Not a beginner, but trying to start over, HELP

[Ryder]

hi, thanks for all your replies.

First the ugly bull i was talking about was born and raised on the farm. My dad say he is a bull calf that was hard for him to catch so he just stayed with the heard. SO whenever primary bull for that pasture died the ugly bull just stayed behind and finally took over. One night after a big rain storm we found the main bull floating in the pond dead and we dont know what happened and thats when theugly bul took over. He is about 4-6 years of age and have been breeding his sisters, daughter, and maybe his mother (does this happen).

Iam getting soil test done this week on campus. I have access to the ag lab and will be getting test done on the soil. One question about soil testing. What part of the soil am i actually testing. How deep should i go, and how much should should i bring ( a bag full or a 5 gallon bucket full, to get good results

Those ugly, one-horned bulls will breed anything they can get to.
You may well have some animals that need to be culled out and use the money to buy some good cattle, You may not be able to buy as many as you sell, but if you have some scraggly inbred cows, the quality may really be a whole lot better with some new stock. I am not saying sell everything. Just see if you think there should be some culling.

I'll just menton that you probably need some way to identify individual cows if this is not being done. You need to be able to know which ones are giving you a calf every year and which ones need to go.

For your soil test, with a place as big as yours you will need to sample from several different locations. Call the extention office. They will tell you how to proceed. They will probably give you a sheet with directions telling you just how to do it. I think they will also give you bags to put your samples in and whatever tags or paper work you need to fill out. Once you have your samples, you can give them to the extention office and they will take it from there.

You may be able to get all this directly from the lab. But it actually comes under the duties of ag extension office and in the long run may save confusion to go through them.

Everything from buying a bull to pasture work is going to take time. Don't get in a rush. Remember-Graduate School is first priority for your time and attention. I say this because it is awful easy to get caught up in some new interest or activity and lose your focus. Of course, you are old enough and far enough along to know this without me saying it.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

. One question about soil testing. What part of the soil am i actually testing. How deep should i go, and how much should should i bring ( a bag full or a 5 gallon bucket full, to get good results

For each pasture that you want tested, take soil from several locations in each pasture and mix them well. Then label that bag for that pasture. Then do the same for the next. A quart-size zipper bag or lunch size paper bag will work fine for each pasture's sample. Dig down several inches. If you don't have access to a sampling tool, a regular garden trowl will work. If the ground is soft enough a piece of pipe about an inch in diameter will work (very similar to a sampling tool) with the pipe method, jam it down into the dirt several inches then knock the dirt into the bag. The equivelant of a good handful of dirt from each sample hole should do.

When you bring in your sample, tell them the purpose of these pastures, then you'll get a good idea of what the nutrient levels are, and what you'll need as far as ammendments. (soil tests for grapes will give a different answer than soil tests for grazing or hay)

Clear as mud?

I wish you the best in your endeavor.

Katherine

 

[johndeerefarmer]

Why do you want to plow a field just because it hasn't been plowed in 10 years? If it has grass on it leave it alone..

As far as wormers go, you get your best bang for the buck from deworming the calves.

 

[tmay]

Why do you want to plow a field just because it hasn't been plowed in 10 years? If it has grass on it leave it alone..

I was asking this because talking to a professors and he said that for good growth of grass that has a good amout of proteins and etc, its was good to plow,plant, and fertilize every few years.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Why do you want to plow a field just because it hasn't been plowed in 10 years? If it has grass on it leave it alone..

I was asking this because talking to a professors and he said that for good growth of grass that has a good amout of proteins and etc, its was good to plow,plant, and fertilize every few years.

Is this some of those professors that don't own the first cow.
You best resource is local cattlemen there doing this for a living.

 

[TheBullLady]

I agree with CB on the culling.. since the ugly bull sounds like he has sired many of the females, you don't want to perpetrate his genetics in your herd. I would also cull anything that is old or very small frame score. Any cow with a smaller frame score is going to have more risk of calving problems.. you won't be able to use a large framed bull to get larger calves without risking the cow having problems.

