Cattle Purchasing Advise

KateB · #1 02/04/13, 02:37 PM

Ok folks, I could use some advise here. A "What would you do" kind of situation.

My husband and I have decided to purchase some more cattle. Our end goal is to breed and raise commercial cattle and sell the calves as weanlings.

We currently own our own Registered Hereford bull. We also have 2 breeding age cows (Both calved end of December), one pure angus and one crossbred.

We also have one mostly angus cross bred heifer who will be bred this summer for a calf next spring.

We just purchased 2 hereford (not registered) heifers to breed next year. so will be almost 2 years before we get calves out of them.

Now, we are looking for the best long term solution for growing our cow herd. We are going to spend about $8000 on new cattle. We are not concerned with registered cattle at this point in time, just good solid cows to produce good solid calves.

Here are our 3 options.

#1) We have the opportunity to purchase 18 300-400 lb heifers/steers for just over the $8000. We could buy these, feed them up a bit and sell the steers. The heifers would be kept for breeding. About 2/3 of them are heifers.

#2) We could purchase some of the 300-400 lb heifers and also purchase 2 or 3 bred cows from a different individual.

#3)We could purchase up to 6 bred cows, keep any heifers they have for our herd and sell off the bull calves at weaning.

We have enough land and feed for each of these options.

What do you think? I know the a lot of pros and cons of buying heifer calves as compared to bred cows, but feel free to mention because it may be one I haven't thought of.

Thanks!

chronic66 · #2 02/04/13, 03:40 PM

I pick option #3. Or, buy cow/calf pairs with the cows bred back.

FarmerDavid · #3 02/04/13, 03:50 PM

How soon do you need your money? I started out in cattle 2 years ago by getting a good deal on some nice heifers. It's still going to be a few more months before I get any return. They are good young cows and I didn't need an imediate return so I went that way.

I've since bought a few older (8 yrs) 3 in 1's. I was able to get them cheaper because of their age and ill start getting a return on my investment about 6 months after purchace. That's much better for my cash flow.

Personally I'm going to buy some more this spring and will probably go with a mix of heifers and bred cows or 3in1's. Ill buy the best cattle that I can afford and not worry about which of those 3 categories they fall under. But at this point I'm also using my cattle herd as a tax write off. I didn't plan on or intend to make a profit off my cattle in the first five years. At the end if five years I hope to have a nice set of cattle that can serve as their own stand alone enterprise.

MO_cows · #4 02/04/13, 04:37 PM

The bred cows would have the quickest return on investment. They are proven producers and they will give you a calf to sell or add to your herd this year. The young heifers are going to be all "outgo" and no income for a couple of years.

myheaven · #5 02/04/13, 05:27 PM

One question. How old are the bred cows?

opportunity · #6 02/04/13, 06:04 PM

I've had bad luck with heifers bough some that that were not good breeders, doesn't do any good if they can't get pregnant or only do it once every few years need my cows to have a baby every 12 months or it costs to much to keep them. I bough from what seemed like a good source the first time turns out the guy was lieing to lots of people he went out of business after another person sued him his cattle were not what he claimed.

KateB · #7 02/04/13, 06:20 PM

Bred cows are between 4 & 7.

ksfarmer · #8 02/04/13, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KateB

Bred cows are between 4 & 7.

Personally, I like the bred cows, assuming they will calve this spring. Since you already have a bull, you will get use from him sooner. If you buy heiffer calves you will have the problem of keeping the bull away till they are of breeding age.

haypoint · #9 02/04/13, 08:30 PM

"#1) We have the opportunity to purchase 18 300-400 lb heifers/steers for just over the $8000. We could buy these, feed them up a bit and sell the steers. The heifers would be kept for breeding. About 2/3 of them are heifers."

I like this option, except......
There is a big price difference between eighteen calves that weigh 400 pounds each and ones that are only 300. Can you get a price per pound? Easy to check around at recent Livestock auctions and see what colord calves are selling at.

You didn't say what breeding these calves were. More Herefords or Angus or mixes? With a Hereford Bull, I think you'd want to stay away from the larger framed breeds.

The market is tilted away from Herfords and favors Angus. You can use a bit of salesmanship and stay out of normal marketing channels and do just fine with the high quality Hereford beef. Or you can take a hit at the Market.

By going with young calves, you can grow more beef and increase the herd faster. You won't have the worry about getting anyone's culls.

bruce2288 · #10 02/06/13, 10:28 AM

Calf prices are expected to be very good this fall due to small herd size. If you buy young heifers you will miss out on two ;years of high prices. Prices are not always high. Where are you? I am sure there are more options to buy cattle than you mentioned. Here in Nebraska a lot of cows have been liquidated. If the long range forecasts are correct there will be much more liquidation of quality cows in the plains and mountain states. Do you have an active sale barn in your area? In my area out of season cows and pairs are often bought at a discount. Out of season here means May, June july. Cows go to pasture in May and Farming gets going big in april so many do not want to mess with a couple of cows still to calf.

Ideally I would buy ready to bred second calvers, they are probably also the most expensive, good solid mouth cows will probably be the best ecomically in the short term.