Cattle

   / Cattle #51  
When I bought our place I inquired about home owners insurance, it costs more if you have more than 3 "large animals" and they also told me the most injuries in the county are from cows.

When selling butchered animals to the public, be careful, I was under the impression that the butchering had to be federally inspected before you could sell the meat. (You can sell the animal and as a service take it to the butcher for them)
 
   / Cattle #52  
I agree with most posters - you might make a profit, but it will not likely come easily.

We have 90 acres of rolling foothills - some wooded. It is fenced into several smaller areas. From time to time I need to walk the perimeter fence line and lugging the wire, posts, post pounder, cutters, and sometimes a chain saw. That can be a real PITA..

Worse is getting a call from a neighbor who has 100 acres and tells you that your cows are on his property. Then you have to hike up and down hills to find where they got through, find the cows and herd them back to the hole in your fence - not so easy to herd cows up and down hills in the woods. And you cannot always find them - and you don't even know for sure how many got through.

Worse than that, once we received a call from a neighbor who told us that 5 of our cows were out on the highway. We were 6 hours away by car from home. Panic time. I had to cut our vacation short - jumped in the car, and called a friend to ask for help. He recruited another guy and managed - after a lot of effort - to find the cows - and managed to get them back to our property. Later I found that a large tree branch took out a section of fencing.

Anyway, we never made any money - but had cows because they kept the grass-pasture grazed down which made it less risky for wild fires (Central California) - and with the right size herd and enough grazing, expenses were not great. And we had a lot of stories to share with admiring city folk.

I did enjoy, when the kids were young, having cows, seeing the new calves, and such, but I no longer want to fix the fences, buy and sell and transport cows, lose a few, castrate a few, vet issues and all that. So, now I lease the pasture to someone else. He pays me only $800 a year, but he has insurance coverage, and he is required to inspect and maintain all of the perimeter fencing. We still have about 8 acres inside of the 90 acres fenced for our own use so we can have a couple of cows if we want, or to raise our own beef.

Oh, I don't think anyone has mentioned the fly problem. If the cows can graze near your house, you will need to deal with that as well at certain times of the year.
 
   / Cattle #53  
There are none amoung beef cattle unless you include Brahman which is used in cross breeding in the Southwest. Ha ha haaa,I'll buy tickets to watch op handle Brahmans on his place. Chianina bulls surpass 2k in weight but not as yearlings and they were long ago tried and failed as beef producers. Water buffalo reach 2k (500 of which is horn,hoof and hump) and used as draft animals in some Asian countries but who would pay top dollar to eat one? I'm beginning to think this bunch of advice giving cowboys might be all hat and no cattle. :cowboy::detective::jester::reporter:


Ahh yes the fun of raising Brahman. I grew up raising full blood Brahman and I do now on my own property. They can either be very chill or the biggest PITA you could imagine. They might look slow and mellow given all the loose skin on the neck and their size but boy can they jump or use brute force to get their way. Tall fences are a must, a solid corral is a must too because young bulls don't like when it is time to load into a trailer. Some of our Brahman bulls are quite large, their humps being 6ft and just massive in size. OP avoid Brahman as your first choice unless you want a real learning curve. My fiancé's father has a couple thousand acres of black angus and has offered to send some my way but I grew up with the big humps and have grown to love them, plus I cant think of a cooler looking cow to have in my pasture.
 
   / Cattle
  • Thread Starter
#54  
Kenmac, lots of good information in this thread. You have a fenced pasture. Is it cross fenced into smaller pastures so you can control overgrazing? Do you have water in all of the smaller pastures? A feeder for supplemental feed? A mineral feeder? Do you have a small corral to gather animals? A squeeze or another way to immobilize an animal that needs attention? Shelter for the animals? A way to move animals from a pasture to a trailer to bring them to sale or process? Is there a local processor you can use? After starting I can see why it takes generations of time or big dollars to set up the needed infrastructure. You can work around this by using portable panels and such but you still need to plan for this and move stuff around as needed.


With the advise I have gotten here, and the advise I have gotten from those around me that have cows. I have made the decision to not venture into the cow/calf business.

I still can't wrap my mind around why someone would put so much effort and time into something knowing there is very little to no money to be made from such a business.

