Can I do cattle farm without a tractor?

rlee6 · Jul 1, 2004

Question: I don't want to buy a tractor if possible. Can I?
Case: A mini cattle farm on 50 acres in central Florida.
Justification:
1) Land clearing, pond digging: Rent dozer/backhow/excarvator and hire operator.
2) Fence post digging: Rent from Home Depot for $35-40 day.
3) Pasture maintenance (liming, etc): Pull whatever with 1/2 ton pickup truck.
4) mowing: Ride-behind mower with a large cutter that lawn mowing folks use.

I haven't figured how to move hay around. Hopefully, winter grass will
take care of it in central Florida?

The main reason I do not want to buy a tractor is the farm is away from home (1.5 hrs).
I cannot move to the farm for next few years.
Most posts seem to recommend 35-40 hp that will weigh about 3500-4000 lbs.
I cannot keep expensive farming equipment in the farm. Neither do I want to haul
5000 lb trailer with 1/2 ton pickup.

Please advise if I have grossly underestimated farm work. Thank you.

SteveM · Jul 1, 2004

Um I am not a farmer. But I live on a farm that we rent out, and have a few beef cattle farmer friends. I dont understand how you are safely going to run a farm from a distance....are there going to be people there everyday to tend to the livestock? If so, you dont trust these people to watch your tractor? If you dont have a barn to lock the tractor in (assumption) where are you going to store your feed?

Anyhow, the beef folks I know tend to their animals each morning and night, with a tractor - bringing out square bales and grain pellets etc. They also do a fair amount of brush hogging to keep the fields under control.

I suppose this could be done with your truck - but again, are you doing this 1.5 hr every day?

Bird · Jul 1, 2004

Can you do it? Yes
Will you like it? No

slowrev · Jul 1, 2004

Steve pretty well summed up my concerns/remarks.

DAP · Jul 1, 2004

When I first put the mares into their brandy new paddocks, I will be the first to admit my gross underestimation of the notion of pasture maintenance.

Using a 1/2 pickup to do pasture maintenance leads me to believe that you will be making some of the same underestimations.

Bird said you could do it but you wouldn't like it. At the risk of speaking for him, I think he's also saying that the workload will be quadrupled, lots of manual labor that a tractor was designed for.

Also .. the COWS might have a thing or 2 to say about this plan.

/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

cowboydoc · Jul 1, 2004

They did it for thousands of years before there were tractors. You can do it. It just depends on how much manual labor you want to do. 50 acres is alot to mow.

DAP · Jul 1, 2004

Do you have some type of obligation to his land or the animals?

For someone to suggest having a cattle farm and not WANTING to have a tractor - to pose the question here on TractorByNet is most confusing.

Almost like saying "I'd like to learn how to ski. Do I need any snow?"

hazmat · Jul 1, 2004

Almost like saying "I'd like to learn how to ski. Do I need any snow?" 

believe it or not, there is a lot of research being done on artificial snow. They've come up with some kind of plastic snow for use in indoor mountains (popular in Japan). /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

To answer the poster's question. I have enough trouble taking care of my 4 acres where I reside with a tractor - can't imagine farming without one. The only livestock I have are two labrador retrievers.

I guess this is the age old answer - you can do it, but you shouldn't.

rlee6 · Jul 1, 2004

Okay, folks, I am convinced now. I was just wondering if it was possible at all. I have a farmer friend who has 200 heads of cattle. He gave me a good lesson on cattle farming. You confirmed what he said. Thanks.

I was looking into 25-30 hp tractor. But many posts seem to recommend about 40 hp. I will have to upgrade my target. Many thanks, and my apology for asking such an abhorently silly question.

Golfgar4 · Jul 1, 2004

First off, I apologize that no one here yet has welcomed you to TBN. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

So Welcome! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

( I will have to upgrade my target. Many thanks, and my apology for asking such an abhorently silly question. )

No apologies necessary! You wanted to confirm some information that you had received so that you had a better feeling about a decision you needed to make. This same thing happens every day here on TBN. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

You know the old adage...."The only silly question is....."

Oh heck, you already know it, don't you!? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

slowrev · Jul 1, 2004

If money is the issue on the tractor purchase, you might want to consider a good used utility tractor. Better for moving hay rolls than the smaller CUT's.

MicroPilot · Jul 1, 2004

The people here on TBN seem to thrive on sharing and aquiring new information and points of view!! I was very interested to see what some the the peeps here would respond with.

Oh, and BTW - when do decide to buy a tractor ask lots of Questions here and research the old post's. This site has to be the BEST tractor knowledge base anywhere!!!

rockyridgefarm · Jul 1, 2004

One idea for securing a tractor is a container, bought used about $1400.00.

