careful pricing your low end show steers

[Gargan]

just saw a set of 500# black hided (no ears) bring $2.21 a lb ($1105 per hd) on superior auctions. these  are feedlot destined cattle.. So be careful pricing your steers for $1000..lol.. on the contrary, dont expect someone to sell you a steer for a project for $800-$1000..just thought i'd share <beer>

 

[kfacres]

bowling green MO today.. potload (56) of steers 1.47 ave 960#.  1400+ plus each calf.  selling by the pot.

 

[Gargan]

bowling green MO today.. potload (56) of steers 1.47 ave 960#.  1400+ plus each calf.  selling by the pot.

WOW <rock>

 

[Diamond]

About time

 

[kfacres]

About time

I've said it 1000 times... I don't like this high income/ expense market place we are living in right now.  I'd much rather be back when corn was a dollar or two a bushel- and cattle were .70 cents... The ratio of profit was much more ideal... Instead now, corn is 7.00 plus, and cattle are at $2.00.  That's just over double the price of cattle, and almost 7x the price of corn...  Something doesn't match up...

 

[coal_creek]

400lb steers in Knoxville, IA brought up towards $2.25 today.

 

[mainecattlemother]

We just sold soome steers at our local auction barn.  They averaged weight of 635 lbs but there were a few big ones in the bunch but were put all together.  Mainy out of our BC Lookout bull.  We probably could have pulled a couple to show as PB Angus steers but we did not consider them good enough but I think in a lot of counties could have made great steers but we received $1.75 two weeks ago.  Havent watched the sale the last couple weeks but I heard they were even higher.  Our neighbor sold 440 lb steers the same day and got 2.22 lb.  So, I agree an animal broke to lead should be worth morth an $1000

 

[justintime]

I sold two steers two weeks ago . One was the poorest calf of the 2011 calf crop and he weighed 865. He sold for $1.49/lb for a total of $1288 . He was a white calf and was the only calf that I treated aas a baby and he had definite damage to his lungs as he was quite unthrifty. The second steer was a July born, who's mother was hit by lightning when he was about 2 months old. He lived on what he could steal. He weighed 410 lbs and sold for $2.31 / lb for a total of $947.
A week later a neighbour sold 152 steer calves for an average price of $ 1146 for a total take home of $174,000. I also heard of a guy selling over 100 Char X bred heifers for an average of $1890  a couple weeks ago at an auction barn sale.

I'm not sure I agree with BS in wanting to go back to $2 corn and .70 calves. I don't think we will ever see $2 fuel or $20,000 pickups or $40,000  tractors again, so I don't think we are getting over paid yet. With the prices of every input we have being extremely high, it is about time we saw some good prices.

I think we are going to see some outstanding bull sales this spring since the cowboys have some jingle in their jeans. I have heard of 3 Simmi bull sales in the past week that have averaged $6200 or more in Western Canada.

 

[kfacres]

I'm not sure I agree with BS in wanting to go back to $2 corn and .70 calves. I don't think we will ever see $2 fuel or $20,000 pickups or $40,000  tractors again, so I don't think we are getting over paid yet. With the prices of every input we have being extremely high, it is about time we saw some good prices.

What you said, agrees with me 100%.  I'd take 20,000 trucks, $1000 farm ground, $2. corn, $1.90 fuel- and .70 cattle... any day of the week over what we have currently. 

I'm not saying we're getting over paid-- I'm saying we're getting under paid in relation to the cost of inputs as compared to what they were worth- say even 5 years ago.

 

[Show Dad]

Watch the profit/loss of those in the beef chain. Remember 2 years ago the feedlots were losing money big time. Now I've notice the packers are losing money. So either the price at the butcher shop needs to go up, which is bad for us, as demand will go down or the calf producer will be the next to lose money.

Talked with a directory of operation at a big packing outfit and he said the break-even for packers is basically $1.31/lbs at the sale barn.

Question is can we make money at $1.20+ range?

 

[chambero]

Maybe I'm wrong, but in the heydey of the cattle business most peole couldnt afford to eat beef constantly.  I think prices in the stores need to go up and lower cattle numbers become the norm

 

[TJ]

About time

I've said it 1000 times... I don't like this high income/ expense market place we are living in right now.  I'd much rather be back when corn was a dollar or two a bushel- and cattle were .70 cents... The ratio of profit was much more ideal... Instead now, corn is 7.00 plus, and cattle are at $2.00.  That's just over double the price of cattle, and almost 7x the price of corn...  Something doesn't match up...

  It's certainly cheaper when you don't any feed corn or grain by products, etc.  I refuse to feed it for that very reason.  However, I'd be even more concerned about fuel costs.  If they start to sky rocket, this whole thing might get pretty ugly and quick.  Higher fuel is probably going to equal even higher corn prices and anymore it takes fuel to do almost anything on most farms.  It will also make showing cattle extremely expensive.     

