heifer for factory or mart

ddogsbollix

i hoping to sell a charloais heifer in the next 3 weeks. she is 3 and a half years old and about 550 kgs. i was just wondering would i be better off selling her straight to the factory or to the mart and what price would she make?

bob charles

The animal you describe is an ideal one for the meat factories to screw you over with. I would say mart but prices cant stay the way they are as there is no money being made from any of the cattle bought in the last three weeks, move fast

pakalasa

She has to be within the 60 days of a Brucellosis test to sell in the mart.

I sold a heifer that was over 30 months about 2 weeks ago. I got 3.55 Euro/KG at Nenagh AIBP. She graded R 3. If you do decide to take her to the factory, agree a price first, either with an agent you know or ring the factory driect and ask to talk to one.

ddogsbollix

ya i was only wondering about the mart because she is a charolais and they do better then the other breeds. prob sell to the factory.

while on the subject i have another question concerning my cows..... i have oral dosed them twice this year and all of them still scour. i thought first it might be rumen fluke and im 100% sure its not BVD cause we have no problem with fertility or abortions and the cows dont seem to be failing at all if anything there thriving.

any advise would be very helpful

pakalasa

When doing my herd test, the vet commented that the cows were very scoury. He recommened doing them for stomach fluke. I did them with Zanil. They improoved some bit but not fully.

Muckit

I have a heifer and a once calved to go aswell. Must get a few pics up and see what ye think. The oul lad thinks factory, but I'm thinking mart:rolleyes:

whelan1

i am going with 2 free martin heifers around 500kg and 2 cull cows - big mommas:D all friesians , getting them blooded tomorrow and going to mart in 2 weeks - tax year ends 30th september so will wait til after that. If i am not happy with mart can always bring them home cant do that when you send them to factory:cool:

grange mac

I would also say mart, had a man who knows cattle out to me two weeks ago & said they were not ready yet. Said another ton of nuts to finish them properly...so forget that...off to mart last friday & gor weight + 550 for charlaois bullocks. They averaged 600kg but if I fed them more nuts the fear is factories would score ya badly of cattle are not big.

saw weanlang charlaois 250kg going for e775...madness.
Hoping for price to fall before i buy my replacment stock...bring on a cold october!!!

Bizzum

ddogsbollix wrote: »

i hoping to sell a charloais heifer in the next 3 weeks. she is 3 and a half years old and about 550 kgs.

Is it usual that your CH heifers would be 550kgs at 3 and a half years old?

locky76

Bizzum wrote: »

Is it usual that your CH heifers would be 550kgs at 3 and a half years old?

Seems a bit light, i killed 9 angus heifers two weeks ago, they weighed 520kgs liveweight at 15 months.

grange mac

Locky,

Can i ask how you manage to get that weight @15 months..do you feed nuts over winter?

My bullocks averaged 620kg @30months

redzerologhlen

locky76 wrote: »

Seems a bit light, i killed 9 angus heifers two weeks ago, they weighed 520kgs liveweight at 15 months.

Thats a great weight for pollys!!

locky76

grange mac wrote: »

Locky,

Can i ask how you manage to get that weight @15 months..do you feed nuts over winter?

My bullocks averaged 620kg @30months

They calve in May/June, they are under a cow all winter in the shed and also get 2kgs per day over the winter for 100 days (200kgs, ~€50), this really drives them on. I'm led to believe that after 100 days the goodness of the meal diminishes. They finish meal around mid Feb and they go out around start April. I also scan the cows and i leave the calf under them until 5 weeks before the cow is due to calve, this means the calf get 47 weeks of milk, at €600 to keep a cow for the year you've to maximise the benefit the calf is getting from the cow;).
That's my tuppence worth anyway!

LostCovey

locky76 wrote: »

They calve in May/June, they are under a cow all winter in the shed and also get 2kgs per day over the winter for 100 days (200kgs, ~€50), this really drives them on. I'm led to believe that after 100 days the goodness of the meal diminishes. They finish meal around mid Feb and they go out around start April. I also scan the cows and i leave the calf under them until 5 weeks before the cow is due to calve, this means the calf get 47 weeks of milk, at €600 to keep a cow for the year you've to maximise the benefit the calf is getting from the cow;).
That's my tuppence worth anyway!

Sounds like a brilliant system, locky - it also means you only winter them once, seems very efficient.

Must give Justin McCarthy your contact details!

LC

locky76

LostCovey wrote: »

Sounds like a brilliant system, locky - it also means you only winter them once, seems very efficient.

Must give Justin McCarthy your contact details!

LC

Brilliant might be overstating it but it's working for me, it's similar to the system Justin McCarthy is championing at the moment with Paul Turley up in the north

pakalasa

locky76 wrote: »

..... at €600 to keep a cow for the year you've to maximise the benefit the calf is getting from the cow;).
....QUOTE]
You can't bate the bainne, as they say!

whelan1

going to mart tomorrow with 2 free martin heifers- friesian - and 2 cull cows , cows will be going straight out of milking parlour , does it matter that they are straight from the parlour... they are well fleshed, reason i didnt dry them off is they are both high scc and would more than likely get mastitis if i did

Longback

whelan1 wrote: »

i am going with 2 free martin heifers around 500kg and 2 cull cows - big mommas:D all friesians , getting them blooded tomorrow and going to mart in 2 weeks - tax year ends 30th september so will wait til after that. If i am not happy with mart can always bring them home cant do that when you send them to factory:cool:

You'd wanna check it fer yourself but I think September 30th is pay and file date. Tax year runs Jan 1st to Dec 31st.

lakill Farm

Pay and file is 31st Oct 2011 for 2010. Thats accounts ending in 2010.

ROS extension of approx 15 Nov 2011

lakill Farm

Hi all. Whats the going price for a 19 month old freisan Heifer of 400kg.
She has a nice structure, but not im confused t run her again in the mart or feed her on. One problem is she is the last one of that batch and my next batchare 12 months younger

I got offered €620 at the mart on Fri, but my Black White heads made €350 - 400 with weight.

Whats realistic price?

Longback

lakill Farm wrote: »

Pay and file is 31st Oct 2011 for 2010. Thats accounts ending in 2010.

ROS extension of approx 15 Nov 2011

Too right. My mistake not clued in today .

whelan1

my tax year always ends 30 september ... have had an audit and all , so its all above board:)

Tipp Man

You can have your tax year at the end of any month in the year - there is no problem with that. And you can change it to a month that suits you best if you want

The PAYE tax year runs 1 Jan to 31 Dec