stockering calves

[bigbull338]

ive got a friend that has plenty of grass an hay.an he was wondering if it qould be worth buying 150 400lb steers or heifers.an grazing them an feeding them hay an some sup feed till they hitt 800lbs.can he make any money doing that if he keeps his overhead low.he would prolly keep them 120 to 150 days.

 

[KNERSIE]

I think to put on average 400lbs on run of the mill salebarn calves on mostly grass and hay in fall and winter within 120-150 days seems a tall order to me.

If it was spring and summer it would have been a different story.

 

[bigbull338]

they would have access to feed as well.an be grazing on winter pastures of rye an clover.

 

[newrancher]

I think to put on average 400lbs on run of the mill salebarn calves on mostly grass and hay in fall and winter within 120-150 days seems a tall order to me.

If it was spring and summer it would have been a different story

Still a tall order inmo

 

[Jalopy]

400# in 120 days =3.33#/day
400# in 150 days= 2.66#/ day

That is a pretty high grade calf with a medium to hot ration to get that kind of gain. Not impossible and depending on the location of the cattle it is doable however it will cost and it may make the enterprise less profitable. In my climate with just grass, hay and protein supplement it would be more like 1.8-2.2#/day gain for fall and winter backgrounding. There seems to be a chance at some profit in backgrounding but use a sharp pencil when buying the calves. Good luck to your friend and keep us posted on how it works for him if he does it. Always willing to learn.

 

[novatech]

they would have access to feed as well.an be grazing on winter pastures of rye an clover.

Your clover and rye will not be putting out until after your 120-150 days are up. They are at there max in the spring but offer very little in the fall. Stockpiled forage looses most of its value by January. This leaves you with grazing until first frost and then hay and feed with the remainder of stockpiled forage for the balance. Given this I would say this is not the optimum time to be buying stockers.

 

[bigbull338]

i dont know if he is going to try stockering calves or not.he is always asking me qs an bouncing ideas off me.but i know he has the hay to feed them.as well as grass for then to graze.i told him to go far it an see what happens.that feedlots was wanting 800lb calves.i know he can get 1 or 2 more cuttings of hay before winter.but he really doesnt need it.he has about 600 or 700 bales now.

 

[mnmtranching]

With all that grass and hay on hand, sounds like he might do OK. Seems the price of 800 pounders will be decent by the time the stockers hit that weight. I would pay a little more and get a group of good doing uniform calves.

 

[Aaron]

When is he going to start feeding them? We did 25 calves, end of November to end of April this year. Anywhere from 200 to 320 pounds of gain over 150 days on free choice mixed hay and 1 lb. mixed grain ration per head per day. 400+ lbs of gain was achieved under the same conditions, but that was only on our bull calves. For heifer an steer calves though, I would expect a minimum of 1.5 lbs of gain on good dry hay alone over 150 days.

 

[bigbull338]

When is he going to start feeding them? We did 25 calves, end of November to end of April this year. Anywhere from 200 to 320 pounds of gain over 150 days on free choice mixed hay and 1 lb. mixed grain ration per head per day. 400+ lbs of gain was achieved under the same conditions, but that was only on our bull calves. For heifer an steer calves though, I would expect a minimum of 1.5 lbs of gain on good dry hay alone over 150 days.

he read all the post awhile ago.an i think he has decided not to try running stocker calves.he loves brainstorming when he has new ideas or thoughts on doing something.