Summer stockers

[cross_7]

I talked to a guy that runs summer stockers on bluestem grass in SW oklhoma from April to late August
He's a good honest guy so I don't doubt his word
He says he averages 1.8 pounds of gain per day and has on good years got 2 pounds plus
He has 312 head on 900 acres and can't tell they on it, the grass looks good
He says he sprays it for weeds every year and on a dry year he sells off cattle to get numbers down so it doesn't hurt the grass
I have never got that kind of gain on grass, reckon it the bluestem grass that does it ?

 

[TexasBred]

Gotta be, that's what he said they ate...or he's lieing out his a$$, :mrgreen:

 

[cross_7]

Gotta be, that's what he said they ate...or he's lieing out his a$$, :mrgreen:

He's not the type to lie and has no reason to
I've been scratching my head trying to figure how that would work
To get that kind of gain on a 5 wt calf would need 11-12 % protein
I don't see summer grass in sw ok with that protein
Again I am sure he's not lieing
TB what am I missing ?

 

[Texas PaPaw]

I talked to a guy that runs summer stockers on bluestem grass in SW oklhoma from April to late August
He's a good honest guy so I don't doubt his word
He says he averages 1.8 pounds of gain per day and has on good years got 2 pounds plus
He has 312 head on 900 acres and can't tell they on it, the grass looks good
He says he sprays it for weeds every year and on a dry year he sells off cattle to get numbers down so it doesn't hurt the grass
I have never got that kind of gain on grass, reckon it the bluestem grass that does it ?

Any possibility he is supplementing them with cubes like the Oklahoma Gold program promotes. That could get him an extra 1/2 pound adg. Also would allow him to carry a few more head.

 

[Aaron]

Good green stockers can gain at that rate - not run-of-the-mill. Best I ever saw out of my own cattle was 2.2 pounds per day on green heifers over 180 days on pasture.

 

[cross_7]

Good green stockers can gain at that rate - not run-of-the-mill. Best I ever saw out of my own cattle was 2.2 pounds per day on green heifers over 180 days on pasture.

I'd bet your summer pasture is as good or better than our winter wheat pasture here
This part of the world tends to get really hot and dry during the summer
We make most of our grass in the spring and it gets dry and mature by june/july and losses feed value.
He has some good bottom ground so maybe it doesn't dry out like most others do
I'm interested if it can work

 

[cross_7]

I talked to a guy that runs summer stockers on bluestem grass in SW oklhoma from April to late August
He's a good honest guy so I don't doubt his word
He says he averages 1.8 pounds of gain per day and has on good years got 2 pounds plus
He has 312 head on 900 acres and can't tell they on it, the grass looks good
He says he sprays it for weeds every year and on a dry year he sells off cattle to get numbers down so it doesn't hurt the grass
I have never got that kind of gain on grass, reckon it the bluestem grass that does it ?

Any possibility he is supplementing them with cubes like the Oklahoma Gold program promotes. That could get him an extra 1/2 pound adg. Also would allow him to carry a few more head.

He didn't say he supplemented them, talked like it was just grass only

 

[Stocker Steve]

A lot of people talk 2# per day, but it is not common on grass only. You can get up to 3 to 4# per day but then you are buying the gain with a large amount of substitution. Been there and got over 3.5#.
A way to get above average GRASS gains is to turn out more mature and green animals (6 wts. vs. 4 or 5 wts), provide an ionosphore with the mineral, and keep the grazing season short. Been there and got 2#. More often it is 1.5 to 1.8#.
Bottom line is how much financial return is your honest guy getting ???

 

[cross_7]

Gotta be, that's what he said they ate...or he's lieing out his a$$, :mrgreen:

He's not the type to lie and has no reason to
I've been scratching my head trying to figure how that would work
To get that kind of gain on a 5 wt calf would need 11-12 % protein
I don't see summer grass in sw ok with that protein
Again I am sure he's not lieing
TB what am I missing ?

?

 

[TexasBred]

Cross I've never had any bluestem to graze so really don't know that mucha bout it. Have heard good things about it tho and if it can maintain a good level of nutrients during the heat of our summers that gain could be possible. What little I see around here is clump type grass that doesn't grow that close together so is not real thick. Just really am not that familar with that grazing area.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

With the right cattle I believe it. Bluestem is worth a lot to have around and I really like it. I have a friend from here that send about a thousand calves to Oklahoma every year to run on bluestem, and he wouldn't send em if he wasn't getting good gains.

