preston39
Well-known member
bdog,
Just curious. What did you feed them in addition to the forage?
Just curious. What did you feed them in addition to the forage?
Feeding Only hay - advice needed soon
- Thread starter bdog
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The ten last year? I fed them nothing other than the haygrazer that was growing. They did not even eat it all. I sold them becasue I wanted to plow up the land and plant winter wheat and at that time there was a bunch of the haygrazer left that I just shredded.
Bama
Well-known member
20 sounds better. Then you can feed them for a little longer. Thats still a lot on 3 acres but seems like less trouble. Keep us posted how it goes. Heck you may teach us all something. Good Luck
tapeworm
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10 head grazing 3 acres where you had something planted for cover that they couldnt keep up with is a lot different than 30 head running where nothing is growing and you just disced it up. Could get awful wet and muddy...just have in mind what you will do IF or when it get muddy. Speaking of water...what about stock water??? you never mention how your going to water 30 head. Something else...all round bales are not the same...you talk like you think a round bale is a unit of volume like a gallon or bushel or something..they can range from 500 pounds up to 1700+pounds...and what about quality???Dont buy that hay planning on using it for your complete ration just because some guy said it LOOKS like good hay...good COW hay is not good CALF hay...you better test before you buy or else you might end up having to use protein supplement...that could turn your get rich quick deal (its NOT..LOL) into a nightmare that makes you want to stay in bed ever morning so you dont have to think about pouring more money in a trough. And what about waste?? NOt just manure but hay...300 rolls of hay will get you at least 30 rolls of wasted hay unless you grind it and feed it in bunks. Big mess unless you can clean pens like someboyd else said
Now for my OPINION ....Youre asking for ass losing trouble to stick 30head on 3 acres and haul feed to them and plan on having to sell out when you run out of feed. No matter the market??? HAVE to sell?? HUH??? Your outta feed...they gotta go??? Thats it?? No plan B?? Man thats not a plan!!! Take your money to the horse track...compared to your idea thats a plan!! Dont haul feed to cattle unless you have to!! Feedlots do it with big numbers...because theyre in it to sell feed....not make money off of cattle....customer owned cattle make money for a feedlot even if they lose $200 a head.....company owned cattle make money for a feedlot even if they just breakeven...you cant do like a feedlot and not make a profit unless you just want the practice and can stand the loss...you need a profit dont you??? Good luck....youre likely to need it
Now for my OPINION ....Youre asking for ass losing trouble to stick 30head on 3 acres and haul feed to them and plan on having to sell out when you run out of feed. No matter the market??? HAVE to sell?? HUH??? Your outta feed...they gotta go??? Thats it?? No plan B?? Man thats not a plan!!! Take your money to the horse track...compared to your idea thats a plan!! Dont haul feed to cattle unless you have to!! Feedlots do it with big numbers...because theyre in it to sell feed....not make money off of cattle....customer owned cattle make money for a feedlot even if they lose $200 a head.....company owned cattle make money for a feedlot even if they just breakeven...you cant do like a feedlot and not make a profit unless you just want the practice and can stand the loss...you need a profit dont you??? Good luck....youre likely to need it
tapeworm, Thanks for your reply. I am not just looking for positive replies but I want the negative as well. To answer your questions I have a 10' galvanized stock tank with an automatic float to keep it full. As to the round bales I stated in my first post they are 1000lb bales. the place selling them says they are 1000lbs +/- 100lbs. The guy that looked a the hay is my neighbor who has been a farmer/rancher all his life. He currently does custom cutting and baling of hay for others so I assume he knows what he is talking about, but who knows. As to wasting hay I know there will be waste but I do have three round bale hay feeders so that should help some.
As to plan B, I could always buy more feed, look for pasture to lease, etc. Like I said I am by no means an expert on the cattle busisness. I just came across theis oppurtunity to get some feed really cheap and and trying to figure out how to take advantage of it.
Let me put the question this way. For arguments sake lets assume the hay is good. If you could buy from 1 to 1000 1000lb round bales for $1, and you had 3 acres with a super good fence what would you do? Would you just pass it up? I am all open to suggestions here.
As to plan B, I could always buy more feed, look for pasture to lease, etc. Like I said I am by no means an expert on the cattle busisness. I just came across theis oppurtunity to get some feed really cheap and and trying to figure out how to take advantage of it.
