Tips for Selling Replacements

[Stocker Steve]

Average feeder heifers are $80/cwt here, average replacement heifers are $900 to $1000, and average cows are $800 to $950.

I thought about raising replacements since there is a big discount on hiefers here. It looked like it was about break even.

Is the point here that you really need a good rep and fancy cattle to be profitable with replacements?
Or is the point that there just isn't much profit in this cattle market?

 

[bigbull338]

i can tell you 2 things about replacement heifers.
1.if you decide todo it buy the best heifers you can get.
2.give the best feed an hay you have.because you want them to reach breeding weight at 12 to 15 months.an calve at 2 or a tad over.
3.dont buy junk heifers expecting to turn them into replacements.because it wont happen.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

I talked to friend of mine today was telling me about some special cow sales pairs were bringing 1500.00 and up. if i could run on to one of those sales wouldn't be a pair left on the place. Then i hit some sales buy me some nice heifers that was split of of there mommas, and kinda of idle into the next few years.

 

[sidney411]

I've been selling replacement heifers for several years now. I'm selling solid black and BWF heifers. I wean them 30 days and give their vaccinations. I price them out about 20 to 30 % above market and have had no problems selling them. The key thing is to have good looking, fleshy heifers that are gentle and not spooky that all look alike or very similar to each other in size and conformation. Also I've had better luck if I have 10 or so at a time, don't do as good with just 2 or 3. There's not a lot of input getting between weaning and 30 days, vaccs are pretty inexpensive and I don't feed them a lot of feed, but it is important to feed them every day, because that really gets them gentle and they come running to you when they see you pull up. That is a very important sales point also. It really looks good when you pull up with a potential buyer and all these gorgeous heifers come running up to you. Really flashy.

 

[Central Fl Cracker]

Sidney
What avg. weight do you sell them at?

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have seen some high tech outfits offer syncronized, AI bred, ultrasond tested for calf sex, replacement heifers.

I have also see bigger outfits offer either straight bred or white face F1 heifers.

What kind of buyer interest or price premiums do you see for features like this?

 

[SRBeef]

I've been selling replacement heifers for several years now. I'm selling solid black and BWF heifers. I wean them 30 days and give their vaccinations. I price them out about 20 to 30 % above market and have had no problems selling them. The key thing is to have good looking, fleshy heifers that are gentle and not spooky that all look alike or very similar to each other in size and conformation. Also I've had better luck if I have 10 or so at a time, don't do as good with just 2 or 3. There's not a lot of input getting between weaning and 30 days, vaccs are pretty inexpensive and I don't feed them a lot of feed, but it is important to feed them every day, because that really gets them gentle and they come running to you when they see you pull up. That is a very important sales point also. It really looks good when you pull up with a potential buyer and all these gorgeous heifers come running up to you. Really flashy.

I love your post! Shows a bit of sales savy. Who says you have to take 'em to the sale barn and take whatever they will give you...

"Gorgeous heifers come running to you" (rather than away from you!) We need to share your post with the fellow on the beginners board who is down in the dumps on the price of everything....

Thank you for posting a refreshingly different approach.

 

[sidney411]

Thanks! I appreciate that a lot!

I usually sell them in the 600-700 lb range. I've had real good response to my adds. I list them as weaned replacement heifers and I've sold every single heifer I've listed plus a few I didn't even have listed for sale. I've though about offering sides of beef for a way to market the steers but I don't really have the facilities to grow out butcher steers. If you have the drive to do it, there are always ways to make a little bit more on your cattle. The auction barn is a great tool, you know you will always have abuyer there but you don't control your selling price like if you sell private treaty. You get started and if you have quality animals and do right by people then your reputation will start to grow (either good or bad) and you will start to get return buyers and word of mouth customers.

The last guy that came bought heifers that were still on the cows, but that's the one's he liked. He gave me 1/2 deposit and I weaned them for him and got them going good on feed and he has told me he absolutely loves them. They will come and eat right out of his hand. I even sold a bull that I didn't even really want to sell but the guy kept calling and I couldn't pass up that good a price he offered me. You get to meet a lot of interesting people too. Well, there are some you don't care to meet also, but that's how it goes.

 

[bigbull338]

the #1 rule is every cow calf bull or heifer is for sale.if they ask about something set a fair price an stand on it.the cow that i just had to calve i was going to price to a guy for $1900 if he wanted her.even though i didnt want to sell her.

