large herds?

[TexasBred]

The most I ever work is around 110 head. I seperate cows and calves first and the wife draws up needles. we have an automatic head catch and sweep tub with a 20ft alley. Takes all weekend. Seems like we work about 5 head and drink a beer and then repeat the process.

Is there any other way?? Maybe add a little summer sausage and cheese for lunch.

 

[M5farm]

I work mine twice a year so that's 100 head.

When I bought a gun a couple years ago it leaked also till I figured out how tight the plunger washer needed to be and now it works like a charm. and I agree on the 18 ga needle

 

[cow pollinater]

I use the alflex guns with a 16 guage needle.

 

[cow pollinater]

I have been using the Prima Tech guns that hold the bottle instead of the draw off type where you hang up a bottle. .

I don't know about prima tech but one of the first things I do when I get a new breeding account is buy who-ever is giving the lut/gnrh shots a new allflex gun. More than a few of the guns that hold the bottle are not calibrated properly. I was having trouble getting cows to sync up in one herd and found out that medicine inventory was getting used a lot slower than it should. The dairyman was going to fire his herdsman(he gave the shots) over it until we figured out that the guns were dosing half as much medicine as they said they were. Since then I've found that same problem with other brands but not so severe.

 

[shaz]

The most I ever work is around 110 head. I seperate cows and calves first and the wife draws up needles. we have an automatic head catch and sweep tub with a 20ft alley. Takes all weekend. Seems like we work about 5 head and drink a beer and then repeat the process.

Is there any other way?? Maybe add a little summer sausage and cheese for lunch.

Why not just drink an extra beer for lunch?

Seriously though, my setup is fine. My lack of productivity is because there's no place I'd rather be and nothing I would rather be doing. :drink:

 

[TexasBred]

Why not just drink an extra beer for lunch?

Seriously though, my setup is fine. My lack of productivity is because there's no place I'd rather be and nothing I would rather be doing. :drink:

No need to speed up something you're enjoying. ;-)

 

[Caustic Burno]

How many on here have 100 or more head or work for someone who does? Also, when vaccinating how do you do it to make it good and quick as possible?

It has been a few years since I saw the stats in Texas.
Went something like this was a beef seminar put on by TAMU.
Ninety two percent of the cattle owned in the state were in herds of 50 or less the average was like 30 head.
There were only like 2 or 3 % with over a 100 head so the larger producers had actually become the minor players in the market.
Along with that was also the stat that todays producers produce as much beef or more today with 10 head than they did with 15
50 years ago.

 

[M5farm]

http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/ ... 9-2013.pdf

page 18 has the numbers

 

[Caustic Burno]

http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/FarmLandIn/FarmLandIn-02-19-2013.pdf

page 18 has the numbers

Those numbers might be representative of the country but not our state.
I don't know of anyone in the area with over a hundred head anymore.
Since the drought I bet the numbers are even lower as a lot reduced a bunch or got
out entirely.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

:bs:

http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/FarmLandIn/FarmLandIn-02-19-2013.pdf

page 18 has the numbers

Those numbers might be representative of the country but not our state.
I don't know of anyone in the area with over a hundred head anymore.
Since the drought I bet the numbers are even lower as a lot reduced a bunch or got
out entirely.

I don't have any exact numbers, but here in mo the average size is right around 30 head.

 

[js1234]

Average size has to be less than 50, maybe even less than 30 on a national level as all producers are counted whether they are full time, part time or a hobby. On the other end of the spectrum, the 25 largest as per the NCBA that is out out every year is very unreliable as at least another 50 operations that are larger than their current 25 spot don't report their size.

 

[John SD]

I read somewhere that the average cattle herd in SD is 155 head. So when I had cattle I guess I was more or less average :roll:

As a thrifty bachelor, I could manage on less than 200 head. Today I don't know of many family operations who make a living without teaching school or a job in town. A lot of wives work town jobs for insurance and grocery money.

