Calf prices 2016

Sam Kade · 15-02-2016 11:06am

I use a haulier to kabturk €5/hd and he sells as well, no way would I sell to a dealer in the yard.

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 11:13am

whelan2 wrote: »

How do you cost your time at a very busy period. No risk of bringing disease home if you sell at home

I don't sell calves cause there money to be made on them at back end or next spring without a lot of meal.if I did go to mart I e neighbours and friends who go every week who'd sell them for me.once an ainmal leaves this yard for mart he ain't coming back !!,

whelan2 · 15-02-2016 11:43am

I mean the farmer bringing disease back. Never understood lads bringing calves to mart not selling and taking them home

Greengrass1 · 15-02-2016 11:45am

mahoney_j wrote: »

What's a fair price ??,selling in yard only one customer ,sell in mart you've many .

80e for good and bad. Sure again you put in your time, diesel and mart fees you won't be much better off.

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 11:49am

Greengrass1 wrote: »

80e for good and bad. Sure again you put in your time, diesel and mart fees you won't be much better off.

I really think your missing a trick with your bull cslves gg,do em right for first 10 weeks then grass and some meal and a lot more to be made for little work at end of year .putting all your eggs in milk and cows isn't what I'd be advising for the foreseeable .

Milked out · 15-02-2016 12:08pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

I really think your missing a trick with your bull cslves gg,do em right for first 10 weeks then grass and some meal and a lot more to be made for little work at end of year .putting all your eggs in milk and cows isn't what I'd be advising for the foreseeable .

That's fine if you have outside blocks mj but if all in one block ground is better off for cows

whelan2 · 15-02-2016 12:22pm

Greengrass1 wrote: »

80e for good and bad. Sure again you put in your time, diesel and mart fees you won't be much better off.

Do you get paid on day or is it wait 10 days(at least). I think these export guys are really riding the farmers, wtf are they doing sitting on the money for 10 days

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 12:29pm

Milked out wrote: »

That's fine if you have outside blocks mj but if all in one block ground is better off for cows

Agree to a point but with milk price on downward spiral it's not a bad thing to have an easily cashed in alternative source of income at year end

whelan2 · 15-02-2016 12:30pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Agree to a point but with milk price on downward spiral it's not a bad thing to have an easily cashed in alternative source of income at year end

Some lads havent got time to wait until the year end

patsy_mccabe · 15-02-2016 12:34pm

whelan2 wrote: »

Do you get paid on day or is it wait 10 days(at least). I think these export guys are really riding the farmers, wtf are they doing sitting on the money for 10 days

Probably waiting to get paid themselves by whoever they sell to.:(

Greengrass1 · 15-02-2016 12:35pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

I really think your missing a trick with your bull cslves gg,do em right for first 10 weeks then grass and some meal and a lot more to be made for little work at end of year .putting all your eggs in milk and cows isn't what I'd be advising for the foreseeable .

I'm not taking on ground to keep bull calves.
What profit are you going to make off them at 10 nths old? 100/ 150e

We sold a dozen AA bulls in mart on sat. 10 mths old. 550 was the average. Not enough imo

Should have 40 heifer calves to look after this yr. There the priority. Not arsing around with bull calves. If we're that tight for money we'll sell them

whelan2 · 15-02-2016 12:36pm

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Probably waiting to get paid themselves by whoever they sell to.:(

Last calf i sent i had 2 ring twice and it took 3 weeks for payment. If they are that stuck for 80 euro it doesnt look good

Greengrass1 · 15-02-2016 12:36pm

whelan2 wrote: »

Do you get paid on day or is it wait 10 days(at least). I think these export guys are really riding the farmers, wtf are they doing sitting on the money for 10 days

Paid on the day. He's not an exporter

Milked out · 15-02-2016 12:37pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Agree to a point but with milk price on downward spiral it's not a bad thing to have an easily cashed in alternative source of income at year end

Cull cows would be the same, milk em on with main herd and offload at year end with no extra group around the place, obviously if high scc etc not a runner but you get my gist. Beef men say the purchase price is the difference between profit and loss so selling the calves gives the profit part straight off. Again fragmented farms are different

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 1:25pm

Greengrass1 wrote: »

I'm not taking on ground to keep bull calves.
What profit are you going to make off them at 10 nths old? 100/ 150e

We sold a dozen AA bulls in mart on sat. 10 mths old. 550 was the average. Not enough imo

Should have 40 heifer calves to look after this yr. There the priority. Not arsing around with bull calves. If we're that tight for money we'll sell them

That's sounds way off or else weights were poor ,they'd easily make 2/2.40 a kg live weight here..didn't say take extra land ,you have out locks of land and you've outlined you don't use full fert application so why not use it grow the grass and achieve cheap live weight gain .your only talking an extra 20/25 calves .not much work in that .150 euro per head and more profit is not to be a eased at .if milk stays low for sustained period u will be more than happy to have them rather than just covering costs with milk.

pedigree 6 · 15-02-2016 1:38pm

This is to anyone. If your highly stocked as it is and if there's tb in your area even though your herd is clear. Sell your bull calves. If you have land to keep them to slaughter then fine keep them.

Greengrass1 · 15-02-2016 2:43pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

That's sounds way off or else weights were poor ,they'd easily make 2/2.40 a kg live weight here..didn't say take extra land ,you have out locks of land and you've outlined you don't use full fert application so why not use it grow the grass and achieve cheap live weight gain .your only talking an extra 20/25 calves .not much work in that .150 euro per head and more profit is not to be a eased at .if milk stays low for sustained period u will be more than happy to have them rather than just covering costs with milk.

We're 280-320 kg.
Far from poor weights for April born AA.

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 3:02pm

Greengrass1 wrote: »

We're 280-320 kg.
Far from poor weights for April born AA.

Not bad but still poor price ,unloading my March April he Bulls next week weighed this am 360/395 kg .should make 2.20 kg plus

patsy_mccabe · 15-02-2016 4:05pm

pedigree 6 wrote: »

This is to anyone. If your highly stocked as it is and if there's tb in your area even though your herd is clear. Sell your bull calves. If you have land to keep them to slaughter then fine keep them.

That's very good advice. Even for a suckler farmer, getting a fail at the wrong time of the year can be a disaster. I know of guys that moved their annual hard test to the spring to avoid getting caught in the autumn.

farmer lad · 15-02-2016 5:32pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Not bad but still poor price ,unloading my March April he Bulls next week weighed this am 360/395 kg .should make 2.20 kg plus

What breeds?

blackdog1 · 15-02-2016 5:34pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Not bad but still poor price ,unloading my March April he Bulls next week weighed this am 360/395 kg .should make 2.20 kg plus

Are you running a he bull with your cows mj?. I agree on profit in beef . Ran a good operation raising 20 hol bulls to 15 months but I put 10 extra cows this year instead as same profit at 26c a litre with 1 less diet a day.

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 5:44pm

farmer lad wrote: »

What breeds?

Hereford x hol Friesan ,nice square cattle .getting a bit strong now for me

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 5:45pm

blackdog1 wrote: »

Are you running a he bull with your cows mj?. I agree on profit in beef . Ran a good operation raising 20 hol bulls to 15 months but I put 10 extra cows this year instead as same profit at 26c a litre with 1 less diet a day.

Yep he gets 3 weeks from mid late June when I'm done with Ai

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 5:45pm

blackdog1 wrote: »

Are you running a he bull with your cows mj?. I agree on profit in beef . Ran a good operation raising 20 hol bulls to 15 months but I put 10 extra cows this year instead as same profit at 26c a litre with 1 less diet a day.

Yep he gets 3 weeks from mid late June when I'm done with Ai

Greengrass1 · 15-02-2016 5:58pm

blackdog1 wrote: »

Are you running a he bull with your cows mj?. I agree on profit in beef . Ran a good operation raising 20 hol bulls to 15 months but I put 10 extra cows this year instead as same profit at 26c a litre with 1 less diet a day.

Exactly my thinking.

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 8:26pm

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Exactly my thinking.

Extra diet ???,it's some more milk powder ,meal grass and silage if wintered . Fair enough in high milk price year more milk /cows but we all know the astronomical cost of bringing heifers through .it costs a far lot less to carry a bull/bullock to 9/12 months and is a liquid asset which can be cashed at short notice .in a bad price period like we're going through now 20/30 bullocks will leave a nice ball of notes .

frazzledhome · 15-02-2016 8:32pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Extra diet ???,it's some more milk powder ,meal grass and silage if wintered . Fair enough in high milk price year more milk /cows but we all know the astronomical cost of bringing heifers through .it costs a far lot less to carry a bull/bullock to 9/12 months and is a liquid asset which can be cashed at short notice .in a bad price period like we're going through now 20/30 bullocks will leave a nice ball of notes .

I see your point, but all it is is s ball of notes. It's Cashflow not a lot of profit. We kept all the fr bull calves last year born after 17/3. Only reason was I got fed up of getting the shyte kicked out of me every week in the mart.

We have to sell early cslves as space is at a premium and labour is stretched. On keeping He calves I take your point but €250 per calf at 1 week old must be €200 profit without keeping them. I'd be shyte less of getting locked up with cattle.

Sam Kade · 15-02-2016 8:34pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

I really think your missing a trick with your bull cslves gg,do em right for first 10 weeks then grass and some meal and a lot more to be made for little work at end of year .putting all your eggs in milk and cows isn't what I'd be advising for the foreseeable .

mahoney_j wrote: »

Hereford x hol Friesan ,nice square cattle .getting a bit strong now for me

They would have made close to 300 average last year as calves, how much extra profit have you made by keeping them for a year?

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 8:57pm

Sam Kade wrote: »

They would have made close to 300 average last year as calves, how much extra profit have you made by keeping them for a year?

I'll let u know next week

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 9:01pm

frazzledhome wrote: »

I see your point, but all it is is s ball of notes. It's Cashflow not a lot of profit. We kept all the fr bull calves last year born after 17/3. Only reason was I got fed up of getting the shyte kicked out of me every week in the mart.

We have to sell early cslves as space is at a premium and labour is stretched. On keeping He calves I take your point but €250 per calf at 1 week old must be €200 profit without keeping them. I'd be shyte less of getting locked up with cattle.

At your scale I can certainly understand why u want rid soon as ,(efficient highly stocked ship growing lots of grass).at a smaller scale it starts to make more sense with out blocks etc to at least keep them through summer.horses for courses ,I'll be glad of the extra cheque in a year like this anyway

welton john · 15-02-2016 9:13pm

frazzledhome wrote: »

I see your point, but all it is is s ball of notes. It's Cashflow not a lot of profit. We kept all the fr bull calves last year born after 17/3. Only reason was I got fed up of getting the shyte kicked out of me every week in the mart.

We have to sell early calves as space is at a premium and labour is stretched. On keeping He calves I take your point but €250 per calf at 1 week old must be €200 profit without keeping them. I'd be shyte less of getting locked up with cattle.

all bull calves born here last year were put under 3 older cows who reared 2 or 3 calves at a time.all calves were sold at 5 weeks. 4 fr av of 220 then the rest were bb,lm and he made from 420 to 510 think they averaged 455 for 15 calves.
very little work once the cow is willing to do the job. bar the odd scour things went grand went them. i know it wouldnt suit everyone but how much would these calves need to make now just to break even 800+?

frazzledhome · 15-02-2016 9:31pm

welton john wrote: »

all bull calves born here last year were put under 3 older cows who reared 2 or 3 calves at a time.all calves were sold at 5 weeks. 4 fr av of 220 then the rest were bb,lm and he made from 420 to 510 think they averaged 455 for 15 calves.
very little work once the cow is willing to do the job. bar the odd scour things went grand went them. i know it wouldnt suit everyone but how much would these calves need to make now just to break even 800+?

We just wouldn't have the resources to do that. As you say it's horses for courses

Greengrass1 · 15-02-2016 9:35pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Extra diet ???,it's some more milk powder ,meal grass and silage if wintered . Fair enough in high milk price year more milk /cows but we all know the astronomical cost of bringing heifers through .it costs a far lot less to carry a bull/bullock to 9/12 months and is a liquid asset which can be cashed at short notice .in a bad price period like we're going through now 20/30 bullocks will leave a nice ball of notes .

Have done it mj.

All it was was spending money to get it back at another time.
Better off not spending it in the first place imo.

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 10:04pm

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Have done it mj.

All it was was spending money to get it back at another time.
Better off not spending it in the first place imo.

Agree to disagree ,been carrying cattle here as long as I can remember although at smaller nos now that more cows are been milked .they still have a place and leave a profit for small work once reared .selling calves at 80 euro a pop don't make sense to me .its literally just beer money at that

Greengrass1 · 15-02-2016 10:39pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Agree to disagree ,been carrying cattle here as long as I can remember although at smaller nos now that more cows are been milked .they still have a place and leave a profit for small work once reared .selling calves at 80 euro a pop don't make sense to me .its literally just beer money at that

That's all there making mj. 40 to 125 in mart on sat. I think I'm doing well

orm0nd · 15-02-2016 10:48pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Not bad but still poor price ,unloading my March April he Bulls next week weighed this am 360/395 kg .should make 2.20 kg plus

would you not have more customers if they were castrated ? usually sell ex yard here to repeat customers, none of them would touch bulls

mf240 · 15-02-2016 10:50pm

Lads i keep on the most of the cattle to finish.

Theres a small few pound out of them and as mentioned they keep money together but im grazing them on out farms and have the sheds in place.

But even at 25 cent a litre there are not as profitabe as dairy cows.

Even a 5000 litre cow with poor solids would bring in 1250 before costs.

You have to keep cattle two years to get 12/1300 hundred.

Miname · 15-02-2016 11:04pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Not bad but still poor price ,unloading my March April he Bulls next week weighed this am 360/395 kg .should make 2.20 kg plus

I'd doubt it Mahoney unless they are serious calves altogether. I'd reckon 750 average at a max.

visatorro · 15-02-2016 11:10pm

rear all calves here. but bulls go once they are reared. sell to the same couple of fellas all the time. they want reared calves and pay a reasonable price for them. kinda suits me not to be rooting around marts. or dealing with fly be exporters. having faith in the lad writing the cheque is worth a lot.

if I was home full time, had enough land and sheds and slurry storage I would finish stock.
not gonna bother finishing things while im still milking. don't even fatten culls they just go straight from the parlour. if/when milking stops may business model may change.

Timmaay · 15-02-2016 11:13pm

mf240 wrote: »

Lads i keep on the most of the cattle to finish.

Theres a small few pound out of them and as mentioned they keep money together but im grazing them on out farms and have the sheds in place.

But even at 25 cent a litre there are not as profitabe as dairy cows.

Even a 5000 litre cow with poor solids would bring in 1250 before costs.

You have to keep cattle two years to get 12/1300 hundred.

For the likes of me, with only the grazing block, and 2bh still not quite where I need to be with enough replacement heifers hitting the parlour 2years later for early feb, and also by now exposed to a decent few diseases like IBR, Salmonella mortellaro etc, and the market flooded with cheap replacement heifers, the option of flogging on all calves before 6weeks old, and stock to the last with cows here is becoming more and more of a runner. Yep its risky if milk hits 20cent or whatever for a prolonged period, however if it does I don't think banking on 100e profit per yearling will do much to save my bacon.

orm0nd · 15-02-2016 11:16pm

Miname wrote: »

I'd doubt it Mahoney unless they are serious calves altogether. I'd reckon 750 average at a max.

Kilmallock to day

Feb/march black hex bullocks 325 kgs 810 euro
comrades 363 kgs 800 E

aax bullocks 285kgs 615 E
comrades 340 kgs 725E

mahoney_j · 15-02-2016 11:32pm

Timmaay wrote: »

For the likes of me, with only the grazing block, and 2bh still not quite where I need to be with enough replacement heifers hitting the parlour 2years later for early feb, and also by now exposed to a decent few diseases like IBR, Salmonella mortellaro etc, and the market flooded with cheap replacement heifers, the option of flogging on all calves before 6weeks old, and stock to the last with cows here is becoming more and more of a runner. Yep its risky if milk hits 20cent or whatever for a prolonged period, however if it does I don't think banking on 100e profit per yearling will do much to save my bacon.

Point I'm trying to make is that keeping and rearing calves to beteween 8/12 months old can be profitable ,wether all land on one block or fragmented blocks .yes milk will nearly always leave more but at sub 25 milk price an alternative easily cashed in source of cash could and will be very welcome .rearing them to that stage is not huge work nor time consuming ,I've done it myself and through dads time here.been talking to 2 guys in last week that kept and reared 20/30 he and aa Bulls since last March April .they were carried through summer on grass housed in late November on silage and 2 kg ration.big demand now for these and prices in hearing are near what ormond has quoted .at say 750 average price that's over 22 k on 30 cattle even before a milk cheque has arrived ......

Greengrass1 · 15-02-2016 11:36pm

orm0nd wrote: »

Kilmallock to day

Feb/march black hex bullocks 325 kgs 810 euro
comrades 363 kgs 800 E

aax bullocks 285kgs 615 E
comrades 340 kgs 725E

Maybe mine might have been better off as bullocks?

Sam Kade · 16-02-2016 12:00pm

orm0nd wrote: »

Kilmallock to day

Feb/march black hex bullocks 325 kgs 810 euro
comrades 363 kgs 800 E

aax bullocks 285kgs 615 E
comrades 340 kgs 725E

How much did it cost to get them to those weights? I doubt there would be much extra profit over selling them as calves.

mahoney_j · 16-02-2016 12:11pm

Sam Kade wrote: »

How much did it cost to get them to those weights? I doubt there would be much extra profit over selling them as calves.

It's not rocket science to get to those weights ,it's all about the first 10 weeks ,do it right then and you've 80% done ,after that keep dosed ,good grass and 2/3 kg meal from October on .cant understand where some are coming from re the huge extra work load it takes to rear these .if you've fragmented land it makes sense

orm0nd · 16-02-2016 12:13pm

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Maybe mine might have been better off as bullocks?

Marts are a f$%king lottery, sell at home if possible

hex and aax sell better castrated (imo)

blackdog1 · 16-02-2016 12:23pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

It's not rocket science to get to those weights ,it's all about the first 10 weeks ,do it right then and you've 80% done ,after that keep dosed ,good grass and 2/3 kg meal from October on .cant understand where some are coming from re the huge extra work load it takes to rear these .if you've fragmented land it makes sense

I agree 100% with you and it's a nice wad of cash to pay for fertilizer in spring . But it all depends on your circumstances. I was getting 150 for hol bulls calves in the autumn at 2 weeks and 100-120 now. They cost me 10 Euro a week in milk plus feed and straw and their is a bit of extra work. I still keep and fatten my bb x and aa x but if I was offered 60-80 Euro for my bull calves I'd go right back into rearing them as the profit ratio would increased enough for it especially at low milk prices.

orm0nd · 16-02-2016 12:30pm

Sam Kade wrote: »

How much did it cost to get them to those weights? I doubt there would be much extra profit over selling them as calves.

mahoney_j wrote: »

It's not rocket science to get to those weights ,it's all about the first 10 weeks ,do it right then and you've 80% done ,after that keep dosed ,good grass and 2/3 kg meal from October on .cant understand where some are coming from re the huge extra work load it takes to rear these .if you've fragmented land it makes sense

tops of our hex are 440kgs at 12 months , will start selling about 4 weeks time

from a decent cow and a decent bull as MJ says it's easy acheviable

I'm not telling every one to start rearing calves but with our limited milking block here it suits us

don't know the prfoit margin but tell you 1 thing for sure , far more profit IMO that buying zero grazers and drawing grass 8 miles one way and slurry 8 the other

theres enough of fools doing that without more joining them

welton john · 16-02-2016 1:00pm

We used to keep alot of the bulls on an outfarm like others here.As said definately a good way to have access to a few pound and at last years and current beef prices its definately profitable no doubt. But i also remember a few years going to marts with good quality well done 500kg fr bullocks 18 months old and only making 600-650 and he and aa not doing much better. Maybe we should have been selling younger??
Who knows maybe we wont see times like them again but i wouldnt be encouraging a lad with alot of jex / frx calves to keep large amounts of them.Often remember reading lads here saying the turned a few pound on frx bulls bought very handy,who suffered there?often saw a pen of 300kg frx or ho bulls leave the ring without a bid or sell for 180/200.
hope we dont see them prices again but theres a good chance we could

Brown Podzol · 16-02-2016 1:16pm

orm0nd wrote: »

tops of our hex are 440kgs at 12 months , will start selling about 4 weeks time

from a decent cow and a decent bull as MJ says it's easy acheviable

I'm not telling every one to start rearing calves but with our limited milking block here it suits us

don't know the prfoit margin but tell you 1 thing for sure , far more profit IMO that buying zero grazers and drawing grass 8 miles one way and slurry 8 the other

theres enough of fools doing that without more joining them

Beef on a dairy farm is almost always more profitable or less loss making, which ever way you want to look at it, especially if the housing is in place. The fixed costs will have to be covered by the dairy side anyway.
This year it may make even more sense to keep the bull calves on the silage ground as silage can be bought cheaper than growing it and even straights will be bought cheaper than silage. Just two problems, cash flow and the price of beef next year.

Calf prices 2016

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