Starting a Small Cattle Operation HELP!

you might think you have money to burn for this way of life.. but i assure you.. its more then you think. You need to invest around a million dollars, if not more, to have a profitable farm. land, equipment, livestock, etc.

even your 'small' operation is going to cost a 1/4 mill after your done.

wacocowboy":1lm2i5a3 said:

Boon if I was you I wouldn't buy cows for 26 acres. I would go buy calves. You could buy different weights so they aren't all finished at the same time. If we go into drought you don't have to worry about running out of grass just don't buy calves till it rains. If you are set on buying cows I would buy Beefmaster or Brangus they are docile enough and can survive Texas summers. I am about an hour north of BCS. Welcome aboard. Unless you have some good guard animals forget the other animals for awhile unless you want to feed to local wildlife.

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This makes a lot of sense.

I am actually in Round Rock, TX. I appreciate all of the feedback and I am doing my best to soak it all in. Sometimes the best way to learn is just by getting your hands dirty, and learning from someone much wiser. I have started looking into larger lots of properties east of college station (futher away) but havent really found anything. The current property is in the Calvert, TX area. I am trying to see what I can do to get somewhere around 100 acres now that I know all of your feedback. Additonally I looked into 44Farms but im not 100% sure what it is.... Seems to be a breeding program of some sort/ them promoting there bulls.... feel free to correct me.

Lastly- I gotta say I am very happy with all of the feedback from everyone on here. Its great to see people looking providing so much great feedback.

Thanks,
Boon

Boon":3np43z8k said:

I am actually in Round Rock, TX. I appreciate all of the feedback and I am doing my best to soak it all in. Sometimes the best way to learn is just by getting your hands dirty, and learning from someone much wiser. I have started looking into larger lots of properties east of college station (futher away) but havent really found anything. The current property is in the Calvert, TX area. I am trying to see what I can do to get somewhere around 100 acres now that I know all of your feedback. Additonally I looked into 44Farms but im not 100% sure what it is.... Seems to be a breeding program of some sort/ them promoting there bulls.... feel free to correct me.

Lastly- I gotta say I am very happy with all of the feedback from everyone on here. Its great to see people looking providing so much great feedback.

Thanks,
Boon

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If you don't mind going farther away. Check out the counties north east of you like Bell, Falls, Limestone, McLennan, and a few others to the north east of Round Rock. I see a lot of good pieces of land for sale in these areas when I am traveling around.

Now I understand the confusion about your location. I missed the part about not living close to the land you're looking at.

Isn't all that area just north of Hearne blackland soil?
Should grow some good grass if the nutrients aren't all leached out from rowcropping.

Maybe give Jack Boyett a call and see about renting a few more acres?

I agree on shopping the country side. There is a strip east of 35 but before you get close to CS that you can buy some real nice land at a decent price still. Get it quick because with the growth of CS, Waco, and 35 it won't be for long.

greybeard":1dzravyb said:

Isn't all that area just north of Hearne blackland soil?
Should grow some good grass if the nutrients aren't all leached out from rowcropping.

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It is but most of those people ride it hard. When that black ground gets dry you will lose a golf ball in the cracks.

I spend some time around Milam, Bell, Falls... even did almost 2 yrs hard time on an Angus Ranch in McLennon. I love to chase me to women around there and eat kolaches at Green's. Those people around there can make the kolaches, noodles, dewberry cobblers, etc just like my grandmother use to.

Farm Fence Solutions":2el8v4q4 said:

Maybe give Jack Boyett a call and see about renting a few more acres?

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https://youtu.be/82E1d-2T0qc

Brute 23":3t1kvm0d said:

I agree on shopping the country side. There is a strip east of 35 but before you get close to CS that you can buy some real nice land at a decent price still.

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I'm not disagreeing at all, but that 26 acres close to Calvert for $90,000 doesn't sound too bad. He can head south on Highway 6 until he gets close to Navasota and those same 26 acres will cost him well over twice that much. I know of 11 acres of bald open prairie about two miles off the highway, with no improvements whatsoever and fence only on one side, that recently sold for $13,000 per acre, and the lady probably could have listed it with a realtor and gotten more.

