kbhblazer,
Are you enjoying your cattle? I realize that you are wanting to make money now, and that is everyone's goal. It is extremely hard to make money with cattle the first several years unless you are born into it. And the first year that you get into it, the winter feed is looking low, you can make some changes.
Do you feel that your bull got your cows bred? I would sell him, unless he was a high dollar bull, and he is what you think will make a big difference in a herd. But he is going to eat a lot of feed.
The next thing I would do, would be to start with the cows that I felt were the lowest on the totem pole, and sell those. Each cow is going to eat at least 6 bales of hay through the winter. Keep the ones that you feel are your very best.
Let your calves get to the prime price stage in your area, and sell those.
If you have a job outside of agriculture, and messing with the cattle is enjoyment at this point, do not sell all of your cattle. If you are a stay at home kind of person, this will be good clean/dirty fun. Nothing like a hobby turning into a way to make a living.
On the 28 acres leased across the road, I might have my cattle on that property, and if I felt I wanted to keep up a hay field, I would put it on the 11 acres. I am not sure how low your pond is getting on the 28 acres or if you have running water to that lot.
If you have access to water, it seems like you will need to install a water line soon.
If the 28 acres was hard to obtain, and is not too expensive to lease, I would hang on to it. It is nice to be able to see your cattle instead of driving 10 miles down the road.
The smaller lot, could grow all of the bermuda hay if it grows there, and some left over for the next year. You could get a cutting off of it every 30 days.
We have one field of Vaughn's on 12, and we keep it fertilized, and on the first cutting, we got 40 bales. This next cutting, we will get more.
A lot of the cattle people will tell you to buy your hay for the amount of cattle that you are running, and use all of your land for grazing. Hay is going for $30-40 a bale, and they charge around $20 to come cut and bale the hay for you in this area. For your hay to do well, you will have to lime that 11 acres if it needs it, and fertilize it each year. Hit it with a little nitrogen between cuttings. So that is something you have to think about.
There is one great advantage that you will have growing your own hay; you did a soil sample to get the fertilizer and soil deficiencies correct; you know that it has been fertilized correctly maintaining the nitrogen levels, (which turns into protein in the grass), from the beginning to the end; what stage it was cut, and you will know that the protein level is high enough to keep your cows fit through the winter. A lot of hay that you buy is cut from old pasture land that has not cattle on it, or CPR land. People will call and want someone to bale a field that is over grown with a little bit of everything. It is a filler and you wind up having to feed grain to maintain your cattle. Personally, I do not want this kind of hay, but if I got in a pinch, I might have to buy it. Be sure to feed grain with it or your cattle will lose weight.
OK, these are just my thoughts.
Chuckie
