How far is too far

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tnwalkingred

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Eagleville, TN
All,

How far is too far to have cattle away from your home? How often do you check on your cattle? I personally check on the cattle at my house everyday but I'm thinking about buying or leasing another farm and it obviously will not be at the house. I know everyone is going to have a different opinion of this but I thought I'd ask anyways. I always assumed that if the cattle had plenty of forage, fresh water, and a good fence surrounding them that checking on them once a week would be sufficient. I wouldn't want to have heifers calving far from home but in reality I rarely see them calve even when they are at the house. My heifers normally have calves while I'm asleep. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

Kyle
 
Of course it depends on location and predators, human or otherwise. Cows would be fine.
For heifers, I would refer you to yesterdays post by Caustic Bruno "This is why I hate heifers."
To quote Rosanne Roseannadanna "If it's not one thing it's another."
 
I summer my cattle 35 miles away. I mostly go check on them once a week call em up and give them a little feed check mineral and what not. But, I try and winter them at my house. My hay is to scattered out to winter them there. I think everyone's situation is different depending where your hay is baled, climate, Etc. B&G
 
tnwalkingred":16zauip0 said:
All,

How far is too far to have cattle away from your home? How often do you check on your cattle? I personally check on the cattle at my house everyday but I'm thinking about buying or leasing another farm and it obviously will not be at the house. I know everyone is going to have a different opinion of this but I thought I'd ask anyways. I always assumed that if the cattle had plenty of forage, fresh water, and a good fence surrounding them that checking on them once a week would be sufficient. I wouldn't want to have heifers calving far from home but in reality I rarely see them calve even when they are at the house. My heifers normally have calves while I'm asleep. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

Kyle

Kyle, I live in Franklin and I know where Eagleville is. Where are you thinking about buying or leasing additional acreage?
 
I have one set of heifers that are ten minutes away and my bulls are kept right around the corner from me in the off-season but everything else is at least forty-five minutes away from me. When I'm feeding hay I see most of them every third day but the rest of the year they're on their own for weeks at a time. I have one set that lives where I can only get to them horseback that I see up close twice a year, once at branding, once at weaning.
I will fix something if I see it when I'm there but they are on their own the rest of the time and I don't lose any sleep worrying about it. The cost of time and money that it would take to see them on a regular basis could not be offset by the benefit of the extra care and in the long run would create more cattle that need my intervention.
 
cow pollinater":3enm8g0j said:
I have one set that lives where I can only get to them horseback that I see up close twice a year, once at branding, once at weaning.
You're not serious, think you should get that raggedy azz on that horse and at least try and see them four times a year :D
 
I check mine at least every other day during calving season, twice a week the rest of the year, but they're all within a few miles of my house. I've known people who had cattle a good distance away and went weeks without seeing them, but I don't think that would work for me. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep for worrying about what could be going wrong.
 
Rafter S":2cymjbmp said:
I check mine at least every other day during calving season, twice a week the rest of the year, but they're all within a few miles of my house. I've known people who had cattle a good distance away and went weeks without seeing them, but I don't think that would work for me. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep for worrying about what could be going wrong.
It takes a while to get used to. :nod: I used to keep a registered herd here on the valley floor and if I couldn't see them daily I'd ask someone else to go look for me. Once they went up the hill I was up there every other day for the first year. :lol:
 
Animals always stay home - unless it is a feed issue - always cheaper to truck cows to feed than feed to cows

If you have to drive more than a few minutes it is too far - JMHO

But - people will do what is required.

Fuel, wear and tear and travel time and emergency travel .....

All come into play

Bez
 
Rafter S":m64o3gne said:
I check mine at least every other day during calving season, twice a week the rest of the year, but they're all within a few miles of my house. I've known people who had cattle a good distance away and went weeks without seeing them, but I don't think that would work for me. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep for worrying about what could be going wrong.

30 minutes after you leave cow tries to have a calf and has a leg back - more than a day to see her again means a dead one - might not have happened yet - but it will - always does if you have any number of animals - calving ease bulls does not mean mal presentations do not happen.

Good luck

Bez
 
I ran an operation 140 miles from me for years. Had two houses one at work the other on the farm.
Worked 4 on 7 off you can bet 99.99% of the time when something went South I was working.
Had good neighbors that I compensated in some way.
Tree fall on a fence they would move them to another pasture or repair the fence.
That Christmas I would make sure they got a nice shotgun or rifle or something on that line.
You have to have a better cow that knows how to work with out help.
I have followed Tom Lasiters philosophy for years and that is about the only way to operate long distance IMO.
 
If you are raising cattle for profit and figure all expenses, a big cost is travel expense , the tax write off is .55 cents a mile for travel, if your lease is 35 miles from you , 70 miles round trip and you check twice a week , you will travel 7280 miles a year X .55 = $4004 a year for travel expense. My Father raised cattle for living and the first thing he figured was travel expense, that was in the 50's when gas was .20 a gal. and calves brought .20 but the formula still works , if you are in it for profit.
 
how far your away from your herd is up to you.i know guys that are 2hrs away from their cows.an they check them from 1 to 3 times a week.an 1 is a reg breeder.
 
Almost all of our summer pasture is between 30 and 120 miles from home. Once they are on summer pasture (May 1ish to November/Dec) they get checked at least every 2 weeks. I like to do it once a week, but in haying season, that isn't usually feasible. Usually we start feeding sometime in November, then they get looked at every day. Once calving season hits (Mar 1 - Apr 15) we check several times a day, depends a lot on the weather and on how the heifers are calving out....

Losing 1 is something we do our best to prevent. It costs money to keep a cow around for a year and a lost calf = lost $$$...
 
Tux,

I have not been able to find a good lease yet. The farms I'm looking to buy would be 20-40 miles away and south of Eagleville.

Kyle
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. If I get a place more than 25 miles away l probably only use it during the grazing months and bring them all home when it's time to start feeding hay. I hope to stockpile some fescue and make my grazing season longer.

Kyle
 
tnwalkingred":27cghpx9 said:
Thanks for all the advice guys. If I get a place more than 25 miles away l probably only use it during the grazing months and bring them all home when it's time to start feeding hay. I hope to stockpile some fescue and make my grazing season longer.

Kyle
That's a good plan.

My farthest herd is about 30 miles one way, I leave them there year round, but that might not work well in the winter for someone that also has a regular job to go to everyday.

My opinion on how far really works is about a 1 hour from home, for some people it might be more than that and I know some that wouldn't have any more than 5 miles from home.
 
Mine are all 60-90 miles from the house. Like CB I have a small house where I stay for a few days at a time. I try to get everything taken care of in that time but you always have problems. I make the trip about every 10 days. It helps to have mid-size, (or larger) gentle, older cows that are well fed. A good low calving weight bull is essential. Sure you will occasionally lose one but that is the price you have to pay if you live close to a big city where lease land is non-existent and and land to buy is very expensive. Good neighbors and good fences go a long way and any cow that gets out more than once usually gets shipped. Bulls are usually more a problem than cows. More than once I have arrived to check the cows and have the bull meet me on the road side of the gate wanting to come home. You take the good with the bad.
 
Mine are 7 miles away in the summer. I get there a couple of times a week to check the water. I have worked on big western ranches where the cows are turned out to range in May and they are not all seen again until October.
 

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