How many of you have fewer than 20 head total?

[Beckett]

3 calves: Brown swiss, angus, and a mix.
3 steers: all holstien/all 6 months
2 cows: Maine anjous/should calf next month. Both AI from a bull named Hurricane.
This spring i have been buying "color" since the only experiance ive ever had are with holstiens. Looking to buy at least 3 more head bfore summer gets into full swing.

I am a hobby farmer at best or as my full time job allows me to be. My wife and have been doing rescue for many years.
Along with the list of cattle heads we have:
3 goats/ We will be purchaseing alot more of these for "harvest". Seems to be getting popular in these parts.
5 bunnies
6 dogs
2 cats
1 sheep
20 chickens
5 horses

 

[dieselbeef]

how do ya keep em all fed

 

[lakeportfarms]

4 Highland cows (4 due to calf within a month)
3 Highland heifers (1 due to calf any day)
1 Angus cow
1 Lowline Angus cow (due to calf within a month)
1 Angus/Hereford X cow
1 Angus/Hereford X heifer
3 Dexter cows (due to calf within a month)
1 Jersey cow (due to calf within a month)
1 Hereford cow
1 Dexter bull
1 Angus calf (January)
1 Hereford/Dexter bull calf (April)
1 Highland/Dexter heifer calf (1 week ago)

Plus 27 goats including a Boer buck that is as big as most of the cows, 3 horses, 4 cats, two dogs, three turtles. Oh, and two teenage girls.

Guess with our new additions we are above the 20 for the cows. But like Bez, they are my wife's. I just take care of all of them. So which of them would you all suggest we thin out? I'd start with the teenage girls...

 

[milkmaid]

I do. Owned a lot more than 20 head over the years but never more than 20 head total at any one time. Pastures can't support that many.

 

[dirtdoctor]

I'm lucky that I have cattlemen that live around me that allow me to feed their bulls(use their bulls) during the time they don't need them,

That's how I'm going to be able to bred my 5. Just waiting for the last cow to calf (supposidly mid April), hoping to bring in the bull mid-May.

 

[TexasBred]

I'm lucky that I have cattlemen that live around me that allow me to feed their bulls(use their bulls) during the time they don't need them,

That's how I'm going to be able to bred my 5. Just waiting for the last cow to calf (supposidly mid April), hoping to bring in the bull mid-May.

I remember when I was a kid, one old man apparently owned the only bull in town...a nice herford. Everyone just put a loop around the cow's horns and led her up to Mr. Richey's place, turned her loose in the pasture then went and got her the next day. Everybody in town had baldies.

 

[backhoeboogie]

how do ya keep em all fed

Grass. Another hundred would work great right now since it finally rained.

 

[aussie_cowgirl]

I'm lucky that I have cattlemen that live around me that allow me to feed their bulls(use their bulls) during the time they don't need them,

That's how I'm going to be able to bred my 5. Just waiting for the last cow to calf (supposidly mid April), hoping to bring in the bull mid-May.

I remember when I was a kid, one old man apparently owned the only bull in town...a nice herford. Everyone just put a loop around the cow's horns and led her up to Mr. Richey's place, turned her loose in the pasture then went and got her the next day. Everybody in town had baldies.

Was that on the sly? :lol:

 

[TexasBred]

No...this was a good old man who didnt' care....sometimes it would look like a parade of folks leading their old cows up the hill to his place.....needless to say, the old herford bull stood at the gate a lot. :lol:

 

[B&L Longhorn Ranch]

We got:
9 Longhorns (with Bull)
1 (extremely rambunctious) Buffalo
4 Horses

Our cattle are registered and we're certainly trying to raise some of the best longhorns in the state. Due to the high cost, we pay special attention to lineage and "breed-in" what characteristics we need. Currently using a bull but after his heifers are breeding age, we'll AI those so we can keep him for a few more years. (He's our pet, a VERY high-end little bull, and we just plan to keep him around longer than average.)

PS: We're still waiting on that first "Beefalo"

 

[rowdyred]

We got:
9 Longhorns (with Bull)
1 (extremely rambunctious) Buffalo
4 Horses

Our cattle are registered and we're certainly trying to raise some of the best longhorns in the state. Due to the high cost, we pay special attention to lineage and "breed-in" what characteristics we need. Currently using a bull but after his heifers are breeding age, we'll AI those so we can keep him for a few more years. (He's our pet, a VERY high-end little bull, and we just plan to keep him around longer than average.)

PS: We're still waiting on that first "Beefalo"

is it expensive to get into the buffalo business?

 

[TexasBred]

We got:
9 Longhorns (with Bull)
1 (extremely rambunctious) Buffalo
4 Horses

Our cattle are registered and we're certainly trying to raise some of the best longhorns in the state. Due to the high cost, we pay special attention to lineage and "breed-in" what characteristics we need. Currently using a bull but after his heifers are breeding age, we'll AI those so we can keep him for a few more years. (He's our pet, a VERY high-end little bull, and we just plan to keep him around longer than average.)

