20 month cattle?

[cowman]

Japan seems to be sort of making noises that 20 months might be the cut off date for future testing? The implications of this would suggest cattle under 20 months might be okay for export?
It would seem to me that this developement might be a real boost for the continental breeds? The whole industry seems to be going Angus but would this reverse that trend? You take those big Sim/Char calves off momma and push them hard and they'll finish just about where you want them at close to the year old stage? You push the British breeds and they get fat as seals! I would suspect heavy barley feeding is the only way you will get cattle to finish, and still fit in the box...in the time frame available? Might be a good thing?

[cswilson]

I thought that too cattleman but we have finished our Angus calves as calves and off grass and believe it or not the finished weights were a bit higher for the calf feds (1325). The feedlots now a days can balance rations to get cattle to the correct endpoint within reason. I guess if worse comes to worse we could run some more white bulls-we did for 30 years lol.

[cswilson]

Sorry cowman, I'll have to call you on that one. I am finishing straight bred, and crossbred Galloway cattle up to 1350 pounds grading double and triple A at 16 and 17 months without the pill in their ear.

Good try.

One thing that this twenty month thing will definately do is affect the yearlings for anyone interested in export. Yearling or grass cattle will need some kind of integration to retain a domestic market.

[grassfarmer]

Once again the old adage that there is more difference within a breed than between breeds comes to mind. All the guys on here that shoot down my grass finishing system insist that with grain the cattle are all fat by 12 or 14 months where it takes 2 or 3 years on grass. We can fatten cattle at 17 or 18 months off grass yet when you look at the "yearling" marketers there are lots of cattle there going nowhere fast. I was looking at cattle on a satellite sale last night, thousands of yearlings weighing 750-950lbs presumably having been born last spring (18 months old now with lots of weight to gain yet)
I think this is a result of the poor management of grass and resources that is all too apparent in the cattle industry here. If you ever introduce an accurate ageing process (date specific)for calves here you would be surprised how many poor, slow growing ones there are in the system - across all breeds.

[cswilson]

Well grass cattle might be poor managemewnt but it's made people alot of money over the years-alot of ranches run grass cattle for various reasons-ability to use up some excess grass in spring but also can destock quickly in a drought-spreads your marketings. Grass has been the heal all for bad management for a long time-good money in buying the nuts,horns,etc-worm them-clean them up and give them some good pasture-we've put 200 lbs on them plus twenty cents on the price in good years. There are lots of outfits that raise 8 weight yearlings cheaper per head than some guys are raising 8 weight calves. Ourselves we do some of everything we place and sell cattle all year round-feed some as calves-some off grass-sell some right off grass etc.Have never sold calves as yet though.

[kato]

No matter how they are finished, the trick is to prove they are under 20 months.

The CCIA needs to find a way to attach birthdates to the electronic tag system. It would make life a lot easier for everyone if we could do that.

As for grassing yearlings, if you weren't interested in going for the Japanese market, it wouldn't be a big deal. They can all be finished by 30 months, unless you are totally doing it wrong. There will still be a market for under 30 month everywhere else.

It will all come back to record keeping and source verification.

[cswilson]

Boy attaching birth data to a tag that will probably only stay in 90 percent of the cattle is going to be tough. Our calves are all tagged certified hormone free so hopefully Great Britain may be a marketing option.

[grassfarmer]

I wouldn't bank on it cs, British consumers are too cheap to pay out for hormone free imports. They prefer cheap imports. Some of the other European countries appreciate better quality product but are very protectionist about imports.

[cswilson]

Well it cost a whole 5 bucks for the gamble we got a decent premium for our natural cattle through Highland Feeders last year. I quit using implants years ago so like I said all I'm out is cost of tag.

[cswilson]

How much hair you got on those cattle cswilson, "tag" doesn't cost me that terrible much. LOL

[grassfarmer]

cswilson, I think the bulk of my cattle are headed the same route as yours this year - the natural program at Highland, apart from keeping enough to supply our retailing operation of grass finished. Were these cattle really going to Europe last year or is there a high price outlet in N.America that is buying hormone free?

[cswilson]

Not sure where they sold them last year but we got about a $10 cwt live premium for ones we sold last fall. RP I don't get what you mean lol.

[cswilson]

cswilson. You said, "all I'm out is cost of tag"
I realise that you were probably talking about the eartag.
I twisted it around to shit tag on the steers hide.
It used to be one of many excuses that buyers could use to bid down a good haired Galloway or Welsh or Highland calf.
Sorry cs, just saw an opportunity to have some fun.

[cowman]

Different management practices can make a world of difference! But I suppose most people gravitate to what works for them? Maybe works into their system more than what might be considered the"optimum system of the week"?
So you have the farmer calving in Feb/March so he isn't messing with a bunch of calving cows when it's time to be planting the crop? Nothing more frustrating than having to shut down the seed drill, to help some heifer?
Perhaps that farmer isn't all that keen on spending his winter feeding a bunch of calves either? This is where that big early born exotic cross calf is nice? He weighs up there and he brings a good price...enough to make a good profit on(pre-BSE!)? By November he's gone and is someone elses problem?
Unfortunately this type of system usually requires you to keep the heifers...unless you like getting screwed by the feedlots...as well as the tail enders! Feed them tough and sell them into a hot spring grass market and you will make some money! It is amazing how a heifer loses a good portion of that discount after the winter? I haven't sold a heifer off the cow for years and I've always made money....well maybe not this year!

[cowman]

Oh and grassfarmer: I kept my heifers and bred anything I thought might make a cow(dumb thing to do, but I rolled the dice) I would suspect they are averaging in that 1100 lb. range and have never seen grain in their life. The rest are probably sneaking up into that 950 range and were fed hard last winter-grass hay and straw-I doubt they gained much of anything over the winter(and didn't cost a lot to keep).
These are all cross bred cattle with a makeup of about 65% British(Red Angus/hereford) and 35% exotic(Sim/Char). Heifers bred red Angus.