why background /vac/ or wean em at all...just load em??

[BC]

i
among other things
here is my riddle...when i haul my calfs to the market the salebarn doesnt
ask if theyre backgrounded?
ask if they are weaned?
grassfed?
ask if they been vaccinated?
they ask who to send the check to.
is this typical of all auctions.
why go thru the trouble to do all the work if theyre goin to a feedlot 1200 mi away that doesnt care if theyre fesh offa the cow or already vac and backgrounded...wean em on the trailer on the way over at 4 months for most $$/lb.
can anyone help me to understand this...the extension agent couldnt tell me??? but said i should do all that recommended stuff

First off I hope you keep that attitude, it means my part time job is secure. I work for a small order buying company on the weekends and the type of calf you raise is what we buy. We assume nothing has been done to him. We figure in a lower price that we will offer because we know that there will be one or two high dollar shots of Mycotil, Baytril, Nuflor, Excede or something else to try to keep him alive and over the weaning stress. We alwayshave a supply of calf fries for just about any celebration you could think of.

I realize that you are Florida and people typically sell calves at a lighter weight there. I bought a set of steer/bull calves last Saturday that averaged 453 lbs and cost $103.91 per cwt. One of my buddies had an order for 700 - 800 lb steers for $101 per cwt. The man that sold the calves I bought left money on the table by not steering them and growing them bigger. I try to let my calves get to be over 600 lbs and ready to go to a feed yard. Maybe the cow has kicked the calf off , maybe not. A fat, bloomy calf does not find as many buyers as a harened up yearling. I steer the bull calves most of the time unless i miss one (It usually costs me about $35 to 50 difference in steer and bull price here on that weight calf).

 

[ROCK-N-W]

Deisel,
I do remember you complaining to me once bout that sorry check you got for those calves you took to the Arcadia sale barn.
Ya think putting a little extra effort into your cows or calves don't pay off? Just take a close look at the sales slip, DUH
Brilliant

 

[L Weir]

If you take calves that are backgrounded and vac, etc to a graded special sale and tell them they were backgrounded and vac'ed would they bring more?

 

[dieselbeef]

would they?? good question. how much extra. they aint local sales round here and diesel aint cheap. truckin em also increases the wieght loss due to stress 'n em and lack of basics in the trailer


hey rock-n they werent my calfs..well not from my cows anyways. but i did own em when we loaded em onto my trailer. the prices were pretty sorry though. i expected it from them

so yall are tryin to tell me if id have spent more money on em..they were already wormed and weaned AND backgrounded that id have got more...PHOOEY! doubt it cuz they were culls by any standard but just the same how would they know cuz
NOBODY EVER ASKED!!!
therein lies my point....what for..nobody has ever checked. im all for doin it if itll make me more money cuz believe me im all about the money! but i can say hardly anything but more wieght has ever made any difference at the barns here...

by the way, the buyers i talked to(cuz i always ask em what theyre lookn for) always tell me they wanna buy by poundage or sex. pretty much all theyre looking for for certian customers that spec lots by size..maybe 200 head between 250 -350 lbs. any color ,breed, etc ,as long as it meets that standard for that customer...

 

[dieselbeef]

i
among other things
here is my riddle...when i haul my calfs to the market the salebarn doesnt
ask if theyre backgrounded?
ask if they are weaned?
grassfed?
ask if they been vaccinated?
they ask who to send the check to.
is this typical of all auctions.
why go thru the trouble to do all the work if theyre goin to a feedlot 1200 mi away that doesnt care if theyre fesh offa the cow or already vac and backgrounded...wean em on the trailer on the way over at 4 months for most $$/lb.
can anyone help me to understand this...the extension agent couldnt tell me??? but said i should do all that recommended stuff

First off I hope you keep that attitude, it means my part time job is secure. I work for a small order buying company on the weekends and the type of calf you raise is what we buy. We assume nothing has been done to him. We figure in a lower price that we will offer because we know that there will be one or two high dollar shots of Mycotil, Baytril, Nuflor, Excede or something else to try to keep him alive and over the weaning stress. We alwayshave a supply of calf fries for just about any celebration you could think of.

