Poor cattle

[buckaroo_bif]

here's one for you dun it's called a hogzilla monster tub grinder!

http://www.the-trader.com/hogzilla.htm

:lol:

 

[dun]

here's one for you dun it's called a hogzilla monster tub grinder!

http://www.the-trader.com/hogzilla.htm

:lol:

HOLY CRAPOLA I was expecting some big TMR grinder/mixer

dun

 

[COWMOM]

Well I live in Michigan,so ya know what our winters are like. We have a neighbor that is running about 60 head in a 40acre pasture. I dont think he feeds any grain or minerals. I think they are lucky to have a crappy round bale out there. It really shows in the cattle. They are herefords and are thin looking like a long legged holstein. I dont know if they have shelter either. They must be a tough bunch though. I havnt seen one dead yet. Still urkes me though. I'd love to have that many head to feed up. I dont understand how people can treat animals that way.

 

[Caustic Burno]

The past couple of weeks I've spent hours driving up and down the roads of central Texas. It is totally amazing to me how many herds of really really poor cattle are out there! For every good looking herd of 6+ BCS, there are 10 herds of 3's and 4's. What's the deal??? Is it because folks are just holding on to cows instead of selling, even though the prices are so good? Or is it folks that are "weekenders" that don't know what they are supposed to look like? It's got me baffled! I didn't see this many skinny cows in the drought of '95. :roll:

Heck you can sure tell the hobby cattlemen in this thread carrying a cow thats a 6 is a waste of feed and money. Money is in the 4 to 5's. Feedin a cow out of a sack is like buying a truck with a balloon note it will never pay.

 

[dun]

The past couple of weeks I've spent hours driving up and down the roads of central Texas. It is totally amazing to me how many herds of really really poor cattle are out there! For every good looking herd of 6+ BCS, there are 10 herds of 3's and 4's. What's the deal??? Is it because folks are just holding on to cows instead of selling, even though the prices are so good? Or is it folks that are "weekenders" that don't know what they are supposed to look like? It's got me baffled! I didn't see this many skinny cows in the drought of '95. :roll:

Heck you can sure tell the hobby cattlemen in this thread carrying a cow thats a 6 is a waste of feed and money. Money is in the 4 to 5's. Feedin a cow out of a sack is like buying a truck with a balloon note it will never pay.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get the cows to be 4-5 when they gain weight over the winter on stockpiled fescue and run 6-6.5 at calving. Please enlighten me.

dun

 

[tapeworm]

The past couple of weeks I've spent hours driving up and down the roads of central Texas. It is totally amazing to me how many herds of really really poor cattle are out there! For every good looking herd of 6+ BCS, there are 10 herds of 3's and 4's. What's the deal??? Is it because folks are just holding on to cows instead of selling, even though the prices are so good? Or is it folks that are "weekenders" that don't know what they are supposed to look like? It's got me baffled! I didn't see this many skinny cows in the drought of '95. :roll:

Heck you can sure tell the hobby cattlemen in this thread carrying a cow thats a 6 is a waste of feed and money. Money is in the 4 to 5's. Feedin a cow out of a sack is like buying a truck with a balloon note it will never pay.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get the cows to be 4-5 when they gain weight over the winter on stockpiled fescue and run 6-6.5 at calving. Please enlighten me.

dun

What Burro is saying is right if you have to pour feed out to get them there...dun you have a special kind of problem that mostof us dont ever face....if its true that they dont get anything but grass. I hope youre just joking about not knowing how to get the weight off of em.

 

[dun]

I hope youre just joking about not knowing how to get the weight off of em.

When I jokingly mentioned the cows getting too fart over the winter the vet said he could give them a shot that would knock the wait off of them. The down side was that thry'ld be so wild the wouldn;t be able to be worked. He was joking too.
Someon commented in a pm that one of the cows looked like she would gain weight from an empty feed sack. The mpty ones would be the only type she could, cause other then severe weather they don;t get anything but that ugly old cow killer grass.
I agree it's pecualiar problem but it has 3 root causes I think. A little lighter stocking rate, 3 year drought did that for us, cows that are well adapted to the environment and grass/forage managment. Running cows in some pretty harsh areas, and the drought brought that message home. When it comes to grass managment I've almost become like a born again chriostian or an ex-smoker, I push it pretty hard at people sometimes.

dun

 

[El_Putzo]

My Dad and brothers and I would like to have your same problem dun. When will you be teaching a class? :lol:

Don't get me wrong, most of our cows stay in the 4-5 range through the winter with a couple of 3's and a few 6's. Those 6's sure are prettier to look at in Feb.

 

[dun]

My Dad and brothers and I would like to have your same problem dun. When will you be teaching a class? :lol:

Don't get me wrong, most of our cows stay in the 4-5 range through the winter with a couple of 3's and a few 6's. Those 6's sure are prettier to look at in Feb.

We have the luxury now of not having to keep high numbers just o be able to sell pounds. That's one of the advantages of being retired. We select for cows that are adapted to ro that do adapt to our managment and environemtn. That's what allows us to market good grass via the calves. I still believe that in most cases, we're grass/forage farmers that use cattle to market our product.
But I've alwasy looked at thing in a simplistic sort of way.

dun