Calf price chitchat

Dakota Dan

Never wrestle with pigs wrote: »

Really don't understand why any dairy farmers would keep these types of cattle to start with. Most of the time ye are busy enough keeping the dairy side going and growing grass. Not getting at anyone.

Run a nice easy calving lim bull and get €350/400 as a suck calf all day long. No further work required. The few extra days in the oven not only gives the cows an extra weeks brake but the price more than compensates the milk lost for a week or two and no milking.

I'd even say that an easy calved lim is far easier to calve than most he bulls. More time and grass to put into the main enterprise too.

€350-€400? I sold 5 week old BB bulls this spring, big calves fed loads of milk and struggled to get over €300 for them. One calf made €350 and there was only one bid for him. It didn't stop the mart advertising prices of 450 for 3 week old BB's though.

Bass Reeves

freedominacup wrote: »

Not 16. Very hard to get ho to finish at that age. 18-20 months. Finish from next June. 750kg lw no bother at all. 375-400 dw. Be aiming at 3.90/kg.

That is still a 100kg DW heavier than lads doing U16 months for an ectra 2-4 months. I uderstand taht using your own breeding you can manage this system but most lads cannt. As well these animals I imaginge will not see the outside of a shed after housing this autumn. To turn a profit you need maximum liveweight gain and feed efficiency. As well as access to straights or grain off the combine.

Looking at it as an option now may not be viable. Saw costs last June from U16 months bulls. Most lads feed a nut/ration with metalac. Last spring it cost 260/ton. Ration have gone up 40/ton since then and we can expect another climb of 20-40/ton. These ration/nuts will cost north of 300/ton this year. As well you need calves to be 300kgs+ at housing taht means good autumn managment

freedominacup

Bass Reeves wrote: »

taht means good autumn managment

Which is a given with the guy asking the question.

visatorro

mahoney_j wrote:

The question I’m asking myself is will it pay me to put my fr and angus weanlings thru the winter even tho I’ll be just about ok for silage .i honestly don’t think it will and I’m better off selling at least the fr now for 250/270 and just take my beating on them .

They say the first loss is the best. Strange year in many ways, no need to make it any more awkward. If you have to think twice about keeping them...

Bass Reeves

freedominacup wrote: »

Which is a given with the guy asking the question.

It is slighty different to heifers. Ideally at this stage such bull would want to be on 1-2 kgs of ration. Every kg gained at grass is cheaper than a kg inside in the house. However if you are short of silage and or grass in reality every kg will be gain using ration in reality. I have seen more lads get burnt at finishing bulls especially friesian or JEx bulls than any other lark.

Usually you are feeding numbers. In the usual system (U16 month)these bulls eat 1.5-2.2T. If silage is short you will be at the higher rate. So to feed 30 of them you are looking at 60-70 ton of ration. This year I budget that at 300/ton that is 18-21K. The big problem is I expect that millers will want there money in stages and will be unwilling to wait for slaughter for the majority. Already hearing stories of lads being told to make a payment before any more nuts going out.

Talking to my factory agent today the processors are expecting a glut of cattle from now to Mid February. After that lads will be well burnt from meal bills. I expect that there may be a market for them during May and June after that it will depend on the spring an early one will see cattle coming off grass in late June and processors pulling beef prices. And I have not even mentioned Brexit.

Lots of fulltime beef lads are exiting winter finishing the dairy men are more than welcome to take it on.

Bass Reeves

visatorro wrote: »

They say the first loss is the best. Strange year in many ways, no need to make it any more awkward. If you have to think twice about keeping them...

cattle are being slaughtered here at 3-/3= fat score as fast as possible. Making no money but cutting losses as fast as possible. No grass and feeding friesian bullocks nuts( any more than to get a FS) is a loss making business. If I could buy in I be ok but cannot so will have to wait to buy next spring.

Pidae.m

Sold these bucks in Bandon today. Good calves pathetic, bad ones a good trade

Never wrestle with pigs

Dakota Dan wrote: »

€350-€400? I sold 5 week old BB bulls this spring, big calves fed loads of milk and struggled to get over €300 for them. One calf made €350 and there was only one bid for him. It didn't stop the mart advertising prices of 450 for 3 week old BB's though.

Last spring probably not as good alright but the early lim will have no problem making that

Never wrestle with pigs

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

The difference in gestation between a Herdford and a Limousin is only 2.2 days (3.82-1.61). Hard data from ICBF. Limousins are that bit hardier too, so less mortality. 0.1%......:D

Exactly, and more than making up the lost milk with the calf price and you don't have to milk to get it !

Base price

Any prices from the Southern marts for FR bull calves.

I always like to rear a few Autumn born calves every year.

