Starting Out

[225Cattle]

Hello. My wife and I have 15 acres of fenced in green pasture with a pond and a barn in South East Louisiana. We had a friend that had a few cows on our property, but he fell on hard times recently and sold them. We learned some about cows from him and shared in their care. We like the idea of having more cows. Not looking to get rich, but if they can cover most of their own costs and keep the pasture down, that'd be great. I don't have a trailer, truck, or tractor. Most people around us seem to run a cow per acre.

If you were getting started in this situation, how many cows would you get? Would you get a tractor, truck and/or trailer? There are some stock trailer rentals near us as well as HD truck rentals. What other equipment would you get to get started. Our friend didn't have anything other than a truck, trailer, and broken down tractor.

 

[libertygarden]

Your friend was smart man. Buy used whenever possible. A tractor in the 45 to 60 hp range is a must. Be sure it has a front bucket and a shredder. I pay $100 twice a year to take 6 to 8 calves to market (about $4/mile). That's a lot cheaper than buying a bumper trailer at $6000 to use twice. If I buy cows, I have them delivered as part of the price and write it off. For point of reference, I have 60 acres and ranch only on the weekend. I don't live on site.

Lastly, don't be fooled by stocking ratios. Do about 1/3 of what you think is adequate for your area. Fifteen acres ain't much space for cows to piss, poop and trample, in addition to eating.

 

[Dsth]

Welcome to the CT forum. hope you enjoy your time on here. I would probably start out with about 5 bred cows. just enough to see how you like having your own herd and how cash flow looks after the first year. I would wait on a trailer for now unless no one around you is available to haul for what few time you would need it. rest of equipment (if any) depends on what you need for feeding through the winter and what other chores you plan on using it for. does your barn have facilities to restrain cattle if needed (head catch, sorting setup and such things?) a small coral would be nice also. Good luck with your new adventure.

 

[WFfarm]

If you have a few cows it would be good to find a local cattle hauler that does it for a living and is insured. You'll likely only need to move cattle once or twice a year and even if you pay $100 each time you would take 20+ years to justify a $4-5k used trailer of your own. And you don't have to worry about maintenance, insurance and registration. A good pickup you will have a lot of use for with getting feed, lumber, and fencing supplies.

 

[225Cattle]

A tractor in the 45 to 60 hp range is a must. Be sure it has a front bucket and a shredder. I pay $100 twice a year to take 6 to 8 calves to market (about $4/mile). That's a lot cheaper than buying a bumper trailer at $6000 to use twice.

That's what we were thinking about the truck and trailer, but were unsure.

does your barn have facilities to restrain cattle if needed (head catch, sorting setup and such things?) a small coral would be nice also. Good luck with your new adventure.

For winter we are mostly thinking hay, but in our area winter rye grows well and a lot of people use it. seemingly in place of hay or at least to supplement. The barn is an old horse barn and doesn't have any sort of restraints for cattle. It is attached to a one acre paddock and a smaller fenced in area.

 

[Warren Allison]

That's what we were thinking about the truck and trailer, but were unsure.

For winter we are mostly thinking hay, but in our area winter rye grows well and a lot of people use it. seemingly in place of hay or at least to supplement. The barn is an old horse barn and doesn't have any sort of restraints for cattle. It is attached to a one acre paddock and a smaller fenced in area.

Welcome to CT, @225Cattle. First thing's first: Please go back into your profile and add your location. That is probably the single most crucial bit of info folks need to answer questions, give advice,etc. Next thing is: What kind of working facilities did he leave you, or was already there on your place? Like corrals., pens, head gate,. chutes, etc?

 

[Travlr]

That's what we were thinking about the truck and trailer, but were unsure.

For winter we are mostly thinking hay, but in our area winter rye grows well and a lot of people use it. seemingly in place of hay or at least to supplement. The barn is an old horse barn and doesn't have any sort of restraints for cattle. It is attached to a one acre paddock and a smaller fenced in area.

If you have a small corral and can build an alley/chute with a headgate at the end you will be able to contain your animals to work them or if the vet needs them contained. That's the first thing to do, IMO.

My land in Arkansas fed a pair per acre but I never did that many on it. There are fluctuations in rain and grass... and I always wanted to be flexible enough to be able to buy something if a good deal came up. Starting out you might want to buy weaned steers (500+ pounds) to background until they are big enough to go to a feedlot... unless you are comfortable enough to calve out cows.

Small acreage like yours, I might even be asking around with friends to see if any of them would be into buying a half carcass fed out on grass and/or minimal feed and do custom beef for people. But that's just an idea... not advice.

