How did you get Started Raising Cattle?

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aplusmnt

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Since we have seen pictures of most, and separated experienced from the hobbyist. Thought everyone might share how they got started raising cattle and why?

I will start,

I was raised in the country on 40 acres, but family did not really have any animals to speak of. Got started in FFA in High school and got interested in livestock. Raised some Show pigs and a Steer to show at county fair. And got started livestock judging.

Ended up with a livestock Judging Scholarship to NEO A&M Junior College. Went there for two years. Studying Ag Ed and Ag Journalism. But while in college I worked doing Janitorial work at night. After two years of College I was not sure about going on for final two years.

An opportunity presented itself to me to start my own business doing the same cleaning work I had been doing the two years in College. So I opted to start the cleaning business. Putting all my efforts and money back into the business, put my livestock dreams on hold, then came wife and kids and the dream got postponed longer. Concentrating on making money and family.

16 years later after making my fortune :D We moved from town and bought a home and 130 acres. And past 5 years have been getting kids into showing livestock and starting to raise a small herd of cattle. Hopes are to retain about 10 good animals to A.I. and raise show animals with (mostly for my young kids) and grow our 20 head to around 100 commercial in next 8 years. Either buying more land or leasing some as we get bigger.

Some times your dreams just side tracked but if you keep at it I guess they can get back on track. Sometimes I regret not finishing school, I have made more money doing what I do, but Quality of life would have probably been better if I finished school. With this knowledge I hope to instill farm values in my kids and encourage that they stay on track with dreams and college and chase the money as they get older.
 
I was raised out here with lots of cattle. At 17 after finishing high school I left here and went to another ranch while getting my Marketing degree. Got out of school just as all the marketers were getting laid off - typical. :roll: So I got a job in retail, was a manager of a store and stayed there for a few years. The only thing I had to do with cows during those years was for castrating and preg testing days. Then I got really sick. Doctors didn't know what was wrong with me and I moved home. I quit my job and it happened to be calving season and there happened to be one cow that was paralyzed after calving. She became my project and we did get her back up over a week later. I also was helping my mother with the rest of calving. I was loving it and couldn't believe I'd ever left. Then my mother asked if I just wanted to stay and help. So I did. I also found someone who could finally cure my health problems.
When I got married we moved to a small town that is about 20 minutes from the ranch and then last year we were able to build a house out here.
Last year we also got into the purebred Red Angus and we're having a great time with that. I'm growing up my own herd now as well.
I love this place and I love working with cattle. I hated the city. I'm very thankful that God brought me back here and hope I never have to leave again
Interesting post aplumnt. Hope more people answer.
 
I've never been without cattle. My parents always had a herd of commercial stock just as both their families did. My father still has a herd of Beefmaster and crossbred cattle at the age of 70. Every year he says this will be my last year to fool with them but I know he'd be lost without them.

I got into Beefmaster cattle in the ninth grade as my FFA project. So my dad started using the registered Beefmaster bull that I bought on his Hereford, Shorthorn, Angus and Charolais cows. In a few years most of his herd had been bred up to Beefmaster. In recent years he's added black to his herd by using a black Beefalo, black Gelbvieh and now an Angus bull.

I still have some old Beefmaster and Beefalo cross cows that are old enough to vote. I got into Longhorns nine years ago when I saw a bunch at a Longhorn show at the county fair. I had always liked them when I saw them from time to time and had always wanted some. I wound up taking a friend that I worked with at the time to see a herd of them. I had talked to this fellow at the show and found out he was less than two hours from where I lived. When I got there and saw his weaning age heifers I decided I wanted one basically to keep as pasture art. My buddy who went with me asked me if he was to buy one too could he keep her at my place since he and his family lived in town? I decided that if we were going to buy two registered heifers why not go ahead and buy a young bull so I wouldn't have to breed them to one of my Beefmaster bulls.

