Cattle

JD15302155870 · Jan 24, 2019

This is exactly why I sold all my livestock and planted pines on my place. It was a lot of work planting and caring for the seedlings the first two years but after that. Just sit back and watch them grow. Another benefit is the pines do not eat and they don’t get out of the fences

robbyr · Jan 24, 2019

JD15302155870 said:
This is exactly why I sold all my livestock and planted pines on my place. It was a lot of work planting and caring for the seedlings the first two years but after that. Just sit back and watch them grow. Another benefit is the pines do not eat and they don’t get out of the fences

Will they be harvested for income or are they just for the tax exemption?

two_bit_score · Jan 24, 2019

JD15302155870 said:
This is exactly why I sold all my livestock and planted pines on my place. It was a lot of work planting and caring for the seedlings the first two years but after that. Just sit back and watch them grow. Another benefit is the pines do not eat and they don’t get out of the fences

Good luck! Hope the pine bark beetle doesn't bite.

Signs of Bark Beetle Infestation - Ready For Wildfire

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prof fate · Jan 24, 2019

two_bit_score said:
So what is the best weight to take a steer to the butcher? I was always under the impression 750-1000 lbs would be best range. What do the experts say?

When I've bought 1/4 beef locally it's been about 220lbs give or take 10lb. That's from 3 different local beef farms.
The first I bought on the hoof, and maybe 55% is 'waste' - bone, guts, skin, etc. The second I got as hanging weight, the third was wrapped and ready - same price per lb, since hanging weight is what ends up wrapped.

220 is a quarter, times 4, is 880lb, double it to allow for live weight - 1720lb, or a tad more, say 1800lb.

While I've not grilled (no pun intended) the folks that raise them, I can ask about time. the one gent said he buys calves at 400-600 lbs and keeps them about a year to 18 months. Many variables - breed, price of feed, time of year, size of animal, buyer demand, etc.

Google is a great resource...

How to calculate target slaughter weights for your beef cattle finishing program

How much meat?
https://www.oda.state.ok.us/food/fs-cowweight.pdf

3Ts · Jan 24, 2019

Back to the previous comments on welfare for a moment:

I've thought about having a state forester come out to my place for free to give me advice on my trees, but I have to admit, I'm a little leery of what their recommendations would be. As M5farms said, once they get their hooks in you..... I wouldn't say I'm paranoid, but the last thing I need is the govt to come out here and say, oh you can't cut these, or you're going to have to spray that, etc.... once you show up on the radar, you know? I'm still on the fence.

I had a concern about this as well and postponed contacting them. I was sure they'd want money and increase taxes, etc. but after talking with lots of folks who did get the state forester in, I finally called them. I found out they already had information on my property that I did not know, so that turned out to be helpful and they did work up a management plan and discussed forestry and made suggestions, and even though they were "from the government" they were actually helpful and didn't cost anything (directly). Everything they did was covered by the taxes that everyone already pays. Bottom line, you should contact your state forester, they can be helpful.

two_bit_score · Jan 24, 2019

3Ts said:
Back to the previous comments on welfare for a moment:

I had a concern about this as well and postponed contacting them. I was sure they'd want money and increase taxes, etc. but after talking with lots of folks who did get the state forester in, I finally called them. I found out they already had information on my property that I did not know, so that turned out to be helpful and they did work up a management plan and discussed forestry and made suggestions, and even though they were "from the government" they were actually helpful and didn't cost anything (directly). Everything they did was covered by the taxes that everyone already pays. Bottom line, you should contact your state forester, they can be helpful.

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goeduck · Jan 24, 2019

JD15302155870 said:
This is exactly why I sold all my livestock and planted pines on my place. It was a lot of work planting and caring for the seedlings the first two years but after that. Just sit back and watch them grow. Another benefit is the pines do not eat and they don’t get out of the fences

Around here trees are weeds so all we need to do is stop using the land. We have some land in forest taxation and some in agricultural. Forest is a little better tax rate wise.