Can I make a buck feeding steers anymore?

I am looking at feeding out a group of steers. Looking at either Holsteins or Herefords, but would probably look to buy them at around 250 lbs and feed them out to about 1300 lbs. I have a decent facility to do this, looking to do a group of 20 initially, but then would look to increase to at least 50 as I have room for at least 50, maybe more. I currently make about 300 rounds bales a year that I sell to people feeding it to beef cattle or horses. Dealing with these people is kind of a pain, so I could just keep some of this hay to feed these cattle rather than sell it. Is feeding strictly hay a reasonable way to put weight onto cattle?

I also raise corn that I sell to the local elevator. Another option would be to feed this corn to the cattle along with a pellet. This would cost more, but I'm sure they would grow much faster and grade better, therefore would bring a better price at sale. Could this be profitable? I don't have a grain dryer, so I may have some issues there. I do have bins with floors and could blow air on the corn which may help some. Also, If I feed a corn/pellet mix through a self feeder, will they over eat? Could /Should I mix some oats in with the corn and pellet? Also, if I put the cattle on a corn/pellet type of diet should I have hay available to them as well?

Basically, I have the facility that is currently not being used, I am already growing the feed (hay and corn) it just seems logical to have some cattle around. But I will only do it if it can be profitable. I haven't followed the market much in recent years, it looks like it is pretty strong right now. How likely is it to remain this strong. I'd hate to buy into things now just to have the bottom fall out about the time that I would be looking to sell them as fats. Does anyone have any insight or thoughts on the current market. I peeked at the futures, prices for fats, for next summer delivery are lower than this weeks price. This would leave me to believe that the market is trending down. Is that a fair assumption?

I am located in Central MN

Any thoughts or advice would sure be appreciated.

Thanks

Feeding hay only will take too long for them to grow. Look into the Doboy pellet program. I fed many on self feeders with either shelled corn or barley, plus their pellets. You do need some roughage with the program, but cornstalk bedding is sufficient.

Well we have a few head on feed. LOL I would Never try to finish cattle on hay alone. It just does not work. The calves get too gutty and do not finish correctly. Plus it will take too long. Any cattle over 30 months old can not be graded Prime or select anymore.

Here is some things to think long and hard about.

1) Cattle feeders, with years of experience, average $100 profit per head when finishing cattle. So your feeding fifty head will not CLEAR that much money. It will gross a lot but not clear that much.

2) Even starting with 20 head right now will take $17-20K to purchase right now. So your going to need to have capitol ready to get started.

3) We are in a down turned market across the AG sector. The future prices right now are not good for next year. So the odds of you having a loss on a pen of calves is greater than it has been.

You can feed on self feeders/stuffers. The rate of gain will be good but the cost of that gain will not be as good as the guys that feed regularly/bunk. For smaller groups self feeders actually is a better choice as you can limit the need for extra equipment. As for the calve over eating. You will have to limit feed the calves over a few week period get the calves used to eating your ration and on full feed. After that they will be OK on a self feeder. You can not let it go empty for very long or you run the chance for them to founder when you fill the feeders again. A few hours and your OK but over night MAY give you troubles.

Truthfully you maybe better off buying smaller calves and just back grounding them with your hay. Buy 3-4 weight cattle and grow them with your hay and some grain to 7-8 weight and sell them. The top end is where it takes time and full feed with little hay in that ration once they get over 800-900 Lbs. So work on the lower end and let some one else finish them. You will have less risk this way too.

Hi JDSeller,

I really appreciate your opinion on this. I really like your idea of just dealing with the lower end. If I buy a 300lb calf with intentions of taking it to 700 lbs and then selling it, would I take a price hit at sale by only feeding the calf hay and limited corn for this time? Would I "stunt" the calf with a high hay diet? Also, is there typically a decent market for 700 lb feeders? I find it a bit hard to believe that a guy would want to buy a feeder calf at 700lbs, you would think they would want to put more than just the last 500 lbs or so onto an animal when they could buy them at 300lbs and put 900 lbs on the calf? I don't know, I'm the rookie here and likely am wrong on that. I will definitely be looking for the 700lb calf buyer. If I can determine that it is out there, I'll likely use this approach.

