Cattle

[3Ts]

I still can't wrap my mind around why someone would put so much effort and time into something knowing there is very little to no money to be made from such a business.

People do this all the time, in all areas of interest. It's called a hobby.

 

[beowulf]

People do this all the time, in all areas of interest. It's called a hobby.

I think that pretty much sums it up. It may not start out with the intent to have it just be a hobby, but it frequently ends up that way. And, all things considered, it is not a bad hobby - gets you up in the morning, some out of doors time, exercise, you keep your mind going by always learning, a great excuse to get some tractor seat time, and you will have a lot of stories. Thinking of it as a hobby that might make a dollar is better than thinking of it as a business which involves a lot of hard work and that "might" make a buck someday.

And, as related in the many stories in The Blue Zones, the heathiest and longest lived people all had a reason to get up and moving each day.

 

[jaxs]

They will keep you busy.

Get a load of them hind quarters. He's a pretty boy and look's to be ready for work before long. Did you produce him?

 

[aczlan]

I think that there is enough food for them that they don't put any pressure on the fences.

That is a huge thing that many people overlook. A herd of Critters of any kind will generally tends to stay put and stay together as long as they have enough food water and shelter to keep them happy. If they are not happy, you can have any fencing you want and you still have a hard time keeping them in.

Aaron Z

 

[EddieWalker]

That is a huge thing that many people overlook. A herd of Critters of any kind will generally tends to stay put and stay together as long as they have enough food water and shelter to keep them happy. If they are not happy, you can have any fencing you want and you still have a hard time keeping them in.

Aaron Z

I was told that goats would be a challenge to keep fenced in. I have them behind a vinyl three rail fence that they can get out of any time they want to. They are well fed, they love their house, and in 3 years, none have escaped.

 

[jaxs]

Couple of years ago I did some work for a guy that has 70 acres that he runs 30 or so mother cows and a single bull. He has it divided into three pastures. He feeds hay all winter long and lets them use all three pastures. Then in Spring, he keeps them in one pasture and lets the other two grow. He continues to feed hay, but it's nowhere near what he feeds them in the winter. Once he cuts one pasture for hay, he moves the cows into the other pasture that wasn't cut and lets the cut pasture and the one they where in before grow. He is able to cut and bale more then enough hay this way to feed them. While I was there, he swapped out his bull, and said that he is always looking for a better bull to trade with somebody.

He works full time driving a big rig and I have no idea what he makes driving the truck. It's not union, so whatever wages are for short haul is his main income. He has two brand new dodge trucks. A one ton duelly and a 3/4 ton loaded four door. While I was there, he bought a brand new Deere diesel UTV. The job that I did for him was a hundred grand for labor and materials. He pays cash for everything.

I know he's not making enough driving the truck to be able to buy what he does. He complained that there isn't very much money in cattle, but he also said that it's all cash and he makes enough at it to make it worth while. I have no idea how long it took to get to that point, but from the number of twins his cows had while I was there, and going off of his numbers of what they will sell for, it's an easy $50 grand a year profit that doesn't really account for expenses. He has to buy fuel for his big cabbed kubota, and he sprays the fields himself, so that costs something. I wasn't aware of any vet bills, and doubt he pays anybody to do anything. If he can't do it, it doesn't get done and the cow gets hauled to the sale barn. Fencing is all rusted out, but solid. I think that there is enough food for them that they don't put any pressure on the fences.

My thinking is that there is plenty of extra money to be made raising cattle if you have everything in place for them and enough pasture to feed them. Building up your herd with quality animals that produce twins every year that gain weight quickly so you can make the most money possible when you sell them will take a lot of time and money. What it costs to get to that point, and all the years it takes is where you lose so much money on livestock.

I'd like to hear more about breeding for twins,especially foundation animals. In my years with beef cows,dropping twins earned a one way ticket to auction unless it was one of the dairy cows kept around to nurse orphans. It sound's counterintuitive,but I've never met a cow man that celebrated twin beef calves so it come's as surprise that ranchers breed specifically with twins in mind.

 

[NTG]

Around here, large round bales go for $25.00-$30.00

Right now. I'm in the "heart of dixie" too and remember when we had that drought a couple years ago? It was going for $60/bale IF you could get it. People were trucking hay in from as far away as Texas, from what I heard and most of it was sold before it even got here. I'm not one of the "nay sayers" because I'm interested in this too, just be careful with your planning.

