Weaning for Dollars

[Allenw]

That was rough on the lightweight calves, wish I had been there if there were very many lightweights there at that price.

Nothing wrong with weaning early you just have to be prepared take better care of them when they're that small.

 

[elkwc]

Heeeere we go...
View attachment 730
First off, they did NOT sell co-mingled. They just didnt match the others that were sold that way. I left it up to the salebarn manager to do what he thought was best. I think he did me right.
Numbers are not in any particular order.
1. The 6 that were like in kind and weight did the best. Altho I wouldve liked to seen .20 cents more.
2. The first heifer did ok, I'm glad they sorted the 2 heifers seperate. I'll be bringing the other one back home. Wasnt gonna let her go for 250 bucks. She will make a nice cow one day.
3. I will NOT be weaning any at 5 months again! The 1 heifer and 2 steers really really struggled to grow. Didnt want the steer back. He sold. Altho the second steer I thought that wasnt doing too well sold in the group of 6.
4. The bull did a pretty good job making nice uniform calves.
5. My single biggest problem I think is....
CALVING WINDOW!

As an aside... I was very pleased, as were some other folks who made comment, with their behavior in the ring. Probly the calmest set that came thru!

That calving window problem will be solved this year at one place. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait til next year to straighten it up here. I would have to hold too many off the bull to make it worthwhile.

Thoughts and comments are always welcome!

Where did you sell? We are just weaning ours. Will wean in 4 bunches over 2 weeks. Gave 2nd round of shots today and turned out first bunch

 

[MurraysMutts]

Enid livestock market. They had over 1500 head Thursday
For the most part, I like the way they are doing things.
Calves seem to do well there. Perkins is hit or miss. Usually just a tad lower on prices. Only been to blackwell once to watch. Covington did pretty well today, surprisingly!

 

[MurraysMutts]

Reflecting back on this a bit..
I was waiting on rain, as was everyone else, for the wheat to get going.
Prices have really jumped for wheat calves recently. The reason behind that I think is, folks were waiting on the wheat to actually grow b4 buying.
If I had planned a bit better and had money for a bit more feed, i think i would've done well to hold em and feed em another month!

I'll remember that next year

 

[elkwc]

We planned to sell the first 2 set of steers we weaned this upcoming week due to it being the last sale of the year. But with predicted snow tomorrow and Tuesday may not sell any. Our calves have done well since weaning. A group of steers that will be 7 now and will be a lot heavier if we have to hold them till after the first of the year

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Admittedly I am usually a minority of one but can you explain to me the logic of selling a calf at weaning ie, 45 days after?
I figure a cow as hired help working on an annual basis. Her value to me is what she can produce in a year.
It would not make sense to me to pay a man for a years wages and have him work 6 or 7 months (or whatever your time frame for weaning).
The vision in my left eye is bad so I may have missed something. ....................again

 

[MurraysMutts]

For me, I am limited on acreage.
Just simply dont have space or grass to keep them longer.
However! Now that my calving window is getting better. I do plan on keeping them on the mama longer. Wont wean anything less than 6 months again. Need to get the most out of mama as possible.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I agree on using my momma cows to put on pounds. My calves are roughly 6-8 months old - depending on born 1st week of 60 day calving or last week. Yes, I occasionally wean a calf or two early for our show string. But, they usually end up making me enough extra money to make it worth drying up the cow early.
To me, if you "need" to wean early to keep your cows in good shape, you have the wrong kind of cows.

 

[bird dog]

I agree on using my momma cows to put on pounds. My calves are roughly 6-8 months old - depending on born 1st week of 60 day calving or last week. Yes, I occasionally wean a calf or two early for our show string. But, they usually end up making me enough extra money to make it worth drying up the cow early.
To me, if you "need" to wean early to keep your cows in good shape, you have the wrong kind of cows.

""To me, if you "need" to wean early to keep your cows in good shape, you have the wrong kind of cows.""

or just to many for your acreage. That is what is prevalent in our area. To many think they can run a cow per acre. They need 8.

 

[kenny thomas]

For me, I am limited on acreage.
Just simply dont have space or grass to keep them longer.
However! Now that my calving window is getting better. I do plan on keeping them on the mama longer. Wont wean anything less than 6 months again. Need to get the most out of mama as possible.

