Is this scenario possible

[GMN]

Its all about debt load, the less the better, the more money you get to keep for yourself and improvements.

GMN

 

[rustyb]

i know how producing organic veggetables is more intensive....but organic meat ?
please explain...
...how is organic beef more intensive with labour ?

Would not anything you fed the beef need to be "organically" produced? Same problems that plague organic produce will most likely apply to organic forages. It would seem logical if forage growth or production was hindered or weight gain was slowed for any reason attributed to organic farming, labor cost for the unit as a whole would increase.

Something like more $ for fewer pounds of beef may = more $ per pound but less pounds produced = higher labor cost per pound produced. I don't know, maybe I'm just full of organic material.

ye i dont fully understand your reply, you dont really have to do anything special when you grow organic forage, you just cant spray it, theres a minus in costs and some labour..... but i still dont see anymore labour intensity....

 

[backhoeboogie]

Thinking out of the box is exactly right.

You mentioned hay. I actually have people stop and ask me where I buy my hay. It is funny in a way because there is only 16 acres here where the house is. These people don't know what I have going on elsewhere.

There are people who bale hay on the halves and do quite well. Especailly those who have contracts with the dairy. Fuel prices are coming down and fertilizer prices should follow the dropping natural gas rate etc.

You could run nurse cows like the widow I was telling you about. 8 to 12 calves could be raised on each cow. If you pick up beef split calves at the sale barn for $100 or less, you could do really well. $200 or less and you could still come out.

You could lease some pasture as someone else mentioned.

Each and every one of us started out one way or another. I didn't have a silver spoon in my mouth.

Where you are in 20 years is going to be where you put yourself. If cattle is idea, it does not have to be the main stay income immediately. Go slow and keep everything paid for.

If every kid read all the negatives in this thread and made a decision based on an average of the replies and information, cattle will become extinct eventually because they will do something different.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Figure out what works for you on your ground.

People in this very forum tell me to add lime to my soil over and over. I sit on an accumulative 138 foot thick limestone (in layers) just feet undergound. The last thing I need is lime. These people mean well but they just don't know. I run soil tests and the only thing I need is nitrogen. Minerals and lime leach right out of the hills around me.

You dad knows that ground. Run some soil tests and get started. Keep doing things that work for you in making extra nickels.

 

[rustyb]

Thinking out of the box is exactly right.

You mentioned hay. I actually have people stop and ask me where I buy my hay. It is funny in a way because there is only 16 acres here where the house is. These people don't know what I have going on elsewhere.

There are people who bale hay on the halves and do quite well. Especailly those who have contracts with the dairy. Fuel prices are coming down and fertilizer prices should follow the dropping natural gas rate etc.

You could run nurse cows like the widow I was telling you about. 8 to 12 calves could be raised on each cow. If you pick up beef split calves at the sale barn for $100 or less, you could do really well. $200 or less and you could still come out.

You could lease some pasture as someone else mentioned.

Each and every one of us started out one way or another. I didn't have a silver spoon in my mouth.

Where you are in 20 years is going to be where you put yourself. If cattle is idea, it does not have to be the main stay income immediately. Go slow and keep everything paid for.

If every kid read all the negatives in this thread and made a decision based on an average of the replies and information, cattle will become extinct eventually because they will do something different.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Figure out what works for you on your ground.

People in this very forum tell me to add lime to my soil over and over. I sit on an accumulative 138 foot thick limestone (in layers) just feet undergound. The last thing I need is lime. These people mean well but they just don't know. I run soil tests and the only thing I need is nitrogen. Minerals and lime leach right out of the hills around me.

You dad knows that ground. Run some soil tests and get started. Keep doing things that work for you in making extra nickels.

wow wat a great post, thanks for your insight :tiphat: , i saw u mentioned.... 8 to 12 calves per cow ? , how the heck do you do that, what breed of cows does she use, wow ive never heard bout that many being nursed off the one cow before

Im really glad with the amount of imput and interest this question has provoked, its great to see, thanks once again everybody :clap: , keep it coming

 

[backhoeboogie]

i saw u mentioned.... 8 to 12 calves per cow ? , how the heck do you do that,

They are milk cows. Then have their natural calf and then you graft three others onto them. They nurse 4 at a time with no problem. Some beef calves usually wind up with more milk than what they would have received from their natural mother.

You wean those calves at 3 months and graft 4 more onto the cow.

I have a crate the cow goes into for feed. I shut her in and turn the calves out to her getting each hooked up to a teat. They get their fill. Then I turn in a clean up calf from the last nurse cycle to clean the cow out completely. It usually takes a week to get the calves good and grafted. Then I can turn them out to pasture.

Some folks run 3 nurse cycles on the cow each year. That would be 12. I usually just go with two cycles which involves the cow's natural calf and 7 purchased calves.

My nurse cow gets more feed than the rest of the herd. But she puts out more profit than the rest of the herd.

When I retire, I may run several nurse cows along with my other endeavors.

 

[rustyb]

i saw u mentioned.... 8 to 12 calves per cow ? , how the heck do you do that,

They are milk cows. Then have their natural calf and then you graft three others onto them. They nurse 4 at a time with no problem. Some beef calves usually wind up with more milk than what they would have received from their natural mother.

You wean those calves at 3 months and graft 4 more onto the cow.

I have a crate the cow goes into for feed. I shut her in and turn the calves out to her getting each hooked up to a teat. They get their fill. Then I turn in a clean up calf from the last nurse cycle to clean the cow out completely. It usually takes a week to get the calves good and grafted. Then I can turn them out to pasture.

Some folks run 3 nurse cycles on the cow each year. That would be 12. I usually just go with two cycles which involves the cow's natural calf and 7 purchased calves.

My nurse cow gets more feed than the rest of the herd. But she puts out more profit than the rest of the herd.

When I retire, I may run several nurse cows along with my other endeavors.

ye i have been thinking of doing something similar, well i got a jersey at my house and she adopted an angus heifer we bought from the sale yards, shes clocking up around 5 months, perhaps i shuld put it back to 4 months and turnover 3 calves a year, well this is her first calf, i shuld put a picture of the calf up.

we dont have a crate tho, we just have a electric fence out the front, the bak, where ever we want her, and ye we have the calf tied by a long rope to a nearby tree in the grazing area, so ye she takes gud care of the calf, but ive been a big concerned about her condition, her hair has been getting lighter in colour lately. we feed her cow meal, but im not sure if she could handel a second calf, it would b a bit of a hassel, but we might try it sometime.

On my farm it would be great to run one or 2 nurse cows and use them to build up numbers by raising purchased calves, if numbers are needed, it also gives u the abilty to select your calf from the yards, i eventually want a full black angus herd and i reackon thats how im going to do it, just keep buying the angus's heifers at the yards

so ye , ill see if i can get a good picture of the calf and mother up hear sometime, it will probably be under a different subject, but probably in the same topic

thanks