Calf prices 2022

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118931186#Comment_118931186

Was getting 70 to 120 for 2 to 3 week old Angus all along. 30 day old calf is costing me 100 euro. These were some of my best calves all year but I guess it's getting late to be buying calves now.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118931120#Comment_118931120

I wasn't at the mart. I was calculating was it worth going back to collect them and keep them another week or two. I'd have needed about 100 euro out of it to drop what I was at and go back to the mart. It wasn't worth my while. Got away fairly well all year considering the year thats in it.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118931402#Comment_118931402

They is 50-60 calves more on the ground this year. Very few farmers are taking on extra stock because of extra costs involved.

The cost of rearing calves has accelerated. Calf ration is probably 100+/ton more expensive. Straw is hard got and probably 30/bale. Milk powder is 9/bag more expensive I taught I saw on a thread here.

Lads buying them coloured calves will make some twist on them if prices hold into next year.Coloured yearlings are making 2.5/kg.

In a way dairy expansion is killing the goose that laid the golden egg. We are seeing 50k to extra calves per year at present. The market is actually reaching saturation point. More calves than buyers.

The price dip will begin earlier next year and the year after. I was at a beef discussion walk before COVID and a lad asked why is a Hereford calf worth 250-300 euro.

The question now is why did lads pay 200-250 for these calves 4-6 weeks ago

Danzy

What are 8 week old aax heifers off decent, dairy bred worth currently.

Tks

cosatron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118931186#Comment_118931186

Well we bought 2 8 week old and 2 6 week old angus bull calves to mart last Thursday and we were lucky to get €100. The mart was saturated with sh*t calves and we are the ones who suffer

whelan2

Had a farmer ring looking for 6 aax heifer calves, nearly all bulls recently. Calf man will give me 100 euro for Angus bull calves.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932290#Comment_118932290

You won't get paid for taking calves to 6 or 8 weeks. It's just a nice gift for someone. Their drinking 25 euro of milk a week. They can take them home and wean them.

older by the day

Had 3 wk old Hereford heifers today they were making 60. Minus 9 commission, I brought them home. I would not give them the satisfaction. Some times you need to have a bit of pride in your work. It might not make financial since but I find it depressing to give away calves for nothing. Sher at 51 euro they might might make a profit sometime

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932544#Comment_118932544

At 51-70 euro they will make a margin. Carry to end of next year get to 500+kgs. Larry will give you 20c/kg on top of base and normal bonuses. Government will pay 100/head premia

cute geoge

It is near impossible for daity farmers to carry extra calves as most are stocked to their limits with nitrates as well unless you pay 300 euro plus for land .Hopefully the export will keep some floor under prices ,I kave been overstocked many a rough year with calves and cattle as well as cows and do you know what I would have been far better off finically and mentally to have sold my calves for 50 euro

cosatron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932491#Comment_118932491

It wasn't by choice we kept them that long

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932544#Comment_118932544

Give them the satisfaction is right. You can't lose, sure you have the majority of the work done. I'd keep more of mine if I had an outside block of land. 3 separate pieces of land slipped through my fingers last year but hopefully something will become available to buy soon.

_Brian

Was in Ballybay yesterday. Allot of poor small calves making very little money, lads can’t turn out poor stock and complain about prices

other than that prices running about 50% of other years.

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118938078#Comment_118938078

Same around here. The young/small/poor quality can be got for very little. Try buy a 6-8 week old beef type whitehead bull calf and you’ll give €250-€300. And I class them as much better value than a lot of sub €50 calves.

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932544#Comment_118932544

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118932650#Comment_118932650

I 100% see your point of view but the lad buying calves makes a very small twist off them anyhow. If fair enough really to present a well reared older calf and not to be worried about getting 50-100 euro extra for it. I know it’s money out of your pocket but it would be a sorry day if lads stopped buying calves too, really be up sh.t creek then.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118938215#Comment_118938215

The thing is there is more of a loss in taking the calf to 8 weeks and selling them for 300. Better off sell them for 80 to 100 at 3 weeks. Calves cost 25 euro plus per week. Put a value on your own time after that, unless of course you think your time has no value. And you like giving early Xmas presents or you like telling people that you got 300 euro for a calf that actually cost you money...

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118938215#Comment_118938215

There was a few proper quality hex bull and heifer calves in Carrigallen yesterday 25 to 35 days old sold from €230 to €290. Calf prices were better yesterday than last week with a lot sold online.

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118938517#Comment_118938517

I agree completely with that but the time and costs for rearing them are the same for the lad buying them as they are for the lad selling them. Hence the reason there’s only small money to be got for younger calves.

Pay any more than €80 - €100 for them and you’re only giving an early Xmas present to the dairy farmer selling them!

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118938504#Comment_118938504

More like you would be giving the dairy farmer a fair price. I know the calf buyer can't get a fair price at the other side so what are they supposed to do. All these big dairy herds are not the answer I think.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939796#Comment_118939796

I think it was two years ago there was a thread about what would be the outcome of all the time extra dairy calves.

