I am new to cattle, but am looking to raise a couple of for beef for our personal use. We have roughly 4 acres of pasture that currently have just our two horses grazing off of it. I'm looking for some advice on what type of cattle we should get, what age, how many would four acres support, what should we watch out for, etc..... Though these won't be considered pets, we are considering younger animals so we know what they've been fed and so our five and 12 year old kids can be involved in the process from the beginning. Thanks in advance for your help.
beef cattle
- Thread starter sealy99
- Start date
stocky
Well-known member
Sealy,
In considering advice, there are alot of unkowns to your question. Where you are, what kind of grass, what kind of fence, etc. Each of those would change the advice that most would give about what kind of cattle and how many and what age. However, a good, general thought for your situation would be to get 2-4 beef cross calves that have been fed on the bottle and are weaned----around 8-12 weeks old. These will be much gentler and easier to work with. Also, as beef crosses, they will make good eating beef. This young, they will be easy for your children to work with and enjoy. But, weaned, they will only need some grain each day and your pasture to grow and thrive. There are generally local farmers who raise calves on the bottle and sell them after they are weaned. To me, that would be better for you instead of going to a sale barn when you are not experienced at that. Also, your invetment will be considerably less than if you buy 500 lb weaned beef calves that might be wild. I do not know about your horses, but some horses chase and kick cattle, so that is something you will need to find out is how they act around calves. I am sure there will be many other thoughts from the board, but this is a good general way of doing it.
In considering advice, there are alot of unkowns to your question. Where you are, what kind of grass, what kind of fence, etc. Each of those would change the advice that most would give about what kind of cattle and how many and what age. However, a good, general thought for your situation would be to get 2-4 beef cross calves that have been fed on the bottle and are weaned----around 8-12 weeks old. These will be much gentler and easier to work with. Also, as beef crosses, they will make good eating beef. This young, they will be easy for your children to work with and enjoy. But, weaned, they will only need some grain each day and your pasture to grow and thrive. There are generally local farmers who raise calves on the bottle and sell them after they are weaned. To me, that would be better for you instead of going to a sale barn when you are not experienced at that. Also, your invetment will be considerably less than if you buy 500 lb weaned beef calves that might be wild. I do not know about your horses, but some horses chase and kick cattle, so that is something you will need to find out is how they act around calves. I am sure there will be many other thoughts from the board, but this is a good general way of doing it.
I PERSONALLY DON'T KNOW YOUR PASTURE CONDITION BUT TAKING A GUESS, AND SINCE THIS YOUR FIRST TRY WITH CATTLE, I WOULDN'T PUT ANY MORE THAN TWO HEAD OUT THERE EVEN WITH GOOD GRASS. IF WHAT YOU STATED IS YOUR PURPOSE (TO FEED THEM OUT FOR BEEF) THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH STARTING OUT WITH A 600# STEER AND FEEDING HIM OUT. THERE ARE PLENTY OF CALVES AROUND THIS SIZE THAT WOULD BE IDEAL. AFTER YOU'RE THROUGH WITH ONE YOU'LL HAVE MORE OF AN IDEA HOW THINGS WORK. YOUR LOCAL COUNTY AGENT SHOULD BE A BUNCH OF HELP. ONE MORE THING, HOW DO YOU PLAN ON GETTING HIM TO THE BUTCHER. YOU'LL NEED TO BORROW SOMEONE'S TRAILER AND AT A MINIMUM YOU'LL ALSO NEED SOME KIND OF PEN TO LOAD HIM...
GOOD LUCK............
IT WOULD REALLY HELP IF WE HAD MORE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR PLACE; LOCATION, PASTURE CONDITION, ETC.
GOOD LUCK............
IT WOULD REALLY HELP IF WE HAD MORE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR PLACE; LOCATION, PASTURE CONDITION, ETC.
