New to the game...

[Anonymous]

I'm a fifteen yr-old boy who wants to get more involved in the cattle business.I live in a very rural community in SW Ark. And I am not totally in the dark with cows at all. I have helped folks work their cows and my father was a part time cattleman;tho I haven't saw him in a couple years and he is not of any help to me. I will have a budget of about $5,000 and wanted to buy some young cows or heifers and breed them around about june. My friend is very generous in offering to let me use his Charlois bull for free. My question is: What breed should I use and would you recomend heifers or young cows? I am not too familiar with ease-of-calving related to charlois. Many run brangus and brafords and I think they are both good breeds. I live in a very humid environment and plan on only keeping the best one of the calves and selling the rest in the pasture. Also, my cows or heifers would come from the sale barn so, what breed would be the best in the way of disease immunity?

[email protected]

 

[Anonymous]

I think it would be best to buy young bred cows, especially if you are going to use a charlois bull. With unbred heifers you will have to wait to long to get any income, and you could really be hurting financially by then. With bred heifers you have more chance of calving problems and losing calves and/or heifers. Also, if possible try to buy from a private party, you never know what you are getting for sure at a sale barn. If you do go the sale barn route try to find a dispersal sale, then try to talk to the owner of the cows or the sale manager. I can't say what breed would be best in your area, but if brangus and braford's are popular in your area, there is probably a good reason for it. Good luck.

> I'm a fifteen yr-old boy who wants
> to get more involved in the cattle
> business.I live in a very rural
> community in SW Ark. And I am not
> totally in the dark with cows at
> all. I have helped folks work
> their cows and my father was a
> part time cattleman;tho I haven't
> saw him in a couple years and he
> is not of any help to me. I will
> have a budget of about $5,000 and
> wanted to buy some young cows or
> heifers and breed them around
> about june. My friend is very
> generous in offering to let me use
> his Charlois bull for free. My
> question is: What breed should I
> use and would you recomend heifers
> or young cows? I am not too
> familiar with ease-of-calving
> related to charlois. Many run
> brangus and brafords and I think
> they are both good breeds. I live
> in a very humid environment and
> plan on only keeping the best one
> of the calves and selling the rest
> in the pasture. Also, my cows or
> heifers would come from the sale
> barn so, what breed would be the
> best in the way of disease
> immunity?

 

[Anonymous]

> I think it would be best to buy
> young bred cows, especially if you
> are going to use a charlois bull.
> With unbred heifers you will have
> to wait to long to get any income,
> and you could really be hurting
> financially by then. With bred
> heifers you have more chance of
> calving problems and losing calves
> and/or heifers. Also, if possible
> try to buy from a private party,
> you never know what you are
> getting for sure at a sale barn.
> If you do go the sale barn route
> try to find a dispersal sale, then
> try to talk to the owner of the
> cows or the sale manager. I can't
> say what breed would be best in
> your area, but if brangus and
> braford's are popular in your
> area, there is probably a good
> reason for it. Good luck. Hi - I'm new to the game also but have been talking with others that have been at this some time. This last bit of advice (buying young bred cows) is the same advice I received with the same reasoning. If you do end up buying from a sell barn, consider this piece of wisdom shared by my local vet. Quarentine the animals you buy for at least 3 weeks before mixing with the rest of your stock. If after that time they appear to be healthy release them to the herd. Also, he said to give the animals a shot of Combiotic and worm them before you ever unload them. He said this would catch about 90% of any problems you might encounter and only cost about $2.80 a head. Pretty cheap insurance if you ask me. Another veteran also warned about releasing new stock into unfamiliar pastures while it is dark. They can't see where the fences are and may injury themselves. Hope this will be of some help. I know I have already learned a lot in the 4 days I've been aware of this bulletin board.

[email protected]