GM88
Well-known member
You should start a little poll, where we can place bets on breed of calf, if you have to help it and sex then we could all gamble a little. :lol: :lol:
Cattle gambling experiment in progress
- Thread starter Soapweed
- Start date
Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
GM88 said:
Gamble with Soapweed's money. :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Soapweed said:katrina said:
I'm hoping this little gentle heifer will have a nice live calf. Then I just need to find a buyer such as a petting zoo.
Had a 650# heifer calve yesterday morning, live calf shorter than my knees. Little fellar was up nursing when we got to her. I will take them all day long that size....
gcreekrch
Well-known member
Did Skinni Mini calve yet?
Soapweed
Well-known member
gcreekrch said:
Not yet, I just checked. :wink:
Soapweed
Well-known member
The heifer is calving now. Might be a long night. :?
Soapweed
Well-known member
Soapweed said:
Just pulled a nice black bull calf out of Skinny Mini. It arrived at 1:42 a.m. MDT. Outside of half a night's sleep, I'm not out much for the experience. :wink:
Brand new baby
She loves me not.
She loves me. :heart:
gcreekrch
Well-known member
So, you going to take your $1100 pair back to the sale this week? 
Good for you Soap, unless they die, there is always money to be made on cattle that no one else wants to chance on. :wink:
Good for you Soap, unless they die, there is always money to be made on cattle that no one else wants to chance on. :wink:
Faster horses
Well-known member
HOORAY, Soap!! Looks like a nice calf too!
I agree with gcreek. There was a fellow in SW Montana that bought
odds and ends at the sale barn. He would take them home and some
he ran through the chute and merely cleaned them up, used the
clippers on them here and there, as needed, and some of those he
took right back to the sale ring the next week and made money on
them. Some he kept that needed some groceries, but he really enjoyed
picking up that type of cattle. I don't think he ever calved out a
650# heifer, tho.
How's the bag on Skinny Mini?
I agree with gcreek. There was a fellow in SW Montana that bought
odds and ends at the sale barn. He would take them home and some
he ran through the chute and merely cleaned them up, used the
clippers on them here and there, as needed, and some of those he
took right back to the sale ring the next week and made money on
them. Some he kept that needed some groceries, but he really enjoyed
picking up that type of cattle. I don't think he ever calved out a
650# heifer, tho.
How's the bag on Skinny Mini?
In 1963 /64 my step father was in the hospital for almost the full 2 years and as a teenager ( oldest child ) I went to the local sale barn and bought the wrecks and brought them home and worked my magic on them and resold them a week or so later and kept the family fed while still attending High School
I have thought about doing it again but there are to many barn jockeys out there now and I don't want to bring any disease home to my herd
I have thought about doing it again but there are to many barn jockeys out there now and I don't want to bring any disease home to my herd
Soapweed
Well-known member
Today at Valentine Livestock, I sold the seven two-year-olds that had Charolais calves at their sides. The pairs weighed 1091 pounds after being jockeyed around at the sale barn for a couple days. (The calves weighed about 170 pounds each.) They brought $1825 per pair, so the gamble paid off on my $1135 per head investment of May 7th. Of course there was a month and a half of feed and one pull job, plus gas and sales expense that needs to come off, but I am happy with the deal.
Due to the dry weather, we sold a total of 48 pairs today and 13 bred fall-calving cows. The pairs averaged $1760, and the bred cows brought $1300 each. The market has softened up a bit because grass and other feed is in short supply. All of the pairs that we sold had calved after the first of May, and the calves had not yet been branded or worked. My philosophy on having at least a 90 or maybe a hundred day breeding season has always been that I'd rather have a late calf than no calf. Our young opens always get one more chance by being re-cycled to a fall calving program. With the late spring pairs bringing $1760 and the fall breds only bringing $1300, it seems to have paid getting the May calves at the end of our calving deal. Had we pulled the bulls after a 60 day breeding season, all of these May calvers would have come up open and only been fall calvers worth $1300. This is just my convoluted opinion of course. :? :wink:
Of course there was a month and a half of feed and one pull job, plus gas and sales expense that needs to come off, but I am happy with the deal. Due to the dry weather, we sold a total of 48 pairs today and 13 bred fall-calving cows. The pairs averaged $1760, and the bred cows brought $1300 each. The market has softened up a bit because grass and other feed is in short supply. All of the pairs that we sold had calved after the first of May, and the calves had not yet been branded or worked. My philosophy on having at least a 90 or maybe a hundred day breeding season has always been that I'd rather have a late calf than no calf. Our young opens always get one more chance by being re-cycled to a fall calving program. With the late spring pairs bringing $1760 and the fall breds only bringing $1300, it seems to have paid getting the May calves at the end of our calving deal. Had we pulled the bulls after a 60 day breeding season, all of these May calvers would have come up open and only been fall calvers worth $1300. This is just my convoluted opinion of course. :? :wink:
High Plains
Well-known member
Although practically against your religion, Soap, those opens when placed on feed in a feedlot would gain extremely well, convert feed extremely well and grade like a house of fire. Money-making little gals, they are. This is a little known fact of the cattle feeding industry. Feeding open heifers is a gold mine. They also ship to the packer at a time when the fed cattle market is experiencing an up-tick. I'd buy some to feed myself but I've got dollars tied up in a tiny little feeding project that's been underway for a year now, with backgrounding. Hope like heck this October futures price stays above $115 or I'm sitting on the sidelines for a while. I'm crossing fingers and in need of a "base hit" to keep the kids in peanut butter for a spell.
