What should they bring

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I probably wouldn't take anything less than $1500 for those bred heifers. You are less than 4 hours south of us so your market is probably fairly similar to ours. We sold 2 bred registered Hereford females this fall to cut back on herd inventory and the guy came with his trailer on Thanksgiving morning to look at them and told us he was worried someone would swoop in and offer us a better price which is why he didn't want to wait another day. He bought a female due to calve in March with her second calf for $1500 and a more proven female due with her 4th calf due in May for $1700. We also sold 3 weaned registered heifer calves to a buyer for $1100 each less than 24 hours after we posted them for sale and got multiple calls on them too so we wonder if might have under-priced them. I think the female market is strong enough right now that you can hold out for the price you want and even if that means calving those females out you probably will get a good price on a cow/calf pair too as a live pair takes the risk out of buying a bred female before she calves.

It's a crazy market these days, We sell both bulls and heifers and we try to gauge the market before setting our prices and some years we will sell out within a few days of marketing and wonder if we maybe under-priced them and other years we have better cattle to sell than the previous year and lowered our prices and have to put more effort into marketing them. There is no shame in holding out for a fair price for your cattle.
 
I know I am a year late in jumping in here, but to update pricing, I was just over in Groesbeck Texas for a auction from the Watson Ranch (sadly, Mr Watson passed away) and he had a lot of these. They went for 1600 - 2000 a head bred 4-6 months. The one bred to Brangus where the higher priced ones. They sold around 1000 total and I wrote the price of every one. Hereford (4/5yo) with calf on side went for 2100-2400 each pair.
 
JHH":y4hhtwf8 said:
Got a couple bred heifers I THINK I am going to try and sell. Depends on what they bring.
What do in guys think they will bring? I know it' just depends but thought I would ask.

What happened with these girls?
IF you calved them out any pictures?
 
5S Cattle":8yv0gzb6 said:
bball":8yv0gzb6 said:
Nobody around me letting reg bred hereford heifers go for less than 2k...similiar quality as yours there. Your local feller is trying to get them at commercial price. Cant blame a man for offering.
He's trying to get them for kill cow pricing, which I find insulting, and I do blame people who try to rip other people off.
75 is kill cow pricing huh, wanna buy some from me? cull cows are less than 40 here
 
MtnCows93":r45uuqel said:
5S Cattle":r45uuqel said:
bball":r45uuqel said:
Nobody around me letting reg bred hereford heifers go for less than 2k...similiar quality as yours there. Your local feller is trying to get them at commercial price. Cant blame a man for offering.
He's trying to get them for kill cow pricing, which I find insulting, and I do blame people who try to rip other people off.
75 is kill cow pricing huh, wanna buy some from me? cull cows are less than 40 here
This thread is a year old Sherlock
 
5S Cattle":aw3yvu5v said:
MtnCows93":aw3yvu5v said:
5S Cattle":aw3yvu5v said:
He's trying to get them for kill cow pricing, which I find insulting, and I do blame people who try to rip other people off.
75 is kill cow pricing huh, wanna buy some from me? cull cows are less than 40 here
This thread is a year old Sherlock
No need to exaggerate time... this thread is closer to 10 months old than a year and his point still stands that the signs
of what was to be a coming downturn were missed or read incorrectly.
Fats had taken a pounding 5 months earlier and it should've been understood culls would be next and then _________?

As corn and soybeans finally start to move higher what will breds be doing in 4 months?
Around here last year breds due April 1st sold higher in November than they did in March.
Will it be the same story again this winter?
 
Son of Butch":c501nbcb said:
As corn and soybeans finally start to move higher what will breds be doing in 4 months?
Around here last year breds due April 1st sold higher in November than they did in March.
Will it be the same story again this winter?

A lot of cows for sale. Why is buy high sell low is so popular? :nod:

We are OK, but you do not need to go far to find high priced hay. This part of it.
Banks don't like to lend when cattle are cheap. This is part of it.
More heifer retention recently. This is part of it.
The cull bottom is not in yet. This is part of it.

I don't trust tariff man
and return to land and management is not inspiring
- - so I am seeding down more field this spring. :cowboy:
 
Stocker Steve":bv9113ov said:
Son of Butch":bv9113ov said:
As corn and soybeans finally start to move higher what will breds be doing in 4 months?
Around here last year breds due April 1st sold higher in November than they did in March.
Will it be the same story again this winter?

