Calf price chitchat

Mooooo

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Hate to buy calves that come off cows especially if gone beyond two weeks if age. It brutal trying to get them to change over to either nippke feeders or buckets.

Fair point but They were bottle fed their first 3 feeds, first one was better quality biestings I had frozen as cow's weren't long dry. Left a bit hungry at 3 weeks they should remember fast enough. They were used to me walking around so they were used to people as well so hopefully next fella/ lady got on ok with them.

Anto_Meath

whelan2 wrote: »

Any prices recently?

Carnaross last Monday FR bulls made from €10 - €185 with AAx bulls from €205 - €165 with heifers from €160 - €90. Anything cont bred made from €385 - €200.

stanflt

Had 3 calves in Carnaross this morning all Holstein Fresian bull calves
155
135 and 120
Great trade for calves

whelan2

What are blacks making?

atlantic mist

exporter in the yard yesterday - export price 50 euro
stronger calves in ross averaging 80 last week

stanflt

whelan2 wrote: »

What are blacks making?

120-180

Anto_Meath

whelan2 wrote: »

What are blacks making?

Heifers €70 - €305 Majority around €220
Bulls from €145 - €310 Majority around €235

Mooooo

stanflt wrote: »

Had 3 calves in Carnaross this morning all Holstein Fresian bull calves
155
135 and 120
Great trade for calves

Age?

Reggie.

stanflt wrote: »

Had 3 calves in Carnaross this morning all Holstein Fresian bull calves
155
135 and 120
Great trade for calves

Ya just couldn't wait could ya

Reggie.

Mooooo wrote: »

Age?

Around 42 days

Mooooo

Reggie. wrote: »

Around 42 days

Was there many out at the 3 to 4 weeks bracket?

Farney Farmer

whelan2 wrote: »

What are blacks making?

Sold a few last week. Heifers 160-170. Bulls 190-200. 2-3 wks old.

High bike

What would 10 day old blue heifers off fr cows be worth??

Anto_Meath

High bike wrote: »

What would 10 day old blue heifers off fr cows be worth??

Depending on quality but around €250 -€300 is the run of them at the minute.

morebabies

Any calf sales on tomorrow around the midlands does anyone know, or slightly further afield?

whelan2

Carnaross?

DukeCaboom

Don't take calves to the mart tomorrow. Exporters were pesermistic yesterday about sailing with the storm.... Should be value if u wer looking for a few.

morebabies

Looking to buy heifer calves 4 weeks old EDIT

whelan2

morebabies wrote: »

Looking to buy heifer calves 2-3 weeks old

What breed?

morebabies

whelan2 wrote: »

What breed?

4 weeks old meant to say, looking for a mart tomorrow with HEX or AAX heifer calves.

whelan2

Anyone in Carnaross today?

weatherbyfoxer

what are 4 week old good quality angus Bulls out of br fr type cows selling for?

stanflt

whelan2 wrote: »

Anyone in Carnaross today?

Sent 7 to Carnaross- didn’t realise there was no shipping- best price 100 worst 30 for hols 21 days old- had a 22 day old bb heifer make 250
No body was bidding today

DukeCaboom

Bandon wasn't that bad, two lads from the North touched down and a chap from Limerick who is rarely there. They hopped off each other all day. Good fr bulls 5 weeks old about 150. But there was lovely young calves that wood normally make 40 only making 10/15 €.... All fr bulls.

visatorro

stanflt wrote:

Sent 7 to Carnaross- didn’t realise there was no shipping- best price 100 worst 30 for hols 21 days old- had a 22 day old bb heifer make 250 No body was bidding today

My dealer reckons it's hard to get calves from the northern half of the country exported as there's too many cheap calves in the southern half of the country. Plenty of free calves outta yards. Dealers words not mine.

tanko

It'll be interesting to see what happens when the glut of calves starts coming out.

Reggie.

visatorro wrote: »

My dealer reckons it's hard to get calves from the northern half of the country exported as there's too many cheap calves in the southern half of the country. Plenty of free calves outta yards. Dealers words not mine.