Golfgar4 · Jul 1, 2004

( Oh, and BTW - when do decide to buy a tractor ask lots of Questions here and research the old post's. This site has to be the BEST tractor knowledge base anywhere!!! )

Thanks for tip! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Hint, hint - Take a look at when I registered. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

MicroPilot · Jul 1, 2004

Sorry GolfGar, was just continuing the thread. We don't have a way to post without replying to someone. You just happened to be the last poster!!

EastTexFrank · Jul 1, 2004

( my apology for asking such an abhorently silly question. )

First of all, welcome to the board. Secondly, there's no reason to apologise when the answer to your question is "YES". You'll see that most of us on this board have tractors because we like "playing" with them, we enjoy the work we do with them and we get a sense of satisfaction from the results we achieve. So, I think the the most common comment you will get is, "Yes, you can do it but why would you want to????". We're a little biased in that regard. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

I would have thought that beef cows in Central Florida would pretty much be able to look after themselves for most of the year with perhaps a little feeding during the winter months if there's no grass. Also, I think you're wise to be looking at a slightly bigger tractor. You'll find that trying to look after 50 acres with a small tractor will be a lot more work and take a lot more time than it seems you can devote to it at the moment but any tractor is better than no tractor. The amount of physical labor and time they can save you is amazing and you can do it on your schedule, not somebody elses.

RonR · Jul 1, 2004

Welcome to TBN rlee6,

"He gave me a good lesson on cattle farming"

I hope it was more than one lesson. Living in KS all my life, I've been around cattle a lot, working as a custom hay operator in high school/college summers and feeding other people's cattle in the winter. I don't feel I could any more start a cattle farm than design and SUCCESSFULLY fly an airplane.

I've know guys that work at cattle all their lives and they are still learning. My B-I-L is one of those guys, and has owned cattle several different times in his life. There's a lot to know and pick up on to keep them healthy and not dying!

I don't want you take this personally, cuz I don't mean it that way, but it sounds to me like the old joke about the guy who ordered 5,000 baby chicks one week. Then a week later, he ordered another 5,000 baby chicks. Perplexed at the size of his operations, the county ag agent brought the third order of 5,000 baby chicks to his farm to see just what kind of operation he had.
After not seeing any of the original 10,000 chickens, the agent finally heard these words: "Yep, I've figured out what I wuz doin' wrong--I was plantin' em too deep........."

I do wish you well in your cattle operation. I hope you have a close neighbor who's been in the biz forever that can watch over your shoulder and help you succeed.

Best wishes,
Ron

Golfgar4 · Jul 1, 2004

No apologies necessary! Gee, where did I hear that before?? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I guess it didn't occur to me that that is what happened. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I generally hit the reply button on the post that I'm replying to, even if it's 3 or 4 back. That way, the person I'm replying to sees that it is meant for them.

I do know that a lot of the guys just click the reply button on the last posted message. I guess it does save a little time.

Sorry for the confusion. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

gsganzer · Jul 1, 2004

I'll risk getting flamed!
I'll go against the grain and say yes, you can cattle ranch without a tractor. My neighbor does it, in fact most ranchers that lease pasture do it to some extent.

Doing the initial fencing and pond building requires the equipment. After that, you just turn the cattle out and let them graze (more on this later). When you buy round bales, they can deliver them to your site. All you need is a bale spear or buggy to move them with a pickup. Fertilizer/lime can be bought and spread using trailers supplied by the fertilizer supplier. The brush hogging for pasture maintenance can be sub-contracted.

Is this the most efficient and cost effective way to do it? It depends. For 10 - 20 head, it probably is. I can't see the returns from 20 cattle paying the note on a $20,000 tractor. For 100 -200 head, it probably isn't and a tractor's purchase is justified.

Here's the "More on this later" part:
If you have the right "cows per acre or in Texas, acres per cow" density, then they're pretty self sufficient regarding feed.
Supplemental feed's required during the months when forage growth can't keep up and may necessitate putting out round bales. But, there's a lot more to raising cattle, then just keeping them fed. You need to worm, castrate, calf etc.

You really need someone that lives close to the property that can drive by and check things at least once a week. They need to watch for theft, downed fencing, calfing, veterinary etc.

Skitch · Jul 1, 2004

You really need someone that lives close to the property that can drive by and check things at least once a week. 

rlee6, I don't know what exactly you are planning to do, but around here, several folks keep beef cattle in the pastures around us. We have them all on speed dial for when there is a problem. Notice I said when , not if. I know that when we were keeping cattle, even if we were gone for the weekend or something, someone would check in on the cows to see how they were doing.

Now that I've posted for something totally off the original post, let me throw my thoughts on the original question. I would say that yes, it can be done, but I believe that you will soon decide to go ahead with the purchase of some kind of tractor. Oh, and by the way, I have gotten the feeling during my time here that pictures of any newly acquired tractor are required to be posted in order to keep in the good graces of everyone. So when you get yours, pictures are expected... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif