Recent content by marksmu

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  1. M

    Pearl Millet Hay

    We did browntop millet two years ago - wet when we planted got real dry...we cut 118 5x5 bales on 19 acres...one cutting. It rained and got too wet to cut before we could get it cut so it ended up being about 4 feet tall when we cut it. Had about 40% gone to seed....cows loved it. They ripped...
  2. M

    making a living ranching

    That is my plan....I lease property from my dad, who bought it as an investment. Got a good long term lease, but I have to make quite a few pasture improvements he was dead set on. He absolutely loves any kind of seat time in the tractor so he bought the equipment to "play with" I direct what...
  3. M

    Lease requirements

    JS hit the nail on the head....this guy is looking for you to improve his pasture and pay his note. Not going to happen. Lease rates at $12/acre is a little high for my area. Most folks around us charge $7-$9/acre and I must be really close to JS because we can run 1 pair for every 2 acres...
  4. M

    making a living ranching

    Personally I am willing to the risk, but I want to be sure its not a failure before I do so....I have been growing the herd for the last 4 years part time by just working on weekends and saving every penny that I make over/above the necessities...I want to have the numbers I need to show a...
  5. M

    Horse Slaughter

    I'm sticking this here because Im not sure where else to put it, but the US government very quietly lifted the restriction on the slaughter of horses for human and animal consumption here in the US....ending the five year ban on the practice of horse slaughter. While I personally do not consume...
  6. M

    Plight of a Bull

    Sure wish we could get some nice land levelers down my way....I talked to Mr. Purdy not too long ago and the shipping actually costs more than the equipment...its a danged ole shame. We ended up buying a real old one at an auction and spent some money having it fixed up - but I think in the...
  7. M

    Drought relief yet??

    We got just under 2 inches. That brings us to about 4 inches total for the last two months....it should be enough to get the rye tall enough to graze though. Were holding the cattle off the rye as long as possible, grazing stockpiled Bermuda grass..
  8. M

    Drought relief yet??

    We have gotten 4 or 5 very small rains down here near Houston...picked up a total of 1.5 inches over the last four weeks....they are calling for 1-3 inches today and that will be very welcome rainfall if it actually makes it down to us....North of town has picked up 4 or 5 inches with the last...
  9. M

    Portable Corrals

    We have quite a few extra panels....were usually not in a big hurry when we are working them so we just walk them calmly until they go into the alley....we only had one cow get really worked up and she was hard to get in, the others will eventually go. The smaller pen is 4 panels and the gate...
  10. M

    Portable Corrals

    I don't think that a bud box will work. The bud box needs a pretty deep throat so that the cows will go in willingly...the way the alley is set between the two pens its only about 3' wide and 20' long.....they have to go into a 6 or 8' gate that is swung open....when you close the gate, it is...
  11. M

    Portable Corrals

    The rawhide has an alley between the two pens....there is a large catch pen which on ours has 10 panels, and a smaller sorting pen that has 4 panels...the alley is in the middle....we catch in the larger pen, work about 7-10 cows into the smaller pen, and then force them into the alley. They do...
  12. M

    Injured or sick Question

    No clue what happened to her, but she was dead laying beside the canal only a few feet from where she was last pulled out. Looks like she just gave up. I think there had to be a pregnancy related complication - she was 8-9 months bred...I searched her for snake bites thinking she may have...
  13. M

    Finishing steers

    Do they count the two weeks it takes to ramp up to a full 4% of body weight per day? If they do then they were on feed for 120 days....I did not count that time as I was not technically feeding a growing ration - just transitioning them over to the grain and off the grass.
  14. M

    Injured or sick Question

    We moved the cows to a new pasture Thursday. On the way to the new pasture, we had an otherwise healthy cow try to jump a slew and get stuck in the mud. We could not stop the whole herd at the moment or we would have lost them all to the giant pasture we were cutting through, so we kept going...
  15. M

    Finishing steers

    I just finished 2 steers about 3 weeks ago. We started them on free choice hay/water and 1% body weight grain that was a mixture of 50% corn, and 50% rye, oats,alfalfa pellets (740 and 752 lbs) That ramped up over a 2 week period until I was feeding 4% of their starting weight daily split...
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