So you want to buy top of the breed cows?

[plumber_greg]

Got in this discussion a little late. When AC was talking about buying and culling reg. cows and calves, is it wrong of me to think that I bought some very good, however average, reg. heifers and cows out of bull bloodlines that I liked? My plan is to raise and sell some F-1 commercial heifers out of them.
Guess my question is, if you are gonna' have that plan, should you only try to buy the $2500 cows to start with, or was the $16-$1800 cows and heifers I bought an ok plan? I only bought 25, and have about 75 commercials left. I will keep some and sell some of the F-1 offspring, while trying to keep enough reg. replacements to continue the purebred herd. Just trying to get a little more out of my calves than the local sale barn or feedlot.
Even along the way, I may be able to sell a bull or two, not many. Right now I have a Matrix by Classic 385-7 bull calf that is going to be a popular cross. My advisor in the bussiness of bulls thought he may be able to peddle that calf. Just my thoughts, is it ok to have average purebreds for crossbreeding, or should they also be above average. gs

 

[dun]

Got in this discussion a little late. When AC was talking about buying and culling reg. cows and calves, is it wrong of me to think that I bought some very good, however average, reg. heifers and cows out of bull bloodlines that I liked? My plan is to raise and sell some F-1 commercial heifers out of them.
Guess my question is, if you are gonna' have that plan, should you only try to buy the $2500 cows to start with, or was the $16-$1800 cows and heifers I bought an ok plan? I only bought 25, and have about 75 commercials left. I will keep some and sell some of the F-1 offspring, while trying to keep enough reg. replacements to continue the purebred herd. Just trying to get a little more out of my calves than the local sale barn or feedlot.
Even along the way, I may be able to sell a bull or two, not many. Right now I have a Matrix by Classic 385-7 bull calf that is going to be a popular cross. My advisor in the bussiness of bulls thought he may be able to peddle that calf. Just my thoughts, is it ok to have average purebreds for crossbreeding, or should they also be above average. gs

Just my opinion. What makes a top cow is different for each producer. Select the cows/heifers that have the genetic traits that you want in your crossbreds and compliment them with the genetic traits of the other breed. Selecting by dollars is kind of stupid, once more in MY opinion. If there is a particular cow that a lot of people want she is going to sell for a lot more then the cows that have a more limited interest. That limited interst may be because she doesn;t fit into what many other producers are looking for. Or it could be the dollar trading deal between breeders. I paid too much for some cows because they didn;t fulfill their promise and I've bought much better cows for a lot less because they surpassed their promise.

 

[novatech]

I may have sounded like buying show stock is nit the way to go. Well it is expensive. What I did is buy cattle that were derived from show stock. The reason why is that I do not have the fine critical eye that several of the experts on the boards have. When you buy animals that were derived from show winners you at least are bettering you odds at acquiring a good phenotype. Secondly by purchasing older animals you have the benefit of a proven track record again improving your odds of success. I don't place to much faith in the new up and coming cattle being marketed in advertising. I think people that by into that are what I refer to as name dropper sales people. They make money at it but I never could afford to throw the dice like that.

is it ok to have average purebreds for crossbreeding, or should they also be above average.

Sure it is. Just don't expect more than average out of them. When breeding your regesterd stock always do it with the intent of moving forward. The best way is through AI.
Or you can sell out and replace with maybe fewer of higher quality.
There are people that buy on price then there are people that buy on quality. So it mostly depends on the market you intend on having. Just getting into the F1 business you will have no reputation. As time progresses so will your reputation. The price you get will eventually relate to your reputation. You have to set the goal for yourself.