As for equipment... Don't buy what you don't really need. Even if you can put fifteen cows on fifteen acres it won't pay for a truck or trailer or tractor.

If you're going to be buying and feeding hay you'll have to be able to move it, but that might mean 60/80 pound bales like people used more commonly before the big bales. Is your pasture divided? If not that's a recommendation to think about. Rotating your cattle makes your grass go farther and it might give you an opportunity to grow some hay. There are usually people with haying equipment that are interested in cutting and baling on shares. Ask around before making decisions. 7 to 10 acres of good grass hay divided 50/50 should feed your animals through winter.

So welcome to the forum. PLEASE put your location on your profile so we don't have continually ask where you are from... because questions and answers are often location/weather related.

 

[WFfarm]

A squeeze chute or head stantion in the barn is a must. Even the friendliest cow needs to have a way to give it some shots or stand still to get a calve to start nursing.

 

[225Cattle]

Welcome to CT, @225Cattle. First thing's first: Please go back into your profile and add your location. That is probably the single most crucial bit of info folks need to answer questions, give advice,etc. Next thing is: What kind of working facilities did he leave you, or was already there on your place? Like corrals., pens, head gate,. chutes, etc?

Nothing like that left behind. Just a small area fenced in by the barn along with a 1 acre paddock

 

[Warren Allison]

Nothing like that left behind. Just a small area fenced in by the barn along with a 1 acre paddock

My advice, for what it's worth is to let THAT be your first money spent., Even before buying the cows. You can hire or borrow tractors, trailers, even trucks . ( You do have a truck, don't you?) Not only will sale barns be able to deliver, but most will come pick up cattle for you, too, if you have a way to catch them and load them. You are in a good area, You can do Angus, Hereford Charolais or Simmental, and Brangus, Braford, Simbrah, Charbray , Santa Gertrudis, or BeefMaster will work just as well, if not better. Angus, Brangus, Black Simms and Black BeefMasters calve will potentially bring more than the rest will. Get no more than 5 of these cows, already bred for 2nd or higher calf, to see how it goes.

 

[225Cattle]

My advice, for what it's worth is to let THAT be your first money spent., Even before buying the cows. You can hire or borrow tractors, trailers, even trucks . ( You do have a truck, don't you?) Not only will sale barns be able to deliver, but most will come pick up cattle for you, too, if you have a way to catch them and load them. You are in a good area, You can do Angus, Hereford Charolais or Simmental, and Brangus, Braford, Simbrah, Charbray , Santa Gertrudis, or BeefMaster will work just as well, if not better. Angus, Brangus, Black Simms and Black BeefMasters calve will potentially bring more than the rest will. Get no more than 5 of these cows, already bred for 2nd or higher calf, to see how it goes.

We don't have a truck. Have gotten things delivered from the coop for a decent rate though. Consensus sounds like 5 cows that have calved before, a chute, and a pen that facilitates loading.

 

[libertygarden]

If you can get yourself a couple cow/calve or three in ones, it feels a lot nicer to get part of your investment back in a few months than to wait 15 to 17 months to sell a weaned calf. Or maybe for spring get some steers to background and in the fall a couple bred cows. Somehow cashflow makes things work better.

 

[4hfarms]

I think starting from scratch get less...... more cows=more issues or problems that can occur. I started with about 4 on 20ac in 3 pastures. I split the pastures with hotwire to make more days of feed. Most of the people here have more knowledge than I could ever know, and would not hesitate to doctor up or flip a calf if need be, can you? Start slow, there is no rush and no recipe for success that everyone follows. This is a kind of on the job training. Never stop learning.
Gotta work into it.
5 cows, you don't know and dont know you and have new calves? Sounds like trouble.Plan on feedong them, without alll the toys gets difficult and expensive. Truck first, need it for everything. Being new to the game, get a pair of heavy breads or pairs. Let them get used to you, spend alot of time with them. When they trust you the calves as will too. Grow your herd until you are sure you can handle them. Not like any other animals.
Yes, infrastructure first.

 

[Travlr]

@4hfarms brings up a good point, @225Cattle. When you bring animals home let them acclimate in a smaller pen. Hopefully your water is in the corral adjoining the stable and you can put them there to be fed by you until they feel comfortable in the new area. 5 days to a week. That way they won't be busting fences as soon as you turn them out.