Again, I really appreciate your input.

At the 7-8 weight they must be on full feed at sale time. Before that you can put much of the weight on them with a high hay diet. The will need some extra protein and carbs along with the hay but you can use a lot of hay to grow them. As for the 7-8 weight calves. There is a good market IF they are on full feed ready for the finisher's lot. The newer confinement buildings with the slotted/slats floors actually want larger calves as the smaller calves have foot issues on the slats.

Hi , don't know where you farm but as Jd has outline very well the pit falls in finishing cattle . Maybe diary replacement raising operation would work well for you . Holstein heifers would do very well on the grain and corn that you grow . And there are two good options open for you . Buy the heifers , raise them and resell them as springing heifers , or just custom raise heifers for another farmer. With the second option , you have less risk , and very little capital to lay out, as you are feeding for so many $$$ per day on a formula based on feed cost etc. Just a thought , and you can make a buck doing this . Bruce

I agree with the dairy heifer idea- its much better suited to your feed (hay), and if you custom feed someone else's heifers, you lock in a profit based on the deal you work out with the dairyman. Much better than depending on market prices when its time to sell your beef critters.

One word of caution- let the dairyman determine the ration. That way he can't blame you for "skimping" on feed. And it doesn't matter what the supplements cost, you'll work that into the contract price for your services.

My limited experience would make me tend to agree with JD and Bruce.I looked at doing this too and may try it yet.To get top dollar from the heavy calves going into a feedlot for final finishing they will probably have to be nnalert according to the usual practice in your area or some feeders won't even consider your calves.Your local auction barn operator or livestock trucker can probably advise you best.

I make a decent living feeding out about 60-65 a year on home grown feed,but I run a cow calf herd too,so I don't have to buy the feeders. I just feed out my own calves. No idea how it would be if I had to buy them. I wouldn't count on buying 250 pound beef breed steers. I don't know who'd sell them that small. You'd better plan to feed Holsteins out to more than 1300 pounds. I fed some of those out the first few years after I sold the dairy cattle because in addition to keeping all my heifer calves that last year I milked,I kept all the bull calves too. I wouldn't want to attempt feeding out Holsteins again. It just takes too long compared to a beef breed.

We made decent money dealing with the low end cattle. Would buy 1 here or there. Maybe a big knee, a limper, bad eye, just whatever was cheap. I always had a quality bale in the bale ring, and cracked corn and DDG( dried distillers grain) pellets in the self feeder.
The most I ever had at one time was 8, and we would try to market the carcass about as soon as we had them up to full feed. Facebook was our friend there. We were selling a smaller leaner carcass, and selling nearly twice what the board was for beef. It worked well at the beginning, but there at the end, the local auctioneer got to buying the same junk cattle I was trying to buy, and I couldn't make it work on good cattle.
I had my own grinder mixer (traded a quart of Jack Daniels for) ground with either a $400 800 Case, or a $2000 830 Case. Put up my own hay on hay ground that cost me little or nothing to rent. I did have to buy the corn and DDG. The last 2 years I made enough money to pay for the fuel to feed them and provide myself with beef.

That's what I am doing since the cows left. Bought and sold for a few years but the market was so unpredictable with the dollar exchange and BSE aftermath, that now I custom feed for one farmer and it works out mutually acceptable. Ben

I make a decent living feeding out about 60-65 a year on home grown feed,but I run a cow calf herd too,so I don't have to buy the feeders. I just feed out my own calves.

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I inherited the family cow / calf Hereford herd but am a novice . I feed hay and range cubes in the winter and pretty much let them do their thing . When the calves hit about 500 lbs they go to the sale barn . After 5 - 600 lbs the price per pound starts dropping . Not much cash out a fair amount back . If something big ? were to happen I could load the whole herd and take them to the sale barn without losing money .

Herefords don't make as much money as the bigger beef breeds but they are easy to work with ( mellow ) The grandkids play in the pasture and fish the ponds without worrying about the bull . We band the boys and keep the girls . This year we got our first freezer full of meat which is the best payoff we have gotten .