Feeding suckled calves from now on

sodbuster

Member
United Auctions (Monday 26th October 2020) sold 2174 suckled calves and also forward 4032 store lambs and feeding sheep.

Bullocks (1295) averaged 253.7p to 409.5p per kg for a 232kg CHX from Upper Samieston and £1105 for a 430kg CH from Cameron.
Heifers (552) averaged 241.2p to 390.6p per kg for a 256kg CHX from Upper Samieston and £1080 for a 392kg LimX from Upper Spittleton.

Leading prices per head and per kg:
Bullocks: Upto 250kg- Upper Samieston £950.00, 409.50p; 251-300kgs- Polquhairn £900.00, 332.10p; 301-350kgs- Upper Samieston £930.00, 296.40p; 351-400kgs- Cameron £1060.00, Posso 268.80p; 401-450kgs– Cameron £1105, 257.10p; 451-500kgs– Cuttlehill £990, 215.70p.

Heifers: Upto 250kg- Kirkland £640.00, Laughtmuirside 277.80ppk; 251-300kgs – Upper Samieston £1000.00, 390.60p; 301-350kgs– Glenrath £920.00, 275.00p; 351-400kgs– Upper Spittleton £1080.00, 275.50p 401-450kgs- Upper Spittleton £1010.00, 246.30p; 451-500kgs– Burnbank £950.00, Knowhead 194.70; 501-551kgs – Garrick £1030.00, 203.60ppk.

United Auctions sold 4032 Store Lambs and Feeding Sheep.
Store Lamb Averages
TexX- £75.43 (+1.27) on the week
Mule- £73.28 (+£6.18) on the week
SuffX- £73.55 (+£0.80) on the week
Chev- £65.21 (+£2.98) on the week
BTexX - £81.60 (+£0.12) on the week
BF- £58.07 (+£0.16) on the week

Leading Prices
Store Lambs- Mount Pleasant (Tex) £88.00; Whitburn (Tex) £86.50; Easter Lumbennie (Tex) £83.50; Stobbs (Mule Ewe Lambs) £92.00; Auldmurroch (Mule Ewe Lambs) £75.50; Newbigging (Mule) £75.50; Glenhervie (Mule) £74.50; Mount Pleasant (Suff) £87.50; Easter Lumbennie (Suff) £77.00; Glenehervie (Suff) £76.50; Clockan (Chev) £70.00 & £67.50; Middleknowes (Chev) £65.50; Balafark (BTex) £90.00; Strathnafanaig (BTex) £89.00; Newbigging (BTex) £86.00; Eastmill (BF) £70.00; Outerwards (BF) £68.00; Gartincaber (BF) £67.50.
 

ilovemilk90

Member
BASIS
Location
Shropshire
I'm just trying to be helpful. How do you suggest i bring my costs down?
I take conacre - that wont change.
I'm a good feeder - that wont change.
I pay electrc, water, insurance etc - that wont change.
I treat animals when sick - that wont change.

Not being facetious, just dont see how its possible to bring costings down?
it could be something as simple as looking at that meal you are feeding. is it balanced properly to give you the results you are looking for?
out of my own experience, and from what we have learned with a few nutritionist, is that a lot of the time there is too much reliance on using home grown cereals in meals because they are the cheapest options. In doing so you seriously holding back developing that frame and is actually costing you more. its not always about the face value.
its just a thought, im sure some keeno rep would help
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
I sell all my calves at around 8 - 12 months old - depending on the time of year.

They get 2kg of meal at weaning for 2 weeks to get them onto it - then up to 4kg of meal and 6 weeks before they go to mart i try and get them to 6kg per day each.

Usually wean at 7 or 8 months as calving interval is less than 365 days.

Averaging £810 this year for both heifer and bull weanlings averaging 360kg. Top price for both bulls and heifers has been £895 for a ch bull calf he was 395kg at 10 months old and £890 for a lim heifer calf she was 330kg at 11 months old. Lowest price was £800 for bull calves 330kg at 8 months old and £740 for heifer calves 370kg at a year old.

FYI - my costings show me it costs me £700 per year to keep my cow - so not happy with them averages - trying to improve quality through AI breeding - will be happy when my calves average over £900 for bulls & heifers!

I think your right aiming to improve your averages.

Look at the ten poorest dlwg calves at weaning and cull the cows if theres not other issues.

