Things you just have to have to start farming...

[Spiveyman]

Yep, I was always taught if you plant crops for sale and profit, your a farmer. If it your raise it and it has four legs, your a rancher. But farmers can ranch and ranchers can farm. At least that is what my Grandpa and Uncle did.
hugs, Brandi

I heard this once:

Do you know how to tell the difference between a rancher and a farmer? A farmer's hat will fit inside of a mailbox so he can look for his government subsidy check. (It's a visual thing too - you cup your hands around the bill of the ball cap) A rancher's mailbox will fit inside of his hat.

For the record, I call myself a rancher, not a farmer, but 'round here people just don't get it.

 

[Spiveyman]

Now... here in Texas, if you're messing with cow brutes, you're a rancher, not a farmer

But since you're messing with longhorns, you're more into pretty critters than beef critters. I suspect you are going the purebred route where pretty truly does count more than anything else. I understand that very well since I mess with purebred beefmasters.

Now, I think the most important thing is a philosophy for your cattle raising...I can only give you mine and you'll have to determine for yourself which to adopt and which to adapt.

1) Every animal must be gentle...

I suspect that you recognize the above items as the "six essentials" that Beefmasters are founded on. I know you will find that longhorns share many of these same qualities and are historically strong in fertility, hardiness, longevity, calving ease, mothering ability, etc.

Since my operation is of similar size, here is my considered opinion for your operation... you need:

squeeze chute: you must be able to handle the animals without hurting them or yourselves.. an early must have purchase. A roundabout pen and long chute is invaluable when moving animals into the squeeze and headgate.

feed trough in pens.

roping rope... there are times when you have to use it

bull nose pliars... amazing tool can be used to control the heads of calves and fully grown animals... I think this is a critical implement for you.

calving chains.. you hope you won't need them, but you will, someday, if for no other reason that a calf is upside down and backwards and a leg is back.

battery headlight.. leaves the hands free... you will do lots of stuff at night.

a pair of small radios for communications..one for you, one for the house or whoever is assisting you... much better than shouting... safety item as well. Ranching is dangerous, be prepared.

Regarding equipment, I'm extremely pleased with what I have... see my signature. I don't need another tractor. Implements well worth more than the $$ include:
FEL WITH CHAIN HOOKS
CARRY ALL WITH CHAIN HOOKS
SPRAY RIG FOR HERBICIDES AND INSECTICIDES
LIGHTS ON REAR OF TRACTOR
HAY SPIKE FOR FEL, HAY FORK FOR 3PH (AND ROUND BALE RINGS)
LOW FLATBED TRAILER, 18', CARRIES STUFF, FRONT WENCH, RAMPS
GENERATOR.. ELECTRICITY WHERE AND WHEN YOU NEED IT

If you wish additional details or expanded info, PM me.

Hmm... posted, then saw your further discussion of objectives, etc... grass fed, local market, great idea and I think you're going the right direction IMHO.

Love your signature... and I well understand it!

I am messing with longhorns, but I'm all about the beef. It's the best stuff you'll ever have. I have to put warning labels on my beef: caution - once you experience what beef is supposed to taste like you'll never be able to eat anything else!

Great insight on the "6 cattle essentials" Couldn't agree more. Same with the squeeze chute. Powder River makes a Longhorn headgate, but they are ?$5,000. I just bought a Dube Chute from Bob Dube - that thing is AWESOME!

I also just bought a rope and am learning to rope. Started with my buddy's minature donkey, working up to a 300 lb bull calf. I read once that a cowboy who can't rope is like a horse with no legs.

 

[D7E]

All this stuff can be bought cheap. If your going to be a "real" farmer the one thing you need.....? An understanding wife and a well stocked fridge and do your home-work on auction prices .
HA-HA ... Go for it it's a good life ?
But seriosly.... you're gonna need a lot more machinery than you think .Don't even try buying "new" regardles of what people say bargains are out there ,I run a 1500 acre farm on "bargains" and it pays ,Most of the machinery you need is too small for big farmers so in big farming areas goes for nothing .
From experience canada tends to use bigger machinery than the US (and more modern) ,Most of our older smaller stuff gets shipped down so if your not too far down stuff is cheaper up here.

