Sold some bred heifers on the video sale this morning.
The wife no-saled them the last time, but I got her calmed down enough to let them go this morning.
1385 for the heifers.....she wanted 1400.
Had to take it........we have still had no rain.
We still have 50 to sell. They will be advertised after we preg check the bunch.
I am more than a little worried that next year will be dry, and turmoil in the Pacific is not good for cattle prices.
Always worried about a crash, so I am glad we sold them.
Bad markets are always a bum deal. Live to fight an other day.
An older neighbor told me his father would get the check from the Sioux City stockyard commission firm, not open the envelope, just tell his mother to put it in the bank.
Last year she got 1410. But hell, the market was higher at the time, and we were not in a terrible drought.
A lot sold in South Dakota before ours for 1450 or so. All you have to do is look at where we live compared to that......and figure the transportation.
We did okay!
Jim, I'm afraid the beef market is going to take a while to use up the drought sold cattle. Long term, it should make for a higher market.
Richard, my grandfather used to ride the train with my great grand father's cattle to market.
Chinook had a big yards right next to the rail yard. They drove the animals to town and loaded them on cattle cars.
He and his brother would then ride in the caboose and help get the cattle off and back on when they came off for hay and water.
I suspect they got paid a little by the rail company for the help.
The part grandpa remembered most was how quite often the hired men would get the check and not get back on the train!
I think they were going to Chicago back then, but I could be wrong.
How old were these heifers?
I try to figure what the gained in value daily. As in $ per day.
How old were these heifers?
I try to figure what the gained in value daily. As in $ per day.
They were born last March. Bred to start in March.
Jim, I'm afraid the beef market is going to take a while to use up the drought sold cattle. Long term, it should make for a higher market.
Yes, I think so too. Folks have been liquidating herds for several months now.
In fact, there was a herd in Sam's country that was liquidated on the video. Not sure why, but I can guess!
People will rebuild....I hope!
Overall, I think we did pretty well. Have sold some heavy steers, a split load and now half our bred heifers.
Not a run away, but not bad for a year this dry.
I am not sure we do a lot better on the video than we did selling to local buyers or going through the ring. You feel better about the fact that more people are "looking" at your cattle. Does not always turn into more money.
For years I watched people haul their calves 200 or more to Billings to bask in the glow of the Goggins/Vermillion angus empire. Only to sell calves for less money than I did at home.
I type to slow to begin to post the tales I've read about cattle, and cattle sales.
One of the stories is about the old party phone lines, and a buyer making one rancher a bid,
So 17 months? 30 * 17= 510 days?
1385 minus commission. Divided by 510. ? Is that close?
Yes, commission was 3 percent....like 40 bucks.
We've had so much rain that my rancher friends think they will be baling snow with the hay this fall.
Jim,
Glad to hear you were able to get a decent price for them.
Was this a Superior sale? I've watched most of them, not because I own any cattle, but my neighbors do and I raise hay. Folks having to sell cattle due to a drought means less hay sold.
Even with all of the cattle going to market I don't see any price drops at the store. I don't imagine your inputs have come down, either.
We're not even in a drought here, in fact, I may even get a late cutting of hay due to the spacing of the rainfall. I shredded around the back pasture edges this past weekend, trying to keep the brush from migrating out and shrinking the usable land. There were a few places where the edge of the shredder went into the hay and really bogged it down.
Everything here is as green as Spring and nothing is showing any signs of slowing growth as usually happens this time of year.
I hope the weather pattern changes for you folks up there and you can get some moisture.
Ed
You guys are having it rough up there. We've had the coolest august with the most rain I can remember in my 64 years. Grass out the ears, beans better than waist high. The corn was mostly made before the real wet stuff started, I saw some being picked over by Elk City yesterday. Glad sometimes I'm not farming anymore but I am getting tired of mowing the lawn in august!
I'm small potatoes to the western cattlemen, as I only have 25 cows. But, it gives me something to do, and it matters to me what the market is. I've watched the videos on RFD-TV many times, and found them a very interesting way to compare prices between there and here. We've had wonderful weather here, pasture has held up great all summer and looks good going into the fall. I'm thinking about taking some more ground out of crop production, and fencing it for more pasture. My only concern is cattle prices. It's hard to justify putting land that I'm getting $200 an acre rent money into pasture, if prices don't hold up. I heard an "expert", for what it's worth, on TV the other day predicting cattle prices were going to fall.
Don't you just love being in a business, were people that have never even smelled cow chit set the price on your cattle, I learned at a young age I didn't need to be a cow man to be a rancher. Rio7
Really a pretty good deal when one can sell on site. No hauling costs or shrink when the rigs show up and just load them up. Really helps too when one can sort into consistent lots. Get a bit of history going with really good lots, and buyers will bump things up a tad to get your product.