 

[Logan52]

Even in Louisiana, this time of year I would have some hay on hand before I bought any cattle. A feed trough for while they are getting use to you and you them.
A used pick up truck I would think would be a must.
A small well fenced lot to load into and out of, preferably with a way to catch a cow for doctoring, would be nice. It need not be that expensive. Is there a vet in your area that can bring a portable chute?
If you could find 3 or 4 bred cows with a calf by their side, that would be a good start.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Hello. My wife and I have 15 acres of fenced in green pasture with a pond and a barn in South East Louisiana. We had a friend that had a few cows on our property, but he fell on hard times recently and sold them. We learned some about cows from him and shared in their care. We like the idea of having more cows. Not looking to get rich, but if they can cover most of their own costs and keep the pasture down, that'd be great. I don't have a trailer, truck, or tractor. Most people around us seem to run a cow per acre.

If you were getting started in this situation, how many cows would you get? Would you get a tractor, truck and/or trailer? There are some stock trailer rentals near us as well as HD truck rentals. What other equipment would you get to get started. Our friend didn't have anything other than a truck, trailer, and broken down tractor.

Welcome! @libertygarden is correct about the number of cows. I hear so many people use the ratio of 1:1 for cows per acre. My personal thought is that this ratio is used just because it is a round figure that sounds good. A safe number to start with is typically 1:3, also like @libertygarden said.

I should qualify that by also stating that 'utilization efficiency', or the amount of forage that is available to livestock for consumption on year round or continuously grazed pasture is about 35%. For pastures that are rotated, livestock grazes an area for a week and then the area is allowed to rest/recover/grow for a month (28 days), the utilization efficiency jumps to 65-70%. This means you can graze roughly twice as many cows on the same area.

Before you say that means I can put 10 cows on my 15 acres instead of 5 if I divide the 15 acres into 5 pastures to graze a week each, we (or at least I was) using 3 acres to a cow to start with assuming that you are using a rotational grazing system.

A 1:1 ratio without rotational grazing would be very overstocked on 99.99% of livestock operations that I know of.

 

[gman4691]

I agree with Warren...best to have a place to keep them and work them before getting them...better to have your place ready to go for them first...and 5 bred cows sounds like a decent starting point. Haven't read everything in this post but you'll need a good way to get water to them, too. As someone else said earlier, buying pairs will probably let you realize a little cash earlier...otherwise, I would go with bred cows.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Welcome to the board. Lots of good advice.
#1 priority - a way to work them. A simple head gate/catch at end of an alley.
Cattle need routine vaccinations, possibly dewormed, deliced, help at calving, treated for sickness, treat injuries...lots of potential times you will need to get your hands on them. And most vets won't come out...or come back, if you don't have a way to SAFELY restrain them.
Buying 3 in 1 packages (bred cow, nursing a calf) is the best way to start.
Enjoy!!

 

[Mark Reynolds]

Welcome! @libertygarden is correct about the number of cows. I hear so many people use the ratio of 1:1 for cows per acre. My personal thought is that this ratio is used just because it is a round figure that sounds good. A safe number to start with is typically 1:3, also like @libertygarden said.

I should qualify that by also stating that 'utilization efficiency', or the amount of forage that is available to livestock for consumption on year round or continuously grazed pasture is about 35%. For pastures that are rotated, livestock grazes an area for a week and then the area is allowed to rest/recover/grow for a month (28 days), the utilization efficiency jumps to 65-70%. This means you can graze roughly twice as many cows on the same area.

Before you say that means I can put 10 cows on my 15 acres instead of 5 if I divide the 15 acres into 5 pastures to graze a week each, we (or at least I was) using 3 acres to a cow to start with assuming that you are using a rotational grazing system.

A 1:1 ratio without rotational grazing would be very overstocked on 99.99% of livestock operations that I know of.

BTW, when I (or probably most on here) refer to an animal on pasture in relation to grazing, we are actually referring to a cow/calf pair. So, when we say put 3, 4, 5 animals on your pasture, we mean 3, 4 or 5 pairs. (bear in mind this counts only if the calf is under about 450 pounds. Above that and the calf counts as an additional animal)

 

[Mark Reynolds]

That's what we were thinking about the truck and trailer, but were unsure.

For winter we are mostly thinking hay, but in our area winter rye grows well and a lot of people use it. seemingly in place of hay or at least to supplement. The barn is an old horse barn and doesn't have any sort of restraints for cattle. It is attached to a one acre paddock and a smaller fenced in area.

You are talking about winter rye. Good to great option drilled or broadcast into a CLOSELY GRAZED stand of Bermuda or Bahia. There are other forages you can consider doing this with as well such as oats and crimson clover, or better yet plant a mix of these annual forages into you existing grasses.