EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I'm still clearing my fence line, so this is just pure research. My original plan was to raise livestock by having one or two males, and the rest females for the maximum stocking rate that I can get on my land. A client runs 20 heifers on his 60 acres and one bull, but rotates the bull and had two bulls when I was there last. Almost all of his cows had babies. A few didn't a few did, but they died, and a few had twins.
This is just me thinking here, and I know there are some holes in my though process. But this is what I'm working on.
So lets say he had 20 cows give birth to 20 babies. He sells all those babies for $400 and makes $8,000.
Now if one person bought all 20 babies and paid the $8,000, would it be reasonable to expect that person to be able to sell them for $1,000 each in a year for $12,000 profit and not have to deal with birthing cattle?
That's not what I want to do, but it's what got me to thinking about what I really want to do, and that's raise exotic deer.
I can buy does for $400 each and depending on the age of the buck, get them for that price on up. A year later I could have 20 babies that are worth $400 each, but if I keep them longer, their value increases. Now with deer, I can have more per ace then cattle. How many more is also part of the equation that I'm unsure of breeders that stock ten per acre and feed them seven days a week. Others are about half that. I'm thinking less then two per acre, or about 100 on my land.
If those deer have 20 babies, and they are split half boys, half girls. The girls will always be worth $400 each no matter how old they get, so it's best to keep the breeders and get rid of the extra. That leave ten more males to feed. Every year they go up in value with age five being where the big money is. After five years, I should be able to sell ten girls, and ten mature males. Males that old sell for $2,000 quickly, and something exceptional can sell for twice that, but for simple math, I'll stick with $2,000 each. So that's $24,000 per year once I get to year five. This would mean stocking close to 100 deer on 60 acres
Now this is where I get confused. What if I just bought 20 boys every year. In five years, I would have 20 mature boys to sell at $40,000. My feed bill should be the same either way. I wouldn't be dealing with birthing, and predator loss would decrees significantly. Deducting the cost of $8,000 to buy those 20 per year, my profit after feeding and everything else still seems significantly higher then it would be if I was breeding the deer and raising babies.
Does this make sense? Why doesn't everyone do this if it makes sense? If I'm correct in my thinking, would it make sense to raise a more expensive animals that sells for $2,000 as a baby, but sells for $8,000 in five years?
This is just me thinking here, and I know there are some holes in my though process. But this is what I'm working on.
So lets say he had 20 cows give birth to 20 babies. He sells all those babies for $400 and makes $8,000.
Now if one person bought all 20 babies and paid the $8,000, would it be reasonable to expect that person to be able to sell them for $1,000 each in a year for $12,000 profit and not have to deal with birthing cattle?
That's not what I want to do, but it's what got me to thinking about what I really want to do, and that's raise exotic deer.
I can buy does for $400 each and depending on the age of the buck, get them for that price on up. A year later I could have 20 babies that are worth $400 each, but if I keep them longer, their value increases. Now with deer, I can have more per ace then cattle. How many more is also part of the equation that I'm unsure of breeders that stock ten per acre and feed them seven days a week. Others are about half that. I'm thinking less then two per acre, or about 100 on my land.
If those deer have 20 babies, and they are split half boys, half girls. The girls will always be worth $400 each no matter how old they get, so it's best to keep the breeders and get rid of the extra. That leave ten more males to feed. Every year they go up in value with age five being where the big money is. After five years, I should be able to sell ten girls, and ten mature males. Males that old sell for $2,000 quickly, and something exceptional can sell for twice that, but for simple math, I'll stick with $2,000 each. So that's $24,000 per year once I get to year five. This would mean stocking close to 100 deer on 60 acres
Now this is where I get confused. What if I just bought 20 boys every year. In five years, I would have 20 mature boys to sell at $40,000. My feed bill should be the same either way. I wouldn't be dealing with birthing, and predator loss would decrees significantly. Deducting the cost of $8,000 to buy those 20 per year, my profit after feeding and everything else still seems significantly higher then it would be if I was breeding the deer and raising babies.
Does this make sense? Why doesn't everyone do this if it makes sense? If I'm correct in my thinking, would it make sense to raise a more expensive animals that sells for $2,000 as a baby, but sells for $8,000 in five years?
