Farm Tender Livestock Exchange report by Jack Henshaw

Extracted from the Farm Tender weekly Newsletter - Sign up and get the email every Wednesday morning before 6 am. www.farmtender.com.au

Check out the FTLE page here or Call Jack Henshaw, our in-house Livestock Agent on 0407 902 941.

How do we make a margin in the current record Cattle market? Here are a couple of options I have come up with:

Option 1:
Buy a Cow and Calf for say $2800, then sell the Calf in 4 months for $1400, run a Bull with the Cow from when you own her, preg test her when you wean the Calf, and in 4 months the Cow would be worth $1600-$2200.

Option 2:
On the current market, black Steers are either making the same as crossbred Steers or $100 more. When you fatten and sell the Steers, the premium is about 50 c/kg, sometimes more. So don't be afraid to pay a little extra for Black Steers.

I spoke to a Bull buyer during the week, and he said: "Are buyers chasing fat Bulls or genetic producing machines"? So often, buyers are putting weight and fat over structure and longevity. Fat Bulls more often than not disappoint when they go back into a commercial operation. The same applies to Ram buying. Think hard about what you need to purchase in the upcoming Bull and Ram sales.

The Ballarat Lamb market was stronger yesterday.

Give me a call as I am happy to run through your scenario.