Cattle questions

[MMC]

That was my first thought, one vet trip can wipe out a lot. Ours is $100 for a farm call, 300 for after hours.

If you can find one. Many vets around here now only cater to small animal practices. Harder and harder to find a Large Animal Vet anymore.

 

[D&D]

I would never dissuade someone from trying a rewarding enterprise. If you know all the background info. Here's some hard information to think about if you raise beef to sell:

- Cattle operations are based on capital expenses spread across years and many groups of animals. I have many thousands of dollars invested in just corral panels, facilities, squeeze chute(s), feeders, etc. It will honestly be hard to justify some of those expenses for smaller groups of animals like you noted earlier.
- To a certain extent, the commercial game is not set up in your favor (or mine, frankly). Four companies now own close to 85% of final beef feedlots and packing facilities in this country. Two of those, JBS and National, are actually owned by Brazilian entities, even though they have "American" offices. Due to consolidation and the power of those at the top of a vertically integrated system, profits tend go to the top and expenses go to the bottom (read, the farmer). I don't think that's healthy, but it's not illegal (not yet - there are some government initiatives looking into monopolistic practices by the industry). By the way, if you sell at a stockyard, you will be "docked" a certain amount of money because you don't have enough weight for a tractor trailer "load." You will also be assessed a commission fee, an insurance fee, and a Beef "Checkoff" fee. No one else in the chain normally pays those fees. Any animal identification methods used to protect the supply chain will also be paid by...the farmer.
- Now, since we're talking real life, consider safety. Anyone who raises beef will tell you certain breeds and certain animals within the same breed can be...crazy. Move them on because crazy is contagious in herds. Cattle are also prey animals. When frightened, or even playing, they will rear up on the front feet and kick backwards, to devastating effect. And can kick sideways as well (think 10# sledgehammer on your shinbone). Can you stop a 1000# animal? Nope, but you can get hurt trying. You manage cattle to go where you want - you don't make them.
- If this is just about meat for the family, I agree with others - you can get much better beef locally sourced from farmers if you search them out.
- But if you really want to raise some animals yourself, I would encourage you to take some of the preceding suggestions. Quiet, smaller animals, like the Dexters might be a good place to start. Ask the extension office who might be raising them (or other smaller breeds). Those farmers might even be interested in helping you get started.

Best of Luck.

Don’t forget truck and another trailer. For the small family farm, where do you get a beef slain, skinned, butchered and wrapped? Closest USDA licensed facility to me is ~ 2hour drive.

 

[D&D]

If you can find one. Many vets around here now only cater to small animal practices. Harder and harder to find a Large Animal Vet anymore.

Yep, the office we use has 6 vets right now. 3 of them do large animal and unfortunately the big money is in small animals. They can earn about double a day in the office vs field so I’ve been told. We can trailer in to their office if really needed.

 

[MMC]

Yep, the office we use has 6 vets right now. 3 of them do large animal and unfortunately the big money is in small animals. They can earn about double a day in the office vs field so I’ve been told. We can trailer in to their office if really needed.

That's what I hear in Kentucky as well. That's going to be a real problem for cattle, hog, and horse folks in the near future. Particularly now that vets are mandated to be more involved in antibiotic supervision now. I certainly don't know the answer, but when looking at multi-billion dollar ag animal industries, somebody should be looking at this for the future...

 

[Eagle1]

We do all of our own processing of beef, not that much harder than venison, at least for personal use. We did struggle a bit with a Dexter/Angus cross that was well over 1100#, mostly our steers are 5-700 and manageable to process for us.

I have not found a large animal vet that does farm calls out here in 10 years, but we manage.

 

[WM75Guy]

We are lucky to have a young vet that just started a mobile only equine vet service that lives 10 minutes down the road. She graduated from Texas A&M and knows her stuff. The last large animal vet that did house calls for cattle, that I know of, recently retired. The vet clinics that do haul in for large animals are booked solid days and sometimes weeks in advance. For a cow that's down and can't be trailered you take care of it yourself. And those cannot be processed by a commercial processer, they have to be on their feet and able to walk out of the trailer.

 

[kenmac]

Not from experience just from a quick research...

The tradition of using Hereford bulls on Angus heifers is for maximizing calving ease, hybrid vigor, and market appeal. While using an Angus bull on Hereford heifers is not inherently problematic it can be depending on genetic, it is less common because it doesn't optimize these factors as effectively.

Hereford bulls are often selected for their moderate birth weights, which are important when breeding to smaller or first-calf heifers (like Angus heifers). This reduces the risk of calving difficulties (dystocia).

Angus bulls, while also known for calving ease in many lines, may produce slightly heavier calves compared to Herefords. This can make them less ideal for first-time heifers, especially if the Hereford heifers are smaller or less proven.

Talking about birth weights. This is the reason for purchasing a registered bull. You know it's history of birthweight .
Right now, I'm using a Hereford bull with angus heifers / cows, and Hereford heifers /cows, but I have also used Angus bulls on Hereford heifers/ cows.
I had zero issues calving using either bulls, but they were also low birthweight bulls themselves.
Of course nothing is a guarantee !

 

[kenmac]

If you can find one. Many vets around here now only cater to small animal practices. Harder and harder to find a Large Animal Vet anymore.

I believe that's the case in many areas. I personally know 3 vets that refuse to do large animals.
For one, they can make much more money on dogs and cats. And two, they are less likely to get seriously injured with a dog or cat.

 

[Eagle1]

I believe that's the case in many areas. I personally know 3 vets that refuse to do large animals.
For one, they can make much more money on dogs and cats. And two, they are less likely to get seriously injured with a dog or cat.

Many of those vets don't like my dogs and the barn cats either.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Talking about birth weights. This is the reason for purchasing a registered bull. You know it's history of birthweight .
Right now, I'm using a Hereford bull with angus heifers / cows, and Hereford heifers /cows, but I have also used Angus bulls on Hereford heifers/ cows.
I had zero issues calving using either bulls, but they were also low birthweight bulls themselves.
Of course nothing is a guarantee !

yes 100% thanks for sharing, that’s crucial if you don’t want to hate your life.lol…. I am a strong believer in proven genetic (registered/papers) i am somewhat starting to be familiar with the horse world and a bit of farming as well but nothing hands on. Genetic is the birth of farming, now they have it down to a science. Once one get familiar you look at the family tree and you see what you want and what you don’t want, and like you said once in a while you still get a odd ball but at least the odds are on your favour….

interesting thread