Finishing cows

problum8

Hello lads,

I have two empty cows who are relatively young - 3 & 4 years old. They both had one calf each about 6 months ago and I dont want to put them back in calf again. They are about 500kg weight and in good condition. Both are charlois. What would be a better option for me as in getting the most money for them. They are still out on grass. Should I just sell them to the mart now or would it pay to hold on to them and send to the factory after getting nuts over the winter? I am wondering how would they score in the factory after having a calf or does it make any difference about their age etc. Thanks lads - any info would be great.

Farmer Pudsey

problum8 wrote: »

Hello lads,

I have two empty cows who are relatively young - 3 & 4 years old. They both had one calf each about 6 months ago and I dont want to put them back in calf again. They are about 500kg weight and in good condition. Both are charlois. What would be a better option for me as in getting the most money for them. They are still out on grass. Should I just sell them to the mart now or would it pay to hold on to them and send to the factory after getting nuts over the winter? I am wondering how would they score in the factory after having a calf or does it make any difference about their age etc. Thanks lads - any info would be great.

Can you over winter and get back out to grass in March

problum8

As in feed in a shed? Ya could do that no bother.

Farmer Pudsey

I do not know what price they would make in the mart. However at 500kgs they will require to put on 200kgs to get a.good level of finish on them. This is a lot of weight to gain inside over the winter. I be inclined to get them out to grass early feed a bit of ration during April and May and sell in late May or ealy June. However these type of cows will eat alot of grass in the springtime and a fair bit of silafe to overwinter especially if they are even a bit underweight.

Feeding cows expensive ration at over 300/ton will make it nigh on impossible to make anything out of them.

49801

store over winter an put to grass in the spring... send them off after 60-80days grass with no meal.... they'll have plenty enough fat cover on them.

blue5000

49801 wrote: »

store over winter an put to grass in the spring... send them off after 60-80days grass with no meal.... they'll have plenty enough fat cover on them.

+1, make sure they get a dose at housing, no point in feeding fluke and worms. They should fatten on grass by June.

bob charles

problum8 wrote: »

Hello lads,

I have two empty cows who are relatively young - 3 & 4 years old. They both had one calf each about 6 months ago and I dont want to put them back in calf again. They are about 500kg weight and in good condition. Both are charlois. What would be a better option for me as in getting the most money for them. They are still out on grass. Should I just sell them to the mart now or would it pay to hold on to them and send to the factory after getting nuts over the winter? I am wondering how would they score in the factory after having a calf or does it make any difference about their age etc. Thanks lads - any info would be great.

sell at say 900 now or keep to make 1250 (380kgs * €3.30, decent cow weight considering only 500 kgs now ) in the Spring/summer. I know what I would choose, cow price can be all over the place in early summer. maybe feedstuff is in abundance where most of the posters on here come from but put 7 bales of decent silage for winter on that cows head and you have added on 200 onto her, and she still wont be fit for killing. Dont understand how guys make money feeding cows

simx

bob charles wrote: »

sell at say 900 now or keep to make 1250 (380kgs * €3.30, decent cow weight considering only 500 kgs now ) in the Spring/summer. I know what I would choose, cow price can be all over the place in early summer. maybe feedstuff is in abundance where most of the posters on here come from but put 7 bales of decent silage for winter on that cows head and you have added on 200 onto her, and she still wont be fit for killing. Dont understand how guys make money feeding cows

was talking to a man that fattens alot of cows,last year he said worked out well for him said he boughgt 28 cows in one lot and in four months he had a average gross profit of 500e/head

bob charles

simx wrote: »

was talking to a man that fattens alot of cows,last year he said worked out well for him said he boughgt 28 cows in one lot and in four months he had a average gross profit of 500e/head

Sounds great for him, he must be making serious wedge,

me thinks he doesnt know his costs too well as I couldnt see how you would make a gross profit of 500 on a cow.

So say he buys them for €500 (crap canner cow price last year), feeds them for 120 days at €3 = €360 costs, and he claims he got €1360 for them at slaughter (400kgs dead @ 3.40 Feb price 12) now that is a serious cow. the cows would want to be doing 3kgs livewieight a day to get return like that :rolleyes:. Im very suspect of such a tale

simx

bob charles wrote: »

Sounds great for him, he must be making serious wedge,

me thinks he doesnt know his costs too well as I couldnt see how you would make a gross profit of 500 on a cow.