 

[angus9259]

Got in this discussion a little late. When AC was talking about buying and culling reg. cows and calves, is it wrong of me to think that I bought some very good, however average, reg. heifers and cows out of bull bloodlines that I liked? My plan is to raise and sell some F-1 commercial heifers out of them.
Guess my question is, if you are gonna' have that plan, should you only try to buy the $2500 cows to start with, or was the $16-$1800 cows and heifers I bought an ok plan? I only bought 25, and have about 75 commercials left. I will keep some and sell some of the F-1 offspring, while trying to keep enough reg. replacements to continue the purebred herd. Just trying to get a little more out of my calves than the local sale barn or feedlot.
Even along the way, I may be able to sell a bull or two, not many. Right now I have a Matrix by Classic 385-7 bull calf that is going to be a popular cross. My advisor in the bussiness of bulls thought he may be able to peddle that calf. Just my thoughts, is it ok to have average purebreds for crossbreeding, or should they also be above average. gs

Per Dun's comment - it's not about the sale price, but the performance for your situation. I paid $1100 for a bred cow that's one of my top performers. I bought her at a pretty high end sale and I can't figure out why she went so cheap. That said, I've paid a lot more for cows that couldn't wean my cat - there you cut your losses and move on.

 

[TexasBred]

Per Dun's comment - it's not about the sale price, but the performance for your situation. I paid $1100 for a bred cow that's one of my top performers. I bought her at a pretty high end sale and I can't figure out why she went so cheap. That said, I've paid a lot more for cows that couldn't wean my cat - there you cut your losses and move on.

Yep.......she probably just didn't quite have the numbers the big shots wanted. :lol2:

 

[farmwriter]

I'm very much a 'to each his own' kinda girl, but to answer the initial question, no, I don't want to buy top of the breed cows.
I want hardy, sturdy cows that wean healthy calves with as little of my help as possible. I want to make money meeting the demand that's out there for steak and burgers and tennis shoes and handbags, etc.
I enjoy cows, not bragging about lineage. I got my fill of all that growing up around show horses.

 

[Lon]

I've always said that high dollar cattle have as much or more to do with the person marketing them as the animals themselves. I couldn't raise a $25,000 animal with any genetics, but Monte Soules does it every year.

"Worth" is what a buyer will pay....his perception of where an animal fits within his preconceived parameters.

:tiphat: Yup i agree

 

[backhoeboogie]

I'm very much a 'to each his own' kinda girl, but to answer the initial question, no, I don't want to buy top of the breed cows.
I want hardy, sturdy cows that wean healthy calves with as little of my help as possible. I want to make money meeting the demand that's out there for steak and burgers and tennis shoes and handbags, etc.
I enjoy cows, not bragging about lineage. I got my fill of all that growing up around show horses.

Exactly. Those are more akin to the actual environment these cows are going to work in.

What show cattle does anyone see that are in the condition they are in, on pasture only?

Cows that produce good selling healthy calves in my environment are way more worthy to me than a cow that has lived on the end of a feed sack. When you multiply that cow by 100, and that feed bag by 100, you're going broke. No way out of it.

Those feed sack show cattle are going to look pitiful in no time when they get mixed in with my herd. My old rag tag commercial cows are going to look much better in the long haul.

 

[Suzie Q]

I agree, where we bought our couple of registered cows from, well in my mind they keep them too fat. He has made a rod for his back. He is getting older and is spending his days taking bags of feed out to them. He told me to keep them separated from the rest of our herd and feed them.

They have been treated like all the other animals here. They are now out with the herd and they do look good, as they are supposed to be able to be finished on grass which mine are.

It just makes me wonder why they advertise them to be able to be finished on grass and then they do the opposite and feed them to the eyeballs with pellets?

 

[andybob]

We used to keep native cattle totally adapted to the local, challenging conditions of the Kalahari bushveld, no supplimentary feeding, during long periods of drought, we would depopulate both cattle by sending steers to finish in government feedlots instead of grass finishing, and game, which were reduced in a planned cull, the venison mainly for export.
Final selection of pedigree cattle was undertaken by the breed company, indexed cows had to be inspected with first calf at foot and bulls with progeny available for inspection. When I exported cattle to Namibia and South Africa, the price was a little over commercial price, in accordence with our policy of affordable cattle to the commercial breeder, some of my recipients sold embryos to Australia and Canada for more than the cost of the origional heifers!