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chad85

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i am new at this but want to get some cattle what breed should i get i live in md. how many?
 
Chad,

In order for us to make a recomendation to you, tell us all about where you will keep the cattle. How many acres, type and quality of grass, cattle fencing, handling facility, how much time you want to devote, what you goals are, plans, etc.....

The way you asked your question, you could get 1000 different answers and none of them might be right of you. Help us understand your situtation so we are better prepared to answer your question.
 
Hang out in this forum for a month or two and then ask the question again. Its hard to understand all the factors that are involved until you've at least seen it in writing. Most folks here are raised around cattle and know the business. They've been working 1,200 pound cattle since they can remember for that matter 50 or 100 of them at a time(that might be a good question for ya'll, how many have you worked at once?). Use the search tab at the top of the page to search for topics. Oddly enough to get a question answered accuratley on this forum you need to learn how to ask the question. I'm brand new myself. That is why I felt that I should post this. The veteran folks on here have a tendency to stomp on us hobby ranchers and wanna be's. ;-) I wouldn't recommend getting in this business till you have someone that will take you under his wing that is local. If or when cows start dying on you, you don't want to be huddled at your computer waiting for someone to type out a response to your question. I'm sorry for the hard advice. I hope you enjoy the forum.

Walt
 
Beefy":23xja6wn said:
get three polled herefords.
nah - 999 tiger stripes

now, do you see how much more info you need to give?

I've only been at this for a couple of years so I'm no expert but...
go visit the salebarn and your neighbors - what sells good here might not there
get your pastures, equipment and fences ready - have a place to store your hay
whether you have three or 999 you have to feed and medicate them
by then you will know what you like and what you don't
doesn't matter that purple cows sell really great in your area if you hate purple cows. :cboy:
 
You guys better stop it or the next post in a couple days will be <Help looked all over for those purple cows but can't find them> :lol: :lol:
 
Welcome Chad85, What color cattle do you like? Main thing is get something that's easy to handle, tame, and that will stay in your fences.
 
Chad, first and foremost i recommend that you take some driving around in your area to see what kind of animals the area is producing. My bet is your going to find alot of mixed and quite a few special breeds. Then take time out to sit at cattle sales to watch how the animals sale. Then you can get sorta an idea of how a breed does in your area. Find "your" market. Put it to work for you.
I say jump in with both feet and hold on. Unless you just have a very abnormaly long learning curve your going to learn fast. What you need to think about is how to go about this. At your level right now you have a few options. You can buy bottle calves raise them tell about 500lbs then sell. In my expernce this makes the best profit but requires more labor on your part. You can buy 300-500Lb calves and raise them untell 750-900lbs then sell. This makes more money per animal but less per pound and could cost more money to make the weight. You can buy 900lb and finish them out. The money here is really dicey. I dont know anybody doing this other than feedlot operaters. You got special things like buying hungry animals and turning them around. I do really good with this and buying breed cows and weining the calves and selling out and buying back. I've been buying 3 for 1s lately and that does good also.
If you dont have tools i recommend bottle calves starting out. They dont require a headcatcher as you can pin them with a gate or up against a panel with your body and pulling up on the head under the chin. This will give you a money flow and allow you to start buying tools.
Dont let anybody tell you you cant do it. Buy every animal you can and stick with it. If your sick get out of bed long enough to check on your animals. If you have to start with just one so be it, but get your hands dirty.
 
I would go to the local sale barn and see what sells good and start off there then find some one who knows cattle and wants to teach then learn and go from there
 
hereford angus mix r saleing good but i was wanting something that gets bigger. i have orchard grass and tensile fence on a 10 acre lot and a 100 acre lot?
 
mnmtranching":356fps7j said:
Welcome Chad85, What color cattle do you like? Main thing is get something that's easy to handle, tame, and that will stay in your fences.

Good advice here, but it also needs to be something that will sell well in your area. The name of the game is to make a profit - or at least break even.

Beefy, I always thought those polka-dot cows were generally higher than the purple ones - is that not true for your area? :lol:
 
Hi,
what everyone else has said is real good. Something else to consider. If you are going to get into breeding...calving ease. We choose angus bulls to cross with our herd of Angus, AngusX Charolais(?), Herford and what ever else is out there. For us the calving ease was at the top of our list of what we wanted. Then hardiness of the calf and marketing. but this is just us. Good luck
 
msscamp":1ca7daor said:
mnmtranching":1ca7daor said:
Welcome Chad85, What color cattle do you like? Main thing is get something that's easy to handle, tame, and that will stay in your fences.

Good advice here, but it also needs to be something that will sell well in your area. The name of the game is to make a profit - or at least break even.

Beefy, I always thought those polka-dot cows were generally higher than the purple ones - is that not true for your area? :lol:

polkas dont do well here. they get docked. claim they have longhorn in them.
 
Beefy":2exluzbw said:
msscamp":2exluzbw said:
mnmtranching":2exluzbw said:
Welcome Chad85, What color cattle do you like? Main thing is get something that's easy to handle, tame, and that will stay in your fences.

Good advice here, but it also needs to be something that will sell well in your area. The name of the game is to make a profit - or at least break even.

Beefy, I always thought those polka-dot cows were generally higher than the purple ones - is that not true for your area? :lol:

polkas dont do well here. they get docked. claim they have longhorn in them.

Ok, that makes sense.
 
you silly people - purple is the way to go
and if you throw in some Char - you get that ever popular lavendar! :cboy:

see - we can have fun on this site and even though some people can get mean, most of the time it is to stop someone from getting over their head and hurting animals (like the lady that was only feeding calves electrolites and starving them to death! :mad: )
 
mdmdogs3":uas0eeys said:
you silly people - purple is the way to go
and if you throw in some Char - you get that ever popular lavendar! :cboy:

Do I smell a possible new breed? How about Lavenolais(doubles as yodeling practice), or possible Charvender? What do you think mdmdogs3? :lol: :lol:

What do you suppose could be crossed with Red Angus to get pink?
 
msscamp":109kk0j3 said:
mdmdogs3":109kk0j3 said:
you silly people - purple is the way to go
and if you throw in some Char - you get that ever popular lavendar! :cboy:

Do I smell a possible new breed? How about Lavenolais(doubles as yodeling practice), or possible Charvender? What do you think mdmdogs3? :lol: :lol:

What do you suppose could be crossed with Red Angus to get pink?

We tried for years to cross a Charolais bull to our Red Angus cows to get pink. We tested taking red paint and adding white and sure enough we got pink. So we can't figure out why it didn't work with the cows. :???: Glad we gave up on it since I now know lavendar is what is hot right now.
 

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