Got my check today from selling those calves Saturday. I had gotten these 4 Plummer cows in on a trade 1st of the year. They were all bred to an Ultrablack bull. They calved last of April, 1st of May. 3 steers and a heifer. All solid black and polled, looked like Brangus calves. Heifer was 504 lbs and the steers from 521 to 543. Steers brought $1.87, 1.85 and 1.83. Heifer brought $1.79. They brought a little over $3800.
I was happy with what they brought. I had gotten these cows on a horse trade. I had a pretty decent head horse on consignment. The man wanted $5k for it, which meant I would get $500 for selling it and would give him $4500 when it sold. I had priced the horse to a couple of folks at $7500, and this one boy who is a rodeo judge and a stock contractor wanted it. He had these 4 Plummer cows he wanted $800 a piece for, bred to an Ultrablack. So, I told him he could get the horse for those cows and $4000.....$7200 for the horse. I gave the money and $500 of my own to the horse consigner, and put those cows in the Kudzu pasture with the Corriente herd. We sold the Corr herd and calves 1st of April, before these Plummer cows had calves, but the buyer didn't want the Plummers anyway. We never put the black bulls in because all we hade left were 4 Corr heifers from last year, and we were gonna breed them to our Corr bull any way. We always put the black bulls in at Easter and got them out Memorial Day, to have the Corrs calving in February. Memorial Day when we got them out, we'd put in our Corr bull to catch any that might have missed getting bred by the black bulls. This is where we'd get a handful of Corr calves each year.. keeping any heifers for replacements. Those 4 were all we got in 2021, and none in the 2022 crop. We had put 6 Ultrablack bulls in the herd in 2021, and they got them all!
Well while I was in the hospital 1st of May, Scott put the Corr bull in the pasture. He bred my Brahma x Chianina and Brahma x Chi-Angus heifers..damn it.. and also tagged the 4 Plummers. So, I am looking at getting four 1/2 Corr 1/4 Brahma 1/4 Longhorn calves that will have horns next Feb or March. I decided to load them up and carry them to the sale too. I told Scott that if I had to leave before they sold Saturday, to stand up and tell that they were 4-5 months bred to black Corriente bull, and if any didn't bring $500, to tell them to put them in the weigh pen. They were 1500 # cows.
I had my horse on the front of my trailer, and the calves on the back. I was gonna go by Scott's house on the way home and load the Br x Chi-Angus heifer I had sold to someone up here, and drop it off on my way home. Scott had the Plummer cows on his. While I was unloading the calves, I saw someone looking in Scott's trailer and Scott pointed at me, and he came walking over to my rig. He said Scott told him what they were bred to, and when they were due. . He said he supplied bulls for high school rodeo, and wanted bulls less than 1000 lbs, so he thought these calves next year may be just what he needs. Or the bull calves would be. He asked me what I wanted, and I said $750 each..$3k. He said he could pay $600 each, $2400. I said " Make it $2500 and you have a deal". He paid me and got in the truck with Scott, who took the cows to his place for him...about 5 miles away.
So, out of my $500 investment, I ended up with $6300..not bad at all. And ZERO inputs except for 3 bands for the bull calves. All we will have on those 200+ acres will be the 4 Corr heifers and Toro, the Corr bull. We gonna move the dove field over there next year. Scott is gonna put everything across the road, including our current dove field, in row crops next year. There is about 40-50 acres fairly open where we used to have a dove field years ago. so we will plant that. And there is a club of 8 guys that want to lease it for turkey next spring. They wanted a deer lease, too, but that would interfere with quail and rabbit season.
