Profitability 2.0

[ddd75]

Finally a productive thread with good discussion and it disappears. Lol. I'd like to restart this conversation.

What practices have you implemented or quit doing that made you more profitable? Technical nuts and bolts type discussion is welcome too. I'd love to hear detail about stocking rates or profit per acre or whatever the case may be.

sell most of the cattle and get more profitable animals...

i heard cricket farming is the new way to get rich.. use the rest of the land to grow hemp ====

$$$$$$$$

 

[skyhightree1]

Finally a productive thread with good discussion and it disappears. Lol. I'd like to restart this conversation.

What practices have you implemented or quit doing that made you more profitable? Technical nuts and bolts type discussion is welcome too. I'd love to hear detail about stocking rates or profit per acre or whatever the case may be.

sell most of the cattle and get more profitable animals...

i heard cricket farming is the new way to get rich.. use the rest of the land to grow hemp ====

$$$$$$$$

 

[Lucky]

2. Went years without spraying for weeds. Finally started, and I never clip pastures now. Have more grass than I ever have.

How do you spray? Particularly, to avoid killing clover.

I remember you saying it is good to have weeds because they bring up the deep nutrients and those are recycled when you mow. I thought that was a good practice.

I hear the clover deal allot and while it's definitely something to consider I still think spraying pays back more than any one thing you can do. I know folks that put up with weedy pastures all year long because they are scared to lose 6 weeks worth of clover.

 

[Stocker Steve]

+ HT cross fencing
+ grazing some yearlings
+ bale grazing
+ hard cull'in
- lime & clover
- F1 cows

Steve are you listing these as negatives? If so, care to explain further please?

Opps. Typo. All positives. Did not have enough time to write all the negatives.

 

[Stocker Steve]

The real gains will be captured when I sell the estate. The improvements that I have written off through depreciation will be unencumbered. So there should be a nice capital gain in the end.

Good point. We should have a wealth building thread. :nod:

 

[Stocker Steve]

I hear the clover deal allot and while it's definitely something to consider I still think spraying pays back more than any one thing you can do. I know folks that put up with weedy pastures all year long because they are scared to lose 6 weeks worth of clover.

Cross fence those weeds.

 

[Stocker Steve]

[Commercial is much more profitable IMO unless you have a niche breed.Hard to compete with the three (Angus,Brahman and Hereford) as small producers. Haven't seen but one niche survive long term in my area and they are British Whites.

Read in some beef magazine eons ago the average lifespan for small seedstock operations was seven to ten years.

Interesting. Is this an issure of how long it takes to develop a rep, or skill, or ?

 

[Josher]

What benefits an operation varies a lot depending on location but for us a couple things come to mind
-winter bale grazing. Saves a ton of time and fuel and waste is minimal in a 3 day feeding setup.
- scourboss. We've had trouble with calves getting scours/coccideousis in past. Having to treat as much as 1/3 of calf crop. Since using scour boss in the cows we've had way less sick calves and the ones that do get sick recover quicker. Noticing a lot less runts in fall time

 

[Caustic Burno]

[Commercial is much more profitable IMO unless you have a niche breed.Hard to compete with the three (Angus,Brahman and Hereford) as small producers. Haven't seen but one niche survive long term in my area and they are British Whites.

Read in some beef magazine eons ago the average lifespan for small seedstock operations was seven to ten years.

Interesting. Is this an issure of how long it takes to develop a rep, or skill, or ?

Take this for what it's worth, I think it's some of the above as you mentioned.
Secondly I think a lot bleed red propping up welfare cattle trying to develop the above skills playing the big boys game. The biggest mistake I feel they make is thinking everything with papers is seedstock. Followed by peeing on the commercial cattlemen's leg and blowing a reputation.

My 2 cents

 

[Bigfoot]

Hope this don't side track the thread, but is there some added expense to being a seed stock producer, that a commercial cattleman wouldn't have? For instance, if someone came here to buy a registered animal, they would probably drive off when they seen my infrastructure. Also, I doubt 100% of the animals produced are worthy of selling. Sending some portion of the bulls to the stockyard as steers, and some portion of the heifers to the yard as feeders, would have to expensive feeling.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Hope this don't side track the thread, but is there some added expense to being a seed stock producer, that a commercial cattleman wouldn't have? For instance, if someone came here to buy a registered animal, they would probably drive off when they seen my infrastructure. Also, I doubt 100% of the animals produced are worthy of selling. Sending some portion of the bulls to the stockyard as steers, and some portion of the heifers to the yard as feeders, would have to expensive feeling.

Yes there is.
When I quit raising bulls in 2011 figured I had 75 bucks a month in one.

 

[Dave]

Finally a productive thread with good discussion and it disappears. Lol. I'd like to restart this conversation.

What practices have you implemented or quit doing that made you more profitable? Technical nuts and bolts type discussion is welcome too. I'd love to hear detail about stocking rates or profit per acre or whatever the case may be.

sell most of the cattle and get more profitable animals...

That only works if you are in a location with a market for those animals. Here in a county with a total population of 18,000 (and it is a big geographic county) there is no market.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I doubt 100% of the animals produced are worthy of selling. Sending some portion of the bulls to the stockyard as steers, and some portion of the heifers to the yard as feeders, would have to expensive feeling.

I have seen some smaller operations that can sell registered heifers, but struggle selling bulls.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I doubt 100% of the animals produced are worthy of selling. Sending some portion of the bulls to the stockyard as steers, and some portion of the heifers to the yard as feeders, would have to expensive feeling.

I have seen some smaller operations that can sell registered heifers, but struggle selling bulls.

I was just the opposite and had a waiting line for bulls. I also had a niche in that the ranch that brought the first polled Hereford to this part of the world, were sending me customers.
That gave me a leg up.

 

[Ebenezer]

I doubt 100% of the animals produced are worthy of selling. Sending some portion of the bulls to the stockyard as steers, and some portion of the heifers to the yard as feeders, would have to expensive feeling.

I have seen some smaller operations that can sell registered heifers, but struggle selling bulls.

I was just the opposite and had a waiting line for bulls. I also had a niche in that the ranch that brought the first polled Hereford to this part of the world, were sending me customers.
That gave me a leg up.

You sell bulls and cows on the cattle's function and fit as well as your reputation. It is a local market. It is a word of mouth market. It is a repeat buyer type market and not a one time thrill of buying an expensive bull at a named sale. Most have already tried that a time or two. You have to do things differently to keep costs down and yet the folks who buy are loyal to you. When you have folks as either repeat buyers or first time buyers buying sight unseen and putting requests in a year or so ahead, there is something to the herd that is useful and not just names of great this or that or other herds' prefixes selling the cattle. The difference is using what you raise and breeding animals rather than coat tail replication of animals from other "better" herds. Just saying.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I have seen some smaller operations that can sell registered heifers, but struggle selling bulls.

I was just the opposite and had a waiting line for bulls. I also had a niche in that the ranch that brought the first polled Hereford to this part of the world, were sending me customers.
That gave me a leg up.

You sell bulls and cows on the cattle's function and fit as well as your reputation. It is a local market. It is a word of mouth market. It is a repeat buyer type market and not a one time thrill of buying an expensive bull at a named sale. Most have already tried that a time or two. You have to do things differently to keep costs down and yet the folks who buy are loyal to you. When you have folks as either repeat buyers or first time buyers buying sight unseen and putting requests in a year or so ahead, there is something to the herd that is useful and not just names of great this or that or other herds' prefixes selling the cattle. The difference is using what you raise and breeding animals rather than coat tail replication of animals from other "better" herds. Just saying.

I still get calls today. I still refer
people to a very reputable breeder.
They were the only place I ever went that I thought had as good or better cattle than mine.

I have posted this boy before, one of our members bought him as a yearling.