That's how the Longhorn saga in my life got under way. We now have about 150 head of Texas Longhorn cattle. I can't ever see me living in town, not having cattle and especially not having my Longhorns. Now, I pretty much spend all of my time when I'm not at my day job working with and talking about Longhorn cattle. It's alot of hard work and there's alot of time spent but I can't think of anything I'd rather do.
 
My dad bought me a day old holstein bull calf when I was in second grade. By the time I graduated from high school I had enough cattle to pay for my first two years in college. I was studying animal nutrition. I sort of got side tracked at and went off chasing rodeos, but even during that time I worked on ranches and feedlots. I also owned a few cattle most of the time. A while back I went through a divorce and stepped back and took a look at my life. I remembered that what I really enjoyed was working cows, so I began putting together a herd. I can't afford to quit the day job but I am not a hobby farmer. I am a part time farmer. I run from 35 to 50 momma cows. I keep slowly increasing the number. No going to the bank I am doing it with my own money. I figure I have enough time to run about 100 pairs.
Dave
 
We have always had cattle on our place. When I was young we had both dairy and beef cattle and now is just beef cattle. Our herd has grown steadily over the years. When I was a baby I stayed in a play pen in the barn while my mom milked cows and once I could walk it was my job to halterbreak our dairy calves. From there I got older and joined 4-H. I guess you could say I never really got in to the cattle business and that I was more born into it. Wouldn't have it any other way.
 
Had a craving for a T-Bone one day....it just snowballed from there!
 
Grew up on the farm 62 years ago. Milked cows by hand before and after school. Swore that when I was calling the shots, I would never own a dairy cow. Have kept my word!!
 
Grew up on a farm. Left home at 16, started forest fire fighting at 17, joined the police force at 20, Back to college and got my RN at 30, and now back to the farm.
 
If anyone had told me 7 years ago that I'd be taking care of cows, I'd have had a really good laugh...now I do all the feeding, halter-breaking, schedule and help(?) the vet, plan who's going to go to what pasture and when, figure out how to get them in the trailer, etc. (And I'd be lost without a lot of corral panels, ha ha!) Also answer e-mails from people looking for calves, set up farm visits, show them around, etc., and handle our fair exhibits. May not always get it all done exactly the way I want it, but not too bad for an 'old broad' either. I was a "horse" kid but my father had some reg. Angus; he named one cow after me and refused to "cull" her, no matter what (but I never learned this until after he died...thanks, Dad!)
 
I born on a dairy farm. I hated so much the cows that I quit drinking milk. At 25 I became police officer. At 48 years I was in California and my father die . My brother bought the family farm, 150 acres. There was nothing left on this farm not even a fork. I returned to Montréal and a year after, at a dinner in a restaurant of Montreal I said to my brother:
"What you would say if we start the farm again". I purchased half of his share and I retire from police (Quebec Provincial Police).
The farm is at 400 miles from Montreal. Today, after 8 years, the farm own approximately 2,500 acres, including 1000 in culture and the rest is wood. We got 300 heads Hereford Simm. and Black Angus. and I sell hay. I work as I never have work. I have also 2 lakes in which I put trouts. Now I like the cows but I never yet drank only one glass of milk.
My brother still in Montréal and he don't work on the farm.

That was the second best decision I made in my life.

(Sorry for the english, it's not my first language.)
 
I was my father's first natural son. He adopted two and raised some more. He used to throw me in the saddle with him and go work cattle. I do remember holding the reins when he'd get down.

Grandaddy ran cattle. I went to his place most summers when I was old enough to help. He was in on the big Brahman import in the 60's. He picked up about 40 head of that bunch that came out of Argentina, if anyone remembers that. Mostly he ran Gertrudis and crossed them out with Brahman. Talked to a guy about two weeks ago in Hallsville that claims he still have a strain of those Brahmans and he has sent them all over. I am supposed to stop by his place next time I am in the Longview/Marhsall area. Grandaddy died in '83.

