How much is my heifer worth?
 

How does one go about figuring out how much to sell a dairy heifer for?

We have a heifer who is about to be 18 months (hasn't been bred yet).
She is a mix of shorthorn, and a something else. She is about 800lbs.

I took her over to a friend who deals in cows and horses, he had a bull he was going to let us use to breed her (the bull turned out to be a dud). Him and his wife really liked her and as I was walking through the barn with the guy he started talking about how he would be willing to buy her.

I was at a loss to even discuss it since I have no idea what price I should be thinking of. We aren't planning to sell her, but would like to make money in the next years buy raising heifers for sale. So how do I go about knowing pricing?

Thank you
Mike

Right now, I'd say she'd sell for about $80 cwt.

CWT?

CWT
basically, price per hundred lbs.

I don't kniw what the market is in Maine, I think that's where your from.

A couple of factors , and I think what Karin L. was getting at, is she a freemartin. If she is, then she's just worth meat price.

100 pounds, = 1 hundredweight (cwt)7. 20 hundredweights, = 1 ton

Opps, sorry shelby

no problem, John

I will buy her-- Just bought a holstien, same age and wieght-
paid $800.

Liz in NY

Liz,

I'd be worried about this part,

I took her over to a friend who deals in cows and horses, he had a bull he was going to let us use to breed her (the bull turned out to be a dud).

I'd want her vet checked before buying her.


Mike,

How do you know the bull was a dud and not the heifer?

Hi,
Thanks for the information. I don't think she is worth just the meat. The mother was purchased off a dairy farm and had been bred with a short horn.

The guy who was asking is a pretty well respected trader of livestock in the area and he doesn't fool with stuff that wont pay. He said the heifer was worth about $250 a few days after she was born.

Here are a few photos. The darker is the mother.

http://69.73.139.40/~jfamily/tcog/st...ck/heifer1.jpg
heifer

http://69.73.139.40/~jfamily/tcog/st...stock/cow1.jpg
cow (sorry angle is bad, I was standing up hill... she looks like her legs have been shortened)

The guy said (we had just left it over night) that in the morning he came out and the heifer was trying to mount the bull but the bull wouldn't try mounting her, and he doubted anything had happened over the night. He ended up taking the bull back where he got it from.

We had a smaller bull (young jersey) out earlier in the year for the mother and it tried to mount the heifer but we stopped that since she wasn't old enough yet.


Of course there could be something wrong with the heifer. Until a heifer is bred the first time you can never tell (I know she cycles). But like I said, we aren't planning to sell her anyway. We plan to breed them both and sell the calves.

Mike

Mike,

Not saying the guy doesn't know his cows, but if this heifer is a twin to a bull calf, then she is only good for meat, because more than likely she is a freemartin.


Did the guy you took her to, to get bred check her, Are all the parts there?

Again how do you know the bull is a dud?

Mike I wish you and Shelby were closer. Would love to sit and chat.
Liz

cool looking cow that mother is-

Sorry about the last post, I missed #11.

Sorry,
I think you've lost me.
The heifer was born on our farm. The cow was pregnant when we got her.
There was no other animal so there is no twin.
Maybe I just don't understand what you mean...

Mike

cool looking cow that mother is-

I'm still trying to figure out What she is.

LOL... yes she is a little funny looking with all those colors.
Even here rear hooves are tiger striped.

I am not sure about it all, but I always just took her for a shorthorn, jersey, ?holstein? (basically a dairy mut) (we call her maple).

Okay that makes more sense. She probably isn't a freemartin then. You didn't state originally where the heifer came from.

And the original post about the bull being a dud, you didn't say how long you left the heifer in with him.

Around here the going rate for a breedable heifer that age is $ 800 to $2000. It does depend of the breed type though and if they are a cross, and that is what you have. A cross will sometimes be lower, again depending on the breed.

Sorry about the confusion.
We've only been working with cows for two years now so we don't have a lot of knowledge (besides just the usual care). The mother had a bought of mastitis right after birth (which I am told is normal). Treated her with today and after a few weeks sent in a test and they said they tested twice because the first test showed nothing so they figured there was a mistake and the second turned up the same (they wanted to know why we wanted it tested lol). She hasn't ever had the problem again. So I think we have been blessed with how easy it has been for our first cows.


**
I want to eventually change over to all pure shorthorn. I like the breed from what I have heard (very docile and good milkers) and the fact they will fill out when they go for meat.

They are a good dual purpose breed.



Man I wish I could figure out what that cow is crossed with.

Our jersey has a tad bit of brindle but nothing like that. And all the jersey holstein's I've seen are white and dark brown/black spotted.

This is going to bug the daylights out of me. LOL

The mother looks like a Milking Shorthorn x Jersey. The heifer looks like a 3/4 Milking Shorthorn. I would say she is worth around $1000. If you know what reg. Milking Shorthorn bull she is out of, she might be worth a little more to a person who wants to upgrade to Milking Shorthorn.

My SIL had a cow who looked just like that just not quite that dark. She was a jersey/holstein/shorthorn cross. I don't remember what ratios though. Her calves that she had were a reddish brindle color. Their daddy was a red devon.

Rachel

I have never seen a jersey with that much brindling to have a cross with that dark of brindling,

HUH new one on me.

She is a pretty thing though, and very unique looking.

Actually CWT stands for... C is roman numerial for 100, WT is weight. So CWT for short.



Jeff

I love her! I would buy that cow any day! Must be the mix of all the colors! :)

Getting back to what she's worth. I'd say that at this heifer's age, if she will breed, she should bring more than $800 at any dairy sale when she's a springing heifer. At least a sale in my area. Given her unique color scheme, you could probably sale her to someone looking for a family milker. Not knowing her specific breeding, this color may hurt/help her value to a dairyman. (you're not going to put something in the milkstring that has potential beef blood as it could cause deficiencies in the production for generations to come.)

Milking Shorthorn X (Swedish or Norwegian) Red X Jersey would get my vote.

Consider that 3 day old Holstien heifer calves sell for $600-$950...

I'm shippin my heifers to you then!
400-500 for good quality calves
500-700 top quality

350-550lb open heifers get 775-1175

550-750lb 1100-1300

So from what I see in these posts.....
Location will be the main factor in price?
$80/cwt is the base price for an animal you expect to eat?

How do you go about finding the price in your area for the animals you plan to sell?

Thanks
Mike

Around here right now ANY dairy bred heifer of breedable age will sell for $1500.

Location will be the main factor in price?

yes, looks to be that way.

$80/cwt is the base price for an animal you expect to eat?

Again yes, those for meat are sold by the weight.

How do you go about finding the price in your area for the animals you plan to sell?

Depending on what you are selling,

Checking into your local auction barns will give you an idea of the going prices of cattle.

Then there's the factor of
how much you have into them?
how much you were hoping to get out of them?
How much do you really want to sell them?
How fast do you need to sell them?

All these thing can affect the price of an animal. IMHO

Her overall look and the white on her tail and hind feet and belly make me think she may have some Hereford blood.