Show Heifer said:
Not to rain on everyones parade but: In MY area small framed, fat calves off of grass will bring a solid 20 cents less than a framey "green" calves will bring a premium.
I used a smaller framed angus bull several years ago, (with no creep) and took some really nice "fat" (not really) calves to the sale barn and got NAILED BIG TIME for them being to short and fat.
I guess that is the danger of "I sell pounds, and the buyer wants to buy gain potential"...
So, a word of caution......
I was gone all day yesterday (until 2:30 AM this morning... yuck!), but I see that Dori & Justin did a good job handling the questions. I do want to address this question, because it is a real good one...
1st, this is the exact reason why a commercial producer should be looking at 1/4 - 1/2 Lowline offspring, as Dori already pointed out. Your higher percentage Lowline cattle wont cut it in the "traditional" marketing systems, but the lower percentage Lowlines will! I've always said a 1/2 Lowline is all the Lowline that a commercial producer would ever want in their cow herd. But, that may change, if the industry begins to change, which I think it almost is going to have to, because of high fuel & high corn.
A year or 2 ago, I sold a 1/2 Lowline X 1/2 Tarentaise steer at a special feeder calf sale just to see how he would sell. Well, he weighed just shy of 700 lb., had only been fed 45-60 days in his entire life & those were soybean hulls. Anyway, he grossed a few pennies short of making $750. That was a VERY profitable steer!!
Now with that said, yes, sale barn buyers look for any excuse to "nail you". But, a Lowline bull bred to most full sized cows, will produce very saleable calves IF they aren't creep/grain fed too much, which is exactly what Dori is saying too. If they are grown on grass until they are 10-12 months, they will probably make a person more profit than a "fullsized steer" that was creep fed, continued to be grain fed & then sold at the exact same sale barn.
On the flip side of the coin are all the "other markets":... freezer beef, specialty beef, organic beef, all natural beef, grass fed beef, etc... all those niche markets pay well & Lowlines are known to excel in those "non-traditional" markets & a producer can make more money off a steer than what the sales barns will pay. For example, people like Ron Skaggs will pay over market price to buy Lowline bulls/steers for his grass finishing operation, because they sell the meat at a premium price too... and people are buying... buying lots of it, actually. Now I realize that some people don't live in areas where grass finished beef would sell like "hot cakes", but you could still sell your steers to someone who is grass finishing. Or even grain finishing Lowlines like some people that I know in New York.
So, yes, procede with caution, but I also recommend proceeding with caution if you are still wanting to do things the "traditional way", especially with high fuel & high corn starring us in the face.
