Inherited Cattle TEXAS

[JBull44]

Howdy members from Cattle Today.
I have recently lost my father who was raising cattle on several different lease pastures which is roughly 200+ acres. My brother and I have decided to carry on his legacy and continue this operation. From my estimates he had about 75* momma cows and this spring has brought about 20+ calves thus far. Some Charolais, some Brahman and Angus and some in between. I also noticed a handful of some f1 tiger striped as well. I am not sure exactly where he was going with this operation He has an Angus Bull and a Hereford Bull which are both registered. My question for you guys is what direction should I continue this cow calf operation? This is just a part time gig for me and my brother. I am currently a student at Texas A&M and he works full time in Austin, Tx. I have been able to make to the different pastures to dump out 20% cubes a couple times a week and they seem to have plenty of grass. I noticed my father had some invoices from a custom feed supply store where he bought a 40 bags(ton) of a special blend of feed. Although the main pasture we have fed some hay the past couple weeks. With all this rain I doubt we will have to pull out any more bales. Feel free to drop some wisdom to a young novice in the cattle world.

 

[Rafter S]

Welcome, and I'm sorry for your loss. As far as the direction to take, I wouldn't jump in and make any big changes right away. There's certainly nothing wrong with running Angus and Hereford bulls on Brahman and crossbred cows.

You said you're at A&M, and your brother is in Austin, but where are the cattle? Close enough for one of you to check them often?

And I can't tell for sure from that little picture, but it looks like the horned animal in the last picture is a bull. If so I'd get him out of there.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Nice looking stock.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Both the Angus and Hereford would be good over brimmer girls. Get polled Hereford and dehorn at conception.
My second piece of advice is dehorn those cows and save yourself a lot of headaches down the road

 

[Bigfoot]

I also don't think I would make many changes too soon either. Nothing wrong with a Hereford, but could add a little more unity to the calf crop with an angus, or maybe a growth oriented homozygous black bull-------black sim, black limo, black gelbviegh, etc.

Your father had some nice looking cows. It appears he had pride in his work btw.

 

[boondocks]

Welcome to CT, and I'm very sorry for your loss. There are good folks on here with good advice. (And them there's the rest of them
Seriously, stick around and you will learn a lot--I know I have!

 

[wacocowboy]

Welcome and sorry for your loss. As others have said I wouldn't go making a bunch of changes. I would start keeping track of who is doing what to see if you need to cull. You can probably lay off the feed and hay. You may want to give them a bag of cubes every once in awhile just to keep them coming to you. I would work them this spring get all their shots and it would give you a chance to look them over get a close guess on the age of your cows and bulls. Good luck.

 

[Brute 23]

Nice cattle. I'm guessing some of those heifers and maybe the black bull are home raised.

I agree with every one on not needing to change any thing at this moment. Spend a lot of time watching and observing. Start a spreadsheet with your expenses, who has what calves, ect. Waco is right... feed them once a week or what ever and get them use to you.

You are on the right track trying to get as much info as possible. More specifics on the location of the cattle will really help with the advice you receive. The Texas landscape changes pretty quickly.

 

[JBull44]

The cattle are located about an hour south of A&M. They are located In Bellville and kenney Texas. I will probably be down there once a week or so as same with my brother. I'll be back home in the summer, also we have relatives that live in the area offered to check on them periodically. But yeah I agree we need to go through and get those other bulls off those pastures. As far as shots go and worming? What do you suggest? We have pins and shoots

 

[farmerjan]

Welcome also. My sympathies on the loss of your dad.

There are alot of "guys" (and a few of us gals) on here, in Texas. If you put out your general location, or maybe PM some of the Texas ones, they might very well be close enough to give you more opinions/advice in person. And maybe some knew him. Since I am not anywhere close, and the climate and terrain is very different, all I can say is to not be in a rush to make big changes. But, if you helped him at all, then you should know the basics. You do need to do vaccinations appropriate for the area, and castrating the bull calves asap. Maybe talk to whatever vet he was using and see if he had a system; or a neighbor that maybe helped him on occasion. Yes, keep a journal, notebook, something to keep track of who has calves etc, so you know where the cows stand. If both the angus and hereford are polled then it seems like he was trying to get away from the horns. Breeding for a specific purpose ? Like some people breed for horns for roping calves, or the sale market there. A black bull will definitely give you a more uniform color group of calves to sell. Ask at the feed mill where the feed came from if anyone there knows any of your dads plans; not surprising you may find that he may have talked to them saying he was wanting to do such and such...

Best of luck and hope you keep us up on how/what you are doing.

 

[callmefence]

Those are nice looking cattle.
I reckon your east of 35 .
My 2 cents would be a couple Angus bulls. Shooting for polled black calves. I wouldn't change the cows.

If you're close enough I highly recommend capital livestock in schwertner to market your calves. They've never done me bad. You will get to stand there with the buyer while they grade and weigh and have the opportunity to ask questions. No commission, no wait.

