How we've handled the droughts

[cowgirl8]

I have rocked yalls world havent I?
Technically, i'm not here for business advice. Not here to learn how to make my cattle business better or how to feed my cows better. Have had a cattle business for over 35 years and we've done pretty darn good. So really, if it bothers you that we occasionally feed chicken litter, never fear, like jedslivers said, lots of people do it. Its going to be bigger operations though, no one buys a couple bags of chicken litter. You have to buy a big enough pile to cure and have a big barn to do it in. So i dont really expect people with hobby cows to even know past a google search on how bigger operations work.
Now some of you say i get offended, i have thin skin. If this statement bothers you, its not me who has the thin skin.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

You ever here of Mad Cow? BSE? Lots of people feed it and have fed it. Doesn't mean its the right thing to do. Thought at one time it was againist the law in Texas and some other states.

 

[cowgirl8]

:deadhorse:

 

[Rajela]

Most commercial poultry feeds (chicken and turkey) are loaded to the gills with antibiotics to hold down death rates and increase weight gain

Wrong......Wrong....Wrong.....

 

[Banjo]

I think cocaine is made from all natural products too ain't it.
I guess technically you are not causing them to inadvertently be carnivores...which was happening when everybody fed meat meal and bone meal to cattle.

 

[JDsafeman]

Cowgirl8, I am also in NE Texas. I think we share the same droughts. Thanks for posting. Looks like a creative solution. (and a lot of hard work) :cboy:

 

[cowgirl8]

JDsafeman, how are yall doing now? We managed to finally get out of the drought area, but i know west of here ponds are still low.
Here was our last pond. We concentrated all our cows in this one area. Even though i pumped water twice a day to keep the cows out, some of the old gals still drank from the pond. They walked right past the tank. Had one old cow get stuck.
We had thought this pond was shallow. But what it was, was really deep. This pond was the first to get boggy around the edge, but once it went down to this point it wasnt as boggy.
Since, we've had several ponds dug out and we have a new pond that is very very deep. I really hate having to pump water, really hate doing that.

 

[cowgirl8]

I also want to add, i dont remember how much hay we were able to get off the Indian Nation land, but it was a lot. Some of that grass was over 8 ft tall. I'm thinking it was well over 1000 bales. Do any of you know just how hard it was to not sell out? We put this hay where we could watch it 24/7 to keep people from stealing. In the hay field, we took a camper and had then daughters boyfriend who was a cop, stay the night there to keep guard. Constantly during the day we had people with trailers pull up wanting to buy hay. I think they sold a few, but this was going to save our ranch so we wanted to hold onto everything we could.
But, hay was going for over 100 dollars a bale. My husband baled up over 1000 and we could have easily sold every bale. Let me tell you, it was so hard not to. Husband was looking forward though, he felt that if we could hold onto as many cows as we could, in the end it would pay off. So while people are scrambling to buy up bred cows at prices that are sky high, we've been able to stay around the size we are. Its taken a few years, but this year it may finally pay off.

 

[JDsafeman]

Sounds like you are ready to handle anything this year. Maybe this will be a better year.
We finally got rain a couple of weeks ago and had a rapid green-up. I still have hay out but the cows are finding green stuff to eat.
I bale my own hay but this year I ran out and had to buy some. Even the winter rye-grass suffered from hard freezes and lack of rain.
Good news though...cattle prices are way up. Even my culls are bringing record prices!

 

[TexasBred]

I have rocked yalls world havent I?
Technically, i'm not here for business advice. Not here to learn how to make my cattle business better or how to feed my cows better. Have had a cattle business for over 35 years and we've done pretty darn good. So really, if it bothers you that we occasionally feed chicken litter, never fear, like jedslivers said, lots of people do it. Its going to be bigger operations though, no one buys a couple bags of chicken litter. You have to buy a big enough pile to cure and have a big barn to do it in. So i dont really expect people with hobby cows to even know past a google search on how bigger operations work.
Now some of you say i get offended, i have thin skin. If this statement bothers you, its not me who has the thin skin.