I realize that you are Florida and people typically sell calves at a lighter weight there. I bought a set of steer/bull calves last Saturday that averaged 453 lbs and cost $103.91 per cwt. One of my buddies had an order for 700 - 800 lb steers for $101 per cwt. The man that sold the calves I bought left money on the table by not steering them and growing them bigger. I try to let my calves get to be over 600 lbs and ready to go to a feed yard. Maybe the cow has kicked the calf off , maybe not. A fat, bloomy calf does not find as many buyers as a harened up yearling. I steer the bull calves most of the time unless i miss one (It usually costs me about $35 to 50 difference in steer and bull price here on that weight calf).

that seems like avg money for me..i do usually wean em and background em. worm em if i can get to it in time. they are castrated early if thats the plan and a tetnus given..just in case but...
ive been wondering why i should bother. it cost me more and after goin to the sales and talkin to the ag agent im wondering why i sould werk so hard for such little return. doin nuthin is easier and cheaper than doin anything.

that siad its not my way...i got married this weekend and my guests walked around petting my cows and rock-n-w i hope will tell ya theyre decent animals. i take care of my cows the same as i do my dogs...cept i dont eat the dogs

 

[tuck]

They don't ask nothing around here either, they don't care. We do vaccinate so that we can have healthy calves, we have not banded a bull or castrated in probalbly 10 years, the difference in weight more than makes up for any deduction they might have.

 

[dun]

To all of the posters that say the sale barn doesn;t care, have you looked around for a barn that has pre-vac sales or talked to your local barn about having on? If enough producers get to gehter and have an adequate number of pre-vac calves the local barn may hold a pre-vac sale. You generally get a different buyer segment in those sales. Most of the barns have one of the sales every couple of months, one has, I think I remember, a sale every month or 2.
It may be a "niche" market that producers can exploit without having to change much of the way they do business.

 

[warpaint]

is this typical of all auctions.

I think so - I know it is here.

why go thru the trouble to do all the work if theyre goin to a feedlot 1200 mi away that doesnt care if theyre fesh offa the cow or already vac and backgrounded...wean em on the trailer on the way over at 4 months for most $$/lb.
can anyone help me to understand this...the extension agent couldnt tell me??? but said i should do all that recommended stuff

Reputation. Most feedlots do care - and they generally keep track of problem calves, and who they came from. By going through all that trouble, you are usually going to get a better price for your calves because there is less expense/loss at the other end.

Well said Msscamp, reputation says alot to buyers.

 

[KenB]

I also have a fellow rancher next to me.
He does not put the same effort into his herd that I do.
But since I have seen some of his sales slips, their was only one time in the past 5 years that he brought a better average than I did, and then you gotta look at the total lbs I keep telling you ya gotta do the math. My check was still bigger with less animals sold.
Diesel let me give ya a little more advice that came from my Pappy. Don't worry bout what the other mans doing on his side of the fence you gotta tend to your own.

The buyers know unless your gonna sell under someone elses name every time you sell. they learn over time when a ranchers beef is quality and when they get the finished cut, what quality that can be exspected form your animals.

How do the buyers know who the seller is?
The auction that I use just puts a number on the critter.

Bud when I got something sorry I sell it under my bros name.
He don't care I do

 

[TheBullLady]

Yep.. if you're going to go to the trouble and expense of banding, vaccinating and bunk breaking your calves, you take them to a sale that offers calves that have been backgrounded. If you're going to truck wean them, take them to the local auction barn. They don't ask at any barn I've ever been to either.

 

[Matt Schiel]

We used to do the same thing that most of you are talking about, wean on the trailer. But, you know with more education on the GLOBAL meat market, not cattle market, you start to relize that you are providing food for the world. You are not selling a calf or cow at the auction barn, you are selling a commodity. That calf can go in a 100 directions and it might be your next meal at your favorite restaurant. It is our job to prepare our weaned calves for the next stage of production, either as a stocker or in a feedlot. It is also your job to get the best price for those calves and your time to prepare those calves.

