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Taking cows to the sale, June 17, 2009

Soapweed

Well-known member
Cowsinthehillsintheearlymorning.jpg

Cows in the hills in the early morning
ThePolarispeoplewouldbeproud.jpg

The Polaris people would be proud
SBLake.jpg

SB Lake
Moreofthelake.jpg

More of the lake
Reflectioninapond.jpg

Reflection in a pond
Theothersideofthepond.jpg

The other side of the pond
Iamembarrassedbuthonest.jpg

I am embarrassed but honest.
Thisisthewaywegotinoursellingcows.jpg

This is the way we got in our selling cows. :oops: :oops:
Butwestilltreatedthemniceandtookour.jpg

But we still treated them nice and took our time.
Fifteenfallcalvingcowswetooktothesa.jpg

Fifteen fall calving cows we took to the sale on Wednesday
Andtheysoldon.jpg

And they sold on Thursday
WetookthemtotownonWednesday.jpg

They didn't set the world on fire with the selling price. Eight 3 and 4-year-olds brought $990;
six 5 and 7-year-olds brought $870, and one 3-year-old with a bad teat brought $775.
Last year, the whole bunch of similar cows sold for $1200 straight through, and the year before our fall calvers
selling in June brought $1300. At least these cows are no longer eating our grass. :wink:
 

leanin' H

Well-known member
Wish i was closer. :cry: I could use a couple and fall calvers would fit in well with the rest of this screwy outfit! Did I notice a couple shoulder brands on the left shoulders of a couple or was that just marking paint?
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
leanin' H said:
Wish i was closer. :cry: I could use a couple and fall calvers would fit in well with the rest of this screwy outfit! Did I notice a couple shoulder brands on the left shoulders of a couple or was that just marking paint?

Those are year brands, indicating which year the cow was born. A couple of the cows in the picture have "2's" that are visible. This means they were born in 2002, and are now seven-year-olds. Wish you lived closer so you could have come and bid on the cows.
 

Silver

Well-known member
Great pics Soapweed, looks like those cows will do just fine for someone else, although I'm sure you're selling them for good reason. Looks pretty green down there for your country, that shade looks good on it.

H, it looks like those are year brands on the shoulders.
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Silver said:
Great pics Soapweed, looks like those cows will do just fine for someone else, although I'm sure you're selling them for good reason. Looks pretty green down there for your country, that shade looks good on it.

H, it looks like those are year brands on the shoulders.

Every fall we keep over our young open cows. Bulls are turned with them about the 10th of November, and are taken out on January 1st. We then offer the cows for sale in June of the next year. There is nothing "wrong" with these cows, except for the fact that they didn't breed on time to stay in the spring herd. They should go on and be excellent fall-calving cows for whoever buys them.
 

Silver

Well-known member
Soapweed said:
Silver said:
Great pics Soapweed, looks like those cows will do just fine for someone else, although I'm sure you're selling them for good reason. Looks pretty green down there for your country, that shade looks good on it.

H, it looks like those are year brands on the shoulders.

Every fall we keep over our young open cows. Bulls are turned with them about the 10th of November, and are taken out on January 1st. We then offer the cows for sale in June of the next year. There is nothing "wrong" with these cows, except for the fact that they didn't breed on time to stay in the spring herd. They should go on and be excellent fall-calving cows for whoever buys them.

See, there you go thinking outside the box again :D
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Silver said:
Soapweed said:
Silver said:
Great pics Soapweed, looks like those cows will do just fine for someone else, although I'm sure you're selling them for good reason. Looks pretty green down there for your country, that shade looks good on it.

H, it looks like those are year brands on the shoulders.

Every fall we keep over our young open cows. Bulls are turned with them about the 10th of November, and are taken out on January 1st. We then offer the cows for sale in June of the next year. There is nothing "wrong" with these cows, except for the fact that they didn't breed on time to stay in the spring herd. They should go on and be excellent fall-calving cows for whoever buys them.

