New rancher old ranch Leon County TX

[Burwabit]

@Burwabit , Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you're 3 years into the cattle operation making those costly impovements. You two have a good thing going. Wondering how many acres of fenced pasture? Your plan...100 head produces 185 or more head during calving. Need over 200 acres fenced...300 even better. I'm wondering why her dad capped his herd to 45? Most cattle producers will maximize their herd...to a safe limit...for drought and winter feed grazing reserve acreages versus buying hay. Do you have any details why her dad arranged the operation as such? Father knows best...why repeat mistakes he might have made. Sure hope it can go to 100 head..profits look so much better on paper...can't lose...unless the cattle get thin.

385 acres for the homestead piece we are running cows on... probably 200 of which are grass. Total place is 610.

My FIL had 80-100 at different times in the 20 years I knew him. He died young at 72 with cancer and he may have downsized before his treatments started. I don't have the whole story on his cattle operations, although my wife's brother helped fill in some of the gaps (unfortunately we lost him too in 2021). One of our regrets is not being more involved and helping my FIL... missed opportunity.

 

[Burwabit]

Might get with your local NRCS office if you haven't already. They can offer allot of good advice and cost sharing programs to get an older place back in shape. You say you'd like to expand from 45 to 100 hd? Sounds like a good idea but go slow to see what the place can actually handle. My only other advice would be to slowly get in the mode of weaning and keeping calves until yearling size before selling. A weaned 800# calf will always bring money a trailer weaned 500# calf can't touch.

This forum will definitely help you. Not sure if he is still there, but leon county used to have a very good ag agent.
I am located north of you between buffalo and fairfield right on 75.

Good advice here. Will definitely reach out.

 

[wbvs58]

385 acres for the homestead piece we are running cows on... probably 200 of which are grass. Total place is 610.

My FIL had 80-100 at different times in the 20 years I knew him. He died young at 72 with cancer and he may have downsized before his treatments started. I don't have the whole story on his cattle operations, although my wife's brother helped fill in some of the gaps (unfortunately we lost him too in 2021). One of our regrets is not being more involved and helping my FIL... missed op

Sounds like a handy bit of land.

Ken

 

[Lucky]

Sounds like you have a plan and are on the right track. Another thing I would recommend is having a defined calving season. I got a lot of push back from people around here when I started doing this but it has made all the difference for us. We turn the bulls in May 1st and pull them around August 1st. Times may vary in your area.

 

[Lucky]

Yeah, there's probably a good reason why her father...kept the amount he had....I believe it was extra feed costs versus extra pasture for winter grazing. Everything looks sooo much better on paper with 100 head- calving for profits...100 head turns into 180 head quickly.. I'm sure her father was doing a little bit better than break even. The issue becomes documenting all expenses clearing land and fixing fencing, fixing and upgrading equipment and charging that back onto the cattle...it will be a break even or go into a loss.

Losses on paper or losses out of your pocket . Big difference

 

[Burwabit]

Sounds like you have a plan and are on the right track. Another thing I would recommend is having a defined calving season. I got a lot of push back from people around here when I started doing this but it has made all the difference for us. We turn the bulls in May 1st and pull them around August 1st. Times may vary in your area.

Yes agreed I need to do this. This goes to my problem of internal fencing and where to winter bulls. This is definitely a direction I will be moving in.

 

[Burwabit]

This forum will definitely help you. Not sure if he is still there, but leon county used to have a very good ag agent.
I am located north of you between buffalo and fairfield right on 75.

My wife is from Fairfield. Her family lived there for many years across multiple generations but everyone is gone now. Good town.

 

[Burwabit]

Might get with your local NRCS office if you haven't already. They can offer allot of good advice and cost sharing programs to get an older place back in shape. You say you'd like to expand from 45 to 100 hd? Sounds like a good idea but go slow to see what the place can actually handle. My only other advice would be to slowly get in the mode of weaning and keeping calves until yearling size before selling. A weaned 800# calf will always bring money a trailer weaned 500# calf can't touch.

Weaning is another thing we need to improve on. Putting the pieces together hopefully to make progress in the next few years.

 

[simme]

Agree on the importance of a defined calving season. It brings uniformity to the calves. Calves closer in age, quality, weights, management, appearance, etc. Calves that look identical are sold here in groups and bring more money. Having enough for a pot load allows marketing opportunities that brings even more money.

It somewhat forces better management. Pulling the bulls out on schedule and preg checking afterwards points you to those open cows costing money. Getting those gone sooner rather than later cuts costs. And ends up educating a person on overall performance as a group and as individuals. Easier to evaluate if they were born and raised in the same time frame with the same weather and opportunity. Allows you to work them more efficiently. No multiple age groups and multiple working dates for the same purpose like vaccinations, tagging, branding, cutting, weighing, breeding, selling, etc.

My opinion - having very similar cows and very similar bulls and selecting over the years on performance will yield over the long term. Some people buy cows based on whether they think they can make money on them. I am sure it works for some people, but I just try to make them all alike and hope that will work for me.

 

[Brute 23]

I will echo what may have been said already. If you are looking to expand and have the slightest interest in maximizing what you get for your product, buy or raise cows synced up from the get go. It's real easy to decide later on to run bulls year round... it's much more hassel to get synced up.

IMO, you may be fortunate to start from where you are because you will get to build it how you want not clean up some one else's mess.

 

[TexasRancher]

@Burwabit , Do not be discouraged...you have enough land to succeed very well in the cattle business...it'll take 5 to 10 years to get your fields polished and organized, cattle proven out, systems in place. With 100 head plus a few bulls...I cannot see where you can't make 1/2 to 1/3 of your calving sales as profits if you don't included your labor-hours. I'm 1/10th that size. 4th year, finally making profit now...coming off two hard years of drought. Keep the steel equipment to a minimum...fixing old and broken stuff is costly...if you don't own it you won't need to fix it $....filters, oil, belts, tires, lube, bearings. Cattlemen complain a lot ...but have you seen all their nice farm toys and trucks? Do not be deceived....lots of money in cattle if you keep it simple...dump lots of lambsquarter seeds and giant rag weed seeds into a few paddocks in the far back plots of your land....lots of fall/winter grazing without buying hay. Turns out those weeds are a blessing in disguise. I'd be sunk without 5 foot lambsquarter in these droughts.