Cathy,
I am looking at the feasibility of building a small scale feedlot on my
place here in Starksboro. I have a lot of hurdles to clear, but I believe I
might be able to start something on the order of 150 - 200 head by next
fall. Retained ownership would definitely improve acceptability by lending
institutions and that is one of the hurdles. You have to be able to feed a
good number of cattle to turn any kind of profit due to the small margins. I
have considerable experience in feeding cattle- i.e. 8 years running a 1300
head weanling to finish feedlot in Western Colorado and then, I owned my
own, a small 60 head per year operation. If I can get enough numbers
committed, I would definitely consider it.
As John stated, identification will have to be ironed out before this could
happen, as to getting data back on these cattle, any good feeder will keep
appropriate records if he/she wants to remain in business.
There are several options a producer could go with. Background weaned calves
through the winter(average 450# calves at start, with 1.5# daily gain
through winter), send these yearlings to grass for the summer, then 45 to 90
days of intensive feeding back in the feedlot. You end up maximizing your
inputs, i.e. light feeding in the winter, grass to push them to finish
weight and then feedlot to take them the rest of the way. These cattle would
start at 450# in the fall, 720# in the spring, 1090# the 2nd fall, then
finish at 1200# 45 days later. These weights would reflect averages.
Another option would be to feed out your weaned calves. This option would
finish them in 8 months, better for an early cash flow and capitalization on
a better market, but would cost more. If producers did both of these methods
and we had reliable slaughter facilities, we could keep that facility busy
from June to January. Enough said.
Monty
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill or Cathy Emmons <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 9:19 PM
Subject: retained ownership/data collection


> Hi all --
>
> We are interested in looking into the options for sending weaned,
> preconditioned calves to a feedlot on a retained ownership basis with the
> hopes of also getting feedlot and carcass data back on these calves.
> Currently, we have 12 head at the Cornell Value Discovery program and are
> very pleased with their system.  However, they can only feed a small
amount
> of calves and like to limit consignors to 8 head each.  Next year we will
> probably have 20-25 head that we would like to feed out somewhere.  Is
this
> something that the VBPA marketing committee could address along with John
in
> Extension?  I spoke with a Vermont producer yesterday who sells
> retail/wholesale organic beef.  Unfortunately, he finishes more cattle
than
> he can market right now through his organic label and is looking to retain
> ownership through an "inorganic" feedlot (since his organic grain is so
> costly) and market through that feedlot to a larger packing company.  He
may
> have up to 50 calves that he'd like to send.
>
> Does anyone else have calves that they would like to market this way?  How
> do we get started?  Trucking will be a factor to keep in mind.
>
> Cathy