Texas Fall/Winter thread!

[Bird]

I know. My old high school ag and FFA skills are rusty, but I do remember something like so many acres per cow, or was it so many cows per acreage, depending on pasture management. I just can't see his math and logic. Oh yeah...............he has a 10 year lease on the place.
hugs,. Brandi

Brandi, this reminds me of when we went to the Triple C Chuckwagon Supper and show in Tucson about 23 years ago; January 11, 1990. I remember the MC mentioning that they had 30 acres there and he said in that part of the country that would be about enough for half a cow.

[texasjohn]

Far west texas...100 acres to an animal unit...cow/calf
Central Texas....5-10 acres per AU
Gulf Coast....2-4 acres per AU
Fewer acres per AU = extremely skilled management required, labor intensive, never make a mistake because there is no forgiveness and a storm can occur almost instantly...consider what happens if the well quits and you don't figure it out for a week and the fences hold.

Depends on amount of rainfall, soil types, type of grass cover, level of management applied. Highly variable within a year and year to year.

Grass is funny...cows will eat it and be in good shape until it's gone, then lose weight rapidly. No rain, too many cows, they eat the roots too, pasture becomes desert. He better read his lease...I know I wouldn't offer a lease without putting a limit on the animal units allowed by the lease.

[txdon]

..... this reminds me of when we went to the Triple C Chuckwagon Supper and show in Tucson about 23 years ago; January 11, 1990.

Wow! I don't even remember 1990.

1/4" rain so far. Looks like no more rain for several hours.

[EddieWalker]

All things are relative. When I was in Namibia, the ranch I hunted on was 30,000 acres. That was considered the minimum size to support enough cattle to survive. Even then, some of them couldn't make it and those ranches where devided in half and bought by the neighboring ranches. My buddy and I hunted on three ranches totally 105,000 acres in order to get 22 animals total. It's so dry there that not even the native wildlife can survive in thick numbers. Of course, what does survive, does very well there!!!

Eddie

[texasjohn]

Eddie, you're a better than fair shot, thus I'm thinking that you were either being choosey, or animals were hard to find! As a kid my relatives ranched 15000 acres....it was a hard days ride horseback whenever we rounded up a pasture.

[jinman]

I think Brandi 'defined' this fellow when she said he had no tractor or other equipment. He is either thinking that people will work for nuthin' or he can borrow their equipment. I'd keep my eye on a fellow like that. I also wouldn't do too much work for him without a payday. You should be able to see the kind of fellow he is when you look at the stock he puts on the land. I hate to be negative, but the alarm bells are sounding after reading Brandi's post.

Even with perfect conditions, he can only hope to make money as a feedlot operation where he doesn't keep cattle long enough to need much care. With the number of cattle he is talking about on 100 acres, he'll be spending all his time fixing fences and keeping his critters home. As soon as his grass goes away, they'll be pushing the fences down. Hungry cattle will find a way through and over fences. You can force them to stay in a pipe fenced feedlot, but they don't make barded wire strong enough to keep in hungry cattle.

[Lou66]

Been reading the post about someone that going to run 150 head on 100 acres,,Now at one time for about three years I ran 200 mother cows across 50 acres,, that the only way I could them from one pasture to the other,, I would turn the bulls out in May June and July,, pull them the first part of Aug.. then I would run the cows back across the 50 acres again to get them back to the other 230 acres.. I did this about three times a year.. it was my hay field and I tried to take them across,, right after I cut and baled it.. there was no water tank on the 50 acres so it got pretty easy to call them up,, they would follow the truck to the other side.. Maybe he just talking about running them across the 100 acres like I did and using the field for a haying.. yep I bet that what he's talking about cause anything else would be,, Lou

[bindian]

I think Brandi 'defined' this fellow when she said he had no tractor or other equipment. He is either thinking that people will work for nuthin' or he can borrow their equipment. I'd keep my eye on a fellow like that. I also wouldn't do too much work for him without a payday. You should be able to see the kind of fellow he is when you look at the stock he puts on the land. I hate to be negative, but the alarm bells are sounding after reading Brandi's post.

Even with perfect conditions, he can only hope to make money as a feedlot operation where he doesn't keep cattle long enough to need much care. With the number of cattle he is talking about on 100 acres, he'll be spending all his time fixing fences and keeping his critters home. As soon as his grass goes away, they'll be pushing the fences down. Hungry cattle will find a way through and over fences. You can force them to stay in a pipe fenced feedlot, but they don't make barded wire strong enough to keep in hungry cattle.

Jim,
He only has 27 head now and says he should be having 15 cows calving soon. They all looked healthy. I gather he is writing everything, that is EVERYTHING off.
hugs, Brandi
hugs, Brandi

[texasjohn]

So, Lou, I think I got it. You had a 50 acre hay field with no water with pastures on each side. One pasture was 230 acres and the other was ?? acres (I'll assume at least 200) for a total of about 480 acres for 200 Animal Units, or 2.4 acres/AU. Seems reasonable to me with good management and on the rainy gulf coast and likely a bunch of coastal bermuda. The 50 acres was actually a big lane for moving the stock without a lot of crowding...good management.

Exactly what I said...2-4 acres per AU

[texasjohn]

What's his plan for getting rid of the carcass of cows/calves that die when calving? OH, I forgot, he's assuming a 10% twinning rate to offset the 10% calf/cow/open cow losses. It's a perfect storm in progress, keep us posted, Brandi

Jim,
He only has 27 head now and says he should be having 15 cows calving soon. They all looked healthy. I gather he is writing everything, that is EVERYTHING off.
hugs, Brandi
hugs, Brandi