Newbie

[Florida cowgirl]

I am New in the cattle business because the untimely death of my Dad. He had 60 plus cows and 2 Bulls and unfortunately I hired a cowboy to help me run the operation. I have try to study up because the Cowhand seems to do things so different than my Dad. One thing he believes you put the Bulls out and leaves them all year. I am fortunate enough to have a Mentor leading me through the process. He runs a large operation and puts his Bulls out March 1st and pulls them in 3 months. He said even though my Bulls are 2 or 3 year old my Mentor said he would never leave his Bulls with the cows all year long. Help :cry2:

 

[gizmom]

:welcome: Florida cowgirl! Our farm is in northwest Florida what part of Florida are you located? We have a defined calving season we put the bulls out January and pull late March. The pros to a defined calving season is a more uniform calf crop, the ability to be able to better measure the fertility of the cow herd. If a cow doesn't breed within the defined season then she needs a new home. There are some wonderful educational programs offered through the extension service, the University of Florida offers a very good short course in May each year. Good luck, it sounds like your mentor is giving you some solid advice.

gizmom

 

[boondocks]

Welcome to CT! Good advice from gizmom. There are a lot of extension programs for new farmers. Get all of the Heather Smith Thomas books if you haven't already. I hope you will also find CT helpful. Best of luck with your cows, and I'm sorry about your dad!

 

[MaddisonBartlett]

Welcome to CT! Good advice from gizmom. There are a lot of extension programs for new farmers. Get all of the Heather Smith Thomas books if you haven't already. I hope you will also find CT helpful. Best of luck with your cows, and I'm sorry about your dad!

Really great books from great author :nod:

 

[Rafter S]

Both methods are valid, depending on the situation. Some people leave the bulls out all year, don't keep any records, and just go pick out the biggest calves to sell several times a year. I don't recommend that.

I leave my bulls with the cows all year mostly because if I don't the neighbor's bull will break in and take care of things if any of my cows cycle while my bull isn't there. On the other hand, I do have a defined calving season. Any cows that can't keep up get sold, and I sell/wean all my calves once a year.

Good luck, and I'm sorry about you losing your father. I don't know how long it's been, but if it's fairly recent I wanted to let you know it will get easier as time goes along. I lost mine 10 years ago.

 

[slick4591]

:welcome:

 

[Txpiney]

:welcome: I leave the bull with the cows year round. The cows pretty much calve in the spring and fall. I work them through for shots, tagging, banding, weaning etc in March and and October . Then after weaning, sell off calves and move feeder steers and retained heiferso to a different pasture for conditioning.
It's just what works for me.

 

[jerry27150]

I would leave the bulls year around also, if you don't want the later bred ones, someone else will pay more for them than they would an open cow

 

[Florida cowgirl]

:welcome: I leave the bull with the cows year round. The cows pretty much calve in the spring and fall. I work them through for shots, tagging, banding, weaning etc in March and and October . Then after weaning, sell off calves and move feeder steers and retained heiferso to a different pasture for conditioning.
It's just what works for me.

I do know my Dad did not move any Steers or Heifers to a separate pasture. I asked around my area and most Ranchers around here don't condition their calves. My Dad didn't keep any heifers and he would ship around 9 months if he said the prices were right. I am currently looking for the paperwork to see what weight he would ship them to the auction. My Friends cows are much larger so I can't base my shipping weight on his calves.

 

[farmerjan]

Hi and welcome also. First off sorry about the loss of your dad. Hope that continuing to have the cattle he must have enjoyed will make you feel closer to him.
We do not leave our bulls with the cows all year. We have 2 calving seasons, a spring group that calves Mar through May, and a fall group that calves Sept through Nov.. About 90 days each, and mostly because several places it is very difficult to get the bulls out except by bringing everyone in. 90 % of the cows will calve in a 60 day window and it does allow for the calves to be in a more uniform size, grouping, for sale. If you dad used to sell at about 9 months, then he was giving the cows approx 60-90 days of dry time before they calved again. If the bulls are in there all the time you will not be able to be as sure of making sure they get a proper dry off rest before their next calf. Since they are your cows, anyone that works for you should be doing it the way you want; and the way you are used to it being done at least for the present. Since you are getting your feet wet, I would think that you should do it the way it was done for a little bit til you get a feel for what you are doing. Leaving the bulls in year round is not a bad way; different strokes for different folks.

It is also a little easier to be watching them to calve for a defined time frame, to get the bull calves banded, and then when they are done calving, you don't have to be as intense on making sure they are okay. For me, it is just easier to be watching and recording all the calvings and then checking at pasture is not a twice a day thing. Plus this way we know that everyone is done calving and anyone that doesn't produce, usually goes to town.

