cattle herd

[DRB]

one for every cow

 

[Craig-TX]

I have been watching this thread for some western banker to say 50,000.

You know how bankers check their collateral... count the hooves and divide by four.

Craig-TX

 

[txshowmom]

txag wrote:
txshowmom wrote:
Sorry guys. I was just curious.


the interesting thing is that you didn't answer your own question.


Good point

We run about 400 mama cows. I normally would not ask someone I knew this question. I just figures with the anamosity ( I know its spelled wrong) of the computer nobody would care. My appologies.

 

[txag]

We run about 400 mama cows. I normally would not ask someone I knew this question. I just figures with the anamosity ( I know its spelled wrong) of the computer nobody would care. My appologies.

while there's plenty of animosity on these boards, the word i think you're looking for is anonymity.

txshowmom, i think i remember you mentioning you & your husband both working off-farm. i'm just interested in how you are able to run that many cows and have full-time jobs. i'm not questioning your numbers i'm just interested in a little time-management tips.

 

[Rustler9]

somewhere over a hundred head plus manage another registered herd for someone else. Guess I need to count them at some point.

 

[eric]

My goal is to someday run around 150-200 hd. I also plan on this being a full time job, so I dont understand the need for another full time job if someone is running 400 hd. If you have 200 hd, couldnt you plan on selling at least 100 calves a yr.?

What were weaned calves selling for before the border was closed? With 200 hd, couldnt a guy plan on making about $50-$60K a yr. Granted, I have never sold any calves, but I have been to a few salebarns and noticed the 500-600 lb. calves going for the $500 to $600 range. If you could cut your own hay, do most of your own vetting, have most of your equipment already paid for and buy feed in the bulk rate, it seems a man could make a decent wage raising 200 hd. How farfetched an idea is this?

 

[PATB]

one would a big enough land base to run that many cattle and raise the winter feed. In my area it is almost impossible to get your hands on that kind of pasture and hay land in a reasonable area not to mention the cost of buying it.

 

[Kevin sisson]

I currently run 72 brood cows with 4 bulls on two seperate pastures.

 

[Chuck]

With 200 hd, couldnt a guy plan on making about $50-$60K a yr.

Yes, but only if you stole all your feed,fuel, machinery,supplies,medication,fence wire,posts and all the 10,000 other things you normally have to buy. Stealing a few cows would help the bottom line also. ;-)

 

[Chuck]

Whoops- forgot about avoiding paying property taxes. :lol:

 

[cattle_gal]

We run depending on the year (drought or normal) around 215 reg and com pairs.

As someone said earlier in the thread. Either to many(drought) or not enough(high prices and good rain fall year).

Eric: Chuck hits it on the nail. Always keep in the back of your mind the break downs, drought, unexpected expenses, and the increase in the cost of everything. And if you have land payments. You'll be selling every calf you have and pray you make it. And an off farm income if need be. Do a 10 year cashflow sheet (even they paint a roser picture sometimes than what happens). With the rule of thumb having the income lower than average and the expenses higher than average. And add a few percent each year on the expenses (not the income) to the cashflow. And an average price per pound of .89 for the steers and .85 for the heifers in the 5 weight catagory. Or like a couple of years ago when the price was .59 or less for the steers and .53 or less for heifers in the 5 weight catagory. Lots of replacement heifers were keep that year by many ranchers. And cull cows were around .25/lbs. A normal range would be about .35 depending on your area and how far from the slaughter house you are. And to make things interesting buy your bred cows high like now with next year to sell the calves at $.55/lbs/calf and $.25/lbs/cow and a total drought situation added in. Sorry I did paint a very good picture to ride off in to the sunset with . But better to be prepared than surprised down the line.

 

[Hobby Hereford]

[

quote="txshowmom"]How many head of cattle does everybody have?

[/quote]

I have both enjoyed and learned from visiting this site for months and finally decided to join. Thank you All!

We have a very small farm and maintain 14 Mamma's, 13 calves, 1 Bull and my pet steer (was a twin that Mamma didn't want to take care of)

HH

 

[txshowmom]

My goal is to someday run around 150-200 hd. I also plan on this being a full time job, so I dont understand the need for another full time job if someone is running 400 hd. If you have 200 hd, couldnt you plan on selling at least 100 calves a yr.?

We have a couple of hired hands that do most all of the labor intensive work. We both make a lot more money at our day jobs so we prefer to pay someone to do the hard work and we do the fun work ( work with the cattle). Yes the ranch does make enough money that we don't HAVE to work, but if you like your job and the salary and benefits are great then why quit? Extra income means we have more money to play with.

 

[eric]

Boy, you guys make me wonder why anyone would ever get in the cattle business. While I agree one cant go into it owing everybody money, it seems that if the land was paid for and the tractor / baler is all paid for, the land is in decent shape with fencing and water available, barns are in decent shape, that you could sell at least a hundred calves a yr with 200 mama cows. Granted, I can't do this on the $75k an acre land I am on here in N Dallas, but there is land available around me in 300-400 acre tracts for $2000-$3000 an acre, up around Forestburg / Muenster area. Since my wife isn't going anywhere until my youngest gets out of school, that gives me 8 more yrs to accumulate the tools and scope out a place and get it ready for this adventure. It appears there are alot of ranchers around here with fairly large herds who do this yr after yr. I dont believe they are doing this because they have nothing better to do with their time. This would be just like any other business I have started, go into it debt free and learn as much as you can before you ever open the doors.

And I guess it doesnt hurt that my wife has a Federal job where she can retire with full benefits when she hits 50, which would be about 10 yrs from now. That will take care of our insurance and healthcare. At least thats our plan, sell this place in 10 yrs and buy a bigger place out in the country. It helps alot knowing that she enjoys working with the cows as much as I do!

 

[dun]

Even with everything paid for, there is alwasy maintenance and repairs. Fertilizer, chemicals/herbicides, fuel, taxes, etc. There's alwasy those luxiries that we get used to through the years too, food, electricity, etc. The picture may not be as gloomy as it looks, but it isn't as rosey as one would wish. Remember too, the market ain't stay this good forever. If over the years you average a buck a pound for a 500 lb calf you'll be more in the ball park. That will increase over the years, but so will the cost of everything else.

dun

 

[eric]

You guys keep saying we are at a all time high for cattle prices. What was the price of salebarn calves before the border closed and everything fell apart up north? In other words, what were you guys selling cows / calves for 2 summers or so ago?

500-600 lb calves.....

800 lb cows......

1100 lb cows..........

1200 lb bred cows.....

old bulls......

 

[txag]

You guys keep saying we are at a all time high for cattle prices. What was the price of salebarn calves before the border closed and everything fell apart up north? In other words, what were you guys selling cows / calves for 2 summers or so ago?

500-600 lb calves.....

800 lb cows......

1100 lb cows..........

1200 lb bred cows.....

old bulls......

here are just a couple of comparisons i have:

bulls:

Feb 2002
1355 lbs @ .485/lb = $657.18

Aug 2004
2100 lbs @ .76/lb = $1596.00

calves:

Aug 2003
585 lbs @ .90/lb = $526.50
675 lbs @ .83/lb = $560.25

Jul 2004
580 lbs @ $1.23/lb = $713.40
590 lbs @ $1.20/lb = $708.00

 

[frenchie]

, but there is land available around me in 300-400 acre tracts for $2000-$3000 an acre, up around Forestburg / Muenster area. This would be just like any other business I have started, go into it debt free and learn as much as you can before you ever open the doors.

So you can just scratch a cheque for 300acres x $2000.00 $600,000.oo U.S and still be debt free.........must be nice. Plus the outlay for the cows.

 

[hillbilly]

Southwest Missouri logic says, If you have to spend more than $1000 per acre, and run 1 pair per 3 acres, your cows can't pay for the land and property taxes much less themselves or anything else.

I can't imagine spending 2 or 3000 per acre.....unless you could run 1 pair per acre.

Hillbilly

 

[dun]

Southwest Missouri logic says, If you have to spend more than $1000 per acre, and run 1 pair per 3 acres, your cows can't pay for the land and property taxes much less themselves or anything else.

I can't imagine spending 2 or 3000 per acre.....unless you could run 1 pair per acre.

Hillbilly

Maybe they have a lot better grass conditions then we have

dun