 

[SkunkWerX]

I'll add some odds and ends.
The FEL is a must, it has so many uses and benefits.

Almost every post-WWII farm/ranch has an old Lincoln Welder "Buzz Box" sitting in the barn or shop, do your own repairs and fixes and save time and money.

3 Pt. Post Hole Digger. Let's face it, you will be a professional fence-man.
Unless all of your fence lines are up, and brand new, you will need to be fully equipped for all fencing chores. Also, make yourself a post-puller for your 3 PT Hitch. Ask any farmer who does a lot of fencing jobs, he'll know what a post-puller is.

Family friends of ours raise Angus on 700+ acres. When we visited I noticed he used one piece of machinery all the time....his ATV. Whether it was riding out to open/close various gates between pastures, open/close water valves, ride the fence lines for visual inspection, his old ATV was a huge timesaver!
It had a home-brew rear rack about 2ft by 3ft. and a plastic milk grate hung from the front with wire, that contained some hand tools, pair of gloves, etc.

So whether you get an RTV or ATV, having a small nimble mode of transportation for those quick 10 minute jobs will be a real time saver.
It doesn't have to be a brand new 700cc brute of a machine, a used 350cc utility ATV would do the job, itr's just quick transportation. Anything heavy duty is what the tractors are for.

Good Luck, sounds like you have things thought out, and are seeking lots of info. which will also save you some "learn as you go" frustration.

 

[Spiveyman]

The FEL is a must, it has so many uses and benefits.

Yep, just ordered a BH 2426QT, can't wait to play... uh I mean work with it!!!

Almost every post-WWII farm/ranch has an old Lincoln Welder "Buzz Box" sitting in the barn or shop, do your own repairs and fixes and save time and money.

I'd love to learn how to weld, that would save lots o' time and money.

3 Pt. Post Hole Digger. Let's face it, you will be a professional fence-man.
Unless all of your fence lines are up, and brand new, you will need to be fully equipped for all fencing chores. Also, make yourself a post-puller for your 3 PT Hitch. Ask any farmer who does a lot of fencing jobs, he'll know what a post-puller is.

I've heard of post pullers, and/or fence pullers, better study up on that because about half the fence is less than 5 years old, the rest was there when Sherman burned Atlanta.

Family friends of ours raise Angus on 700+ acres. When we visited I noticed he used one piece of machinery all the time....his ATV. Whether it was riding out to open/close various gates between pastures, open/close water valves, ride the fence lines for visual inspection, his old ATV was a huge timesaver!

True true true, I'm saving up for an ATV of some sort, we also have horses, but it's easier to jump on an ATV than to saddle a horse. Around here folks use suped-up golf carts. Kind of like a home brew version of a Gator. The Gator's and similar vehicles have beds in them though that come in handy like a carry all. Thanks!

 

[SkunkWerX]

Yup, I didn't mention Gators, Mules and such, due to expense.
I figured for about $1000 to $1500 you could find a decent used ATV which could tow a small garden trailer if need be.
Then when you have the cash flow, you can start adding the big toys!


The Simplest Tractor based POST PULLER I know of:
If you have a tractor, all you need is an implement on the 3 PT Hitch and a piece of chain.

If you have something like a 3 Pt. Tow Bar, something strong and simple, install it on your 3 PT Hitch. Back up to the post in question, Lower your 3 PT as low as it will go.
Wrap a piece of chain around the post a few times, (I like to spiral the chain from top to bottom), then fasten the chain to your 3 Pt. Hitch.

If the ground is not hard as concrete, start lifting the 3 Pt. Hitch, the Chain will tighten, and the post will lift up. Works real good.
iI the ground is hard, you can rock the post back n forth after hooking up to it, just a wee bit, it usally loosens enough to be pulled.

The hidden payback using this method is you have a hole leftover for the new post. We actually pulled an old post, and installed a new one in 10 minutes, that's when the Fence-Gods are smiling down on you.

Welding mild steel, like for tractor impliment repairs, is not overly difficult.
A skill worth picking up for the work/lifestyle you are starting.

Good Luck!!

