Holstein Help Please

[treesaw]

Thought I would ask for some feedback. I am relatively new to the country life. I've been here for a year. I raised 19 bottle baby holstein steers and they are now 10 months to 13 months old. I have no clue what they weigh (I would guess 400-700 lbs) nor do I own a trailer.I listed them on Craigslist and a man called and offered me .75 cents per pound for the whole group, but now I've decided I would like to keep a few of the small ones. I know there is a couple local people I could pay to haul them to a special "holstein" auction sale in Scotland County Missouri. Are there any other ideas for the unloading of approximately 12 holstein steer ranging from 400-700 pounds? Thanks for your help.

[sammyd]

You should at least have a heart girth tape so that you can get a general idea of their weight.
Then you should call local sales barns and see what those size holstein steers are going for. Here Holstein steers at 6-800 pounds are going for 65-85 cent so 75 is pretty close on the bigger ones but 4-600 pounders bring 85-1.10.
Advertise your steers locally or unload all the bigger ones to the person that offered to buy if he'll take the deal minus a few small ones you want to keep.
Or you could just throw caution to the wind, hire a jockey and haul them in and see what the check is.

[glenn amolenaar]

Be careful selling direct!!! Do you know the check will be good? Most people do not have the cash on hand to pay the large amount of money you are talking for this herd. Call the nearest sale barn they usually have fieldmen that come out and appraise animals. In the early 80's i sold to a cattle jockey (didnot do homework) got my money all he did was haul them right to salebarn and resold them, he made more for a few hours work than we made for 10 months.
Glenn

[springvalley]

You'll also need to get these steers weighed so you know you aren't going to be ripped off. You'll have to borrow a trailer and take it to the local scale. Our local fertilizer plant allows us to weigh there. Then, take it back home and load up the steers and weigh it again. Subtract the two and you'll have the weight of the steers. Good luck!!

-Catherine

[Farm 36]

I think .75 cent is a fair price in my area in WI . If you sell to the barn they will take a cut of about 5 cents and then you need to hire a trucker . You should know what kind of feed cost you have in them to know your profit margine .Don't forget if you run them through the sale you could get less and still have to pay the trucker and the barn .A group of animal will sell better than a couple .

[francismilker]

.75 per pound is an excellent price for holstein steers in my opinion. I would definetely recommend a cash payment or meet on mutual ground at the bank for the transaction. In my neck of the woods lately there's been a pretty good rash of dishonest cattle, sheep, and goat buyers passing bad checks to individuals at the farm from an out-of-town bank and then delivering the critters directly to the sale barn. The buyer gets his check from the sale barn and is gone before your bank calls you to say, "the check didn't clear." At that point, you have nothing to stand on but your word against his.