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Started By
Message
Anybody here in the cattle business?
Posted on 7/19/17 at 9:03 pm
Posted on 7/19/17 at 9:03 pm
I'm pretty inexperienced and got thrown head first into the deep end. Looking for good advice anywhere I can.
This post was edited on 7/19/17 at 9:06 pm
Posted on 7/19/17 at 9:11 pm to Soup Sammich
How deep is the deep end?
Posted on 7/19/17 at 9:19 pm to Soup Sammich
Google your state cattlemans association officers. Most are eager to teach.
Posted on 7/19/17 at 9:46 pm to Soup Sammich
We run about 250 head. I haven't gone to the sale barn in a while but I think prices are down right now compared to a few years ago.
Feed costs can eat at you. When there is a good summer with plentiful rain it is always a good idea to stock up and store hay. When there is a dry summer and nobody is baling locally hay gets very high
Feed costs can eat at you. When there is a good summer with plentiful rain it is always a good idea to stock up and store hay. When there is a dry summer and nobody is baling locally hay gets very high
Posted on 7/19/17 at 9:49 pm to texag7
at the end of the day you should call yourself a grass farmer intead of a cattle rancher
Posted on 7/19/17 at 9:51 pm to jimbeam
By myself on a 100 acre ranch. 40 yearling bulls for a bull sale. Close to 40 heifers. Bulls are the problem. Looking for tips on feeding effeciency and fighting each other. I'm feeding a limiter feed without a creep feeder. It's hard to put out enough feed by myself with sacks and nothing to use bulk sacks with. The bulls are using too much of my time when I don't have enough daylight to keep the rest of the place taken care of.
Not my ranch or cattle. Great opportunity for me but the amount of cattle were a later decision by the owner.
Not my ranch or cattle. Great opportunity for me but the amount of cattle were a later decision by the owner.
Posted on 7/19/17 at 10:05 pm to Soup Sammich
That's a lot of bulls. Not much you can do for aggression other than separate them. I've seen them tear through a 6 strand bar wire fence though to get into a fight.
For feeding use cubes. Just dump them straight on the ground. They are big enough where you don't need a feeder or trough.
For feeding use cubes. Just dump them straight on the ground. They are big enough where you don't need a feeder or trough.
Posted on 7/19/17 at 10:16 pm to texag7
I've used range cubes to get them used to following me for when I work them. I actually have someone coming to ascess my set up and feeding program in a few days and make recommendations on the cattle end. Literally got that lined out 10 minutes ago. Thanks for all the advice. I've definitely appreciated it.
Posted on 7/19/17 at 10:35 pm to Soup Sammich
I really don't have any advice for you but shite that's a lot of bulls. Bump this post mid morning tomorrow. There's a few cowboys on here that could help.
Posted on 7/19/17 at 11:06 pm to Soup Sammich
Everybody I know has 1 bull for every like 30 cows. That seems absolutely nuts to me. You Louisiana folks sure are strange...
Just kidding fellas.
Just kidding fellas.
Posted on 7/19/17 at 11:34 pm to Collegedropout
Last time I had more than one bull for my heifers those two bastards started fricking each other and were useless when I needed them to service the heifers. Put those two queers in the freezer and got another bull.
Been out of the business now for a good 30 years. Miss it, but don't miss the headaches.
Been out of the business now for a good 30 years. Miss it, but don't miss the headaches.
This post was edited on 7/21/17 at 11:23 am
Posted on 7/20/17 at 12:43 am to Collegedropout
quote:
1 bull for every like 30 cows
My kind of ratio
Posted on 7/20/17 at 2:03 am to Soup Sammich
If you're in the cattle business,you're a grass farmer. The sooner you realize why, the better off you'll be.
Posted on 7/20/17 at 4:51 am to Soup Sammich
quote:
By myself on a 100 acre ranch. 40 yearling bulls for a bull sale. Close to 40 heifers.
quote:
I'm feeding a limiter feed without a creep feeder. It's hard to put out enough feed by myself with sacks and nothing to use bulk sacks with.
First of all, I don't know where you are located and what kind of rainfall you have had, but if you are having to limit feed right now, that place is in a heap of trouble come winter. Need to get rid of those bulls FAST. They are doing you no good but eating up all your resources, and by the time they sale, the ranch will be in the hole on them.
80 animals (half of them being bulls) is a lot for 100 acres, especially if you don't have the forage. And if your spending that much time feeding bulls, I assume the grass isn't that great.
I would recommend getting a grazing consultant, or contacting the Natural Resources Conservation Service in your parish.
Good opportunity to learn, and I'm assuming if the ranch owner is willing to hire someone that has little to no experience in the cattle business, they also have little to no experience. Could be wrong, but I've never seen anyone holding on to 40 bulls for a sale. Talk about a waste of resources!!
This post was edited on 7/20/17 at 5:55 am
Posted on 7/20/17 at 8:56 am to Soup Sammich
What breed of Bulls are you dealing with.
You gotta unload those bulls. Find a stocker sale you can join in or contact the closest stockyard and host your own. Trying to house that many bulls on that few acres is a recipe for disaster. I'd sell off half your heifers as well then start from there. The proceeds from he sale could give you a decent bankroll cushion.
You gotta unload those bulls. Find a stocker sale you can join in or contact the closest stockyard and host your own. Trying to house that many bulls on that few acres is a recipe for disaster. I'd sell off half your heifers as well then start from there. The proceeds from he sale could give you a decent bankroll cushion.
Posted on 7/20/17 at 8:56 am to Soup Sammich
Only place you see 40 bulls together is a rodeo.
Posted on 7/20/17 at 9:27 am to Soup Sammich
Just make sure you have a damn good fence and nothing half arse cause cows have an uncanny way of seizing the opportunity to cross a fence
Posted on 7/20/17 at 9:41 am to spudz
I don't understand why he wants to sell them all as bulls. At least half or more should've been cut. He insisted on keeping them intact. They were pretty much dropped off to me and said make sure they grow.
Posted on 7/20/17 at 10:17 am to spudz
So I'm not real experienced but I do have a small heard. As others have said I'd thin out those bulls. Are they by any chance steer yearlings? That would make more sense and you can probably keep them another year and sell them off.
I'd move towards 3 acres per animal to have the best portion of grass per head. If your grass is really good you can do better than that but for now you probably need to be closer to 30-40 head total. At 80 head you can't get away from feeding them. They simply don't have enough grass.
Another option if you can't thin the heard is to try and lease some land near you.
If you can't do any of that I'd start looking at using electric fence to do intensive grazing. You can get down to 1 acre per head IF your grass is high end. If you could get the heard to 50 acres while you prep the other 50 you might could get caught up. I still personally think you'll still have to thin the heard some to even do this. If it's bad now wait until winter hits.
A few good books I've read: 1.) Grass Fed Cattle 2.) Storey's Guide to Rasing Beef Cattle 3.) Salad Bar Beef.
I'd move towards 3 acres per animal to have the best portion of grass per head. If your grass is really good you can do better than that but for now you probably need to be closer to 30-40 head total. At 80 head you can't get away from feeding them. They simply don't have enough grass.
Another option if you can't thin the heard is to try and lease some land near you.
If you can't do any of that I'd start looking at using electric fence to do intensive grazing. You can get down to 1 acre per head IF your grass is high end. If you could get the heard to 50 acres while you prep the other 50 you might could get caught up. I still personally think you'll still have to thin the heard some to even do this. If it's bad now wait until winter hits.
A few good books I've read: 1.) Grass Fed Cattle 2.) Storey's Guide to Rasing Beef Cattle 3.) Salad Bar Beef.
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