I think it sounds like your Mentor is the one you should be listening to. If he knew your dad, he may be familiar with what he did and can help you to do the same. Once you get into it and if you decide to stay with farming, then you can make some more informed decisions as to what you might want to do differently, or to stick with what works.
You can Private message anyone and I am sure someone like gizmom will be able to help you since you are in the same general area and would know the climate, grasses, and markets down there.

 

[dieselbeef]

cows aint as easy as some would have ya think. at least it doesn't snow here. where are you maybe a chance one of us here in fl knew your dad..sorry for your loss...

 

[Florida cowgirl]

Central Florida

 

[dieselbeef]

never mind

 

[wacocowboy]

You ask Joe he will say leave the bulls in year round you ask Bob he will say just put them in for so long. Lots of people have different ways don't make it wrong just how they prefer to do it.

 

[Florida cowgirl]

You ask Joe he will say leave the bulls in year round you ask Bob he will say just put them in for so long. Lots of people have different ways don't make it wrong just how they prefer to do it.

I didn't realize there was such different opinions but there is a few ranchers near by. The problem is most of the ranchers hold their cards close to their chest. Diesel Beef being a woman I certainly wouldn't give out where I actually live on a forum. This forum is great and I appreciate all the help but being new to forums and watching to much TV about horror stories about the Internet I guess I am a little paranoid.

 

[True Grit Farms]

You ask Joe he will say leave the bulls in year round you ask Bob he will say just put them in for so long. Lots of people have different ways don't make it wrong just how they prefer to do it.

I didn't realize there was such different opinions but there is a few ranchers near by. The problem is most of the ranchers hold their cards close to their chest. Diesel Beef being a woman I certainly wouldn't give out where I actually live on a forum. This forum is great and I appreciate all the help but being new to forums and watching to much TV about horror stories about the Internet I guess I am a little paranoid.

Every few years we start to plan a CT get together and it hasn't worked out yet. Cowgirl, you might need a few shooting lessons if your that paranoid. One thing is for sure you never know who your talking to over the Internet. Two members on here ended up being my neighbors and till I put the town I live in, none of us knew. So far I've met at least 15 different members from CT and everyone has been great. I have plans to make a road trip and meet a few more CT members one of these days. It's hard to believe how busy you can stay doing nothing.

 

[callmefence]

In Florida I can't see any reason to pull the bulls. If a cow gets out of time to much you still gotta fair chance of selling her as a bred instead of open.
And fwiw they buy calves year round.

 

[wacocowboy]

You ask Joe he will say leave the bulls in year round you ask Bob he will say just put them in for so long. Lots of people have different ways don't make it wrong just how they prefer to do it.

I didn't realize there was such different opinions but there is a few ranchers near by. The problem is most of the ranchers hold their cards close to their chest. Diesel Beef being a woman I certainly wouldn't give out where I actually live on a forum. This forum is great and I appreciate all the help but being new to forums and watching to much TV about horror stories about the Internet I guess I am a little paranoid.

Yeah there are lots of different opinions. You will just have to sift through them and see what works for you and your operation.

I am a guy and I wouldn't give out my location. I've met one person on here and we met at a Beefmaster sale.

 

[farmerjan]

FL cowgirl, I don't blame you for not "giving out your location" I think someone like dieselbeef was asking just to see if he was in an area to have known your dad. He lost his wife and we all tried to be as supporting as we could to him and his son, so believe me that MOST everyone on here seems like pretty decent people. I am fairly new on here and have learned alot and have really felt welcome, and yeah, I'm female. I'm not giving directions to my house, but it helps to know general areas. You can always PM someone with more details if you want more specifics. And if someone is close to you, they might very well be willing to come by and give you their opinion face to face, or offer some help.
Just check some of the threads on the horrible fires in KS,OK and areas to realize that many are doing all they can to HELP out a fellow farmer/rancher. (Longshot and Fires threads in coffee shop)

 

[Florida cowgirl]

FL cowgirl, I don't blame you for not "giving out your location" I think someone like dieselbeef was asking just to see if he was in an area to have known your dad. He lost his wife and we all tried to be as supporting as we could to him and his son, so believe me that MOST everyone on here seems like pretty decent people. I am fairly new on here and have learned alot and have really felt welcome, and yeah, I'm female. I'm not giving directions to my house, but it helps to know general areas. You can always PM someone with more details if you want more specifics. And if someone is close to you, they might very well be willing to come by and give you their opinion face to face, or offer some help.
Just check some of the threads on the horrible fires in KS,OK and areas to realize that many are doing all they can to HELP out a fellow farmer/rancher. (Longshot and Fires threads in coffee shop)

I just had a real bad experience and I knew that answer came off as terrible. I live outside Umatilla and we are also in the grove business but we are pretty sure we have greening so my Dad was also in the Orange Grove biz. His name was Mark Lucas. Sorry I came off as so paranoid .