Different areas, different management

[randiliana]

I find it interesting how different areas do things differently. For example in our area no-one preconditions their calves before they sell them. There is no incentive to do it, so they are sold directly off the cow. Into town, presorted for the sale and 2-4 days later they are on their way to the feedlot.

Some people do pre-vaccinate the calves, but they usually don't see a premium on their calves for doing it. What they do see is improved health in the ones they keep though.

What else have you learned about on here that is different in your area from other areas??

 

[backhoeboogie]

What else have you learned about on here that is different in your area from other areas??

Not a whole lot of difference overall. I have been all over the western U.S. and Canada.

Here in Texas we can have fall calving with less risk than cooler climates. Longer eared cattle are more suited for summer environment and thrive where other breeds don't.

When we have rain, we don't need to grain anything either. We probably do indeed have much more pests since we pretty much all vaccinate to avoid risk.

Our grain purchases are much more expensive since we are no where near the corn belt, but there are alternatives.

Neighbors here have differing opinions on breeds and methods just like the differing opinions on this board. What works for me suits me fine. Likewise for others.

 

[Wewild]

I know the incentive of the working or cutting and vaccinating of the calves comes when you can provide a uniform 50,000 pound load to a buyer.

The load may be more or less.

 

[stocky]

In our climate, we can calve year round, up north they cant.

We dont have long eared cattle because they bring less money as feeders, in the south, long eared cattle are necessary because of heat and insects.

There is such a huge concentration of mama cows in my area that we have nearly 20 cattle auctions within a 75 mile radius of my farm, so we have an advantage when it comes to buying or selling cattle. You dont have to depend on 3 or 4 auctions like in most areas of the country.

There is a creek and a river and about 15 springs on my farm, so we have live water is almost every pasture, which is a huge advantage over the drier areas.

I have alot of rocks on our hills, so we have a huge advantage in that I can always bend down to pick up a rock to throw at a cow, unlike other areas where they have black topsoil 3 feet deep and no rock in sight.

There are lots of hills and trees that act as windbreaks or shade and most of our cattle winter without ever seeing the inside of a barn.

There are nearly 20 farm stores that sell cattle feed and supplies within a 25 mile radius, so we have a good competition for prices and variety of stock items. Some areas with less cattle do not have very many places to choose from.

These are some advantages and some disadvantages of my area compared to other areas

 

[cfpinz]

The area I live in is very conducive to running cattle. Moderate temps, good soil, varying landscape. Not much snow, adequate (most years) rainfall, etc. The biggest problem I see here is that land that is best suited for cattle has a habit of growing another cash crop - houses, and then there's the dipsticks that inhabit them.

cfpinz

 

[Victoria]

No pre-conditioning here usually either, they get weaned the day they get on the truck. They do get vaccines though and we find that there is a slight premium paid for that and age verification.
Red Angus bulls are typically more popular than Black Angus, I know that is not the same everywhere. Angus in general is getting more and more popular.
This year though the heavy rain is making hay super cheap and there are many of our neighbours that are keeping their calves for the winter so it is a little different than normal. We still aren't doing the preconditioning thing, next year might be drought and having a couple of extra bales left at the end of the year wouldn't be a bad thing. ;-)

 

[sjr725]

I agree! I'm really interested to hear different folks talk about their operations in different parts of the country. I'm probably much the same as the posters from Canada in that our weather can be harsh but the animals seem to adapt. We have a commercial herd of mostly herf X and bwf cows and have the past few years crossed with mostly charlois bulls. We have a forest service lease for the summer so the cows and calves all go to the mountains to graze the spring/summer away. We just brought them home in the past week, so they are currently dry lotted until we get enough freeze on the alfalfa fields. We are fortunate to raise our own hay - usually get 2 good cuttings and then water up the third and let it freeze off for fall forage until it covers up with snow. When it sno w covers or is grazed off we'll start feeding alfalfa hay, we generally won't grain anything - just hay and mineral/salt, we're giving bloat block now since they will be going to the hayfield soon but that's about it. They'll calve out in the fields, we do put up wind walls and will spread straw to cover the snow. We don't pre-condition our calves at all - we sell by contract and so they are weaned right onto the truck in about mid October - at the same time we bring the cows home for the winter. We have contracted our calves to the same feeder for the past 8-9 years and have built a solid relationship with these folks that has worked very well in the past years.