Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Ridgetop]

BUT.... the shock to DS was that they were selling baby calves... and the black ones were bringing $350-650 EACH... and holstein bull calves were bringing $200-400 right along... some were pretty wobbly looking. They also were selling some by the pound... one group averaged 89 lbs and brought nearly $4.00 /lb... so over $300, a head and a group weighing an average of 102 lbs, that brought just over $4.10 a lb....
Guess I am not going to be bottle feeding too many of the baby calves... If I can double my money on them m/l, in only a week or so, there is no reason to put all that milk replacer in them... at least not the nice healthy bigger ones... DS kept looking at me when the black ones, most were crossbred dairy/beef, were bringing $400-500 right along and a couple big ones hit $650 and one hit $675.... for baby bottle calves....
He liked to fell off his chair.... I said,,, I told you so....

Liked to have seen his face when he saw those prices on tiny calves! He should have istened to his mama!

Great news about the prices on small calves. I never held mine for more than 2 months - that is when Earl said they would bring the most money for the least $$ into them.

You have the right idea - get all the new calves you can raise and sell them at 2-3 months. Holsteins gain fast and are bigger framed so you will make good $$$. You won't have much in them and they will bring you a profit. Like you said on the cows sell high and buy when the market drops again which it will whether because of low feed stores or whatever. Too bad you missed out on the 2 bred cows that went for $1500 but if you had bid the other bidder might have gone up too. If you can get a couple of the old dairy cows cheap from the dairy that is selling out maybe you could turn them into nurse cows. You know what you are doing - time to cash in on all your experience. If DS doesn't want to listen to Prime experience too bad for him! LOL
New fences coming sooner than expected!

 

[Mini Horses]

Good on prices at auction!! DS is so tied up between VDOT &GF he's not seeing the market.

This up & down weather is the pits. I did an unusual whole herd worming...some needed, others just preventive. The expelled stuff will get frozen to kill anything going on. We do what we can.

Help to fence would be wonderful. Same here . The winds make it unpleasant to work it. Always seems to be on our "days off". I have to get mine done!! Winds in actual 25-27 temps makes it go thru you.

 

[Baymule]

With baby calf prices that high, I say go for it! Make some fence money!

@Mini Horses im with you on cold! We both live in areas of high humidity and that makes it feel even colder. Throw in some wind and you and I both are not happy campers. The wet weather I’ve had has been hard on my flock. I need some sunny days to finish drying up the mud. I need to run fecals on the whole flick.

 

[farmerjan]

WELLLLLL.... how about a nice "BRISK" ......18....... this morning ????? Brisk my a$$... it's Freeze your butt off COLD this morning. Not windy right now, but the weather forecast said elevated fire risk due to drier conditions and winds... so I expect the wind will be picking up here shortly. With the air currents and such we usually have breezes/wind from morning to evening then it dies off at night... that is why the burn ban is in effect; 4 pm to midnight is the time frame, during which burning is allowed. I am still waiting for a good wet rainy day with no wind to do the huge pile in the garden.... which will present its self...

Running the load of clothes through and will put another load in shortly. Sun and 50's the next 3-4 days... nights only down in the upper 20's and low 30s expected.

Didn't go get my milk yesterday, texted farmer and said it would be Sunday (today) when I came... and will run to town to check on the buckets while I am halfway there... they didn't leave a message... just saw the call on the phone... I know they have their trash pick up on Monday... so even if they stuck some outside in the fenced off area around the dumpster, I ought to be able to get them...

Need to get out there and get bottles fed....

 

[Mini Horses]

Had to break ice on tubs this morning first time in almost a month, so shouldn't complain but I will, I am!

 

[murphysranch]

I sure hope you get the babies sold. Some extra money in your pocket will go a loooonnnng way for you!!

 

[farmerjan]