I know the free calves are JEX

Reggie.

stanflt wrote: »

Sent 7 to Carnaross- didn’t realise there was no shipping- best price 100 worst 30 for hols 21 days old- had a 22 day old bb heifer make 250
No body was bidding today

Bit of a difference there. Lucky ya didnt send the 30

visatorro

Reggie. wrote:

I know the free calves are JEX

He wants fairly good fr bulls for the boat. Won't bring Jersey.

kevthegaff

Sold 10 today all 2 weeks old, fresians made 20 and 1 Norwegian made 10 and jex 5 euros. Fairly crap

atlantic mist

120 for 3 week old british fr
180 for 6 week old british fr
5 of each, all out of yard
shipper offered 70 for same animals few days ago

DukeCaboom

atlantic mist wrote: »

120 for 3 week old british fr
180 for 6 week old british fr
5 of each, all out of yard
shipper offered 70 for same animals few days ago

Very satisfying!

Reggie.

BIL getting €20 a head for JEX bulls

Bass Reeves

atlantic mist wrote: »

120 for 3 week old british fr
180 for 6 week old british fr
5 of each, all out of yard
shipper offered 70 for same animals few days ago

At 330kgs DW at present prices they make 1200 euro at a grade of O=, .last July such a bullocks would made 1120 in the factory. IMO buyer is giving himself no chance of a decent margin and if they slip not O-/P+ take 60-90 euro off those prices.

Cavanjack

Bass Reeves wrote: »

At 330kgs DW at present prices they make 1200 euro at a grade of O=, .last July such a bullocks would made 1120 in the factory. IMO buyer is giving himself no chance of a decent margin and if they slip not O-/P+ take 60-90 euro off those prices.

He’d buy them at €350-€400 next November if they are good ones. Crazy money for fr calves.

Bass Reeves

Cavanjack wrote: »

He’d buy them at €350-€400 next November if they are good ones. Crazy money for fr calves.

He might buy them alot less. Last autumn you would have bought such calves for a euro/kg

orm0nd

Sold 13 br fr bulls ex yard, 3 to 5 weeks old

140 euro each, they were double vaccinated for pneumonia, trained to feeder and eating crunch.

They had great shape and eventhough most were born a couple of weeks early had good size for age.

Buyer will take remainder of the fr bulls as well.

A change for us to be selling calves but circumstances change. A TB reactor last November also put us thinking about keeping too many store cattle around the place also.

Luckily she had nvl and we got clear quickly.

johnnyw20

Looking at the prices of calves so far this year it makes me wonder about farming altogether. Beef price is brutal but yet the price of calves is running at the same if not stronger than last year.

There is no sense to it at all. The only thing that’s given is that farmers will be back complaining later In the year because they gave too much for calves this spring

Mooooo

It's early yet, glut will come prob from next week on. Weather and ferry sailings will be key

_Brian

johnnyw20 wrote: »

Looking at the prices of calves so far this year it makes me wonder about farming altogether. Beef price is brutal but yet the price of calves is running at the same if not stronger than last year.

There is no sense to it at all. The only thing that’s given is that farmers will be back complaining later In the year because they gave too much for calves this spring

No different to sucklers, the €€7-900 a year to keep a Cow and rear a weanling to sales hasn’t gone away either, yet we see lads selling weanlings at €6-700 every autumn

I deal with allot of small suckler farmers, 20 cows and less, most are loosing money year on year for variois reasons. A tight run calf enterprise is at least as profitable and in my mind more likely to turn a profit when everything is accounted for.

Empty cows and lost calves in suckler enterprise is where the money is being lost, massive money. But most lads exclude this cost when thinking about their finances.

2 empty cows and one lost calf out of a 20-25 cow herd is massive hit and it’s really really common.

I know lads have a hard on for breeding and nice cows, heck I miss calving cows myself, but lads are lying to themselves about calves being such a bad business model compared to sucklers.

atlantic mist

thats based on current factory prices and your saying the animals will still have a margin, how do things look if factory price jumps

buyer was happy to be buying bf stock, he was at marts and could have picked up calves with more holstein blood for between 50-90 but bought ours

grassroot1

_Brian wrote: »

No different to sucklers, the €€7-900 a year to keep a Cow and rear a weanling to sales hasn’t gone away either, yet we see lads selling weanlings at €6-700 every autumn

I deal with allot of small suckler farmers, 20 cows and less, most are loosing money year on year for variois reasons. A tight run calf enterprise is at least as profitable and in my mind more likely to turn a profit when everything is accounted for.

Empty cows and lost calves in suckler enterprise is where the money is being lost, massive money. But most lads exclude this cost when thinking about their finances.

2 empty cows and one lost calf out of a 20-25 cow herd is massive hit and it’s really really common.

