Market drivers

[woodland]

Are locals buying or are they going to stand in the truck for a long ride?

Teamauctionsales.com run by the Calgary stockyards is how we sell them. They end up at Brooks or High River eventually except once they went to Toronto. Most of the time they go south but occasionally they stay in this end of the world. Nice to see the repeat buyers usually.......... they must be happy with them.

[bucket]

We bred 160 and have the vet booked to preg test them next week. Had some bull issues and with the low prices we ran three cycles on them (normally do one or two only). It’ll be interesting to see how many caught. I figure a guy should expand more in the lower priced times and there’s plenty of feed too.

I couldn’t imagine paying $3k for a bred........... are these real pampered early calving show heifers trading or ones that can duke it out in the real world? Our breds are out grazing corn with some grain supplemented when it’s just the stalks left. They get tough or go to town..............

3k for a bred heifer....its pretty tough to feel sorry for those cattle guys....4 years minimum to pay that heifer off....the calf out of her doesnt sell for more than my commercial calves..

[woodland]

Not sure, in the world of online auctions you don't know so much who is buying.

Here you can see every buyer. Not like RB or others...............

[GDR]

3k for a bred heifer....its pretty tough to feel sorry for those cattle guys....4 years minimum to pay that heifer off....the calf out of her doesnt sell for more than my commercial calves..

These are just heifers, nothing fancy. It's just another example of farmers doing it to themselves. Same guys will complain there is no money in cows. I dont get it either. Lots and lots in the 26 to 2800 range, a few over 3000.

What percentage will make long term productive addition to the herd? 60%?. Lose a calf, dont rebreed, bad temperament, bad mother, dead, so many possibilities to account for. Not a great business plan when you are gonna get 7 or 800 for the culls within a year or 2.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

These are just heifers, nothing fancy. It's just another example of farmers doing it to themselves. Same guys will complain there is no money in cows. I dont get it either. Lots and lots in the 26 to 2800 range, a few over 3000.

What percentage will make long term productive addition to the herd? 60%?. Lose a calf, dont rebreed, bad temperament, bad mother, dead, so many possibilities to account for. Not a great business plan when you are gonna get 7 or 800 for the culls within a year or 2.

And the price they pay for a bred is almost the least of their self inflicted troubles.

Many locals are paying big leases on tractors, and complaing about it. I have no idea how a new tractor can make economic sense on a 1 or 2 quarter cattle farm. Let alone the new( or newer) baler, discbine, rake, stock trailer, pickup, bale processor to go alone with the tractor(s).

Then when hay is expensive, apparently their cows can only eat hay, none are capable of digesting grain, straw, silage, etc.

And the 5 digit bulls.

[farmaholic]

I have no right to "chirp in" but will make this comment.

Those one and two quarter farms are probably hobbies and were a place to spend their oilfield cash.

5 digit bulls..... bulls are half the calf crop. They affect the quality of the calf crop as much as just having all good cows.
A couple of dud cows is meaningless compared to a couple of dud(poor) bulls...... but maybe they don't need to be five digits good.

That's my b.s. for the day.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I have no right to "chirp in" but will make this comment.

Those one and two quarter farms are probably hobbies and were a place to spend their oilfield cash.

5 digit bulls..... bulls are half the calf crop. They affect the quality of the calf crop as much as just having all good cows.
A couple of dud cows is meaningless compared to a couple of dud(poor) bulls...... but maybe they don't need to be five digits good.

That's my b.s. for the day.

Except the oilfield income dried up.
Most have some intention of making farming a full time gig.
And if it is a place to spend extra money, then don't complain about what it costs.

I heard somewhere that the price of bulls is similar to the racket in the art world. One purebred farm buys anothers bulls for inflated prices,and vice versa to repay the favour to set the expectations.

[GDR]

I have no right to "chirp in" but will make this comment.

Those one and two quarter farms are probably hobbies and were a place to spend their oilfield cash.

.

For sure there is some of that, but there are still lots of small farms in Alberta and they can still be viable if guys are smart. Lots are older generation without debt and dont need the cash flow that the rest of us do. Kinda like Sheepwheat says, there are opportunities if you look outside the box.

Sad reality is on bulls that if you are cow calf guy selling calves hide colour is more important than any other trait a bull will provide.