Now, I know that some you will say, "Matt you must be a large cattle producer with lots of space and time to spare." No, we run less than 30 head and a modest acres to support them, with our own hay fields. If you are using a purebred bull or one that has papers of some sort, allmost all breed associations have some sort of commercial tagging program to let buyers know what breed they are and your information. That will at least get your program in the ball game to capture a higher return on investment.

I also suppose that most of you have neighbors either good or bad that also run cattle. Their is power in numbers and that is were you need to be. It is much easier to sell a truck load of steers versus a 16 ft trailer load. Get with neighboors, county producers to comingle cattle and get those prices that you want. So, the question is what's your next move, either keep doing the same old thing and sut up about your pay check or get more involved with your BUSINESS and create your market by either comingle your properly weaned calves, retain ownership of your calves, create your own niche markets for your cattle or just get out of the business.

Now to let you know what were doing differnet this year: fence line weaning, increase our natural beef niche marketing, using the Sim Choice tagging system from the American Simmental Association on all calves and will comingle the rest of our calves at pre-conditioned sales.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[txag]

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic. ... t=southern

 

[grannysoo]

I've been to some of the ag classes and classes by the GA Cattleman's Association, and others like this.

The best advice that I can give you came from my dad: Learn all that you can, everywhere you can, and then use the information to figure out what works best for you.

This is not a perfect world....

 

[dieselbeef]

so it actaully sounds to me like i been doin alotta work for nuthin. had quite a few pm's from people that wont say here that re on the same track as me.

ill keep em healthy but i think ill hold em a little longer maybe but give up on the rest of it. ill publically admit it anyways.

seems to me even if the paycheck comes in somewhat lower ill have less time and money invested so itll be a wash i guess. my time is worth quite a bit of money to me...i have no spare of either.

we shall see...

 

[CowpokeJ]

i
among other things
here is my riddle...when i haul my calfs to the market the salebarn doesnt
ask if theyre backgrounded?
ask if they are weaned?
grassfed?
ask if they been vaccinated?
they ask who to send the check to.
is this typical of all auctions.
why go thru the trouble to do all the work if theyre goin to a feedlot 1200 mi away that doesnt care if theyre fesh offa the cow or already vac and backgrounded...wean em on the trailer on the way over at 4 months for most $$/lb.
can anyone help me to understand this...the extension agent couldnt tell me??? but said i should do all that recommended stuff

First off I hope you keep that attitude, it means my part time job is secure. I work for a small order buying company on the weekends and the type of calf you raise is what we buy. We assume nothing has been done to him. We figure in a lower price that we will offer because we know that there will be one or two high dollar shots of Mycotil, Baytril, Nuflor, Excede or something else to try to keep him alive and over the weaning stress. We alwayshave a supply of calf fries for just about any celebration you could think of.

I realize that you are Florida and people typically sell calves at a lighter weight there. I bought a set of steer/bull calves last Saturday that averaged 453 lbs and cost $103.91 per cwt. One of my buddies had an order for 700 - 800 lb steers for $101 per cwt. The man that sold the calves I bought left money on the table by not steering them and growing them bigger. I try to let my calves get to be over 600 lbs and ready to go to a feed yard. Maybe the cow has kicked the calf off , maybe not. A fat, bloomy calf does not find as many buyers as a harened up yearling. I steer the bull calves most of the time unless i miss one (It usually costs me about $35 to 50 difference in steer and bull price here on that weight calf).

How long does it take for those people to grow those 7-8 wt calves?

 

[CowpokeJ]

Geez A Wheez Mr. Deasel

The auctioneer and buyers know if it's a steer or bull calve.
They are also prettty smart at knowing what breed the animal is.
The reason you get more per lb is because a 4 month should still be on mothers milk making it qualify as veal.
If you steer your bulls early like I do you get improved growth.
Even though you get less per lb when you sell a steer at 6oolbs that is 6-7 months old @ 1.05 per lb at the market and your taking 30 steers. You will make alot more that taking 30 4 month olds weighing 260 lbs @ 145 a lb. Do the math
In the long run your profits will be much more overall averages.
But I have had a 300lb calve draw more than a 475lb and All I could do was just shake my head, but thats not the norm.

