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Started Buyin some calves

PPRM

Well-known member
I bought 23 on Tuesday.....My Supreme Mixer is going and I am back into feeding....I have a good source of frozen corn grader waste and my friend and I are back in the feeding business..Small scale (We'll do 300 or so), but I am in....

I paid about $94/cwt for 500-600 pound calves, mostly groups of 3-5...Those 19 at this wt were maybe the best saleyard calves I have ever bought..Funny how you can get aggressive if feed is priced right...

The other 4 were my Average droppers, LOL...450 lbs at $70.00/cwt....They were traveled and maybe weak looking...They looked tons better with hay in them. I will leave them on mineral and hay for a couple of weeks before processing them....

The 19 I dropped off at a Working owhorse trainers. He will feed them hay for 30-45 days. That will get them to 650 or so pounds and I'll take them back. The 4 will get stronger and then in 3 weeks go with 15 other lighter calves to the Cowhorse fellows...

I have been pretty busy getting the place we bought, equipment we bought and cattle lined out. It has to be low labor with my traveling and my partner having a full time job......But I think it will work.

The Tractor we bought is a John Deere 4230 with a EZE Load Bucket...The tilt on the bucket is not so good, we are having the guy from the dealership pressure test it at different points to find restriction. The Hose fittings on the Supreme for the discharge conveyor keep popppin out.. New fittings by the dealer as they knew it was a marginal fit. Then the Digital scale readout went out, they will have to send that in....That and getting feedbunks setup and water setup and training my partner, LOL.....It is funny, he is starting to listen to me on the little things aftr a couple have resulted in three hours work on his part cause he didn't take 5 minutes to do the little thing.....

Anyways, I have been busy and away...

BTW, Direct Beef sales are good....5 customers this week, mostly 10-20 pound packs, but it is a great start,

I will get pictures soon,


PPRM
 

PPRM

Well-known member
BTW,

I hadn't bought in 5 months and some guys were givin me a hard time saying I paid too much...Hell if I know, but thot I did ok for good calves....I am kinda done with bottom end project cattle...

I learned a long time ago, not to listen to those fellows as they like to play mind games with you..

I also like guying after it has been belwo freezing for awhile....Seems like most of the sickness is gone,


PPRM
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Sounds like life is fun, PPRM. Good for you. :)

I've always thought that a person should have two herds of cattle. One that you are proud of and keep out front for everyone to see. The other herd would be the bargains that slip through the cracks at the salebarns. In every sale there is always a "soft spot" where you can look back and know that was the bargain for the day.

You are right about the "bottom end" and "project cattle". They never turn out to be the bargains of the day, because they either die or just never perform. Every rancher ends up with a few of those kind. I learned a long time ago to sell them at weaning time, because they are worth more then than they will ever be at any other point in their life.

Yesterday, I went to a bred cow sale. I sure don't need any more cows on hand, with our existing fall grazing and hay supply, but took along the trailer "just in case". Fortunately, even though I bid one time on one bunch of heifers, I withstood temptation and didn't buy anything. It was amazing how well the younger bred cows and bred heifers were selling, given the present low calf market and the lack of winter feed in the country.

Many of the bred heifers were consistently bringing $1250. The one bunch that slipped through the cracks were fifty head of nice Angus heifers that were mostly AI'd and then cleaned up with easy calving bulls, for a seventy day breeding season. They weighed 1024#, brought $960 per head, and as far as I'm concerned were the "bargain of the day". As there were still ten head of that cut yet to sell, I thought if I could get them for about the same money, I'd take them home. Everyone woke up, and that ten head brought $1025.

The $960 looked "cheap" to me because they were high quality heifers. I sold my open yearling heifers back on October 6th, and at that time they weighed 938# @ $105.00 and brought $985. The bred heifers yesterday at $960 would have fit right in with ours here at home, and virtually we could have traded open heifer for bred heifer and saved two months of feed. Oh, well. :wink: :) But I had fun going to the sale anyway.
 

WB

Well-known member
I agree Soapweed. There are some real buys out there in the bred female department if you have some feed. There were a lot of cows that went to kill in the last 6-8 months and IF we get some moisture the female market will take off like a rocket.
 

