Time to sell??

[Arkieman]

Need advice. Have 7 Angus cross steers purchased this spring off nearby farm. They were ROUGH! They're looking pretty good now. Weights range from 450 to 650.

2 - 600 - 650
2 - 475 - 500
3 - 450 - 475 (smaller frame steers)

Pasture condition (10 acres) is great right now, due to recent rains. Looks like we'll be fine up into July at least.

Question: Been trying to make heads/tails of market, would you sell/hold? Been thinking of selling bigger weights now and hold rest to kindof spread the risk...

Thanks in advance

 

[KANSAS]

The only way to truly make money in this game is to buy low and sell high.
Also, when playing black jack make sure your cards total is higher than the dealers cards but not over 21.
Sorry... just bored... good luck and I hope you make the right decision..

 

[msscamp]

Question: Been trying to make heads/tails of market, would you sell/hold? Been thinking of selling bigger weights now and hold rest to kindof spread the risk...

Thanks in advance

I can't help you with that, because your area is going to be different than mine. I would suggest you call a few local salebarns, explain to them what your trying to find out and ask them if they have someone who can help you understand. You might also think about spending a day or two at the salebarns, watch what is selling good and what is not, and talking with the buyers.

 

[msscamp]

Question: Been trying to make heads/tails of market, would you sell/hold? Been thinking of selling bigger weights now and hold rest to kindof spread the risk...

Thanks in advance

I can't help you with that, because your area is going to be different than mine. I would suggest you call a few local salebarns, explain to them what your trying to find out and ask them if they have someone who can help you understand. You might also think about spending a day or two at the salebarns, watch what is selling good and what is not, and talking with the buyers.

 

[Limomike]

If your pastures are looking good, I would just hold off, and keep letting them eat and put on more weight. Just my opinion, but it wont cost you to keep them, and it only adds more $$ onto the sale when you do take them in.
When the Tulsa stockyards has their sale posted from yesterday I will post it.. and you can see what the market is like right now in our area.

 

[auctionboy]

If they look alot better then when you bought them and that makes me think you bought them for a good price I would sell high now to the higher market when people want calves to put on grass. Then I would look for more good deals on calves or cut the ten acres and sell the hay.

 

[Arkieman]

When the Tulsa stockyards has their sale posted from yesterday I will post it.. and you can see what the market is like right now in our area.

Look forward to those #'s. Thanks for your input.

 

[mnmtranching]

I think I would keep them as long as there's grass. Prices should stay about the same through the Summer. If the USDA starts talking bumper corn crop we'll have a very bullish calf market.

 

[Arkieman]

If they look alot better then when you bought them and that makes me think you bought them for a good price.

I think you hit the nail on the head! I'm the type of person that if I would have been in on the initial offering of Wal-Mart stock I'd still be a working stiff cause I wouldn't have held it. I'd have sold it for a 15% profit and thought I'd made out like a bandit!! I did get the calves pretty cheap and could do pretty good if I sold now. Maybe I should just hang on to them just in case the "stock splits"!! ha!!

 

[Arkieman]

If the USDA starts talking bumper corn crop we'll have a very bullish calf market.

That's the kind of information I'm trying to learn. How factors in and outside of cattle affect my business. I read the "Cattle Report" and it makes my head spin! Thanks for all the input, I'm learning...

 

[TNcowman]

You could always sell the 3 larger ones now and sell the other 3 later. that way you spread your risk and your profit. With the $$$ in your pocket, look to buy 2 or 3 more to feed out till late summer.

 

[atcjets]

I took 6 steers Monday. I noticed the market was good now and mine were in good shape so I took the gamble and also went to a different auction. I did well from weights 500 to 590 I did about $108.00 a pound. If you wait the market can drop and with the extra weight you get less per pound. I say go now while its good. I wold even see if you could pick up a few scrubs to take a chance on.

 

[dun]

Heard a report from a barn in SW MO yesterday. 5 weoght were steady to 3 bucks higher, over 6 were steady to 2 lower

dun

 

[Alan]

Out here, when the grass is gone the prices drop, prices are good now but we are just getting into the grass season. I would think about selling them now and replacing them with more steers for the grass you have on hand. Once you see your 5 and 6 weight calves hit 7 or 8 weight the price really goes down.

Sell them and find some 3 to 4 weight weaned calves.

JMO
Alan

 

[Bullbuyer]

Sell.

