webfoot
Well-known member
The one and done cows are all done. With the grass shortage because of the fire it was time for them to leave. They were on some irrigated pasture which is going to be needed by some long term cows who will be coming out of the hills shortly. The cows were going to go direct to the plant but they were dictating the delivery date. Normal year that would work because we would wean the calves on hay field regrowth. Again that grass is needed by others. So we weren't going to wean this year. So we needed to be able to ship the cows the same day as we could ship the calves. It didn't work out so the entire herd went to the sale yesterday. 85 cows with their calves plus a few odd ball cows and 2 bulls.
A few days ago I did an estimate on value and costs. Our gross sales beat my estimate. After commission the check was a few dollars below the estimation. I am pretty happy. Cows were off a few bucks but calves brought more than I thought. The 15 biggest steers weighed 560 and sold for $3.10. The 12 biggest heifers weighed 540 and sold for $2.85. My 62 cows averaged a hair under $1,500. You can't buy old cows and expect them all to be number ones in the fall. We did good and now have to figure out what next year will bring. How well will the grass rebound from the fire? How will we be able to get miles of fence built? Once the fall rush starts cow prices will drop and make them affordable but will we have pasture for them? Change is constant. And through it all, all of us here realize how blessed we are.
A few days ago I did an estimate on value and costs. Our gross sales beat my estimate. After commission the check was a few dollars below the estimation. I am pretty happy. Cows were off a few bucks but calves brought more than I thought. The 15 biggest steers weighed 560 and sold for $3.10. The 12 biggest heifers weighed 540 and sold for $2.85. My 62 cows averaged a hair under $1,500. You can't buy old cows and expect them all to be number ones in the fall. We did good and now have to figure out what next year will bring. How well will the grass rebound from the fire? How will we be able to get miles of fence built? Once the fall rush starts cow prices will drop and make them affordable but will we have pasture for them? Change is constant. And through it all, all of us here realize how blessed we are.
