Age?

Help Support CattleToday:

Chevy

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 7, 2011
Messages
2,648
Reaction score
1,107
I know I'm not supposed to say but I'm curious what ya'll age is and when you start in with cattle. What is ya'll story?? Story time go!!! Name, area, age, cattle breed, did you stick with that or switch, what have you learned along the way, things to know good, and bad, funny stories of farm/ranch life about the years, pooping stories while farm ranching haha, and anything else ya'll may want add.... these are the stories of cattle life member memories.... maybe I'll write a book after.... bahahahaha for all my cattle friends.
 
Long day of cutting/putting up hay. I told my partner I had to quit for about an hour. He got a bit irate actually. Hell, we were only 3 miles from the house. Number 2 is number 2!
 
64 years old, been in cattle for over 50 years. Started with bottle calves and hate them now. From the western tip of Virginia. Had almost every breed of cattle except the mini breeds of today. Not going to have them unless I know I can sell them for a profit the next day. Retired Jan 1 2022 but still working 4 part time jobs.
 
Age 46, from Clark County KY, been around cattle as long as I can remember. I reckon my start in cattle was when My parents gave one of the steers. I bought a few registered Charolais heifers when I was 13, over time I built a small herd of them. Eventually phased out the registered cattle and ran Angus bulls. At one point, I raised dairy calves and sold the heifers back to the dairy. Tried sheep for a few years. Ran beef steers, then switched to heifers, and got into selling bred heifers. Tried a couple times to start a small registered Angus herd but gave up on that. Now run commercial cows, mainly Angus and Hereford cows. I've used mostly Angus bulls, but in more recent years, a few Herefords, have also had a Limousin, Beefmaster, and Simmental bull. Now we have one of those awful worthless crossbred bulls.
 
I'll be forty in July. Grew up in the South West corner of Henry county Illinois. Now I live a whole 2.5 miles from where I was raised. Got my first bottle calf when I was four. Dad worked for the local grain elevator, and every farmer around knew he had a little boy that wanted bottle calves. Dad and I took some of those bottle babies and turned them into cows. We ran cows on my grandpa's farm until I graduated high school. I went to college, got an associate degree in Ag business. 2001 Started working at the sale barn and for the vet and a neighbor. 2010 the sale barn closed, was officially promoted as the neighbors Herdsmen. 2015 started my consulting service, had a chance to rent a farm, and own my own cows.
 
Last edited:
I know I'm not supposed to say but I'm curious what ya'll age is and when you start in with cattle. What is ya'll story?? Story time go!!! Name, area, age, cattle breed, did you stick with that or switch, what have you learned along the way, things to know good, and bad, funny stories of farm/ranch life about the years, pooping stories while farm ranching haha, and anything else ya'll may want add.... these are the stories of cattle life member memories.... maybe I'll write a book after.... bahahahaha for all my cattle friends.
So what's your story Shell?
 
I'm 70 now. My first cows were some mixed group of 4 weaned steer calves in 1977, we were going to eat them. We lived in a little cottage close to a road on 10 acres. The calves got out through the back fence into some thick scrub, impossible to find them so I said to my wife Pam, bugger it whoever finds them can have them, they were more trouble than they were worth. About 2 weeks later we had not seen any sign of them then at about 1am Pam wakes me up and said the cows are back, I said ********, she said no, they are walking down the road, come on we'll get them in through the gate. I wanted to stay in bed but Pam, barefoot and heavily pregnant, she dropped our 2nd daughter about 2 days later, went out in her knickers and T shirt and herded the steers into our yard. I must have felt guilty because I did turn up but by then Pam had them all safely back in our paddock. I know I killed one of them as we had it hanging in our bathroom from an exposed timber rafter for a day or two before we cut it up. I think I gave the others away.

I started back into cattle 15 years ago one year before I retired with commercial Black Angus and then saw a female sale at a well known New England breeder and thought I wouldn't mind getting a couple to benchmark against my commercial cows and I liked what I got so kept going back each year for a few years and bought another couple each year and with heavy use of AI and a lot of advice with bull selection from my friends here I think I have a pretty handy herd now.

Ken
 
Age forty use to look old, now eighty is looking younger everyday. On the farming dad had me on a tractor at five as I was big for my age. We had tobacco, corn, hay, beef cattle and milked cows. While other kids enjoyed their summer break from school I was in the hay field, fencing, chopping silage, working in tobacco, etc. Dad encouraged me to go to school and better myself as he did not see much future in farming. His advice is looking better everyday.
 
I'm 34 or 35. Cattle have been a family curse for several generations. I started taking care of a property when I was 15 and we purchased their first set of cattle 2 years later. It has grown in to a mixture of cattle and hunting and other things. Along the way I have picked up a few cattle of my own. That was always a side job until around 2 years ago when I left my O&G job. Since then I have taken on more with the original family along with adding another gentleman to the mix.

It's appearing to work out as a full time property management gig. I'm hoping to ride this out until my next adventure. I am starting to feel a strong pull to the beach.😃

I tend to favor a Hereford x Brahman cross type animal but have quite a bit of Black Angus influence also. Planning on heading in the Red Brangus/ Angus direction soon. Family runs Beefmaster cattle which I like too.
 
Shoot after reading the replies I feel like the odd man out at 28. I run anywhere from 10 to 20 head currently. All different breeds. My main focus and goal is all red angus and herefords. Heck I suppose I got into cattle when I was a little boy grandpa gave me a cow when I was 8. She was long gone for many years grandpa retired from it all I took over the barn I guess it's been close to ten maybe 11 years I've been doing it on my own. Main goal is to grow enough to be able to relay on it full time. I run the cattle and been selling hay to horse people to bring in extra cash to help grow more and faster. Definitely hoping to be in this industry as long as my body allows
 
I am 62. I am back to the place of my birth. I had a pig when I was 12 along with a few chickens. I grew up on a small row crop farm.

