Best Month to Sell Calves

[mnlovell]

I live in North East Texas. I have some calves that are about ready for market. I have a small herd and have to sell at the Sale Barn.

What is your opinion on the best and worst months of the year to sell calves as far as price is concerned?

Should I sell in December or wait till January?

 

[1848]

I live in North East Texas. I have some calves that are about ready for market. I have a small herd and have to sell at the Sale Barn.

What is your opinion on the best and worst months of the year to sell calves as far as price is concerned?

Should I sell in December or wait till January?

Not sure how your salebarn has been doing in your part of the country, but I would wait until February. You will see a $10 to $20 (maybe even more) increase per 100 if you sell in the spring. Late fall and winter are usually the worst months to sell in your neck of the woods. Of course you will have to weigh it against how much it will cost you in feed and upkeep to get them there! :shock:

If you are already feeding then marketing them as soon as possible may be to your advantage. Check the sale barns in the area for the ones who are bringing the best return for your type and size of calf.

 

[dun]

As soon as the grass starts to look like it's going to green up

dun

 

[Susie David]

We do our buying in December...historically the last sale before Christmas brings the lowest prices...Bought yesterday...$64.00cwt for steers and heifers. Looking to make one more sale this month.
To sell...I'd wait until March
Just my two bits worth....DMc

 

[dun]

We do our buying in December...historically the last sale before Christmas brings the lowest prices...Bought yesterday...$64.00cwt for steers and heifers. Looking to make one more sale this month.
To sell...I'd wait until March
Just my two bits worth....DMc

I hope we do better then that. We have a bid opening on a potload of 7 weights tonight

dun

 

[Susie David]

When the order buyers are out in full force the big lots seem to bring better money than the singles and pairs. Light steers were bringing a buck and a few cents and these were nice animals that would have sold for one thirty plus in the summer.
The first of November seemed to be the turning point. Dmc

 

[Scotty]

If you can it would be best to keep until spring. When I had commercial cattle I tried to sell by July or August.

 

[Andrew]

Just sold some steers ~400lbs in Hubbard and they did ok. Mostly around $1.20-$1.35 which for me is not that bad for this time of year.

Andrew

 

[rc]

I sold a 750 lb.heifer at the sale in collierville tn. yesterday and she only brought .62 lb. Terrible. The thing is here if you haven't already got hay you are going to be out of luck. Anyone with any grass or enough hay could do well now by buying now and selling next spring. I sold some calves about 3 weeks ago ranging from 350 to 650 that sold poorly (around 1.05) and it's a lot worse now than then. That's here anyway, maybe not as bad elsewhere.

 

[Earl Thigpen]

By golly, I think we have a concensus. I agree, Winter is not the best time to sell. The sales at my auction house are off - a lot. Now would be a good time to buy - if you can feed them.

 

[stocky]

To me, generally October and December are the two worst months to sell calves and March-June are generally the best months. The problem is that April-June there is alot of green, watery grass and the calves do not weigh so good. October they weigh good, but the market is geneally soft because of sickness and December, there just arent that many buyers. I usually buy alot of cows at late December sales and they normally make a good return by spring. However, hay prices this year make it too expensive to winter them for resale.

 

[Cowdirt]

mnlovell,
Any amount of time you can hold them after Dec. you will normally gain $ in our area. Even Jan. helps some. Feb and Mar. are better still.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Been buying some light heifers for replacements. Only a few. Prices are cheap right now and bargains are out there. Certainly not a time to sell around here. If we get a wet spring, prices should soar.

 

[dun]

I wonder just how much of a price rise we'll see in the spring. It will be higher but I don;t think it will be a hge increase. The folks that will be buying those calves in the spring will still need to be feeding corn, either this years or next years. As crazy as the corn proces are I know I;ld sure be leery of getting in too deep.
It seems from conversations with a couple of feed lots tha they're looking at break evens in march-april to be in the $91 range. They've already contracted for their corn, what about the yards that haven;t contracted for it and will be at the mercy ofthe market?
Just some wayward thoughts

dun

 

[1848]

I wonder just how much of a price rise we'll see in the spring. It will be higher but I don;t think it will be a hge increase. The folks that will be buying those calves in the spring will still need to be feeding corn, either this years or next years. As crazy as the corn proces are I know I;ld sure be leery of getting in too deep.
It seems from conversations with a couple of feed lots tha they're looking at break evens in march-april to be in the $91 range. They've already contracted for their corn, what about the yards that haven;t contracted for it and will be at the mercy ofthe market?
Just some wayward thoughts

dun

I think calves will be up with a normal increase, but I think bred cows and good cows will take off early like they did last year, then the rest of the year will depend on the weather.

 

[milkmaid]

Just sold some steers ~400lbs in Hubbard and they did ok. Mostly around $1.20-$1.35 which for me is not that bad for this time of year.

Andrew

That's good news for me; I've got 4 black crossbred calves to sell when I get back home that are around 400-450lbs. Hopefully Idaho prices are about the same as TX prices.

 

[Scotty]

I do not know how much faith you can put into historic prices and all of the other economist mumbo jumbo. But the one I spoke of on another thread says we are on the downward slide of the ten year cycle. Calves to be high of 1.20 and lows are low. The bottom of his graph best of my memory was .85 per CWT in 08.

 

[backhoeboogie]

'05 was the worst year ever here. Worse than the dust bowl or anything on record. Between May and the following January, we got a nice rain in August. Places were burning off left and right in brush fires. Cactus literally dried up into cardboard looking pieces.

'06 was bad and it was widespread. Hay shortage was already bad when the year started. Those who sold out everything in '05 made a little hay this year. We actually had some rains in '06. Wheat and other winter crops actually came up.

There are "cattleman" all around here who don have many, or don't have any cattle. They are either going to retire from the business, or else have to buy and build back the herds.

If '07 is a wet year, I anticipate cow prices to escalate a lot. If it stays dry and hay prices stay up, many may just make a little hay again.

 

[Limomike]

Yep.. gotta have that good ol rain in the spring to jump start things. Although with the 10+ inches of snow and 2" of rain under that which we got this past week it will sure help!
I am taking in a few steers this Monday, so I will let you all know how they did. I just dont want to feed them all the way through winter.

 

[TheBullLady]

We saw a "spike" in prices about 2 weeks ago when oats and wheat starting looking good, but with no rain now even that is looking bad. A lot of producers around here had to sell because the tanks (water) were dry, and most say they'll restock in the spring, if we get rain. Most are predicting young cows and replacements will be high starting in April

I've also got some 5+ weights that need to go to market, but I'm going to hold out at least until after Jan 1st.