- Location
- leicestershire
i think your 1.5 is more like it its about what mine would average.
£950 Holstein store
- Thread starter DairyGrazing
- Start date
- Location
- leicestershire
Are you talking about fresian's or holstien's? i cant see holstien's getting to the weights you talk about very economically.
There's some twaddle talked on here.
If you sell in this area there will be something wrong if a B&W graded O+
All my B&W steers have graded no better than O- all year. But I'm not very good at the job
As for 1.7kg DLWG that's quite a tall order. Only one person round here that can do that consistently and we all call him "4 Balls"
Sent 11 to abattoir last week and best return I had was £1015.93 for an O-3 at 336.4Kg dead.
Will be about £30 to come off that for transport & abattoir expenses.
Probably could have put some more weight on but with feed barley now worth £125 ex I'm not sure it would have been worth it.
Your store price of £950 sounds pretty good. Send it to an abattoir down here when the grader is having a bad day or being put under pressure and you'll soon learn about the delights and returns of cattle that grade P+
In summary, first loss is best loss well done
If you sell in this area there will be something wrong if a B&W graded O+
All my B&W steers have graded no better than O- all year. But I'm not very good at the job
As for 1.7kg DLWG that's quite a tall order. Only one person round here that can do that consistently and we all call him "4 Balls"
Sent 11 to abattoir last week and best return I had was £1015.93 for an O-3 at 336.4Kg dead.
Will be about £30 to come off that for transport & abattoir expenses.
Probably could have put some more weight on but with feed barley now worth £125 ex I'm not sure it would have been worth it.
Your store price of £950 sounds pretty good. Send it to an abattoir down here when the grader is having a bad day or being put under pressure and you'll soon learn about the delights and returns of cattle that grade P+
In summary, first loss is best loss
well done 
Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
Do you buy them or you milking?There's some twaddle talked on here.
If you sell in this area there will be something wrong if a B&W graded O+
All my B&W steers have graded no better than O- all year. But I'm not very good at the job
As for 1.7kg DLWG that's quite a tall order. Only one person round here that can do that consistently and we all call him "4 Balls"
Sent 11 to abattoir last week and best return I had was £1015.93 for an O-3 at 336.4Kg dead.
Will be about £30 to come off that for transport & abattoir expenses.
Probably could have put some more weight on but with feed barley now worth £125 ex I'm not sure it would have been worth it.
Your store price of £950 sounds pretty good. Send it to an abattoir down here when the grader is having a bad day or being put under pressure and you'll soon learn about the delights and returns of cattle that grade P+
In summary, first loss is best loss
beefandsleep
Member
- Location
- Staffordshire
This was a clear up load I sent this week, the rest of the cattle in that pen went well before Christmas. One underweight which was a runt that never grew and had to go. Grades are fairly typical, mostly. -O but 1 R, you won't see many of them. These slow growers or the small ones out of batches I bought as a bunch off farms are the ones that cost you money and bring down the average. As for P grades, if properly fed and you are careful what you buy you won't get many, 1 in a hundred this year.
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
There's some twaddle talked on here.
If you sell in this area there will be something wrong if a B&W graded O+
All my B&W steers have graded no better than O- all year. But I'm not very good at the job
As for 1.7kg DLWG that's quite a tall order. Only one person round here that can do that consistently and we all call him "4 Balls"
Sent 11 to abattoir last week and best return I had was £1015.93 for an O-3 at 336.4Kg dead.
Will be about £30 to come off that for transport & abattoir expenses.
Probably could have put some more weight on but with feed barley now worth £125 ex I'm not sure it would have been worth it.
Your store price of £950 sounds pretty good. Send it to an abattoir down here when the grader is having a bad day or being put under pressure and you'll soon learn about the delights and returns of cattle that grade P+
In summary, first loss is best loss
If that is the best you can do then I would suggest you either totally change your system or get out of doing Fri cattle!
Also you need to send them to where the marketplace is, not send them down the road because that's what you have always done!...
Cant recall the last time I had a P grade Fri, can be anything for the odd R to mostly O grade ( and that includes some very narrow HF steers )
Ref the prices achieved, with the current deadweight price if they don't average nearer £1150/ 1200 head then something is wrong somewhere!
Don't forget that the killing/ haulage costs etc are the same be that animal 300 or 400 kilos dead.
Ref the liveweight, yep that is what they are doing, not going to give away how im achieving it mind! everyone I speak to are all saying that fat cattle are doing faster this winter than they have done for many years..
Ref barley, its critical that you get every field tested and formulate the ration accordingly as every sample will be different, some good and some very poor.
