What is the difference between feeder cattle and stocker cattle?
Feeders are usually stockers that are sold to feedyards for further weight gain. If a rancher produces large heavy calves, they may go directly from the ranch into the feeder stage and the stocker step is omitted. Feeders stay in a feedyard for four to six months prior to harvest.
What is a stocker animal?
In the broadest sense, stocker cattle are animals to which producers can add value. Most often, the term “stocker cattle” refers to 300- to 900-pound calves grazed on pastures after being weaned. The main value added to these cattle is weight gain.
What are stockers and feeders?
Stockers and feeders are young steers or heifers, weighing approximately 400-800 pounds. These animals may be on pasture and/or a maintenance or warm-up ration until being put on full feed for slaughter market or being selected as herd replacement stock.
How old is a stocker cow?
6 to 9 months
What’s a Stocker? The University of Kentucky describes a stocker calf as a steer or heifer that is 6 to 9 months of age and weighs 400 to 700 pounds. After weaning from its mother, a stocker is put on grass or some other type of forage to promote growth and weight gain.
Is there money in stocker cattle?
Stocker cattle represent a great opportunity to turn forages into profit for the savvy cattleman. Stocker calves represent a lot of potential gain, but also a lot of potential loss. The keys to a successful stocker program lie in pasture management, cost control and animal management.
Are stocker cattle profitable?
A producer who is buying Holstein stockers that will gain 2 pounds per day and sell for $0.65 per pound in fall can pay up to $1.09 per pound in spring and break even. Daily rate of gain has an important impact on the profitability of the operation.
Can you make money with stocker cattle?
When should I buy a stocker calf?
You can also buy stocker calves in the spring and graze them until your pastures run out. But that means another off-farm purchase with potential health issues. With fall calving, your own calves are ready to go on grass the next spring about the time you would normally wean them.
When should I sell stocker cattle?
Since a majority of producers spring calve, there are more cattle ready to sell in the fall, therefore the price is typically more depressed. Conversely, with fewer fall-born calves, the supply in the spring is lower, so those calves tend to bring higher prices.
How much profit does a stocker cow make?
How much can you make with stocker cattle?
What weight should I sell stocker cattle?
In general, the value of gain on 300-400 pound calves tends to be higher than for 500-600 pound calves. Use the light-weight feeder steers as a base to view the price differences as you add weight to various endpoints. This measurement is commonly used by stocker operators.