Upturn in heifer prices bring big smiles to sellers, buyers

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No dancing in the aisles at the sale barn Saturday at Palmyra. But, there was jubilation after 229 heifers averaged $2,017. Top price hit $3,000. This hit well above prior sales this fall.

These were spring-calving Show-Me-Select bred heifers raised under protocols from MU Extension. Every heifer came from herd owners enrolled in the beef quality program.

Best of all, prices for heifers go up. It takes close attention to a plan for prebreeding care and sire genetics.

After the sale, I asked Ed Jackson, Frankford, Mo., what he learned from Show-Me-Select. “Details,” he said. “Pay attention to details.” He’s sold in every sale since starting 23 years ago. Also, he sold heifers at higher prices, at a $2,621 average, than any of 20 consignors.

I don’t know regular bred-heifer prices last week at F&T Livestock Market. But, I heard a sale barn report of $1,400 per head. That may be a common price.

SMS brought Jackson an extra $600 per heifer. Would that help beef farm incomes? Over the years, other producers reported an extra $500 per calf. That wasn’t a fluke price at Palmyra. The big buyers were repeat buyers. They came to buy from farmers with known reputations,

In the last sale of the season, anyone needing ultra-good replacements making life-long addition to a herd, needed to be bidding.

With foreign trade, the outlook price is good. Quality beef go even higher.

There’s more to Show-Me-Select. Plans for better cows come from research at the MU Thompson Farm, Spickard. This has gone on longer than MU Extension SMS heifer program.

Dave Patterson, Extension beef specialist, started it all. A host of MU graduate students did their research at Thompson. That’s real benefit to Missouri beef. Two decades of graduates now teach or are veterinarians helping farmers.

As a beef writer I wonder why more herd owners aren’t joining the program. Some don’t want to pay a fee to check if a heifer is pregnant. But that fee adds far more value at home and at sales.

It’s good to know soon after breeding if a heifer carries a calf. That’s the annual paycheck. Waiting nine months to find a heifer isn’t pregnant costs a lot. Room and board wasted on a free-loading heifer runs cost up with no payback. Preg checks add value.

SMS heifers bring premiums at sales. But, you can’t sell open heifers for high replacement prices.

Here’s another bonus from SMS. Steermates bring an extra $500 grid price. Carcass-quality genetics add value to AI breeding. MU Thompson Farm sales show that benefit.

Farmers who follow research are first adopters. Those adopters stay ahead in the profit game. Extension education gains value.

Two MU regional specialists are out recruiting new participants in the Central Ozarks and in Northwest Missouri. Quality breeders in those areas should line up to join new heifer sales.

See what Ed Jackson did by being in the first sale — and sticking to it. Breeding cattle makes a life-long career. If breeding is left to a sale-barn bull it might not give $500 bonuses. AI breeding gives access to top DNA in a breed.

Planned matings pay more than random breeding. Quality beef comes with planning, a bit more work, and attention to details. To join SMS contact an MU Extension office. Much Extension education is free.

Getting smart results takes work. It’s always been that way. That ranges from a kid showing a calf at the county fair, right on to a herd owner using genomic tests.

I gained from being a 4-H’er. Share at daileyd@missouri.edu.