 

[KSanburg]

 

I'm not saying we're getting over paid-- I'm saying we're getting under paid in relation to the cost of inputs as compared to what they were worth- say even 5 years ago.
[/quote]

Margins are as tight as ever, yes that big pay check looks good in your hand, and because of the price of everything else going up our product has to follow or we can't be in business. I like selling calves for a $1.50 and bulls for $5k, but I am not sure that my pocket has that much more in it at the end of the day.

 

[Doc]

About time

I've said it 1000 times... I don't like this high income/ expense market place we are living in right now.  I'd much rather be back when corn was a dollar or two a bushel- and cattle were .70 cents... The ratio of profit was much more ideal... Instead now, corn is 7.00 plus, and cattle are at $2.00.  That's just over double the price of cattle, and almost 7x the price of corn...  Something doesn't match up...

  It's certainly cheaper when you don't any feed corn or grain by products, etc.  I refuse to feed it for that very reason.  However, I'd be even more concerned about fuel costs.  If they start to sky rocket, this whole thing might get pretty ugly and quick.  Higher fuel is probably going to equal even higher corn prices and anymore it takes fuel to do almost anything on most farms.  It will also make showing cattle extremely expensive.       

TJ , Gotta agree with you on the fuel. Last time fuel went up like it is now, that's when the economy went downhill.

 

[dare3324]

As someone who only purchases $7 corn. It is nice to see prices begin to offset. I know I sold a bred heifer last fall I wish I had back. But, the fuel price increasing is going to turn everything upside down.

 

[RidinHeifer]

Two weeks ago at the palmyra, IL sale...or woodson don't remember which.500# feeders brouyht 2.05!

 

[Till-Hill]

Buddy of mine sold a cull bull in Waverly, Iowa today. Weighed 1800 brought $1.05, I just said maybe we should all sell some old bulls and buy back newer/better ones to improve our herds when it don't cost that much to get into a new model!

 

[hardenblu2]

It is cool to here all the different views. Ponder this, who owns the family farm today? There was 12 acres that just sold in Edgar county IL. this week that brought 8300 per acre.This was not great, but gust a little better than average.  Now this ground was actually purchased by a farm family that has farmed for two or three years. I have to ask why intelligent people spend heavily on property that" by it self" can never pay for it self? My thought and it is only an opinion, our parents and grandparents were the owner operaters of the family farm back in the day however they had no leverage power. Most had 200 to 1000 acres and had to struggle to pay the bill ls. Enter big business and big money, when you can pay 8300 an acre with out talking nice to your banker the profit from the ground is better interest than any bank or portfolio can provide. Also if you think about the high risk investments, the little risk that the ground will go down in value is worth a chance when there are so many big businesses trying to buy ground. In my opinion these prices are here to stay and my fear is we ha vent scene the top yet however those of us that can weather the storm should be able to make at least a little more money than normal. happy pondering   

 

[kfacres]

It is cool to here all the different views. Ponder this, who owns the family farm today? There was 12 acres that just sold in Edgar county IL. this week that brought 8300 per acre.This was not great, but gust a little better than average.   Now this ground was actually purchased by a farm family that has farmed for two or three years. I have to ask why intelligent people spend heavily on property that" by it self" can never pay for it self? My thought and it is only an opinion, our parents and grandparents were the owner operaters of the family farm back in the day however they had no leverage power. Most had 200 to 1000 acres and had to struggle to pay the bill ls. Enter big business and big money, when you can pay 8300 an acre with out talking nice to your banker the profit from the ground is better interest than any bank or portfolio can provide. Also if you think about the high risk investments, the little risk that the ground will go down in value is worth a chance when there are so many big businesses trying to buy ground. In my opinion these prices are here to stay and my fear is we ha vent scene the top yet however those of us that can weather the storm should be able to make at least a little more money than normal. happy pondering     

.

8300- you better buy all you can.. west side of your state-- it's not uncommon for me to see 10-12k per acre...

 

[nate53]

. I have to ask why intelligent people spend heavily on property that" by it self" can never pay for it self?

I was thinking the same thing when ground was selling for 4 and 5 thousand.     Ground sales today are for the people that have the money and don't have to borrow or at least very much.  Most of the loans years ago was for 20 -40 year loans and now the people that still have to do this just can't compete with those that don't.  Farming is more of a gamble today than ever (potential big win's but not without potential bankrupting losses so the answer to most operations is to spread this risk over more acres or more cows, etc.), if prices do turn really south the entire ag sector will be in trouble.  Everything has responded to these higher prices from land, fertilizer, meat, machinery, crops.  At the same time though I can't envision $2 corn in the next 5 years and maybe ever (kinda like 1-2 dollar gas).  Most family farms have grown and done what they've had to do to survive, and over the past few years have made pretty good money on row crops (granted most all that money they make is going back into the economy).  

It seems like their are certain people that are invested in oil, etc., that are going around and buying alot of the better ground especially black top frontage.  Then they just have one operation travel the country farming all their ground.  I'm sure there is quite abit of this going on (it's just business to them).