Extension Spotlight

Cattle prices have been on the rise this year. With a decline in the United States cow herd but no change in beef demand, prices for feeder and fed cattle have risen to levels not seen since 2014. Bred heifers and young bred cows are also up. Some early spring (January) calving commercial bred heifers are being offered for $3,000 or more per head. This has also created a price increase on weigh cows. As of the date of this article in eastern Colorado, open cows are bringing anywhere from $75 cwt for thin cows, to $119 cwt for high yield cows. The price for older bred cows has also seen a substantial increase. Mature bred cows, five years old or older, range in price from $1,500 to $1,800 per head. Compare that to the same time in 2022 when bred cows were bringing $800 to $1,200 per head.

This has created an interesting situation this fall. I observed at our local sale the other day, a producer brought in cows, ranging in age from five to eight years old, to be pregnancy checked and to be sold as bred or open. All cows were in good condition, with BCS of five to six. The livestock sale called all the cows “solid mouth.” The bred cows were approximately 4 months bred and sold for $1,600 to $1,700 per head. The producer’s open cows, sold by weight, brought prices ranging from $106 cwt to $108 cwt. and weighed from 1,485 to 1,565 pounds. At those prices and weights, the open cow brought $1,574 to $1,690 and were almost equal to the bred cows’ prices.

Producers need to put pencil to paper. Do they need to take advantage of these higher cow prices? Do you sell cows as bred or simply by weight? Do you preg check and give those questionable bred cows one more year? What will the bred cow market be later in the winter as they are closer to spring calving? If selling older cows and wanting to replace them with younger first calf cows or bred heifers, what will that cost? Could they buy some other mature bred cows and possibly have some $200 cwt calves to sell next year for a much lower investment than with bred heifers? There are no crystal balls for the cattle market, but producers have a lot to consider as they evaluate marketing or buying bred cows this fall.