I would suggest a registered bull so you can get some EPD information, as you're going to need a "calving ease" bull for at least your first year, so you'll have an idea what the cows will produce. Angus, Brangus, Limo, Simmental.. all come in "black". If you want solid black cows, make sure the bull is "homozygous" black. Also would suggest a homozygous polled bull, so you won't have to worry so much about dehorning.

As far as plowing up the field.. what kind of grass is on it? It may just need fertilizer and an aerator to help it out.

Good luck!

 

[watson brangus]

I believe i might could help you out with a good bull. we have some nice black brangus bulls for sale.where do u live in louisiana or where is the farm as i presume u live in baton rouge.

 

[Beefy]

for starters get rid of the bull and get some new blood. go with angus or brangus since you already have a bunch of grays (or gray genes at least).

determine the pasture conditions. what kind of grass? is it weedy grass or actually good forage. if its good forage leave it be, fertilizing it may benefit you more. if its crap grass you will need to start over.

crossfencing is important in my opinion. it is good to be able to separate cows from weanlings from heifers from bulls. heifers benefit from being separated from cows. if you separate the bull you can gradually (or suddenly if you cull like wildfire) cut down your calving dates and have more uniform in size calves. also it is easier to judge a calf and most importantly cows performance if all cows are about the same age.

college professors have some good ideas but alot of those ideas arent necessarily practical in the real world of raising cattle. so just keep that in mind b/c if you go exactly by the book you will be broke quick.

more later, b

 

[skyline]

tmay- You've received some very good advice already. You can learn alot from the folks on this forum. I certainly have. But here's my 2 cents for your situation. If you can get a break from grad school, go the following class at the extension office of Texas A&M in Overton, Texas. It's not too far from you and you'll learn alot about herd management, cell grazing, forage, breeds, etc...

Click on the link below for more information.

http://overton.tamu.edu/grazingschool.htm

Good luck to you. You are a blessed man to have your father around and to have him seeking your help. Spend every minute that you can with him.

 

[johndeerefarmer]

Tmay,
You are not going to get much done if you are 40 miles away from the farm. If you are going to try to improve it, you need to be there everyday.
If you have cattle you need to check on them EVERY day. Look for sick ones, cows calving etc.
If you have 40 head why don't you try to manage them better first, before messing with dads?

 

[Aero]

thanks for the reply. okay you say they might have a resistance, so would it be a waste of time deworming, or we deworm anyway.

here is one side of it http://www.anguselist.com/volume17/v17anguselist17.html

 

[alftn]

Deworm and vacc. , I run mine spring and fall through shoot..Ivec. and vacc..(over vacc. several things, figuar it can not hurt) It is not that expensive, more timen than anything else...Of corse my cow are like dogs, they would follow me 5 miles if I had a five gallon bucket in my hands...

 

[tmay]

Tmay,
You are not going to get much done if you are 40 miles away from the farm. If you are going to try to improve it, you need to be there everyday.
If you have cattle you need to check on them EVERY day. Look for sick ones, cows calving etc.
If you have 40 head why don't you try to manage them better first, before messing with dads?

hello, thanks everyone for your replies, i have learned alot from this forum and i wish i would have found it about 2 years ago.

Iam pretty much home every other day, grad school is so easy compared to undergraduate because all i have to do is research. As of now, iam only required to be on campus 6 hours a week, but i have to drive down to grand isle louisiana and stay on the weekends (Fri and Sat) . Even though iam in biomedical engineering, since hurricane katrina they have given me the option and have commisioned me to finish a project i did for my senior engineering project.