 

[FaC]

I would think about high tensile fences (at least 4 wire) for at least your permanent fences. With cattle I would also think about using the steel T posts for the line posts. If you go that route you will need some form of a post driver. I have the manual version (2' piece of steel pipe with handles) but my dad has a Shaver post driver that he picked up used. That is the cat's meow when you are looking at hundreds of feet of fence. I would start looking at actions and dealer's equipment yards for one that is forgotten in a corner.

You can insulate the posts and run electric in the high tensile line(s). The nice part about that is that you have one piece of wire doing two functions. If you use smooth wire you also have the possiblity to also pasture/board horses if you are not full up on cattle (horse people generally hate barbed wire).

FWIW - Frank

 

[Spiveyman]

The Simplest Tractor based POST PULLER I know of:
If you have a tractor, all you need is an implement on the 3 PT Hitch and a piece of chain.

Yeah, I had already considered that method with a chain. I picked up a good chain at the TSC, but it's nice to have some validation for that method.

If you use smooth wire you also have the possiblity to also pasture/board horses if you are not full up on cattle (horse people generally hate barbed wire).

I can see why, I have a buddy runs his horses with his cattle and barbed wire fencing and his horses are always getting cut up.

Thanks! Fencing seems to have emerged as the biggest challenge ahead of me.

 

[texasjohn]

OK... it cost me years to learn and untold $$ ... and all my experience is now brought to you via the joy of TBN....

High tensile wire is superb... but you MUST learn how to handle it... there are special knots (trust me) that you need to learn about.. for splicing wire and tying off at a post. Also for how to cut it without a wire cutter.

I use 4 strands, two hot, two ground.
I use metal t posts about 15 feet apart, plastic insulators that wrap around to the back side of the post are best.
donut cermaic insulators
insultube is your friend, learn about its use to
high tensile wire insulated for ground burial I put inside a 1/2 or 3/4 inch black plastic pipe and pull under gates... fantastic plan.
knife switches at every fence corner allow you to isolate/identify bad pieces of fence
be sure and ground VERY WELL your fence charger
critical to have a lightening arrester installed close to your fence charger
power surge filter on your input plug for the charger
small bolt cutter for cuttig hi tensile wire... regular wirecutters won't work well at all

Here are some of the old threads I've saved that may be of interest to you.

ditch digging
Secrets of pulling poly pipe without a ditch.
more secrets
and even more

OK.. the real secret is that you should use the TBN search function and search on: subsoiler pipe pull

if you don't get at least 10 threads, something is wrong. This works, you gotta try it, both for laying undergroundpipe and underground insulated wire.

Now, about putting T posts in the ground... use your FEL, have a buddy hold the T post, lower flat bottom of FEL , buddy retreats to safe distance (they can rainbow/break if you hit a rock just wrong), gently lower FEL until post is properly in ground. around the post of proper length so that sheath hits ground when post is properly driven.

To pull T post, wrap chain around post, hook to chain hook on FEL (you do have such a chain hook, don't you) and lift FEL.

Look this stuff up on the web, etc... if you can't find it, PM me.

 

[texasjohn]

One observation, spiveyman, disposition is highly inheritable.

Sorry to tell you that if your bull is a jumper, his calves will likely show that tendency, too. Took me a while to figure this out.

When I started out, I purchased animals from different breeders, a couple of the cows were somewhat snooty and stand-offish... OK, one was downright MEAN. Each of their calves were similar while the other calves were calmer.

Then, I had two bulls. One was dog gentle, let you get within 1 foot of him in the pasture anytime, he wouldn't even hardly look around. The other had a 30 foot comfort zone. when the two calf crops came, i could tell which bull sired which calf by their stand-off zone. I didn't have to look at their pedigree, although it bore out my visual observations.

By the way, the photo of your area looks IDEAL for smooth wire electric fence. Since you already have horses, I'd just run out with a hackamore, put it on and ride bareback whereever you wanted to go to check on things.. That's what I did when growing up. My horse was trained to ground tie... I just would drop the reins and go do what I needed, then go back to him. You can't believe how handy this is.

Regarding roping.... I'd concentrate on learning how to rope a 100 to 150 lb calf on foot... one that has wandered into the wrong pasture and you need to return him to where he belongs. That's the best use of a rope. Yes, you can cowboy it up with your stock... but no point in it on your place where you can find and pen them at will.