Thanks to all
 
   / Cattle #55  
For anyone Still reading who might be interested, this is a good little book. Probably still available on alibris.

BCAD8A2C-9B8D-40CA-8DF0-F109D276EDFC.jpeg
 
   / Cattle #56  
I still can't wrap my mind around why someone would put so much effort and time into something knowing there is very little to no money to be made from such a business.

Thanks to all
I thought more than one explained it pretty well but here's the answer,packaged and delivered a little different. Many of the small operations you see are what's left from a larger operation from past years. They already owned everything needed so they just kept on keeping on when they sold off main operation. Some grew up with cattle and got back into it because they missed cattle. There's a few that make money playing golf but 99% do it for fun and spend money they don't expect to see again. A few make a living fishing but 99% just spend money and never see a profit. Maybe we were to hasty in telling you it's a poor idea because everyone need's a hobby. Do you not have a hobby? I understood you to say you wanted to do it to make money. Can you wrap your head around it now?
 
   / Cattle #57  
Part of it is a way of life, an enjoyable pastime. Heck, people go on vacation, gamble etc. Those do not make money for the average joe, but people do them to enjoy themselves. Moderation is key, do not take on too may head to start with. Eyes open and think the costs through.
 
   / Cattle #58  
And stir clear of cows with tall humps,long horns and flop ears.:cow:
 
   / Cattle #59  
They will keep you busy.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_30967712228523.jpeg
    IMG_30967712228523.jpeg
    110.2 KB · Views: 102
  • IMG_30987319528327.jpeg
    IMG_30987319528327.jpeg
    91.3 KB · Views: 109
   / Cattle #60  
I still can't wrap my mind around why someone would put so much effort and time into something knowing there is very little to no money to be made from such a business.

Couple of years ago I did some work for a guy that has 70 acres that he runs 30 or so mother cows and a single bull. He has it divided into three pastures. He feeds hay all winter long and lets them use all three pastures. Then in Spring, he keeps them in one pasture and lets the other two grow. He continues to feed hay, but it's nowhere near what he feeds them in the winter. Once he cuts one pasture for hay, he moves the cows into the other pasture that wasn't cut and lets the cut pasture and the one they where in before grow. He is able to cut and bale more then enough hay this way to feed them. While I was there, he swapped out his bull, and said that he is always looking for a better bull to trade with somebody.

He works full time driving a big rig and I have no idea what he makes driving the truck. It's not union, so whatever wages are for short haul is his main income. He has two brand new dodge trucks. A one ton duelly and a 3/4 ton loaded four door. While I was there, he bought a brand new Deere diesel UTV. The job that I did for him was a hundred grand for labor and materials. He pays cash for everything.

I know he's not making enough driving the truck to be able to buy what he does. He complained that there isn't very much money in cattle, but he also said that it's all cash and he makes enough at it to make it worth while. I have no idea how long it took to get to that point, but from the number of twins his cows had while I was there, and going off of his numbers of what they will sell for, it's an easy $50 grand a year profit that doesn't really account for expenses. He has to buy fuel for his big cabbed kubota, and he sprays the fields himself, so that costs something. I wasn't aware of any vet bills, and doubt he pays anybody to do anything. If he can't do it, it doesn't get done and the cow gets hauled to the sale barn. Fencing is all rusted out, but solid. I think that there is enough food for them that they don't put any pressure on the fences.

My thinking is that there is plenty of extra money to be made raising cattle if you have everything in place for them and enough pasture to feed them. Building up your herd with quality animals that produce twins every year that gain weight quickly so you can make the most money possible when you sell them will take a lot of time and money. What it costs to get to that point, and all the years it takes is where you lose so much money on livestock.
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

Lot of 5 Laptops (A48083)
Lot of 5 Laptops...
2015 Rogator RG1300B Spreader/Sprayer (A50657)
2015 Rogator...
2014 Freightliner Ambulance (A50323)
2014 Freightliner...
2014 INTERNATIONAL PROSTAR (A50854)
2014 INTERNATIONAL...
2020 MACK PINNACLE (INOPERABLE) (A50854)
2020 MACK PINNACLE...
20 ft. Shipping Container (A50860)
20 ft. Shipping...
 
Top