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Post by tater74 on Aug 20, 2019 12:05:48 GMT -6
If someone has the property, fences, and facilities to run a few head of cattle, what would you suggest as a way to get started?
bottle calves? Probably too risky.
Buy heavy breds?
Random cows of Craig's list?
Weaned calves?
Longhorns and breed to a charlois?
What advice would you give?
This is all just to get a discussion going?
Assume the property is in your area.
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Post by M-5 on Aug 20, 2019 12:10:15 GMT -6
Buy thin cows in spring run all summer sell for gain in fall. If you have a few calves that's money in the bank. That's what I am looking to do the next few years as I am getting to the point I do not want to carry anything over winter. I might not get there but it's a goal.
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Post by hughespieds on Aug 20, 2019 12:20:09 GMT -6
I started out with heifers and had all kinds of wrecks down the line. I'd probably go with the bred cow option because the experienced cow will give you a certain amount of learning room.
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Post by randy on Aug 20, 2019 12:20:53 GMT -6
Older bred cows. Calve them out roll them in the fall.
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Post by hughespieds on Aug 20, 2019 12:24:50 GMT -6
Older bred cows. Calve them out roll them in the fall. Would you breed them back before taking to the barn? |
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Post by randy on Aug 20, 2019 12:33:30 GMT -6
Older bred cows. Calve them out roll them in the fall. Would you breed them back before taking to the barn? Nope. |
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Post by dave on Aug 20, 2019 13:02:48 GMT -6
I did that older cow deal for years. I always bred them back. Not for the calf but more to settle them down. Bred cows aren't coming in heat and disturbing the herd. Thus they gain weight better. I would buy a thin younger bull who looked like he would gain weight over the summer. Certainly don't spend money on a good bull.
The best way to start a small operation is to have a big operation and cut back. |
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Post by hook on Aug 20, 2019 13:29:03 GMT -6
Bred cows from the sale barn can bring a huge learning curve also.
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Post by hook on Aug 20, 2019 13:29:27 GMT -6
Or a cow trader. Damn traders
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Post by 3LT Farms on Aug 20, 2019 13:36:23 GMT -6
Bred cows to start, quicker return on some of the investment. Then slowly convert to the program you want and the number you can handle.
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Post by greybeard on Aug 20, 2019 13:48:10 GMT -6
If someone has the property, fences, and facilities to run a few head of cattle, what would you suggest as a way to get started? bottle calves? Probably too risky. Risky and a real pita. Buy heavy breds? Much less risk and a quick return if build #s is 1 of your goals.Random cows of Craig's list? NO!Weaned calves? If it's heifers to retain..better have your big boy pants on. BTDT and I regretted it more than I liked the results. Buying heifers is definitely not for the novice. A little older cow that knows the ropes of being a momma will cost a little more but it's much safer bet and IMO, cheaper in the long run. Longhorns and breed to a charlois? NO! Char bull on Beefmaster cows worked good tho. What advice would you give? This is all just to get a discussion going? Assume the property is in your area. Really tho, it depends what the goals of the guy/gal entering the sector are. Flipping spring to fall will work if they aren't interested in building a herd and line. |
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Post by okie on Aug 20, 2019 14:08:23 GMT -6
Older solid mouth bred cows WITH A WET BAG or older pairs by a longshot unless I'm just going to split them and sell them, which is a great way to get going too. Older, native wet bag cows don't get that way by doing things wrong. A dry bad bred cow tells me she missed a beat and will probably do it again yet they seem to sell for similar prices as wet bags for some reason.
Heifers are a mistake more often than not even if you know what you're doing. Why in the world would you take a carcass full of quality cuts and turn it into hamburger prices unless there's just nothing else out there. If you're lucky 70% of them will make cows. I always kept replacement heifers because I'm picky about my genetic inputs but it sure doesn't make money sense to keep them.
If I could stand to do it I'd buy running age or older cows as replacements and breed everything terminal and not ever retain a heifer. Especially with the market the way it is when one bid over kill price will get you a cow that has a few years left that will most likely sell for what you bought her for and give you a calf to sell every year in the meantime.
Taxes also play in in some states. If you're producing your own replacements whether it be bulls or heifers in a capital gains state then they have no value until the day you sell them and their entire worth is subject to capital gains. If you purchase replacements then your tax is based on any gain over purchase price which would likely be a negative.
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Post by franklinridgefarms on Aug 20, 2019 14:40:26 GMT -6
I think everything that has been suggested is pretty good advice. I would not start out with bottle calves, been there done that , and wasn't exactly new to cattle, at the time, but that's a whole nother ball game.
I have bought and sold a few from Craigslist, but seems like pretty much these days it's mostly cattle that are priced much higher than their actual quality and or trader's cattle. Also apparently some Craigslist cattle must have their own breed standards, I never knew that purebred Angus could have horns, white faces, or even be black and white spotted.
We are in the process of building up our cowherd, we are kind of going at it from several angles, have bought some heifers to get up to breeding size, and have also bought some older bred cows and cows and calves. I think probably the bred cows or cow calf pairs is probably the most advisable way to go in my opinion. For what it's worth we are buying Herefords and red cattle, mostly, I have a hard time passing up good calm acting ear cattle too. We are raising most of our bulls lately too, got tired of overpaying for bulls. I prefer to use Angus bulls on the red cows, although a good Limousin or Charolais would be ok too in most places probably.
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Post by tater74 on Aug 20, 2019 16:41:33 GMT -6
All good information.
Let's add a few more questions.
Do you care about uniformity, or is a box of crayons ok?
How would you market them? Sale barn, word of mouth, Craig's list?
If you had decent pasture, how much and what would you supplement them with?
Assuming you have the facilities, would you vacinate and castrate the calves?
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Post by franklinridgefarms on Aug 20, 2019 16:58:26 GMT -6
All good information. Let's add a few more questions. Do you care about uniformity, or is a box of crayons ok? How would you market them? Sale barn, word of mouth, Craig's list? If you had decent pasture, how much and what would you supplement them with? Assuming you have the facilities, would you vacinate and castrate the calves? I do like some uniformity, though our cows are a mixture of red and black, a few have a little ear or horn in them too. Black bulls will make the calves uniform in color. If one used a Charolais bull the calves may be varying shades but would all show the Char influence. Ours are marketed for the most part in graded preconditioned sales, so they are vaccinated, castrated and weaned for those sales. If the pasture was decent wouldn't supplement them much at all, just a couple pounds of cheapest decent feed a couple days a week to keep them gentle. In winter maybe supplement a little more and hay. I would go with a pretty good mineral. |
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