Lord, even down here in the poor part of Georgia, we haven't seen land at that price since the turn of the century. And I am talking about land that wouldn't grow a weed and had no water. It looks like not only is your land cheap, but is pretty fertile, too?
I have known a couple of folks that did that. Most of them came back after a winter or two. But unfortunately the hundreds of thousands of Yankees that move down here every year, don't do that! They stay!
Theres not a chance you get 100 per cent breeding from 14 month old heifers on a single cycle breeding period under range conditions.
After chopping all that ice you would be all warm a toasty.You'd live longer and better down here, than I would up there! If I get too hot, I can jump in the creek or lake or pool for a minute and cool off. But when I am freezing to death, can't jump in the water and warm up! Especially if you'd have to chop 2' of ice first! And I freeze to death when it gets in the 50's! Put it this way, we are getting invaded by Yankees moving south more and more each year. But ain't no one down here leaving to move up north!
Snakes and bugs there one needs a high powered rifle to kill. I'll stay with the bears and wolves I know.
They are definitely tougher, up north.It's the internet so take it for what it's worth:
* I had 100% breed up on my 15 month old heifers this year (AI first cycle) -- I guess ChevyTaHOE and I are shoveling the same thing ;-)
* My dad raised cattle for 60 years and always retained his own heifers. It's a miracle he stayed solvent. Nice cattle though.
* I retain enough heifers to replace the cull cows in my herd. Same system as my dad.
* My purchased cows/heifers have been very hit or miss. Plus one of them brought in disease which was expensive and I'm not seeing that as a risk expense in this thread.
* It is accurate that cattlemen up north are tougher than in the south
And there it is in a nutshell. The more people there are, the more land costs. And do you think any developer is smart enough to build houses on the hills instead of on the very best. productive, green land? Hell no! They'll cover up the best first... and then start building on the hills and ask a premium because they are "view" lots.
This isn't alway the case. We have several big ranches running 2,000 plus hd here and buying up land. Some have other jobs some don't. They all try very hard to make the cows profitable though. Everyone of them could sellout and live on a beach somewhere. I think so called rich people look at whatever they buy which in this case would be land as an asset and then they try to make money with that asset. Just because someone doesn't necessarily need the money from their job doesn't make the endeavor a hobby.
They didn't start out with the differential between the price of a cow and the price of acreage being as wide as it is today with land at 20K. And land as an investment is great, but that also means they are not as likely to be paying for the land with what they make on their cattle. And I never said "someone doesn't necessarily need the money from their job"... if fact I was saying the opposite. They are paying for it with a big paycheck and/or investment money to have a toy to show off and use for tax breaks.
I've had groups of twenty breed first time AI. I've also had cows breed first time, every time for years. That's why I bought old, productive cows to raise replacement heifers from.
That's another reason I live where the air freezes your face.
Go to the Bitterroot Valley in Montana and then explain to me how nobody is moving north. Or Bozeman or Boise or Spokane.
