MY CATTLE OPERATION

[BRAFORDMAN]

My red brangus or red angus bull post tured into an unclear discussion over me and my dads cattle operation.

Ask me questions about things that you did not understand or why we running things a certain way. Maybe if I explain it by taking the time to answer each one of your questions then maybe some things can be cleared up. Too much of you all telling me what am doing wrong, without getting all the facts first.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

I never said you guys were wrong, but alot of the advice will not work for our operation

 

[Isomade]

You could put the 10 best cattlemen in history in one room and have them discuss details on how to be successful in this business and you would have a big fight on your hands. There would be 10 different answers,some somewhat alike, others nothing alike. If it works for you then smile to yourself and go on. Who cares what anyone else thinks? I do things MY WAY. My way is completely different than my dads is and my grandpas was. But it works for me.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

You could put the 10 best cattlemen in history in one room and have them discuss details on how to be successful in this business and you would have a big fight on your hands. There would be 10 different answers,some somewhat alike, others nothing alike. If it works for you then smile to yourself and go on. Who cares what anyone else thinks? I do things MY WAY. My way is completely different than my dads is and my grandpas was. But it works for me.

YOu are right thanks. I know more than they give me credit for.

 

[cypressfarms]

You know Brafordman, I've thought a lot about you over the past couple of days. Maybe 5 or 10 years ago I would have flown off the handle at you and really lit into you. Im 41 now, and in 2009 had a come to Jesus year. I try to keep my cool and think judiciously now.

I'm not sure if you've read it, but there is a post (or sticky) at the top of the Beginners Board that I wrote, with some input from some friends. It's at the top and called "To the newbie with cattle questions/problems".

The CT board can be a wealth of information, but you can only learn if you open your mind.

Your 16, which in and of itself is NO problem. However, the way you posted on previous threads you came across as "all knowing". None of us are "all knowing", and some of us are really old farts! Many of us have cows older than you. I am not interested in debating with a 16 year old about the correct way to raise cattle. No offense, but how many years experience have you had with cattle, and what do you have to offer? Sure you've probably been told many stories about cattle, but actual hands on working cattle - how many years? Have you ever had to pull a calf by yourself at 1 a.m. in 20 degree weather knowing the calf would die, but trying to save the moma? Have you ever had to decide to put down a cow that you've had for 18 years because she's too valuable to haul to the salebarn, but not able to keep condition?

I admire your ambition; you sure have a 10 gallon hat of it. One thing about this board, the members here can smell out "abnormal" things real quick, and you were trailed from right off. To your credit you never gave up and just quit. That is an admirable trait. If you can take some of that, swallow your pride some, you will learn a ton of things on this board.

So I offer you a belated "Welcome". Maybe you can start fresh over. Why not read some posts and ask some questions. Posting a thread asking a world of cattlemen/women (we have members all across this great world) to ask you about your operation is arrogant. You may have not thought of it that way, but I would guess more than 75% of the CT members have been working cows longer than you've been alive.

Respectfully,

Cypress

 

[Isomade]

Nope. I just went and read thru the other thread. I think you know less than you can believe. 3way was right. Read and learn for a bit. I didn't say I didn't learn from pops and grandpa, I said I do things differently. I am a grown man with 3 kids but I still have pop to come and look things over every couple of months. You will never stop learning if you stay in this business. Pop knows more about cattle than I may ever know, and I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard him say "boy I wish grandpa was here so we could get his advise on this."

Edit: cypress post snuck in on me, I was responding to Bradfordman

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

I have pulled calves not at 1 in the morning and tried to save the mothers. I have made heifers take their calves that they rejected back after 2 weeks of them not seeing their calves. I may not have experienced the things you guys have, but I have picked up something over the 9 years i have been around cattle. With the things that i plan on doing at the things I am doing with my cattle operation I hope I do not have to experience some of the things you all have.

I don't like the other thread and some of the things I said. It was suppose to be about the bull not about my cattle operation. Yea i said some dumb things guess it felt like i was being attacked and told I am doing something wrong, without anyone asking why I did something instead of assuming the worst. Everyone just assumed the worst instead of asking questions which is something yall should work on too.