My group and I developed geotextile Costal Erosion Mats, using burlap and bagasse from sugar cane. When i first did it 3 years ago before the storm, and i presented it to the state, they told us that the coast wasnt a priority and there wasnt any money to do the research. Come to find out a guy from army corp of engineering was trying to steal our idea, because it worked. So before we graduated we were able to copyright and patent the invention. Now, since katrina destroyed grand isle they wanted us back, because we made a cheap, economical altenative solution that proved to work. they are even willing to pay for my school, and pay me to finish, plus if something big happens with the idea, we own it. Anyway

Well with my 40 cows i have had them about 4 years and they are seperate from my dads. I wanted to try to farm myself so we fenced off 100 acrea and built a pond for me. My herd consist of 2 Reg Black Angus Bulls, calves, yearlings and heifers. I never sold any and that herd is continuing to grow. That why for my dads herd i have two great looking 18 month old bulls that i raised that i will put in his herd when we get situated. I have taken very good care of mine and thats why my dad has allowed me to help, because he saw how great my herd looks and that iam really interested. I dewormed, tag, winter pasture, you know all the stuff that i was told to do and everything is fine. so now i want to help my dads.

I have a question, we have a heifer thats about 4, who was attacked by wild dogs and they lost of one of her legs. We tried to sale her at the auction and they only offered about $75. She raise good calves every year, but she is not the healtiest looking thing, what should we do.

Also with culling, would it be best to pen them up and to fatten up before selling or should we just take them as they are.

 

[bigbull338]

Tmay,
You are not going to get much done if you are 40 miles away from the farm. If you are going to try to improve it, you need to be there everyday.
If you have cattle you need to check on them EVERY day. Look for sick ones, cows calving etc.
If you have 40 head why don't you try to manage them better first, before messing with dads?

hello, thanks everyone for your replies, i have learned alot from this forum and i wish i would have found it about 2 years ago.

Iam pretty much home every other day, grad school is so easy compared to undergraduate because all i have to do is research. As of now, iam only required to be on campus 6 hours a week, but i have to drive down to grand isle louisiana and stay on the weekends (Fri and Sat) . Even though iam in biomedical engineering, since hurricane katrina they have given me the option and have commisioned me to finish a project i did for my senior engineering project.

My group and I developed geotextile Costal Erosion Mats, using burlap and bagasse from sugar cane. When i first did it 3 years ago before the storm, and i presented it to the state, they told us that the coast wasnt a priority and there wasnt any money to do the research. Come to find out a guy from army corp of engineering was trying to steal our idea, because it worked. So before we graduated we were able to copyright and patent the invention. Now, since katrina destroyed grand isle they wanted us back, because we made a cheap, economical altenative solution that proved to work. they are even willing to pay for my school, and pay me to finish, plus if something big happens with the idea, we own it. Anyway

Well with my 40 cows i have had them about 4 years and they are seperate from my dads. I wanted to try to farm myself so we fenced off 100 acrea and built a pond for me. My herd consist of 2 Reg Black Angus Bulls, calves, yearlings and heifers. I never sold any and that herd is continuing to grow. That why for my dads herd i have two great looking 18 month old bulls that i raised that i will put in his herd when we get situated. I have taken very good care of mine and thats why my dad has allowed me to help, because he saw how great my herd looks and that iam really interested. I dewormed, tag, winter pasture, you know all the stuff that i was told to do and everything is fine. so now i want to help my dads.

I have a question, we have a heifer thats about 4, who was attacked by wild dogs and they lost of one of her legs. We tried to sale her at the auction and they only offered about $75. She raise good calves every year, but she is not the healtiest looking thing, what should we do.

Also with culling, would it be best to pen them up and to fatten up before selling or should we just take them as they are.

if you could it might be best to pen them an feed them 2wks before you sale them.that way you can see how gentle they are .anget them so you can load without stressing them to bad.

 

[eric]

I have a question, we have a heifer thats about 4, who was attacked by wild dogs and they lost of one of her legs. We tried to sale her at the auction and they only offered about $75. She raise good calves every year, but she is not the healtiest looking thing, what should we do.

Ship her. Get what you can. She can't protect herself or her calf if the dogs come back.


Also with culling, would it be best to pen them up and to fatten up before selling or should we just take them as they are.

I would sell them now. Why put more money in them to hopefully (maybe?) get a few more pounds? Chances are a experienced catleman will spot them and realize that they are still culls and you will still get low prices, so why not just take what you can get now and buy better cows. Maybe sell 2-3 culls and pick up a decent longbred cow.