Makes an old man wonder why you are here? You know it all, you listen to no one, have no intentions of changing anything and are quiet "well to do". You've offended noone. Actually thought we had offended you by daring to ask questions or question your methods. And yes I'm a hobby farmer, but I wouldn't call a 300 cow operation a "big operation" either "lady".

 

[TexasBred]

Most commercial poultry feeds (chicken and turkey) are loaded to the gills with antibiotics to hold down death rates and increase weight gain

Wrong......Wrong....Wrong.....

Tell me about it poultry man. I need to get up to speed.

 

[Rajela]

Most commercial poultry feeds (chicken and turkey) are loaded to the gills with antibiotics to hold down death rates and increase weight gain

Wrong......Wrong....Wrong.....

Tell me about it poultry man. I need to get up to speed.

I would but it would take to long to explain the agriculture food industry but if you do a little research on drugs and withdrawal rates you might figure it out. I will tell you this if the "lady" and her husband has been running 300 head of cow in the piney woods of northeast Texas for 35 years then I can guarantee you she has plenty of knowledge about beef cattle. I am sure she has "been there done that" a few times. :cboy:

cowgirl8
You guys are between Blossom and Reno or Blossom and Detroit. I believe I have seen that Crawford sign before. :tiphat:

 

[Rajela]

I have heard that most commercial poultry feeds (chicken and turkey) are loaded to the gills with antibiotics to hold down death rates and increase weight gain. I'd love to see the bacteria county per ml. of "poop". There use to be a plant over in Mt. Pleasant Texas that actually processed it. They mixed it with corn, dried bakery products and cooked it. Don't know if they still are in business or not. All I can say is you really took a chance on compromising the health of your entire herd. Hope you never get that desperate again. Too many other good protein supplements available for cattle that would do just as good if not a better job. Just cost a bit more.

I fixed it for ya TexasBred....Your :welcome:

 

[branguscowgirl]

Very interesting thread cowgirl8! Sounds like you and your family did a fantastic job making it all work out. It was a lot of hard work no doubt!

 

[cowgirl8]

Very interesting thread cowgirl8! Sounds like you and your family did a fantastic job making it all work out. It was a lot of hard work no doubt!

Are you in a drought area? We've been hearing about the drought in California. I dont know how long it will take to get over what all we went through. Every time a cold front moves though and it doesnt rain, i get really nervous.

 

[Kscattle]

I've got that same feed grinder ( hammer mill), it's a bear cat brand. Mine has the swing auger to bring grain up into the mill, but they look the same. Those are good machines. I've never been around a tub grinder, do they grind a bale very fast? It's good to hear that you kept everything thru all that drought and I hope it's over, but it's very dry here now. Pray for rain

 

[cowgirl8]

Yes, its a Bearcat aka The Gobstopper.. Until the day i saw this contraption on craigslist, we had never seen one. At first i thought, where we live, people just dont use these kind of machines. What it is though is if a person has one, they keep it in a barn.
One day driving down the road near our place, someone set some equipment out with a for sale sign. I saw another hammer mill, a different brand, but i thought who has been using that and why after buying one we are now seeing them :lol2: . Anywho, an old farmer died and his family was selling off his equipment. He had the hammermill, a mixer wagon and a tub grinder. When i got home i told my husband about it and although we had never seen a tub grinder, we knew it would be helpful with that switch grass hay. And yes, grinds it up great and pretty fast. We started feeding that hay just ground. The cows could eat it just fine like that.

 

[TexasBred]

I would but it would take to long to explain the agriculture food industry but if you do a little research on drugs and withdrawal rates you might figure it out. I will tell you this if the "lady" and her husband has been running 300 head of cow in the piney woods of northeast Texas for 35 years then I can guarantee you she has plenty of knowledge about beef cattle. I am sure she has "been there done that" a few times.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/11/health/fd ... ics-farms/

Apparently many folks in the business don't read withdrawal information on drugs. Medicated poultry feeds ae available just about anywhere and antibiotic free chicken is less than 10% of total sales. Now do you think since the chicken has antibiotics the manure just might also?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/0 ... -listening

 

[cowgirl8]

:deadhorse:

 

[TexasBred]

:deadhorse:

I always reserve the right to respond. 1st amendment you know.