feeder cattle

[kato]

A cattle buyer friend of ours got tired of always having a couple of head taken as OTM when he knew fully well that they weren't, so he solved his problem himself.

He started sticking a couple of OTM fats in each load. Cargill was happy that they could dock him, and he was happy that they left the UTM's alone! LOL

[rkaiser]

Hey kpb, have I got a deal for you. I'm looking for some grass. Instead of guaranteeing yourself a loss on grass cattle, why not give me a couple hundred bucks and I'll haul over a couple loads of little hairy critters to keep the fire hazard down.

Great thread guys.Betcha ten bucks we'll all be back here in 5 years saying the same things though. This gang will never give up!!!!!!!

[kpb]

rkaiser, thanks for the offer but unless you've got 4 or 500 of those little hairy guys and are prepared to move up to our northern ranch near Lac La Biche for the summer to ride herd I'm gonna have to turn you down and take my chances this summer in the market. The way the feeders are coming down, things might work out ok anyways this spring.

I think you're a straight-up person so this doesn't apply but we've had some problems in the past when we have rented pasture that have made us very reluctant to do it again.

I agree with you that we are definitely hard-timers on this site and could very well be discussing the same stuff in five years. We just can't give up the cattle habit I guess.

kpb

[cowman]

I'm not real "strategic" in any of my cattle dealings. I basically follow a pattern year in year out and I try not to obsess too much over it?
Sell the big steer calves in the fall right in that late Nov. early Dec. when the tax money comes to town. Cut out what I think I want for replacement heifers and feed them fairly decent in early January. Tough the other heifers and scrubbies through til spring making sure I have a small feed bill in them. Send them to grass and sell them late August or in September.
I looked like a genius last year...don't know about this year?
Now maybe I should have sent them all down the road last fall, but then that causes tax problems? And I've never enjoyed taking 10-20 cents a pound less for a heifer than a steer? It is always amazing when those grass heifers come off grass at 850-900 how suddenly the feedlots become feminist liberated! Or for that matter how that calf with the frozen ears is suddenly okay and doesn't need a $150 discount? I believe the most costly cut on a calf isn't filet mignon but plain old ears! Why they must be worth a couple of hundred dollars a pound at least? Must be a delicacy in Japan or something?
When you get screwed a few times you soon get the picture?
I can remember back in the early nineties, when I thought I knew everything there was to know, striving to get $780 average on every animal that left the farm...and came pretty close to it? Those big fall steer calves pulled everything else up and in reality after you took off the winter feed bill and pasture the others struggled to keep up there end of the bargain! Took some creative book work sometimes to convince myself I wasn't just feeding them for fun! And actually cull cows came pretty close to holding up there part of the bargain?
Now considering that $780 was my goal in 1992...what would be a reasonable expectation today? Well 14 years at 2.5% inflation is 35%? so I guess I should be shooting for $1053?...somehow I don't think that is going to happen?
Despite the fact nobody is making any money the market pundits still say the market is rosy and cattle prices are high! Personally I just don't see it?

[food4u]

Cowman--We were using federal govt pasture (PFRA). Did an intergenerational transfer to one daughter and soninlaw.

[cowman]

blackjack: I think you said you were feeding calves this winter? So how is that working out? Is it going to be a new Cadillac with all the trimmings or is it going to be "patch it up and make it do!" LOL
One of my local feedlot guys told me he never bought any calves last fall and is starting to get empty, but figures he has enough silage in the pit he can skid some of his land into grain production this year...yea, like that looks like a winner!
He also told me grassers were too high, in his opinion, and he might sit the summer out as well. I think he has about six thousand acres or maybe more and quite a bit of it is really rough pasture land not fit to farm. He also told me he has over sixty surface leases...so I guess he won't starve! I'm sure you probably know him? Skyrise Farms. Smart businessman.

[blackjack]

...cowman...busy busy weekend...between the feeding and the kids provincial hockey tournament out at caroline haven't had much time to look on here... if the prices stay at present levels it definitely would be considered a patch up year... the last time i looked the futures on december fats were still fairly steady...so i am hoping when the majority of our yearlings sell in august that the prices will be stronger... as for the fellow you are talking about...would he happened to have been a ex feed mill owner...lol...not sure of the farms name...