Cattle questions

[Rockbadchild]

Yup, and that's with rotating pastures regularly.

yeah that's the thing once they start defecating close to half is wasted until that has been broken down.

 

[paulsharvey]

I still haven't completely ruled out hair sheep, but I need to make a decision pretty soon. I can quickly do 4 strand barb on the 1.2 and 1.6, for cattle, but if i do that, that eliminates sheep as an option,

 

[paulsharvey]

Yup, and that's with rotating pastures regularly.

100% plan on rotating, that's part of the reason for multiple small pastures; BUT, i don't mean daily moves like some of the guys on YouTube, doing 200ftx10ft strips, and temp fencing moves every 12-24 hours. I mean, maybe every 4 days, or maybe 7, or as the field allows.

 

[jyoutz]

I still haven't completely ruled out hair sheep, but I need to make a decision pretty soon. I can quickly do 4 strand barb on the 1.2 and 1.6, for cattle, but if i do that, that eliminates sheep as an option,

Sheep are far easier to raise. IDK about the current market situation and profitability.

 

[LHF2019]

That was my first thought, one vet trip can wipe out a lot. Ours is $100 for a farm call, 300 for after hours.

That is not good to know vet costs. Have yet to call a vet and would NEVER call one after hours these days. Even as a dairy had 2 after hour calls both were true emergencies.

 

[paulsharvey]

The 1.0 with water and shelter is currently 48" sheep and goat wire. Doing everything with that would be a large investment. I have considered doing 39" woven, with a barb (or hot wire) at 48" on the perimeter and along road, but even that gets expensive with a total perimeter of 0.7 miles.

 

[paulsharvey]

Sheep are far easier to raise. IDK about the current market situation and profitability.

We had a pretty good sized (well, not good sized, but not "homestead" sized) sheep Flock as a kid. I think we ran around 60, on mostly fenced timber hills, low grade stuff, in WVa. The market was complete trash through the 90s and early 2000s; but I've been told the ethnic market has pushed more demand on lamb/mutton at market.

 

[jyoutz]

We had a pretty good sized (well, not good sized, but not "homestead" sized) sheep Flock as a kid. I think we ran around 60, on mostly fenced timber hills, low grade stuff, in WVa. The market was complete trash through the 90s and early 2000s; but I've been told the ethnic market has pushed more demand on lamb/mutton at market.

My sons raised 4H lambs for over 10 years. We would sell some at the auction at inflated prices (like all 4H auctions) and put the remainder in our freezer, so I never had a realistic understanding of market value.

 

[Rockbadchild]

The 1.0 with water and shelter is currently 48" sheep and goat wire. Doing everything with that would be a large investment. I have considered doing 39" woven, with a barb (or hot wire) at 48" on the perimeter and along road, but even that gets expensive with a total perimeter of 0.7 miles.

Electric high tensile is probably the most cost effective and simpler... but that wont work if you put goats or sheep in there... Barb wire is outdated in my opinion espicially if you are planning on having calf in there, they get cut up then you have to deal with that... Just my 5 cent

I have like 5 roll of that thing and its going in for scrap metal.

 

[paulsharvey]

My sons raised 4H lambs for over 10 years. We would sell some at the auction at inflated prices (like all 4H auctions) and put the remainder in our freezer, so I never had a realistic understanding of market value.

If I'm reading the USDA reports right (and i probably am not), it looks like about $2.88/lbs live weight on hair breeds

 

[D&D]

We do all of our own processing of beef, not that much harder than venison, at least for personal use. We did struggle a bit with a Dexter/Angus cross that was well over 1100#, mostly our steers are 5-700 and manageable to process for us.

I have not found a large animal vet that does farm calls out here in 10 years, but we manage.

That works just fine for one or two. IMO, I wouldn’t want to get caught selling any of it that way though.
Internet sales and roadside stands are keeping a few of the locals viable.

 

[jyoutz]

Electric high tensile is probably the most cost effective and simpler... but that wont work if you put goats or sheep in there... Barb is outdated in my opinion espicially if you are planning on having calf in there, they get cut up then you have to deal with that... Just my 5 cent

And the cheapest and most durable. You don’t need to electrify it if you run the wires close enough together. But you need some extremely solid pull corners or trees for high tensile.

