More Folks going to Running Yearlings!

[Anonymous]

Since we live on the Hi-line of Montana ( which is designated that not only because its the northern 50 miles from the Canuck border- but because everyone waves Hi to every vehicle they meet) ---more and more folks up here on the short grass- strong grass are going to running yearlings... A couple of the 5,000 to 15,000+ units have been moving toward it for years from all cow calf to 90% yearlings---but now over the last year I have talked to several of the smaller owners - 300-500 that are thinking the same... And today after a meeting - I talked to 2 more...All are about decide to do the same with the grazing land or leases they have (and especially if Montana leases double from $6 to $12 a pair)- landowners and leasees that are getting older ) in or near their 60's with no siblings that want anything to do with 24 hour ranching that say they will just run yearlings rather than the work of running cows- bulls- and calving....
To me that- may cut back on bull sales- but means folks looking more at the cattle/breeding that can forage and gain/finish on grass are that much more valuable ...

 

[Soapweed]

There still has to be a few fools that calve out cows, or the yearling guys can't buy their raw materials.

 

[Anonymous]

There still has to be a few fools that calve out cows, or the yearling guys can't buy their raw materials.

Yep-- I agree- but do you buy calves/yearlings bred to survive/thrive on just creep feed and grain-- or do you buy those that survive/thrive on grass....

SAV type cornfed/creep genetics would probably just melt away when roughed thru the winter and thrown out on our grasslands in April- and if they survive- I'm not sure they could thrive thru the summer/fall grasses like those bred to do so ......

 

[canadian angus]

You Guys have cheap grazing, give your head a shake. Cheap even in Florida.

CA

 

[Denny]

Up to $12 a pair I pay $15 and figured that was reasonable know of some in the $25 price.Calves are worth near $900 this year I'm sure a little more rent won't break these guy's.

 

[Anonymous]

Up to $12 a pair I pay $15 and figured that was reasonable know of some in the $25 price.Calves are worth near $900 this year I'm sure a little more rent won't break these guy's.

No- and with some of these 1,000 lb yearlings selling for $120 to $130- even these guys paying $30 an AUM for tribal/private leases don't seem to be hurting (altho they can run more on an AUM when running yearlings).... Neighbor shipped 7 loads the other day- probably about 70 loads left to ship...

CA-- I thought according to Agriville Canada had unleased land galore for grazing after everyone sold out after the BSE issue-- or did they go back to crops? Whats leases up there go for?
The reason I ask is that these neighbors- back before BSE- were probably the lead in trying to get the disease testing restrictions off taking cattle into Canada- and against COOL, because they said they had lots of yearling grazing and finishing feedlots lined up in Saskatchewan....
All became kind of null and void with BSE...

 

[ANGUS327]

Up to $12 a pair I pay $15 and figured that was reasonable know of some in the $25 price.Calves are worth near $900 this year I'm sure a little more rent won't break these guy's.

That looks like an unfair subsidy to me.

 

[Doug Thorson]

There is an easy way to get people to quit complaining about the raises in Govt land rates. Just tell them if it too high just go to the legislature and make them force the land to be rented at public auction every year so they can get it cheap enough to work.

ps don't try this unless you want to see someone get a little irritated. I have seen public School Land auctions around here bring $20 per acre rent. When you figure 10 acres to summer a cow, you can do the math.

 

[NUFFIELD]

Since we live on the Hi-line of Montana ( which is designated that not only because its the northern 50 miles from the Canuck border- but because everyone waves Hi to every vehicle they meet) ---more and more folks up here on the short grass- strong grass are going to running yearlings... A couple of the 5,000 to 15,000+ units have been moving toward it for years from all cow calf to 90% yearlings---but now over the last year I have talked to several of the smaller owners - 300-500 that are thinking the same... And today after a meeting - I talked to 2 more...All are about decide to do the same with the grazing land or leases they have (and especially if Montana leases double from $6 to $12 a pair)- landowners and leasees that are getting older ) in or near their 60's with no siblings that want anything to do with 24 hour ranching that say they will just run yearlings rather than the work of running cows- bulls- and calving....
To me that- may cut back on bull sales- but means folks looking more at the cattle/breeding that can forage and gain/finish on grass are that much more valuable ...

Hi Oldtimer, when you mention the numbers eg 300-500 ,are you talking about acres, cows, or total stock.
Out of interest do many ranchers lease their ranches or own them, suspect its a combination of both. Land here is v expensive to lease ,about $200 a acre.