 

[cross_7]

With the right cattle I believe it. Bluestem is worth a lot to have around and I really like it. I have a friend from here that send about a thousand calves to Oklahoma every year to run on bluestem, and he wouldn't send em if he wasn't getting good gains.

What part of Ok ?

 

[denvermartinfarms]

With the right cattle I believe it. Bluestem is worth a lot to have around and I really like it. I have a friend from here that send about a thousand calves to Oklahoma every year to run on bluestem, and he wouldn't send em if he wasn't getting good gains.

What part of Ok ?

North central to northeast.but I can't remember a town name in the exact area. Are you looking for land in ok?

 

[cross_7]

With the right cattle I believe it. Bluestem is worth a lot to have around and I really like it. I have a friend from here that send about a thousand calves to Oklahoma every year to run on bluestem, and he wouldn't send em if he wasn't getting good gains.

What part of Ok ?

North central to northeast.but I can't remember a town name in the exact area. Are you looking for land in ok?

A few years ago I had all of Ok in my territory and I really liked that area from Enid east, I really liked Claremore area and up into Fort Scott Ks

I've spent my life going from one place to another
I have a contract on my place now and have looked at several places in OK and Tx, but I still have Ks on my list

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I have a friend from Odessa that has lived there all his life has a great business that makes him about a million dollars a year and takes very little work, and he hates what the area is getting to be so bad he is selling his business to his employees and moving here to start the same business just to get out of the oil and gas area. I have a friend down in the atoka ok area, that seems like a decent part of ok. But I agree with that part around claremore and about all that between joplin and Tulsa. Course it's all to flat for me!

 

[cross_7]

I have a friend from Odessa that has lived there all his life has a great business that makes him about a million dollars a year and takes very little work, and he hates what the area is getting to be so bad he is selling his business to his employees and moving here to start the same business just to get out of the oil and gas area. I have a friend down in the atoka ok area, that seems like a decent part of ok. But I agree with that part around claremore and about all that between joplin and Tulsa. Course it's all to flat for me!

I guess I'm a sorry friend but I had a good customer/friend at Atoka that ran stockers and we talked about going together on a load of calves
I took a transfer and I haven't spoke to him since
I always liked the area north of Atoka up to Tulsa but all the trees made me feel claustrophobic

I'm looking at a place in Harmon Ok that is cleared and has a nice stand of bluestem and native grass
It has good fence and water, priced right, but has a hill that takes up lots of ground and slopes down to a creek in the corner
I'm afraid it may not be productive enough
I'd of liked to have seen it before it got the 6-8" of rain it has had in the last 30 days
The same guy that was telling about the summer stockers has it listed

 

[denvermartinfarms]

If you don't mind me asking what is decent land going for in Kansas and Oklahoma? I have always been told that 50 to 100 miles into ka or ok out of Missouri land was a lot cheaper than in mo, but I have never known if that was right.

 

[cross_7]

If you don't mind me asking what is decent land going for in Kansas and Oklahoma? I have always been told that 50 to 100 miles into ka or ok out of Missouri land was a lot cheaper than in mo, but I have never known if that was right.

From what I have looked at east of I-35 in Ok away from the cities about 1500-1800 an acre if you want a fixer upper, turn key place 2k or better , closer to the cities 2000 up to you must be joking!
I haven't gone and looked in Ks just looked online but looks like east of Wichita to fort Scott is around 2k an acre.
Way out west 750.00 to 1200.00, but takes lots of acres for a cow

 

[cross_7]

This is one of the best priced places I have seen when you figure cost per acre, number of acres per cow
They sold the house and 40 acres off the place so you have 40 acres and a house cut out of your pasture then there is another house just across the fence on the other side.
It's a really nice place but too crowded for me.
They have several listing in eastern Ok
http://www.worldclassranches.com/proper ... es-skb.php

Edit
The main thing that turned me off was both houses that are around it are not well kept and if they have dogs it could be a real problem.
I have looked at some others further south that were not nearly as good but priced higher and all needed work

 

[cross_7]

Permanent grass would be lots cheaper compared to winter wheat since you don't have to buy seed wheat, diesel, tractor and equipment upkeep and so on
The few ive had I always had trouble with hot dry weather in the summer and keeping calves healthy
When it's hot they lay up in the shade and don't graze and just don't gain well
I must be doing it wrong
I may need to take lessons