For my first post I shall ask a simple ?

[flatrock9]

This may end up being one of the most asked questions but I'll ask anyway.

If you were looking at getting into the cattle business, how would you start off? Would you buy bred heifers, weaned heifers to breed later, cow/calf pairs, older bred cows, crossbred, registered pure breeds? Young herd bull or AI? My thoughts right now are that I want to buy 4-5 cows to get started to help me get a feel for things.

My father-in-law owns about 100 or so head so I'm not totally blind and without assistance. I'm also just an 'ol country boy from Alabama so I'm no stranger to hayfields and barbed wire fences.

So, if you were a complete novice what would your strategy look like?

 

[cross_7]

your father-in-law is going to be your very best source

 

[ga.prime]

What I've had the best luck with are 3 in 1's. A percentage of heifers are going to be problem calvers, won't make good mothers for various reasons, etc. A percentage of heifers that get through their first calf ok won't re-breed. 3 in 1's on the other hand are proven- what you see is what you get and she's going to have another calf. Registration papers aren't worth hooey unless you can talk somebody into thinking that paying you a premium for one of your registered calves is a good business decision- so you need to ask yourself if you want to play that game.

 

[kjonesel]

I would start with a pencil and a piece of paper. Map it out on paper and see if you can live with what you come up with, that is where I would begin.

 

[flatrock9]

My father-in-law's idea would probably be "Buy ya' old cows, breed 'em, sell 'em calves.". No doubt though, I plan on leaning on him for some of the more basic things ("What's that hanging out that cow's rear?" ).

He runs crossbred cows, mostly. The majority of his herd is black (angus mix?). Right now my two biggest thoughts are 1) should I try to go more for a certain breed as opposed to crossbred 2) and what age should I look for? My thinking is that I want to find a few brangus/red brangus cows or even pairs. I have thought that I would go angus (due mostly to the public perception of angus beef) but everything I read on the brangus tells me it might be a better breed for a newbie (disease resistance of the brahma, beef quality of angus). For a first timer is that something I should even be considering? I mean I'm talking about less than 10 head. It's not like I am going to be on the cover of Forbes Magazine as the most successful cattleman of the last century! ;-)

What do you define as a 3 in 1? I think I might know what you are talking about but would like a bit more.

 

[dun]

What do you define as a 3 in 1? I think I might know what you are talking about but would like a bit more.

A bred cow that is nursing a calf.

 

[flatrock9]

That's what I was thinking. Thanks.

 

[suzorse]

for a few head and if there is a good tec close I would go AI, as you could always use one of your dads bulls for clean up if needed , just what I would do
Suzanne