We moved all over the U.S. and even abroad. I was away from cattle for several years. In '76 Dad bought a little place and started raising cattle. Guess he was a "Hobbyist" because he had a full time job. We'd milk Jerseys every other evening and run calves on them the other three cycles. He had angus and herefords along with the Jerseys. He was up to over 100 head (part time) when the drought hit in the mid 80's. Dad had taken in an orphan (the boys mom died of cancer and asked Daddy to take him before she went) and the boy got in to a bit of trouble requiring a great deal of expense. Dad wound up losing just about everything because of the drought and expense he put into that boy. Everyone was selling out tractors and equipment. Lots of folks had gone bust. I bought one of Dad's tractors and lots of his implements thinking he'd buy it all back when he got on his feet. Dad never went back to farming.

My wife inherited some land. I inherited a little too. The land had an ag exemption and if I didn't keep it, the taxes would cost too much. I bought cattle. I thought I would never have cattle but I guess it is just in my blood.

I had gotten older, married, and had a family before grandaddy died. I would go over and brush hog his place, patch up his fences, but never went to the sale with him and such. I pretty much got out of touch with the mainstay folks at sale barns and so forth. When he died, the place was broken up between his kids. I got a part of that place now too.

I had a full time job, a family, and I managed to help Dad out quite a bit with his cattle. Then Dad died too. I had a few head mixed in with his but never anything significant.

When I was in HS I was in vo-ag and got quite a study in animal husbandry and learned a few techniques that I had never seen. Some were better and some were slower than the way Daddy did things.

I always hated dehorning cattle. I didn't much like branding either but it wasn't as bad. I am still not familiar with the new way they dehorn cattle these days. I only own one cow that has horns and she is not a problem.

I am a full time engineer, instrumentation and controls as well as mechanical certifications. I also quarry stone, have caterpillar, backhoe, loader, dump trailers etc. That business made me a lot of money but it suffers quite a bit from my cattle "hobby" hours. However, it does make life simple for clearing brush, digging misquites, etc. I can get all of that done for fuel cost and no more. It probably gives me a bit of an edge in clearing pastures and such.

I am very attached to the cows I have. I try to break even while building the herd. I am not so much trying to make money as I am building the herd. Maintaining ag exemptions on the farm is another plus.

In the workplace, there are folks wanting to buy half a beef from time to time. I am considering finishing out my own steers and selling them on splits to my peers versus hauling them to the sale barn. I feel it will be a better deal for all of us. They will get good steak, burger, roast etc for a good price. I will get more nickels than I do from taking them to the auction. This looks to be a very promising avenue for me and it is starting to take off.

I enjoy eating my own farm raised beef. It does not bother me one iota to eat a steer that I have raised from a calf. I guess it is just part of growing up with it.

My cattle experience comes from back in the late 60's, 70's and 80's. I am out of touch with modern terminology and techniques, but I have larned quite a bit from this forum. I have spent hours reading page after page of forum. There are many "modern" things I disagree with and many others I condone. If you have ever had to manually dehorn over 50 head on a given day, you likely understand my drift. When I see good buys on cows with horns, I pass up on them. Probably a mistake.

I despise "horsetraders" in the cattle business. Some of the old timers I run in to at the salesbarns think I have been in cattle all along. I have not. I thoroughly enjoy sitting with them and catching up on old times, but I just don't have the time to do it. They give me a heads-up on who is who. Some of the yonger folks think I must be a guru since Daddy and Grandaddy's old friends act like I am an old lost friend.

My children are raised but I am about to have grandchildren. I am expecting a grandson in July and never had a son. Anyway, my children have not taken much of my time lately, but I will need to devote time to my grandchildren. I am thinking that running them thru the farm, letting them drive the truck or tractor the way I did at a young age will be a positive and rewarding experience for them. I know I treasure most of the memories with my grandaddies.

