Yesterday I took seven cows to the sale barn and three cows to the local locker. Then I took a tour to where some of our cattle have been wintering.
The feed cost for these yearling heifers has been a dollar per head per day.
The heifers with the big green numbers in their left ear were purchased in mid November.
They were from a reputation herd where no heifers were kept back. They weighed 581 pounds
at the time of purchase, and cost $94.35 per cwt, or just under $550 per head. I think they will
turn into some pretty good cows.
Here are some low-birthweight bulls purchased last fall at weaning time, to be used on the above pictured yearling heifers.
Feed cost on these yearling bulls has been $1.20 per head per day.
Usually I sell all of our yearling bulls at the end of the breeding season and start over with a new crop of yearling bulls each spring.
Last fall, the cutting bull market was not very good, so these bulls were held over.
They are two years old this spring and ready to go to work for another season. Feed cost on them over the winter was $1.40 per head per day.
It's worth something to let someone else have the fun of feeding them and watching them dig and tear up furniture. :wink: