do you fatten your culls or just factory them?

whelan1

following on from a post by bob charles , do you fatten your cull cows or send them straight to factory without fattening up, we feed them , think my dad sees it as a challenge to fatten them up. I know it costs a small fortune to fatten them :rolleyes: the odd one i would send straight from the parlour but they never weigh as well as when they are dry a while

Tipp Man

We fatten them

In the past had been running them with the milkers so they were getting a couple of pounds of nuts which meant they were usually well gone by now

Moved them to the beef farm this year - sold 9 of them last week for an average of 950 - 8 more remaining which will take another 6 weeks i'd say. No nuts to them this year as we have too much grass so that's why they are taking a bit longer

As we go up in numbers though this may change as we won't have enough accomodation for the winter. Will probably sell them in November - probably in mart i would say

reilig

We fatten them. Have quite a few to go at the back end of the year. Haven't as much silage this year so I'm offloading a lot of older cows and some cows that aren't producing good enough calves. Have a few replacement heifers coming along.

Normally sell in the mart too. I find that I get better prices there!!

linebacker52

We fatten them off grass in the spring normally send them to the factory late may early June. They did very well this year.

pakalasa

I carry cull suckler cows over the winter and sell them in the mart usually around late June (after annual herd test), when prices are at their highest. It's crazy to factory them without fattening. Take them to the mart.
There can be a nice few bob in it too... and a good way of keeping the herd young.

49801

suckers culls left run with the factory heifers for the summer and fattening period.

opinions on feeding regimes in contrast to the heifers. looks like will have 7 culls this year:eek:

snowman707

we fatten and factory the MO usually average about 1100 the Fr a bit less (these cows could carry more flesh but it reaches a stage where it isn't cost effective to carry further < nitrates being 1 issue on this farm)

as regards the marts any r and o finished cows I saw in the ring the were about 100 shy of their factory value , u's may be a different story

49801

snowman707 wrote: »

we fatten and factory the MO usually average about 1100 the Fr a bit less (these cows could carry more flesh but it reaches a stage where it isn't cost effective to carry further < nitrates being 1 issue on this farm)

as regards the marts any r and o finished cows I saw in the ring the were about 100 shy of their factory value , u's may be a different story

have only ever seen O grades for sucker cows here unless they were once calved heifers with little milk.

looks like we're doing somthing wrong with them?

jeff greene

It depends really, we TB test in Nov so anything thats for culling and in reasonable nick will go to the mart, cows on either side, a bit thin or close to finish will be fatten up or stored.

Cows that are not incalf but are milking well and deserve a chance are milked on with a bull, they gain away and if in calf are kept and if not are finished at grass in May. Big mistake taking cows out of the parlour and straight to the factory no matter how good they look, I prefer the mart.

blue5000

Fatten them, got a few off this wk av just over 900e. Older cows take a lot longer to fatten though, mine usually are cleaning off grass left behind by other cattle.

Bodacious

blue5000 wrote: »

Fatten them, got a few off this wk av just over 900e. Older cows take a lot longer to fatten though, mine usually are cleaning off grass left behind by other cattle.

I sent an old suckler off this week also ... Just off grass ... Will post how she gets on... Very old cow in fairness so not expecting too much

Muckit

Bodacious wrote: »

Very old cow in fairness so not expecting too much

Ah don't worry some french lad will think she's the bees knees..... or indeed some lad in supermac's at 3am in the morning

Bodacious

Muckit wrote: »

Bodacious wrote: »

Very old cow in fairness so not expecting too much

Ah don't worry some french lad will think she's the bees knees..... or indeed some lad in supermac's at 3am in the morning

seasoned beef!! 1990 cow! She was going a trooper too

Bizzum

Bodacious wrote: »

seasoned beef!! 1990 cow! She was going a trooper too

Well that sure is seasoned!
If she was a wine or cheese she'd be 'matured' or 'aged' and would command a premium price.:D

keep going

thinking of culling a good few this but i am wondering how long to fatten them if they were dried 1st nov would you get them away 1st week in feb.thinking of using beet any experience

dar31

would never keep them till factory, would usually cull them out of the milkers and let them flesh up a bit for a month or so, and the move on to a dealer, straight from the yard. during winter housing they are straight out the door.

a year or more back, i got a price for a batch of cull, reasonable enough price, but said id try them in the mart to see how it fared. by the time levies, fees, haulage(lorry), my diesel to go sell them was taken into account i was €20 a hd worse off going to the mart, and that was before my time was taken into account. bloody waste of a day hanging around the mart.

any hoo. any one sold any feeders lately, ive three to go. two good one middling. ave 670kg dry 3 wks

blue5000

keep going wrote: »

thinking of culling a good few this but i am wondering how long to fatten them if they were dried 1st nov would you get them away 1st week in feb.thinking of using beet any experience

I think do them sooner than that. My guess is that because of superlevy next spring there will be a lot of cull cows for sale next spring. Culls are making good money now because

1. cattle are scarce
2. a lot of heifers are being bulled
3. bbq season , good demand for burgers, steaks

Beet would want to be chopped and washed, some ol ladies are a bit short of teeth. Don't do anymore than 1/3 of the diet beet, and use a high phos maize/beet balancer mineral.

stanflt

cull cows are milked for the last time in the morning then sold at the mart in the afternoon at 12- dont tube them so the buyer is free to do what ever he/she wants-sent 2to carnaross in june they made 965 and 1025- doesnt pay to finish them

pakalasa

Just back from Ennis Mart. Cull cows making great money. Boney canner types making 900 Euro.
Good muscley types making 1.90 €/Kg.

whelan1

pakalasa wrote: »

Just back from Ennis Mart. Cull cows making great money. Boney canner types making 900 Euro.
Good muscley types making 1.90 €/Kg.

:eek:

barryoc1

Milking cows at home and we had one recently that had mastitis, then cured, week later back again, then cured, then back so sent her off to the factory altogether. Just wondering, a dairy cow like this who is milking well, if you did want to fatten her to finish her, i presume you would have to starve her first for a few weeks to dry her off and then feed her up again to fatten her? If so wouldnt it be kind of a waste of time keeping her and better off just to send her off to the factory?

Bodacious

Bodacious wrote: »

blue5000 wrote: »

Fatten them, got a few off this wk av just over 900e. Older cows take a lot longer to fatten though, mine usually are cleaning off grass left behind by other cattle.

I sent an old suckler off this week also ... Just off grass ... Will post how she gets on... Very old cow in fairness so not expecting too much

she graded 0 3+ and I only got 274p a kg from moyvalley... I thought they were going better than that ... Killed Monday 11th July!? E704 prob should have sent her to the Mart in hindsight !!

pakalasa

Cow prices are back up a bit from what they were a few weeks back. According to the Journal anyway.
It's a shame to factory cull cows with no condition, especially with prices they way they are. A pain to have to blood test for the mart though, especially if you only have a few.

bob charles

A couple of the above posts reinforce my point about selling cows live. Let the specialists feeders go head to head in the ring and most of the time you will come out on top. Let the bigger feeders talk to the factories and get higher price due to selling in volume. Selling only a few animals to the factory and trying to demand a good price, well, lets say - you would be better off pushing a bus with a rope