Today's workshop

[bird dog]

Sale barn bred heifers go very cheap around here and for good reason. They are mostly bred too young and/or too little and come through the barn weighing 700 lbs. They sale $200 cheaper than a feeder heifer of the same size.

They can be pretty good money makers if they are short bred (1st trimester) and bought in the winter. This will give them some time with the spring flush to put on some size and weight and calve in early summer on good pasture. They seldom breed back on time so why push it. Let them raise their calf, mature out and keep them off the bull so they have their second calf 15 months later. After that you will have a nice young cow with a very low cost basis.

The reds or yellows are always the best deals. People that think they have to have a black cow to get a black calf tend to over pay.

 

[Dave]

Sale barn bred heifers go very cheap around here and for good reason. They are mostly bred too young and/or too little and come through the barn weighing 700 lbs. They sale $200 cheaper than a feeder heifer of the same size.

They can be pretty good money makers if they are short bred (1st trimester) and bought in the winter. This will give them some time with the spring flush to put on some size and weight and calve in early summer on good pasture. They seldom breed back on time so why push it. Let them raise their calf, mature out and keep them off the bull so they have their second calf 15 months later. After that you will have a nice young cow with a very low cost basis.

The reds or yellows are always the best deals. People that think they have to have a black cow to get a black calf tend to over pay.

To me that $200 cheaper wouldn't be enough to pay the feed cost for that extra time off between calves. To me if they are the first trimester,lute and dex costs a lot less than $200. I would get that calf out of her and either sell her as a feeder heifer or clean her up and breed her to calf at the appropriate size.