 

[jyoutz]

If I'm reading the USDA reports right (and i probably am not), it looks like about $2.88/lbs live weight on hair breeds

That’s not bad if you raise your own flock and can do the lambing. Certainly not profitable if you buy lambs to raise.

 

[D&D]

There are only about 4 places in a decent driving distance. Nettles, in Lake City seems to be the go too. There's another down near Anthony, north of Ocala, and I think one down near Barberville, west of Daytona. There is also one out in Archer/Newberry, past Gainesville.

Call or stop by and see what the current rates are.

 

[Eagle1]

That works just fine for one or two. IMO, I wouldn’t want to get caught selling any of it that way though.
Internet sales and roadside stands are keeping a few of the locals viable.

Just personal use, never have sold anything other than live animals and will keep it that way. One or 2 steers per year for us and kids living on premise.
I do not want to complicate my life

 

[D&D]

Let’s not forget the biggie of having livestock. No matter how you feel or where you are, they need to be fed and watered and mucked and……

To the OP, How much hay are you buying and where are you storing it?

 

[LouNY]

The Black Angus are the high priced animals for beef production. They will grow fast and yield very good when feed high quality digestible feeds. The Black Angus can also be one of the more aggressive cows when they calve.
The Lowline Angus make a very nice animal with good gain and are a bit easier to manage, but not a lot.
The dairy/Holstein crosses will produce good quality beef but it will take much longer to get to a good yield percentage to live weight. Many small butcher shops do not like the tall steers from the dairy crosses as their length does not work well with their systems. Using a rail system they will drag on the floor until quartered, they are usually aged as whole or half's and the larger carcasses are harder to handle and muscle around.
Your pastures will be more productive when split into smaller sections, also more work moving them every few days. The more they are handled the easier they will be to handle.
Around here the processing cost runs from $0.85 to $1.75 per pound of hanging weight, plus a kill fee and a disposal fee. With more then 1 or 2 maturing per year you will need a market for beef. If selling by the pound it will normally required a USDA inspected slaughter house, selling halfs and quarters can usually be done at state inspected slaughter houses. We have one outfit that comes on site to kill and half then trucks the halfs back to the shop to age and be cut up and processed.
You will need to separate your slaughter animals from any brood animals at weaning time, usually just under a year. The feed for good gain and quality meat is much higher in protein and digestibility then what brood cows are fed. Brood cows will get too fat and have many issues from health to fertility when fed to high a quality feed they need more roughage.
Also you might consider AI for just a few animals or renting/leasing a bull for a few months. After 2 years you will be starting to inbreed your herd. Also the bull is your most untrustworthy animal in a herd. Even the friendliest pet one can kill or maim quite easily without even trying. Just swinging that head around for attention has killed.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Electric high tensile is probably the most cost effective and simpler... but that wont work if you put goats or sheep in there... Barb is outdated in my opinion espicially if you are planning on having calf in there, they get cut up then you have to deal with that... Just my 5 cent

I have like 5 roll of that thing and its going in for scrap metal.

I agree wholeheartedly with that!
Finding out about high tensile fence was a Godsend. I haven't had to repair any of the high tensile fence since installation 15 years ago.

 

[paulsharvey]

Let’s not forget the biggie of having livestock. No matter how you feel or where you are, they need to be fed and watered and mucked and……

To the OP, How much hay are you buying and where are you storing it?

I currently am not buying any, as I have no livestock (other than a dozen or so chickens). Storing hay, typically around here, rounds are left out in the weather for cattle hay. The horse folks are the only ones that cover store rounds.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, I meant to ask about AI, for a longer term plan. How expensive is it? My first batch of likely just 2 animals, I really think steers, but it depends on if heifers come up super cheap.

That would avoid the inbreeding problem, and the need to rotate out bulls every 3 years. I know some people don't agree, but I've largely heard that it's not terrible to breed a bull to his daughters once, but you just don't keep doing that, for multiple generations.