 

[EddieWalker]

I don't know the answer to that question. He was at work most of the time and a lot of what I was told was from his wife. I did see them single out several cows into pens to be hauled off because they didn't produce twin, or didn't have any calves at all. He switched bulls because he felt that the one he had wasn't doing a good enough job. To me, it seemed that his goal was to have cows the gave birth to twins as often as possible. While there, I saw this happen fairly often. And when a cow gave birth to a single calf, she would put it into their book and comment on what that cow had done in the past. Some had given birth to twins last year, but not that year. There was also a lot of talk about what they weighed and when they would sell to get the best price. The goal seemed to be to get a grand or more out of each calf when they sold it, but I don't remember what they had to weigh to do that, or what the price per pound was that they where getting.

 

[kenmac]

was talking to one of the old cattle farmers last night. Something I never thought about was the young bulls breeding with their mothers. He said as soon as they can, they will, and it isn't a good thing. He said he tries to catch the young bulls and cut them to prevent this from happening.
I just feel there is way more to this cattle stuff that I would have to learn. By the time I learn it. I will be too old to fool with it.

The gentleman I have been talking to about all this is 73 rs old. He isn't in the best of health.
He was telling me he do't know how much longer he'll be able to keep fooling with cows, but he is going to keep doing it as long as he can. If he were to get down where he can't handle them anymore. I suppose his wife will sell out and that will be the end of his cow business.
His sons help him from time to time, but care nothing about continuing with the cattle farming

 

[STERLING351]

Get a load of them hind quarters. He's a pretty boy and look's to be ready for work before long. Did you produce him?

Yeah hes a good size. He has produced several for us, we added some new young ladies to the herd last year so they are going on 2 years old. They are beautiful solid white so we are hoping for some more good calfs this coming year.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I know a bit about horses but zip when it comes to cows even though there are plenty raised around my neck of the woods. I watch Dr Poh on NatGeo and I see what those vets go through helping with births, etc. I don't know how accurate that show is but from what I see, I'll still to my horses, lol! And, yes, there will be no fighting over any inheritance from my wife and I. We don't even ride anymore. It's just a "hobby".

Awhile back, a co-worker and I were chatting about taxes. He has about 50 acres and some cows. His accountant was telling him that he had to start showing a little profit. He asked me what I thought he could do so I told him, "sell it"! That got a chuckle!

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Why not get steers? That’s what I did.

I bought my house with a small pasture (1/3 acre fenced) and the barn had 3 stalls. I converted one stall to a chicken coop, it was fun building nesting boxes, researching how tall roosts had to be, hanging feeders, selling eggs, buying chicken feed from a feed mill (fresh ground corn and chicken supplement), free ranging chickens. Etc. after I got chickens, I was hooked on farm animals.

I was scrolling threw FB and saw a jersey steer posted for $300, I was at his house the next day with a 4x6 trailer my dad has that had 4ft tall rails all the way around, I threw a rubber horse stall mat in there for good measure.

Long story short I started with steers and that’s all I buy. Steers are more efficient with feed. I later fenced in more property by hand before I got a tractor and fed with square bales. Total I have about an acre and half of pasture and have had 4 head at one time.

With 50 acres, I would 100% get cattle. Holstine steers is prob what I would get, I have had many jersey/ angus cross steers and they do good. The pure bred jersey was an ***, aggressive and would charge if you got in his pasture, he wouldn’t leave me alone, at 25 I was in good enough shape to fend off a 800lb horned animal but I wasn’t sad to see him go to butcher.

Hobby farmer is what I call myself, that’s exactly what it is. If the tractor was paid for, I would make a little profit off 2 head but that’s about it.

50 acres, I would have 5-10 steers on there only because that’s where it’s decently easily manageable by one person, much more than 10 you will need help.

If the 50 acres is a square, you will need to divide that into 2 or 3 pastures, mainly because of you have to fix fence it’s nice to get them into pasture A while having a truck in B and not wording about cattle escaping while you are alone. Another reason is pasture rotation but with 5-10 head on 50 acres, that won’t matter much because they won’t be able to keep up, you will have to bush hog the pasture 1 or 2 times a year.

I have it now where I only need to go back to the pasture once a week or so in the middle of winter, less in the summer. It was a daily thing but I extended that a bit.

Having cattle is a great way to getting to know people you wouldn’t normally talk to. I have a lady that drops Panera bread off to my house at no charge. It’s good bread that would normally be thrown out, I use what I can and don’t have to buy grain, whatever I don’t use, I give to my neighbor with 8 or 9 head and he feeds the rest to his cattle.

Bread is really easy for cattle to digest. Everything has a energy value, some people integrate M&Ms that the factory can’t sell, they buy it from Hershey and feed it in the mix to their cattle. Brewers grains is another good one, you can buy it directly from brewery’s but it doesn’t keep as long unless it’s been dried, which companies do that also.

My buddy and I got into hay for awhile, we bought old and cheap equipment and paid the price in break downs and time, we got out of it the same year lol but it taught me a lot about grass, about how to manage grass for a large yield which I did incorporate into the hobby farm with pasture rotation.

