Why wean calves?

[Dave]

This week B sold 260 calves. The smallest steers about 6 in the group weighed 405 brought $2.02 which is $818 a head. The next to the largest one which had 10 or so in that bunch weighed 750 and brought $1.475 a pound which is $1,106. I don't remember the sale price or weight on the biggest calves but they brought well over $1,100 a head. Bulls turned out the same day. Cows gathered and calves weaned on the same day. Not a dime extra cost in those bigger calves but $288 more dollars in the pocket.

 

[Silver]

How can you call them poor suckers when you don't know their inputs? The guy that got $900 may have made more profit than the guy who got $1120.

These gross numbers yall keeps talking about don't mean d-squat.

Yup maybe. It could even be that the guy with the 600 lb calves had less total expenses into those calves than the other guy. More often than not poor weights are from poor management.

 

[Silver]

This week B sold 260 calves. The smallest steers about 6 in the group weighed 405 brought $2.02 which is $818 a head. The next to the largest one which had 10 or so in that bunch weighed 750 and brought $1.475 a pound which is $1,106. I don't remember the sale price or weight on the biggest calves but they brought well over $1,100 a head. Bulls turned out the same day. Cows gathered and calves weaned on the same day. Not a dime extra cost in those bigger calves but $288 more dollars in the pocket.

And that right there is my whole point. All cows are not created equal.

 

[Silver]

Up there, are people weaning and then feeding them for 90 days, etc, or are both trailer weaned on sale day?

The outfit I mentioned above with the small calves long wean. Not a lot of people do that up here.

 

[Brute 23]

And that right there is my whole point. All cows are not created equal.

There are more assumptions.

The lighter calves could be younger, could have been sick, could have come from smaller cows who ate less, etc. That post had no where near enough info to start making assumptions. Does he do a 60, 90, 120 day calving season?

How do you know a couple of those cows just didn't slip through the cracks or a bull was down and out for a week? Why is it assumed it was the cows fault the bred late? How many cows per bull does he run?

There is a lot of arm chair quaterbacking going on here from very limited info.

Maybe the question should be asked was it smart to sell the smaller calves at the same time? Did it really pay more to sell as a group when you leave money on the table with small calves?

 

[Warren Allison]

The outfit I mentioned above with the small calves long wean. Not a lot of people do that up here.

Not familiar with that term. Does that mean left on the cow longer than 6 mos? Or does it mean weaned a long time before they sell them?

 

[Silver]

Not familiar with that term. Does that mean left on the cow longer than 6 mos? Or does it mean weaned a long time before they sell them?

Long weaned: off the cow for a significant amount of time

 

[Silver]

There are more assumptions.

The lighter calves could be younger, could have been sick, could have come from smaller cows who ate less, etc. That post had no where near enough info to start making assumptions. Does he do a 60, 90, 120 day calving season?

How do you know a couple of those cows just didn't slip through the cracks or a bull was down and out for a week? Why is it assumed it was the cows fault the bred late? How many cows per bull does he run?

There is a lot of arm chair quaterbacking going on here from very limited info.

Maybe the question should be asked was it smart to sell the smaller calves at the same time? Did it really pay more to sell as a group when you leave money on the table with small calves?

If one keeps making excuses for ones cattle ones cattle will never improve.

 

[Warren Allison]

Long weaned: off the cow for a significant amount of time

Gotcha. And you said not many up there do this? What do they do instead? Trailer wean like we do here?

 

[Silver]

Gotcha. And you said not many up there do this? What do they do instead? Trailer wean like we do here?

The vast majority are trailer weaned here.

 

[callmefence]

Everyone is different and it doesn't have to mean different locations. I don't figure the profits per cow as much as I figure the profit per me. I'm not going to pour feed in a trough for 90 days. Besides having better things to do that's not good practice here anyway. Those 400-700 pound calves don't go to feedlots. They go to wheat or improved grass depending on season. The guys doing stockers don't want calves that have been penned up eating from a trough.
I've pretty much completely quit weaning calves and I sell them when it's time to sell them. 600-650 on the bigger ones or when my grass won't support wet cows whichever comes first. Things are good this year the pairs are on fertilized coastal hayfields as we haven't seen frost. Oats and wheat will be ready by the time the grass is done. Dang sure ain't that way every year.

Birddog iirc is not feeding out his weaners they are on grass and getting a little help if needed. I'm sure he's taking good hard calves to Oklahoma.

If all I did was ranch I would be willing to give it more time.....if it payed to do so.

 

[Brute 23]

If one keeps making excuses for ones cattle ones cattle will never improve.

I'm not making excuses... I'm saying you don't know enough to be preaching/ lecturing on what is happening.

Let's talk about the formula for each person to calculate if it's worth while for their operation. That would be more useful than these assumptions and rules people act like apply to everyone.

