Where's The Beef

It’s been a while since I sent an update on the ranch.  I’ll just cover the cow and calf operations so I can give some detail without being too long-winded.  Just about everything has been affected by the drought.  I have to remind myself that “bad” years aren’t unusual here and that our average annual rainfall is not our typical annual rainfall, just the average of widely-varying extremes.  The marketing rep for Pacesetter Beef estimates that more than half of the grown cattle in our county have been sold due to ranches running out of grass.

Cows and calves

Out of 28 breeding-age cows we had 26 calves.  One who didn’t calve is the one who prolapsed after delivering her first calf last year, so she might have an excuse.  She tested pregnant Sept 13, and I’ll check her again soon to be sure she continues to carry the calf.  The other is one of Evansons’ that I’m “babysitting” while they’re in Angola.  I don’t know why she didn’t calve but I don’t really feel like I can sell her anyway.  My goal is a weaned calf from every cow but I realize everything isn’t under my control.  I guess 93% is still an A, and I’m happy that we had no calf losses of any kind.  I sold 2 cows and should sell more, but they’re healthy and efficient so I’ll keep what we have for a while.  The calving season was nice and short, Jan 27 through March 22 except for 2 who were later.  In fact, there were only 2 others born later than Feb 23.  I put the bulls in on April 25 which should have produced the first calf Feb 1, so I think all but those 4 bred on their first heat cycle and successfully delivered the calf--another reason to really like our cows.  We weaned them 60 days early this year, to take some stress off the mothers and the grass.  We used fenceline weaning again and I’m glad Lawrence was here to help because a couple were dedicated to unweaning themselves every day until we finally got the fence in decent shape.  Gotta work on that fence this winter.

Commercial calves

We sold 14 black and black baldie calves through Pacesetter Beef.  The 2 who were born after March weren’t quite big enough.   We sold at about 100 pounds lighter than last year due to the early weaning (everybody else did it too)--650 pounds for steers and 600 for heifers.  Input costs were staggering.  Medicine costs didn’t change much, and we had very little vet expense, but the weaning ration that cost $5.85 per bag in 2009 (and 2010 because I was able to contract for it early) was $8.85 per bag this year.  I think you can thank our administration’s subsidy of the ethanol industry, which drove corn prices sky high, for that.  If there were a corresponding decrease in gas prices maybe it would be easier to swallow.  Luckily we sold at the highest price per pound I’ve ever seen so payday was still a happy day.  Watching the auction on TV and comparing similar calves who didn’t have all our weaning, vaccinations, age and source verification and PI testing, I really felt we got paid for these value-added practices.  Next year I’ll send you all the auction information and you can watch if you’re interested.

Polled Hereford calves

We had 10 Polled Hereford calves (6 heifers and 4 bulls) from our registered cows this year, with a plan of starting to raise our own replacement heifers and sell a few bulls locally.  My original hope had been to use artificial insemination (AI) for this purpose, but I was not able to find an AI service interested in coming out to work just 10 cows so I wound up buying a bull and I’m very pleased with him.  I have ads in the paper for heifers and bulls and I’ve sold 2 bulls--a yearling and one 8 months old--and had a call about another so that’s working even better than I’d hoped.  The heifers look very good.  There are 3 that I plan to keep and 3 that I like, but think I might sell at the Cross Timbers Polled Hereford Association sale at West in March.

All in all life is good with no problems some rain wouldn’t help.  We had our first cold snap this week, so we had a fire in our newly-repaired fireplace and it works great.  We’re looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas, and seeing all of you who can come visit.