PPRM

Well-known member
I also got two Bred Simmental Cross cows, due February wieghing 1388 for $540...Broken mouth but good Flesh and bags, I have the feed so it should work......Bred Cows around here are under $900 consistently,

PPRM
 

murph

Well-known member
I saw some nice young (4 yr) black bred cows at Muleshoe Auction bring from 600-700. That looked like a good buy. Some of this local wheat pasture probably should be stock with them instead of these calves.
 

PPRM

Well-known member
Sooooo...When you buy used equipment, there's some work, LOL....

The loader seemed to work fine at the dealer, but a full 4x4x8 bale and the bucket won't tilt up.....Seems to be Cylainders.....Hydraulic hoses for Discharge of Supreme mixer kept popping out when pressure built up.....Figure it is the remotes worn on the John Deere....Tied them locked with baling twine and it works, LOL......(John Deere was sold on consignment, so dealer can't do much for me there)

Then the scale indicator stopped working...Battery is shot and dealer replaced that...Still didn't work, they replaced the wire from the battery to the indicator........

I am uasing old Powder river Water Troughs as feed bunks and it is working well...To were given to me, 3 I bought for $100.00, so it pencils.....

I am enjoying this, but it can be frustrating at moments, LOL...

PPRM
 

PPRM

Well-known member
Soooo...the three steers that werelight and weak....I asked them to have them ru to the vet chute and give them a shot of Tetra-Dure..My thot was to cover them and just leave them alone on water, mineral and hay for a few weeks before working them....

I see the steers have Bangs tags in thier ear, call the vet and he didn't tetra-dure any calves that day....Communication wasn't good from the ring to the vet I guess....


PPRM
 

Nicky

Well-known member
PPRM said:
Soooo...the three steers that werelight and weak....I asked them to have them ru to the vet chute and give them a shot of Tetra-Dure..My thot was to cover them and just leave them alone on water, mineral and hay for a few weeks before working them....

I see the steers have Bangs tags in thier ear, call the vet and he didn't tetra-dure any calves that day....Communication wasn't good from the ring to the vet I guess....


PPRM

:lol2: :roll: :wink:
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Nicky said:
PPRM said:
Soooo...the three steers that werelight and weak....I asked them to have them ru to the vet chute and give them a shot of Tetra-Dure..My thot was to cover them and just leave them alone on water, mineral and hay for a few weeks before working them....

I see the steers have Bangs tags in thier ear, call the vet and he didn't tetra-dure any calves that day....Communication wasn't good from the ring to the vet I guess....


PPRM

:lol2: :roll: :wink:

One year back in the 1980's, we sold all of our steer calves. We then bangs vaccinated all of the heifer calves, and lo and behold, a steer had been missed and was in with the heifers. He was wearing a "girlie" orange bangs earring. The steers that were sold brought 72 cents per pound. The market had come up in the month that had gone by, and we ended up getting 75 cents per pound out of the remaining steer, even though he sold as a single. :? :)
 

Jason

Well-known member
What's the moral of that story Soap?

Single steers live longer?

Cross dressers have more fun?

Bachelors should be steered?

:lol: :wink:
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Jason said:
What's the moral of that story Soap?

Single steers live longer?

Cross dressers have more fun?

Bachelors should be steered?

:lol: :wink:

Take your pick. :)

Or maybe, "Don't judge a book by its cover."

Or how about, "More buck for the bangs."

Darned if I know. Maybe someone has a better idea. :? :???: :wink: :)
 

Jason

Well-known member
Seriuosly though, in bigger herds missing a steer would be pretty easy.

We switched to a 2 color tag system on the purebreds white for bulls yellow for heifers.... it helps when making pasture descisions at the sort gate.

This spring the first calf to arrive was a heifer... she got a white tag. I was feeding and saw this calf with no apperant boy parts and told dad his color matching was a bit off. That calf gave us grief this fall almost sorting her the wrong way a couple times.

I know a neighbor with less than 200 cows and he missed 2 steers last year. I guess some eyes need glasses. 8)
 
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