@farmerjan regarding that last sentence...
Was just speaking to an acquaintance/customer of mine yesterday. A few months ago I watched as he bought a BUNCH of cows. Bred cows and pairs mostly. I couldn't figure out what he was doing at the time. Well, apparently he didn't know either. Told me he sold out last week.
Lost over 25k on the deal...
Have to be careful!!
Edited to add...
I mean, we were all there. He was buying just over slaughter price. The problem was, there for a while, that slaughter prices were too high to try and make a profit of taking them home.
Yep. In trading...cattle, horses, old cars, real estate...whatever... your profit or loss is determined when you
buy.. not sell. You can make money trading in any economy, as long as you know how to
buy. A couple months ago when I was looking to buy some registered Red Charolais for a client, I finally found some 2 yr olds, AI'ed to a red Char with sexed for female semen. Dude wanted $3500 ( which was the top price my client wanted to pay) but agreed to take $3200 if we got all 7. I still thought $3200 was too high, for 3 mos bred heifers. ( Turns out it was either an old ad or a misprint.....they were more like 8 mos bred). My client only wanted 4, but Clay said he'd take the other 3. Both Clay and the other guy had intended to AI them to black Herford bulls, sexed for male semen, to raise some bodacious black baldy steers. Here while back, this man stopped at Clay's place when he saw them in the pasture. He thought they may have been Simmental or big red angus. Clay told him what they were, showed him the papers, and told him they were gonna calf any day now, with heifer calves. The man told him he would give $4500 a pair, if Cay would AI them back to sexed semen Red Char on the 2nd heat after they calved. And Clay was undecided! He called the boy that bought the other 4, and he said that heck yeah he'd sell them, for $4500! Clay is still undecided about his 3. I told him I wouldn't have to think 3 seconds about it myself.
This dude is crazy about red cattle. Won't have anything else. He has red Brangus, Gert, Beefmaster, Braford ,red SImbrah and red Brahmousine cows. He breeds them to red Angus bulls. He asked Clay about finding him a red Char bull to try on them. I am sure those calves would out-perform his red Angus sired calves. no doubt.
Talk at the sale barn today was that steer, slaughter cow and bull prices will hold for a while longer. Everyone thinks the last to start going down in price will be replacement heifers...open or bred.... and young, bred cows. I tend to think so, too. I Know this...the hottest commodity right now in cattle...the most sought-after.....are the red Charolais. I don't think current production can keep up with demand. I really like them myself. Red Char eliminates the negative reasons i don't like Chars...that damned dilute gene. People tell me that out west, people breed Corr cows to Char bulls instead of Angus/Brangus. Says the extra weaning weight helps cover the lower, non-black price. Well, I am thinking of Ai-ing about 1 dozen of my solid black Corr cows to a red Char bull. It will be interesting to see how they perform alongside the Brangus, black Simm, and Chiangus calves.