We talked about it, and as good as that Corriente operation has been for us the last 25 years or so, we decided we were too old to try to get out and find another 100+ Corr cows to start over. We just gonna enjoy the rabbit and quail hunting, and Scott and his kids and grandkids do deer hunt it. That running all over the country last year, building that 150 Braford cow herd for my client, is the reason I ended up in the hospital. Or a big part of it. I made nearly $40k from that endeavor, and my half of the Corriente herd was over $45k, but every bit of it has got gone in hospital bills, and I still owe $9700,, which will get that $6300 I made on the Plummers and their calves. Oh well, as they say : easy come...easy go, I guess. So far, I have yet to realize what is so golden about my Golden Years! LOL
I was happy with what they brought. I had gotten these cows on a horse trade. I had a pretty decent head horse on consignment. The man wanted $5k for it, which meant I would get $500 for selling it and would give him $4500 when it sold. I had priced the horse to a couple of folks at $7500, and this one boy who is a rodeo judge and a stock contractor wanted it. He had these 4 Plummer cows he wanted $800 a piece for, bred to an Ultrablack. So, I told him he could get the horse for those cows and $4000.....$7200 for the horse. I gave the money and $500 of my own to the horse consigner, and put those cows in the Kudzu pasture with the Corriente herd. We sold the Corr herd and calves 1st of April, before these Plummer cows had calves, but the buyer didn't want the Plummers anyway. We never put the black bulls in because all we hade left were 4 Corr heifers from last year, and we were gonna breed them to our Corr bull any way. We always put the black bulls in at Easter and got them out Memorial Day, to have the Corrs calving in February. Memorial Day when we got them out, we'd put in our Corr bull to catch any that might have missed getting bred by the black bulls. This is where we'd get a handful of Corr calves each year.. keeping any heifers for replacements. Those 4 were all we got in 2021, and none in the 2022 crop. We had put 6 Ultrablack bulls in the herd in 2021, and they got them all!
Well while I was in the hospital 1st of May, Scott put the Corr bull in the pasture. He bred my Brahma x Chianina and Brahma x Chi-Angus heifers..damn it.. and also tagged the 4 Plummers. So, I am looking at getting four 1/2 Corr 1/4 Brahma 1/4 Longhorn calves that will have horns next Feb or March. I decided to load them up and carry them to the sale too. I told Scott that if I had to leave before they sold Saturday, to stand up and tell that they were 4-5 months bred to black Corriente bull, and if any didn't bring $500, to tell them to put them in the weigh pen. They were 1500 # cows.
I had my horse on the front of my trailer, and the calves on the back. I was gonna go by Scott's house on the way home and load the Br x Chi-Angus heifer I had sold to someone up here, and drop it off on my way home. Scott had the Plummer cows on his. While I was unloading the calves, I saw someone looking in Scott's trailer and Scott pointed at me, and he came walking over to my rig. He said Scott told him what they were bred to, and when they were due. . He said he supplied bulls for high school rodeo, and wanted bulls less than 1000 lbs, so he thought these calves next year may be just what he needs. Or the bull calves would be. He asked me what I wanted, and I said $750 each..$3k. He said he could pay $600 each, $2400. I said " Make it $2500 and you have a deal". He paid me and got in the truck with Scott, who took the cows to his place for him...about 5 miles away.
So, out of my $500 investment, I ended up with $6300..not bad at all. And ZERO inputs except for 3 bands for the bull calves. All we will have on those 200+ acres will be the 4 Corr heifers and Toro, the Corr bull. We gonna move the dove field over there next year. Scott is gonna put everything across the road, including our current dove field, in row crops next year. There is about 40-50 acres fairly open where we used to have a dove field years ago. so we will plant that. And there is a club of 8 guys that want to lease it for turkey next spring. They wanted a deer lease, too, but that would interfere with quail and rabbit season.
We talked about it, and as good as that Corriente operation has been for us the last 25 years or so, we decided we were too old to try to get out and find another 100+ Corr cows to start over. We just gonna enjoy the rabbit and quail hunting, and Scott and his kids and grandkids do deer hunt it. That running all over the country last year, building that 150 Braford cow herd for my client, is the reason I ended up in the hospital. Or a big part of it. I made nearly $40k from that endeavor, and my half of the Corriente herd was over $45k, but every bit of it has got gone in hospital bills, and I still owe $9700,, which will get that $6300 I made on the Plummers and their calves. Oh well, as they say : easy come...easy go, I guess. So far, I have yet to realize what is so golden about my Golden Years! LOL