I'd say most family operations around here who are working toward bringing the next generation into ranching run at least 400-600 cows. Didn't know of any when I was a kid, but 1000 cow ranches are not unusual today.

Since homestead days, smaller operations like mine have and will continue to be absorbed by larger operations. The depopulation of rural areas continues, along with decreasing insfrastructure of rural schools, churches, and post offices.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I read somewhere that the average cattle herd in SD is 155 head. So when I had cattle I guess I was more or less average :roll:

As a thrifty bachelor, I could manage on less than 200 head. Today I don't know of many family operations who make a living without teaching school or a job in town. A lot of wives work town jobs for insurance and grocery money.

I'd say most family operations around here who are working toward bringing the next generation into ranching run at least 400-600 cows. Didn't know of any when I was a kid, but 1000 cow ranches are not unusual today.

Since homestead days, smaller operations like mine have and will continue to be absorbed by larger operations. The depopulation of rural areas continues, along with decreasing insfrastructure of rural schools, churches, and post offices.

Population explosion here, in our rural areas. They take the best farm land and break it up into little ranchettes or else subdivisions. Don't know where all these people come from. Traffic is terrible. The big outfits get broken down smaller and smaller.

 

[John SD]

I read somewhere that the average cattle herd in SD is 155 head. So when I had cattle I guess I was more or less average :roll:

As a thrifty bachelor, I could manage on less than 200 head. Today I don't know of many family operations who make a living without teaching school or a job in town. A lot of wives work town jobs for insurance and grocery money.

I'd say most family operations around here who are working toward bringing the next generation into ranching run at least 400-600 cows. Didn't know of any when I was a kid, but 1000 cow ranches are not unusual today.

Since homestead days, smaller operations like mine have and will continue to be absorbed by larger operations. The depopulation of rural areas continues, along with decreasing insfrastructure of rural schools, churches, and post offices.

Population explosion here, in our rural areas. They take the best farm land and break it up into little ranchettes or else subdivisions. Don't know where all these people come from. Traffic is terrible. The big outfits get broken down smaller and smaller.

There is population explosion going on in some rural areas here too. But all of these are within 30 miles or less of the big city.

City folks here will buy 40 acres on some windblown treeless hill, build a$1M+ house and bring along a few horses to grub their little ranchette into the ground. :???: I hope I live too far from anywhere for this to happen "here", at least during my lifetime.

I made a comment to one of my medical supply people last week. It really doesn't make much difference to me which of their 3 stores I deal with. All of them are close to 100 miles away in any direction.

In many ways I am thankful to live in out here the boonies. But I can see at some point needing to be closer to my drs.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I read somewhere that the average cattle herd in SD is 155 head. So when I had cattle I guess I was more or less average :roll:

As a thrifty bachelor, I could manage on less than 200 head. Today I don't know of many family operations who make a living without teaching school or a job in town. A lot of wives work town jobs for insurance and grocery money.

I'd say most family operations around here who are working toward bringing the next generation into ranching run at least 400-600 cows. Didn't know of any when I was a kid, but 1000 cow ranches are not unusual today.

Since homestead days, smaller operations like mine have and will continue to be absorbed by larger operations. The depopulation of rural areas continues, along with decreasing insfrastructure of rural schools, churches, and post offices.

Population explosion here, in our rural areas. They take the best farm land and break it up into little ranchettes or else subdivisions. Don't know where all these people come from. Traffic is terrible. The big outfits get broken down smaller and smaller.

That isn't what did it here this was never big ranch country. This was timber country first.
Even if grandpa owned a thousand acres it was about timber, sugar cane, cotton and a few cows.
When that generation died off and left everything to the kids they were returning from WWII.
Most left the farm jobs and went to the industrial jobs. So grandpas place got divided among 8 or 10 kids
the ones that stayed raised some kind of livestock.
I had one uncle was the biggest rancher I knew for years ran 250 head.
He had bought out most of the other siblings on grandpas old place.