How my day got started. It's the first calf for the cow and she had a little difficulty. But all is good now
Well, that's not a dude... nice change, actually!
Sirhr
PS... I'd hit that like a retard with a drum set!
Gesus... now the fucking Indians have gone gay?
Enough is enough...
Sirhr
they were testing a crash, that plane was on remote control. It's on wiki, I don't have link. They wanted to test how it would break up.
First time heifers. . .always a worry.
They are the worst. We always had about 200 head of them, 20% of the heard...since we sold all the 5th year cow calf pairs...also 20% of the heard. Our heard was replaced on a 20%/year basis.
Is that Case in Australia,
Must of accidently hit northern/southern hemisphere switch while tipping & flipped it.
That looks suspiciously like my attempts at dating hot chicks in my youth.
Ugly… 40ft highwall you know that cab slapped the ground hard. Looks like the rops held up but it probably didn’t matter.
Instead of breeding as yearlings and having first calf as a two year old.
I give em one more year.
Breed as twos and calve as threes.
They have some more size and maturity.
They have most of that stupid heifer shit out of them and calve easy, claim their calf and generally are good mothers at the start.
Some have trouble getting their first calf heifers to breed back with their second calf,
I seem to get more bred back this way.
Yeah, you are giving up a year but I think I keep more of them in the Herd this way.
I calve out in the hills in August and September and very rarely have one that needs assistance.
May not be economical for everybody but works for me.
I like hearing how things are done in other parts of the country.
That is how I do it in flyover country.
Dean Moon's Legendary "Moonburst" Dragster Found After 43 Years
Dean Moon’s AA/Fuel dragster has been found in its original Mr. Ed trailer on a farm—and we were there when the door was opened after 43 years.
Now I know where this came from…
A lot of good to what you say.Instead of breeding as yearlings and having first calf as a two year old.
I give em one more year.
Breed as twos and calve as threes.
They have some more size and maturity.
They have most of that stupid heifer shit out of them and calve easy, claim their calf and generally are good mothers at the start.
Some have trouble getting their first calf heifers to breed back with their second calf,
I seem to get more bred back this way.
Yeah, you are giving up a year but I think I keep more of them in the Herd this way.
I calve out in the hills in August and September and very rarely have one that needs assistance.
May not be economical for everybody but works for me.
I like hearing how things are done in other parts of the country.
That is how I do it in flyover country.
But in Louisiana, despite long growing season and plenty of hay, its easy to get into serious financial trouble in the livestock business.
However, the best business model I have seen was relayed to me by an old timer 40 years ago.
Grow as much hay as your land can provide. Purchase springing heifers in the fall, when prices are down. Use the hay that was grown (as well as rye grass and supplemental feed) over the winter, sell in the spring after they calve. Get those pastures back into hay production.
Prices are down in the fall when stockman don’t want to pay the costs to feed the heifers over the winter. And a first calf cows bring a premium in the spring when many stockman are willing to make an investment.
As with horses, its hard to make money in th livestock business.
Reminds me of the Steppenwolf album "For Ladies Only"Dean Moon's Legendary "Moonburst" Dragster Found After 43 Years
Dean Moon’s AA/Fuel dragster has been found in its original Mr. Ed trailer on a farm—and we were there when the door was opened after 43 years.www.motortrend.com
Now I know where this came from…
View attachment 7922009
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Was that the 'surprise' inside?
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No it just showed up on top of the safe. I was popping primers, so just spooked it up I’m sure
Old cowboys would say “The best way to end up with a million dollars in the horse business is to start out with two million dollars.”
Spiders can be curious. There was a huge wolf spider (or huntsman, it was hard to see it) in the green beans when I was picking them. It was watching my hands and moved along with me about a foot or so as I picked.
Well my neighbor and I are considering going together on a few cows, maybe 3 or 4 to start.
Advice me….
No freeloading. My uncle Alton who has raced two ‘68 Mustangs for 30 years recently traded into this street legal blast from the 80s. It has a mild Windsor, tubs but no full cage. He says it is a hoot to drive around. He’s down east in NC so I haven’t seen it yet.
Advice me….
No freeloading. My uncle Alton who has raced two ‘68 Mustangs for 30 years recently traded into this street legal blast from the 80s. It has a mild Windsor, tubs but no full cage. He says it is a hoot to drive around. He’s down east in NC so I haven’t seen it yet.
- Nov 3, 2010
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- 18,193
Dean Moon's Legendary "Moonburst" Dragster Found After 43 Years
Dean Moon’s AA/Fuel dragster has been found in its original Mr. Ed trailer on a farm—and we were there when the door was opened after 43 years.
Now I know where this came from…
View attachment 7922009
No that's a phallus.
This advice would need a new thread. Lots of advice on getting started. Then you will have to sort through it and figure out what works for you.
Good fencing, a couple different pastures, a handling system, hay source, water source for the different pastures, breed of cows and a bunch more.
Figuring out how to split the work with the neighbor is going to be a biggie
The view blocker on top of the hood will make driving it in public exciting
Agree with all the points. The only other way is to accumulate a good cow herd on a large place that is way understocked AND have a good handling facility that you can run yourself.
My wife's side of the family has several irrigated sections. But the cost of maintaining the pumps and the irrigation equipment is not predictable. But they do cash flow pretty impressively!
I made more money off hay than anything. When I retire my plan is to buy bottomland and do hay, storing enough to sell into the next drought and find a kid to help me run contract haying for others.
