auction prices

[john in wa]

I went to the Saturday sale and holly cow the price of day old has went through the roof. I stopped bidding at $170 for White park bull calf day old, some of these beef calves were pulling 200 bucks nice dairy bull calves were pulling 100 bucks each. 200- 250 lb dairy calves were pulling 300 and more. the same beef calves were bringing around 400+. it really seemed out of control up there. i did bring a couple cross bred dairy calves home to get started and resale. but i really think i am going to up my price on them when they are ready to sale. the last calves i sold i think i sold them way to cheap no wonder they sold so fast. I guess thats what i get for not going to the sale for a couple months. My vet told me dairy calves were pulling $1 a pound and more and i thought he lost his mind. last summer i was getting them for 50 cents to $5 each for number 1 dairy calves. whats prices like in your neck of the woods.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Holstein and Holstein cross week old heifers are going for about $350, bulls/steers going for around $100. And they have to be bottle fed.

 

[BuettnersLittleFarm]

Same here in Western Pennsylvania...Holstein calves(bulls/steers) are $2.00 a pound...and rising...some people think I am foolish for wanting to raise them than the traditional beef cattle breeds...going to give it a try this year, like my grandfather always said " Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained"

 

[Royd Wood]

This fact might surprise a few of you but back in the glorious early 1970s we sold week old hereford x holstein calves for 250 - 300 UK Pounds at auction - not sure what the prices were in North America back then ?????? but would imagine they were good.

My take on it is if you want breeding stock then best get a move on as prices will keep rising - Whole herds of breeding stock around here have been shipped for slaughter as the price was good and feed prices continue to climb so there will be fewer calves being born and available next year

 

[greybeard]

There are lots of reasons for this, and it will all flow down the pipe to the consumer in the end. Prices are skyrocketing here as well at the sale barns, both for slaughter animals and replacement stock. 5 months has made a lot of difference here. Back in Dec, you didn't want to leave a trailer at the salebarn with the door unlocked--you were liable to return to find a cow or horse in it that someone couldn't give away--much less sell. Dec was the time to get in, not out--if you could afford to feed them, but it was hard to figure where the bottom was, and ya know what they say about trying to catch a falling knife......

There are only 2 questions circulating around here.

1. Get in now, before replacement prices go up even more--or wait till drought begins to deter prices a bit?

2. Get out now while prices are nearly double what they were a few months ago, or wait to see if they go up even higher here?

IF, the prices begin to drop in June/July, I'm buying a few. I'm buying July hay regardless-- if not sooner.

Originally posted by greenfamilyfarms: Holstein and Holstein cross week old heifers are going for about $350, bulls/steers going for around $100. And they have to be bottle fed.

Is that week old bulls steers?

Originally posted by Royd Wood:This fact might surprise a few of you but back in the glorious early 1970s we sold week old hereford x holstein calves for 250 - 300 UK Pounds at auction - not sure what the prices were in North America back then ?????? but would imagine they were good

Not sure what the exchange rate to USD would be, but I remember being able to buy day old and week old dairy calves for $25 each. I paid about (I forget exactly) less than $150 for a purebred registered Black Angus 6 month old heifer in 1967ish. My father bought 3 registerd and bred polled Herford heifers (probably ~28 mos old) a year before for around $300 USD each.

I need to call my cousin in Nort East texas to see what he's seeing up there right now for his purebred Herefords.

I'm seeing some feed prices on the retail level drop here. Range cubes for instance (12%) were selling for nearly $12 per 50 wt last January are going for $8.50 now at my local feed store.

 

[Cricket]

Same here in Western Pennsylvania...Holstein calves(bulls/steers) are $2.00 a pound...and rising...some people think I am foolish for wanting to raise them than the traditional beef cattle breeds...going to give it a try this year, like my grandfather always said " Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained"

Had you thought of raising an assortment of calves instead of all Holstein? Like get 6 H.'s and mix up the other and compare how it goes? I raise Jersey crosses because I work on a dairy farm and get my calves for free. I quite often get a Holstein cross, as I don't get attached to them the way I do all Jersey's. If I was going to go out and spend that much money on a calf, I'd opt to buy a beef breed. We have enough pasture and put up our own hay and I don't sell any, so don't pay much attention to the bottom line, but if I were buying hay, I'd look at different breeds.

 

[boothcreek]

Our prices here are high too right now.

Day-old bottle calves- Meat types range between $300-$500 each(seen one steel gray heifer go for $700!!! last weekend), Dairy types go for around $300 for a day-old steer.

I remember 2 years ago you couldn't give bottle babies away wether meat or dairy breed. A friend of mine always got her beef steer calves for free when they had to be bottle raised or the farmer was gonna kick-em over the bank... Now with bottle babies being all the rage you invest a lot of money in your beef for the freezer. When I see milk replacer prices a $300 bottle calf better bring in $1000 at 6 months to break even on what you spend on milk alone I think.

Cow/Calf pairs (angus/herford etc) range around the $2000-$2500.

Never stay for the adult dairy heifers/steers so cannot say what they are priced at right now.

 

[greybeard]

Day-old bottle calves- Meat types range between $300-$500 each(seen one steel gray heifer go for $700!!! last weekend), Dairy types go for around $300 for a day-old steer.

I remember 2 years ago you couldn't give bottle babies away wether meat or dairy breed. A friend of mine always got her beef steer calves for free when they had to be bottle raised or the farmer was gonna kick-em over the bank... Now with bottle babies being all the rage you invest a lot of money in your beef for the freezer. When I see milk replacer prices a $300 bottle calf better bring in $1000 at 6 months to break even on what you spend on milk alone I think.

Cow/Calf pairs (angus/herford etc) range around the $2000-$2500.

Just--wow!
Sometimes, I think I've just lived too long. I am glad to see the values going up, but the folks getting hurt most are the ones we all want to see get into farm animal endeavors, and that would be the 4H/FFA types.

Kinda off topic, but I belong to several non-farm/ranch/ag forums, and anytime grocery store retail meat prices come up, everyone swears every bit of any food--especially meat-- increase is due 100% to higher fuel prices, when the truth is, it is a very complex industry, and prices can fluctuate at the drop of a hat for any number of reasons.

Back on topic I guess--Who has the crystal ball for the next few months?
Not me, tho around here, I still think some of the local increase in buying is due to last winter's sell off and folks now buying replacements. My oldest sister sold her little herd completely last Oct, and averaged $1.00/lb and thought she was doing good. I shoulda made her an offer for them myself.