What weight is best for selling calves?

steer. For a lighter animal moving up to that weight, the price rolls back pretty fast. But if you take the animal from 600 to 750, that is the most valuable gain in the feeder cattle complex. It drops a little, but stays pretty high all the way up to 900 lbs.

What weight should I sell my calves?

Most cow-calf producers can add weight to 300-pound and 400-pound feeder calves without incurring significant costs, since these calves are nursing and grazing on pasture. Some producers can add weight to 500-pound feeder calves without spending more than the gain in value.

What is the best weight to sell cattle?

Calves are slaughtered before reaching a maximum carcass weight of 150kg, generally without being weaned. Once again, there are no sex, breed, or minimum fat requirements. Buyers favour calves that show “bloom” or in other terms have been grown quickly with no setback prior to sale.

When should I sell my calves?

The best time to sell calves is when the market is high. Traditionally, February and March are the best times of the year. During this time, wheat and oats are readily available for grazing and growing calves.

What is the best weight to butcher a calf?

Buy Standard to Good feeder grade steers weigh- ing 600 pounds and full feed a finishing ration until they yield a slaughter grade of Good. This may be 800-900 pounds, depending on gain rate and feed conversion.

How to weigh a Baby Calf or calves

How old is a 500 pound calf?

During this time their primary source of food is milk from their dam, and the grass or roughage (hay) that is available. At 6-9 months of age the calves are weaned off their dams and placed in a field or pen with other calves of a similar age and weight. Most calves will weigh 500-700 lbs at weaning.

How long does it take a calf to reach 500 lbs?

It will take over a year (367 days) to grow a 500-pound calf to 1,000 pounds if its average daily weight gain is 1.5 pounds per day. Some extensive forage-finishing systems may require a longer duration for calves to reach slaughter weight if forage quality and quantity restrict growth to no more than 1 pound per day.

What is a 500 lb calf worth?

The long-term average is roughly 55 cents per pound of gain. For example, if the price of a 500-pound calf is $1.40 per pound and the price of a 600-pound calf is $1.26, the value of those 100 pounds of gain is $56 or 56 cents per pound.

What breed of cattle brings the most money?

What breed of cattle is most profitable? Angus: This is the most popular breed of beef cattle. Their meat quality is excellent and they provide 50 percent of their weight in the meat.

What is the average weight of a steer going to market?

The “range” steers had an average weight of 1,456 pounds at harvest, yielding an average carcass weight of 872 pounds. The “beef” steers averaged 1,751 pounds, with an average carcass weight of 1,050 pounds.

How much can you sell a calf for?

Calves are assumed to be weaned and sold at an average weight of 550 lbs. In the fourth quarter of 2020, steers in this weight range were selling for prices in the upper $130's and heifers in the low $120's, on a state average basis.

What month are cattle prices the highest?

Prices steadily trended upward from January to June, then remained rather constant from July to December with seeing a high point in September. Prices were highest in mid-fall and lowest in early months of the year. Prices were near the annual average throughout the entire year. Steer Calves (500-600 Ibs.)

How do I market my calves?

Several marketing options exist for those who have backgrounded their calves. They can sell them privately, take them to the local auction market, sell them on the video market or a combination of those using one or several value-added programs.

How much meat do you get out of a 1200 pound cow?

A 1200-pound beef animal will yield a hot carcass weight of approximately 750 pounds. Once cooled, the carcass weight will be approximately 730 pounds. When de-boned and trimmed, there will be approximately 500 pounds of trimmed and de- boned meat for wrapping and freezing.

What color of cattle sells for the most money?

Black, white-faced calves at $111.74 received the highest selling price, followed by black at $110.23, yellow at $110.09 and yellow white-faced at $109.81. Spotted calves brought the lowest selling price at $82.16. Heavier-muscled calves sold significantly higher than thin-muscled ones, with No.

How do you make money selling cattle?

Why do steers bring more than heifers?

Steers are cheaper to feed and gain faster than heifers. Since it costs more to feed the heifer, it is implied that to make the same profit as a steer, the heifer must be cheaper to buy. The heifers must be 10 to 12 cents per pound cheaper than steers otherwise it becomes expensive to feed heifers (M.

How much is a 1200 lb steer worth?

Based on the 2019 budget, slaughter cows (1,200 pounds) are expected to average $50 per hundredweight, while 550 pounds steers and 520 heifers are expected to average $145 and $130 per hundredweight respectively.

Why is a steer worth more than a bull?

If you do not plan to keep the calf to that weight, it is not as much of a factor. There are advantages to keeping and castrating bull calves. More buyers have orders for steers and will pay more money per pound. Buyers like steer calves because there is a bigger risk for buyers to buy bull calves at larger weights.

What weight should I sell stocker cattle?

“We rarely market stocker cattle below 750 lbs.,” Womack says.

What age should you butcher a steer?

Age at slaughter “typically” can be from 12 to 22 months of age for the high quality grade market. The reason for the range in age is that some calves are weaned and go directly to a feeding facility and are finished for slaughter.

What is the best age to slaughter a cow?

The highest quality beef comes from animals that are under 36 months of age. Old cows produce highly acceptable beef if properly fattened and processed. Depending on the calf and the feeding regime, calves are best slaughtered between three and 16 weeks of age.

Is it cheaper to raise your own beef?

Price-While the cost of feed can be a lot up front, the cost of natural grass fed beef is much cheaper to raise than to buy in the store.