Don't forget about losses as well.
Nobody here runs 40 cows. The guy with 1,000 cows at $100 per head profit is at $100,000 a year.
Are you calling rolled corn stalks corn hay? Huge difference in cost compared to quality hay if it is.
Good point. Is it costing $500 a head to feed a cow that produces a $700 calf or $200 a head because the cow weighs 650lb? A smaller cow has some fixed costs but hay and associated feed might be less.I would talk about how much it cost to feed the 120 "Kudzu Corriente" cows, that weaned off calves averaging $700, but it might get the pigeons stirred up again.
Open cows and calves that don't make it to weaning. That 5-7% death loss really sucks up the potential profit.
The cows were all bought anywhere from $200-$400 each...or given to us. He puts a Corr cleanup bull in after we pull the bulls, and they usually have maybe 10 Corr calves. Last year they had 9, and 4 were heifers. so he gets about that many every year, and I dunno how to figure what they cost. The mjature Corss will go 700lbs or more, and a few are Corr x LH and will weigh 800. He doesn;t feed them anything. In October,after the 1st dove season, we moved them down the road to the dove field I talked about... peanuts, sunflowers, millet and corn. That field is on about 400 acres of row crop land...all fenced in. He plants soybeans, cotton and peanuts on it. And every time he harvested one of those crops in Oct-Nov, he;d open the gates to those fields and let them have them, too. Since I sold 36 of the 120 to people on here, we have 84 and 4 heifers, that we gonna round up on that 400 acres, and drive them back across the road to the Kuszu field. They start calving next week. ( Not the heifers) Only money he spends feed wise, is just for about a dozen salt blacks and a dozen mineral blocks a year. Only time they might see a bale of hay, is when we get them up and sort the calves to take to the sale in AUg or so. If we leave them penned overnight, we will put a round bale in the corral. So, I guess with the salt and 1 bale of hay a year, it is about $1 or 2 per head a year to feed them?
They produce one every 12 months or they ride.
With today's prices and inputs that's tough row to hoe.
Rules for keeping cows> Love your wife, Forgive your children. Do neither with a cow!
Yeah, had bunch of NRCS kids come to my ranch...knew about absolutely nothing, 70% horrible advice. There ARE good people high up at the top that know and understand a few things...but their "field reps" need help...too young and inexperienced.
Most efficient small cow is called a ewe. Don't settle for Corriente.I would talk about how much it cost to feed the 120 "Kudzu Corriente" cows, that weaned off calves averaging $700, but it might get the pigeons stirred up again.
They can screw up fence too. I had a single strand fence rejected because it met the WS state spec but not the MN state spec. I asked why two specs??? Silence. So I ended up getting a exception signed by the state head... What an admin mess.
Agreed. I will admit there was another factor in keeping those cows. The main decision maker though was that I was going to have to replace them with salebarn cattle. I had to decide if I wanted to sell them for a $400 avg. and replace at a $1,200 avg or just keep them. Either way was a goose egg for the year. Like I said first time I've done this in years, I generally sell all opens and cull a few non performers.
How do you know it wasn't a nutritional issue? Asking seriously do you test them for Lepto?
The vet said they had ovarian cyst from lepto. We had no clue what was happening.
A cow on my place has to live and reproduce on the nutrition available to her and look good doing it. There are a lot of cattle that can't do what I expect mine to. I don't know if that would be a nutritional issue or management issue.
