What are you doing to increase profit this fall?

[RanchMan90]

What are you doing to increase profit this fall? Such as cost management, added value, or perhaps diversifying. I'm taking in some light bred cows to market in the spring as pairs and 3-n-1s, while trying to keep feed costs minimal.

 

[skyhightree1]

I am not doing anything any differently than I always do.

 

[Ky hills]

I'm not really doing anything any different, except selling all of our steer calves in a CPH sale.

 

[True Grit Farms]

I'm holding back all the heifers and going to sell them as AI bred in the spring. If I'm not happy with the price I'll just keep them. The price will get better it's only a matter of when.

 

[callmefence]

I'm going to work harder and spend less.
I'm also going to work harder on spending less time on the cattle. Hays cheap, and I'm going to move some cattle to underutilized land.
Instead of feeding cattle every day I'm going to make up the loss by building more fence
Myself.

Short version. I've gotta make the money for awhile, cause the cows cant
.

 

[Ebenezer]

With drought, it will be a year of loss. Hold minimal breeding stock, figure out feed based on $'s and hope for a better 2017. Anybody who can repair the current cattle prices would do us all a lot of good.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Buying beef bottle calves and grafting them to nurse cows. Small scale.

Not much else "Planned".

Probably do some welding for people as jobs come up or things break. Maybe barter some of it. Maybe some clearing with the Cat or hole digging with the hoe. Maybe help out a vet if he calls. There are times I get way more busy than I wanna be.

 

[M-5]

gonna graze last cutting of hay. keep the tractor and bailer parked is the plan at the moment , we are so dry the pasture is dead. I Have about a week before I will either haft to feed hay or graze the semi green hay fields. the cool nights are not helping any. BTW I HATE COLD WEATHER and SHORT DAYS.

 

[Nesikep]

Spend less... can't do a whole lot on the "Income" side of things so I will trim the "expenses" side.. though I am getting lots of fuel since it's prices alright now.

 

[1982vett]

This year I saved the expense of cutting and baling hay. I have some 250 tons stored in the barns left from 2012 - 2015. Will be the first year since the early 70's winter pasture won't be planted. After 10 years of spare grazing, I have an abundance of grass. If winter turns against me I will fall back on hay reserves.

On the spending side, I'm looking to pick up some replacement cows and may get back to some pasture establishment.

 

[Jessica06]

We are having our hay cut on shares, keeping all of our weaned heifers, developing them by hand feeding DDG through the fall and winter instead of putting out a bulk feeder full of Purina in the spring, and AI'ing all of our better spring heifers that came up open next month. We are also going to AI a lot of our fall calving brangus cows and heifers clubby to try and get some American show steers. As to what we've already done, we sold all of our steers private treaty to a cattle buyer, and were pretty happy with what we ended up with. I'm sure there's more, but that's the big stuff. Never get stuck in a rut thinking that you always have to do things the same way because it worked before!

 

[shaz]

Only real difference is postponing a couple of construction projects.

Preconditioning is also different. I weaned calves on grass instead of dry lot. Just fed them in bunks in the pasture. Also, one round of shots instead of two.

 

[Margonme]

My management plan is always changing, it is not a function of economics. More often, it is a function of convenience and decreasing my level of effort.

In 2017 all but one of my cows will calve in the fall. The calves I am producing now, I plan to sell as quality breeding stock.

I like what Fence said above. I admire his work ethic. When times get hard, the strong survive.

 

[M-5]

spent sun up till sundown trying decipher PO wiring of electric fence . Finally got it all working and turned the cows in the hayfield. we got 3/10 Saturday nite. if we could get a little more It sure would be nice we have about 3 weeks before frost kills everything .