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As described by others above, here is a photo of training fence in our corral. This was May 22 this year. We rarely get rain here in Idaho but this bunch of 177 hd had the privilege of meeting electric fence for the first time while standing on wet ground. I had about 200 ft of fence set up to...

Hey Thomas, I have come a little late to the conversation, but here are some things to think about. 1) Feed cost is the number 1 determinant of profitability in the cow-calf business. This is pretty well true regardless of where you are located in US.. In SC you should be able to graze year...

I'll echo some of what has already been said here. We have elk, deer, antelope, and occasional moose and many miles of electric fence. After the first couple months here (we are now in our sixth year), we have had virtually no maintenance issues with our fence. We don't even have them kocking...

Todd, I'm sorry to say it, but at your scale of operation, you need to just admit it's a hobby and then decide how much you're willing to spend on your hobby. Ranching for Profit ( http://www.ranchmanagement.com/) maintains a set of benchmarks for allowable expenditures for economically viable...

Across the country the $2/ft is probably about average. I have heard of people like AngCow in MO being hungry enough to do it for less. In our mountainous Idaho-Montana region, the $2 would be on the low side. After having built fence in both places, it is a lot harder work out here due to the...

I agree with SR (Jim) when it comes to fenceline and pasture weaning. There is very little work and very little cost to do this. The calves stay healthy, gain weight during the weaning period, and can usually be marketed for a premium price. Many calves do lose weight for the first couple of...

We generally grade up a mound where the tank will set. The pad should extend at least 10-12 ft to all sides of the tank. We then put down geo-textile fabric to cover the mound and then set the tank. We use 6-8" of mixed rock to cover the geo-t. here in ID it is just river rock we scrape up from...

If there is a pump and the well has enough water to run some through, there are several ways to do it. 1) The Cobett waterer that was mentioned is a good energy-free system that works well even if temperature drops sub-zero. They cost about $1000 to put in, but require no energy for heating...

For beef cows, we just feed mineral from about one month before calving until we run out some time during breeding season. The rest of the time we'll usually keep plain salt available. For stockers we usually keep complete mineral out. Mineral needs are really localized based on geology, past...

The primary solar unit we use for small jobs is the Stafix SX. This is a modular unit with internal battery. It will keep about a mile of two-wire hi-tensile hot and we'll run three reels of polybraid off the hard wire. When I have tried to go over a mile with it, it won't keep it hot enough...

With the lease rates reproted here, particularly in TX, it doesn't make any sense to own any more land than the bare minimum needed to just hang your hat. I guess the idea that they're not making any more land doesn't apply in some places!

Out here in the Intermountain region most pasture or range is rented on a per head or per AUM (animal unit month) basis. Rental grazing per AUM in our area runs about $15/AUM. An AUM is pasture or range needed to run one animal unit for one month. Our irrigated pasture yields 8-11 AUM/acre, so...

In my experience, nothing kills land faster than tilling and farming it. Any soil structure or organic layer that has been built up will be destroyed. Microbial life will decline. No-till farming is better than tillage, but still not as good as well managed pasture. If the land is already in...

If you're interested in rotational grazing and stockpiling, get the Management-intensive Grazing book by Gerrish. He will have a new year-around grazing book available in March called 'Kick the Hay Habit: A practical guide to year-around grazing'. Both are available from the Stockman-Grass...

Hi guys and gals, I've been away from the forum for a few weeks and this was the first thread I read after getting back. The reason I have always been told southeastern cattle are lower quality (on average) was never mentioned in these discussions. Here is what I have been told by those...

Sound like a lot more reasons to quit feeding hay.....

What happened is Gallagher bought out O'Brien and increased prices on O'Brien products by about 40% because the O'Brien equipment was so much better than the Gallagher stuff at a much lower price. Gallagher will continue to operate O'Brien as a separate label but the O'Brien prices will be much...

For the first time since we have lived in Idaho (6 yr), we don't have a White Christmas. I was just out moving the fence for the cows daily grazing break. About 20F at 2:30 PM and crystal clear skies, no breeze, just a beautiful all around day. Sorry about all the mud you guys aren't enjoying...

canoe.... We have been using temporary electric fences for nearly 30 years and have tried just about everything out there. This is what we have found to work most effectively across the widest range of conditions. Reel: O'Brien 3:1 geared reel. After the first of the year the O'Brien patents...

We used to weigh all of our cows every year so we knew what we had to work with. Our average was about 1240 and I considered those to be a little bigger than what I really wanted. I ran a lot of cow efficiency analysis and found about 1180 lb to be our optimum cow size. That means our average...