I Guess Cattle Prices are Up

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

Earlier this afternoon I sold a 2 1/2 week old beef bottle calf for $200. About a year ago, $60-$100 might have been a good price.

Took in three cow/calf pairs and two, what I hope are, long-bred heifers today for a special cow/calf sale tomorrow. Monday will be taking in almost all of last year's calves. Am hoping for a pretty good paycheck. April 15th comith.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), March 30, 2001

Answers

Ken - Congrats!!

Might consider moving up to Idaho... Vicki, too...

Feeder calves at $400 with no papers... Goats? saw an ad this morning for wethers for $100, and doelings for $350.....

Heck.... Maybe I oughta pack up and move by you two!!!!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), March 30, 2001.


Prices here are way high you are lucky to find a dairy bull calf for 100,200 is not unheard of. Beef breeds forget anything under 500 and thats for a bull calf X. Send some this way Ken!

-- renee oneill{md.} (oneillsr@home.com), March 30, 2001.

Golly Sue, that is high. I'm getting my 2 registered Alpine does (8wks old) today for 75.00 each. You can buy reg. buck babys for 30.00 if you know the people. The cattle around here seem to go up and down, sometimes higher and sometimes lower. There is an ad in the paper for 14 calves ready for grass at 245.00 each (boys and girls)

By the way, a friend told me yesterday, she goes to the dairy auctions to buy baby calves to put on her goats, that you never know if the heifer calf was a twin or not, and there is a chance that a twin from boy/girl calves could not conceive later. Have any of you run across this? She's been doing this a long time.

Since cattle don't have twins very often, the chances of getting one are low, but still there I quess. Would be sad to raise up a Jersey for the family milk cow only to find out she can't have babies.

She just bought a 10 year old Jersey, 8 months bred for 350.00. The youner ones go allot higher, maybe 900.00. I would say that is a very good price for your calf, Ken.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), March 31, 2001.


As for the heifer calves at the dairy auction..I would be a little leery of buying one just because the dairy farmer is going to keep heifer calves as a rule. If he sells the heifer, there is probably aa very good reason--and being a twin is a valid one. A freemartin, from what I've always heard and read will not conceive. As for prices, I heard last night that the cattle prices at our local auction (western AR) dropped considerably this week. Cattlemen are beginning to dump their animals because of the FMD scare. Most of the ranchers around here are very small operators, most retired and run a few cows to supplement the income. Im speculating they don't want to get caught with stock if govt. decides to quarentine or dispose. Will we see low prices reflected at the market? I'm not holding my breath.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), March 31, 2001.

Farmers are selling heifers and bulls because they are getting a GOOD price .Yes you run a chance of a problem , but thats not the main reason for selling .If you have a 100 head dairy do you need 50 replacement heifers every year ? No , maybe 10 .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), March 31, 2001.


They're down right now around here!

-- nobrabbit (conlane@prodigy.net), March 31, 2001.

Well, then again, maybe not. For the calf crop I took in (47), they went from $80 $96 per hundred weight, versus prices a couple of weeks ago of mostly over $100. Small calves went for $100 to $145.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), April 04, 2001.

What did you get for your cow/calf pairs and the bred cows Ken? 6-8 month bred cows at Shepardsville went for 550 or so about. The small sorry looking buggers ready for grass went for 250. No cow/calf pairs went thru Saturday. It's not a big cow auction, just the few here and there. Goats were sky high because of the demand for Easter Dinner. Bucks and wethers were twice the price of does. 150 for intact bucks with horns and 100 for any wether over 8 months old. After Easter the price for bucks will take a dive till fall and then up again.

We just went to look, not to take anything or buy. But I got my heart broke. There were 2 donkeys that needed a home, a Jenny with her feet needing trimming bad, and her son, a Jack. No one even bid on them, could've had them for 125 each. I didn't even take any money as we didn't plan on buying anything, and didn't even have a trailor if I did. Tried to get the guys name and number but he was not open to that. He probably took them to the auction down south Tuesday anyway. The Jenny was big and sweet. They have a huge horse auction up there this comming Monday night and maybe the two donkeys will be there.

Were your calves some of the first to go thru or some of the last?

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), April 04, 2001.


Feeder calves seem to be holding up well here in middle Tennessee. Cow numbers don,t seem to be climbing with calf prices like in the past. Lots of feeder heifers.

-- Bill (wah@tnweb.com), April 04, 2001.

i need to find a dairy cow or heifer. i'd like to have a jersey if possible. i'm in the evansville in area and will go as much as a hundred miles if the price is right. if anyone can help me find one i sue will appreciate it.

-- lydia mclaughlin (lyd01@henderson.com), March 22, 2002.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