I don't know what I would do with this steer. Buy it at what age, sell at what age. How to determine the age when buying, etc,. I'm sure one wouldn't want to purchase a steer, cow ,etc, not knowing how to determine age. Get it home and it dies from old age within a year, or so.
I have no clue how the process of buying and selling goes. About all I would know to how to do is feed it to keep it from dying from hunger. I'm ignorant to all the ins and outs of the process.
Most of the cattle people I know have no barns to be used as shelters, they just roam the fields eating grass, laying under trees, etc,. My entire 50 aren't in pasture, probably about 25-30. the rest is wooded
You just make sure it has good forage, if it doesn’t use the tractor to drop a round bale in the round bale feeder. Make sure they have plenty of water.
I buy them as calves, just weaned off the tit. I ask the farmer to band the bulls if they are still intact.
I buy them for $250-$350 per calf at around 200-300lbs in weight. I keep them 18-24 months so I keep them over winter.
You can also guy calves in the spring, let them graze the entitles summer and sell them at the sale barn in the fall, guy down the road does that and makes about $150 a head here in Ohio. He also mainly does it as a hobby lmao.
Oh keep forgetting you are in Texas, you don’t have winter, snow, below zero temps etc. lol. That would be nice and cheaper.
I buy whatever I can get my hands on, I don’t go after just one breed, I usually buy calves in the fall when they are cheaper being guys don’t want to keep them over the winter. Ohio winter, I stock up 4-5 round bales per head if they are around 500-600lbs. Two calves eat what a 600lb steer will.
One round bale is around 10 small square bales but my feeder is outdoors so they never eat all the hay, they eat most of it.
I have stalls but when I had chickens the cattle couldn’t come into the stalls, only the last two years I opened one stall but they aren’t in there much. If it’s super muddy and raining he goes in there or stands under the storm shelter that’s out there, it’s like a overhang that fits one steer.
Steers are easier because you don’t have to deal with testosterone, you don’t have to fuss with breeding them and you don’t have to worry about birth of a calf. Steers are just for beef, after they get to butcher size you take them to a butcher, or sell them to a feed lot to finish them. I let mine grow to about 750-1100lbs which mainly on grass takes me around 18 months, I drop them off at the butcher and sell the quarter, half or whole to friends and fam.
I posted on FB about 3 weeks before I take them in and they are all sold within about 24 hours, but I’m selling 2-3 at a time and have to turn people away that didn’t see the post in time. I sell at 3.80 per pound hanging weight, whatever the butcher tells me they weigh. That includes butcher fees which I pay. They pay me for the quarter, half or whole animal per lb.
Beef is down a bit now so 3.80 is a bit high but nobody ever complained, they always say it’s the best beef they have ever had.
My butcher dry ages for 2 weeks before he cuts, so its tender.
I have never kept any beef for myself lol, I have had chili made from my jersey steer and it was **** good. I originally had intentions of keeping a quarter for myself but I lost my appetite for them I take in lol.
Someone told me they knew a farmer that had to trade beef with his neighbor to fill their freezer, they wouldn’t eat their own beef, I fully understand that lol.