Ex: ask me why i run 4 bulls on 50 cows, ask me why I do something a certain way, instead of saying you are wrong and clueless and are clearly new to cattle. NO one once asked why i did something a certain way.

I still know more than what I am giving credit for.

I have alot to learn and yea I should think before I type, but you all should ask questions too.

Thanks to all who made the past few days .

Its a new year and is time for a new start.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

I have been working with cattle for 9 years. I do not hear stories about cattle I actually expeience them. My dad has raised cattle for 40 years.

NO i havnt pulled a calf by myself, but i have pulled calves in 105 degree weather not 20 degree. I have had my best cow struck by lightning 2 weeks after calving. I have had my cattle get out and into a hunting reserve right after bow season started and not see them for a month(happened this year). That is a horrible feeling. Your cattle you have spent your time with since they were calves and one day they are gone and no sign of them.

 

[chippie]

Just a suggestion. Don't make excuses. Whether or not your Dad wants to have a mish-mash of cattle is your family"s business.
There is nothing wrong with saying "I have never had any experience with ...." or saying that your dad or cousin did such and such or is going to do whatever. Acting like a big shot is not the way to go.

I know that you don't know me, but I am a grey haired mother of 5. Our youngest is a senior in High School. We've been a 4-H family for 18 years and our kids were in FFA too. Our kids showed steers, commercial heifers (they chose the bull to breed to our cows. We breed AI), scrambled and showed registered heifers, lambs, goats and horses. We have a small farm and our children grew up around livestock with daily chores. They still do.
Our son who goes to a local college milks in the evening and our daughter who is still in HS checks the livestock and feeds in the evening on school days and on the weekend. I feed in the morning.
At 16, they did not have the knowledge that comes with maturity - years of adult experience. Chances are the same applies to you too.

Believe me, you are still wet behind the ears. You can learn a lot of things at this board. I have. And that is my :2cents:

 

[Angus Cowman]

NO i havnt pulled a calf by myself, but i have pulled calves in 105 degree weather not 20 degree.quote]

politician kicking in again

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

NO i havnt pulled a calf by myself, but i have pulled calves in 105 degree weather not 20 degree.quote]

politician kicking in again

Correction I have pulled calves with my dad in 105 degree weather.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I have been working with cattle for 9 years. I do not hear stories about cattle I actually expeience them. My dad has raised cattle for 40 years.

At 16, I swore to never have a garden or own a cow. It seems I grew up on the end of a hoe in that garden. Fences always needed fixin. Peanut hay bales were nothing more than a bundle of sticks covered with sand and had to be hoisted to the top of the barn. No one had heard of round bales. There was nothing about a cattle operation that appealed to me. I was plenty sick of working and working and working. If it wasn't Dad's place, it was my GrandDad's.

My dad raised cattle too. And my GrandDad, Great Grandad, his Dad, and his Dad all the way back to when the cattle drives went to New Orleans before they went north on the famous trails.

I still don't have a garden

If you are 16 and still interested in cattle, you probably have not had your gut fill yet. But since you are interested I have a lot of hope for you.

Edit: by the way, many of us look at brangus cattle every day of our lives. I still say your bull isn't brangus but it aint no big thang.

 

[cowboy43]

Question!
You started at 7 , have 300 acres, had a good number of cows when drought hit, how have you acquired all this in other words how do you finance the operation, is it all owned by you or do you and you father operate as partners , I personally had to sell out after 2 years of drought and all my retirement plans for cattle have gone down the drain, I sunk a lot of my savings into the operation before selling out, my last year I lost $40,000.. My point is it takes a lot of money to operate under adverse conditions. At 66 I am starting over after having cattle for 48 years. I have learned more about raising cattle and being a stewart of the land in the last 5 years of drought than my I leaned in my lifetime. You will never know it all and never stop asking questions, because the business is constantly changing.

 

[MF135]

I have been working with cattle for 9 years. I do not hear stories about cattle I actually expeience them. My dad has raised cattle for 40 years.

