What REALLY pays in your part of the country?

[Hippie Rancher]

For me black color and castrated steers. I would say castrating is worth around $50 per head. Pre condidtioning, doesn't seem to pay - at least at the sale barn, maybe private treaty, but I just don't have a lot of experience doing it that way.

Dehorning surprises me - it doesn't seem to matter that much.

Too fat, to much color will get you a penalty. Around here a lot of ear doesn't seem to be seen as all that negative. At least not as bad as pretty spots and colors.

 

[randiliana]

For us generally the best paying is a black/tan or bwf/twf steer that is castrated and dehorned. After that is your reds/rwf, then herefords/greys, and if you really want to get knocked around anything that could be misconstrued as longhorn or dairy(spots, roans, linebacks etc..). Horns will knock about 5-10 cents/lb and bulls will be even further off.

The preconditioning and vaccinations don't seem to pay extra here either. But it will be interesting to see this fall what happens with the "Angus Tagged" and "Age Verified" calves.

 

[Bluestem]

around me. Land pays the most.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

around me. Land pays the most. Very Happy

yeah that's the truth - if you're selling.
:frowns: :frowns:

 

[redangus]

mineral rights is what really pays.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

mineral rights is what really pays. Very Happy

That remiinds me of one of my real Hippie Ranch type stories. This is a family operation and we are a typical ,slightly disfunctional family that has a lot of trouble doing planning or talking about money or god-forbid allowing "strangers" to know anything about our business. About 15 years ago after Grampa died, we had to break down and finally talk about some stuff. Had a facilitator help guide the conversation and do some touchy feely stuff and it was really good - got a lot of things out in the open and dealt with, made some plans - including looking at other ways to generate income off the place (this is when prices were in 40 cent range - early 90's LOW cycle or thereabouts). So we as a family finally did some "Happy Hippy Horsesh*t" work as someone I know calls it. The VERY next day this guy drives up to the house and wants to start buying some boulders off the place for landscaping and such. That is some kind of karma. Still gives me the shivers. He was here for about two years and pretty much SAVED us.

As a humorous aside, this area is known for its huge granite boulders and tourists are always stopping to take pictures - When Grampa would come across these types and they would gush about the rocks he would either make a joke about the rain making them swell or offer to sell them...If he could have only been around to see the day someone actually wanted to buy a bunch of (to an old cowman) useless rocks.

 

[mnmtranching]

Around here there is big demand for field stone, after its picked and piled. But I mean no one will pick it off the fields. We tell them once its piled it aint doing me no harm if you want it pick it off the fields, they never do it.

The cattle that sell the best up here are called fancy. Black Angus, Charolais/Angus [smokies], Charolais, Black Baldies, solid reds, Red Baldies, tans, Herefords, Grays, Rattails, Longhorns, Correntiens, Highlanders, and everyonce and a while ear. Most always in that order. Say for a 500 weight steer the price now will range from 160$ to less then 80$.

Casteration, and horns wont hert much if the calf is say under 500lbs. Maybe 25 to 50$ per head. But let them get bully with sharp horns and you'll take a beating.

I haven't noticed that vacinations get you a better price. I think the first thing a feedlot does when they recieve cattle is run them through the shute and vaccinate and do whatever needs to be done with the calf. Why would they take a chance?

mnmt

 

[S.R.R.]

Solid color Char or Lim sired calves castrated and dehorned. Preconditioning and vaccinations do not count for much.

 

[milesvb]

As far as breeds and or hide color sold at auction go, CharolaisX and anything black tops the sales. Reds and greys are next. If it's spotted, no matter how good it looks, buyers seem to recoil in horror (think longhorn).

Other than cattle, oil wells are nice for those who got 'em. Hunting leases, if you've got the habitat and game available, can surpass cattle income quite a bit.

 

[Howdyjabo]

There are two different types of preconditioning-- one has more value than the other.

Preconditioning on farm just doesn't have the same value as preconditioning off salebarns or even farm calves going thru preconditioners --the calves haven't been comingled;exposed;adapted to stress;settled; hardened and basically tested by fire..
And the reality is that buyers in alot of cases have learned they can't "trust" that everything was done on farm as it should have been-- so they have to do it over again just in case.

Off farm sales have value over stockyard sales-- because the animals haven't been stressed or exposed- so the buyer has an edge to make sure to get vaccinations in them and going strong before they are getting sick.- and there is less risk of them bringing something to spread around in with them.

So you have $ from low to high
1-stockyard calves
2-off farm calves with or without vaccinations and weaning.
3-off farm calves w/vaccinations and weaning(that the buyer trusts).
4-True professional comingled pre-conditioning(usually off stockyard calves).

 

[Texan]

Good topic, Hippie Rancher. I'd say that around here, castration and dehorning really pays well if you're selling bigger calves. Deworming Spring calves in early summer probably returns $20+ per head. Getting calves accustomed to using loose minerals is hard to quantify, but I believe it pays off well. Hard weaning and vaccinations provide good returns if you've got enough cattle.

I guess if I could only choose one thing, I'd have to say marketing pays off better than anything. Keep up with the cattle market. Move your cattle when it's time to sell them and don't be greedy. Actually market your calves instead of just selling them.

 

[glover36]

nothing dumb border lol well umm selling firewoods really brings in money

 

[Beefy]

lbs mostly.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Natural gas out of the Barnett Shale is paying plenty for folks who could afford to keep their farms.

Hay, especially horse quality coastal, is at unbelieveable prices if you can irrigate.

You could make a few nickels off of cattle if it would rain one day.

 

[Bama]

I guess if I could only choose one thing, I'd have to say marketing pays off better than anything. Keep up with the cattle market. Move your cattle when it's time to sell them and don't be greedy. Actually market your calves instead of just selling them.

I'd have to go with this as well. A couple of weeks either way can mean a lot of money on a load of cattle.