Most profitable cow system

[Bossfarmer]

I'd chance milk at 20ppl over suckers. Neither would be good

and you call yourself beef farmer? are you a fatner?

 

[Beef farmer]

and you call yourself beef farmer? are you a fatner?

Sell most animals at a fat class 1 or the odd 2. Mainly p grade. So not much of a feeder.

 

[Hilly]

at what ppl would be equivalent to sucklers?

10 ppl and ee have to compete on lots of inputs like straw , buildings etc s

 

[Kiwi Pete]

the concern with selling suckled calves is that unless you push them hard with protein etc then theyll struggle to do much more than cover the cost of the cow for the year, keeping them on to over £1000 a head seems sensible as theyre already settled into their environment and will put weight on quicker than if moved to another holding, also the cost of feed from pushing the calves on, if they eat half a tonne of feed at 230/t it soon adds up

Spot on.
The other angle is that instead of pushing 'the' calf on protein (expensive) you push the cow to rear more than one calf, andso get your annual cow cost divided between more, perhaps lesser calves.
More reliable profit in our experience, losses are covered better and all that milk finds a home.

It's completely at odds with most beef production systems for various reasons - firstly you have to work with animals instead of machines, and secondly it proves the folly of paying big money for genetics. The world wants cheap beef.

 

[Danllan]

Most profitable cow system...

interested to see peoples opinions on this

Selling half a steer each, boxed, to households around London. ?

 

[Sheeponfire]

Suckler cows are unusual in that traditionally they have not been a method of making spare cash to live on. If you want cash, then you need to work for a living - hens, calf rearing, pigs, retailing whatever you can produce and retail.

But Suckler Cows have historically been a way of building up wealth, and when the time comes to cash them - to buy out a sibling, to buy land, to provide a retirement sum at the farm sale - they are usually the most valuable asset to sell.

Always remember that there isn't much value in a field of stubble or even in a flock of run-of-the-mill ewes. But a herd of good cows with calves at foot has long been the equivalent of camels to an Arab Gentleman.

Yer spot on with that post...

I hope at least going forward this will still ring true...

I often remember being told.. "hang onto a cow's tail... She will pull you through"

 

[unlacedgecko]

Suckler cows are unusual in that traditionally they have not been a method of making spare cash to live on. If you want cash, then you need to work for a living - hens, calf rearing, pigs, retailing whatever you can produce and retail.

But Suckler Cows have historically been a way of building up wealth, and when the time comes to cash them - to buy out a sibling, to buy land, to provide a retirement sum at the farm sale - they are usually the most valuable asset to sell.

Always remember that there isn't much value in a field of stubble or even in a flock of run-of-the-mill ewes. But a herd of good cows with calves at foot has long been the equivalent of camels to an Arab Gentleman.

Yer spot on with that post...

I hope at least going forward this will still ring true...

I often remember being told.. "hang onto a cow's tail... She will pull you through"

I must be fuking stupid cos that makes no sense to me at all. If there's spare carrying capacity within an operation why not use it.for something which makes profit?

 

[kiwi pom]

Most profitable cow system...



Selling half a steer each, boxed, to households around London. ?

Until everyone does it and start undercutting each other.
Although the extra work involved would probably put a lot off.

 

[kps]

Most profitable cow is the one someone else keeps.

 

[kiwi pom]

Right oh, question time.
There seems to be a lot of buying and selling in the UK beef game. How often would the average animal have changed hands before its finished? If we assume each farmer has a cut every time an animal is bought and sold, wouldn't it be more profitable for the farm that calves the cow to take that calf all the way through and keep all of the profit?

 

[Hilly]

Right oh, question time.
There seems to be a lot of buying and selling in the UK beef game. How often would the average animal have changed hands before its finished? If we assume each farmer has a cut every time an animal is bought and sold, wouldn't it be more profitable for the farm that calves the cow to take that calf all the way through and keep all of the profit?

Going by the amount of producers selling store and the amount of store/finishers I’d say obviously not .

 

[unlacedgecko]

Right oh, question time.
There seems to be a lot of buying and selling in the UK beef game. How often would the average animal have changed hands before its finished? If we assume each farmer has a cut every time an animal is bought and sold, wouldn't it be more profitable for the farm that calves the cow to take that calf all the way through and keep all of the profit?

McDonalds obsession with providence is driving the beef industry to limit moves from farm of birth to slaughter to 3 moves or less.

 

[kiwi pom]

McDonalds obsession with providence is driving the beef industry to limit moves from farm of birth to slaughter to 3 moves or less.

Seems reasonable, so farm of birth to a finisher to slaughter?

 

[dinderleat]

Zero here do I get a bonus?

 

[unlacedgecko]

Seems reasonable, so farm of birth to a finisher to slaughter?

farm of birth, store grower, finisher, slaughter, if I understand correctly.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Seems reasonable, so farm of birth to a finisher to slaughter?

3 farms, so birth, growing unit, finishing unit.

Edit, beaten to it?

 

[Jackov Altraids]

Right oh, question time.
There seems to be a lot of buying and selling in the UK beef game. How often would the average animal have changed hands before its finished? If we assume each farmer has a cut every time an animal is bought and sold, wouldn't it be more profitable for the farm that calves the cow to take that calf all the way through and keep all of the profit?

To assume each farmer takes a cut would be a mistake.
One person only makes a good margin at the expense of someone else in the chain.
Obviously keeping a calve from birth to finishing means keeping the whole value but in practice there are excellent and efficient rearing units and finishing units but I'm not aware of many doing both.
I have always kept everything for whole life to avoid being caught by TB but I would probably be more profitable to sell to a finishing unit who fatten more efficiently and would be on a better contract price. There are units feeding 1000's of animals on waste veg @ a few £'s a ton and only use a couple of man hours a day.
I fully expect to change my system to selling stores just before they start paying a premium for whole-life single residence....

 

[Fencer90]

Sell the cows and fill the barns with caravans!

Money for Jam!

 

[Anymulewilldo]

All the bull calves go into the sheds after weaning and get pushed to go at 12-13month @ 310kg DW minimum. Last years crop averaged 340kg DW at 13 month. So happy with that. We are geared up for feeding bulls as run dairy Bulls too all year round. Value the muck out of the sheds very highly.

The heifers, we've tried finishing our own heifers over the years and the best way I've found is to house after weaning onto best haylage, minerals & 2kg nuts/day. Then draw off the cream and sell in February at 10-11months (with a £650 reserve) Anything not big enough to go in February or doesn't hit the reserve price gets turned out for a summer, housed in October then onto haylage, chopped beet & molasses then cashed in February with the cream of the next years crop. This year my 20 month old heifers averaged £995. I'm sure it wouldn't suit everyone but it works well for us.

All limousin bull onto the first cross beef X dairy. Few natives but mainly limousin or Simmental crosses. The odd BBx for variety.

 

[Bossfarmer]

10 ppl and ee have to compete on lots of inputs like straw , buildings etc s

youd be out of business milking cows at 10ppl pretty quick