Vaccinating and weaning prior to sale

[TXBobcat]

I know this has been discussed before in different aspects, but I'd like to here some opinions again.

If you had a commercial herd, and you are selling calves (steers and heifers) off the cows at weaning age, is it worth it to vaccinate those calves and wean them before taking them to the salebarn?
This is assuming that you are selling most of your calves through the sale and not private treaty.

 

[El_Putzo]

Here's what we do:

1. Wean at or around 7 months in corrall and hand feed
2. 5-7 days after weaning, give blackleg and 7 way shot and turn out into small lot, still hand feeding.
3. 2-3 weeks later, give booster shots if needed
4. Feed as long as necessary to get them to 650-700 lbs and ship them.

 

[Brandonm2]

If they are going to the stockyard, I wean them straight off the cow with no additional vaccination other than what they got at 3-4 months. Right now there is no way for them to know which calves were vaccinated or not so there is no premium to be gained at the yard by putting another vaccine in them. Most stockers/feedlots are going to treat all their calves like they are unvaccinated anyway. All mine had eaten grain out of trough, water out of trough, had been castrated, had been dehorned(when necessary), and had gotten their calfhood shots so they should not be too much of a problem for their buyers (certainly when compared to most southern cattle).

 

[Jake]

as a buyer I would prefer prevac calves. BUT the demand and premium for the prevacc calves has diminished as EVERYBODY started to do it and you don't see a difference in the price for calves is not there any longer and it barely if at all pays to do it if your jsut selling through the barn.

 

[TXBobcat]

Right now there is no way for them to know which calves were vaccinated or not so there is no premium to be gained at the yard by putting another vaccine in them.

A lot of ranchers I know seem to feel this way also, so they do not castrate, vaccinate, or anything. The additional cost and effort does not seem to be worth it unless you can find a buyer/sale that recoginizes the extra effort.

The reason I am asking this is because we are thinking about adding a commercial herd in addition to our registered herd. In our registerd herd, everything is vaccinated, wormed, branded, and castrated if we are not keeping for breeding bulls.

 

[J&T Farm]

In Ark u can gain about a dime by weaning and being on a certified vac program selling thru the local salebarn if u can get them to talk about during sale.

 

[Brandonm2]

I have actually seen an Ag Economist's numbers that show the weight gain from NOT castrating and not having to implant actually pays the slight intact dock more often than not. The problem commercially is that 1000 calves from a hundred different producers get mixed together and they run in front of the same 5 or 6 order buyers for ~25 seconds each and they know nothing about the calf other than what they can eye ball in ten seconds. If you did deworm and vaccinate the calf the day before the sale they have no way of knowing it so they aren't going to pay you for it.

If you are going to market at some of the special preconditioned calf sales that pop up around this state then yes you are obligated to prewean, castrate and vaccinate and some sales also require deworming and that you start the cattle on feed.

Another new option are members only marketing boards that hold one or two sales a year. Some do it all be video sale and others actually have a physical sale. I have heard good things about some of these marketing networks; but all attempts to do something like that in my part of the state have failed. I have attended some organizational meetings which went nowhere. Typically the organizers overreach and they want a committee to have control of genetics used. I for one will NEVER belong to anything where I have to consult with a committee of yahoos on which bull or breed I may or may not buy and I would be embarassed as HELL to walk on a man's farm and tell him I don't like his bull so his calves aren't good enough to come to our sale.

One problem with certified preconditioned sales is that not everybody lives up to the terms. One University beef expert complained to a group of us once that some of these folks have showed up at the sale with trailer loads of 375-425 pound calves. Although they certified that the calves had been preweaned and started on feed, it was obvious visually that those calves were straight off the cow.