To those with cattle

[Liquidsilver]

We run cattle (about 35-40 cow/calf pairs) on 300 acres of family land that 50/50 pasture and woods about 100 miles west of you. Main goal of our operation is to maintain property ag exemption/pay taxes and upkeep/ maintenance of the jointly owned land. A relative who lives next to the property looks after the place and cattle. He is given compensation for his daily efforts and the others pitch in when there is a lot of work (working cattle, building fence/corral, etc) to be done. Typical profit before compensation is between $25 - $40/acre on that 150 acres of pasture land. Better herd and grass management practices would increase those number quite a bit but we are happy with that considering the level of effort.

In Nacogdoches I would probably just get a timber management plan, plant pines and let the next generation deal with it.

Here are some of our Frenchy's, we had our RV up that weekend and the were intrigued to say the least by the generator.

That's a great picture! You can see them trying to figure out how to get feed out of it.

 

[rScotty]

How in the world do you guys make profit? Seems to me that it's a ton of work in order to break even (for the average part-time operation). What am I missing? I have 70 acres of my property that is native pasture, and I was thinking about adding some cows until I saw some different ag extension data on profit per head.

The folks I know who makes a living running cattle do so on land that has been in their family or leased to their family for generations. So their business expenses are different. It's as simple as that.
Even so, it's a lot of work.

 

[jaxs]

I'll say this,your cattle are well fed. When I see white cattle I automaticly think Charolais but those have shorter legs and deeper body than I'm accustomed to. Are those Charolais?

 

[LouNY]

Raising cows can be done at a profit if you are good at it, frugal most of the time and raise quality animals.
But it will usually be a small profit and you may not want to break it down to dollars per hour.

 

[Hay Dude]

Best if you also make hay. I make hay and can barely make it pencil out. Cant imagine buying hay and selling beef on small scale.

 

[jaxs]

Cattle are like any business, you must know what you are doing "BEFORE" diving in and you can't learn the business surfing the net.

 

[duffer]

One thing that hasn't been discussed, is the 24/7/365 time element if you have 1 or 100 head of live stock. Unless you have a VERY reliable person to fill in for you while you're on vacation, or away for a couple of days, you'll be handcuffed to the caring for your live stock. (I grew up on a small hobby farm with a cow and few pigs)

You might think you'll just "put them out to passture", but you have to water them twice a day, check on them for onset of health problems, build fencing, maintain pastures (more work than you think) etc, etc.

I commend you for your idea, but I don't think you'll want to tackle this, and likely lose money. I follow a cattle farmer in SD and he says the only profit he makes from a 100 head of cattle is the free fertilizer he gets from the field. That's his profit margin.

 

[npalen]

Relating to the picture of the cattle around the generator, I've always been amazed at the curiosity of cattle. Can't say they don't have personality and makes me think of the old girl that charged me for no reason, back in the day. She was just plain MEAN!

 

[BWSLT]

For those with Amazon prime membership.....watch Clarkson's Farm. Very entertaining. Makes me feel better about some of my farm failures.....

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Money is in the tax deductions.