My girls were Tomboys and can drive tractors, dozers, backhoes, shoot straight and do just about anything. One is an engineer herself and married to an engineer. (she doesn't need me anymore)

Life has been very good to me so far. Least I think so. That is my story. Sorry for taking so many words to express myself.
 
Raised on a farm. Left it. Bad move and too long a story to tell here.

Had a fellow give me a few some years back - and away we went.

For that reason I always give a few away.

Yeah, it's a money game - butit is also a whole bunch more.

Bez!
 
Dad had a little herd of about 100 when i was growing up. when i was 4 he would put me in the truck (stick) and tell me to drive while he kicked off bales of hay to the cows. he said that if a cow got in front of me and wouldnt move to just mash down on that middle pedal and the truck would stop. after choking down several times we decided to just let the cows get out of the way or be run over.

when i was about 8 or 9 i got a golf cart for Christmas. one day i decided that i would ride out around the cows. i stopped in the pasture to watch them. they were curious. i was too. i took it upon myself to "check on my cows" from there on out. i had learned all their eartags within a weeks time. started telling dad who was about to have a calf and alerted him of any problems. i kind of just took my dads cows over (which was fine with him b/c i needed a "job" and he was more focused on crops than cattle). it was just a natural thing that came to me all of the sudden one day and i started doing. it was like that was what i was meant to do?

by age 10 i was telling him that i wanted to increase our numbers b/c we could support a lot more cows than we were. so we did. got a fourwheeler at age 11 or 12 and that was the greatest investment ever made on the farm. during high school while other kids were getting high after school i was checking on cows and delivering calves in the pasture by myself (well, with the cows help!).

went to college for 6 years. LOVED it--mostly the social aspect, parties, no real responsibilty. got tired of school and felt guilty about being away so moved back home. bought some heifers. and now i manage my dad's herd, my sister's herd, and my herd.
 
i love this question.as well as reading how others got into it.i grew up with cattle.been around them from the time that i was born.grew up in the dairy business.started bottle feeding calves at 7.would always bring the cows up for milking.as well as check the springers.never worked off the farm an dont intend to.im the type that couldnt put up with a boss telling me what an how todo things.so i guess you can say ive been in cattle over 40yrs.
 
Seems that most of you were born to it or spend at least part of your life on one. My story's different. I grew up in a rural area (small town Appalachia) but was never around a real farm and know nothing about farming. However, I've always been facinated with it and wanted to try but land is just too darned expensive. Several years ago my father in law retired as a high school principle and started running about 30 head on the farm where he had grown up. I loved that place and spend every evening I could there watching the cows or fishing or just walking the fields or the mountain. I lucked out in that my father in laws only son is a judge and has shown no interest in keeping the place going so when my father in law became too old to keep the place up, he sold the cows, the tractor and the equipment but gave the land to me. (I think he realized I was his best shot at keeping the place in the family). I spent the summer clearing brush by hand with a weedeater and a riding mower and bought 8 heifers in November. I ask questions to anyone who will listen, I experiment, and I learn by trial and error. We'll just have to wait to see how the story ends.
 
Family Tradition basically. Last year in the 8th grade my cousin got me involved in showing calves and the Simmental breed. And my father added on by giving 1 or 2 hiefers of my choice from his herd to show as payment for working in the hayfield. since then i have grown my herd to nearly five hiefers. the only way i get to keep the hiefers is by feeding, working with, etc. So im going to try to go from Simmental X to pure Simmental. So this is how i got into the buisness. A little bit of family tradition, FFA SAE Record book, and determination. Thats my story and Im sticking to it.

Millerlite :cboy:
 
Raised on a farm. My parents started out with 12 cows for $1200 dollars about 40 years ago. That herd grew and put all 5 of us kids through college. My dads gone now and Mom ( 76 )is slowly getting out of raising cattle. She only has about 30 now. I've just carried on the tradition that I love. I plan on using the profit from cattle to put my kids through school as well.
 

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