Starter herd

[tnwalkingred]

Hey yall,

I have been in the horse business for years now but am seriously thinking about getting into cattle. I have 160 acre farm in middle TN but it currently at it's pasture limit with the horses. I have found a farm down the road for rent and it is 25 acres with about 15 acres of good pasture. It is fenced, has water, and electric so hopefully it won't be too hard to set up for my cattle. I was thinking about buying a starter herd to put on this farm and see how it goes before I purchase a larger operation. I'm thinking a bull and maybe 3 to 6 cows/heifers would be a good number to start with and shouldn't be too many to overgraze the pasture. If you guys could give me any helpful information I would be greatly appreciative. Looking for info on water troughs (how to install lines/eliminate freezing), vaccinations/worming that is needed, best way to set up catch pens to do the vaccinations/wormings, what breed of beef cattle to purchase, how much hay is needed per head per winter (I have been told between 3 and 5 rolls), as well as what kind of feed/grain supplements you like to use. Thanks for all your help and I'm looking forward to being on this site.

Kyle

 

[melking]

Welcome :welcome:
I know so little it is scary but what I do know is these folks here are very helpful. Good Luck

 

[alftn]

Not meaning to be smart, but if you own 160 ac. packed with horses, why not scale back on horse ?

You should go around to local sale barns and cattle people and look at the cattle being raised, and what is selling best in your area...

This board has lots of valuable info, and lots of B.S. from people that do not know or do not care. GOOD LUCK

 

[tnwalkingred]

Most of the 160 acres is wooded and/or not fenced well enough to hold livestock. I also cut hay off some of it to sell as well as to feed my horses so scaling back isn't a option at this time.


Kyle

 

[1982vett]

Hey yall,

I have been in the horse business for years now but am seriously thinking about getting into cattle. I have 160 acre farm in middle TN but it currently at it's pasture limit with the horses. I have found a farm down the road for rent and it is 25 acres with about 15 acres of good pasture. It is fenced, has water, and electric so hopefully it won't be too hard to set up for my cattle. I was thinking about buying a starter herd to put on this farm and see how it goes before I purchase a larger operation. I'm thinking a bull and maybe 3 to 6 cows/heifers would be a good number to start with and shouldn't be too many to overgraze the pasture. If you guys could give me any helpful information I would be greatly appreciative. Looking for info on water troughs (how to install lines/eliminate freezing), vaccinations/worming that is needed, best way to set up catch pens to do the vaccinations/wormings, what breed of beef cattle to purchase, how much hay is needed per head per winter (I have been told between 3 and 5 rolls), as well as what kind of feed/grain supplements you like to use. Thanks for all your help and I'm looking forward to being on this site.

Kyle

Sounds like you will be oversocked out the gate.......try 3-4 cows and AI them.

 

[pdfangus]

ditto what 1982vett said.

in central Va. my advice it thee acres per animal unit.
an animal unit is 1000 lb of animal.

With excellent managment the stocking rate can be increased but you already said you know nothing about cattle.

If you are going to import hay from another farm then naturally you might be able to increase the stocking rate a little bit.

 

[Anonymous]

If you are haying parts of your own land, fence that portion off and run cattle on it. Beats renting land. Or if you are dead set on renting the tract, use the hay you would sell to increase the stocking ratio on what you rent

 

[The CCC Ranch]

If you have land put your cattle on the land you own. Lease or rent your hay fields. It might be cheaper to buy hay at frist. It useally takes 4 5X51/2 rolls per head just depends on the TN weather. But keep your cattle close to home. That way instead of up keep someone esles fences you can take care of your own. You might want to down size your horses, expessily if they're not paying the bills. One horse can eat as much as 4 cows. build you a lot to be able to get them up and a loading shut. You will need a head gate to work them. But the best advise I can give you is use your land as much as possiable. Good Luck

 

[djinwa]

You might mention whether you care about profitability or if you have money to burn and just want to have fun.

