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Boring old cattle pictures, April 12, 2010

Soapweed

Well-known member
Yearlingheifers1.jpg

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.
Yearlingheifers2.jpg


Yearlingheifers3.jpg

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.
Yearlingheifers4.jpg


Yearlingheifers5.jpg


Yearlingheifers6.jpg


Yearlingheifers7.jpg


Yearlingheifers8.jpg


Yearlingheifers9.jpg


Yearlingheifers10.jpg


Yearlingheifers11.jpg


Yearlingheifers12.jpg


Yearlingbulls1.jpg

Here are some low-birthweight bulls purchased last fall at weaning time, to be used on the above pictured yearling heifers.
Yearlingbulls2.jpg

Feed cost on these yearling bulls has been $1.20 per head per day.
Yearlingbulls3.jpg


Yearlingbulls4.jpg


2-year-oldbulls1.jpg

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.
2-year-oldbulls2.jpg

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:
 

RSL

Well-known member
They look good and far from boring.
Is the $1 and $1.20 inclusive of yardage, etc. If so that seems a very reasonable deal for all.
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
RSL said:
They look good and far from boring.
Is the $1 and $1.20 inclusive of yardage, etc. If so that seems a very reasonable deal for all.

Yes, that includes yardage. These people take good care of cattle, and I am well satisfied with their operation and how I am treated as a customer.
 

greybeard

Well-known member
Looks like a good plan coming together.
When do you put those bulls in? Are you breeding more heifers than usual or why did you end up buying? Are you planing on calving them all?
I've got some heifers that look about the same and I always wish at this time of the year that I would have fed them a little harder. When I go look at the ones that are starting to calve I just tell myself that is what they are going to look like , which is what I like.
My problem is I sometimes go look at my BIL's pen and his are a lot more show ready than mine. The smaller end of my breds would fit in his replacement pen. Probably won't go there to look for a couple more years until I forget again!
 

Haytrucker

Well-known member
Just a thought you probably already had, but #650 black heifers are worth a quite a little more than .95 cents around the country right now... But if all you have left are keepers, you're probably .25 cents ahead, and you already know what you have.
I'll bet a dollar right now you'll have to hunt to sell a bred heifer for less than $1150 this fall(of the quality those pictured will be).
Tell Sandhusker I'll take the overs on $1300 for choice at Thanksgiving. 40 or more. His money!!
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Thanks for the comments.

nortexsook said:
Sounds like a real good deal.

What kind of ration were the yearlings on?

Most of the winter the heifers were getting about sixteen pounds of ground hay and one pound of shelled corn. The ground hay was approximately 78% alfalfa (15% protein) and 22% oat straw (7% protein). As of two weeks ago, they are no longer getting corn but getting milo mixed with the other ground hay. Now the heifers are getting about 18 pounds per day of the ground hay, which is about 61% alfalfa, 17% oat straw, and 22% milo (7% protein). The diet seems to be agreeing with the heifers.

greybeard said:
Looks like a good plan coming together.
When do you put those bulls in?

Around the fifteenth of May. I still haven't learned my lesson. :roll: :wink:

greybeard said:
Are you breeding more heifers than usual or why did you end up buying?

It was an impulse decision. We had taken 200 steer calves to the sale that day. After they sold, these nice heifers came into the ring and I couldn't resist temptation. Peach was sitting beside me, and she agreed that they looked like a pretty good deal. We had planned to keep quite a bunch of heifers over to breed, so after buying these we just sold more of our smaller home-raised heifers to compensate.

greybeard said:
Are you planing on calving them all?

Time will tell. We have had some other nice heifers at another location for the winter also, and plan to put bulls with quite a few yearling heifers this summer. Probably about half of these heifers will be for sale next fall.

The cattle business is enough of a gamble that I never feel the desire to blow actual cash at a casino. :wink:
 
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