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<blockquote data-quote="marksmu" data-source="post: 868985" data-attributes="member: 9219"><p>Sirloin,</p><p></p><p>Our place is near Anahuac TX. Southeast of Houston. On an average year we get about 56 inches of rain, spread fairly evenly across the months, and only a few days below freezing. The single biggest detractor on the place is the threat of hurricanes, (Ike destroyed all of our fences) and the presence of mosquitoes. Cattle absolutly must have brahman influence, which most northern folk will call a negative....but it works for our area. I am an optimist, but I still find it to be a great place to raise cattle. In a normal year we get plenty of sun and lots of rain....It is hot in the summer, but the winters make up for it....cool not cold, and our rye grass grows all winter. There are about 3 weeks in Jan/Feb where it slows down, but it never stops growing. This past year the cows stayed on the rye until May 9 - even then when we opened the gate to the next pasture many refused to leave the rye field, and picked over the yellowed out grass for a couple more weeks.</p><p></p><p>We *try* to wean around October 15 - this year will be Nov 5....we fenceline wean in a 3 acre pen that has bullwire around it so they can still see each other. We do use hay for weaning as we leave them in the 3 acres for about 2.5 weeks, but I buy that hay from my neighbor who loves selling to me b/c I pick it out of his fields for him. We select October/November to allow the cows about 1.5-2 months to gain condition prior to re-breeding(they lose condition nursing through the summer). We aim to have the cows breeding Jan-Mar while on the rye grass....this will be the first year we pull the bulls off the cows. They had been left with the cows year round, but this March they will come off for the first time as we try to establish a formal breeding season. They all had similar aged calves when we first bought them as they came from a place with a set breeding season, so most have calved closely together on their own. This year we intend to start culling, so we need to keep better records.</p><p></p><p>Don't get me wrong, there are lots of things we are doing wrong - and plenty of room for improvements, better record keeping, smaller pastures and more rotations, weaning weights, etc...I have lots of goals, but just not enough time. Also, when its time to wean, we wean them all regardless of age...most should be around 7 months and 750lbs, but there will be some that wean at 5 months and closer to 500lbs....we dont sell them all at weaning though, we keep all our animals until we get to around 750-800lbs. Once weaned they are split. The bigger steers goto the barn, the heifers back in with the cows, the smaller steers get put back on pasture, and any bulls that were left intact goto the neighbor who selected him during vaccinations in May. I will hold as many steers back to finish as I have people willing to put a deposit down on - that is all just word of mouth and mostly my friends/family in Houston.</p><p></p><p>We have enough land to do some things poorly and in uneconomical way because we have more grass than cows....I hope to get the bad habits straightened out before we end up with more cows than grass. It seems that day is coming quickly so this year is the year we get organized before its too messy to fix....</p><p></p><p>Like Caustic says - I am one of those folks who has no clue what my carrying cost per day is on my cattle. I keep a spreadsheet of expenses and I get a check from the barn or a neighbor a couple times a year....I lost money the last two years....nearly $20,000 year one after hurricane ike, and $7000 last year. At the end of this year (unless that rye never comes up) the expenses will be about $3000 less than the costs. Adding more cows does not significantly impact my cost now because I have more land than I need. Im looking to cap the herd at 250 pairs.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="marksmu, post: 868985, member: 9219"] Sirloin, Our place is near Anahuac TX. Southeast of Houston. On an average year we get about 56 inches of rain, spread fairly evenly across the months, and only a few days below freezing. The single biggest detractor on the place is the threat of hurricanes, (Ike destroyed all of our fences) and the presence of mosquitoes. Cattle absolutly must have brahman influence, which most northern folk will call a negative....but it works for our area. I am an optimist, but I still find it to be a great place to raise cattle. In a normal year we get plenty of sun and lots of rain....It is hot in the summer, but the winters make up for it....cool not cold, and our rye grass grows all winter. There are about 3 weeks in Jan/Feb where it slows down, but it never stops growing. This past year the cows stayed on the rye until May 9 - even then when we opened the gate to the next pasture many refused to leave the rye field, and picked over the yellowed out grass for a couple more weeks. We *try* to wean around October 15 - this year will be Nov 5....we fenceline wean in a 3 acre pen that has bullwire around it so they can still see each other. We do use hay for weaning as we leave them in the 3 acres for about 2.5 weeks, but I buy that hay from my neighbor who loves selling to me b/c I pick it out of his fields for him. We select October/November to allow the cows about 1.5-2 months to gain condition prior to re-breeding(they lose condition nursing through the summer). We aim to have the cows breeding Jan-Mar while on the rye grass....this will be the first year we pull the bulls off the cows. They had been left with the cows year round, but this March they will come off for the first time as we try to establish a formal breeding season. They all had similar aged calves when we first bought them as they came from a place with a set breeding season, so most have calved closely together on their own. This year we intend to start culling, so we need to keep better records. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of things we are doing wrong - and plenty of room for improvements, better record keeping, smaller pastures and more rotations, weaning weights, etc...I have lots of goals, but just not enough time. Also, when its time to wean, we wean them all regardless of age...most should be around 7 months and 750lbs, but there will be some that wean at 5 months and closer to 500lbs....we dont sell them all at weaning though, we keep all our animals until we get to around 750-800lbs. Once weaned they are split. The bigger steers goto the barn, the heifers back in with the cows, the smaller steers get put back on pasture, and any bulls that were left intact goto the neighbor who selected him during vaccinations in May. I will hold as many steers back to finish as I have people willing to put a deposit down on - that is all just word of mouth and mostly my friends/family in Houston. We have enough land to do some things poorly and in uneconomical way because we have more grass than cows....I hope to get the bad habits straightened out before we end up with more cows than grass. It seems that day is coming quickly so this year is the year we get organized before its too messy to fix.... Like Caustic says - I am one of those folks who has no clue what my carrying cost per day is on my cattle. I keep a spreadsheet of expenses and I get a check from the barn or a neighbor a couple times a year....I lost money the last two years....nearly $20,000 year one after hurricane ike, and $7000 last year. At the end of this year (unless that rye never comes up) the expenses will be about $3000 less than the costs. Adding more cows does not significantly impact my cost now because I have more land than I need. Im looking to cap the herd at 250 pairs. [/QUOTE]
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