Northern Rancher said:
I'm a firm believer in retained ownership-it's a real eye opener for sure-I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you close your pen out. Last year a buddy of mine fed his cutback grass cattle-we had quite a debate over how they'd do-I was accused of being too optomistic imagine that. Well the cattle did great-his quote was-"They've been stealing from us." I'm sure someone grampa fed Hereford steers and lost money in the 40's but I'm sure you'll do just fine.
I have a pretty good idea how they will do. I have been feeding out my own steers for a number of years now and my family has been doing it for probably 25 years on our commercial herd.
A lot of cattle in the sale barns get sold on averages and the good cattle aren't bringing near the premium they should compared to how much better they will perform than the average. A few years ago I had the opportunity to purchase all the baldy steers from a customer. The market was kind of depressed and I tried to talk him into retaining ownership on them because I really felt the market was going to improve but he really wasn't interested. I figured I could make money on them if the gained 3.7 lbs a day at current feed and fed cattle market prices. Well, they gained 4.33 a day and the market improved nicely and all worked out well. The feedlot owner told me not to tell the owner how they performed and just go buy the steers next year no matter what. That is a problem in the cattle feeding industry. Dont let information filter down to the cow calf level so they can make improvements.
I would love to develope a relationship with a feedlot who would be committed to providing my bull customers feedback so that they can improve their cattle.
Brian