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Augusta county had put into place some restrictions on farmland development... and are pushing "cluster housing" to keep more farmland and open space... but alot is that people don't want to "take care of a yard etc...." they want to have a nice but small place then go visit the "common areas" that are being required to be included in these cluster housing things... like having a private park as part of the perks of living in certain developments... Plus there are different requirements for lot "size" in different counties... and if it is a "planned development" or what. I can't even begin to keep up with the changing rules and regs... Grottoes may or may not be a "town" per se so I don't know if they fall under county requirements or not.
There is also the less tangible income for many... but alot of older people do not have the time to take care of larger properties, and not enough money to pay for it to be taken care of, and lord forbid they have enough land to be considered a mini farm or something that they will then have to be tied to and work... or rent to someone else so that they can get the tax breaks for "farmland".... and there are fewer and fewer that want to be so scattered out to have 10 different places of 5-20 acres each in order to be "farmers"... my son and I did it for years and the just the "road time" to go from one to another to make hay or check cattle and fences gets to be just too much. And then there are the ones that have to have everything done just so..... and are a royal PITA to deal with and they go through renters every year or 2... because you just are not able to treat their place like it is the only one you have to take care of....
 
farmerjan said:
Augusta county had put into place some restrictions on farmland development... and are pushing "cluster housing" to keep more farmland and open space... but alot is that people don't want to "take care of a yard etc...." they want to have a nice but small place then go visit the "common areas" that are being required to be included in these cluster housing things... like having a private park as part of the perks of living in certain developments... Plus there are different requirements for lot "size" in different counties... and if it is a "planned development" or what. I can't even begin to keep up with the changing rules and regs... Grottoes may or may not be a "town" per se so I don't know if they fall under county requirements or not.
There is also the less tangible income for many... but alot of older people do not have the time to take care of larger properties, and not enough money to pay for it to be taken care of, and lord forbid they have enough land to be considered a mini farm or something that they will then have to be tied to and work... or rent to someone else so that they can get the tax breaks for "farmland".... and there are fewer and fewer that want to be so scattered out to have 10 different places of 5-20 acres each in order to be "farmers"... my son and I did it for years and the just the "road time" to go from one to another to make hay or check cattle and fences gets to be just too much. And then there are the ones that have to have everything done just so..... and are a royal PITA to deal with and they go through renters every year or 2... because you just are not able to treat their place like it is the only one you have to take care of....
Click to expand...
Did not know that about Augusta, that explains a lot. I also notice that for many they don't want land or to be gardening and tending flowers and such...why when they can just watch it on youtube or play farmville on their phone.

I know some folks in other areas that make quite a bit off "rented" farmland, in that they pay nothing just to give the landowner a tax break. But none of those folks want cattle just pretty hayfields. About impossible to find anything to rent around here though unless you have one of the right surnames.
 
We have a couple that we get the "hayfield" for nothing and it gives the landowner the tax break. But you are right, they only want a pretty hayfield... and if you do much to fertilize or improve the stand, then they take it out from under you because someone came along and offered a bunch more money.. but those deals last about 2-3 years as the new renters don't put down the fertilizer and as the ground gets run down then they just quit it... and the owners have come back to us to see if we would take it back... we did on 2 places and lost both in 3 more years of trying to improve again... NO MORE. we do a 1 yr lease for 1st year and then if both are happy, we have to have 5 years.... we do alot of extras on some places... bushhogging and such around edges... because those landowners require it or because they treat us good. But, on the ones that require it, it is written down in the lease and we know it up front and the rent we pay is according to the deal..... and keeping the landowner satisfied keeps us in these places too. We do the "free" places that are closeby so not a big deal to go there on our way "by it to another place".
Finding places to graze cattle is getting harder and harder... and when you do, fences are so big a deal.... older farms/farmers the fences have been let go and run down....alot of money to repair or replace... BEFORE the insane price increases this year....
 
greybeard said:
My wife is a dam yankee and she knows it. I did get her a "I wasn't born in Texas but got here as fast as I could" bumper sticker but I also explained to her that she would never be a real Texan. I love her greatly but, well-facts are facts.
Click to expand...
The best reply I ever heard to someone saying they were born in Michigan but
had lived in Texas so long they considered themselves as a Texan:
If a cat climbs into an oven has a litter of kittens do you call them biscuits?
 
greybeard said:
My wife is a dam yankee and she knows it. I did get her a "I wasn't born in Texas but got here as fast as I could" bumper sticker but I also explained to her that she would never be a real Texan. I love her greatly but, well-facts are facts.
Click to expand...
Mine was born in California.. 😢...but she learned to talk in Texas
..so ya know..
 
