AntlerHill
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- Joined
- Mar 20, 2010
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Hi everyone, im new here but ive been doing a lot of studying up on getting some cattle this year. First i would like to mention all my neighbors have cattle (all beef) and the guy who lived in my place before me had cows in the woods (about 10 acres) and he trained horses in two fields one was about 6 acres, and the other 4 and also theres about 1 acre of grass thats not fenced. I dont know what these pastures were when he had the place but now its alfalfa, & some clovers. Anyways from my studying that sounds like fine winter food but i dont know about summer food. My neighbor cuts it and gives me 3 big circle bales for my 2 Llamas and he keeps the rest (About 15) for his animals and also he plows our mile long driveway in the winter. I know a lot of you probably think hes getting a pretty rich deal but we would never use all of that Hay anyways. I was planning on putting some cattle in those pastures but all ive ever heard about is cattle & grass, not hay. Anyways I have to refit most of the whole thing with barb wire. It all ready has regular electric line because we use to have a crazy Arabian horse. My neighbors use 3 lines of barb wire but it sounds like many people are saying at least 4. I dont plan to put any cattle in the woods, as most of the enclosures posts are rotted or broke but i think the trees canopies are so thick they block a lot of the rain. I looked at the barb wire thats still tight back there and its still sharp and hardly a sign of rust, so i may reuse that. Anyway thats my place, but the main thing im having trouble with is the number crunching. Getting a general idea of what i can expect to pay & what i can sell the cattle for. My other neighbor, who shares a border with me is the one whos helping me with a lot of the fencing but he hasnt had cows at his place for awhile so what he paid and sold them for is outdated, the way he did it, and the way i was hoping to do it is, he would buy 4 or 5 cattle in the spring and raise them up on his pastures and then sell them in the fall for meat. He was talking about $200-$150 per head, so im guessing he was talking about Dairy steers maybe? I heard those were quite cheap. The winters here especially bad where we live, we catch a nasty wind thats almost uninhabitable for humans let alone cattle. I have heard animals like this are called Stockers, Feeders, and a number of other things. But it sounds like those kind of animals you buy at 500lb and sell at 900lb it doesnt sound like you can hardly break even on a few of those. If its relevant i live in Minnesota and there are 5 working age people at my house and we all work, very part time but we do all work, so we werent trying to become full time ranchers or anything. So theres the background, the main questions are as follows:
Do i have the right kind of food in my pasture for cows during the summer months?
Can Llamas intermingle with cows without bloodshed? I assume so but i also heard that cattle face off with eachother
What is the kind of animal called that you let graze on pasture and then sell for meat? Is that a better alternative to selling them to a feed lot to get even bigger?
Where can i find the going price for cattle? Is there a average so i can get a rough idea for the midwest price?
How can i get a idea for what i can sell grown cattle for?
Any help you can provide, i will truly appreciate it. Ive been looking into these questions for awhile but most of the sites are outdated and the stock market prices on cows i cant make heads or tails of it. So i wanted to ask the people on the ground level of this industry, Thanks again!
Do i have the right kind of food in my pasture for cows during the summer months?
Can Llamas intermingle with cows without bloodshed? I assume so but i also heard that cattle face off with eachother
What is the kind of animal called that you let graze on pasture and then sell for meat? Is that a better alternative to selling them to a feed lot to get even bigger?
Where can i find the going price for cattle? Is there a average so i can get a rough idea for the midwest price?
How can i get a idea for what i can sell grown cattle for?
Any help you can provide, i will truly appreciate it. Ive been looking into these questions for awhile but most of the sites are outdated and the stock market prices on cows i cant make heads or tails of it. So i wanted to ask the people on the ground level of this industry, Thanks again!