I do everything very different but consider if you could leave the calves on longer or even wean them and grow them further if you had less cows. What would the actual profit on the whole farm be compared to now. I can't get a handle on where the profit margin is the best for me.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I run pretty hard but definitely not a cow per acre. That won't work.

The goal for me is to get em up to weaning age and get em sold to someone who grows em from there.

I think too many folks try and do too many things on very limited acreage. I'm gonna try and do one thing well. As stated above. Some folks wean their own. Background their own. Grow their own. All on the same place. I'm not terrible interested in that. I do enjoy the cow/calf thing. But once them calves are ready to be put out on wheat or whatever the next phase is..... I'm letting someone else do that. They gotta make a living too I reckon

@kenny thomas thanks for that idea!
I'm down a couple mamas due to losing a couple heifers that couldnt hack it. I am considering just not replacing them. Like I said, I've been running pretty heavily stocked. Possibly more than I should have been. Good food for thought there!

 

[Silver]

I do everything very different but consider if you could leave the calves on longer or even wean them and grow them further if you had less cows. What would the actual profit on the whole farm be compared to now. I can't get a handle on where the profit margin is the best for me.

I do often wonder how it would work to reduce my cow herd by 30 percent and keep my lighter steer calves over winter and maybe on to grass. Or just sell them on to grass. I need to really put a pencil to it sometime I guess.

 

[kenny thomas]

I do often wonder how it would work to reduce my cow herd by 30 percent and keep my lighter steer calves over winter and maybe on to grass. Or just sell them on to grass. I need to really put a pencil to it sometime I guess.

I think I am missing out on some profit also. This year i have plenty of grass and barns full of hay. Hard to adjust numbers for a good season

 

[bird dog]

I am trying to have my place where I can run all my cows to where their calves wean at 7 to 8 months. All the calves will be pre-conditioned for at least 45 days on the place and the place must grow enough forage to provide hay for the herd for the year.

To do this I have to plant some oats and rye grass to cut for hay and also some just to graze. I also plant some Johnson grass or Sorghum Almum every year. It works pretty well but you still need 6 to 8 acres per animal unit and they have to be rotated to to let what you plant have a chance to grow.

It is a work in progress and of course the results change every year according to the weather but I have had to wean the calves early only one time and that was in the drought in 2011.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I have considered, in times of having more hay for winter, buying some heavy breds and calving them to sell as pairs come spring.

No weaning required.
Batteries not included.
Not for sale in stores.
Buy one get 2 free.
Limited time offer.
O!
And free shipping!

 

[Stocker Steve]

Admittedly I am usually a minority of one but can you explain to me the logic of selling a calf at weaning ie, 45 days after?

1) feed cost
2) yardage cost
3) going hunting
4) local weather
5) increased turns
6) incremental VOG
7)

 

[Stocker Steve]

I do often wonder how it would work to reduce my cow herd by 30 percent and keep my lighter steer calves over winter and maybe on to grass. Or just sell them on to grass. I need to really put a pencil to it sometime I guess.

Depends on your priorities and your risk tolerance:

For a GM guy - - your cattle investment, price risk, and gross margin per acre all go up.
For an optimizer - - you can use the yearlings to harvest some or all of the spring flush.
For a drought manager - - you can sell the yearlings early and delay any forced cow cull.

 

[annmariemz23]

I agree on using my momma cows to put on pounds. My calves are roughly 6-8 months old - depending on born 1st week of 60 day calving or last week. Yes, I occasionally wean a calf or two early for our show string. But, they usually end up making me enough extra money to make it worth drying up the cow early.
To me, if you "need" to wean early to keep your cows in good shape, you have the wrong kind of cows.

We are limited by feed availability for buyers. If there has been rain and the buyers are getting grass, the price is better for smaller calves. If it doesn't rain, then our larger calves bring a better price, and we keep them on the cow longer.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

@annmariemz23 where are you located? It would help all of us on the board if you would go to your profile and fill in your location. If you look at our member info to the left of everyone's post, most of us list where we live. Thanks a bunch.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

On Profile >Do you have any idea of how many hundreds of thousands of people have access to this forum?
Do you have any idea of how far someone with nothing to lose will go in distance and deed?
Do you have any idea of how hard it is to get old if you insist on living in condition white?