There is a conflict within Irish agriculture planning. Because of costs the Suckler cow is disappearing. In theory this should support calf prices as Suckler farmers switch over to calf to store/beef systems. However there is conflict as to what way this land base be pointed.

Fairy farmers themselves want this carbon for to keep dairy expansion going. The government and industry want a good percentage of this land is under Forrestery. On better land larger suckler farmers want to produce white gold. The Greens want over 20% of Irish farm land in organics or Forrestery

You just have to look at the percentage of farmers in this forum that are in organics or considering converting to it.

The problem with this is there is no place for a dairy calf on an organic farm or in a Forrest.

There is only so many calf rearers in the country. They now have a surplus if calves to rear. It really noticeable that every time there is a glitch in the export market then calf prices collapse.

What is happening is some supply and demand and a if we continue to see 50k more calves next year the price drop will be earlier in the year and last longer.

Will not even start to look at what will happen when calf exports stop in a few years time.

Anto_Meath

Lots of people don't want to hear it, but the dairy suck calf has become a waste product of the dairy industry. It is too expensive & to much labour to feed them for the first year. You will buy the average run of the mill lads at less than what it cost to rear them most years. The influence of je on the suck calf has even increased the gamble & it has become a gamble less & less people are will to take.

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939796#Comment_118939796

Or maybe the dairy farmer should be fair to the beef man and not be trying to sell small young calves? Maybe the beef man sees €80-€100 as a more than fair price for such calves considering what he will get out of them 2 years later.

You said yourself it costs €25 a week to rear them on plus your time, what makes the dairy farmers time and money more valuable or important than the beef man? If the dairy farmer thinks its not feasible to rear them why does he think the next man in the line should do it?

Just to clarify I'm not trying to start an argument and I actually 100% agree with all you have said on the topic, I'm just trying to show you the viewpoint from the other side of the coin! I'm sure every calf to store/calf to beef man would love to be guaranteed a strong fair price for his end product and would have no issue paying more for calves if this was the case but unfortunately we are where we are.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940618#Comment_118940618

80 - 100 is fair enough. 5 euro for Friesians is a fair sickener. 20 euro for 3 week old Angus and Hereford is worse. It's just a pity that the store man gets screwed by the finisher and the dairy man gets screwed by the calf buyer. It's farmers screwing each other trying to get a margin for themselves while the supermarkets, etc. are having a laugh. If I had an outside block of land I'd keep alot more cull cows and calves to finish. I mightn't make much out of them but I'd feel better. Most of my calves sold for this year anyway.

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940705#Comment_118940705

Again I agree with you but the whole cycle starts from the price paid to the finisher. I don't think its farmers screwing each other, but more-so the finisher knows what he can afford for stores, the store man then knows what he can give for weanlings/calves etc.

I was talking to a big beef finisher in the midlands recently (there are 4 people in a partnership) and he says they are making a million a year from cattle. It sounds like a lot of money, and don't get me wrong, it is a lot of money, but they killed 13,000 cattle last year. Divide that into the million and its €77 an animal profit and that includes the sfp as well. If they went out now and started to pay €100 a head more for stores they would have to spend all of their sfp on the farm and would still lose €300,000 in the year.

These lads would be as efficient as they come and would be well tuned in as regards maximizing payments and keeping costs down. I don't know what their sfp is but id imagine its substantial enough so I would think leaving that off they are aiming to make less than €50 per head in a store to finish system. The money is just not there in the finishing side of things.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940797#Comment_118940797

Ya, can only get worse with the price of nuts. A brave man's game.

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940852#Comment_118940852

That's it, with such tight figures on such a big head count a man could be wiped out in a few months if things were to go wrong. I would imagine with them sort of numbers there would be some sort of price contract in place with the factory but even still it would be a massive turnover of money, upwards of €15 million a year investment, in order to make that million. So you're looking at about 6% profit margin including sfp. There's not to many businesses outside of agri that would continue operating on margins as tight as that.

cute geoge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940797#Comment_118940797

That neither here nor there in regard to the price of calves ,what is included in costs .

They might buy cattle on monday and killed the following day ,there only having the poor mouth anyway coming out with that tripe.

All I know is the beef finisher is doing his best to screw the storeman and they are just passing this onto the calf rearer and yourself and Bass Reeves are no angels in this regard

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940957#Comment_118940957

I'm afraid you're wrong, it's the finishing price that dictates the value of all beef stock, right back down to calves.

There was no poor mouth at all from him, I worked the figures out myself based on the info he had given me.

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940495#Comment_118940495

+1

Also include the extensive use of short gestation easy calving AI bulls like KYA on dairy cows. IMO it doesn't matter if he was used on FR/x - JE/x they are runty kunts and don't kill out into any reasonable weights.

Base price

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940048#Comment_118940048

The national herd has increased by 140,545 since Feb last year which is attributed to the increase in the dairy herd.

https://www.farmersjournal.ie/bovine-cattle-herd-140-000-head-higher-on-1-february-2022-692122