 

[MO_cows]

If you have land put your cattle on the land you own. Lease or rent your hay fields. It might be cheaper to buy hay at frist. It useally takes 4 5X51/2 rolls per head just depends on the TN weather. But keep your cattle close to home. That way instead of up keep someone esles fences you can take care of your own. You might want to down size your horses, expessily if they're not paying the bills. One horse can eat as much as 4 cows. build you a lot to be able to get them up and a loading shut. You will need a head gate to work them. But the best advise I can give you is use your land as much as possiable. Good Luck

That's not how it worked for us. The cattle ate more hay per head than the horses when we had both.

 

[pdfangus]

If you have land put your cattle on the land you own. Lease or rent your hay fields. It might be cheaper to buy hay at frist. It useally takes 4 5X51/2 rolls per head just depends on the TN weather. But keep your cattle close to home. That way instead of up keep someone esles fences you can take care of your own. You might want to down size your horses, expessily if they're not paying the bills. One horse can eat as much as 4 cows. build you a lot to be able to get them up and a loading shut. You will need a head gate to work them. But the best advise I can give you is use your land as much as possiable. Good Luck

That's not how it worked for us. The cattle ate more hay per head than the horses when we had both.

yes....... I have both and the cattle have a higher hay requirement.

 

[tnwalkingred]

According the the state ag extention it takes 2 acres per horse for proper grazing and I find that to be true with my own experience of raising/breeding horses for the past 10 years. I always thought it took less acreage for cattle and from what I'm hearing from cattle farmers around here is that 2 acres per cow should be plenty. The land I want to lease is only a couple of minutes down the road and has very good fences already on it. I have a hay business so having plenty of quality hay to feed is no problem.


Kyle

 

[tnwalkingred]

I think CCC ranch might have been referring to the pasture requirement for horses and not the hay requirement. Horses are VERY hard on pasture as they eat the grass all the way down and will come back to the same spots over and over to graze. They also refuse to graze some areas of the pasture. A old horse trainer in my area always kept a fews calves in with his horses and when asked why he did it he replied "to eat all the spots of grass the horses won't touch".

Kyle

 

[pdfangus]

According the the state ag extention it takes 2 acres per horse for proper grazing and I find that to be true with my own experience of raising/breeding horses for the past 10 years. I always thought it took less acreage for cattle and from what I'm hearing from cattle farmers around here is that 2 acres per cow should be plenty. The land I want to lease is only a couple of minutes down the road and has very good fences already on it. I have a hay business so having plenty of quality hay to feed is no problem.


Kyle

sounds good.

one clarification.

One cow is not generally equal to one animal unit. Lot of variety in cow sizes.
An animal unit is 1000 lbs of animal.
a ton bull is 2 animal units.
a 1500 lb cow is 1.5 animal units.

 

[tnwalkingred]

What does a average size black angus cow weigh at full growth???

 

[Douglas]

You got to decide what your goals are. If you want to make this profitable someday, I think you have to think of a niche market. Freezer beef, custom replacement heifers for someone else, custom grazing, registered seedstock, etc. I would ask around and see what the market needs might be. Maybe a large operator down the road needs a place to hide his heifers from the bull for six months. If there is enough demand locally for grass fed beef, you could buy feeders and finish on grass. Once you get a couple ideas then start over with the questions. Try to find some kind of synergy with your horse operation.

 

[pdfangus]

What does a average size black angus cow weigh at full growth???

wide variation within the breed these days.
could be anywhere from a thousand pounds to 1600 lbs or greater.

 

[The CCC Ranch]

I think CCC ranch might have been referring to the pasture requirement for horses and not the hay requirement. Horses are VERY hard on pasture as they eat the grass all the way down and will come back to the same spots over and over to graze. They also refuse to graze some areas of the pasture. A old horse trainer in my area always kept a fews calves in with his horses and when asked why he did it he replied "to eat all the spots of grass the horses won't touch".

Kyle

Yes I was referring to the pasture requirements when saying that horses eat more than cows. In TN we normally feed hay 3-4 months, depending on the weather. So pasture is were the money is.

 

[Matthew_Morrow]

Im from south central ky...so not too far from u. I stock about 1hd/per 2 acres. I could maybe stock 1.5/acre. I rotational graze and stay at it full time moving them around just to be able to stock them at this rate. if u dont plan to spend a good portion of the day with them , even in this area of the country they will wear it thin. oh and this is all on strait pasture with a few trees.