# guess a weight, thought on price?



## Maxpower (Nov 28, 2017)

Looking at some feeders. This is a very casual deal with a neighbor so we're not going to bother trying to find a scale and I try to keep an eye on prices but neither of us are experts on a fair price. Here's a pic of one of them. Tougher to tell in a picture without anything to reference it but you think 400lbs? The all black ones are probably 100lbs bigger. He's thinking $550-650 on a price.

Feeder cattle at auction are 1-1.20 here. Craigslist ads seem to be around 1.5-1.70. I have some permanent cows at my place so I'm not interested in bringing home auction cattle. I'm hoping to find someone I know that I can occasionally add a steer to my group from.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I can guess a chicken within 5 lbs.

I do think they are a little bigger then that 550 avg???


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## Maxpower (Nov 28, 2017)

I did tell him I'm pretty bad with weights. The weight tape usually ends up showing more than I think.


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## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

I would guess more than 500lbs hard to tell but I’ve been out of the steer business for over 20 years. They do look like quality though.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

It is almost impossible to guess weight correctly from a picture. I used to buy a lot of steer calves between 4-450 weight. If I had to make a guess of the red baldy that you can see all of, I would say about 450.

Regards, Mike


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

From the picture the red baldy weighs more than 400, probably closer to 450, unless she is thin from a back side view.

The taller two black calves weigh a good bit more.

If they were mine I would take $625 each if he bought all four. If he wanted to pick and chose then it would be $700. They are nice looking calves and it is no accident they look that good just coming through winter.


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

We took three to sell today and averaged 588lbs and brought $1.44 to a local buyer.


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## Maxpower (Nov 28, 2017)

Well hell guys with the way you're talking it sounds like I should take more than one. My plan was just one to pair up with a 5 month calf from one of my cows. Right now I can sell about two finished steers every 6 months in direct meat sales to people I know. So I was just looking to add a 2nd one for when my own calf is ready.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

mid 5 weight is my guess. A scale would be best to make the deal fair for both of you. Even loaded on a trailer and weighed on the scale at an elevator or someplace and then weighed again empty would give you a close average weight.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

swmnhay said:


> I can guess a chicken within 5 lbs.


That's a lot better than me, I need a more like a 6-7# variance, when guessing a chicken's weight. Even if I'm putting it on my plate, seems my eyes are usually bigger than my stomach. 

My SWAG guess would be in the 550#+ range, for what its worth (maybe not even 2 cents).

Then again I suppose you could 'photoshop' the picture and get just about any picture weight you wanted.  Back to the serious side, more pictures could help, IMHO.

Larry


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Black 550 lb steers would bring around $1.80 here.

Red 5 wt hfrs around $1.55

http://sfrlinc.com/web/market-reports/


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## Maxpower (Nov 28, 2017)

I'm going to pick one up today, probably a black one. I'll post pics. I think it's a little tougher to price them here via auction prices because the auctions here are full of holsteins.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Maxpower said:


> I'm going to pick one up today, probably a black one. I'll post pics. I think it's a little tougher to price them here via auction prices because the auctions here are full of holsteins.


500 lb holstein would be worth about .90 a lb here now.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Monday of this week, local auction:

Colored $0.60 to $1.28

Holstein $0.40 to $0.85

Hay (SS bales):

$2.30 - $7.25

If I was selling, I almost be tempted to haul somewhere else, if you're buying looks like you better come to my area, realizing I didn't personally see these $0.40 or $0.60 critters either, might be 'buyer beware'.

Larry


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## Swv.farmer (Jan 2, 2016)

I'd say it's like this we ain't fooling with weight it's a neighbor agreement I'll give 600 a pice.


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## Maxpower (Nov 28, 2017)

That was my thought too. I didn't see any reason to bother with a scale. If you look through these posts everyone has an idea of what they'd like to pay. As long as that price is somewhere near what the seller wants so both groups are happy, that seems good enough to me. Another thing to consider too. While auction prices are nice to set a baseline, I don't bring auction animals onto my property so those prices aren't totally relevant.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Maxpower said:


> . While auction prices are nice to set a baseline, I don't bring auction animals onto my property so those prices aren't totally relevant.


With that reasoning you should pay more then sale barn price.Less stress on animal.Less chance of dragging disease home from sale barn.

On the other hand seller doesnt have shrink.pay commision.

It's a two sided deal

Reminds me of a guy telling me he wanted hay for less then salebarn price because I didnt have to pay commision.My response was he didn't have to sit at the sale and drag flat bed home and take back 40 miles each way.So it"s a wash.


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## Maxpower (Nov 28, 2017)

And here's the pics. First pic is the group I chose from although the one I took isn't in that picture I don't think.



















That fat black pig on the left is actually a heifer calf from my milking shorthorn. That calfs dad came from a catalog. The brown one on the right is from the same milking shorthorn cow, I'm told her dad was a craigslist jersey. Last time I taped the brown one she was around 900lbs which as a jersey cross I figured she was pretty much full grown but it appears she may still be growing some. The one in the middle is the new one I bought, they said he was born in August. My heifer calf was born mid Novemeber.










And here he is next to the cow who tapes around 1200lbs


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