Went Shopping Yesterday......

[gcreekrch]

I dunno how much of a thief you'd make GC - that seems pretty steep money to be paying for some of those cows this winter in Canada. Seems to me the real buys in cows were mid November. Here are a couple of pictures of a small bunch I bought back then. It's cost $100 me to bring them through to now. Not my usual choice of breed but they are bred black, 2nd, 3rd or 4th calf dispersal cows that just didn't look like they could go wrong at $485!

There wasn't much to pick from over here last fall if a guy limits himself to smaller than 1250 lb cows. The cost of these ones included a $50 freight bill that was unavoidable as I didn't fill the truck.
Like to take advantage of the market that sometimes is found in Alberta but I have found those prairie cows come in empty or just die when they get here.
Looks like you made a bargain though. Good luck with them.

 

[Grassfarmer]

Yeah, we find these "prairie" cows often don't do too well with us either coming off hard grass onto our lush, wetter pastures. These were cheap enough I'm not too bothered about getting them all bred back - we can hopefully take the one calf and ship them and still make on the deal. Are you telling me these big thick red cows and the limo type in your photo are under 1250lb?? And they say the camera never lies!!

 

[miocene]

BY lurker i assume you are refering to me.yes i do recognize alot of those photos.i also remember those cows .prices were good we averaged 1.0125 on 697 # on 50 head of steers.definately worth keeping them over.we put on 160#in 85 days feeding 4#of gsps and round bale silage.

 

[Jigger Boss]

Neat pics gcreek. So are those some of the Tatalrose cows?

19 of them are. Thanks for the insight you passed along. :tiphat: Are they bringing more down at the end of the month?

I don't know. I rarely see Jon to ask him, but I'll see what I can find out for you .

 

[gcreekrch]

Yeah, we find these "prairie" cows often don't do too well with us either coming off hard grass onto our lush, wetter pastures. These were cheap enough I'm not too bothered about getting them all bred back - we can hopefully take the one calf and ship them and still make on the deal. Are you telling me these big thick red cows and the limo type in your photo are under 1250lb?? And they say the camera never lies!!

These cows were full when I bought them and are due to calve on the 15th of March, their average weight was 1294 lbs. They are mostly Gelvieh/Angus cross, some are pretty heavy to Gelbvieh and I suspect there is quite a bit of Limo in 2 of them. I could use quite a few more of these type of cows if they were priced right. :wink:


Miocene, The lurker lives at the top of Sheep Creek hill.

 

[Grassfarmer]

GC, I think those Char x cows were in the 1260s somewhere for weight. Interestingly the dispersal contained black angus, black baldies and the Char xs all bred on the ranch which was out in the real dry, hard grass country on the Battle River east of PureCountry . The Char xs were the lightest - mainly being in the 1200lb range. The baldies were in the 1300lbs range with a few over 1400lb. The straight blacks were all over 1400lb with quite a few 1480-1540lbs.
Makes you wonder what the @#%@# purebred Angus breeders are thinking - elephant genetics for desert country!
It seems they are trying to be all things to all people - weight gain to equal the exotics but using the easy calving, low maintenance claims that were true of their breed 50 years ago when they were 400lbs lighter!

 

[Anonymous]

GC, I think those Char x cows were in the 1260s somewhere for weight. Interestingly the dispersal contained black angus, black baldies and the Char xs all bred on the ranch which was out in the real dry, hard grass country on the Battle River east of PureCountry . The Char xs were the lightest - mainly being in the 1200lb range. The baldies were in the 1300lbs range with a few over 1400lb. The straight blacks were all over 1400lb with quite a few 1480-1540lbs.
Makes you wonder what the @#%@# purebred Angus breeders are thinking - elephant genetics for desert country!
It seems they are trying to be all things to all people - weight gain to equal the exotics but using the easy calving, low maintenance claims that were true of their breed 50 years ago when they were 400lbs lighter!

AMEN- and more and more people are seeing it in their cow herds-- especially around here this winter when the hay stacks are melting away mighty fast- and there is still no signs of seeing any bare ground soon....

Just had a fellow the other day commenting about his angus cows were all getting too big - over 1500 lbs- and they were eating like the elephant genetics you described...Said he might have to start picking out the peanuts in the fall for replacement heifers instead of the middle and top end heifers... Like I told him- instead of doing that- you need to look somewhere else for bulls- and not ones that proclaim they can do everything....Moderation on all aspects can avoid future train wrecks...

 

[per]

Amen to your Amen OT. It takes a lot of discipline to keep from frame creep. When we made the move from Fleckvieh Sims to Angus I was amazed to find Angus bulls and cows bigger than the Flecks. Finally have found a few that raise bulls the style I like and in my conditions. Why did many breeders want to make Continental cattle out of British cattle? And not just to lay blame on the breeders, they were raising seed stock for the commercial guy. Still many here claim bigger is better. They are calving in the dead of winter as well. The main thing I guess is that I pay my bills with my cows and every one else pays them with theirs. I know after a tough winter here that I still have some culling to do. When 2 cows are on the same feed and are the same age and one is fat and one is skinny the culling process is not hard.