Did bottles and all that. Then went to get milk (for drinking) and went the extra into town to see about buckets. Only had 2 but that's okay too... Spent time talking to the (dairy) farmer I get my milk from... telling him about the sale at the stockyard on Sat... and the outrageous prices the baby calves were bringing... He has some steers to sell and was planning to take them in about a month... but after that, said he might just take them sooner... some are ang/hol x he has raised on some of his cows, and a few on extra milk from his 3-4 cows that he milks... he has several people getting milk from him but has some extra... said at this rate he will not be buying any extra calves off the one farm he often gets a few from as he cannot justify those prices... told him about my deal with the one dairy, and if he got to needing a calf I could help him out... he said if he had milk and no calves, he could just let me get the milk.... we will work something out... He does not charge me for the milk, I pick up his milk samples and do the "paperwork" for his few cows within the other herd... and drop off reports and things on his cows... and leave him some money every so often for the milk.... it benefits me and him... and if he has surplus, and is going to dump it for any reason (no calves to feed it to)... he will call me... they have beef cattle too,,, his brother runs 150 cows... and they are going to start calving... and there usually are some twins, and they pull one and let the cow just feed one and bottle feed the other so he usually has something to feed the milk to... I can sell him a calf for little more than I pay if he needs one or 2.... he agrees that I ought to keep them for a week or so, get them eating good, have several, and take and sell them for the prices they are bringing... not worth the milk replacer costs, and all that for how high they are right now... feed out some that are small/twins/ etc... that would not bring as much... Put that money away for future feed/milk replacer/buying more calves..... and if the fence gets done and the bottom falls out of the baby calf market... then raise them up and sell as weaned feeder steers or something.. he agreed that I should raise the twin heifers up as they should be "good"... not free martins that won't breed...future replacements... might keep the heifer that is twin to the bull also, she is smaller than the bull calf... 10 % chance she would b reed... but will make a feeder if she is not fertile....

So, I am home and in the house. It is darned cold out there with the wind blowing... has hit 46... but feels like 30....
Have washed the 4 / 2 gal buckets, but not the 2/ 5 gallon ones since they will not fit in the kitchen sink. Dumped a couple buckets of water in them outside, and it will dissolve the sticky glaze and stuff in them. Will wash them out on a warmer day...
Got milk from the farm that I picked up with the calf, in the house getting "thawed" out.... it had ice in the bucket, on top and down the sides where it was so cold it was freezing from the outside in... at least I don't have to worry about it turning sour.... I am only feeding about pint or so per bottle so I don't mess up their stomachs... and it helps to use one or 2 less cups of milk replacer each time I mix it...
Still have not let the 2 newest calves out of the hutch with this wind... Manure looks good and I DO NOT want them to get sick... maybe tomorrow???
One load of laundry done and in the basket to go out but I am not going to hang it in this wind today... supposed to diminish alot by tomorrow... Clothes would go sailing to the next county in this wind... got another load in to soak and should be able to hang tomorrow...

DS and brother are going out to eat with some friends of DS, this evening,,... "guy thing" ... so I am going to eat the leftover spaghetti I brought home from last night( I ate less than half of it)..... No vet check tomorrow he said, cows are not moved... He is afraid of maybe leaving a new calf that a cow has hidden in the field... as they do in these windier/chilly conditions.. they will find an out of the wind spot and curl up and we don't want to leave any babies behind because they are tucked away staying warm... .and he had to sleep some today too...I will call the vet first thing to confirm that we are not going to do it... they said to just let them know for sure, in case we did get them moved and vet was not booked up... but I told them to go ahead and book someone else if they had someone that wanted to get done...
So I am going to make up the bottles and go up a little early to do them in these chilly windy temps... give them some of the "good hay"... I will see about getting the tarp of loose hay tomorrow... no sense in having it get "blown away" in the back of the truck if a gust of wind catches it... I even fed their hay inside today again, due to the wind this morning...
Need to go out in the greenhouse on the deck and water those plants... It says it is 70 in there so will go do that now while it is nice in there... then make the bottles and go feed them.

 

[Ridgetop]

WELLLLLL.... how about a nice "BRISK" ......18....... this morning ????? Brisk my a$$... it's Freeze your butt off COLD this morning.

More calf coats?

 

[farmerjan]

No, no more calf coats.... the others are not wearing calf coats now... I took them off when it was in the 30-65 degree temps 2 weeks ago... they are eating good and drinking fine... not shivering. The 2 here in the hutch are well protected from drafts... opening to the northern direction as nearly all our wind comes from the south and west... Have all the vents closed so just the wide opening in the front... Sun gets on them and warms them up during the day. But the direction I have them at it pretty much mitigates any wind...
Besides, if things stay the way they are, I will be selling the bull calves within 2 weeks of getting them if they are good sized and healthy... At $300+ a head... at 3-10 days old... I have $150 in them plus milk replacer at say another $15.00... being extremely "loose" with figures, say $25.00 in them. That gives me a profit of $125 on each calf... and that is figuring low on the prices of them selling... If they are in the 95-100 lb range they were bringing over $4.00/lb...
So if you extend it out 4 months... You have $125 in milk replacer (1 and 1/2 bags) and then getting them started on grain... say another 3 bags of grain so $35.00 roughly...add in maybe 10 bales of good calf hay at $10 bale..... they weigh 300 lbs and they bring $1.50 lb as small feeder steers ... that's only $450 for the calf and you have $410 in the calf (150+125+35+100=410) .. you are not making much for your labor... If they bring $2.00/lb that is $600...less 410= 190 for 4 months time and effort... as opposed to say on the low end of $125 for 10 days time and work... and next to no inputs other than milk replacer... I can basically sell 2 and pay for 3.... plus not having the possible problems of losing a few....