 

[Warren Allison]

Watching an auction online today, in Oklahoma. Pen after pen of steers or heifers would come in the ring. The auctioneer announced they had 1, 2 or 3, rounds ( I assume vaccinations, etc.) and that they were 45, 60. or 90 days weaned. Angus, black baldies, reds and Charolais. The average weights in these groups, were 395 to 427. How the hell can a 9 mos ( assuming weaned at 6 mos old, 90 days ago) old beef calf weight just 400lbs? Reckon people are weaning them at 3 months old? Even the Ang x Corr cross calves we wean at 6 mos are 400-450,, same as other commercial calves weaned at 6 mos.

 

[callmefence]

Watching an auction online today, in Oklahoma. Pen after pen of steers or heifers would come in the ring. The auctioneer announced they had 1, 2 or 3, rounds ( I assume vaccinations, etc.) and that they were 45, 60. or 90 days weaned. Angus, black baldies, reds and Charolais. The average weights in these groups, were 395 to 427. How the hell can a 9 mos ( assuming weaned at 6 mos old, 90 days ago) old beef calf weight just 400lbs? Reckon people are weaning them at 3 months old? Even the Ang x Corr cross calves we wean at 6 mos are 400-450,, same as other commercial calves weaned at 6 mos.

Lots of county in drought. Pretty common practice to wean calves early .

 

[Warren Allison]

Just saw some heifers averaging 523 that were announced at 45 days weaned, and a pen of heifers that averaged 585 that were announced as 90 days weaned, so I bet that is the case on those weighing 400 or so: Weaned early. These were mostly black and black baldy.

 

[bird dog]

This time of year at OKC some of the big ranches sell every calf they have on the ground. They wean everything early enough to get it done and get them sold by years end. I have seen some one owner sales up there come in with four or five pots with calves from 350 lbs to 900. The commission company man may sort them into 10 groups. The stockyards at OKC ran 17000 this week. They have been starting at 6:30 AM for the last few weeks. Demand is strong and prices are good so some calves are getting pushed forward to take advantage of this. Dry conditions are not helping as fence mentioned.

 

[Warren Allison]

This time of year at OKC some of the big ranches sell every calf they have on the ground. They wean everything early enough to get it done and get them sold by years end. I have seen some one owner sales up there come in with four or five pots with calves from 350 lbs to 900. The commission company man may sort them into 10 groups. The stockyards at OKC ran 17000 this week. They have been starting at 6:30 AM for the last few weeks. Demand is strong and prices are good so some calves are getting pushed forward to take advantage of this. Dry conditions are not helping as fence mentioned.

That makes sense. You can haul in hay and fedd from other parts of the country, but not water! I noticed right before I logged off, that several groups of black and black baldy calves in that 400 to 450 range...steers and heifer, and one group of 7 bull calves.... that were not weaned and not vaccinated (at least the auctioneer never mentioned it) brought the same as the others did, Actually more than the whites and reds did. Today was at a place called Coffey? Yesterday I was watching one in Enis? OK, and prices weren't as good as they were today.; Hell, I saw a 504lb Corriente heifer sell for .95 cents there, though! About $475. I quit bidding at 65 cents. She was solid black, but still! That's about the top dollar I have paid for 2nd and 3rd calf cows heavy bredl.
We have a lot of water here, both ground and underground. We have dry years as far as rain, and that effects hay and pasture, but we always have water for them to drink. People here don't irrigate much...dunno why.... but they just about all do in south Ga

 

[littletom]

With prices now and having some hindsight. Does anyone that trailer weaned couple months ago. Wish they still had them to market now? Or do you feel good about your choice?

 

[gcreekrch]

With prices now and having some hindsight. Does anyone that trailer weaned couple months ago. Wish they still had them to market now? Or do you feel good about your choice?

Nope, mine are still 50 cents over market.

 

[MurraysMutts]

That makes sense. You can haul in hay and fedd from other parts of the country, but not water! I noticed right before I logged off, that several groups of black and black baldy calves in that 400 to 450 range...steers and heifer, and one group of 7 bull calves.... that were not weaned and not vaccinated (at least the auctioneer never mentioned it) brought the same as the others did, Actually more than the whites and reds did. Today was at a place called Coffey? Yesterday I was watching one in Enis? OK, and prices weren't as good as they were today.; Hell, I saw a 504lb Corriente heifer sell for .95 cents there, though! About $475. I quit bidding at 65 cents. She was solid black, but still! That's about the top dollar I have paid for 2nd and 3rd calf cows heavy bredl.
We have a lot of water here, both ground and underground. We have dry years as far as rain, and that effects hay and pasture, but we always have water for them to drink. People here don't irrigate much...dunno why.... but they just about all do in south Ga

Enid oklahoma.. on Thursdays. They said they may have broke the record there for bull calves sold. Not terrible many steers that day.
Not familiar with Coffey??
Fairview is Friday.

Did u watch all of the enid sale? They started at 930. I left at 7pm and they still had a few hundred calves to sell.

Weaned and unweaned are seeing a bit of price spread the further we get into winter/wheat turn out