My cattle have escaped, idk a dozen times, maybe more. Half of those were a bull I had, he was after my neighbors heifers lol. He figured out he couldn’t get to them, then he couldn’t get back to my pasture so he sat at the fence where he got out, was mooing at the other two I had which was mooing back at him lol. Cattle are herd animals and don’t like to get separated.

 

[goeduck]

As bad as our fences are, the cows are on the honor system. :laughing:

 

[kenmac]

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

 

[beowulf]

Why not get steers?

A while back I decided the same thing - buy steers. I figured no bull to tear things up, no need to pay for artificial insemination - just buy young steers and fatten them up on my 90 acres, then sell and buy more.

Then I struck up a conversation with the owner/auctioneer of the local livestock auction yard when I was there to watch a sale. He advised against steers - said they were the least in demand and brought the least amount of money at auction. He suggested I buy pregnant cows or cow-calf pairs, and get a bull and make sure I had really good fences. Later that same day, I was talking to the brand inspector, and told me the exact same thing - steers would not be the best way to go unless I sold them before they got too big - he said the bigger they get the less per pound they would bring. Well, a week later I sold five steers there (clearly too big) and they brought $0.60 per pound - much less than the other cattle were bringing - a lot less. And I had to pay $200 to haul them to the auction.

I am not an expert at all - just reporting on what I was told and my experience with steers. And I know I made a mistake not selling them sooner - and letting them get too big, but still, it seems that the steers being sold, of any size, were not bringing as much as the other cattle.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

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.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I had a vet come out before and look at my cattle when I had 3 at once. She looked at them from the fence, said they were healthy, could see their poop and said everything looks good charged me $225 and took off she came recommended by a sheep farmer down the road too. Last time I had a vet out.

Most the time I buy from people that have less than 15 head of cattle, I like to hear that the calf was with the mom for a few months, I don’t want calves that were pulled from their moms a day or two after they were born, that’s usually dairy cattle. Beef farmers usually keep calves with the cows until she dries up, then they put the calf on a bottle. They slowly introduce hay and calf starter and I buy them on grass and grained weaned off milk.

The vet did tell me that I can take a sample of my forage to the labs at OSU (Ohio State University) they will Test it and tell me what nutrients I need to supplement to my cattle. It’s free of charge, though I have never done that.

I keep a mineral trace salt block near their waterer, that gets them to drink more water, helps flush their stomachs.

As for flys, the best way I found was put a back rub in a heavy traveled path and low enough they have to duck and walk under it. I soak the back rub in a mixture of used motor oil, Diesel fuel and insecticide. The diesel and oil help coat their backs. You want to take the back rub down 3-4 months before they are butchered, another reason guys butcher in the fall around here, just before winter.

Guys have used just motor oil, guys use just diesel fuel and guys used just insecticide, I used a little of all 3 and had great results lol. Insecticide is also like $40 a gallon so that’s why I added cheaper stuff.

Only one time did I give a calf any antibiotics. I gave one calf a inter-muscular shot for “shipping sickness” because it was mid January when I bought him and was a cold 40 min trip home. I don’t remember what the drug was, I bought the needles, syringe and antibiotic at TSC, watched a video of how to do a intermuscular shot on YouTube. Haltered my calf, tied him up to a steady fence and gave him two shots just how they showed. He was heavy enough to get the above recommended dose in one site. So I did in two spots. He’s a good 900lbs now and is the only one I currently have and never had a prob with him.

 

[two_bit_score]

It’s pretty common to lease bulls for breeding.

 

[aczlan]

It’s pretty common to lease bulls for breeding.

Yep, we rented one last year for our 3 cows. Cost us $500ish for 3 months.

Aaron Z

 

[Dadnatron]

If you are serious about actually making money or at least having a 組ood outcome from cattle, buy a subscription to Stockman Grass Farmer and read read read. You can do it with less effort and it can really improve your land if you follow some of the 創ewer methods and theories.

Stockman Grass Farmer - The Grazier's Edge - Ridgeland, MS

I grew up raising cattle. 400-700 head depending on time of year. We did it the old fashioned way becUse that was 蘇ow it was done? I wish my Grandpa could have known what is known now... because it is much easier to have good healthy cattle with little fuss and lots of good grass... but you have to be smart about how you go about it.

Greg Judy, out of Missouri, has a couple good books, he also has a 祖lass on raising cattle with as little fuss possible. His story and methods are exactly what I壇 do if I were ever to get back into cattle.

Here is one recent talk, but I壇 recommend you read and watch everything you can about his methods... because over the long haul... I think it would make your life much easier and more fruitful.