|
Eastern NE KS | Two years ago, my friend and #1 bull buyer started his stepwise retirement preparation. He rented out his row crop ground, calved his spring-calvers for the last time, and retained more fall born heifer calves to build his fall calving herd to help fill his pastures.
In the summer of '23 spring-calving cows were bred back, preg checked and mouthed in preparation for a Jan-Feb '24 sale. The S'23 steer calves were marketed in usual fashion. However, the S'23 heifers were kept to be bred for S'25 calving.
Early '24, the running-age, 3-9 year old, pregnant spring-calving cows were sold private treaty for agreed price of $2300/hd. Two semi loads of cows moved to a ranch near Ogallala, Nebraska from northeast Kansas.
The heifer calves were prepared for a 45 day natural-cover breeding season timed for February-March '25 calving. A November pregnancy check yielded 45 of 47 pregnant. They were given 840 RFID tags and visible tags that match the last 3 digits from the 840. In addition, they were vaccinated to pass scours antibodies to their newborns in the colostrum.
This group was consigned to a January special cow auction. It was postponed one week to allow snow and ice clearing and allow everyone in northeast Kansas to adjust to deep snow. Luckily, this also allowed time for the hottest and highest priced weaned calf and yearling sales of the winter to be absorbed. And the reaction was positive.
All classes of bred or paired females were present and in generous quantities. The bred heifers had several large consignments. Within their group, large 1100-1200# AI bred heifers, 7-8 months along (Feb-March) were the most valued.
This is an apples vs oranges comparison but fats were selling at $2.02/lb, but my friend's 22 month old 1160# heifers sold for $3470/hd, a whopping $2.99/lb. My '23 heifer calves sold for an average of about $1400. He added $2070 to their value in about 14 months. He definitely made his forage have its highest value.
Many factors contributed to these phenomenal results, not the least of which is near perfect market timing. However, I'm proud we supplied herd sires to my friend for 20 years. The bull's contribution was appreciated by several bidders. | |
|
Successful steps toward retirement
