Talk about year-round calving...Last 3 days I have been helping a friend of mine wean calves and move bulls. The man has about 15 farms or pastures leased within 30 miles or less of his homeplace. The dude keeps 25-30 cows...all Criollo: Corriente mostly, with some Longhorn. Fla Cracker or Fla Scrub, and Piney Woods, ( and various crosses of the 4) in 12 different places. He has a January calving pasture. February pasture, etc., one for each month. He weans at 6 months. He then has 25-30 polled, black calves to take to the sale every month! Might get as low as $10k one month, or as high as 20k another month. He has an Angus bull and a Brangus bull, and each one spends 30 days in one of the pastures, every other month. This week , we moved the bull out of the September pasture, put the other one in the October pasture, took the calves out of the June pasture and moved them to his house where he will feed them for 30 days, and took a cow that hadn't calved yet, but was about to, out of the December pasture and put her in the January pasture. We also banded the last of the December calves. He works these calves twice, 2 weeks apart. , for each pasture the month they are born. His hay barn, horse stables and pasture, and the pasture for the off-duty bull and the weanlings are all at his home place. This time a year, until March once every week to 10 days, he will load 24 round bales on his truck and trailer, and go feed the 12 pastures. The rest of the year, because these type cows do not get sick nor have calving problems, he spends one day a month weaning and hauling 25-30 claves, moves 2 bulls, spends another day a month hauling claves to the sale, and spends one more day in one of the pastures banding bull calves. So basically he works cows 3 days a month...not bad for $10k-$20k a month!!! Has one man that lives on the place to help him.. a couple of grandsons for haying season, but some real good horses and dogs.