Yes what @DarnYankeeUSMC just said this should be a new thread on its own. Don’t want to get too wordy here but in short I can’t imagine making any money on just 3-4 cows.
Now lets say you have 100 rural acres but no farming, cattle ranching, horses, or any other type of agriculture production in place currently and the county tax accessor is wanting to tax the 100 acres as non agriculture resulting in a huge property tax bill then getting a small herd could make sense to keep the land as ag. exempt and property taxes low.
Or you and a few friends/family members want to each keep a calf to fill up the freezer but again only running 3-4 I still think it would be cheaper to go buy a calf from a rancher direct and have it butchered and be done with it. A lot of variables involved. Again this topic could use its own thread as there some knowledgeable ranchers/cattlemen on SH that could provide good numbers on profit margins etc.
Economies of scale are stacked against you with only 3-4 head so it would be a hobby in my opinion. That’s not bad just depending on what your trying to accomplish.
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Right now it's hard to get a date for a butcher to process a cow. Everyone around here are a year or more out and most farmers already have their stock spoken for.
It's been pretty crazy since the plandemic started and the current economic outlook is not helping.
The butchers are so far out here you can get a reservation for a steer, not have the animal even born yet and have time to raise it. So we are just making reservations as holding positions and will choose the candidate at a later date.
In my area, it's bad. Finding cattle (quality beef) to buy is at least 2 years out. You're basically buying air. Then finding a butcher is even more difficult.
I found a small town grocery store in PA and I can buy most of the cuts of meat I want without paying high prices of a regular grocery store and it's a much better cut of beef.
If you are looking at 3 or 4 steers or heifers to feed out for beef for you, family and friends, that could be a good way to start. You will probably not save much over boughten beef, but you get to feed them out the way you want and they will be the best thing you ever tasted!
If you are wanting cows, one thing not mentioned was getting them bred each year.
Buy, lease, or AI (would still need a cleanup bull).
Find a neighbor with room for them during the breeding season.
And I agree, a lot of information to be shared here.
Oh yeah, locker plants are about a year out here too
The basics have been touched on.
If you are looking at 3 or 4 steers or heifers to feed out for beef for you, family and friends, that could be a good way to start. You will probably not save much over boughten beef, but you get to feed them out the way you want and they will be the best thing you ever tasted!
If you are wanting cows, one thing not mentioned was getting them bred each year.
Buy, lease, or AI (would still need a cleanup bull).
Find a neighbor with room for them during the breeding season.
And I agree, a lot of information to be shared here.
The basics have been touched on.
Locker plants are about a year out here too.
Yes buying a bull for 3-4 cows is not cost efficient but you could lease a bull as @sandhiller mentioned or go artificial insemination (AI).
With AI you would have to buy the semen straws then pay your local vet to perform the AI.
I would say this as a first thing: be damn sure you like and trust your neighbor. Cattle and fences have caused more conflict between neighbors than anything I know of. I’m not joking. Your best bet is for each of you to buy cows individually so there is no squabble who owns what. Then the calves are the property of the owner of the cow. The bull thing is an issue. You can share the cost of the bull but be aware that unless you are taking every calf off of the place you will need to replace the bull every 2-3 years with a small herd. If you add in the cost of upkeep for a bull and include all the winter hay, fence repair and hole filling when they dig, you may find that AI is the way to go.
And yes, bulls will dig holes. They will throw the dirt so you won’t be able to fill it back in without extra from somewhere. If you share a fence with a neighbor who has a bull it will be even worse. And then you have the fun of them fighting in the fence and then getting out so there’s that cost. My grandfather told me when he was a kid their neighbor and his dad had bulls that would fight and tear up the fence constantly so they got together, chose one to use on both herds and shot the other one and ate it. Fence repair issues resolved.
And yes, bulls will dig holes. They will throw the dirt so you won’t be able to fill it back in without extra from somewhere. If you share a fence with a neighbor who has a bull it will be even worse. And then you have the fun of them fighting in the fence and then getting out so there’s that cost. My grandfather told me when he was a kid their neighbor and his dad had bulls that would fight and tear up the fence constantly so they got together, chose one to use on both herds and shot the other one and ate it. Fence repair issues resolved.
Oh major point: if you have never worked cattle before: do everything you can to get calm ones. Life will be much safer as you learn. The train wrecks I could tell are legion, every experienced cattleman has them. Some funny, some horrific, but if it can happen to an old hand it will happen to you too. I don’t know of a single rancher that isn’t beat to hell.
Well, I may start a thread. It is for our own beef and cost isn’t the main thing, availability is. I think beef is going to be expensive and scarce in time.
2 bushels of beans I picked this morning (measured 16 gallons when I washed em) This is half of one row. We have 1 row to go if it’ll stop raining long enough to pick em. We had a lot of rust and some cotton fungus in these plants from this morning, over 35 straight days of rain with only 2 days in there where it wasn’t measurable. 4” since Monday and forecast is more all next week.
I need to get that other row before they’re ruined.
2 bushels of beans I picked this morning (measured 16 gallons when I washed em) This is half of one row. We have 1 row to go if it’ll stop raining long enough to pick em. We had a lot of rust and some cotton fungus in these plants from this morning, over 35 straight days of rain with only 2 days in there where it wasn’t measurable. 4” since Monday and forecast is more all next week.
I need to get that other row before they’re ruined.
