Do they have a report you can look at and see what the yearling would bring right now? I would like to look at what they would bring right now vs weaning a calf and selling it right now locally.
whats driving cattle prices up so much
- Thread starter dieselbeef
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I agree with this 100% and would be all for it as long as we got paid fairly for it. I'm all about performance based pay.
I was watching a discussion online where they were discussing this and said many of these large livestock producers are hanging on by a thread because they have land notes and 9%+ operating notes on cattle and equipment and other things. The only thing keeping them afloat is the higher cattle prices. They claim if prices fall you will will see these highly leveraged guys fold.
Imagine if so many people weren't in a drought right now across the country. Where would prices be right now, next year, the next?
High interest rates are killing just about every business out there right now. We sold a business we had for 16 yrs a few months back and 9.5% interest played a big role in our decision making. Business was paid for but as always in business we needed to make some major upgrades and just couldn't see doing them in the current climate.
For the Farmers and Ranchers out there hopefully their land and equipment notes are fixed or aren't fixed for X years then come up for renewal soon. On the cattle operating notes hopefully they can buy and sell in the same market and not get bit with high interest and low prices. It's all gamble. Some people love it some hate it. I'm too conservative to try that game so I'll just stay small and do my best with what I've got.
I know 5-6 guys in a tri county area running 2,000 hd or more and retaining yearlings. Surely they aren't floating all that with cash but you never know. Imagine the daily feed and fuel bill on 2,000 mother cows and a couple thousand yearlings.
Download the Cattle Market Mobile app. You pick salebarns from across the country to look at.
simme
Old Dumb Guy
I am no expert, but it seems to me that retaining ownership and selling on the grid is about as fair as it gets. Price per pound mostly determined by quality grade (select, choice - and +, prime) and yield grade (1-5). Just a chart of price per pound based on two things. No bias based on perceptions, owner, hauler, where it was born, etc.
But, maybe not for the unprepared. Owner has all the risk of getting good cattle to the market and total input cost. Feed efficiency, feed cost, health in the feedlot, rate of gain, days on feed - things like that probably affect profit more than some of the issues we fret about here on CT. One of those narrow butted steers that gains well with good feed conversion, stays healthy, grades prime and yields reasonably well might do ok on the profit side.
In my experience good cattle always bring good money. Good money meaning they'll top the market that day. The hardest part for us was figuring out what the buyers really want though. I don't have fancy cattle by any means but the guy I sell through tells me every year we've got good calves and don't change our program.
Dave
Well-known member
One of the biggest problems for retaining ownership is numbers. I have always heard that you need enough to fill a pen which is generally 100 head or more. Also from my friends who do retain ownership, they say you should check in on your cattle occasionally. And do it unannounced.
Travlr
Well-known member
Exactly correct...
I don't believe this has changed significantly since the seventies. The end product is meat, so they want meaty calves. They want them to grow until they hit the feed lot so they don't want them overly fat until they are close to their full size and on feed. Then they want them to marble and finish quickly. That's the tough thing... the balance between growth to the appropriate size and laying on fat at the right time.
Then you must have a good eye...
I was hoping to put your real world age, pounds, revenue, etc to it. You said you spend $150/ hd already I think.
I'm here for real world experiences.
I was hoping to put your real world age, pounds, revenue, etc to it. You said you spend $150/ hd already I think.
I'm here for real world experiences.
To start with we have a 90 day calving season and I'm basing this on a truck load at shipping time so 60 or so hd. We typically wean in late November. I would say calves avg. 480# some will be big and some smaller just how it goes. We'll feed them an average of 7# 14% commodity mix a day for 120 days. Feed cost vary every year but yesterday I was quoted $315 a ton. At $315 that's $1.12 a day or $134 for the 120 days per hd. Meds generally cost $15-20 per hd. for 2 rounds and wormer. So this year I'm expecting $160 per hd. I keep them on a pasture that's fenced in two sections. A 70 acre spot and a 120 acre spot. We just rotate them around as needed. We may or may not give 1 or 2 a shot of Draxxin so that might cost an additional $100 for the group. Total cost to keep this group until Late June will be around $8,200. We do not feed any hay unless it's really bad weather. Even then we rarely give them an entire roll. You can do your own math but we typically make an extra $20-25K over selling at weaning. So we make an extra 12-15k per 60 hd with them weighing 750-825#. 12-15k might be peanuts to some but for us it's good bump for very little work. Every year is different though. When we sold this past July we made $45k over what we would have made in November of '22.
I will add that getting yourself in a position to not need that calf money is very important. 2 yrs ago I was set to ship and the market dropped. We cancled and shipped 4 weeks later and made an extra 7k when the market came back.
We calve from February 7th until the end of April and wean in November so calves will be 7 to 10 months old? From there we just feed them until the grass comes on good in March or April. Typically we'll back off the feed March 15th but that doesn't work every year. I really like to sell the week of July 4th and they'll avg 800#. We've sold as early as May and as late as August though due to weather or market conditions. We'll have a big group weigh 825# and a smaller group weighing 750#. This is were a tighter calving season would make more money but we aren't there yet. In my experience calves gain very little if any from July to August on grass, it's just too hot.
16 months old and 800# is our goal. Some will balk at this and say they wean 700# calves @ 210 days but 16 months @ 800# makes a good size thin fleshed green yearling that will sell at the top.
I know the time and fuel question will come up, it always does. We live at the ranch and it takes an extra 15 minutes to feed the yearlings if I count them all. Once feeding is done we ride through them a few times a week. We're out anyway so it's not a special trip for us. I like raising yearlings way better than dealing with the cow herd.
greybeard
Well-known member
I'm assuming you mean too hot AND DRY?
Sporadic rain helps to turn it a little green but I think that's mostly just water in the foliage and 1 1/2 days later when it's 105F the uptake of soil nutrients stops and the grass gets crunchy again.
Some folks try to claim dry grass is the same as feeding hay but /\ This is way DIFERENT from hay cut and dried at the peak of it's growth.
(out of it permanently now, but really enjoy reading this thread)
July/Aug is always a gamble for us. If we get gulf moisture, we grow grass like crazy and you are set through the end of the year. If you don't, like these past couple years, it eats your lunch. It's two different worlds.
Yes. Hot and dry. Once the temps get above 95* from 10am to 8 pm and we don't have rain the grass looses it's punch and the cattle end up grazing too late into the morning at start back too early in the evening to gain any weight. When temps are 100-105* for days on end like this year you can forget any gain at all, in fact they may loose weight. I've got a friend that contracts his so he feeds them from weaning in November until sale time in late July. He says they gain very little if anything even on feed.
I've tried the stock piling grass desl in the winter and it doesn't work here. The grass pretty much turns to cardboard and has no value.
greybeard
Well-known member
You're right and down farther south from you in East Texas it doesn't work either. Bahia won't stockpile.
1st little cool spell, it's done.
Better have some ryegrass or oats drilled or broadcast.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
LOL - stockpile does not work up hear either! Generally snow too deep - but also, it crusts over too much.
I've never tried winter planting but am researching it this year.
