really works!</p><p>Money wise does it work? I think it does but you won't get rich doing it! I figure that May/June calf probably weighs about 600 lbs by Dec. on the cow? He's probably worth about $1.05/lb or $630? By spring he's only gained 50 lbs on this system and its cost you about $70 to put it on so now you have $700 in him. Add about another $60 for pasture and you are at $760. He should sell for over a $1 as a yearling in September or in the ballpark of $900? Of course that doesn't factor in all the incidentals like interest, fence, salt and minerals etc.? I think you can usually make a small profit with this system.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alberta farmer, post: 696797, member: 8978"] Steve: I guess it depends what you want to do with those calves. The last three years we never bothered weaning at all! Just left them on the cows right through the winter. We intended to sell these calves as yearlings off grass the next fall. It sounds kind of crude but it worked out fairly well. I figured I wanted a lean and mean calf to hit the grass running....and that is what I got! Basically the cows weaned the calves about January other than some younger cows who fed their calves right up until they calved again(had to remove the big calfs). Most just kicked the calf off. No sick calves. No corrals to clean out. No packing feed to weaned calves. The cows were fed 22 lbs. of fairly decent hay a day and all the good straw they wanted. We added a half ration of hay(11 lbs) for the calf. May/June calves probably averaged around 650 lbs. on May 1 when they went out on banked grass. Sold late august/september at an average 920 lbs(steers) 875 lbs (heifers...not including replacements taken out). Hay was 3 cents a pound so total hay per day was 99 cents. Started feeding Dec. 14 ended April 30 so cost to winter cow and calf was 137 days X .99 = $136 plus straw, which I have a hard time pricing as I bale my own but would expect to be another 25 cents a day maybe so add on another $35 for a grand total of $171 for cow and calf. We never had problems with breeding back. They pretty well all hit the 70 day breeding season starting on July 20th. I don't know if was the best way but it sure was easy. The cow herd is mostly Herford/Angus with a bit of Simmental thrown in. Probably average about 1350 lbs. We used to calve in Jan/Feb aiming for a 700 lb. calf by November. I got lazy and decided I'd had enough barn calving in 40 below weather about 7 years ago. Got sick of messing with weaned calves after about three years so tried the above system. Sometimes being lazy really works! Money wise does it work? I think it does but you won't get rich doing it! I figure that May/June calf probably weighs about 600 lbs by Dec. on the cow? He's probably worth about $1.05/lb or $630? By spring he's only gained 50 lbs on this system and its cost you about $70 to put it on so now you have $700 in him. Add about another $60 for pasture and you are at $760. He should sell for over a $1 as a yearling in September or in the ballpark of $900? Of course that doesn't factor in all the incidentals like interest, fence, salt and minerals etc.? I think you can usually make a small profit with this system. [/QUOTE]
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