Recent content by MissouriExile

Geeze....... I didn't know it was this easy !!! What a fool ! Why did I spend 10 hours yesterday out in the cold installing electric fencing so my cows wouldn't break down the existing fence to get to a little green grass along the road??? (even though they have plentiful bales of great...

A few weeks ago someone posted a definition that I liked..... If you can walk out on your pasture and pet the cattle it's a farm. If the idea of going on foot around your cattle causes you to fear for your life.... then it's a ranch.Jon :cowboy:

OK..... I can lament fertilizer prices to the end of time but it won't help a bit. I paid 3.49 a gallon for tractor diesel yesterday. I fully expect gasoline prices to top $4.00 a gallon by Memorial Day. The world is changing how do I deal with it? I have just planted 400 lbs of clover and...

Yes, this was the same sale barn with the ragged dairy calves. Must go weekly. I am sure you are right. I have a lot to learn, Must find out what happens to out of date dairy around here. Thanks for the lesson. Jon

I was surprised as well. It was a small local sale barn (Last Monday evening, Sarcoxie, MO), lightly attended, cold, raining, The grown stock wasn't much to look at. I expected bottle calves to be a dime a dozen. Big difference from other times is they all looked healthy and alert. As...

I'm sure you're right about the nurse cow. I'm on the lookout for one now. I wonder how many of us are doing this "Hobby Farming" thing waiting for retirement? I have 18 months to go. Hope I can learn enough between now and then to enjoy raising cattle full time. Wait a minute.... If I am...

The solid black ones were sure tempting but even with the black ones, how can you turn a buck when 50 lbs of milk replacer is $90.00 ?? My wife just called to tell me what she had to pay. The feed store said she was lucky, the price was higher and had just come down...... So if a black bottle...

Wild Cattle; Thanks for your posts. You made your case well and stated it clearly and firmly. This has opened my eyes to another facet of the cattle industry that many (like myself) may never experience. Clearly it is one thing to use birdshot on calm domesticated animals for little...

Went to local sale barn last evening. Observed 30 or so bottle calves going through the mill. Amazed by the price spread. Given that all looked reasonably healthy and lively. Holsteins went for $100 - 130 a head. (maybe a week or so old) A couple of Jersey's went for $70 - 75 a head...

I sure hope my wife doesn't read this and get ideas.... I already have to keep the cattle prod locked up for fear she will turn it on me!!! Jon

When they do freeze I carry one of those cheap lighters that puts out a flame like a mini blow torch. It fits in my pocket and lights easily in any wind. If ice coated I knock it off first and play the little torch into the key hole for a second or two. Works great. Lowes or Home Depot has...

"We could never love the warm sunny days of spring so much; Did we not loath winter so." If you get a very few head of goats the cattle will seem like angels. My wife and I fled Wisconsin weather 3 years ago. However you are not allowed to leave until you are old and have paid your dues...

Did someone say: "Da Bears....."? How can you hate someone who has such great heart and was gracious enough to lose to Da Bears this last fall? Jon :lol:

Clearly you are very astute and I'm ashamed to say you are right. I should've said something and followed it wherever it went. My only excuse (not a good one) is that I was/am fairly new to the business and didn't know if this was "business as usual" or something I should speak up about. I...

No, they wouldn't sell like heifers but in SW Missouri a lot of folks have five acres or so and will raise a Holstein calf for the freezer. They don't convert feed as well as other breeds but make good beef. They sell for 50+, as you said, depending on how lively they are. If I were in an...