Cheapest cattle for the grass?

Muckit

What are the cheapest breed, type, weight cattle to buy for the grass at the moment?

I realise everything is dear, but what's the cheapest?

vanderbadger

Muckit wrote: »

What are the cheapest breed, type, weight cattle to buy for the grass at the moment?

I realise everything is dear, but what's the cheapest?

black whitehead bullocks maybe?

Farmer Pudsey

Looking at cattle for finishing Jersey crosses followed by holstein's and then plain fresians. Which will leave a profit I do not know if any will which you will lose the least money on will depend on the price you pay for them if you can buy jersey crosses that are 50% fresian they should finish faster than holsteins or fresians however holsteins or plain fresian will carry more weight if it was me I just try to pick up value if there are any if the dealers spot you bidding on one type of cattle they play Mollybawn with you
I be trying for cattle 450+ and idealy 525+ for finishing before october

ddogsbollix

aberdeen angus heifers fatten well on summer grass

blue5000

Muckit wrote: »

What are the cheapest breed, type, weight cattle to buy for the grass at the moment?

I realise everything is dear, but what's the cheapest?

Fr cull cows around 500-550kg, get them up on the hook in time for the olympics

bob charles

blue5000 wrote: »

Fr cull cows around 500-550kg, get them up on the hook in time for the olympics

most cows I saw last week were 50 to 100 euro wrong. Olympics wont increase the demand greatly:(

simx

bob charles wrote: »

most cows I saw last week were 50 to 100 euro wrong. Olympics wont increase the demand greatly:(

what do you mean wrong bob? too dear?

Tipp Man

cull cows are very expensive at the moment

Only ended up buying a handful this year

winnie84

At the the moment buying cull cow is not a good decision.

blue5000

winnie84 wrote: »

At the the moment buying cull cow is not a good decision.

What would you recommend OP to buy then to eat grass?

49801

blue5000 wrote: »

What would you recommend OP to buy then to eat grass?

donkeys:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

Farmer Pudsey

It looks like you are looking for what will lose the least money because the price of cattle at present bears no relationship to the finished price of cattle. Very had to reccomend anything. If I had too much grass and had no cattle I would spread no fertlizer, buy the minimum amount of stock and use the mower/topper to top land after grazing wait 3-4 days and cut regrowths to slown down growth. I would try to keep away from young cattle as there will be a load of them in the fall and the finishers will not be paying price that they did last fall after this winter( although we often thaught that before however factories will not give contracts like last winter) . Go to the mart and do not be fussy buy cheapest cattle you can you will lose the least on them it may well be that cull cows will lose you the least money I do not know a lad recently sold finished bullocks in the factory and the one's that were unfinished made more in the mart:eek::eek::eek: and it seems it is commom enough

jerdee

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

It looks like you are looking for what will lose the least money because the price of cattle at present bears no relationship to the finished price of cattle. Very had to reccomend anything. If I had too much grass and had no cattle I would spread no fertlizer, buy the minimum amount of stock and use the mower/topper to top land after grazing wait 3-4 days and cut regrowths to slown down growth. I would try to keep away from young cattle as there will be a load of them in the fall and the finishers will not be paying price that they did last fall after this winter( although we often thaught that before however factories will not give contracts like last winter) . Go to the mart and do not be fussy buy cheapest cattle you can you will lose the least on them it may well be that cull cows will lose you the least money I do not know a lad recently sold finished bullocks in the factory and the one's that were unfinished made more in the mart:eek::eek::eek: and it seems it is commom enough

that's a fact but good cattle which may be dear Will still be better than poorer/plainer ones.......father always said the day you buy is the day you sell.

bbam

jerdee wrote: »

that's a fact but good cattle which may be dear Will still be better than poorer/plainer ones.......father always said the day you buy is the day you sell.

I was always told that when prices drop the plainer poorer stock drop first And fastest. I suppose those hardest to finish, jersey x and maybe some of the poorer fr would drop first round us.
It's definitely a quandary and so many differing opinions on where it's going. If were talking a out such a rise in calf registrations in one year you'd be wondering about prices being lower next year.

Tipp Man

Well this boils down to where you see your profit

If you see the profit being the difference between buying and selling the same animal then there is a bit of risk about at the moment - but this is an illogical way to look at it imo

If you see the profit as being the difference between the selling of an animal and the buying of his replacement then you should be safe enough. The problem at the moment is that stores are too dear relative to factory cattle. In general though if you are replacing as you are killing then you should be fine

Like everything in the business world nobody knows for certain where cattle prices will go - my own personal opinion is that they will remain fairly strong in the factory for the medium term - i think stores will drop a little as finishers realise how little they have made over the last year or so

whelan1

Muckit wrote: »

What are the cheapest breed, type, weight cattle to buy for the grass at the moment?

I realise everything is dear, but what's the cheapest?

the op did say what is the cheapest, he did not specify what was the best value, 2 different things in my book:rolleyes:

Dozer1

what about older suckler cows with calves at foot? was at the mart Monday and a good few mid to old cows from 1400 up, you have 2 animals no calving and you can sell at any time.

If prices start to drop wean the calves and sell the cows straight away, you can keep the calves to eat the grass for the rest of the year and maybe finish them yourself. Either way get rid of the cow at the end of the year and see what's availabe next year.

Yes you will have the ugly cattle to look at but they won't cost as much as stores and you are spreading u're bets a bit.

if you think prices will stay up run the bull with the cows and sell as incalf next year, I just think it gives more options than cattle for finishing

Markcheese

49801 wrote: »

blue5000 wrote: »

What would you recommend OP to buy then to eat grass?

donkeys:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

Pity there's not much Market for donkey and horse here, the countries awash with them and they'd get through some amount of grass.... Save them starving anyway...would there be a live export Market to Europe for them ??
Sort of serious :):)

49801

Markcheese wrote: »

Pity there's not much Market for donkey and horse here, the countries awash with them and they'd get through some amount of grass.... Save them starving anyway...would there be a live export Market to Europe for them ??
Sort of serious :):)

think there was a program done on horse meat nationwide or ear to the ground. butcher basically had his hand out to the gov to supplement him... but what he was saying is that butchering should be an outlet for abandoned horses etc. If your prepared to develope an outlet there might be a market.

snowman707

the cheapest cattle going through the marts at the moment are bulls over 450 kgs , not every body's choice for letting off on grass though

Farmer Pudsey

49801 wrote: »

think there was a program done on horse meat nationwide or ear to the ground. butcher basically had his hand out to the gov to supplement him... but what he was saying is that butchering should be an outlet for abandoned horses etc. If your prepared to develope an outlet there might be a market.

There is a problem in Ireland all horses have to be chipped and have a passport very few farmers do it for ordinary horses. As they have no passport they cannot be killed also there is some injection only ever used in the racing/jumpimg industry that if they have ever got they cannot enter the food chain.
The cost of chiping a horse is more than some of these are worth and I am not sure what way it works out over the injection again in Ireland we opted to legislate the severest form of the European directive

countygorey

Jersey calfes