Will watching the Friday morning TEAM sale
“We castrate at weaning time by banding in the fall. We tag in the spring but with seeding we just don’t have time to band. Nothing backed off feed at all, it didn’t seem to set them back.” “On the lowest ration at the feed lot, a 20 ration, they gained 2.68 and our total cost was just under $.81. That includes everything – bedding, death loss, etc. When NSA does a benchmark comparison they include a lot of cattle and our cost of gain was $.07 better across the board.” “We had an April 24th steer calf that weaned at 828 on December first in 2013 and went to an Ontario feedlot at 1224 lb. on April 1st, out of a 1450 lb. cow. The cows keep their shape really well. The heifers bloom so much in the feedlot. Charcross had a ten cent premium over the straight bred at the same weight this past fall. Last year it
was only a 4-5 cent difference.” “I might keep a few silvers. Ellie really wanted to keep a silver heifer, so we have one. To keep producing
“Charcross had a ten cent premium over the straight bred at the same weight this past fall.” silvers we will have to go back to a black bull, I don’t really want to do it. From a pasture management standpoint, we just can’t do it. When you look at what it really costs to keep a replacement, and what it costs
you to not get any income from them for 18 months, I don’t think people really think about the economics of it when they keep their own heifers. We try to buy the best replacements we can and not think about price. Replacements cost $1300-1400 most years. For the most part we have been happy with what we have purchased. A few of them get a little bigger than we like to keep. We like our cowherd to be 1400-1450 pounds. Even the little bigger cows are still efficient. There is probably a twenty pound difference on the weaning weight of some of these calves.” “We cull about 10% of our replacement heifers for udders and feet. If there is any foot rot, even if they are treated and recover fully, they are culled. I also cull hard for temperament. If they have smaller calves, they also get culled as long as continued on page 30
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Charolais Connection • February 2015