So say he buys them for €500 (crap canner cow price last year), feeds them for 120 days at €3 = €360 costs, and he claims he got €1360 for them at slaughter (400kgs dead @ 3.40 Feb price 12) now that is a serious cow. the cows would want to be doing 3kgs livewieight a day to get return like that :rolleyes:. Im very suspect of such a tale

i never said i believed him:rolleyes: didnt claim i did it

bob charles

simx wrote: »

i never said i believed him:rolleyes: didnt claim i did it

I know, sorry if I implied that you did, Still though I hear cow fatten on fresh air up the midlands:D

simx

bob charles wrote: »

I know, sorry if I implied that you did, Still though I hear cow fatten on fresh air up the midlands:D

what in your view would be the average return out of a good quality fr cull cow bob? saw some last week with potential around 500ks making 0.80/0.90 cent/kg

just got me thinking after seeing them would they have been worth a punt

1chippy

sorry for jumping on this thread, but in a similar positioni have two first calvers 1 limo/blue 560kg and one limo/sim 620. 1 limo/sim 7 yr old(thought was incalf but must have thrown)around 740-50 kg. the 2 first calvers have been getting meal about 3 kg each the last 5 weeks and the other one was just penned with them last week all on ad lib silage. do you think its worth continuing and try to finish or just move them on. dont want them next spring.

Farmer Pudsey

The trick with cows it seems (have not done it) is to overwinter cheap then out to grass as early as possible and sell in late May when prices are high. There are a few draw backs you need a good few no good going to a factory with ore or two and will they eat grass for you, as bad as a store bullock a store cow will eat you out of house and home.

On the plus side if you can get them fairly young and with there growing done they will pound on the flesh. The other issue you have is that they bring every sort of sh#te disease and problems with them. Some fellas specialise in them, from what I understand they can leave a margin before costs of 5-600 euro's however you have to be good to buy them and every few years you get a scalding.

Good quality suckler cows should average over 1kg/day LW gain during the spring early summer. However most of the farmers that are at it seem to be renting roughish places (poorly fenced etc) at I imagine the right price.

kevthegaff

i have 11 to sell empties, 2 are over 10 yrs the rest under 6. there not bad, what ye think i should expect for them selling privately not sure of their weights, maybe average 500-550 kilos

bob charles

simx wrote: »

what in your view would be the average return out of a good quality fr cull cow bob? saw some last week with potential around 500ks making 0.80/0.90 cent/kg

just got me thinking after seeing them would they have been worth a punt

I could make it look good on paper but take in reality
- cows are bad travellers they lean against the sides of trailers aka like in a parlour and fall down, transport mortality rate is high
- they are stubborn in their ways. considering that they probably were petted for the previous 10 yrs of their lives, they are now placed in a group with other cows and they can get demoralised and just lose the will to live
- Mortality is just high even when settled in, old age?
- dont like changing their diet, most only ever eat grass and silage with a pinch of nuts, they dont like moving to the more fancy stuff
- plenty of them turn up in calf meaning that your 3 month finishing now has turned into 9 months and only about 50% live calves at max, most then are crap dairy calves
- they eat loads and ****e twice as much

above are the main things I will say about cows and currently paying more than a €1 a kg, I find it hard to see how you could make money. even maintenance feeding this year will cost €2 a day and if finishing it will add an extra €1

kevthegaff

lad came today to price my fre cows, said hed give 350 for them, was sickened:eek:, their not bad exc two older cows. altho he said the best of them would make 600. he said there is a heap of cull cows for sale at the moment, mightnt be a bad time to buy them

Farmer Pudsey

kevthegaff wrote: »

lad came today to price my fre cows, said hed give 350 for them, was sickened:eek:, their not bad exc two older cows. altho he said the best of them would make 600. he said there is a heap of cull cows for sale at the moment, mightnt be a bad time to buy them

Looks good value on paper you said that they were 500-550, so assuming that one got 150kgs between now and end of may taht would put them 660kgd Killing 320@ 3.2/kg so 1024 euro/head a margin before costs of over 650 euro's.