You are quite correct about feed costs thou when it comes to dairy bred cattle, and that will only get much worse in the next few months.
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Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
Nearly all of the same farmer too
beefandsleep
Member
- Location
- Staffordshire
I don't aim to get them massive. Usually draw by weight at 600 kilos live so long as they are well covered. That load was more variable as it had a few slow growers amongst them and a few I kept back till the others were over the minimum weight. I much rather buy off farm. Much less chance of buying someone's rubbish only drawback is you have to take the little ones too sometimes
Haven't seen 4 balls for ages.There's some twaddle talked on here.
If you sell in this area there will be something wrong if a B&W graded O+
All my B&W steers have graded no better than O- all year. But I'm not very good at the job
As for 1.7kg DLWG that's quite a tall order. Only one person round here that can do that consistently and we all call him "4 Balls"
Sent 11 to abattoir last week and best return I had was £1015.93 for an O-3 at 336.4Kg dead.
Will be about £30 to come off that for transport & abattoir expenses.
Probably could have put some more weight on but with feed barley now worth £125 ex I'm not sure it would have been worth it.
Your store price of £950 sounds pretty good. Send it to an abattoir down here when the grader is having a bad day or being put under pressure and you'll soon learn about the delights and returns of cattle that grade P+
In summary, first loss is best loss
Supposedly sold his combine because on the sales leaflets it's said "for the small arable farmer" so he upgraded it.
- Location
- North West
Milking, its worth doing them all at that price!
Thank you for your concern, i am indeed responding to the market signals that our local abattoir is sending and changing my breed of cattle. However, i am yet to be convinced that the additional £300 for the calf will confer or deliver any additional profitability.
You obviously have a better market or relationship with your grader than i do. I can't seem to remember a year without a P grade.
Average figures over the last 5 years would indicate about 18% of our B&W grading at P
I used to be able to accept that as the margins were still good. However with the changes to the grid and some VERY aggressive grading in places down here its not looking good.
And before you castigate my performance i have the latest Farm Business Survey Costings info on my beef enterprise in front of me. It makes very satisfying reading
always reassuring to know where you are in the performance/profitabilty order through an independent analysis of your figures But there's always room for improvement
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Good set of results for a clear up load. I hear that Pickstock is a favourable destination for B&W cattle.
Out of interest what are you finishing your cattle on?
All bought as baby calves through Meadow Quality. My mantra is do the job from start to finish and keep hold of any profit there might be
Don't worry about guth, he always seems to get DLWG above everyone else.Thank you for your concern, i am indeed responding to the market signals that our local abattoir is sending and changing my breed of cattle. However, i am yet to be convinced that the additional £300 for the calf will confer or deliver any additional profitability.
You obviously have a better market or relationship with your grader than i do. I can't seem to remember a year without a P grade.
Average figures over the last 5 years would indicate about 18% of our B&W grading at P
I used to be able to accept that as the margins were still good. However with the changes to the grid and some VERY aggressive grading in places down here its not looking good.
And before you castigate my performance i have the latest Farm Business Survey Costings info on my beef enterprise in front of me. It makes very satisfying reading
Newby
Member
- Location
- East Yorkshire
What are Meadow Quality like price wise?All bought as baby calves through Meadow Quality. My mantra is do the job from start to finish and keep hold of any profit there might be
Does he also have "4 balls" or a Black cat?
Be entertaining to have them both together. Be like two cats in a sack
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Not cheap but fair. I have had excellent service from them. Started dealing with Mid West Calves and, other than F&M year, have bought all calves off them for 20 years or more.
The contact I deal with is absolutely first class very dedicated, honest, approachable and fair.
Could buy cheaper of local farms but I want matched batches of 40 calves at a time. Haven't got time or inclination to get 8 this week, 6 next week and so on. For me a batch system works best.
They have never been seen in the same place together......Does he also have "4 balls" or a Black cat?
Be entertaining to have them both together. Be like two cats in a sack
- Location
- Dorset/Wilts
So have you always got a batch of cattle at every stage? I.e rear the batch of 40 to weaning then bring in another 40 odd to rear? Hope that question makes sense
Run 5 weeks between batches but not buying all 12 months of the year.
Numbers down a bit at present as no market down here for Barley Bulls which was a system that suited us rather well. Trying some B&W steers on an intensive barley system ................ but I'm looking at the cattle, what they're eating and starting to lose a bit of confidence it it. Will have to weigh them in next 2 weeks. Even on ad-lib barley i doubt that they will be doing 1.7Kg a day
Never managed that as a DLWG from start to finish with bulls let alone steers