"You can get a good look at a T Bone by sticking your head up a bulls ass, but wouldn't you rather take the butchers word for it?"
- Big Tom Callahan
I don't know schit about cows, but this seemed strangely appropriate.
Richard, my grandfather used to ride the train with my great grand father's cattle to market.
Chinook had a big yards right next to the rail yard. They drove the animals to town and loaded them on cattle cars.
He and his brother would then ride in the caboose and help get the cattle off and back on when they came off for hay and water.
I suspect they got paid a little by the rail company for the help.
The part grandpa remembered most was how quite often the hired men would get the check and not get back on the train!
I think they were going to Chicago back then, but I could be wrong.
Reading a book of Charlie Russell's letters and one was a sketch of him on top of a cattle car in Chicago, and he was commenting about how much smoke was in that city back then.
Also said how his roll(cash) didn't require a rubber band after a few nights on the town.
I have a few cows. It really sucks to work to raise em, feed, em etc. and then just "take " what the market bears. I do enjoy seeing the fruits of my labor, but still.VERY FEW people around here rely just on cows to make a living. Now I know why.
When I was 14 yrs old we sold 1500 head of big aged steers to Wilson Meat Packers in Chicago,with the understanding we would deliver them, we drove them to Craig, Colorado, that's where the closest railroad shipping yard's were. loaded them on cattle cars and took them to Chicago, we rode in the Caboose, and slept on the floor.We unloaded in Chicago 42 hrs after leaving Craig.
The next day I walked thru the Chicago Board of Trade, with my uncles and they had a big black board, with all the prices of the commodities and futures, and they had the price of our May, calves that wouldn't be born for another 6 months, That's when I told my uncles to hell with this cow, raising. I want to raise some thing that I set the price on. to hell with that guy behind the desk in Chicago,
Who has never stepped in Chit,or pulled a calf or fed hay when it's 10 below. he ain't telling me what I can make on what I produce. I was pretty cocky for a young guy, but I proved out to be right. it just took awhile. Rio7
Sold about 600 head of calves on the video auction a few years back.
They didn't do as well as selling to our usual buyer, but he was out for cancer treatment, and it seemed like a good time to try it out.
Been getting ads from AGEX for much the same thing lately. They even come out and weight them for you.
https://www.agex.io/
Jim, Glad you got a decent price for your heifers especially considering the dry spell you guys have been dealing with. This may be a stupid question but with the boutique demand for buffalo have you ever considered getting any? I always figured that they'd be easier than cows in many ways and now that buffalo is sought after there's a market for it. Plus you could sell hunts. 😉
Aces< There ain't nothin that's easier about buffalo, been there done that. Rio7
Buff would be a royal pain in the ass!
Jim, I was reading a market summary in Drovers today and it looks like you did pretty good on that sale. They were predicting a decline in prices but I hope they are wrong!
Sure ain't the glory days of a few years ago but at least it's currently better than this time last year.
Aces< There ain't nothin that's easier about buffalo, been there done that. Rio7
No Doubt!
Hate handling those!
Aces< There ain't nothin that's easier about buffalo, been there done that. Rio7
No Doubt!
Hate handling those!
Thanks guys, I had a feeling they might not be as cooperative as cows. Is handling the biggest negative to buffalo?
Jim
A rancher from just west of here ,long since gone, is famous for trailing a bunch of grass finished steers across to , I think Whitewater- could have been to Malta. He rode the train with them to Chicago......he's famous, not for the cattle as much as the 'provisions ' he took with him - a grocery bag full of peanut butter sandwiches 😃
The calculation of dollars divided by days does not consider the conception or gestation costs of getting the heifer into the program.
But it is a good place to start.
But 1345 - 500 ( what a new born calf would be worth) times 0.93 thinking a 7 percent death cull loss is more likely a more accurate calculation.
Hay is worth 140 a ton. A heifer will eat 3 percent of her body weight a day.
1345 minus 500 is 855 times .93 about 785 divided by 510 days roughly $1.50 ( I got no calculator with me).
Over the 510 days the heifer will eat 12 pounds of hay a day. 12, pounds times 7.5 cents per pound is $0.85 a day
So it is most likely very important you have a feed source less expensive than hay ........or no overhead.
Best wishes and congratulations on the sale.
It ain't all roses out there for the people who feed us is it?
Roses? He// with roses, I think producers would settle for GRASS.
Since the dry started in late may, the West side has seen puddles only two days. The eclipse was a nice cool break. Nuts. Gimme rain!
Don't you just love being in a business, were people that have never even smelled cow chit set the price on your cattle, I learned at a young age I didn't need to be a cow man to be a rancher. Rio7
Personally, I think the law ought to the way it used to be, if you can't hold it (mine it, pump it, raise it or store it) , then you can't sell it. This "futures market" is just another way for the financial guys to make money off of other people's blood, sweat, and tears at the expense of those folks..
Ed