I took some cows with no teeth to the local sale, they had calves on them and it's getting close to the end of grass season. One weighed [email protected]. Another calf I had off a normal [email protected] 5 mo. old(out of a longhorn cross cow). So, unless you're doing something wrong, I'm not seeing a 4mo. 2 wt. Both of these were wormed bull calves,no shots. I've also talked to several order buyers, they are vaccinating everything, worked or not worked. Are you implanting your steers, and if so, how old are they when you implant them?

 

[BC]

Those that do not even vaccinate for blackleg are playing with fire. I learned a valuable lesson several years ago when I lost a big 550 lb heifer about 2 to 3 weeks before I planned to sell her. Found her dead in the middle of the pasture. It seems to always get one that is just ready to sell. Blackleg can live in the soil for 40 years or more. I had not vaccinated that year because "my time" was more valuble. I don't think the hour it would take to pen the cows, seperate the calves and run the calves down the chute and use a $7.00 bottle of vaccine was made up.

Someone asked about how long I leave calves on their dams. It depends on the amount of grass I have, the season of the year and the market. Most of the time 7 to 9 months. This year the market is telling me to get them as big as possible. 600 to 700 lb calves will bring as much per lb as 450 lb calves. I did leave a bull calf that I plan on keeping on his dam for 10 months this year. He weighed 960 and the cow bawled and ran up to the pen for a week as I was weaning him. Plan to send him to a gain test next month.

 

[ROCK-N-W]

I took some cows with no teeth to the local sale, they had calves on them and it's getting close to the end of grass season. One weighed [email protected]. Another calf I had off a normal [email protected] 5 mo. old(out of a longhorn cross cow). So, unless you're doing something wrong, I'm not seeing a 4mo. 2 wt. Both of these were wormed bull calves,no shots. I've also talked to several order buyers, they are vaccinating everything, worked or not worked. Are you implanting your steers, and if so, how old are they when you implant them?

I don't implant but I have considered it. I'm sure the feed lot does. I usually leave the calf on the moma as long as the pasture conditions are good and the cows conditions are good intill I go to the market. Usually 6-7 months. I only sell them earlier than that if the cow has a problem & if the cow has a problem then I'll get her fat again and cull her. That's how I maintain quality.
I do keep a few steers for individual sales for 9 to 12 months
I did the math on the above sale fiqures even though the smaller animal got more per lb if I was taking 25 to the sale the extra 625 bucks would by a lot of feed or meds.

 

[ROCK-N-W]

so it actaully sounds to me like i been doin alotta work for nuthin. had quite a few pm's from people that wont say here that re on the same track as me

.
Diesel, Which is it you don't do anything to the calves or you do? Your starting to sound like Hillary Clinton.
The calves you owned but they did not come from your herd?
Did you not look at them before you bought um?
If they we're in poor condition when you made your deal did you exspect doing nothing no meds, wormings, or any help would make them bring you a profit at a local auction? I know you like natural beef, but man this is south Florida we proberly have more parasites than any other state in the union. I won't bring any animal from any ones herd into mine if the meds have not been done if you do your asking for trouble.

 

[ROCK-N-W]

rock-n-w i hope will tell ya theyre decent animals.

You definatly got a nice place Diesel, I do like that Bull of yours he's a real man. The Red Angus and what was it Limo/Cims mix cows looked real good too.
Those guys sending you private messages about they don't do nutten to their cows either?
Hope you will learn a little from this ole man and at least give them a shot of Iv mec+ couple times a year. Liver Flukes are a silent killer & it happens pretty quick then its too late, also Cows may not take.
A shot only cost ya bout 1.75 ea. Don't say ya got no help cause all you gotta do is ask.