I don;t see it, Lucky. I see a 557 lb steer at $1.80, but it was weaned. There is a 827 lb steer @ $1.50. The smaller one brought $1002, and the heavier one brought $1240.
To get back to the original topic, and referencing the above sale report. Assuming the 811lb steers and the 557 lb steers are comparable in quality, they represent a Value of Gain of $1.27/lb. Can you put 250 pounds on a calf for $1.27/lb? To compare, the 320 lb calves would take $1.26/lb to get to 557lb. Which would be easier?
Yes the 557# steer was Weaned and was the highest selling 5 weight. I didn't add the sheet up and avg them out but the $1.60 mark is what stood out to me looking at unweaned calves. The biggest problem I had selling unweaned or short Weaned calves was the $ per hd difference they brought. 1 would bring $1.80 and the other $1.35. Long time weaning ads consistency in the calves and the price they bring. At least this has been my observation.
In my area the avg gain is 1.3# a day over a 210 day period. We feed for 120 days then turn them in on pastures to graze that we have just moved the Cows off of. I'm guessing I gain around 275# at $150, so .54 cents a pound. I haven't had any luck going from 320 to 550 so can't speak to that. I just didn't have any luck with early Weaned calves.
By that logic we shouldn't even own Cattle. There is infrastructure cost involved but the cost of it goes down every year you make the extra money from weaning. In fact most everything you buy holds it's value or goes up in value every year. 3 years ago I paid $10k for a 30 ton feed bin. It has saved me around $12k in feed cost alone not to mention the fuel and labor involved in using sacks. I'd guess I could sell it for $12,000 today. You are right though not everyone should wean calves. We can at least agree on that. My figures are cowboy math and things definitely don't pan out every year but 8 out of 10 will be better.
Risk? What kind of risk? I take a risk when I walk down the stairs in the morning. Loss? Over the last 20 years I have weaned well over 2,000 calves. I can count the death loss on the fingers on one hand and have couple fingers left. Labor? Lucky answered that it took him 15 minutes a day. Mine doesn't average much more. Maybe 20 minutes. Infrastructure? A corral that I need to process and load cattle in an out from which sits empty the vast majority of the year. Fence around a field which was probably built by Noah or one of his sons. I went back and looked up prices on the day I weaned compared to the price I sold for. I gained 3 cents comparing top price the day I weaned to what I got. Unweaned calves wouldn't have received that top price. No interest due on these calves.
I have in the past. Not so much this year but I haven't exactly been buying #1's. Here they will run in 10, 20, 30 calves at a time. Often the buyer will ask to cut one or two out. I have bought cut outs. A lot of them have been weaned and vaccinated but I have been buying the cut outs for 30 cents under the market. So far only had to doctor one and that was for an eye.
I wrote a pretty big reply but deleted it. Have a good evening cowboy....
Couple of good post Dave. Buying cutouts is a good strategy.