At 16, I swore to never have a garden or own a cow. It seems I grew up on the end of a hoe in that garden. Fences always needed fixin. Peanut hay bales were nothing more than a bundle of sticks covered with sand and had to be hoisted to the top of the barn. No one had heard of round bales. There was nothing about a cattle operation that appealed to me. I was plenty sick of working and working and working. If it wasn't Dad's place, it was my GrandDad's.

My dad raised cattle too. And my GrandDad, Great Grandad, his Dad, and his Dad all the way back to when the cattle drives went to New Orleans before they went north on the famous trails.

I still don't have a garden

If you are 16 and still interested in cattle, you probably have not had your gut fill yet. But since you are interested I have a lot of hope for you.

Edit: by the way, many of us look at brangus cattle every day of our lives. I still say your bull isn't brangus but it aint no big thang.

What does the IBBA call this bull?

 

[ALACOWMAN]

a crossbred

 

[TexasBred]

Post the registration number on that bull so I can look him up.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I have been working with cattle for 9 years. I do not hear stories about cattle I actually expeience them. My dad has raised cattle for 40 years.

At 16, I swore to never have a garden or own a cow. It seems I grew up on the end of a hoe in that garden. Fences always needed fixin. Peanut hay bales were nothing more than a bundle of sticks covered with sand and had to be hoisted to the top of the barn. No one had heard of round bales. There was nothing about a cattle operation that appealed to me. I was plenty sick of working and working and working. If it wasn't Dad's place, it was my GrandDad's.

My dad raised cattle too. And my GrandDad, Great Grandad, his Dad, and his Dad all the way back to when the cattle drives went to New Orleans before they went north on the famous trails.

I still don't have a garden

If you are 16 and still interested in cattle, you probably have not had your gut fill yet. But since you are interested I have a lot of hope for you.

Edit: by the way, many of us look at brangus cattle every day of our lives. I still say your bull isn't brangus but it aint no big thang.

What does the IBBA call this bull?

"T-Bone?" Maybe "Rib Eye?"

 

[Katie]

Post the registration number on that bull so I can look him up.

The only bull with PHN of 85T and same 73 lb birthweight Brafordman stated listed under the sire link he provided in the other thread was C10136615.

 

[cypressfarms]

Edit: cypress post snuck in on me, I was responding to Bradfordman

Sorry Iso to hit the button before you, but for some reason I see something with this guy. I'm just trying to help him fit in; which becomes increasingly more difficult as he posts. 16 years old and worked cows for 9 years. O.k., so at 7 years old how much did any of us know about cattle?

I like to tell people I've been around cattle since I was 11, which is true (my dad retired from the Air Force and he started a herd then), but I knew NOTHING about cattle. I'm 41, so I guess you could say I have 30 years experience with cattle. BS! My new definition of cattle experience is how many years have you owned cattle and been finacially & physically responisible of every aspect of the operation from when the bull mounts to when the check is in your hand.

Hey Isomade, by the way, what exactly does your user name stand for? I spent about 10 years at plants helping them develop ISO 9000 Quality programs. Just wondering...

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Edit: cypress post snuck in on me, I was responding to Bradfordman

Sorry Iso to hit the button before you, but for some reason I see something with this guy. I'm just trying to help him fit in; which becomes increasingly more difficult as he posts. 16 years old and worked cows for 9 years. O.k., so at 7 years old how much did any of us know about cattle?

I like to tell people I've been around cattle since I was 11, which is true (my dad retired from the Air Force and he started a herd then), but I knew NOTHING about cattle. I'm 41, so I guess you could say I have 30 years experience with cattle. BS! My new definition of cattle experience is how many years have you owned cattle and been finacially & physically responisible of every aspect of the operation from when the bull mounts to when the check is in your hand.Hey Isomade, by the way, what exactly does your user name stand for? I spent about 10 years at plants helping them develop ISO 9000 Quality programs. Just wondering...

maybe but i know some thats been at it for years.. and probably know less then when they started