Rafter S":3u43x46b said:

Brute 23":3u43x46b said:

I agree on shopping the country side. There is a strip east of 35 but before you get close to CS that you can buy some real nice land at a decent price still.

Click to expand...

I'm not disagreeing at all, but that 26 acres close to Calvert for $90,000 doesn't sound too bad. He can head south on Highway 6 until he gets close to Navasota and those same 26 acres will cost him well over twice that much. I know of 11 acres of bald open prairie about two miles off the highway, with no improvements whatsoever and fence only on one side, that recently sold for $13,000 per acre, and the lady probably could have listed it with a realtor and gotten more.

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Still pretty reasonable around here.
http://www.mmoffett.com/html/ranch.html

Brute 23":21ac52fk said:

I agree on shopping the country side. There is a strip east of 35 but before you get close to CS that you can buy some real nice land at a decent price still. Get it quick because with the growth of CS, Waco, and 35 it won't be for long.

greybeard":21ac52fk said:

Isn't all that area just north of Hearne blackland soil?
Should grow some good grass if the nutrients aren't all leached out from rowcropping.

Click to expand...

It is but most of those people ride it hard. When that black ground gets dry you will lose a golf ball in the cracks.

I spend some time around Milam, Bell, Falls... even did almost 2 yrs hard time on an Angus Ranch in McLennon. I love to chase me to women around there and eat kolaches at Green's. Those people around there can make the kolaches, noodles, dewberry cobblers, etc just like my grandmother use to.

Click to expand...

Green's has some of the best Kolaches around. Love to stop in when out that way. They serve a darn good burger too. Now you got me craving Kolaches.

Rafter S":dac0rmvh said:

Brute 23":dac0rmvh said:

I agree on shopping the country side. There is a strip east of 35 but before you get close to CS that you can buy some real nice land at a decent price still.

Click to expand...

I'm not disagreeing at all, but that 26 acres close to Calvert for $90,000 doesn't sound too bad. He can head south on Highway 6 until he gets close to Navasota and those same 26 acres will cost him well over twice that much. I know of 11 acres of bald open prairie about two miles off the highway, with no improvements whatsoever and fence only on one side, that recently sold for $13,000 per acre, and the lady probably could have listed it with a realtor and gotten more.

Click to expand...

Your right, its not.

Lots of good advice this thread. Sorry to say I have learned a bunch of the lessons offered here the hard way.
When folks on the board say it is tough to make money at cattle it is not empty griping. There are so many expenses expected and otherwise involved in keeping cattle healthy, fat and bred. Farm and equipment maintanance eats money as well.
I have 38 acres that is blackland ex-row crop about 50 minutes away from Round Rock that my son and I run a small herd on. With about 15 total head - cows, bull and calves - we have to throw round bales and supplement quite a bit over the year to keep them in good flesh. Rainfall varies a bunch from year to year and so does the cost of hay. For us having a decent bull is much less work and expense than doing AI.
IMO the only way to make any money at cows at the small end of the scale is to have really low input costs - lots of grassland that is stocked at a level with some buffer and paid for equipment. The guy in front of me leases 100 acres that he partially row crops and he has maybe 10 head of cattle on the rest. He hauls a crop of calves off every year or so and the lease cost is the extent of his inputs on the cows that I can see.

^ What he said we've learned pretty much all the lessons the hard way. If you live in round rock I'd be looking hard at mart and mexia for land. The properties are larger up there and if you hunt around you can get pretty close to paying $2000 an acre. It's where we're looking to expand when the time comes for us to buy another piece. Coupland is to expensive now.

Ill say it bluntly... there are some very poor counties in that area because they are predominately agriculture with out any O&G production... you can get good deals on land. That should also tell you about what to expect in the money department from raising cattle.