Sad day in Muttsville
- Thread starter MurraysMutts
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MurraysMutts
Well-known member
Yep! Link is on the last page.Sooooooo another future nurse cow? What's her name gonna be?
Eleanor! Shes a beauty too!
Shes actually under the cattle sales section. Doing an experiment similar to the shorthorns
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MurraysMutts
Well-known member
I will also say....
I'm kind of amazed how much hay consumption has dropped with 4 less cows at each place. And so much less feed as well.
When your wondering if you have enough hay or not, it's a HUGE feeling of relief!!
So I guess it ain't all bad. Even tho I hated every minute of doing it.
I'm kind of amazed how much hay consumption has dropped with 4 less cows at each place. And so much less feed as well.
When your wondering if you have enough hay or not, it's a HUGE feeling of relief!!
So I guess it ain't all bad. Even tho I hated every minute of doing it.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
We all get in a pinch and have to make the hard decisions. Got to look at the big picture.
I was doing a head count at feeding yesterday and missing 10 cows. Then it hit me like a freight train.
Remember how many you had and how many you sold. If you stock back up to what you had... again... you are guaranteed to have to sell off... again. You create your own destiny with a lot of this.
That seems hard for some to learn. In good years we under graze. But in drought years we usually sell very few. So far have just culled the normal amount.
Dave
Well-known member
For me it is never a sad day when I sell a cow. That is how I make money. I have 5 of the old rips getting a trailer ride today.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
But Dave - do you have an established herd that you have calved out and raised for 5 years as a productive cow? Seems like you only talk about buying & selling. Maybe that's just your side-line retirement job for added cash flow. LOL
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MurraysMutts
Well-known member
I agree on that as far as cows I've bought with the specific intent to calve out and re sell.
The consensus on my shorthorn experiment was to try her one more time. But it did not hurt my feelings to sell that pair. She was not a part of my main herd. She was bought specifically to sell after having a calf.
But I guess they ALL have a price tag....
We all learn the hard way to some extent. A little planning goes a long way though.
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MurraysMutts
Well-known member
I HAVE been overstocked at home for some time now though.
Very good point!
If I had more hay, the other place wouldn't have been de-stocked. It's rented ground and I try not to overstock as I want to KEEP renting it.
Very good point!
If I had more hay, the other place wouldn't have been de-stocked. It's rented ground and I try not to overstock as I want to KEEP renting it.
Dave
Well-known member
To me it is a business. Years ago an old rancher told me that you don't fall in love with something that can't love you back. All buy, sell, and keep decisions are based on finance. I have had a cow/calf operation in the past. I did that for a number of years. It would be too long to explain my present situation. All of my neighbors run cow/calf.
Little Joe
Well-known member
I could see in your situation and many others who run cattle on big places that a cow is just a cow and which one has to be sold doesn't matter but on smaller places where you work closer with your cattle keeping the same cattle makes a huge difference. I rotational graze small paddocks, not every cow works in that scenario. I have one now I bought as a one and done that will be ground into burger end of the month, I can't wait, she will eat your lunch for no reason. I have to do everything on 4 wheeler now with her around because she'll get you if not, I usually like to do most of my work on foot, especially rotating.
Silver
Well-known member
I have some cows that become "special" over time for whatever reason. But I don't give them free passes and when the day comes that they meet the cull criteria and they get on the truck. I do feel a little sad briefly but then carry on with the business of running a ranch.
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
To me, it's a business also - but - my genetics are difficult to replace.
I cull pretty "ruthless" - but years of developing my cowherd, I rarely have to cull until they age out - old and open is usually the most of my culls (10-16 yrs old).
If a cow had bad feet, but was a good breeder, I will use her for a recip. 99% of my replacements come from within my herd. I occasionally buy embryos to develop a new cow family in my herd.
I cull pretty "ruthless" - but years of developing my cowherd, I rarely have to cull until they age out - old and open is usually the most of my culls (10-16 yrs old).
If a cow had bad feet, but was a good breeder, I will use her for a recip. 99% of my replacements come from within my herd. I occasionally buy embryos to develop a new cow family in my herd.
CowboyRam
Well-known member
I have one of those, and she is going to be going down the road here in a couple of weeks.
Little Joe
Well-known member
I've got this one all sold except the quarter we're going to keep ourselves. She's kind of an odd deal, she was part of a herd dispersal, I knew the people selling out and they told me they were all gentle and they are honest people. Several that came through from their herd tried to eat up the ring man, this one I have had just calved the night before at the sale barn and was gentle as a dog in the ring and when we loaded her. When I got her home, she almost went through a panel trying to get my dad, I thought that was probably a fluke deal. I was trying to move her from the lot a week later with a bucket of feed and she was eating out of it while I was holding it when all of a sudden she snapped and started trying to eat me up, luckily I was by a fence and got away but when I went back to trying to move her she got after me again. Now she comes at me every time on foot whether I'm in the pasture or not, she'll push on the fence if I'm on the other side. The strange part is if we're in my Geo Tracker or on a 4 wheeler, she'll come up and eat out of your hand and even lets you pet her, it's something to do with being on foot. She's a short solid cow and was raised by the people that sold her as was the whole herd so imagine they just felt threatened by other people because they had never seen anyone else. I bought her just to raise this calf and I planned to burger her anyway, good thing that was the plan. She weighed 1300 when I bought her and was a lttle thin, probably around 1350-1400 now, she raised a good calf. Calf is probably worth what I paid for her, $920, and she'll bring quite a bit more than that for burger.
Dave
Well-known member
I did MIG for alot of years with smaller numbers. I never met a cow that wouldn't work in the system. Life is too short to own those kind of cows. Especially in a smaller acreage smaller numbers operation.
