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

To Buy or Not to Buy

randiliana

Well-known member
That is the question. We are about 40 head short for our various pastures next year. We must have enough to fill our Community Pasture quota, or we will lose it, and we got increased this year by 20 head.

Anyways, there is a herd dispersal of mostly younger cow coming up this Friday. We are seriously considering buying some of them, and they likely will sell for around canner prices, maybe $100 more. Problem is, they are 2 months later calving than our herd. They will likely be in poorer condition as well (as they never see an overabundance of feed), and we are unsure of how much growth we will get out of the calves (is it feed or genetics??). Now, these could be some pretty good cows, that just need to be fed well enough to live up to their potential.

Now, I would think, that if these cows are fed reasonably well, they should put a lot of weight on, after all they will not hit the third trimester until Feburary and March. They should also be able to raise a reasonably good calf if they have lots to eat during the summer (they have usually been on extremely overgrazed pasture, and never fed very well).

But, the biggest problem in my mind is their calving dates. We pull our bulls a week AFTER they put their bulls out. I am not really looking forward to a 4-5 month calving season. Plus, it will be difficult to move these cows up into our breeding season. I know it can be done, but I am not sure that I want to spend 3 years with a 90-120 day calving season. If we pull bulls too early we run the risk of having a LOT of cows come in open.

Now, on the positive side, I am thinking that 70%-80% of these cows should calve within their first cycle. These cows, should be relatively easy to move up to calve in April. Next year we may have to run a 90 day season but I think I can get over that. As to what to do with the other 20-30% we could run the bulls on them (separately) for an extra month, and then sell them as breds in the fall. Or, we could sell them as pairs during the summer, or if all else fails, we could just say the heck with it and breed for 90 days, then pull bulls and can whatever comes up open.

Or, we could calve them out, and then just sell the entire works as either pairs, or breed them, wait until fall, and sell the calves and then the cows as breds.

The biggest reason we are considering these cows is because they will likely sell for under $600, and they are close to home. We wouldn't have a big trucking bill to get them here.

Now, if this were you, would you buy these cows? What other options am I missing.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Geez Randi too bad I didn't know you were looking for earliar calving cows-they just dispersed 350 head from the commercial simmental breeders of the year in '07 up here. They sold right in your price range. there's a real good set of March calving black cows for sale up here if you are interested. those cows at home might be ok if you buy them right but if you end up with a bunch of drys they get pricey pretty fast.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Geez Randi too bad I didn't know you were looking for earliar calving cows-they just dispersed 350 head from the commercial simmental breeders of the year in '07 up here. They sold right in your price range. there's a real good set of March calving black cows for sale up here if you are interested. those cows at home might be ok if you buy them right but if you end up with a bunch of drys they get pricey pretty fast.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
Geez Randi too bad I didn't know you were looking for earliar calving cows-they just dispersed 350 head from the commercial simmental breeders of the year in '07 up here. They sold right in your price range. there's a real good set of March calving black cows for sale up here if you are interested. those cows at home might be ok if you buy them right but if you end up with a bunch of drys they get pricey pretty fast.

Isn't that nuts, that would have been a heck of a set of cows, I am sure. But, we (and especially DH) kinda want to keep the cow herd mostly british. The other problem is that you are so far away.

Are the black cows for auction or are they private? Cause we are buying through a Feeder Coop, and they have changed the rules a bit. Now, we have to get a security check done on anyone we buy cows from privately (before we just had to do the paperwork up through a liscenced dealer). The Security checks take up to a month to complete (which is nuts). If the cows are sold through an auction then we don't have to do the security check.
 