A lot of cows for sale. Why is buy high sell low is so popular? :nod:

We are OK, but you do not need to go far to find high priced hay. This part of it.
Banks don't like to lend when cattle are cheap. This is part of it.
More heifer retention recently. This is part of it.
The cull bottom is not in yet. This is part of it.

I don't trust tariff man
and return to land and management is not inspiring
- - so I am seeding down more this spring. :cowboy:

What kind of seed SS? :idea:
 
Putting row crop into complex upland mixtures to extend my grazing season. Other option is to double down with drain tile - - but the world does not need more beans. Don't think for a minute that China is going to just forget about it...

Legumes - RC base w/ a touch of WC, BFT, and alfalfa. I use some branched root alfalfa due to heavy soils.
Grasses - meadow fescue base w/ a touch of reed canary or OG. A lot of brome and timothy used here traditionally, but I don't think they are great for grazing.
Forbs - chicory

A bit rich for beef cows, but I am increasing the number of yearlings going back to grass, and a meadow fescue/clover base mix stockpiles well.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":fuk8lszt said:
Right now, I just sold 4 culls at $1.30 hanging weight, through a dealer that ships them into Vermont for harvest.
That's 30 cents higher than what is being paid for good hanging cows here... No wonder Vermonters are so grouchy. :)
 
Those heifers as breds might have brought $1100 yesterday depending on what they weighed. Not much demand for straight bred Herefords here. Less if they are polled.
 
Son of Butch":gd5rrdi2 said:
Jeanne - Simme Valley":gd5rrdi2 said:
Right now, I just sold 4 culls at $1.30 hanging weight, through a dealer that ships them into Vermont for harvest.
That's 30 cents higher than what is being paid for good hanging cows here... No wonder Vermonters are so grouchy. :)
Yes, if I sent them to slaughter plant in PA, that's what they would bring. I heard about the feedlot guy, that was marketing culls. Works for me!!!!
Our local sale barn (live) is $.55 right now for "good" cows.
 
An average year, which does not seem to happen often now days, is that serious winter sets in about mid December. So a hayless operation is not possible in the artic vortex unless you run Highlander x Musk ox F1s. :cowboy: The big business question is can you afford to run cows year round w/o free corn stalks?

The perennial grass grazer concern is what do you do with the big cool season production peak in late June? We sometimes hayed it, and other times trampled it... Currently we are running more yearlings with the cow herd. Last year they were a third by head count. Next year they will be a larger percentage.

So yearling eat the June/July surplus and then get sorted. Cows eat the standing stockpile in Oct/Nov before going on full winter feed. Stockpiling standing forage for grazing later works well as long as you have enough waxy grass in the forage mix. Fescue is the classic grass, OG is OK, reed canary sucks.
 
Corn stalks are never free.
U of Wisconsin says there is 16-$20 of fertilizer value in each ton of corn stalk residual left on the field.
180 bushel corn produces 4.5 tons of corn stover residual per acre. Leave less than 2 ton as cover, then you run into
erosion losses which is hard to put a value on, but generally accepted as more than what corn stalks are worth.

Chopping, raking and baling removes 80% of the residual, which is 3.6 ton leaving less than 1 ton as cover.
Baling without chopping and raking removes 50%... 2.25 ton.
Cattle grazing corn stalks removes 1.4 ton of residual per acre and leaves 3.1 ton as cover. Plus cows leave manure
which replaces the fertilizer value they removed, making it the best option whenever possible.
 
Son of Butch":32yhfxjl said:
Corn stalks are never free.

The western corn belt in particular grazes corn stalks. Custom winter grazing (free stalks but pay for labor & Infrastructure) is crazy low priced. Crazy low wintering cost is how they justify overpaying for summer pasture.
 
Stocker Steve":p54wu1ct said:
Son of Butch":p54wu1ct said:
Corn stalks are never free.
Western corn belt usually grazes corn stalks. Free corn stalks is how they justify overpaying for summer pasture.
Fencing isn't free... but grazing is the best all around option.
My point was the hidden costs of baling corn stalks that most don't consider. I know in the past I've overlooked them.
 

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