Finishing Cattle this winter

Farmer Pudsey

How may lads intend to finish/not finish cattle this winter that previously did. What did you previously finish and what do you plan to finish. Do you intend to increase or decrease the amount you finish and how many did you previously finish.

I used to finish between 20-30 bulls. Mostly Friesians that I killed at 22 months. My intent at present is not to finish as the risk and economics is crazy and costs have gone out of control for work/reward in it.

Miname

Id usually finish a pen or two of heifers, this year im going to try an extra few if finances allow. This could all change i n a heartbeat though and i could land home with a shot of lighter animals if i see value. Its the reason i go with heifers they are easily moved for bulling or can be sold as butchers heifers fairly fast.

Mac Taylor

We don't finish anything here, but the outcome will have a big impact on weanling prices this autumn or am I wrong.

caseman

If things go to plan i'll be milking cows next february,with very little cattle finished.

mf240

Usually finish around 30 out of the shed and a few cows in june and then a few more cattle off the grass.

Will probably do similar this year as im a bit of a slow learner.

TUBBY

No finishing this year out of shed. Finished 42 out of shed last yr. the last of heavy lads will go in Nov off grass and am buying 350kg cattle now. Will winter 3/4 usual amount and hopefully buy 420-430kg cattle in feb after someone else wintering them cause it hasn't paid last couple of years to winter. Mart prices have been much the same in nov and feb.

would keep less but tax would be hit by reduced numbers at year end.

Base price

We finished 82 fr bulls last winter out of the sheds. Got away well with the early batches in Oct/Nov before the factories really fecked with the prices. Took a bad hit on the ones killed later on but glad to get them away.
One of the better decisions we made was to stop intensively feeding the next ones coming along, that was sometime in Feb. Got the vet out and squeesed about 70 of them. Have since sold them all the majority of them to a few farmers looking for cattle to fulfil their SFP requirements. Killed the dregs of them 2 or 3 weeks ago and got on fairly well with them.
We possibly will fatten some this year but it depends on what value there is in forward stores.
Other than that OH always feeds some cows so there will be some of them about.
The majority of cattle we keep are Fr or Frx - cheap and cheerful

Greengrass1

Usually fatten 15-20 bullocks. Only 1 fr this yr and 3 AA

Robson99

Fatten 30 or so cont heifers each winter here. Kill from Jan to April. 2 years ago April ones left most last year Jan ones left most. Currently weigh 500 to 600 kg so should have most gone in Jan this time. [ bought stronger ones this spring and the good summer of grass].
I think its a knee jerk reaction by a lot of farmers saying they wont fatten this winter. If a lot decide to sell forward stores of grass then their price will fall . Some of the best advice the old fella ever gave is " when everyone else is running then you walk" and vica versa

amacca

Robson99 wrote: »

Some of the best advice the old fella ever gave is " when everyone else is running then you walk" and vica versa

A true contrarian!

Willfarman

Winter finish 70 bullocks each year. Depending on what store trade does but most likely it will be business as usual.

Brown Podzol

Not finishing any this year. Sold most as stores in April, banded the rest and will be sold next week. Sold all the bull calves baring a few for stock bull sales. Easy for me as I will increase cow numbers instead. Marginal game at the best of times but cash flow could become dependent on a lump of money in in winter/spring.

nhg

Finished about 40 bullocks the last few winters, at present plan on not finishing any out of the shed this winter... But that could change depending on how one of the current batch's are doing on grass (not 30mths until jan), would hope to have them finished before we house everything which is usually mid/end November

Farmer Pudsey

Robson99 wrote: »

Some of the best advice the old fella ever gave is " when everyone else is running then you walk" and vica versa

Good advice and I often follow it. I usually finished Friesian bulls. However at present the bull market has been made too fragile by factory's to risk same. The dreaded calculator tells me that the margins are too tight.

With winter finishing you need stability and the bull market is anything but stable at present. IMO you need a price of 4/kg for Friesian bulls to justify the risk. However processors have enabled too may penelty's. They are penalising on fat score and discounting lesser quality bulls too much.

bogman_bass

I won't unless I have a couple of lads I fail to I'll off grass