Right now, I am pretty danged happy. Got the Corr operation including, selling the calves, on auto pilot. And I have a very smart and talented mare to work on this summer. Clay went and picked up those red Charolais bred heifers for himself and my client last week, so as of right now, I have filled all the orders I have. However, Scott was just talking out loud Saturday, and said " Man, what do you think if I don't plant anything next year, and let's just buy about 200 more Corrs to keep on that 400 acres of row crop land?" So I am thinking about it.... Damn it!!
One day last week.. (I think it was chicken liver day, so Wednesday)... I went to our local diner to eat, and Clay was there with his boss and 2 of their hands. I had told Clay the week. before what Scott had said about getting the 200 more Corrs and not plant the 400 acres across the road in crops anymore. Clay's boss told me: "
Heck, I will send you up to 400 cows.... and my bulls when it is time to breed..... and I will give y'all $1200 for the steer calves and $1000 for the heifers at weaning". I told him 300 acres was already planted in corn, beans and peanuts, and Scott would plant cotton in the last 100 mid-May, so it would be 2025 before we could get it all converted to pasture. He offered this, because he took over half of the 400 acre pasture he has his 400 cows in, and planted corn. He wants to quit, or cut down on, sending his calves to the Oklahoma lot to finish.
I called Scot and we talked about it, and we gonna try it. He is sowing Bahia and Tift 85 on the land he was about to plant in cotton this week. He qualifies for the program that pays for seed and fertilizer to convert row crop land to pasture. As well as the program that pays for cross fencing. Now that he wont be running combines etc, on it, we will cut each 100 acre field to two 50 acre pastures. With the market right now, we'd get about $1500 for our steers and about $1100- $1200 for the heifers. Mike has already offered $2.50 a pound for
our steers and $2.25 for our heifers, so we'd be giving up $100-$200 for heifers and $300 for steers over buying our own cows, BUT.... I don't have to locate, buy, and transport 200 more Corr cows at about $100k or more. Plus, chances are they'd already be bred to God knows what, and we'd have to calve them out, then breed them to our bulls. This evening I am going over there, and we gonna sort out 50-60 heavy breds, and I am carrying them down to our place this week. That will give me 171-181 Corrs on the Kudzu place. Could probably do a few more , but don't want to over graze it. Later in the summer, we will get 50 more for the old cotton field, and get 50 more each time he harvests the other 100 acre bean, corn and peanut fields. Eventually ending up with 250-260 of that man's cows, plus our 121, and still will have no inputs other than salt and minerals. Ga right now is running a 6.75" surplus rainfall for the year. but Scott's row crop fields have irrigation systems. And, push comes to shove, we still have 15 acres of grass between Gail's pasture and the orchard, and over 50 acres in the old dove field ( thigh deep in oats and barley right now). I now have nothing in those 121 Corrs, and have that $99k in the account from selling the Plummer pairs that I won't have to use to buy 200 Corr cows. Scott could sell his combines and pickers, etc. if he wanted to, but will probably custom harvest for other farmers, to give Andrew something to do. When it is time to wean the calves, Mike will send Clay and some of his crew down to get them, and to bring more cows, deliver and pick up the bulls, etc. We won't be moving the Kudzu herd to the row crop land this year in November when quail and rabbit season opens, but we can still hunt it with them on it. We mostly did this to eat up Scott's row crop residue each year anyway. And. in some years we have had a Corr cow that took exception to a bird dog or beagle in the pasture!
So, Scott and I decided at our age and health, this is the best course of action for us. Of course, this is all predicated on today's market, and I am sure if the prices ever dropped to the $1.50/lb we were averaging on the calves 4 years ago, he would want to re-negotiate both deals, but that's ok too. Matter of fact, will probably re-visit it each year. Back then when the 500 lb steers only brought $750 each, the cows were only costing $250-$300. It is all sheer profit other than a few dollars a head for salt/minerals. Even if these calves dropped to $500 each at weaning.
We came to another decision, too. We are not gonna use those 1/2 Brahma to build Zeke a herd. We gonna sell them as open replacement heifers each year and deposit it in his trust account. Clay's boss gave him his own pen, and he has that Fleck/Braun heifer he got from us over there, eating that rapid-growth, frame-building mix that Mike feeds all of his on, from weaning for 4 months, then he sends them to the feed lot in Ok. Clay wil take those 20 Black Simm/Chi-angus heifers there in July when he picks them up at weaning. and that is where he will put those 3 red Char calves and the calves from his other 5 cows when they wean. We gonna let him take these six 1/2 Brahmas over there too, when it is time to wean. Then sell them once they reach a year to 14 months. Next year and the rest of the years, there will be just 5, unless we get another 1/2 Br x 1/2 dairy heifer for Gail to raise each year. But at 5 a year, should be able to grow Zeke's account by $10k each year. We will have a little inputs with these each year ( like vaccinations and worming, etc. We will want to make sure they have everything a buyer would want them to have, and be able to show written proof of what and when we gave them these things. Helps with the price.
So all in all, we have things set to where us two old farts can still be doing this a lot longer. Nothing for us to do but band and tag calves once a month this way. And Scott won't even have to do that if he doesn't want to. Clay and his co-workers, and/or Joe and Lisa, will be all the help I would need for this. The occasional fencing repair, etc,, Scott can handle that with Zeke and Andrew to help him easily.
I feel a LOT better now than I have since I had all of that heart trouble in 2022, ( and Scott's health problems) about staying involved with the cattle business. This was a long one, but from now on there won't be much for me to put on these "updates".