Let me put the question this way. For arguments sake lets assume the hay is good. If you could buy from 1 to 1000 1000lb round bales for $1, and you had 3 acres with a super good fence what would you do? Would you just pass it up? I am all open to suggestions here.
stocky
Well-known member
bdog, what part of the country are you in? the reason i ask is i am wondering how much rain you get. i posted earlier as to my liking alot of your plan except my concern is the initial cost of the animals and the risk of the market going down---to me, a high risk initial investment. in your last post, you ask what i would do if i had 3 acres and a chance to buy 1000 bales of a dollar each----if the hay is good and if the bales are tight and especially if they are net wrapped, i know what i would do in sw missouri if i was in your shoes with just 3 acres-------i would buy the entire 1000 bales at 1 dollar per bale and move them onto the 3 acres and wait until snow flies next dec-jan and sell them for anywhere from 10-20 dollars per bale. even with the huge hay surplus this year, small farmers were paying 10-12 dollars for year old hay here. to me, that is a chance to make at least 10 times your money in 10 months without the investment of the high price cattle and the risk of loss. here, you could sell 10-20 bales at a time all winter long for 15 dollars per bale average---that is a pretty nifty profit
jerry27150
Well-known member
i would still try your initial plan
I think you have a decent plan except for just feeding them hay. Our pens allow around 1000 sf/hd which is plenty of room with mud only being a problem in spring. 30 head on 3 acres is around 4350 sf/hd. Your pen is plenty big for 30 head.
As for feeding them. I would seriously look into supplementing them with corn/soymeal or whatever is cheap in your area. Corn is still pretty cheap off the farm. Try to buy your grain for market price or a little less right from the farm. In my area it's 20 cents a bushel to have corn hauled to market, if we end up buying corn we pay market price if they haul it to our place, or 10 cents less if we haul it ourselves. Buying all your feed from the feed store is seriously going to hurt any potential profits.
As has been stated, feeder cattle are very high right now, and there are no guarentees that the price will hold until you sell them, but if you can put enough gain on them, the worst I think you would do would be to break even.
On a side note, let us know if you are actually able to buy hay for less than $10/roll. I am guessing that was just the minimum starting bid for the auction and there were no bids. I am guessing the guy selling it, would buy it back himself if it sold for less than $10 even with commission.
As for feeding them. I would seriously look into supplementing them with corn/soymeal or whatever is cheap in your area. Corn is still pretty cheap off the farm. Try to buy your grain for market price or a little less right from the farm. In my area it's 20 cents a bushel to have corn hauled to market, if we end up buying corn we pay market price if they haul it to our place, or 10 cents less if we haul it ourselves. Buying all your feed from the feed store is seriously going to hurt any potential profits.
As has been stated, feeder cattle are very high right now, and there are no guarentees that the price will hold until you sell them, but if you can put enough gain on them, the worst I think you would do would be to break even.
On a side note, let us know if you are actually able to buy hay for less than $10/roll. I am guessing that was just the minimum starting bid for the auction and there were no bids. I am guessing the guy selling it, would buy it back himself if it sold for less than $10 even with commission.
mr. bdog
Seems to me that something just dont pass the smell test about all this. You said your in texas and in the part of texas that gets only about 15 inches of rain. you must have hit it just rite last year to grow all that haygrazer for them calfs on just 3 acres. and with all them cattle ranchers they have down in texas i cant hardly understand it that nobody didnt snap up all that hay long time ago fer a dollar or hell even fer five dollars or more. is everbody fer miles around up to there eyeballs in hay?? i bet not. why do you reckon nobody even bid on them bales on that auction? it seems to me that something is wrong with that hay or else there is some other real big part of the puzzel still being left out here. hell a dollar is a dang good price to pay even fer a little old 60 pound square bale of any kind of decent hay not to mention a 1000 pound round bale. if something sounds way way to good to be true most times it aint true and may be theres even a skunk in the water tank :lol: be caerfull about all this deal and at least get a few of them bales tested before you pay any $$. and think about this, in 15 inch rain area may be all that hay growed up in the middle of a drout and got full of nitrate poison and may be thats why none of the real cattle ranchers from miles around would touch it? if its got the poison you cant tell just by looking at the bale.
Seems to me that something just dont pass the smell test about all this. You said your in texas and in the part of texas that gets only about 15 inches of rain. you must have hit it just rite last year to grow all that haygrazer for them calfs on just 3 acres. and with all them cattle ranchers they have down in texas i cant hardly understand it that nobody didnt snap up all that hay long time ago fer a dollar or hell even fer five dollars or more. is everbody fer miles around up to there eyeballs in hay?? i bet not. why do you reckon nobody even bid on them bales on that auction? it seems to me that something is wrong with that hay or else there is some other real big part of the puzzel still being left out here. hell a dollar is a dang good price to pay even fer a little old 60 pound square bale of any kind of decent hay not to mention a 1000 pound round bale. if something sounds way way to good to be true most times it aint true and may be theres even a skunk in the water tank :lol: be caerfull about all this deal and at least get a few of them bales tested before you pay any $$. and think about this, in 15 inch rain area may be all that hay growed up in the middle of a drout and got full of nitrate poison and may be thats why none of the real cattle ranchers from miles around would touch it? if its got the poison you cant tell just by looking at the bale.
