Why so low

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Down in Dixie

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1985CD5C-6B97-4988-932C-4B86A464CAF5.pngHelp a buddy haul a few off before winter feeding started. Some were on the small side but in good condition. They marked one as short and fat. He sold for next to nothing. Why would this be such a hard hit. This calf just so happens to be full blood brother to the bull in my profile pic. Just don't understand. Going to stop by the sale barn Monday and see if they can explain also but just seems off to me.
 
Keeps going up at the retailers and down for the producers. I don't know were it will end. A lot of people becoming close to a vegetarian from the high retail prices. The only thing I say about the calf was there was not two people that wanted it to pay any higher. The other male calves looks like they sold pretty well for current prices.
 
Looks like the guy took a beating on the cow and heifers too. I don't get much for heifers at the sale barn either. I think it's interesting the 355 lb. steer brought less than the 395 lb. bull. Does it pay better to not castrate?
 
We castrated early spring but never got around to doing his summer born calves. His farm is down the road a ways and doesn't get to check on them as often as he would like. I try and castrate mine within the first two weeks if I can catch them.
 
View attachment 10375They marked one as short and fat. He sold for next to nothing. Why would this be such a hard hit. This calf just so happens to be full blood brother to the bull in my profile pic. Just don't understand.
I don't know. But it would sure make me worry about using his brother for a bull.
 
View attachment 10375Help a buddy haul a few off before winter feeding started. Some were on the small side but in good condition. They marked one as short and fat. He sold for next to nothing. Why would this be such a hard hit. This calf just so happens to be full blood brother to the bull in my profile pic. Just don't understand. Going to stop by the sale barn Monday and see if they can explain also but just seems off to me.
I see this often when someone has a mini breed. Not saying yours was but the buyers might have thought it was.
 
Looks like the guy took a beating on the cow and heifers too. I don't get much for heifers at the sale barn either. I think it's interesting the 355 lb. steer brought less than the 395 lb. bull. Does it pay better to not castrate?
Your statement is like comparing apples to oranges. You cannot tell from a sale barn sales slip what the quality on a black calf is compared to another black calf. Could of been an Angus x Jersey calf compared to a Sim-Angus calf. Another thing to remember is the description - could have been written up as a bull calf and was actually a steer.

A short, fat calf has no friends except it's mother and possibly it's owner. Most of the calves that get called short are small framed cattle that get mature at weights that do not fit today's industry. Carcasses are too small and too fat.
 
14A95122-FBE7-497D-97BE-79D365A02AED.jpegHere is the cow the calf came off of. The bull was just a plain angus bull. Calf looked like the rest of the calves we loaded that day.
 
The calf could have gotten hurt. Any healthy calf should bring more than 30 cents a pound.
 
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My initial thought was that it looked sick to the buyers. Maybe slow moving with an extended neck, snotty nose and maybe as it stood in the ring , it coughed.
 
More than likely we will never find out. We did drop it off the day before the sale and it was trailer weened so who knows what happened.
 
A lesson for any thinking of starting a cow/calf operation.
A cow produce only 1 calf per year and all of the yearly income is generated
by that 1 calf.

The 8 calves produced a gross income of $3,753.70 divided by 8 = 469 each
I don't know about Alabama, but each cow costs me over $500 hd per year in feed and other expenses.

That's a loss of $31 per cow added to that loss is cost of labor, trucking, sale fees, vaccines and any other costs incurred. Hate to say it, but you'd be better off cutting your losses. Assuming all are bred back, I'd cull 4 of the 8 by selling 4 of them as bred cows as soon as reasonably possible.
 
Cows are your biggest expense but also your income producers because they give you a calf. Finding the proper balance with the number of cows can help a lot. More cows is not always better, but better quality cows is always a good investment because their calves will weigh more and bring a higher price. At 300-400 lbs. those calves are much too small to go to a feedlot, they will get put out on a winter grazing crop like wheat, maybe in your area there's simply not many buyers needing light weight cattle. In the sale ring perception becomes reality in a few seconds, if the buyer thinks it looks sick they won't bid, if they think it's a crossbreed they don't like, they don't bid. Raise what the buyers want!
Something for you to consider.....the next person in the supply chain (the cattleman that now owns your calves) will likely make more money than you did when they sell them to the feedlot. He will do all of the value add things that you didn't do, weaning, castrating, vaccinations, etc. With the high grain prices the feedlots are paying up for the larger yearlings. In the past larger weights were discounted but that's not the case right now.
 
That calf came off my friends moms small herd. I think we took 4 calves off that one and the rest off of his. They new they were not going to do as good taking some of them so light. His calves sold a little better but he has a good registered sim bull. These are just hobby farms and if they do produce a profit then that's a plus but more times than not it's just something for her to do and a small write off at the end of the year.
 
That calf came off my friends moms small herd. I think we took 4 calves off that one and the rest off of his. They new they were not going to do as good taking some of them so light. His calves sold a little better but he has a good registered sim bull. These are just hobby farms and if they do produce a profit then that's a plus but more times than not it's just something for her to do and a small write off at the end of the year.
What sale was this Dothan?
 
As @kenny thomas said..... we never take anything to the sale that we don't sit there and watch. If something looks a little off that day, like that one calf, you will take a beating. I bought back one heifer of mine that looked like it had a "hay belly" or even a little bloated... because she was a hog and stood and ate and ate at the new bale of hay put in there 2 days before they got hauled to the sale. She got shuffled back with another group and about 40 days later went with a group that had hay in front of them for 4-5 days, and instead of the .55 I bought her back for, she brought 1.37 with the other 3 they put her with.
You have to be able to look at them from the buyers eye... and we have pretty much quit selling fall calves off cows since they can take a beating.... If we can't get things sold before the first of Sept... they will get mostly all kept and fed until after the first of the year.... Like has been stated, Oct is dead calf month... and we have learned that mostly it is not worth the time to haul them in and then get hurt on prices. Nov is a bad month to sell here... hunting season..... and there are hit and miss weeks for buyers. I keep preaching to DS to not take any in, in the fall anymore.
I bought back 4 out of 6 steers that he wanted me to take in back in early oct, because they brought less than I thought they should... put them out on grass for 4 weeks and he took some in last week because he heard that there was a buyer looking for some 5-6 wts... they put on about 50 lbs.... already weaned from before... and made about .15/lb more than a month earlier. Sure there was a little cost but the grass had already been paid for and we hadn't used it so can attribute the cost of the grass to the heifers that he is still running there for replacements...

If they are short and fat, they are beef for us to sell..... if they have real bad eyes, they will be beef.... you have to know what you can sell and make money on and what you can turn over in your own operation as beef sales.... Have one now on a cow that was born totally blind. Cow takes good care of it. Put her in a small lot, the calf has learned the fences... Put the bull in and rebred her. Going to put another calf in with a bad leg, and when the cow comes out, the 2 will just be there. Will kill him as a baby beef. He would not bring .25 at the sale .... have watched too many blind ones that are decent calves get totally hammered because of the eyes. Sometimes it is bad pinkeye and you can bring them home and treat and get some sight back and they can become beef candidates. Mostly the kindest thing to do is to kill them instead of shipping them to the sale.
 

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