SaskHerf

Active member
If you are buying the cows at canner prices then run the bulls in the spring for 90 days and can the opens.. shouldn't be out much if they produce good calves. Or breed for 120 days and when you want to cut off calving in the spring just sell what hasn't calved as bred cows... can sometimes get good money for cows that are that close to calving. Other option is to sell what calves after your timeframe as pairs in the spring then let the buyer worry about when to breed them. jmo
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
I'm pretty sure this outfit won't have any paper on the cows so the security check should go pretty quickly-I used to be a supervisor for a Sask. Feeder association so I know how hard they can make the cattle business-a million rules that don't help them catch the real shysters but make business hard on honest people. These are a real good set of cows for sale.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
I'm pretty sure this outfit won't have any paper on the cows so the security check should go pretty quickly-I used to be a supervisor for a Sask. Feeder association so I know how hard they can make the cattle business-a million rules that don't help them catch the real shysters but make business hard on honest people. These are a real good set of cows for sale.

Doesn't seem to matter what is on or not on the cows, the one security check pretty much seems to take a month. It is a royal PITA. We are the supervisors for the local Feeder Coop so have been watching this go on for the last couple months. I will keep these cows in mind, depending on what happens tomorrow. I think if they go cheap enough we may pick some up. But, seeing the calving dates, they will have to sell for under $600.
 

RobertMac

Well-known member
Buy the cows...if they are breeding on minimum feed, they got to be pretty good adapted cows. Once you see how easy(and fun) it is to calve in warm, nice weather, not to mention how much easier it is on the cow and the calf, you can easily move the calving of the rest of the herd to May. The loss of dollars for lighter calves is somewhat mitigated by higher $$$/lb. The real savings is on the front end...lower wintering cost for dry cows. A dollar saved is a dollar in your pocket...a dollar from increased production always comes at a cost.

You wanted options....even if worthless :???: :?
 

Denny

Well-known member
I just bought 31 calves 12 steer's and 19 hfr's average weight was 379#s for 89 cents we sold our 600 # steer's 2 month's ago for $1.21.If you have ample feed and financial resource's you could run the small end over as yearling's.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
RobertMac said:
Buy the cows...if they are breeding on minimum feed, they got to be pretty good adapted cows. Once you see how easy(and fun) it is to calve in warm, nice weather, not to mention how much easier it is on the cow and the calf, you can easily move the calving of the rest of the herd to May. The loss of dollars for lighter calves is somewhat mitigated by higher $$$/lb. The real savings is on the front end...lower wintering cost for dry cows. A dollar saved is a dollar in your pocket...a dollar from increased production always comes at a cost.

You wanted options....even if worthless :???: :?

Worthless info :shock: :D :D . That is what I live for :wink: .

We bought 13 head, couldn't (didn't want to) afford any more. They probably averaged around $800, was a lot higher than we expected. Your thinking was kinda along ours, they have made it on next to nothing, they should do fairly well for us.
 

randiliana

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
i just got offered $1050 for two loads of cows-it's pretty tempting I just might take it.

For cows, that sure would be awful tempting. Even for bred heifers, that would be a fairly high price right now.
 

3words

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
i just got offered $1050 for two loads of cows-it's pretty tempting I just might take it.
If you can find someone that stupid to pay that much right now,i don't think it would be very hard to decide on what to do.You can buy all the decent cows you want at the local yards for around $500,and heavy bred black heifers weighing in average 1100 pounds for $700 to $800.Who in there right mind would pay $1050 for cows,when you can have pick of any dispersal you want for cheap?
 

randiliana

Well-known member
3words said:
Northern Rancher said:
i just got offered $1050 for two loads of cows-it's pretty tempting I just might take it.
If you can find someone that stupid to pay that much right now,i don't think it would be very hard to decide on what to do.You can buy all the decent cows you want at the local yards for around $500,and heavy bred black heifers weighing in average 1100 pounds for $700 to $800.Who in there right mind would pay $1050 for cows,when you can have pick of any dispersal you want for cheap?

Well, you are in a bit different country than we are. Lately the dispersals of younger cows have been over $800 averages, heck one averaged over $1000. Heifers here are up to $1300 if they are nice, deep, long and fat. I still agree that $1050 is on the very high end of the cow market, but it certainly isn't unheard of this year.
 

3words

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
3words it's called a repeat customer-reputation cattle always outsell the auction mart divas.
Of course reputation cattle out sell cattle at the markets,they always will.I should know that though,i bought one of the best herds in saskatchewan this fall.
 
Top