best value calves for calf to beef

weatherbyfoxer

Looking for peoples thoughts...ive recently got out of sucklers and have been increasing the calf to beef enterprise on the farm..so far its been buying aax and fr bull calves in march at 4 weeks old running them till slaughter at 24-28 months with very little meals once they are weaned..plan to do this with 25-30 calves a year along with 200 mid season lambing ewes on 80 acres of good land while reseeding 10% of the farm per year

My main question is which do people reckon are better value? br frx bulls at €100-€150 each or aax bulls at €250-€300? For this type of system

Any other tips or advise is welcome!..cheers!

Miname

Buy them as weanlings or yearlings, far better value

Cavanjack

Weighed the calves of Spring 2014 a couple of weeks ago. Friesians were from 50-100kg heavier than Angus'. I expect them to leave more behind them than the blacks, bonus or no bonus. The friesians also cost at least €130 less than the blacks. So to answer your question I would buy the friesians.

trixi2011

Im sure if you were to buy off a farmer at 10 days old you would get great value for fr bull calves

whelan2

trixi2011 wrote: »

Im sure if you were to buy off a farmer at 10 days old you would get great value for fr bull calves

if you paid cash you would get even better value

weatherbyfoxer

At current factory prices what on average would a br fr bullock and an aa x fr make..both being similar ages and conditions?

Water John

Guy near me always buys Fr weanlings and finishes. Very sharp lad. Says it leaves him a better margin. At weanling stage he can judge the Fr and gets good value.

moll3

the aa would be out the gate and hanging six months before the fr

Miname

moll3 wrote: »

the aa would be out the gate and hanging six months before the fr

But the friesain could carry an extra 600 euro.

sucklerlover

I bought fr and aa last year. The fr are good bit ahead of the angus in weight now. They cost €140 less than the angus. I'll kill them as bulls next nov. The fr will eat more meal but will also weigh more. The thing is I wouldn't want a shed full of fr bulls when things go bad.factories like the angus so I sell them all in the one go. In 30 I might have 7fr.
I don't get the bonus for the aa as bulls so you could factor in another €75ish if you do them as steers.

Cavanjack

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

At current factory prices what on average would a br fr bullock and an aa x fr make..both being similar ages and conditions?

A good 380kg Friesian steer under 30 months grading o= would get you €3.90 kg including 12cent bonus so that's €1482.
Similar Angus weighing 330kg grading o= with an extra 10cent bonus (maybe more to be got) is €1320.
Obviously Friesian could be lighter and Angus heavier. IMO

weatherbyfoxer

Cavanjack wrote: »

A good 380kg Friesian steer under 30 months grading o= would get you €3.90 kg including 12cent bonus so that's €1482.
Similar Angus weighing 330kg grading o= with an extra 10cent bonus (maybe more to be got) is €1320.
Obviously Friesian could be lighter and Angus heavier. IMO

Cheers for that cavanjack,big thing there is that the aa will cost €150+ more than the fr from the start

Dickie10

i got black white head heifers for 780 euro at a year old in december i thought they were decent value in current prices i should get around 1300 for them killed at 26-30 months or bull them and calve them or sell in calf , id say an in calf whitehead heifer would make up from 1200 euro so no meal needed at all

Dickie10

are you farming full time?

blue5000

It's a hard one to call OP, I reckon there isn't a huge difference in it per head, but if you can get the angus bulls finished quicker, then that's their advantage.

Remember there's a lot of very plain, easy calving AA bulls in the country now, the only advantage over the fr would be the AA bonus. If you can get AA calves from a decent bull, they are worth a premium, but 75% of the AA calves from dairy herds are over valued. How many of them will grade R?

whelan2

blue5000 wrote: »

It's a hard one to call OP, I reckon there isn't a huge difference in it per head, but if you can get the angus bulls finished quicker, then that's their advantage.

Remember there's a lot of very plain, easy calving AA bulls in the country now, the only advantage over the fr would be the AA bonus. If you can get AA calves from a decent bull, they are worth a premium, but 75% of the AA calves from dairy herds are over valued. How many of them will grade R?

Its not just the bull though, how do you know if they are out of a hol/fr cow/heifer when buying in the mart?

weatherbyfoxer

Dickie10 wrote: »

are you farming full time?

Winter and spring i am.

weatherbyfoxer

whelan2 wrote: »

Its not just the bull though, how do you know if they are out of a hol/fr cow/heifer when buying in the mart?

Previous exsperience ive had with aa is small calves from young heifers..fr bulls from good strong cows seem to turn out better