 

[mnmtranching]

SS, I think fancy bred heifers will likely be at a premium for 09 calving. The reasons are, cow numbers are down, a good normal Summer up here will get cattlemen interested in putting on more cows, filling the pastures up again. The bovine TB will have settled down and we'll have a split state status. This will be great for the Dakota markets. Of coarse I'm being optimistic here. I do think for those that hang in there rewards are coming.

What I would do to sell replacement heifers.

Start with fancy uniform calves.
Black Angus are in the biggest demand.
Buy for disposition.
Anything that acts in the least bit flighty or even looks at you crooked, get her out of there.
A bad one will cost $
Use a bull with impressive EPD's
And for sure low birthweight.
Bred to calve March- April.
Make them look good, buyers will have a hard time passing them up.

How's that sound?

 

[Stocker Steve]

SS, I think fancy bred heifers will likely be at a premium for 09 calving. The reasons are, cow numbers are down, a good normal Summer up here will get cattlemen interested in putting on more cows, filling the pastures up again. The bovine TB will have settled down and we'll have a split state status. This will be great for the Dakota markets. Of coarse I'm being optimistic here. I do think for those that hang in there rewards are coming.

What I would do to sell replacement heifers.

Start with fancy uniform calves.
Black Angus are in the biggest demand.
Buy for disposition.
Anything that acts in the least bit flighty or even looks at you crooked, get her out of there.
A bad one will cost $
Use a bull with impressive EPD's
And for sure low birthweight.
Bred to calve March- April.
Make them look good, buyers will have a hard time passing them up.

How's that sound?

Sounds good. I just have to remember to do my rain dance so the price of hay goes down.

What kind of demand have you seen for red angus or bwf vs. black angus?

 

[angie1]

because that really gets them gentle and they come running to you when they see you pull up. That is a very important sales point also. It really looks good when you pull up with a potential buyer and all these gorgeous heifers come running up to you. Really flashy.

Yes ~ Great post Sidney!
As someone who buys replacement heifers ~ I can say for sure that this is something I look for. I want cattle that come looking, not ones that I have to follow around a pasture with binoculars. Vaccination program is also important to me.
I want the seller to know the animal ~ when it was born, what it weighed, which cow its mother is, what the father is. We rely heavy on word of mouth as well.

 

[mnmtranching]

SS, I think it depends on how you sell them. If you sell them private treaty at the farm. The reds and baldies may be sorted out. Then you may have trouble getting your price after sorting. Just because buyers will know they have been sorted. I know the reds and baldies are just as good maybe better mother cows then the blacks but, it's the way the market is right now.

I'm thinking of selling bred heifers too. All at auction. Not allowing any to be selected out. Figuring a fair minimum price. Talking it over with the auction manager. [I totally trust this guy] They will advertise and get the buyers there.

Then I believe it would be fine to have reds, baldies, chars, any good looking cattle will bring good money. They will sort in small groups of uniform colored cattle. As you know, there are buyers who want the reds and baldies, chars etc.

You know Steve, a guy could make money doing this. Perfect that rain dance. :clap:

 

[msscamp]

Is the point here that you really need a good rep and fancy cattle to be profitable with replacements?

No, at least not from our experience. We raised and bred good quality cattle that were absolutely capable of doing their job. I am not sure I would consider the vast majority of them to be flashy, but they were solid, they were good mothers, and good producers who didn't need a lot of fancy feed or hand (maybe hoof holding would be more accurate?) holding to do their jobs. The point is to breed and develop good, solid, sound heifers who have a good disposition, are good mothers, and good milkers. If you do that, I would be willing to bet your reputation will travel far and wide. The only advertising we have done in the last 25-30 years was in the MG herdbood, and we have never done a production sale - yet we had people calling us and wanting to come look at our cattle. The majority of those who came and looked bought. We sold a few cull heifers and cows through the salebarn, and our steer calves were always sold through the salebarn, but the majority of our sales were via private treaty - and they weren't just replacement heifers. When we sold out, it was done via private treaty - not the salebarn.

Or is the point that there just isn't much profit in this cattle market?

I believe there can be a significant profit in this particular market, but it is going to be dependent on your individual reputation.

 

[1982vett]

Forget the rain dance. Do a jig to get the fertilizer price under control. :banana:

 

[Stocker Steve]

Forget the rain dance. Do a jig to get the fertilizer price under control. :banana:

I did not need a fertilizer jig in the past... Last year some government genius decided that burning poltry litter (which I had been buying for pasture fertilizer) should be subsidized as a "renewable" energy source. Now it is all contracted and then trucked hundreds of miles to be burned in a boiler. What a bunch of crap!