I moved around after high school and college. This was always home. I bought 150 acre hill farm. I never had any experience with livestock. Been at it for 6 years now. I have sheep and cattle, and a few chickens.

1641830155510.png
 
I was born in 1961, nine months and one day after the wedding. I can't remember my first cattle. My father always had some, and I know I bottle fed some calves when I was pretty young.

I grew up in the hayfield. My father was in the custom hay business part time (he also had a regular job). I started out raking hay with a John Deere 60. I don't remember how old I was, but when I wanted to stop I had to stand up, grab the clutch with both hands, and rare back with all I had. After a year or two they "upgraded" me to a Ford 9N, and then finally to a Massey Ferguson 35. I was styling then.
 
I'm 40 years old, I grew up around row crop farming and always loved that and that's what I wanted to do. My mom and dad's families both row cropped and usually had a few cows, It was next to impossible to get into row crop farming due to my dad wasn't a farmer but rather leased his ground out and anymore if your dad doesn't farm it's next to impossible to get in it. I grew up next to my dad's parents and spent hours daily with my papaw listening to stories of his childhood, stories of farming and riding horses which made me develop a love for it. I started off with a few chickens when I was about 8 or 9 and eventually ended up with about 50 and a few goats, then later a $50 shetland pony and a few heifers. When I was 17 I took out a FSA youth loan and bought 5 mama cows and a bull, in the meantime I had sold the 2 I started with as well as the goats and chickens. My grandparents had been out of cattle for so long that I really had no mentors to help with them and there were very few cattlemen in my area so I did everything wrong that could be done wrong and lost my rear end. Got married at 18, she was 17,moved to the hills of Arkansas and had to sell off the cows over the next few years to help pay the loan. A few years later I started buying heifers and finishing to sell as freezer beef, did that for a while then got into registered angus for my son to show. After a few years and a mean cow pushing him around he was done showing so I sold out of that. Just owned horses and mules for a while until my son got to be a teenager and didn't ride with me anymore so got out of that, just brush hogged place for a few years after that which really helped the grass. Now I'm back to finishing out and selling freezer beef, mostly steers, been back at it about 3 years now and business is growing. I've bought a few longhorn cows along the way bred to beef bulls, raised 2 sets of calves out of them and finished out first set already and butchered, recently sold those cows, they were some money makers for sure but not what I want long term. I plan to keep growing the freezer beef business and maybe buy short term pairs here and there to eat some of the grass during the glut then retain calves to finish out. Hope to have a good enough beef business so that when I retire in 10 years it can help supplement my retirement.
 
I am 70. My Dad gave me a day old Holstein bull calf when I was 8. By the time I graduated from high school I had turned that into enough cattle to pay for 2 years of college. I left college after 2 years to make my fame and fortune riding bucking horses in rodeos (you will note how rich and famous I am). Through that time I worked at sale barns, feedlots and ranches as a cowboy. Always owned some cattle. I worked up to around 100 head while working for a conservation district. Ran those cows mostly on leased land. I retired March 31 2017. Sold out on the Washington coast. Bought this ranch in eastern Oregon in 2018. Leased the ranch out to make the payment but am still able to run some cows of my own plus some in partnership with the man who leases the place. I do a fair amount of work for him. I refer to myself as his un-hired hired man.
 
65. Had cattle with Dad, we ran some with Grandpa, Uncle, and cousins part of the time. Dad died when I was 27. I was left with a herd of cattle, full time job, wife, 3 kids too young to help. Sold out. Mixed beef herd. Dad liked Charolais bulls. We pulled a bunch of calves. Retired at 57, bought a small place in Crawford County Illinois. Leased pasture on 3 sides of me, was building a decent herd, SimAngus bull. 2018 chest and left arm pain. 90% blockage. Quit leasing, moved back to my land only. Found a guy who had just bought 230 acres of grass who bought all the standard beef cows. Left me with 6 longhorns and a Jersey Angus cross. I have all but 3 longhorns replaced. They will go after raising calves this year. They are great brood cows, but not what I want. I'll have 17 standard beef females and an Angus bull remaining. Very healthy, doctors couldn't believe that I had heart trouble, I told them that described my Dad when he died suddenly at 63 and his Mom at 65. Hmmm, 90% blockage, I guess you were right.
 
65. Had cattle with Dad, we ran some with Grandpa, Uncle, and cousins part of the time. Dad died when I was 27. I was left with a herd of cattle, full time job, wife, 3 kids too young to help. Sold out. Mixed beef herd. Dad liked Charolais bulls. We pulled a bunch of calves. Retired at 57, bought a small place in Crawford County Illinois. Leased pasture on 3 sides of me, was building a decent herd, SimAngus bull. 2018 chest and left arm pain. 90% blockage. Quit leasing, moved back to my land only. Found a guy who had just bought 230 acres of grass who bought all the standard beef cows. Left me with 6 longhorns and a Jersey Angus cross. I have all but 3 longhorns replaced. They will go after raising calves this year. They are great brood cows, but not what I want. I'll have 17 standard beef females and an Angus bull remaining. Very healthy, doctors couldn't believe that I had heart trouble, I told them that described my Dad when he died suddenly at 63 and his Mom at 65. Hmmm, 90% blockage, I guess you were right.
Did they fix the blockage Ferd?

Ken
 

Latest posts

Top