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West Central Illinois | I'm no expert of course since a small guy and only been doing it a few years but the first year I tried this I did something similar, bought in april sold in november when grass was going out. Got gutted pretty bad, there was a few other reasons that made that bunch not profitable decision-wise but buying stocker calves when the grass is green in spring and prices are popping then selling in november when yearling supply can be high was not great. Bought 4 weight heifer calves in the $1.60s that spring and sold 6 weight calves in the $1.10s. Others will be able to help you out with advice like what I've got from this site but unless you're retaining the calves through finishing I never saw that just turning calves out on grass made any sense. I feed 1% bodyweight in supplement which has almost doubled my gains.
Few other things I do to make it but aren't for everybody, I buy singles and small groups of calves and "put together" a group to be sold in a load qty. Not for everybody though, and I market them through a shots program too which helps upgrade these calves. | |
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Stocker Cattle/Calves