This will not keep up I don't think... the public is not going to be able to afford the price of beef as it continues to climb... and when the demand drops, then the price of feeder calves will drop way off...and then I will be lucky to get $1.00 lb for 300 lb , 4-5 month old holstein calves ... and I will actually lose money...

Holsteins bring half what a good beef calf brings... but right now there is money to be made in them... and "flipping" them looks to be the best way to go right this minute... I can keep the small sized ones, twins, things like that... and they will be totally paid for so only will have some input costs of milk and feed.... and if they do good, they will be saleable at 300 lbs if eating good and looking good... and still make me a little money...
If I get any black ones, they are worth a bunch more... and they will get "flipped" ASAP.... at 4-600 each that is insane. I can sell a few and buy a bred mature 1200 lb beef cow ready to drop a calf for the price of 3 black baby calves... and her calf will be worth 1500 in the fall if we don't have a crash. If we have a crash, everyone is going to get hurt not just us... but hopefully we will get hurt less if we have taken advantage of the prices...
I am not putting a price on these animals... this is a sell to the highest bidder so the the market demand is determining this... Why shouldn't I take advantage of it like anyone else does. I will give the farmer what they want... no undercutting or trying to get something for nothing... they get the calves out of there that they need gone, they get more than they will get at the local stockyards down there.. and they don't have to do anything except help load them in the truck....

I will probably sell the holstein and the black jer/hol/ang calf that the cow had (that died)... looks more dairyish than beef... but hell... at $4-700 that it ought to bring, I can't justify keeping either of them...and not worth even making them steers at that price... they are small enough for it to not matter if they have been worked or not...
Can't do it this coming Wed... since I already committed to helping at that 2500+ cow herd and have it set up for Lindsay to go too... so not going to think about it until after I get that done.....

Okay, time to go to bed

 

[Ridgetop]

I will be selling the bull calves within 2 weeks of getting them if they are good sized and healthy... At $300+ a head... at 3-10 days old... I have $150 in them plus milk replacer at say another $15.00... being extremely "loose" with figures, say $25.00 in them. That gives me a profit of $125 on each calf... and that is figuring low on the prices of them selling...

So if you extend it out 4 months... You have $125 in milk replacer (1 and 1/2 bags) and then getting them started on grain... say another 3 bags of grain so $35.00 roughly...add in maybe 10 bales of good calf hay at $10 bale..... they weigh 300 lbs and they bring $1.50 lb as small feeder steers ... that's only $450 for the calf and you have $410 in the calf (150+125+35+100=410) .. you are not making much for your labor...

We had "free" milk from the dairy goats and leftover hay from the goats who were picky eaters and would eat off the green leafy bits leaving the stalky stuff behind. The 4-H dairy goats had to be kept in milk for raising kids, needed to be in milk for shows, and were on test. You can only make so much ice cream! We didn't have to pay for replacer or hay for them so just a bit f grain and we raised 2-3 at a time since I was getting them from my commercial diary 4-H mom friend. I think they were going for $125 each as newborns because that is what the calf man paid. The prices were not that high - I think I got about $250 each at 2 months. They were bright eyed and shiny though without any scoury manure or mud on them so looked great.

I think cashing in on this bottle calf market for the time being will be a good money maker. It would be nicer if you could find a couple good nurse cows, but even feeding bottles you could do well. I personally don't think the cattle market will drop too soon since everyone has sold off a lot of their stock during the drought - this includes mama cows. Fewer mama cows means fewer calves being born and now that cattle prices are high a lot of cattlemen are keeping good heifer calves to replace what was sold off. The meat plants are going to turn back to Holstein steers for lesser cuts. I see another year or so of high cattle prices until the herds are built back up.

I could be wrong - I was once!