How much does a cow eat?

[ole farmerbuck]

Honest advice... don't mess with any kind of stock. They take fences, feed, vet attention, a trailer to load, pens, ropes/gear, water tanks/pipelines that don't freeze or dry up... list is almost endless....even for the experienced...and, if you had a lot of experience, you wouldn't be asking the question. Enjoy your acre..and, if you absolutely MUST have something to mess with, try chickens, cheap in, low outlay in facilities and you can walk away without having spend anything more than a small fortune. In any case, you'll NEVER "make money" on any legal livestock/crop on 1 acre, but you can be RICH in enjoying the place.

Take this mans advice. We have cattle all year long, each and every year. They can be a pain. Grass is not the food to raise one for butchering.

 

[jinman]

Mad Planter, Western, and Texasjohn have just about nailed down every perfect reason to not have cattle or other livestock. Not being able to have a life that doesn't include getting somebody to look after your animals is also a very real consideration. If you have 1 acre, fence it off with something to keep out the deer and put in a very nice vegetable garden. You'll save a lot more money with that and the veggies will make you a local hero with family and friends.:thumbsup:

 

[groundcover]

Every time I see this thread I laugh , guess it depends on what kind of mileage it gets :laughing:

Maybe you could get a hybrid !:licking:

 

[Egon]

I can pretty much guarantee it will cost you more to raise that animal than the value of beef you will get out of it.

And That is without the labour and the fact the animal wants to eat every day at least twice. One acre really isn't enough and for nice beef some grain should be used. Otherwise you feed it hay or grass for twice as long.

But if'n you gotta do do it.:thumbsup:

Consider it as experience.

 

[milkman636]

I know an acre is small, and I have also thought about trying a couple pigs in that area. The acre is grass and would provide an easily fenced area to start with. It's just an idea that I want to explore a litttle more for the future.

With a family of eight I am already committed to being here every day to tend to whatever I end up with, and I am not worried about what to do with extra meat (whatever that is).

It wasn't a money making question, or even a savings question. More of a question to help gauge feasability.

 

[Egon]

More of a question to help gauge feasability./QUOTE]

It's feasible but be prepared to spend some money.

 

[milkman636]

More of a question to help gauge feasability./QUOTE]

It's feasible but be prepared to spend some money.

Money is like fertilzer, its not good for much until you spread it around.

 

[richamor]

Instead of livestock, have you considered poultry? Fence half of it in for a coup, and garden the other. That way you get eggs, chicken, and veggies. And you can generally sell your surplus.

 

[jmpbuffalo]

I'll put in a plug for rabbits. They're easy to breed and raise, you can feed them hay or grass, and their manure is good fertilizer. We raised them when I was a kid, until we had so much rabbit we got tired of it! With the hay from an acre, you could raise a lot of rabbits!

Joe

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Like with other things, its location, location, location. The acreage it take to raise a head of beef is greatly different in Tx than in say the Western portion of the PNW.

Yrs ago I raise my own beef. Lived in the Willamette valley of Oregon. Number of yrs I ran 4 head on 3A. During the heavy growing season during the spring they couldn't keep up with the grass growth. One yr I had 6 head on that 3A during the spring and I wasn't having to supplemental feed. Typ took a ton of hay to winter over a cow. Took about 18 mo to get a animal up to butcher weight. I didn't feed grain and butcher would constantly apologize for the excessive fat in the ground beef, just too much marbling in the meat. Have uncle in Ok who raised a few head himself would always comment on how fat the animals were out here, never saw animals so fat in his area.

I'm sure these kind of conditions are rarely found, but they do exist in a few places. Your best bet is to ask local farmers/ranchers what it take to raise a head of beef, feed and time wise. Local info is the best with issues like this. For many/most areas conditions like what I had are just pipe dreams.

Same situation exist for wheat grower here. Many places in the country 80 Bu wheat is just a dream but locally, 80 Bu wheat would be a bad yr. Typ yield is 100 Bu and a few farmers in a good yr get 120 Bu/A. Like I said, location, location, location.