Justin Angell

As we head into the fall, following tradition, the market is taking a little bit of a break. Calves and yearlings are following the fed cattle market lower, which, having spent several months in the mid $190s, has now fallen back $10 cwt to approximately the mid $180. If that market does not rebound, many cattle feeders who were aggressive buyers this spring and summer will start losing money, even with much lower feed costs. Although the calf and yearling markets are also running lower, like the fed market, they are still historically very high.

I would like to emphasize to maximize calf value this fall, vaccinations will be extremely important.

Heading into October also known to backgrounders as “national drag off month”… for most backgrounders, high risk calves are too expensive to take chances on — especially when there are so many preconditioned calves available to purchase. The only thing that makes a bawling, unworked calf attractive in October is a low price.

The most frequently asked question this time of year is,”when should I sell my calves?”

As always, no one can predict the market, but this year one dynamic that has changed is the lower cost of feed.

Another way to maximize calf value is to just make them bigger utilizing cheaper feed. If you’re going to grow your calves, retaining ownership into January or February is a popular marketing program. Simply making calves, older and harder is the best way to increase per head value without spending a lot of money.

A 600 pound hardened short yearling is easily worth $300 per head more than a 500 pound soft calf.

Harvest is rapidly approaching, while the silage wagons have been rolling for two weeks. The hot dry weather we’re having is speeding up fall hay drying.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen corn progress as rapidly as it has in the last three weeks. I’m not a farmer, but it looks to me like there will be a lot of combines running in the next week or so.

The bred cow and pair markets are chugging right along with an average good bred heifer and good young cows worth either side of $3000.

Because of extremely low inventory numbers nationally, I did not see any major decline in replacement female values for the next few years. That is assuming no negative outside the industry catalysts. We dodged one of those negative catalysts when the board bounced on Monday and Tuesday after a bearish cattle on feed report last Friday.

As we move further into the fall, I’m looking forward to working with you all. If you have any questions about the markets or if you are looking for replacement females, give me a call.

That’s all for this month hopefully I will see you at the sale.