Pasture galore.What would you run??

[jasonleonard]

There is pasture available within 10 miles of my farm . This isnt suitable for corn or beans.
One piece available just for the mowing is 90 acres mostly grass and red clover..good fence
2 big ponds and a barn to load in and out of.This is frustrating to pass up.I dont need the pasture..
Would you guys buy bred cows, pairs or stockers? I am located in southwest PA.
Thanks JL

 

[dun]

If it's high quality forage I would go with stockers. If just kind of average probably close cows.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I would probably buy stockers at your prices. But i don't think you would be going wrong with cows either. the main thing is to not let a deal like that go, around here finding land to lease is near imposible.

 

[bandit80]

I would probably buy stockers at your prices. But i don't think you would be going wrong with cows either. the main thing is to not let a deal like that go, around here finding land to lease is near imposible.

This times 2.

 

[Lazy M]

I'd suggest purchasing quality open yearling heifers. Rent a bull to run with em and this fall keep the best as replacements and sell the rest as bred heifers

 

[Stocker Steve]

There is pasture available within 10 miles of my farm . This isnt suitable for corn or beans.
One piece available just for the mowing is 90 acres mostly grass and red clover..good fence
2 big ponds and a barn to load in and out of.This is frustrating to pass up.I don't need the pasture..
Would you guys buy bred cows, pairs or stockers?

Depends on you and winter hay and capital.
You would need to provide cross fence and provide paddock water to do it right.
Pairs and stockers both can make good money during the green season, but cows can eat a lot of the profit during the white season.
Purchasing stockers is more $/acre up front, but they should return more per acre or good forage than pairs.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

There is pasture available within 10 miles of my farm . This isnt suitable for corn or beans.
One piece available just for the mowing is 90 acres mostly grass and red clover..good fence
2 big ponds and a barn to load in and out of.This is frustrating to pass up.I don't need the pasture..
Would you guys buy bred cows, pairs or stockers?

Depends on you and winter hay and capital.
You would need to provide cross fence and provide paddock water to do it right.
Pairs and stockers both can make good money during the green season, but cows can eat a lot of the profit during the white season.
Purchasing stockers is more $/acre up front, but they should return more per acre or good forage than pairs.

I agree, but it is hard to lose money on a cow, when she will have a calf every year, that you don't have to go buy.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I know people that lose money on cows. They just prefer to think a lot of inputs are free...

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I know they are around, but it takes a special kind to lose money on a cow calf operation imo.

 

[Ryder]

Are you pretty sure you can keep the pasture long term?
If so, then probably whatever suits your fancy and your cash flow situation should work.

 

[tcw cattle]

cows something that close to home and with good load out or catch pen. Really nice if you have some late calfers close to home to check on. Whatever you do rent it! Like ryder said if you can get a contract for couple years you can play with it and find what will work best for your operation.

 

[jasonleonard]

Thanks everyone for all your input on this question.I am leaning towards picking up some more bred cows or 3fers so I can tie up some of this ground. Since starting this thread another farm has also become available...local dairymen was killed by a dump bed. His widow(never had kids) wants me to run some cattle on her ground she has 3 different pastures with good fence, water and corrals. I'm just gonna stock them real light to tie them up. I can get 3 to 5 year leases on some of these places; the one lady just wants her cattle gaurds cleaned out twice a year and the pastures mowed off once a summer.

 

[J&D Cattle]

You're a lucky guy, must be living right. Not much comes available around here. I leased 120 acres the other day with about 50 open and had to give more than I thought I should have. We lost another place so it was buck up and pay it or sell some cows off.

 

[3MileRanch]

You need to go buy a lottery ticket!

 

[Stocker Steve]

I know they are around, but it takes a special kind to lose money on a cow calf operation imo.

I have seen a number of approaches. It may take more effort in Missouri, but the most common ones in MN are:

- Bid up land to crazy prices to compete with the deer hunters.
- Feed beef cows (corn silage daily) like you used to feed diary cows.
- Own $200,000 of equipment to run 40 cows.
- Calve in the mud w/o facilities so you loose a lot of calves in a wet year.
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[denvermartinfarms]

I know they are around, but it takes a special kind to lose money on a cow calf operation imo.

I have seen a number of approaches. It may take more effort in Missouri, but the most common ones in MN are:

- Bid up land to crazy prices to compete with the deer hunters.
- Feed beef cows (corn silage daily) like you used to feed diary cows.
- Own $200,000 of equipment to run 40 cows.
- Calve in the mud w/o facilities so you loose a lot of calves in a wet year.
-
-

Since i said that i have met a guy that i have now started helping. He has sevarel farms around here and he knows very little about cattle. This one place i'm helping him with is 300 acres about 200 open and most is really good bottom land. the problem is he has had his drunk cousin running it and costing him a ton. He had about 50 good brangus cows on it up until about 4 months ago and for some reason he was told to sell them, and he kept the calves they had and some others that had been weaned a while, now here is the bad part these 35 weaned calves that i took to the sale a couple weeks ago for him were anywhere from 7 to 20 moths old and the biggest one was 700lbs and the youngest ones were as light as 225 at 7 months, his cousin had been charging 1000$ a month in feed and i am pretty sure was selling it, he never wormed any of them like he was supossed to be doing, and was to lazy to put hay out so he just said they were not eating it. this guy had been getting paid 400$ a week for 5 years to completly ruin a really good operation. The check for the 35 calves and yearling+s was 22k and should have been over 40k if managed right. So i have learned alot about how someone can lose money on cows.