Tips on Buying Cattle | Free Session from Joel Salatin's Farm Like A Lunatic Masterclass

Whether you are starting a new cattle venture or planning to purchase more cattle for your farm, this free session excerpt from Joel Salatin's "Farm Like a Lunatic" masterclass course on Salad Bar Beef will teach you the basics of purchasing cattle.

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[willbass]

Very good video Joel.

My two bits....this only really applies for the South and middle of the continent "fly over" country. Serious cattle country.

Couple of points for newbies:

Start with culls. You're learning. Make your mistakes and learn on "cheap" animals.

If possible buy in Sept/Oct and sell in April/ May. The pros are getting rid of animals they don't want to overwinter. The mkt gets flooded, ie "cheap". OTOH, Memorial Day & Labor Day are when your cull hamburger cow gets eaten. High demand=high price. Time your mkt entry and exit. Have a plan to get out!

You don't have to buy premium hay. You don't need to "fatten" that cull over the winter. Keep her on the lean side. Culls are priced by the head, NOT by the pound. Your job is to just keep it alive over winter and able to walk on/off the trailer
The flesh of that cull gets mixed with the *TONS* of fat trimmed from higher grade steers. That fat is a waste product. Your lean cull gives it value. Understand? The processor already has a literal mountain of fat....they don't need yours.

Sell in lots of 4-7 animals that are nearly the SAME in size, frame, horns or no horns, breed and color. YES COLOR.

The big buyers at the sale barn are "order buyers". They are buying for other big guys too busy or usually for processors. They're busy. They buy/sell hundreds of animals a week. THEY DEMAND UNIFORMITY. They often just need a few animals from the sale barn to finish up a truckload. You'll get better price/lb.
The uniformity of the pen is often more important than the quality/size. I know....hard to believe, right? But there is a market for every cow...even lame & blind

Stay away from "weird" breeds. No order buyer is going to bid a premium on your Highland cattle or "Oreo" cows. That's bottom of the barrel weird stuff that gets laughed at.
Respect the mkt. Give it what it wants.

Most of the time "black cows" ( Angus/ X) get a few cents more per lb. or per head. Don't argue the point. It is what it is.

Best option....like Joel said. Grind that whole cow up and sell her to your neighbors, 10 pounds at a time.

Good luck

[PetPrepRadioShow]

Thank you Joel! That was a very helpful lesson! I am interested in Dexter cattle. I hear from Pete (Just A Few Acres Farm YT in upstate NY) that it's tough to find an affordable quality bull these days. My question to you is, after you buy the bred cow/calf pair, when do you recommend getting a bull if you want to start a herd? What breeds do you recommend or raise personally? Really grateful for you! God Bless You! Sheri The Organic Pet Lady

[JackTN]

Where on God's green earth are you finding bred cows for $1200 in this market. Zimbabwe?

[americanmambi]

Fyi, YT is not sending any notifications when you giys post

[masonbaylorbears]

This is what im doing, red angus/mashona bull on a bunch of cheap corriente cows and keeping replacement heifers

[timothyscott]

I rent a bull try to find a nice one because I only want my beef cows to fresh in the fall. I've been getting 1800 for some cows and close to the same price for 500 pounder feeder and we've been getting 600 to 850 for Holstein angus cross 7 days or younger the market is still up we will see if we have another year like this one with all the dry weather where all of the cow and calf pairs operations are

[somehobodude]

How is a calf higher value than the mother in the breakdown?

[donovanmedieval]

Do we have to travel to different part of the country to find cheap animals?

[nancycusson]

I agree, he's TOTALLY out of touch with market prices. You're more looking at $3600 to $5000 for a confirmed bred cow. I guess he has to play with the prices to make it all sound good.