• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Summer grazing of steers

H

harris25

Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2009
Messages
18
Location
harrisburg, nebraska
I am looking at maybe buying some steers in april running them on grass during the summer and selling them in October or taking them to a feedlot to finish them out on a cost-share basis. What are your guys thoughts is there a way to make money on doing this?
 
Bud williams puts ona pretty good three day seminar on just how top go about makinmg money on them. There's alot of variables involved but there can be good money in running yearlings.
 
I won't be buying any as I already have them, they calved in September and I will wean them, keep them thru the summer on grass and sell in the Fall. I reckon it'll be pretty darn good this year
 
My experience is that grassers are bought high on rancher optimism and sell in the realities of the market place in the fall. I think the only way to make a reasonably consistant dollar on grassers is to raise them yourself if you have the hay to winter them and the grass to summer them. Just my thoughts.
 
Ben what is your target market in the fall? Will the animals be age, source verified, breed makeup and will they be natural/meet pineland meat protocoll? The above greatly affects final price in fall. Have you look into custom grazing for pineland or working with kevin woltemath? There is more money to be made feeding light weights over the winter if you have the feed and facilities.
 
Just watch the market. It seems that ussually their is a point when yearlings coming off grass, are really high priced and you may do better selling them then instead of sending them to a lot. Take a buck when you can :)
 
Silver gives some very good advice. read it carefully.
Last spring the market for grass calves looked hot so I picked a load of steers out of my own that I was intending to grass over summer. They returned over $800 dollars in early may. Unfortunately ,I kept 2 loads, added about 200#, and sold them for $100 less. Finished steers were under $1000 at the time.
It can be good if selling into a rising market but very bad if selling into a falling market.
I think the Bud Williams method is simply buy back the best available value on the day you sell and your profit is the difference in price paid/ sold.He also advocates buying at a low priced market and selling at a higher priced one as pat is suggesting.
Good luck, but don't bet the farm!
 
Silver said:
My experience is that grassers are bought high on rancher optimism and sell in the realities of the market place in the fall. I think the only way to make a reasonably consistant dollar on grassers is to raise them yourself if you have the hay to winter them and the grass to summer them. Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...


Why not sell some into the "Rancher's Optimism" in late winter or early spring when the market is higher?

BTW, great thread!!!

bart.

<><
 
Just do the math and pay close attention to the markets. Things are really volatile (bouncy) in Canada so yearlings are not for the faint hearted.
We grass a few, have bought grassers in the past and try to sell when there is profit. Last year despite our plans to grass all our calves the price reached a point that was well above our projected profits. That was in March before the grass was growing so we pulled the marketing trigger and only grassed a few later calves. There are usually peaks in early spring for calves to go to grass and August for calves coming off.
KNOW YOUR BREAKEVEN!!! It's OK to leave some grass behind if the profit is there. If you have time and a bit of patience there is real money in upgrading cattle (buying tailenders, age verifying, dehorning, castrating, vaccinating, etc).
 
Hereford calves seem to work well-you can take a discount calf and turn him into a premium yearling. Probably best not to be buying when gras fever hits the auction marts-some moisture in the spring and things get a bit crazy.
 
You better have a market for the heavy weight herdford steer lined up before you buy in this area. You might be able to sell some heavy weight herdfords several farm meat stores. Have a market lind up before you buy.
 
NR The 1 large buyer in this area is not found of straight herdfords unless they come with a good discount. You either produce what is in demand or create your own market for the end product. There is several decent outlets a couple of states away. There are several small buyers that will pay close to what they are worth.
 
Pretty sure that Maine White faces have a little different look than what you might find in Meadow or Lloyd or Mankota for that matter.
 
The cows may look the same but your market options are hopefully far greater then here. We are down to 1 auction barn in the state plus several seasonal sales :devil2: Several of the poster on this site may have more beef animals under there control than is in the state of maine.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top