I am engaged in a polite debate with some experts on grass on FB. They paint the grain guys as uninformed or less smart on costs and beef husbandry.
I got into beef with no preconceived ideas, bias or prejudice. I am somewhat at a loss with the dogma on both sides. Like most things in life an "us & them" has developed with battle lines drawn. We tend to find ourselves in one of two camps, the 3 or 4 frame bunch and the 6 or 7 frame bunch, taking pot shots at each other.
I am a simple man, looking for simple answers. Why can't I find a forage frame 5 bull and manage my costs down to at least try to be profitable?? Heck the capital costs are daunting enough, I would like a shot at managing my operating expenses down.
I visited my cousin this weekend to look at his operation. The guy is smart, and a very independent thinker. He liquidated everything during the apex of cattle prices. He is back in now. He has no grass, with a small amount of hay ground. He puts a bale of hay or baled silage, high protein rice meal, gin trash, 20 gallons of used cooking oil, 10 gallons of liquid feed and stale bread in a Jaylor mixer. Lets that rest a day or so, and feeds that every day, all year long. He feeds out his own calves and those he buys as stockers. He ain't big-time, but he turns 50 to 70 a year, maybe a little more. He also feeds some corn based feed and hay is always available. His animals get some Bermuda grass in the summer.
That is not where I want to go. It works for him, but he has a lot of capital equipment and very little land.
