bear.
Bulls are normally priced according to their quality or what the owner thinks he or she can get. Bulls are most expensive in the spring and early summer, when they’re in high demand for the breeding season, and cheaper in the fall.
Feeder calves—those that have been weaned and are ready to go on pasture or on a finishing ration—are usually least expensive in late fall, when the market is flooded with calves born the previous spring that are being sold before winter. Stockers or backgrounders (feeder calves headed for a few months on pasture before going on a finishing ration) are expensive in the spring, when landowners are buying cattle to keep their pastures grazed during the growing season.
Open, or unbred, heifers will be most expensive in spring, just before breeding season; the price tapers off through fall, when they’re cheap because it’s not economical to winter an open heifer. In addition, a heifer that didn’t “settle,” or get bred, during the summer may be infertile and good only for being finished and slaughtered. Bred cows will be most expensive in the spring, just before calving, and cheaper in the fall, when you will have to feed them through the winter. Before buying a bred cow, always have a veterinarian check to see whether she is really pregnant.
Cattle prices are listed, usually weekly, in local and state farm papers. If you have a farm radio station in your area, you can typically find prices being announced daily or weekly, and some state extension services list current cattle prices on their websites. Cattle prices are listed either as dollar and cents per pound or as dollars and cents per hundredweight. If, for example, I were looking for feeder calves, I would look down the column until I came to that category under the listing for the auction barn closest to my farm, and then I’d start with the midrange, 400–600-pound, category. If steer feeder calves were listed at $1.00, then the price for a 500-pound feeder steer would be $500. Keeping track of prices gives you a good idea of what you should be paying when you buy, but keep in mind that it may be worthwhile to pay a little extra for cattle you know are healthy, have been vaccinated, and come from good parents.
Auction-barn purchases are best left to experienced cattle people.
Where to Buy Cattle
Finding cattle for sale is a matter of checking ads in local newspapers or regional farm papers; looking at bulletin boards at the feed store, the farm supply store, and rural gas stations; and just asking around. If there’s a beef producers’ association in your area, join it. If you don’t know whether there is one near you, give your extension agent a call and ask. An association is a great place to network and get some background information on area beef cattle operations and auction barns. County and state fairs are other good places to find beef producers with cattle for sale. Go to the cattle shows, walk through the barns, and visit with the exhibitors. Two additional sources for leads on cattle for sale are your local artificial-insemination service and veterinarian.
| Calves in a Van Our first beef cattle were dairy calves. To bring them home, we put a tarp down with some straw on top in the back of the van, and I had the kids sit with the calves and keep them lying down. They won’t make a mess if they’re lying down! |
Auction barns move a lot of cattle, but they’re no place for beginners to buy. If you go, take a friend who is a good judge of cattle and can help you avoid the ones that are sick, are wild, or have bad hooves and legs. You may want to make a few dry runs to the barn, going early to visit the pens and then watching the auction without buying, to give you a feel for how the bidding process works and how cattle are moved in and out of trailers, pens, and the auction ring.
A better idea is to buy cattle directly from a seed stock producer or a commercial producer. Seed stock producers raise purebred cattle for sale as breeding stock and are good sources of quality animals. Commercial producers generally have mixed herds of several breeds or crossbred cattle being raised for beef production instead of breeding stock. These won’t be registered purebreds, but often they’re of good quality and reasonably priced; sometimes they aren’t. Most commercial cow-calf operators sell their calves after weaning in the fall, and this can be an excellent opportunity to purchase.
Dairy bull calves are common at auction barns, but it’s better to buy directly from the farmer and save the calf the stress of being hauled twice to strange places and exposing him to who-knows-what at the auction barn. When you buy directly from the farmer, you can make sure the calf is at least three days old and has received colostrum, his mother’s immunity-boosting first milk. This is critical to a calf’s health.
Bringing Cattle Home
Once you’ve bought your cattle, you have to get them home. If you’re buying from a breeder, he or she may be willing to deliver the cattle for an extra fee. Otherwise, you’ll either have to hire a cattle hauler or do it yourself. There are usually haulers for hire in any area where there’s cattle, and you can track one down by asking neighbors or calling a local auction barn. If your only option, or the option you prefer, is to transport your new livestock yourself, you’ll have to buy, borrow, or rent a trailer (unless you’re buying small calves that you can fit into a pickup or small truck).
When the cattle arrive at your farm, ideally you’ll turn them into a solidly fenced small pen or barnyard, with water available and some nice hay scattered around. Don’t rush them out of the trailer; give them time to look around and step down carefully. Of course, they may decide to all come out in a rush, but let that be their decision. Once they’ve had a few hours to get a drink, find the salt, and get a bellyful of hay, open the pasture gate. By then, they should be calm enough to walk, not run, out. They might start grazing immediately or go on a tour to figure out where the fences are.
If you’re using electric fencing, and the cattle you’ve bought are familiar with it, you can turn them out with no worries. If they don’t know what an electric fence is, you’ll need to train them as discussed in the fence section of Chapter 2. Don’t try to train them as soon as they get off the truck, however. That’s a lot to ask of already-stressed animals and may send them over the fence and back toward their previous home. You can have the wire ready in the pen, but don’t turn it on until they’ve settled down.
You can also turn new cattle directly into the pasture. If you do this, plan on spending some time watching them to make sure they don’t charge and break fences or decide to hop over and head back where they came from. Make sure they find the water, salt, and mineral within twenty-four hours.
Watch your new cattle particularly closely for the first two or three weeks. Are they grazing contentedly, bunched tightly, or spending a lot of time walking instead of chewing? If they’re walking all the time, you’ve got pasture that’s too poor, and you should give them some supplemental hay. If they’re bunched, you probably have a fly problem and should provide a shady area for them to get away from the worst of the flies. You may also need to put up some sort of rub—a rope or padded post impregnated with fly repellent—that will put the repellent on the cattle when they scratch themselves. Are the cattle spending plenty of time lying down and chewing their cud, or are they always standing up and acting nervous? If they aren’t lying down, something is bothering them, and you’ll need to figure out what it is and fix it. Once, we had a bear stroll through the back pasture, and the whole herd went through the fence! We moved the cattle to a paddock close to the house, where the dogs could keep the bears at a distance and the cattle could chew their cuds in peace.
Make sure, too, that your cattle are drinking enough water. In temperate, reasonably dry weather, they’ll come for a drink at least once, and usually twice, a day. If they’re not drinking and it’s not raining, then there’s something wrong with your water
