How much does a cow eat?

milkman636 · May 14, 2011

I picked up a whole cow today that was raised by a local farmer and processd by a local butcher. It is the third time I have bought beef through the same farmer and processor. It is lean all-natural beef, goooood stuff.

After unloading and stuffing the freezer to the gills, I was standing by my truck looking at about an unused acre of mowed grass to the north of my garage and thinking: "Some fence and a little lean-to shelter would look pretty nice here. I wonder how much it would cost to feed a calf up to butchering weight?"

Before I mention this notion for next year to my wife, can anyone here give a rough idea of how much a cow would eat from calf to freezer weight?

beenthere · May 14, 2011

Answers.com - How much grass does a cow eat per day

richamor · May 14, 2011

My uncle always said 3 to 5 acres per head. BUT, you could always cut hay on the acre one year, and put a cow in the next.

Larry Caldwell · May 14, 2011

There are acres and then there are acres. The best thing to do would be to take a hay crop off of the acre and weigh it, which would give you an idea of how much the land produces. Can you irrigate it? If so, you will get better production in the summer. Plants go dormant in the winter and won't produce anything from first frost to last frost. A cow would turn most of it into a mud hole.

Your acre is little more than a feed lot. Depending on the local hay market, that may not be a bad thing. If you can feed hay and finish with a grain supplement, you might come out OK. Figure 2 years from calf to slaughter, moderate quality hay for most of that time, with grain supplements, and heavy grain fattening for the last 3 months. Cows are herd animals. They do better in pairs. It's no more work to feed two than to feed one, and you can sell the spare to pay for the one you eat.

Talk to local farmers. Just because the newspaper is talking about $8 corn does not mean the farmer is getting paid that. Shipping is expensive, plus broker fees, dockage, etc. You might get a pretty good price on feed quality grain. Hay prices are best in the field.

Get a book. I think "Raising Livestock the Modern Way" is still in print. It won't do you any good if you kill the cow when it's 6 months old. The stomach is a third of the cow's body weight. A flush of green grass will kill it. You will need to know how to deal with bloat, clostridium perfringens, etc. Your shed will have to be big enough to store a lot of hay and grain. Cross fencing will help preserve the sod.

moored4 · May 14, 2011

If the ?acre? is an acre in size it will not be big enough to raise a cow/steer on unless your going to feed it alot of extra feed. One acre Might be big enough for a couple goats or lambs but i think you would also have to feed them some.
My :2cents: for what it's worth!

Joe H · May 14, 2011

Think about what goes with a steer. A zillion flies, and remember what goes in mostly comes back out.

You're in charge.

Joe H

beenthere · May 14, 2011

And to add, if you have one it becomes a pet, and often gets a name. And many women will not eat a pet, let alone one that has a name.

Just sayin....

mad_planter · May 14, 2011

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. I would recommend you continue to buy from the farmer and benefit from his expertise and economy of scale. You won't get decent beef unless you give them some grain, minerals etc and you'll need a lot more acreage than that for even a single animal.

Son of a dairy farmer and don't miss the cows

Western · May 15, 2011

I wouldn't want to do it on 1 acre. I had to feed my cows on occasion and at the time I had around 74 cows on 378 acres. Grew my own hay , but bailing was an expense I still had.

I now only have 15.5 acres, all but maybe 6 acres is woods. I have thought about getting to stocker calves, but know I would have to feed and right now I don't want to get "the involved".

I would suggest raising something like a few goats as earlier mentioned, and sell them to offset your meat purchase, if you want to raise something that is.

texasjohn · May 15, 2011

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.

ole farmerbuck · May 15, 2011

texasjohn said:
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 · May 15, 2011

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 · May 15, 2011

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 · May 15, 2011

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 · May 15, 2011

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 · May 15, 2011

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

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

milkman636 · May 15, 2011

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

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

Click to expand...

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

richamor · May 15, 2011

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 · May 15, 2011

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 · May 15, 2011

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.