PS: We're still waiting on that first "Beefalo"

is it expensive to get into the buffalo business?

When you see a buffalo around here they'e pretty cheap..... fences to hold them could be expensive.

 

[B&L Longhorn Ranch]

The infamous buffalo rumors...

Basically my wife & I wanted a buffalo simply due to the fact they once roamed free on the land here 200 years ago.
I found a buffalo pair for sale upon the end of the "pumpkin patch" season in which numerous animals (buffalo, longhorns, goats, llama,etc.) were all used in the petting zoo. Once home, she was +/- 6 months old and after a few days isolation to get used to us, we turned her out with our young herd that was +/- 9 mos old assuming they would all get along and they do PERFECTLY!
She is rambunctious but absolutely gorgeous! (Cutting wood last week around the pond and saw her get a running start and hit one hiefer, who was drinking, in the rear-end knocking her in the pond. I LAUGHED!!!

As for fences, EVERYONE told me to be prepared for fence work. We have the standard 5-strand barbwire and nothing bad to report. (A few people around have either a few or a herd with old fences.) I'll state as with any animal, if it's tame no issue but a neglected buffalo, cow, or probably a turtle will tear-up a fence.

HIGHLY recommend a buffalo to all as a pet; she is absolutely gorgeous, nostalgic, reminiscent of our fore-fathers.

 

[rowdyred]

The infamous buffalo rumors...

Basically my wife & I wanted a buffalo simply due to the fact they once roamed free on the land here 200 years ago.
I found a buffalo pair for sale upon the end of the "pumpkin patch" season in which numerous animals (buffalo, longhorns, goats, llama,etc.) were all used in the petting zoo. Once home, she was +/- 6 months old and after a few days isolation to get used to us, we turned her out with our young herd that was +/- 9 mos old assuming they would all get along and they do PERFECTLY!
She is rambunctious but absolutely gorgeous! (Cutting wood last week around the pond and saw her get a running start and hit one hiefer, who was drinking, in the rear-end knocking her in the pond. I LAUGHED!!!

As for fences, EVERYONE told me to be prepared for fence work. We have the standard 5-strand barbwire and nothing bad to report. (A few people around have either a few or a herd with old fences.) I'll state as with any animal, if it's tame no issue but a neglected buffalo, cow, or probably a turtle will tear-up a fence.

HIGHLY recommend a buffalo to all as a pet; she is absolutely gorgeous, nostalgic, reminiscent of our fore-fathers.

Thats basically the same reason I want one or few, are you planning on breding her to another buffalo are let your heard bull bred her?

 

[Avalon]

We try to keep it right at 20 Momma's Thats most manageable for us. We do own a bull but mostly AI ahead of turning him in every year. As opposed to Texas bred. None of us are good AI techs. So we always follow up with a well bred cleanup bull that best represents our goals. any time we start to teeter over the majic number of 20 its time to either cull or one of those share the wealth private treaty sales. LOL

 

[TexasBred]

We try to keep it right at 20 Momma's Thats most manageable for us. We do own a bull but mostly AI ahead of turning him in every year. As opposed to Texas bred. None of us are good AI techs. So we always follow up with a well bred cleanup bull that best represents our goals. any time we start to teeter over the majic number of 20 its time to either cull or one of those share the wealth private treaty sales. LOL

Avalon..I'm no AI tech...never bred a cow in my life. My wife however is one of the best. ;-)

 

[B&L Longhorn Ranch]

rowdyred...

See new post "Buffalo in the pasture" under Breeds Board. Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions.

 

[CowGirl005]

I own 2 pregnant heifers due in a couple of weeks.

 

[farmwriter]

We have about 40 (and building) and we lease. We live less than an hour from a farm that has a large beef cattle operation, and bull leasing is a large part of their business.
This yr, we leased 2 bulls - one for cows, one young guy for the heifers. LOVE this arrangement. His bulls are nice looking and well mannered, and the owner delivers and picks them up. They were vet checked the week before they arrived this spring, and we don't have to keep them happy and fat all winter. It's almost a no-brainer for me.

 

[MichaelB]

Right now I have one Tarentaise cow and her possibly half-Angus steer calf. I will take the cow to my breeder's this year and try again with my preferred Tarentaise bull. My breeder was gracious enough to offer a trade of my steer by his "clean up" bull for a heifer by my preferred Tarentaise bull.

After this year I will likely use AI Angus semen, because while I want a couple of Tarentaise mommas, I don't have enough land to support a real herd, and I will sell their calves as terminal crosses. I wonder if there would be a market for Angus x Tarentaise heifers ...

MichaelB