I have a bad feeling we are not out of this dry spell yet. I'm about to get real lean in the next 60-90 days again.
Stirring the pot on the LH/corriente topic
- Thread starter BFE
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Travlr
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I haven't seen a winter this dry for a long time.
tex452
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kenny thomas
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Imagine that, Charolais cross calves.
Travlr
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Dollars? Weights? By the pair?
MurraysMutts
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Yes @tex452 tell us more!
Calves should wean good n heavy. I'd put a GOOD red bull on em....
But the char bull did good with them so hmmmm.
Be sure and knock the horns off them calves early and no one will ever know......
rocfarm
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Uhoh! Texans do put their money where their mouth is...
Let us know what the calves look like and what they bring. I'm keeping my little heifer back this year.
rocfarm
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My place got 10" around October 25. Had some moisture since then, and since my soil can store about 10" of water and the growing season for warm season grasses was over when we got the big rain, I feel like if we get normal rain into February I can buy a few bred cows to pull up my numbers again.
Advisory is for at least a normal year through June. If it turns dry in spring, I'll probably just sell everything around June and let the wildlife have fun.
But in this market it's hard not to want calves on the ground each year. Money seems to definitely be there. When I calculated my model's profitability, I assumed I'd only get to sell #2 calves for about $800 a piece. If I could sell them in today's market for more than $1000 while never feeding hay, that situation might even buy some genetic upgrades over time. Still not in the black, though, and I think the drought delayed profitability for at least another year.
I probably could have bought enough expensive hay to get my original herd through the winter by using the money the two little bulls would have brought in June, but just couldn't do it, exactly because of the chance that D4 drought comes back. It seems the savvy cattlemen destock early and maybe a little bit more than most people think they should, so I'm trying to 'be smart'. As there was nothing really special about that original herd, I don't regret my decision.
I should be shooting for 10 calves a year on my small place, but looking at only 4 this fall because of that last drought. Feel like adding a few fall calvers won't be a bad idea if I get two more rains between now and around Feb 15, though. That will get me back up to 6 this year and a chance at 8 next year. If we have a bumper year, I might even try to hit my original plan of 10 next year.
But not planning on Corrientes! Not near as poor as when I started. Gonna try to get bona fide mutt beef cattle this time that aren't homesteader castoffs, crazy, ugly or infertile! Got a real cattleman acquaintance who says he's willing to help, so I think I've got a shot.
Nothing to do on that but watch and wait.
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Murray, are you trying to corrupt Tex?! LOL According to all the experts on here, her would be a pin hook, thief, liar...I forgot what all else...if he did such a thing! According to Scooter and Skippy, if he carries these to a sale, he is to pull up honking his horn, and blaring through a PA "These are half Corriente!" , ,and stand up and stop the sale when they come in the ring, and yell "These are half Corriente!". Or, maybe it is only a felony, a sin against God, etc, if the calves are black?!
Still not man enough to call people by their names I see.... not surprising. It's a sign of character that you have shown to clearly lack.
Let's start a drinking game on here. Every time Warren says some bs that isn't true like... no one ropes heifers... or... all cattle people care about is breed... or.. an F1 Angus X Brahman in not a Brangus... we drink.
We will be hammered in no time.
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If it got docked, it could have been a bargain buy. It shows no dairy in it, and no Brahma, and has enough black (51% or more), to be sent over to the USDA inspectors at slaughter to see if the carcass qualified for CAB, or one of the other Angus programs. And, if it finished out with the required REA and marbling, may get graded CAB. At this sale, and every other time it changed hands til then, it will probably be "docked". But, if it was sired by a Charolais, it would never stand the chance to bring a premium.
rocfarm
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rocfarm
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Around my place, everyone seems to like Hereford x Angus, Charolais X Angus or straight Angus. I wouldn't want a Charolais bull because of the online admonitions that they don't throw light calves. Might try one if my whole herd is all pat their second calf, I guess.
But my neighbor, who actually has front pasture cattle, had anything to say about it, I think he'd argue that Angus x Charolais don't get docked around here. Both his Charolais and Angus (obviously purebred) cows were as fancy as they get last time I looked, too. But I haven't asked what he gets for the calves. I know his land upkeep is not cheap, as he plants quite a few fields.
And his mommas looked like they weighed 1300lbs. I just want 1000 to 1100 lb mommas, so not really interested in trying that cross out for the sale barns here.
But I wouldn't balk at buying a docked heifer like that one above and putting an angus bull on her if I thought her max weight would be within my model's range and I had a bull that had a strong propensity to throw solid calves.
Maybe that would explain him trying to bet his imaginary cattle against every one else's real cows?
I've heard of seeing double but seeing 5 to 1 is pretty out there.rocfarm
Well-known member
Well, I guess he's been around a while, so we should cut him a break.Maybe that would explain him trying to bet his imaginary cattle against every one else's real cows?
But I wouldn't be surprised if some of those bigger cows I see at the sale barns are about 70% as efficient as a corriente. And it seems the feed yards are growing out a lot of the better conditioned heifers and reselling them, but they don't say in the ring if that's the case. I would get nervous taking a heifer out of a feed yard and putting her on my place. Seems like the diet might not pan out because if they have low-cost, high digestible matter feed that they are mixing, you can't really spot the ones that aren't efficient on grass. If that's all they will get, that could be a big problem. Can't imagine a grow yard raising a bunch of corriente heifers, so if you see one that looks good in the auction ring, you can be pretty sure she is efficient.
You could theoretically run 3 600 lb Corrientes for about the same it'd cost to feed an inefficient 1400 lb Charolais—that's a feasible thought. But you'd need to average about $750 a calf to beat the Charolais handily on the profit, I guess. Especially at current prices.
tex452
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That's why I bought them, because of the calves.
tex452
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$3,050.00 for all.
I will breed them to a red angus bull, if they're like the two on my other place, they could be bred back already?
There are scenarios where it works out, but it's not because of a breed.
The problem with Warren is he wants to lable every cow by its breed. Lets say he did have good luck with that group of Corriente cows. Rather than looking at factors like...
did I buy them right
did I have a favorable market behind my calf sales
was the pasture they were above avg
So on and so on
He says... Corrientes will beat beef cows.
An experienced person will say... buying cows right and putting them on good pasture with a solid market is a recipe to make money.
Warren cant market that though. He can only sell you breeds of cattle. He can't sell you good buys, or history, or even experience. He has to sell you a label, the breed, so he has to push, a breed. When we all know, even with in a breed, there are huge variations.
If any one here thinks he embellishes the performance of corrientes and then posts he is going to pick up a load (with the price) because he is an "awe shucks" good ol boy. I suggest they watch closer.
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Travlr
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I don't have any problem with anyone buying Corriente and raising them on kudzu, or breeding to bulls that put solid colors on the calves. But I do think it's pretty low to intentionally mask them with a black hide so people bidding think they are buying skinny, potentially CAB qualifying calves. I mean, it's smart if he can get away with it, but it's still not right to do it intentionally, knowing the calves will never grow and grade. It's why we buy American instead of buying Chinese crap. It's like selling a vehicle you know has a bad differential and putting sawdust in it to quiet the noise... and spending the time to wax and polish so you raise the price higher to make even more money. Smart? Yeah... But not anything an honest person does.
Especially when it's just as easy to buy good cows that will raise calves that grow and grade, and you can have some pride in what you produce.
The cattle business is tough, and we struggle as we compete with each other, but there's a line that I would never cross and I survived just fine.