That's what I'm doing. That cow producing the poor performing calves will cost same to keep as top one. That should improve profitability of your cows.
 
I think your right aiming to improve your averages.

Look at the ten poorest dlwg calves at weaning and cull the cows if theres not other issues.

That's what I'm doing. That cow producing the poor performing calves will cost same to keep as top one. That should improve profitability of your cows.

If i culled 10 cows id lose 30% of my herd haha (only run 30 cows - i'm one of these hobby farmers ya hear tell of)

But yes - i am going to invest in a set of scales and start weighing my calves - and down the line i will keep heifers from only my top performing cows etc.
 

Hilly

Member
Lighter store cattle better p/kg.

Is there any point feeding them up? Normally sell best of ours at 400-450kg at ten months old. Was considering pushing them to 500kg this year. But doesn't look much point.
But you could say at an average of 240 kg if you put a kilo on cheaper defo worth feeding , turn two quid into 2.40 everyday for little work any other investment as good as that ?
 

Yale

Member
Livestock Farmer
I go completely opposite,probably wrong but works for me.

Currently feeding no creep or any meal through to 21 month stores.

Pure lims.

No dicking about with creep which takes time and labour and handling,no bought in feed,keep bought in feed costs to near zero.

Cut short term ley and bale nice,lovely stuff and creep the calves to that.

I haven’t got time or inclination to carry bags of feed about.
 

Yale

Member
Livestock Farmer
If it works it isn't wrong
Just hauled the 18 month ones from grazing today,had about 10 bales of silage a week,real good stuff for the last 3-4 weeks.

Biggest job now will be keeping clean bedding under them to sell in February.

Keep a dozen heifers for replacements.

F69E8B9B-D140-416F-BB69-74E15989D53C.jpeg
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
I go completely opposite,probably wrong but works for me.

Currently feeding no creep or any meal through to 21 month stores.

Pure lims.

No dicking about with creep which takes time and labour and handling,no bought in feed,keep bought in feed costs to near zero.

Cut short term ley and bale nice,lovely stuff and creep the calves to that.

I haven’t got time or inclination to carry bags of feed about.
21 month stores!?

Ours are away at ten months, most dead by 16.

How can you afford to keep them for so long!? I'll have double the amount of cattle through in same time.

Think of the damage you are doing to the environment having them releasing methane into the atmosphere. The NBA won't be happy.
 

Yale

Member
Livestock Farmer
21 month stores!?

Ours are away at ten months, most dead by 16.

How can you afford to keep them for so long!? I'll have double the amount of cattle through in same time.

Think of the damage you are doing to the environment having them releasing methane into the atmosphere. The NBA won't be happy.
With beef prices being poor the last few years there’s not been an incentive to throw meal at them.

We can’t really grow corn,would have to buy in all hard feed and then the time and equipment to feed them.

Is your system sustainable using arable land which is being depleted and releasing carbon by the tonne from soil degradation?
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
With beef prices being poor the last few years there’s not been an incentive to throw meal at them.

We can’t really grow corn,would have to buy in all hard feed and then the time and equipment to feed them.

Is your system sustainable using arable land which is being depleted and releasing carbon by the tonne from soil degradation?
I'm only joking! Don't take me seriously.

My arable land is fed on muck that the cattle have produced. The straw for the muck came from the same field. The land is used to grow malting barley. Draff is a by product of distilling barley and this is used to feed cattle. The arable rotation has 5 years of grass in it.

Sustainable. I don't know! Better than some.
 

Top Tip.

Member
Location
highland
I'm only joking! Don't take me seriously.

My arable land is fed on muck that the cattle have produced. The straw for the muck came from the same field. The land is used to grow malting barley. Draff is a by product of distilling barley and this is used to feed cattle. The arable rotation has 5 years of grass in it.

Sustainable. I don't know! Better than some.
I would say your system is very sustainable with a very valuable byproduct. Whisky!!
 

Yale

Member
Livestock Farmer
I'm only joking! Don't take me seriously.

My arable land is fed on muck that the cattle have produced. The straw for the muck came from the same field. The land is used to grow malting barley. Draff is a by product of distilling barley and this is used to feed cattle. The arable rotation has 5 years of grass in it.

Sustainable. I don't know! Better than some.
You can tell me,near neighbour hauls all his silage 25 miles in round bales by truck to feed to hundreds of sucklers........:facepalm:
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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