Newbie wants many steak dinners!

[cutterngc]

I was raised on a small beef farm(angus) and want to start a small (2-3) herd of my own. Just for the beef for my family and a few friends. I have about 10 acres of vacant land that would make great pasture. Will this be enough? All the info I have been able to find says it will be close. Also I remember from my childhood the angus dont seem to mind "wandering" thru fences. Would herferds be better? Also should I by calves(steers?) yearly or should I consider a "breeding" program? I'm not looking to make any money with this project just the satisfaction of raising my own beef and helping a SMALL number of friends and family. Also I have a 3 year old and want him to have all the benefits I enjoyed from living on a farm and raising animals. I have read many of the other message strings and have really enjoyed the humor and wonderful information. Any thoughts on my project would be helpful.

cutterngc

 

[Bama]

From the land I have saw in your area you could easily put a couple on 10 acre's if its planted in grass. Angus are not worse than any other breeds about going through fences as far as I have seen. I wouldn't try to breed them. Only 2 or 3 won't be worth the price of a bull. You can buy bred cows if you just want babies born on your place. I would buy 5 - 6 hundred pounders and run em on grass and mineral until around 1000 pounds, then butcher.

 

[oljim]

Welcome to the boards cutterngc. Sounds like you've got a real good plan there. Your stocking rate and carrying capacity will definitely depend on your land.,,and water availability too.

I bet that 3-yr old is gonna love it! Good luck,,and let us know how things are going for you,,ok?

 

[la4angus]

Sounds like Bama has some good advice.

 

[Medic24]

Welcome to the boards.........ditto to the above...........in many ways, and on several days, I wish I had stayed hobby size like that........

Your carrying capacity of course is not only dependant on the type, and amount of forage you have, but also the quality, any money you spend toward this endevour, I would consider putting toward the improvement of your perm. pastures...ie, seed, and fertility. Not only can you get a better stand of grasses, but in the long run, your cattle show the results as well. IMO, it is by far the least expensive investment in the long run.

You also need to decide what you want to do with your excess cattle, raise for beef or try to breed one or two each year as replacements. In doing so, consider AI as an alternative to bringing a bull in for breeding, or even ship your cow to a temp. pasture that has a bull in it, this way you can give your pasture a rest as well. For small numbers of cattle, this is by far the best method, again this is just MO,

Good luck in your endevour. :cboy:

 

[cutterngc]

Again thanks for the advice! I'm really looking forward to this adventure. The county fair is next week and I'm going to talk to everybody that I can, as well as my local ext. office. I live in southwestern michigan and fruit is the main crop.(though seems to be quickly switching to row crop) Anyway the acreage that I have for pasture is lighly rolling terrain, it was a corn field about 15 years ago. When I purchased the property I wanted to let that section go back to woods.(so many people are cutting all the trees down around here for housing) So what I have now is rolling hills with a couple of small clusters of trees. I am very interested in any thoughts about grasses that I can add to the base that is there. Again thanks to all for the welcome and great advice!

cutterngc

 

[Susie David]

Cutterngc....welcome....thats the way we got started a few years back...you'll be surprized at how many family and friends you have when you go to sell your beef...we started with bought steers 500-600 weight and a few cows...bred replacements at a 3-1 ratio of bought-bred seemed to increase our stock at a manageable rate. If we need additional steers to finish we buy from friends who raise then naturally as we do.
We raise Angus and Herefords and of course Baldies...gentle breeds for the most part, the non-team players quickly find themselves in meat packages.
Good luck...Susie

 

[Greenhorn]

We used to do the same thing with some neighbors. We bought 3 and staggered their ages so that we always had fresh meat. When you slaughter one just buy a young replacement and let him start growing.

-Greenhorn