I made the mistake of asking a seller why her cattle were priced so high . Evidently she had not been to a sale barn lately. She let me know real quick her cattle were better than sale barn cattle and I needed to mind my own business. I told her I hoped she could sleep at night for selling such poor looking specimens of cattle to new breeders . Then I left it alone . Don't know about her but I slept good that night ! 🤠
 
someone would have certainly given you $500 on CL!
I remember I had an ugly dink steer calf back in 2015, he was 320 lbs at weaning and they paid $3.75/lb at auction for him! I was flabbergasted! (something like $1200 USD)
I mean ugly, skinny cattle gotta get sold too, but that heifer had like 3 people interested
I look at my cows too much to have anything that ugly around.. I do have a really bad looking 1st time heifer but she actually raised a decent calf, might wean her early and have momma put some fat on before winter
 
I advertise our cattle on craigslist to sell. I have been surprised at times. I will have a group of bullcalves for sale, some purebred, some crossbred, some good, some bad. I let the buyer pick right out of the pasture.
So many times the buyer will pick the ugliest calf. I have no idea why. Oh well!
 
So I took 5, 8 month calves (1 black hfr, 4 bulls- 3 black 1, sand) to the Paris, TX barn sale last Wednesday. The heifer brought 165 cwt at 485 lbs, and the bull calves brought 155.66 cwt at avg 540lbs. I was surprised at how heavy were the calves, but a little disappointed that the bull calves did not bring in at least 10 cents more. The after market report said, 500-600: 145-185. I'm thinking mine got knocked down because they weren't cut. I got more than I expected because I didn't think they were more than 450 a head. I was very please with the barn's service. The fees were $198 which included $45 for 3 days of hay feed, since I drop them on Saturday for the Wednesday auction. Great people to work with. This was my first time taking calves to the sale barn.

In your opinion does not cutting bull calves discount their price? And by how much? I'm thinking I may have paid a $0.10 penalty.
 
libertygarden said:
So I took 5, 8 month calves (1 black hfr, 4 bulls- 3 black 1, sand) to the Paris, TX barn sale last Wednesday. The heifer brought 165 cwt at 485 lbs, and the bull calves brought 155.66 cwt at avg 540lbs. I was surprised at how heavy were the calves, but a little disappointed that the bull calves did not bring in at least 10 cents more. The after market report said, 500-600: 145-185. I'm thinking mine got knocked down because they weren't cut. I got more than I expected because I didn't think they were more than 450 a head. I was very please with the barn's service. The fees were $198 which included $45 for 3 days of hay feed, since I drop them on Saturday for the Wednesday auction. Great people to work with. This was my first time taking calves to the sale barn.

In your opinion does not cutting bull calves discount their price? And by how much? I'm thinking I may have paid a $0.10 penalty.
Click to expand...
You probably paid more of a $.30 penalty on the black ones. They have to cut a calf that is by now pretty big with a large set of testicles, and it is gonna take some recovery time before they can send it to the feedlot
 
As I have stated earlier I have made a lot of money buying bull calves . As well as horned calves . It is amazing how much a few ounces to a few lbs actually cost you if you try to sell calves with horns or testicles. Similar steers calves of the same herd usually sell 20-30 plus cents per lb higher then heifer calves . So somewhere between $110-160 + per head is what it cost you
 
About 2 weeks ago we shipped 27 steers and did very good on them; $ 1.80's on the 5 and 6 wts, $2.00 on the 4 wts. We watched bull calves at anywhere from $.20 to $.50 discount. That is what my son does, buying some of the bulls and castrating and then making up groups to sell... some will mix in with ours, all just depends on the sizes. You are throwing money away if they are bulls, 99% of the time.
 
Dropped off 81 head of yearlings today for tomorrows sale. They included some calves I bought that were bulls which I got cheap and cut. I will make a killing on those calves. While I sit through the sale I will be looking for under priced bulls to buy. A lot of people don't like to buy bulls to cut in this hot weather. But nothing says I can't wait a month to cut them.
 

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