 

[stocky]

The guy that runs the sale barn at Harrison, AR said that there is a big break around 600 lbs, but he thinks the market will hold good for awhile, unless there is a bad report on corn or something unexpected. The market is good on the 400-500 wt cattle. That will give you an idea of what things are like in Arkansas. Your thought of selling the bigger ones and holding the smaller ones for awhile is a good plan. If you sell them all now, you cant go wrong, either. Good luck

 

[Limomike]

Here u go.. the latest around our area..::
Oklahoma City, OK Tue May 15, 2007 USDA-OK Dept Ag Mkt News

Tulsa Stockyards
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Mondays Auction 5/14/2007

Receipts: 1689 Last Week: 1784 Last Year: 1871

Compared to last week: Steers 2.00-4.00 higher. Heifers steady to
3.00 higher. Demand very active with good attendance of buyers.
Weigh-ups average. Several included a fair number of fleshy new crop calves.
Receipts consisted of 45 percent steers, 47 percent heifers, 8 percent bulls
with 29 percent of feeder cattle over 600 lbs.
Slaughter cows 2.00-3.00 higher. Slaughter bulls 2.00 higher. Demand very
good for packer cows especially on high yielding fleshy cows. A total of 244
cows and bulls sold with 57 percent going to packers.

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
5 293-295 293 168.00-171.00 169.40
8 300-349 340 147.00-159.00 149.10
20 355-398 381 140.00-151.00 144.61
24 403-442 423 131.50-139.00 135.86
52 458-490 478 120.00-130.50 125.12
74 500-547 526 119.00-128.00 123.01
16 550-588 565 118.00-123.50 120.51
31 600-640 618 112.50-119.50 116.48
28 658-695 672 105.50-114.00 110.60

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
10 462-485 471 112.00-122.00 119.54

Feeder Steers Small and Medium 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
9 365-380 375 119.00-128.00 124.70
6 400-408 404 125.00 125.00

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
7 288-295 291 125.00-136.00 128.75
9 350-370 362 121.00-130.00 124.82
30 401-445 420 111.00-124.00 117.94
44 450-490 474 110.00-118.50 112.98
56 500-547 520 104.00-112.00 108.07
30 553-590 566 104.00-112.00 107.63
62 600-648 616 100.00-109.00 104.04
14 650-695 666 100.00-105.00 101.69
21 710-729 725 101.00-103.50 103.20

Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 2
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
11 370-394 385 109.00-117.00 113.73
5 555-580 568 101.50-105.00 103.20
12 705 705 101.25 99.49

Feeder Bulls Medium and Large 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
13 431-445 436 120.00-123.00 121.82
7 520-540 523 110.50-118.00 111.61
8 565-595 580 114.00-119.00 115.72
10 613-638 626 106.00-112.00 109.72

Feeder Bulls Small and Medium 1
Head Wt Range Avg Wt Price Range Avg Price
5 515 515 113.50 113.50

Slaughter Cows:
Head %Lean Weight Average Dress High Dress Low Dress
Breakers 25 75-80% 1100-1565 58.00-61.00 61.50-73.50 53.50-57.00
Boners 40 80-85% 1000-1540 57.00-60.50 61.00-69.00 53.00-56.50
Lean 35 85-90% 950-1365 54.00-57.50 58.00-66.00 49.50-53.00
Light 20 85-90% 750-970 46.50-50.00 51.00-56.00 42.00-45.50

Slaughter Bulls:
Head Weight Average Dress High Dress Low Dress
Y.G. 1-2 20 1200-2125 65.50-69.00 70.00-75.00 61.00-64.50

Replacement Cows: Pre-tested for bangs, pregnancy, and age
Medium and Large 1
Age Weight Months Bred Quality Price/Head
2-3 yr old hf's 1100-1300 4-7 mo bred avg bks 900.00-925.00

Pairs: Medium and Large 1
Age Cow Weight Calf Wt Quality Price/Head
2-3 yr old 700-800 50-90 low quality thin 700.00-850.00

 

[CowCop]

~

Sell the larger ones now and take orders for the smaller ones.

But try to sell to a private buyer rather than the livestock market if you are able.

Put an ad in your Ag bulletin if you have one, or some other well read newspaper.

We had (2) 1200 lb steers here this month that we wintered over.

My boss wouldn't wait so he shipped Steer #1 to the market and got 65/lb.

Steer #2 finally came down out of the woods and I sold him to a man, who saw my ad in the Ag Bulletin, for 95/lb. AND he wants another smaller steer that we have.

Big difference.... and we didn't have to pay shipping OR commision for the second one.....

 

[Arkieman]

~
But try to sell to a private buyer rather than the livestock market if you are able.

I'm a small timer - no scales and not a real good judge of weights either.

 

[Arkieman]

Feeder Steers Medium and Large 1
vs
Feeder Steers Medium and Large 2

Is this difference basically body condition score?