See, there you go thinking outside the box again :D

The trouble is, I think so far outside the box, it's as if the box weren't even there. :roll: :wink: :)
 

Silver

Well-known member
Soapweed said:
Silver said:
Soapweed said:
Every fall we keep over our young open cows. Bulls are turned with them about the 10th of November, and are taken out on January 1st. We then offer the cows for sale in June of the next year. There is nothing "wrong" with these cows, except for the fact that they didn't breed on time to stay in the spring herd. They should go on and be excellent fall-calving cows for whoever buys them.

See, there you go thinking outside the box again :D

The trouble is, I think so far outside the box, it's as if the box weren't even there. :roll: :wink: :)

:lol: :lol: :lol:
 

gcreekrch

Well-known member
I'm proud of you Soap. :p :D
If the neighbors had seen you cowboying motorized you would have just said you got the idea from a crazy Canuck that rides a 4 wheeler to death every couple of years.
 

Grassfarmer

Well-known member
Every fall we keep over our young open cows. Bulls are turned with them about the 10th of November, and are taken out on January 1st. We then offer the cows for sale in June of the next year. There is nothing "wrong" with these cows, except for the fact that they didn't breed on time to stay in the spring herd. They should go on and be excellent fall-calving cows for whoever buys them.
Not trying to be smart Soapweed but there is something badly wrong with them and you identify it - they are sub-fertile cows that failed to breed back in the required time period. This is not unusual, we all have such cows. Over the years we have excused a few and allowed them to fall calf and work back into our spring herd, sometimes shipped them as opens in the fall, sometimes marketed them as you do and sometimes marketed them as pairs in the fall. Whatever you do with them they cost you money compared to the honest cows that manages to get bred when she should. It looks like you have a good market for your bred cows though - there is never much market for fall calvers up here.
 

Trinity man

Well-known member
Man you got a lot of brush out there. :wink: I wish we could have our pasture like that. If you don't mow it will be back in woods in no time down here. Do any of you guy have to do any mowing or spray your pastures up there for brush control?
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Grassfarmer said:
Every fall we keep over our young open cows. Bulls are turned with them about the 10th of November, and are taken out on January 1st. We then offer the cows for sale in June of the next year. There is nothing "wrong" with these cows, except for the fact that they didn't breed on time to stay in the spring herd. They should go on and be excellent fall-calving cows for whoever buys them.
Not trying to be smart Soapweed but there is something badly wrong with them and you identify it - they are sub-fertile cows that failed to breed back in the required time period. This is not unusual, we all have such cows. Over the years we have excused a few and allowed them to fall calf and work back into our spring herd, sometimes shipped them as opens in the fall, sometimes marketed them as you do and sometimes marketed them as pairs in the fall. Whatever you do with them they cost you money compared to the honest cows that manages to get bred when she should. It looks like you have a good market for your bred cows though - there is never much market for fall calvers up here.

Back forty or fifty years ago, Herefords reigned supreme in this country. Very few ranchers calved two-year-old heifers; instead, they bred them as "two's" to calve for the first time as three-year-olds. In comparison, any calf out of a two-year-old now is just an added bonus.

In the past, I have been guilty of holding over nice young cows that didn't breed back. Often it was because they raised one of the best calves the year before, and giving the extra milk took enough out of them that they didn't breed back. With one year off, they never missed again. If the cow first calved as a two-year-old, this still allows her to have just as many calves during her lifetime as those Herefords did back in the earlier years.

If a rancher has both a spring calving herd and a fall calving herd, I would say if a cow missed once and went from the spring to the fall herd, that is fine. If she missed again, then she should be culled.

Trinity man said:
Man you got a lot of brush out there. :wink: I wish we could have our pasture like that. If you don't mow it will be back in woods in no time down here. Do any of you guy have to do any mowing or spray your pastures up there for brush control?

Weed control but not brush control.
 
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