PLUMBOY,
redlevel has been there, too. He talks the talk and walks the walk. He tells it like it is. If you can find someone like him and get their animals... DO IT!
Hybrid vigor is a real thing BUT it is most beneficial to a cowman who retains his calves ownership thru slaughter and thus benefits from all its benefits and the benefits of his good breeding. For someone like you, the MOST important thing is a bred cow (fertility) and a live calf (hardiness). A dead claf has a distressingly low weight gain. For a small herd, all other growth factors are overshadowed by those requirements. This includes bull selection for high weaning weight (beware... there is a very high correlation with high birth weight, which is highly risky).
Whatever you do, buy at least ONE cow that is dog gentle and will eat cubes out of your hand and follow you whereever you go. They are out there... they are a rancher's favorite cow and he loves her. You might find someone who wants their favorite cow to have a good place to retire rather than go to slaughter when she gets old. I don't care if she is barren.... (it's better if she is not).... the value of having a lead cow when you are just getting started, particularly with either heifers or bull calves is priceless. Heifers or bull calves in a herd by themselves are trouble... hard to herd, hard to call into a pen, have ideas of their own... um, kinda like a teenager, which they are... a lead mature cow that they stick with is worth a horse and two dogs.
You asked how many calves a cow can have. Again, many will give you their own opinions/experiences. This is a reasonable factor to consider because it takes so long to get started calving. Let me give you the summary... you can study more for yourself.
The IDEAL: A heifer should have her first calf at 24 months of age, breed back annually and have a 12 month calving interval for the rest of her productive life. My best beefmaster cows have calves up to 14 or 16 years of age. I know, I have raised them from calves. Almost all calve annually until 12 to 14 years. If a cow doesn't get bred, or has a long calving interval, they are sold immediately... fertility is important economically and for purebred animals. Cycles vary but are about 28 days apart. Gestation is 9 months. That only leaves 3 months for a cow to clean up and cycle again and get successfully bred to maintain a 12 month calving interval.
Each breed has its own typical characteristics. Some are slow to start and are maybe 36 months old when they have their first calf. Others stop having calves at 8 to 10 years of age. I know of longhorn cows that are having calves past 20 years of age. Like anything, there is variation within each breed and much depends on the nutrition and mineral diet all throughout their life.
As a startup operation, you will be spending time, and need to, on facilities, fences, the mechanics of the place. Again, I cannot stress sufficiently the importance of getting cattle you can handle AT THE START, day one when you let them out of the trailer. Breed is far less important than being able to handle your animals from day one.
You are thinking rightly regarding the benefits for you and your son... they are not monetary but they are substantial.
I highly recommend you try high tensile wire and put up an electric fence... one strand at least, and run it using a modern high impedence fence charger... get one qualified for 100 miles of fence or more. They have them at TSC and elsewhere. Nothing teaches respect for fences the way an electric fence does. I'm glad to know you have 60 acres... that gives you some flexibility. It is MUCH better to stock lightly than to try to harvest all your grass. I'd be very reluctant to have more than one animal unit per 4 acres, regardless of grass, unless your management capabilities are exceptional.... maybe in a few years... but not at startup. There is much to learn about grazing and grazing programs. Learn about and understand these terms: constant pasture grazing, rotation grazing, high intensity-short duration rotation grazing.
Before you start building pens, visit your neighbor, look at his pens carefully. Help him work stock, learn how they move. Cattle like to curve right or left into a new pen. Ask him why. Learn how they move in pens. Properly designed pens are a critical component of being able to handle cattle safely. You need, minimum, one large pen where you can get all your stock trapped up. Then, off of that pen you need a smaller pen where you can gather just one or more head. Then you need a swing gate that will pressure the animal from that small pen into a narrow chute area which, hopefully, terminates in a squeeze chute and is positioned so you can back up a trailer to load an animal.
Regarding banding... well, yep, works. Costs money for the equipment. Another option is a pocket knife. Catch the bull calf at about 2 weeks of age after he is nursing and healthy. Cut him, put medicine on the wound and it'll heal up quickly. At that age, you can still manhandle the calf. WATCH the cow, she may fight you even if she is gentle. I do NOT fault a protective momma cow, it is part of the hardiness characteristic and useful when feral dogs, coyotes attack her calf. Best to do the deed in a separate pen from momma. Later the calf weighs more and it gets harder, even to put a band on. The primary beneficiary will be the person who buys the animal, not you. If you leave the animal intact and sell it at 6-8 months, then the weight it puts on from the testosterone will be to your benefit. I leave my bull calves intact. There is no difference, at that age, in how they handle.
If you are an information junkie, I have a challenge for you... get familar with the precepts of Jan Bonsma... his ideas are true, no breed/breeder hype. I got a copy of his book when I started. It was worth the search, it was hard to find at the time.
Dr. J. Bonsma
Dr. Jon Bonsma, of the University of South Africa, Pretoria was known as the world's foremost authority on visual appraisal of beef breeding stock for functional efficiency. His specialities, backed by a lifetime of virtually worldwide research and observation, were ecology and adaptability for domestic animals, especially beef cattle. Bonsma stressed, again and again, the connection between femininity in beef breeding females and their early conception and long productive life. He stressed the imperativeness of strong masculinity plus structural soundness in bulls.
Dr. Bonsma was a main attraction at the 1969 Beckton Field Day, explaining his concepts of how physiology and anatomy relate to functional efficiency. His concepts were frequently at odds with whatever style was currently in favor in the show ring. On certain subjects, Bonsma's controversial view resulted in lively debate.