bob charles

kevthegaff wrote: »

lad came today to price my fre cows, said hed give 350 for them, was sickened:eek:, their not bad exc two older cows. altho he said the best of them would make 600. he said there is a heap of cull cows for sale at the moment, mightnt be a bad time to buy them

depends on how bad the bad cows are, I see boys buying cows that the first stop would have to be Lourdes to get them going.

st1979

kevthegaff wrote: »

lad came today to price my fre cows, said hed give 350 for them, was sickened:eek:, their not bad exc two older cows. altho he said the best of them would make 600. he said there is a heap of cull cows for sale at the moment, mightnt be a bad time to buy them

I sold bad cows and worse one i got was around that price. bring them to the mart was my first time selling culls and was plesantly surprised cant see you would do worse. funny thing is the bad ones in my mind done better than the good ones.

freedominacup

kevthegaff wrote: »

lad came today to price my fre cows, said hed give 350 for them, was sickened:eek:, their not bad exc two older cows. altho he said the best of them would make 600. he said there is a heap of cull cows for sale at the moment, mightnt be a bad time to buy them

I've never been happy after selling culls in the yard that said the mart is rarely a fulfilling experience when you've got cull fresians to sell either.

freedominacup

bob charles wrote: »

I could make it look good on paper but take in reality
- cows are bad travellers they lean against the sides of trailers aka like in a parlour and fall down, transport mortality rate is high
- they are stubborn in their ways. considering that they probably were petted for the previous 10 yrs of their lives, they are now placed in a group with other cows and they can get demoralised and just lose the will to live
- Mortality is just high even when settled in, old age?
- dont like changing their diet, most only ever eat grass and silage with a pinch of nuts, they dont like moving to the more fancy stuff
- plenty of them turn up in calf meaning that your 3 month finishing now has turned into 9 months and only about 50% live calves at max, most then are crap dairy calves
- they eat loads and ****e twice as much

above are the main things I will say about cows and currently paying more than a €1 a kg, I find it hard to see how you could make money. even maintenance feeding this year will cost €2 a day and if finishing it will add an extra €1

And for all that Dawn have a farm just over the road from us and they've filled it to the door with cull fresian cows every spring for the past 3 years. Literally hundreds of them on not a very big run of land.

dar31

kevthegaff wrote: »

lad came today to price my fre cows, said hed give 350 for them, was sickened:eek:, their not bad exc two older cows. altho he said the best of them would make 600. he said there is a heap of cull cows for sale at the moment, mightnt be a bad time to buy them

was selling cows 2-3 months ago in the yard to a regular lad, middling to good bunch of 6, but still needing feeding, he offered me 450 across the board for them, got 825 for them after a bit of dealing

freedominacup

dar31 wrote: »

was selling cows 2-3 months ago in the yard to a regular lad, middling to good bunch of 6, but still needing feeding, he offered me 450 across the board for them, got 825 for them after a bit of dealing

That's not a bit of dealing, what did you do waterboard him?

bob charles

freedominacup wrote: »

And for all that Dawn have a farm just over the road from us and they've filled it to the door with cull fresian cows every spring for the past 3 years. Literally hundreds of them on not a very big run of land.

yip they are buying them away at the moment, they were giving around 500 mark for all odds and ends last year. how many are they feeding?

dar31 wrote: »

was selling cows 2-3 months ago in the yard to a regular lad, middling to good bunch of 6, but still needing feeding, he offered me 450 across the board for them, got 825 for them after a bit of dealing

I wouldnt have dealt with a guy who would walk into the yard and bid me a stupid price and then buy them for nearly 400 more. he is an idiot in my eyes

dar31

bob charles wrote: »

I wouldnt have dealt with a guy who would walk into the yard and bit me a stupid price and then buy them for nearly 400 more. he is an idiot in my eyes

bit surprised my self when he was so far off the mark, usually there would only be a 100 or so in the diff

freedominacup

bob charles wrote: »

yip they are buying them away at the moment, they were giving around 500 mark for all odds and ends last year. how many are they feeding?

I dunno are they feeding many down this side. They had a good number of B&W bulls in last time I was hauling slurry out of there, probably 400-450kgs. I'm surprised they're buying cows this time of year. I always figured you could do worse than to monitor what they're buying. They'd surely have some idea what was going to be in demand in a few months.