Pidae.m

Base price wrote: »

Any prices from the Southern marts for FR bull calves.

I always like to rear a few Autumn born calves every year.

Saw two terrible white fr bulls 4 weeks old make 70 quid. Nothing much else there.

Base price

Pidae.m wrote: »

Saw two terrible white fr bulls 4 weeks old make 70 quid. Nothing much else there.

What were the prices for wh's and angus calves like or are there many about yet.

Pidae.m

Base price wrote: »

What were the prices for wh's and angus calves like or are there many about yet.

I sold to aa runners for 250 and sold an aa calf, a lesser calf by far and he made 323.go figure.

tonto8989

8 whiteheads x heifers 6months old I need to flog on, any idea on prices for these? going well to get 350 for them??

thanks

whelan2

Went to local mart with a couple of calves today. Fr bull €70 ten days old. Only fr in sale. Aa heifer on lame cow since May €270. Was about 15 calves in the sale. One farmer r had 8 aa calves in it top price €100. Poor enough calves tbh. A sim bull unsold at 180. 4 smashers of red simx heifers a few months old 200 to 320

charolais0153

Good to see the price of calves coming in to line with their value

_Brian

Bigger question is what price will they be in Feb’19

mahoney_j

_Brian wrote: »

Bigger question is what price will they be in Feb’19

For fr anyway hope the boats are still going and get bulls out the gate at 14 days old for whatever u can get for then be it 30 euro or 100 euro

whelan2

charolais0153 wrote: »

Good to see the price of calves coming in to line with their value

In fairness the 8 angus calves weren't great.

Murang

mahoney_j wrote: »

For fr anyway hope the boats are still going and get bulls out the gate at 14 days old for whatever u can get for then be it 30 euro or 100 euro

That’s going to be the problem exporters will still be paying 100 euro for fr so that’s going to be base price for all calves

FeirmeoirtTed

charolais0153 wrote: »

Good to see the price of calves coming in to line with their value

Im curious as to what value you would put on calves under 3 WEEKS would there be a huge difference between an AA calf and a CH calf?

charolais0153

FeirmeoirtTed wrote: »

Im curious as to what value you would put on calves under 3 WEEKS would there be a huge difference between an AA calf and a CH calf?

200 i suppose

Pidae.m

whelan2 wrote: »

In fairness the 8 angus calves weren't great.

There was narrow aa heifers in macroom Saturday 220kg made 150. Spring 18

whelan2

Pidae.m wrote: »

There was narrow aa heifers in macroom Saturday 220kg made 150. Spring 18

I was delighted with 270 for my one. She was unsaleable in May.

Danzy

Pidae.m wrote: »

There was narrow aa heifers in macroom Saturday 220kg made 150. Spring 18

You could still do good enough off them, if they were even kept till this time next year.

If things went well enough with an early spring, they could be a good buy.

Sheep breeder

Murang wrote: »

That’s going to be the problem exporters will still be paying 100 euro for fr so that’s going to be base price for all calves

Shippers will pay on the floor at 30 Euro and who will want them and about time the calf trade went back to reality.

memorystick

Murang wrote: »

That’s going to be the problem exporters will still be paying 100 euro for fr so that’s going to be base price for all calves

We need a veal industry here coupled with good export markets and advertising.

_Brian

memorystick wrote: »

We need a veal industry here coupled with good export markets and advertising.

Export markets are a problem and likely to become more and more of an issue.
Europe wide beef consumption is trailing off while our beef production seems to be going up.

charolais0153

_Brian wrote: »

Export markets are a problem and likely to become more and more of an issue.
Europe wide beef consumption is trailing off while our beef production seems to be going up.

Western nations have reached peak beef consumption but developong nations are increasing consumotion dramatically....china and india need to import to survive and with austarlias volatility in weather extremes,ireland could become a viiable source of beef for china

Bass Reeves

memorystick wrote: »

We need a veal industry here coupled with good export markets and advertising.

Too high cost with no use of our natural advantage of grass. Veal is a totally milk and grain based production system. It was tried and it failed in Ireland a few times. Mainly processors will not commit to a price in advance to what is a high cost system. You need stringent production methods to insure right meat colour. Rose veal was tried as well and it failed.

To develop markets you need to guarantee all year round production and in a grass based milk system raw material (calves) is not a given. For farmers to invest in housing and setup they would need a 3-4 year price commitment mainly in a form similar to chicken production, where farmers are responsible maybe for calf sourcing and fixed cost with processors responsible for feed costs and a final price commitment.

Expecting producers to take all the risk in a high cost system is not viable. You only have to look at the U16 months bull system to see how processors load all the risk to producers. It is hard to see any such project get off the ground just to give dairy farmers another market for there byproduct.