 

[Anonymous]

Since we live on the Hi-line of Montana ( which is designated that not only because its the northern 50 miles from the Canuck border- but because everyone waves Hi to every vehicle they meet) ---more and more folks up here on the short grass- strong grass are going to running yearlings... A couple of the 5,000 to 15,000+ units have been moving toward it for years from all cow calf to 90% yearlings---but now over the last year I have talked to several of the smaller owners - 300-500 that are thinking the same... And today after a meeting - I talked to 2 more...All are about decide to do the same with the grazing land or leases they have (and especially if Montana leases double from $6 to $12 a pair)- landowners and leasees that are getting older ) in or near their 60's with no siblings that want anything to do with 24 hour ranching that say they will just run yearlings rather than the work of running cows- bulls- and calving....
To me that- may cut back on bull sales- but means folks looking more at the cattle/breeding that can forage and gain/finish on grass are that much more valuable ...

Hi Oldtimer, when you mention the numbers eg 300-500 ,are you talking about acres, cows, or total stock. I'm talking about cows...
Out of interest do many ranchers lease their ranches or own them, suspect its a combination of both. Land here is v expensive to lease ,about $200 a acre.
Combination of both- many own some hayland/cropland and some winter grazing-- and then lease larger chunks of government (state or BLM) or tribal owned grazing land... The large units (5,000 to 15,000 head) mostly have large areas of government leases they run on...Some run their cows in the summer in grazing districts/associations which are made up mostly of government land interspersed with some private owned...
Most grazing leased around here is by AUM (animal unit month)-- with BLM leases being around $5 an AUM- state leases around $6-7- and private or tribal leases going for as much as $30+ an AUM....One of the reasons folks like yearlings is they only count as 75% of an AUM- and if they lose their lease (which happens often with the tribal leases) they don't have a large longterm investment in a cattle herd...
Private owned and government owned cropland is leased by either the acre (and I'm not sure what that is bringing) or on a crop share basis... Most crop shares are around 60-30 where the one farming gets 66% and is responsible for all farm costs and the land owner gets 33%....

 

[NUFFIELD]

5000-15000 cows . wow thats huge numbers. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

5000-15000 cows . wow thats huge numbers. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME :lol:

One of the reasons some more are thinking about running yearlings- overall less input - less labor -either hired or family...

 

[Denny]

5000-15000 cows . wow thats huge numbers. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME :lol:

One of the reasons some more are thinking about running yearlings- overall less input - less labor -either hired or family...

I would bet the ranches of that size are few and far between and most owned by a corporation.

 

[BRG]

I would guess most of these leases of this size are community pastures of some kind.

 

[Anonymous]

5000-15000 cows . wow thats huge numbers. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME :lol:

One of the reasons some more are thinking about running yearlings- overall less input - less labor -either hired or family...

I would bet the ranches of that size are few and far between and most owned by a corporation.

We have 4 in this county that size- that I can think of off the top of my head- all family run operations-- altho two are family corporate entity's- and the one has ties to a Kansas feedlot.... Those all use some fulltime hired help...
Several more that are in the 500-1,000 head size-- and all those are family owned- altho I don't know the exact business setups (partnerships, corporations, etc?)...Most those are handled just by the family members with neighbors exchanging work during the busy periods...
You have to remember much of this country is grazing land- and much of it is government owned leased grazing land....Not much else the land is good for....

 

[eatbeef]

I would love to be paying the prices a few of you are mentioning. There is pasture going for any where from 20 to 50 an acre in alot of areas in Kansas and Nebraska. If the pastures are cross fenced and rotated it works but there are damn sodbusting farmers that have 100 cows that are paying 50 an acre for pasture that takes 6 to 8 acres for a 5 to 6 month grazing season. Most of them dont care and dont know damn thing about grazing so the pastures get overgrazed. Have some rented dryland ground that we have sudan and alfalfa on and some no good s.o.b. came in and offered to pay over 100 per acre rent to our landlord. This is ground usually raises 2 to 3 ton of hay on the sudan acres and 4 ton of hay on the alfalfa. Grain prices are making things almost impossible for cattlemen in our area, unless you have alot of farm ground to go along with the cattle. Hell cant even hardly get stalks rented in the winter because they are to worried about the compaction and affecting next years yields.

 

[Northern Rancher]

We've always run yearlings and it it isn't all champagne and cavier.

 

[Hayguy]

:agree:

more like stale beer and canned sardines :lol:

 

[Faster horses]

and you better have some good fences...or the neighbors
will be running them.

 

[jodywy]

uncle one fall bought 6000 light calves backgrounded then till spring by which time they had lostover $100 in value not counting feed. most went to rented pasture in ND and SD, plus his private pasture in ID and Wy by fall they were worth $250 less then what he paid for them..... but we figured he had done well the 7-8 years before. He went out of the grass cattle into the cow renting bussiness after the one bad year.