Just Say No To $1 Cheeseburgers

[sim.-ang.king]

I thought the annual burning of prairie grass is what created the most fertile ground in the world? At least that's what we were always taught here in the prairie state.

The grass here has burned a few hundred times and it's still sand.

If you could see a 1000 acre over grown patch of big blue stem you would know what I'm talking about. Burning short wiry grass is going to take 10x as long to do anything.

 

[ga.prime]

The overgrown bluestem results from the highly fertile soil, not the other way around.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Yep and it gets burned off from lighting strikes, and add more to the OM. Started out small and just kept piling up, like the smallest snow flakes make up a glacier.

 

[ga.prime]

Same way it happens here and everywhere else.

 

[greybeard]

Very few cattleman view themselves as grass farmers, or certainly not enough do.

I have never and I mean NEVER EVER met one who DIDN'T consider himself a grass farmer first and a cowman 2nd. Ever.

 

[ohiosteve]

Very few cattleman view themselves as grass farmers, or certainly not enough do.

I have never and I mean NEVER EVER met one who DIDN'T consider himself a grass farmer first and a cowman 2nd. Ever.

I am sorry greybeard I agree with a lot of what you post, but completely disagree with you on this. Maybe it's because almost every farm around here is a dairy farm where the cows rarely if ever leave concrete, but I think many so called cattlemen rely far too much on grain supplementation and just deal with the health consequences and consider it a cost of doing business. Personally I think feeding grain to beef cattle is counterproductive to many beef producers but also realize most fat americans have grown accustomed to eating greasy grain finished beef and producers will continue to produce this beef because it is what they have always done and there is a market for it. however I think it is wise for beef producers to be open-minded and cater to the health conscious and often higher income purchasers who want grass finished beef. Contrary to the original post, my limited experience and research has told me that producing grass finished beef is actually CHEAPER than grain finished in the long haul. I know I am just a hobbyist now but have been around cattle enough to realize it just makes sence.

 

[3waycross]

Very few cattleman view themselves as grass farmers, or certainly not enough do.

I have never and I mean NEVER EVER met one who DIDN'T consider himself a grass farmer first and a cowman 2nd. Ever.

I am sorry greybeard I agree with a lot of what you post, but completely disagree with you on this. Maybe it's because almost every farm around here is a dairy farm where the cows rarely if ever leave concrete, but I think many so called cattlemen rely far too much on grain supplementation and just deal with the health consequences and consider it a cost of doing business. Personally I think feeding grain to beef cattle is counterproductive to many beef producers but also realize most fat americans have grown accustomed to eating greasy grain finished beef and producers will continue to produce this beef because it is what they have always done and there is a market for it. however I think it is wise for beef producers to be open-minded and cater to the health conscious and often higher income purchasers who want grass finished beef. Contrary to the original post, my limited experience and research has told me that producing grass finished beef is actually CHEAPER than grain finished in the long haul. I know I am just a hobbyist now but have been around cattle enough to realize it just makes sence.

No offense Steve but do you really think that if it was cheaper(and made a more palatable product) that the "grassfed" industry would not be ruling the beef world.

 

[ga.prime]

Grassfed beef doesn't even sound good. :lol2:

 

[ohiosteve]

No offense Steve but do you really think that if it was cheaper(and made a more palatable product) that the "grassfed" industry would not be ruling the beef world.

I should have said "more profitable" instead of "cheaper" but I do believe this especially for the small to average sized producer. I realize grain finished will always be around but it doesn't hurt to look at different options.
For the past decade I've been watching and learning from the gentleman that rents several hundred acres of pasture behind me (actually he's using my mrvictordomino bull this summer). His grass-finished operation is quite successful, he said he can't keep up with demand. He has a pretty informative website hope the link works http://www.greenvistafarm.com/explore.html

 

[greybeard]

Operative word in my post was "met". No dairys around here and the ones I saw when I was younger had their cows on grass pasture.
I haven't seen a milk truck on the road in decades.

 

[3MR]

I run a natural operation, am certified as a Natural Producer by Global Animal Partnership and sell my calves to Premium Natural Beef out of Lonewolf, Ok. I get a premium for my calves when I deliver them and then I get another check when they are slaughtered. I am getting considerable more than if I just took them to the sale yard.

I still don't see the numbers gioven in the original post as adding up, nor, by using the same fuzzy math they used I don't see much difference in cost to raise their way versus conventional way.

I raise Natural Beef for one simple reason, it makes me more money. I don't believe it is anymore healthy than conventional beef raised by an ethical producer, I also believe science supports this. The natural Beef system just fit my program naturally as it was pretty close to what I was already doing.

I run about 80 mommas, I spend about $3000 planting a bit over 60 acres of wheat every winter. In the spring I bale the wheat and plant sudan in the field, which gets baled in late summer. I have another 100 acres or so in improved Bermuda pasture and about 150 or so in native grasses. About 20 or so more in mixed woodlands. I spent $500 on feed last year, in the middle of a drought, which is very different from the $1000 I was spending every month for half the year when I was trying to raise them the so called conventional way.

Grass is most definitely the cheapest way to raise a calf. Manage your pastures and the cows will be easy. Who you sell them to after that is your business, I would recommend sell them to whomever pays the most, lol.

 

[Redhides]

Very few cattleman view themselves as grass farmers, or certainly not enough do.

I have never and I mean NEVER EVER met one who DIDN'T consider himself a grass farmer first and a cowman 2nd. Ever.

I don't doubt you Greybeard. In my part of the country where grass is generally plentiful and taken for granted...nearly all cattle get on a truck and go west. We are far too flippant about grass as a resource and all the attention is given to conditioning cattle to make the trip and not nearly enough on maximizing stocking density and minimizing inputs to increase true profitability.

 

[Redhides]

As an aside, I've often wondered why it's taken so long for a few smaller feeder/packer operations have never cropped up in the Southeast. Particularly vertically integrated operations. We're starting to see some of it develop here, just not on a large scale.

Georgia/Florida/Alabama have a population of roughly 33 million people, but only 4 million cows. Where by generic numbers Texas has 25 million people and nearly 12 million cows. Texas is 2-1 people, the wiregrass states 8-1 and the national average is roughly 3.5 to 1. I've often wondered we don't see more cows in this part of the world. I understand that cattle compete with row crops, timber, produce, and urbanization. We usually get ample rain with very mild winters which allow a number a of efficient operators to run a pair to the acre without a ton of inputs. There is certainly plenty of underutilized land. Calves in this part of the world routinely see .25-.35 per pound less than other part of the country, namely because of transportation. I often wondered why we have half the national density.