Many are tied in with BDGP and the end of that may see a change.
Parts of the country with suckler cows are unsuitable for calf to beef
I dont see why loosing money on calf to beef is better that loosing money suckling

_Brian

grassroot1 wrote: »

Many are tied in with BDGP and the end of that may see a change.
Parts of the country with suckler cows are unsuitable for calf to beef
I dont see why loosing money on calf to beef is better that loosing money suckling

Nobody should be happy about loosing money on their core business, yet it’s become the accepted model in beef farming. Last data I saw showed 2/3 of suckler farms loosing money and using bps to supplement farm.

Recent years with calves is definitely lean but not necessarily loosing money. Not here anyway.

There are many factors and personally calves suit us well, long winters and heavy soils here drive up the cost of housing/feeding cows to unsustainable levels with shocking associated costs. I’m seeing lads who are feeding cows indoors for 7 months, it’s shockingly expensive way to farm.

Anyway, this thread isn’t about sucklers Vs calves, I certainly didn’t mean to pull it off topic.

In my mind lads need to time buying calves with turnout date in mind, you want them weaned and ground conditions ready for their turnout immediately. Keeping them indoors after weaning is just added expense and increased risk of disease.

grassroot1

_Brian wrote: »

Nobody should be happy about loosing money on their core business, yet it’s become the accepted model in beef farming. Last data I saw showed 2/3 of suckler farms loosing money and using bps to supplement farm.

Recent years with calves is definitely lean but not necessarily loosing money. Not here anyway.

There are many factors and personally calves suit us well, long winters and heavy soils here drive up the cost of housing/feeding cows to unsustainable levels with shocking associated costs. I’m seeing lads who are feeding cows indoors for 7 months, it’s shockingly expensive way to farm.

Anyway, this thread isn’t about sucklers Vs calves, I certainly didn’t mean to pull it off topic.

In my mind lads need to time buying calves with turnout date in mind, you want them weaned and ground conditions ready for their turnout immediately. Keeping them indoors after weaning is just added expense and increased risk of disease.

no nor I but I question the current price being paid for calves. I think I saw teagasc figures on agriland for calf to beef of 3 euro per Ha profit I mean who is codding who. I dont blame the dairy boys for the high prices either!

_Brian

grassroot1 wrote: »

no nor I but I question the current price being paid for calves. I think I saw teagasc figures on agriland for calf to beef of 3 euro per Ha profit I mean who is codding who. I dont blame the dairy boys for the high prices either!

Teagasc 🙄

weatherbyfoxer

this time of the spring was always an exspencive time to buy calves. another 2 weeks and you can shave off €50 per head maybe more on the same animals..if your willing to go into a dairy farm end of feb/march and take 15+ animals in the one run you will get much better value..hanging over a calf ring battling dealers is a solid waste of time..thats my finding from my limited experience anyway

TooOldBoots

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

hanging over a calf ring battling dealers is a solid waste of time..thats my finding from my limited experience anyway

You would be better off rather than doing battle with them is to engage one of the dealers to pick up a lot of calves for you.
When I was in the calf game I often used the dealer to source calves when the Mart got too dear. I couldn't believe the quality and prices of some of the calves. If it was me trying to buy them I'd have gotten a right roasting

Good loser

grassroot1 wrote: »

no nor I but I question the current price being paid for calves. I think I saw teagasc figures on agriland for calf to beef of 3 euro per Ha profit I mean who is codding who. I dont blame the dairy boys for the high prices either!

On the IFJ this week Teagasc profit figures (from a 3 year trial) were as you say, or was it that for a dairy calf to make profit on current beef prices it should be bought for €3? And that was with daily gains and slaughter weights I could not approach.

With the virus in China and Brexit the downside risk on beef prices is significant.
If live exports were abolished many calves would have to be slaughtered.
(remember that voters).
Despite all this I will keep going this year. Toying with the idea of cutting numbers from 60 to 50.

weatherbyfoxer

Good loser wrote: »

On the IFJ this week Teagasc profit figures (from a 3 year trial) were as you say, or was it that for a dairy calf to make profit on current beef prices it should be bought for €3? And that was with daily gains and slaughter weights I could not approach.

With the virus in China and Brexit the downside risk on beef prices is significant.
If live exports were abolished many calves would have to be slaughtered.
(remember that voters).
Despite all this I will keep going this year. Toying with the idea of cutting numbers from 60 to 50.

would take those figures with a pinch of sale..alot of the cost in them would be on the highest side of there scale..would agree regarding china and Brexit doe

weatherbyfoxer

Jjameson wrote: »

The figures were very realistic. Optimistic even.

really?..a march born holstein friesian bull calf at 2 weeks old minimum price of purchase €100??..more like under €50