 

[wacocowboy]

The cattle are located about an hour south of A&M. They are located In Bellville and kenney Texas. I will probably be down there once a week or so as same with my brother. I'll be back home in the summer, also we have relatives that live in the area offered to check on them periodically. But yeah I agree we need to go through and get those other bulls off those pastures. As far as shots go and worming? What do you suggest? We have pins and shoots

8way, then lepto I use Vira shield 6 + VL5, I like injectable wormer some like pour on. That is your basic vacs. If you know how you may want to cut your bull calves.

I would use a Hereford, Angus, or Char bull since you seem to pretty heave on the Brahma side. If you have some that ain't heavy Brahma you might go Beefmaster or Brangus give you some good replacement heifers.

 

[Cross-7]

Those are nice looking cattle.
I reckon your east of 35 .
My 2 cents would be a couple Angus bulls. Shooting for polled black calves. I wouldn't change the cows.

If you're close enough I highly recommend capital livestock in schwertner to market your calves. They've never done me bad. You will get to stand there with the buyer while they grade and weigh and have the opportunity to ask questions. No commission, no wait.

What he said

 

[ddd75]

i'd be goign to the ag department of T A&M and talking with some of the guys there.. a really top notch ag u.

 

[5S Cattle]

The cattle are located about an hour south of A&M. They are located In Bellville and kenney Texas. I will probably be down there once a week or so as same with my brother. I'll be back home in the summer, also we have relatives that live in the area offered to check on them periodically. But yeah I agree we need to go through and get those other bulls off those pastures. As far as shots go and worming? What do you suggest? We have pins and shoots

Wacocowboy's vac program is the same as mine. Except I just do a pourable wormer in the spring and an injectable in the fall. I'm not far from there at all, in Brenham. Let me know if you need a hand with something

 

[Caustic Burno]

Those are nice looking cattle.
I reckon your east of 35 .
My 2 cents would be a couple Angus bulls. Shooting for polled black calves. I wouldn't change the cows.

If you're close enough I highly recommend capital livestock in schwertner to market your calves. They've never done me bad. You will get to stand there with the buyer while they grade and weigh and have the opportunity to ask questions. No commission, no wait.

What he said

Got that right buyers don't want to deal with horns along with the majority of back to the farm as well.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

JBull44 -- I too am sorry for your recent loss. If you can spare the time (and the cash) consider attending the replacement cow and bull sale that will be held right down the road from your cattle, this Saturday 3/25/17, at Four County Livestock Auction barn in Industry, Texas. Sale starts at noon and of course you'd want to get there well in advance to closely look over the bulls and the info in the sale materials.

They will have a lot of cows & heifers but also about 60+ bulls (Char, Angus, Brangus & Simm). Looks like you have some older "tigers", "Brimmers", etc. cows and for those mature cows it is hard to beat the calves you'll get by putting a good Char bull in with them. I switched to Char bulls on tigers, Brangus and Beefmaster type cows some years ago and have been well pleased with the resulting calves. Black calves are still highly in regarded but the Char sired calves out of mature tigers, Brangus, etc. cows really mash down on the scales. But I'd generally keep a Char bull away from any heifers you're planning on retaining unless he was a very proven low birthweight Char (but in that case perhaps he wouldn't be the optimum bull for bigger & "roomier" mature cows).

Good luck to you and your brother.

 

[Caustic Burno]

JBull44 -- I too am sorry for your recent loss. If you can spare the time (and the cash) consider attending the replacement cow and bull sale that will be held right down the road from your cattle, this Saturday 3/25/17, at Four County Livestock Auction barn in Industry, Texas. Sale starts at noon and of course you'd want to get there well in advance to closely look over the bulls and the info in the sale materials.

They will have a lot of cows & heifers but also about 60+ bulls (Char, Angus, Brangus & Simm). Looks like you have some older "tigers", "Brimmers", etc. cows and for those mature cows it is hard to beat the calves you'll get by putting a good Char bull in with them. I switched to Char bulls on tigers, Brangus and Beefmaster type cows some years ago and have been well pleased with the resulting calves. Black calves are still highly in regarded but the Char sired calves out of mature tigers, Brangus, etc. cows really mash down on the scales. But I'd generally keep a Char bull away from any heifers you're planning on retaining unless he was a very proven low birthweight Char (but in that case perhaps he wouldn't be the optimum bull for bigger & "roomier" mature cows).

Good luck to you and your brother.

Boy nice to see you posting again

 

[Rafter S]

The cattle are located about an hour south of A&M. They are located In Bellville and kenney Texas. I will probably be down there once a week or so as same with my brother. I'll be back home in the summer, also we have relatives that live in the area offered to check on them periodically. But yeah I agree we need to go through and get those other bulls off those pastures. As far as shots go and worming? What do you suggest? We have pins and shoots

I'm less than an hour drive from Bellville, and not far out of your way going there from College Station. I'd be glad to ride along with you to take a look at them sometime.