Three weeks ago - when I sold my calves - Holstein cows weighing a thousand to sixteen hundred pounds sold for 63 to 65 cents a pound. Two weeks ago Holstein cows weighing twelve hundred to fourteen hundred pounds were selling for 60 to 63 cents a pound. This week Holstein cows over a thousand pounds sold for 55 cents pound. Not a week to sell a Holstein calf. I am not sure why Holstein prices were trending down as the overall calf market the past few weeks has been steady to a few cents a pound higher.
When I talked with the livestock auction owner a few weeks ago he said Holstein calves weighing around 550 pounds were selling for 80 to 90 cents a pound.
While I don't have experience estimating the weight of a Holstein, my calf weighed more than I thought. I thought he would weigh 550 to 600 pounds. Remember, my beef steer calves weighed on average 595 pounds. My Holstein calf weighed 645 pounds. He weighed more than Donna, Dan or I had estimated.
The bad news... the price I got for him. 60 cents a pound.
My beef steers sold for 1.625 a pound. Because it was a Holstein I expected to get less per pound - but not this much less. I paid $150 for him as a newborn calf. I had expensive vet bills plus the auction and transport costs and I probably broke even to making only a few dollars on him. Not really worthwhile from a financial aspect. It was a learning experience. An experience - grafting a Holstein calf on a cow who lost her calf - I would think twice about doing again. Knowing now what I now know, I would have been better off keeping the Holstein and feeding him over Winter and then selling him in the Spring. He would have put on more weight and I mostly likely would get almost as much or more cents a pound.
This is the second steer I got hammered on price this year. Making money raising cattle... not an easy proposition.
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| Surprisingly, Sunday's wind didn't blow the snow off the shrubs. |
Sunday it stormed most of the day. Wind and snow. Miserable. The cattle mostly stayed in the shelter of the loafing shed. Daisy and I stayed inside and made sure the woodstove was fed. Snow blew everywhere. I did notice Sunday afternoon that cow #20 - the one who had broken her leg this Summer - was by herself at the water trough. Her front leg - the one that acts up in Winter - seemed stiff. In the howling wind I herded her into the south coral to be with the heifers. No need for cow 20 to have to walk more than necessary on the snow.
The Winter weather forecast is for a cold and snowy Winter. What I didn't realize is that also meant a longer Winter. Not even a week into November and I and others are already sick of Winter.
Today was a decent day. Sun and no wind. The temperature was near freezing as the snow melted a little in the sun. I shoveled off the front driveway and paths to buildings in the backyard.
While I was concerned at having enough hay due to feeding three heifers in addition to the cows and bull, and feeding the cattle starting weeks earlier than normal; I found the cattle are eating the oats/barley/pea hay quicker than usual. Usually a large hay bale lasts three to three and a half days. For two bales now the cattle have eaten each bale in two days. I had to put out a third bale late this afternoon. At this rate my hay won't last until Spring. It is always something.
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