When should we send our cows to auction?

[SmallOhioFarm]

Hello, I need some help deciding on when to send some cows to auction. We have three older cows with two month old calves on them that we want to get rid of. Im not sure how long we should keep the calves on them before we send the cows to auction? We are going to just end up feeding out the calves for freezer beef and I don't want to have to feed any more hay then needed. I still want the calves to grow the "best" that they can. Should I hold off for the normal time or should I just send them now and save on the hay?

 

[snickers]

I myself would let the calves get another month of milk but that would depend on how much hay you have. the calves need to be eating pretty good I'd say.

 

[SRBeef]

Hello, I need some help deciding on when to send some cows to auction. We have three older cows with two month old calves on them that we want to get rid of. Im not sure how long we should keep the calves on them before we send the cows to auction? We are going to just end up feeding out the calves for freezer beef and I don't want to have to feed any more hay then needed. I still want the calves to grow the "best" that they can. Should I hold off for the normal time or should I just send them now and save on the hay?

You may get more for your cows and have larger calves if you can feed them past the first of the year. Might be worth buying some hay if you can. Prices are really the pits right now. Good luck.

 

[MoGal]

In this area, grass is about gone. Cows go down in price in Nov/Dec and we're just a heartbeat away from Nov. 1st. They pick up a little bit in January but nothing like springtime. Cow prices pick up when spring grass is coming on.

If you have to buy hay, you might be better to sell very soon, depending on what kind of prices you have to pay for your hay. If you have plenty of hay, then I'd keep them because older cows are selling for about 33 to 37 cents per pound right now.

However, my crystal ball has been on the blitz for a long time now and who knows if next year will be better or worse economy wise?

Best of luck to you.

 

[Cowdirt]

Hello, I need some help deciding on when to send some cows to auction. We have three older cows with two month old calves on them that we want to get rid of. Im not sure how long we should keep the calves on them before we send the cows to auction? We are going to just end up feeding out the calves for freezer beef and I don't want to have to feed any more hay then needed. I still want the calves to grow the "best" that they can. Should I hold off for the normal time or should I just send them now and save on the hay?

Cow/calf pairs are still selling pretty well in our area. You might consider selling them as pairs and buying back larger calves that are already eating hay since calf prices are down at the present.

 

[grubbie]

Hello, I need some help deciding on when to send some cows to auction. We have three older cows with two month old calves on them that we want to get rid of. Im not sure how long we should keep the calves on them before we send the cows to auction? We are going to just end up feeding out the calves for freezer beef and I don't want to have to feed any more hay then needed. I still want the calves to grow the "best" that they can. Should I hold off for the normal time or should I just send them now and save on the hay?

As previously stated, so much depends on your local market. Around here cows are extremely low, no money in them at all. So if it were me, in this area, I would keep the calves on the cows for 6 months. I am actually practicing what I preach right now with a late calf. I'll let momma raise it, then I'll sell her and sell the calf as a yearling next fall. I would sell the pair right now if prices weren't in the toilet. Calves and yearlings are doing pretty good, but cows aren't worth much.

 

[SmallOhioFarm]

Thank you everyone for the info. I think what we might do, is sell the youngest of the three as a cow calf at a cow calf auction in the next couple weeks. She isn't to bad and probably has a few more years of calves in her. She just isn't a very tentative momma. As for the other two, they are starting to limp a little and Im getting worried. Its nothing bad, but its the main reason we are getting rid of the them. It comes and goes every couple months. Anyways, hay around me is $35 per 700 lb bail. So now that I gave "the rest of the story" are you still thinking the same thing with the two older ones?

 

[Double R Ranch]

My recomendation for our area would be to check there teeth. If they are broken mouthed they will more than likely split the pairs anyways and you can't give a calf what moms milk does. They generally split broken mouth pairs here and sell the cows as butcher. You would be better off if you can to wait as long as you can to get the calves as big as you can then split them. Sell them seperatly. Here the prices are shooting up with the grass.
Best of luck.
Double R

 

[MoGal]

That seems high for hay, to me. In this area there's lot of fescue hay, round bales 5x6 for $20 to $30. There's a bunch of people that still have last years hay in the barn. However, you may be paying a fair price in your area. If you buy 1 or 2 bales a week instead of getting a load of 30 to 35 round bales then you're going to pay more.

You can do a google search on zinc and foot rot/lameness and there's goo gobs of reading. Also research is showing a boron deficiency can cause arthritis.
Check your cow minerals to make sure you have adequate zinc and you may need to add a little boron too. That may help to get you through to spring, but that still doesn't resolve what your hay is costing you and would it be more feasible to sell now or wait until spring.