To those with cattle

[Farmer495]

Low overhead and existing assets you can make some money.

Absolutely does not pencil out starting from scratch.

 

[RancherGuy]

Money is in the tax deductions.

Agreed - tax reduction/deduction is the biggest benefit. If trying to make a "profit", then I suggest do something other than going the commodity route if you have less than an inherited highly productive 1,000 acres. But profit or economic benefit are measured differently for different folks. Some they may pencil only operational costs and not capital costs. I aim to cover operational costs and cover property taxes on the entire place including homestead. I do not consider my time as a cost in this. The more you feed the animals, the higher the operational costs. For most, winter hay feeding results in negative results for that period of time.

What I mean by commodity are those who create beef as a cow-calf producer or those who pasture weaned and resell later. I call it commodity when either of those sell their product to an auction house, thus commodity pricing.

There is money to be made with two options I have witnessed. Both are non-traditional or niche markets.

One is by selling packaged beef to the retail market. Where a 1200 pound heifer/steer/bull may bring $1400 at auction, taking that same animal to a butcher who will chop and package into freezer-sized parcels may bring $3500, but there may be added costs for the finish feeding and processing. This works if you have a channel to sell that product, which might be another cost either in time or money.

The other method is to have unique or specialty animals. These would need to be attractive to a special market that is willing to buy for novelty or perceived quality. Examples are miniatures and Wagyu. Again, there are special costs to be considered and you will have to develop your own sales channel.

 

[charles todd]

We just use ditches that run on the high side of the meadow and let gravity do the hard work.

Meadow with irrigation
View attachment 740488


Meadow with no irrigation

View attachment 740489

Makes sense. Wyoming. I saw irrigation in Colorado. In Louisiana we just get 70" of rain annually. Hurricane if we are lucky!

CT

 

[redobbin]

https://www.youtube.com/c/JustaFewAcresFarm - worth a view or two. He has some very down to Earth conversations about small farms.

 

[wolc123]

Our family raised cattle on the same ground for 7 generations, starting well before the Civil war. My dad and his brother sold the last of them, after my grandpa passed away in 1981. He died of a heart attack, while grinding feed, out behind the barn.

I have some fond memories of those days, but mostly I remember a lot of hard work and financial hardship. I liked the loose hay, that they made when I was a little kid. but granddad got a small square baler when I was 13 and handling those was tough.

I don’t ever remember any talk of “profits”. Grandpa was retired from a factory job and raised a few head because he liked doing it and he loved the meat.

One of the things that made profits difficult was an expanding local whitetail deer population, which put a hurting on the corn that he grew for the cattle and mostly ground for feed.

My motto is: “If you can’t beat them, eat them”. There has not been any cattle on what’s left of our farms (my 34 acres and my parents 62 acres which is about 15 miles away) for over 40 years, but we are eating better than ever, thanks to those deer.

My parents don’t care for venison, nor do my siblings. My sister and brother in law still raise cattle at their place, so there is more than enough beef for all who want it.

I am very thankful that my wife and kids love venison, which I can sometimes produce at less than $ 1.00 per pound, after subtracting all input costs. I put in a few acres of corn for them every year (using free leftover RR seed given to me by my brother in law), but mostly they eat white clover that can be maintained for many years just by mowing.

The best things about those free ranging wild deer, is that they can take care of themselves over the winter and while I am away. They “harvest” all the food and water that they need on their own. No more rushing to get get hay in before rain, combining corn in the fall mud, dealing with frozen water in winter, or vets. Also, there is no worry of fatty beef clogging up my arteries and killing me early like it did grandpa.

Here is some of that “cheap meat” from last year getting ready for the freezer and the first from this year (taken on New Year’s Day):

 

[Hay Dude]

Agreed - tax reduction/deduction is the biggest benefit. If trying to make a "profit", then I suggest do something other than going the commodity route if you have less than an inherited highly productive 1,000 acres. But profit or economic benefit are measured differently for different folks. Some they may pencil only operational costs and not capital costs. I aim to cover operational costs and cover property taxes on the entire place including homestead. I do not consider my time as a cost in this. The more you feed the animals, the higher the operational costs. For most, winter hay feeding results in negative results for that period of time.

What I mean by commodity are those who create beef as a cow-calf producer or those who pasture weaned and resell later. I call it commodity when either of those sell their product to an auction house, thus commodity pricing.

There is money to be made with two options I have witnessed. Both are non-traditional or niche markets.

One is by selling packaged beef to the retail market. Where a 1200 pound heifer/steer/bull may bring $1400 at auction, taking that same animal to a butcher who will chop and package into freezer-sized parcels may bring $3500, but there may be added costs for the finish feeding and processing. This works if you have a channel to sell that product, which might be another cost either in time or money.

The other method is to have unique or specialty animals. These would need to be attractive to a special market that is willing to buy for novelty or perceived quality. Examples are miniatures and Wagyu. Again, there are special costs to be considered and you will have to develop your own sales channel.

We got a guy on TBN with at least 1,000 inherited acres & water rights. Does well at telling us how easy it is. I’m “jealous” lol

 

[Molalla1]

I still do it for family today . . . is it profitable now? not so much when you downsize (herd) . . . but you know what everybody is eating.

 

[D2Cat]

I have found that rich people are willing to pay more for something local. I get really good money for cows pigs and turkeys and chickens having my wife spread the word at the hospital she works at. The doctors and top brass over pay compared to what I would be willing to pay for local meat.

So your saying to be successful you have to have a sales department!

 

[billypumper]

Don't forget about all the processing plants that have been monopolized so they can cut you short on your beef prices

 

[LouNY]

What is even more interesting to me is all the smaller independent shops that are either State Inspected which in this state means that they can process and cut for individuals but not pack for sale by the pound, an individual can have a whole beef or partner with others for a half or quarters but the grower can not have the animal slaughtered and processed to sell by the pound to different individuals. Or if they are USDA inspected then the grower can sell any amount to anyone. Of course the USDA inspected ones are almost a buck per pound more for processing.
What was a bit funny with my brother running close to 100 head a year through the different processors last year we had to book processing dates 6-9 months ahead of time, now all of a sudden in the last 3 months processing has fallen off so much that they are calling looking for beef to process and many have laid workers off. When the killing, quartering, hanging and then processing is hitting $3.50 per pound plus a $35-$50 disposal fee the charges add up fast for the consumer and the grower trying to make a profit.