Hijacked your post. Good on you for making a profit on a project that already fits into your normal course of business. Most ranchers don't charge for their own labor so just go ahead and forget the pulled calf!
Hijacked your post. Good on you for making a profit on a project that already fits into your normal course of business. Most ranchers don't charge for their own labor so just go ahead and forget the pulled calf!
Soapweed
Well-known member
High Plains said:
Why do doctors call their occupation a "practice"? We ranchers are like doctors. Pulling a calf isn't labor; it's just "practice" to hone our skills. :wink:
High Plains, I hope your feeding project makes so much profit that your kids can eat steak instead of peanut butter.
WyomingRancher
Well-known member
That's fantastic you did so well on your project . It's also very smart to be proactive now in this dry weather. Our feed never did grow this year, and we're getting by on old grass for now. I also agree on the longer breeding season, especially if you've got the help and numbers to do it. I just have one load of steers and a part load of heifers to market, and they have to be fairly uniform... so I much prefer a 60 day season. Also, the calver goes on strike much after two months :wink: .
However, as dry as it is this summer, I may leave the bulls in a little longer since I'm unsure how well they're breeding up on poorer forage... and the handwriting is on the wall, bred cows sell better than opens :? . I've been in contact with our buyer, and am making plans for an August delivery if things don't drastically change soon. At least being a stupid early calver, I should have a fairly good sized calf to market soon, and will be able to tell which breds to go with first :wink:. One thing about drought, it improves a herd.
. It's also very smart to be proactive now in this dry weather. Our feed never did grow this year, and we're getting by on old grass for now. I also agree on the longer breeding season, especially if you've got the help and numbers to do it. I just have one load of steers and a part load of heifers to market, and they have to be fairly uniform... so I much prefer a 60 day season. Also, the calver goes on strike much after two months :wink: . However, as dry as it is this summer, I may leave the bulls in a little longer since I'm unsure how well they're breeding up on poorer forage... and the handwriting is on the wall, bred cows sell better than opens :? . I've been in contact with our buyer, and am making plans for an August delivery if things don't drastically change soon. At least being a stupid early calver, I should have a fairly good sized calf to market soon, and will be able to tell which breds to go with first :wink:
. One thing about drought, it improves a herd.BRG
Well-known member
Glad you got along so well. If a guy pays attention at the sales like you did, their is money to be made. How many times have we sat there and said, "man, I should have bought them" you just proved it to be true.
I sure hope you guys can get some rain soon. Not much is worse than a drought. I hear people complain about it being to wet, but an old boy told me once, "you can grow something in mud, but not is dust" Granted their is a line where to much rain isn't good either, but I have not ever seen it at our place. Thankfully we had good rains lat May and early June, as the hay crops aren't any good, but the small grains look great, and so does the corn so far. The pastures are sitting good as well. But the guys who depend on dams for drinking water are in trouble, as if they aren't dry yet, they look like they will be real soon.
I sure hope you guys can get some rain soon. Not much is worse than a drought. I hear people complain about it being to wet, but an old boy told me once, "you can grow something in mud, but not is dust" Granted their is a line where to much rain isn't good either, but I have not ever seen it at our place. Thankfully we had good rains lat May and early June, as the hay crops aren't any good, but the small grains look great, and so does the corn so far. The pastures are sitting good as well. But the guys who depend on dams for drinking water are in trouble, as if they aren't dry yet, they look like they will be real soon.
flyingS
Well-known member
I have to admit I have a few mixed feelings about this post. First I am glad to see someone open there mind and see an opportunity to make a little money. Hopefully Kosmo will finally start drawing a wage . Most importantly my biggest concern is that Soap will turn in his horse trading wallet for a cow trading portfolio. I am not sure what we would have to visit about in the parking lot of where ever we might be, fore he probably will not want to give up all of his new found secrets. I fear as well he is moving closer to the dark side with his may calving propaganda. Looks like we will have a new ranching for profit instructor right here in our neighborhood. :lol: :lol:
. Most importantly my biggest concern is that Soap will turn in his horse trading wallet for a cow trading portfolio. I am not sure what we would have to visit about in the parking lot of where ever we might be, fore he probably will not want to give up all of his new found secrets. I fear as well he is moving closer to the dark side with his may calving propaganda. Looks like we will have a new ranching for profit instructor right here in our neighborhood. :lol: :lol:Soapweed
Well-known member
flyingS said:I have to admit I have a few mixed feelings about this post. First I am glad to see someone open there mind and see an opportunity to make a little money. Hopefully Kosmo will finally start drawing a wage
Our ranch straddles the Nebraska-South Dakota state line. All joking aside, the best "ranching for profit" concept that I could implement would be to put a house on the north side of this state line and establish a different residency. The state of South Dakota is much more tax friendly in all aspects, and the savings would be monumental. Unfortunately our best land with hay meadows is in Nebraska, so we will probably just keep on doing things like they've always been done, right down to calving in the cold old month of March. :? :???: :roll:
