Need some help

[Novelist]

I'm writing a book and am doing some research so I thought i'd ask on here since cows are everyone's business here

The book takes place on an beef cattle farm I was wondering if I could get some specifics just so my time line is right.

When are calves usually born? is it a spring time thing? I assume it's all planned out by the farmer/rancher (i'm sorry not too clear on the terminology it's in it's rough staged )

What type of cow is used for beef typically? the ones on this farm are organic beef cows ... is there any specific type I should use?

What is the process through the year? How old are the cattle before their slaughtered? (i read somewhere it was 24months is that for veal or beef?)

When are they taken to the summer pasture? when do they come back?, what is done with them during winter?

I was thinking of having the herd split in half males for beef, females for milk. do people do that? lol and how many cows would be on an average farm run by five to six people... is that ridiculous? can five people work a farm productively? the idea is the foreman (is that even right lol) and a few farm hands , the farm owners son and then the main character. Is it possible to run a productive cattle farm with that many people? if not then how many?

is there anything else that I need to include that I don't know about? lol that's probably a lot

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks

 

[Novelist]

Also, since basically you want us to do all the research and give you all the answers and you write the novel and make money off of it do we get any royalties?

What?!!? I'm sorry I thought I'd ask people who actually work in the business rather then reading something on Wikipedia that may be wrong ... if you'd like me to thank you in the acknowledgements I will.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Why don't you write about something you know.
It is impossible to answer your questions, because every farm is different, mainly depending on location. We are a very diverse nation.
Beef cattle herds are FEMALE cows, bred either with a natural service breeding beef bull, or artificially with frozen semen.
They are not MILKED, the calf (baby) sucks the milk of their dam (cow) from birth til they are weaned, sometime around 6-9 months of age. Most male calves are castrated, and after weaning, are put on a feed program to be finished for harvest. Many of the female calves are raised for breeding (cows), but some are harvested for meat.
All cows/bulls/calves end up on someones plate sometime in their lifetime. Some sooner than others, depending on if they are quality enough to be used for breeding.
Veal is "normally" dairy male calves around 3-4 months of age??? (I'm not a diary person).

 

[backhoeboogie]

Also, since basically you want us to do all the research and give you all the answers and you write the novel and make money off of it do we get any royalties?

What?!!? I'm sorry I thought I'd ask people who actually work in the business rather then reading something on Wikipedia that may be wrong ... if you'd like me to thank you in the acknowledgements I will.

Meaning absolutely no disrespect to you Novelist, a person can write a whole novel just trying to explain the diversity of the subject you are discussing.

I calve year round in this climate. I have a couple of dairy cows for nurse cows that would be suitable for milking if I chose to do so. Most are beef cows. There is no way for me to absolutely answer any of your questions. My cows never leave the farm for any season. They get pasture rotations but can be in any given pasture at any time depending on how the grass has grown. Hay in the same places during the winter. Etc etc.

 

[Novelist]

Thanks for the information. Just so we all understand the book isn't about breeding beef cattle it's just the setting. The story is about the relationship between the characters. I just don't want to say the characters are doing something that they wouldn't be doing during that season... that's all.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I just don't want to say the characters are doing something that they wouldn't be doing during that season... that's all.

Where is the setting? Did I miss that part? You may want to include it so that we know the climate. It obviously aint Texas so I'll shut my trap on this thread

 

[chippie]

What is your time period and location?

ETA: Many beef producers have ranches, not farms.

 

[regolith]

Okay, harsh advice.

Write what you know. It's evident from your questions that you don't have enough background to pull this off convincingly - not just for a cattleman reader, but for anyone with connections to rural livng or the beef industry.
We can give you all the information you like and it still won't be convincing, because you don't have the understanding to put it together. You can build it up with reading, visiting farms - but not quickly.
I'd advise you to change the setting or try another project until you're more ready to write this one.
If you're determined to go ahead - decide your location, number of cows etc, type of farm and ask for a beta reader/advisor who you can communicate with by pm or e-mail.
I'm a dairy farmer, and probably don't have time for beta reading though I've done it in the past. But someone else may be willing to help you with that sort of effort.

Do you know the nanowrimo.org website? These sort of questions will be received better there, though there's only a handful of farmers on the site.

 

[Howdyjabo]

There is no way for you to pull this off without a farmer/rancher advising you on content line by line. Even the way your characters talk to each other would "out" you as having no clue.
Now if you are writing one of those stupid romance novels----- who cares

I get VERY irritated at books including Rural backgrounds that are so obviously not written by someone with a Rural background- or heritage.

The one that sticks in my craw the most was the book- Nops Hope
It was compared to Herriots books- and it fell dismally short all because you could tell he wasn;t writing from the heart and real life experiences unlike Herriot. There are lot of people that enjoyed that book- but it won't ever have the total respect Herriots books have.

 

[LazyARanch]

I have to agree with the other posters on here....

either buy a good book on breeding and raising beef cattle which will give you SOME background (but not all), or go and do an "internship" on a working cattle ranch.

and THEN get yourself a mentor to go through your drafts and tell you when you are way outta whack on
any of your cattle and ranching facts.

I read a LOT, and I've gotten some pretty good laughs out of some poor/wrong info included in the storyline!

 

[Kingfisher]

Just curious but what part of the Country are you located?
I would say you need to go spend some time on a farm or ranch..........that might help you to better write your story.

 

[ktdid30]

I understand why people are a little unwilling to respond to your post with information because there's a LOT that you're going to need to know if you want to portray a ranch accurately, but I also appreciate your willingness to try and get information. And in terms of full disclosure I have to admit that I'm certainly not an experienced rancher, but I'll at least provide accurate answers to the questions I can answer. I am also a writer, so I understand that your ideas may be very rough and you may not even know how prominently any of the ranching aspects will feature. And I'm sure people will criticize me for helping out and will disagree with some of the information I provide, but I will only answer what I know to be true for the region in which I live.

Calves can be born any time, but where I live (Montana) most are born between late January (when many ranchers start calving) through mid-spring. There are also a number of ranchers who calve in the fall, though that is not as common. It is definitely planned out by the rancher (farms may have critters, but they're producing crops as opposed to livestock, so you're talking a ranch). A major factor ranchers consider in the north is weather, so that's going to depend on the setting of your book.

Where I live, black Angus are the most common; however, people also raise red Angus, Charolais, and Herefords, to name a few. It is your book, but going organic with your setting will really complicate things.

Calves that are born late winter/spring are weened late that summer or early fall. If they are steers, it would then take a number of months to get them to a kill weight, so 24 months would be relatively accurate -- but again, so much depends . . . Regardless, 24 months would not be veal.

Your summer pasture question is also very dependent on the situation. The key is to keep the cattle on ground that can keep them properly nourished, so the need to move them is going to vary. In the winter around here, grass has very little nutritional value, so ranchers turn to hay to feed their critters. Some farm their own hay; others buy it. Some have enough land that they don't need to move their cattle off their property; others have only enough for part of the year so have to lease land elsewhere. Unless the leased land is adjacent, the rancher either needs to own his own semi and cattle trailer or needs to pay someone else. The variability goes on and on.

Your herd also depends on the type of operation. If they're beef cattle (as opposed to dairy cattle), and if you will include calving, then you have a cow-calf operation. Therefore, you'll always have more females (the cows plus whatever calves are female) with the rest being the bull calves, all of which would most likely then become steers. ;-) One thing you'd definitely need to familiarize yourself with are the correct terms -- cow vs. heifer for instance is very important. Once the calves are weened and sold, you'd be back to almost all females (bred cows and bred heifers) to start the whole cycle over. Many people sell their steers not long after they're weened, after which they would go to a feed lot until they're ready for slaughter. Again, organic beef cattle would be different.

A ranch that supports five to six people financially is going to be a fairly large operation, but the actual number of cattle will (again) depend on the type of ranch because the number of head could really vary.

Hopefully that gives you a place to start, but this is very, very basic background information. I cannot stress the importance of experiencing ranching firsthand if you want to even begin to understand it, but obviously that's not very practical. I've lived in Montana all my life, but in a rural setting for only three years. However, I am constantly amazed at how little the average person knows about agriculture in this area, especially since it is SO important to our economy.

 

[dun]

Waste of time to respond. Like 99% of the writers that come on here asking for information they never come back after their first post

 

[ga.prime]

Waste of time to respond. Like 99% of the writers that come on here asking for information they never come back after their first post

Novelist probably decided to change the setting to exclude cows.

Now if you are writing one of those stupid romance novels----- who cares

Studies have shown that women that read romance novels make the most passionate lovers.

Also, since basically you want us to do all the research and give you all the answers and you write the novel and make money off of it do we get any royalties?

What?!!? I'm sorry I thought I'd ask people who actually work in the business rather then reading something on Wikipedia that may be wrong ... if you'd like me to thank you in the acknowledgements I will.

Who would ever say a thing like that?

 

[regolith]

Who would ever say a thing like that?

The late tncattle467

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

The late tncattle467

Oh chute - I missed that - oh boohoo!!! NOT :banana: