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Would you sell at three months?
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<blockquote data-quote="farmerjan" data-source="post: 1442265" data-attributes="member: 25884"><p>When the prices were so high a couple of years ago, I did manage to convince my son to sell some a little smaller and was very glad when we did. But as a rule, a cow that is only making milk for 3 months has barely hit her peak, and that has been shown to be very detrimental in dairy cattle to not push them to hit a peak as soon as possible and to hold it. Granted beef are different, but to me she isn't paying for herself if the calf is only 2-3 months when it gets sold. We like them to be 5-7 months, regardless of whether off a heifer or a cow. We have been known to ship off a smaller calf if the whole rest of the group is going, but usually have smaller ones from several places that we can group together so not a problem to have one by its'self.</p><p>We also try to watch the markets and sell mostly in the 450-550 wt range. Seems to be the better size most years but this year who knows with the crazy weather around the country. </p><p>Also depends on the momma's condition and the amount of grass and hay we have. I find that the 1st calf heifers don't seem to lose that much more condition than most of the cows, but it could be because we calve them a little older than many do; ours are in the 28-30 month age when they have their first calf. We put the bulls in when the calves are in the 60-70 day range, so if we were to wean the calves off then, the cows are basically not doing anything for 9 months of the year, except being pregnant, and they are pregnant for the same amount of time while they are adding pounds to their calf for 3-5 months of the pregnancy.</p><p></p><p>A 250 lb calf at 2.00 lb is worth 500. 450 lb @ 1.65 is 742.50. That's another 240 plus for 3 more months with next to no added work on my part. But when the prices were totally through the roof, maybe would do some things a little different although I can't see selling at 60-90 days as a general rule.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="farmerjan, post: 1442265, member: 25884"] When the prices were so high a couple of years ago, I did manage to convince my son to sell some a little smaller and was very glad when we did. But as a rule, a cow that is only making milk for 3 months has barely hit her peak, and that has been shown to be very detrimental in dairy cattle to not push them to hit a peak as soon as possible and to hold it. Granted beef are different, but to me she isn't paying for herself if the calf is only 2-3 months when it gets sold. We like them to be 5-7 months, regardless of whether off a heifer or a cow. We have been known to ship off a smaller calf if the whole rest of the group is going, but usually have smaller ones from several places that we can group together so not a problem to have one by its'self. We also try to watch the markets and sell mostly in the 450-550 wt range. Seems to be the better size most years but this year who knows with the crazy weather around the country. Also depends on the momma's condition and the amount of grass and hay we have. I find that the 1st calf heifers don't seem to lose that much more condition than most of the cows, but it could be because we calve them a little older than many do; ours are in the 28-30 month age when they have their first calf. We put the bulls in when the calves are in the 60-70 day range, so if we were to wean the calves off then, the cows are basically not doing anything for 9 months of the year, except being pregnant, and they are pregnant for the same amount of time while they are adding pounds to their calf for 3-5 months of the pregnancy. A 250 lb calf at 2.00 lb is worth 500. 450 lb @ 1.65 is 742.50. That's another 240 plus for 3 more months with next to no added work on my part. But when the prices were totally through the roof, maybe would do some things a little different although I can't see selling at 60-90 days as a general rule. [/QUOTE]
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