In my opinion you are 100 % on the right track. We started with some mixed with dairy breeds, bought a bull, bred some AI, bought some more, bought some better bulls, bought some more, raised up what we thought were our better heifers, bought some better cows, raised some more, bought some pretty good bulls, raised some more. We still buy some cows, most mixed genetics, mostly ones that we think we can turn around and make a few dollars on, but try to keep our best heifers out of our most efficient cows. We have gotten very selective in bought bulls, ONLY buy ones that are not crept fed so that the weaning weights are not always huge but the bulls got their weight at weaning honestly from cows that milked good and were productive. Also buy from farms that have been in business for more than a few years. There have been alot of the "overnight" wonders, often with money behind them by people who needed tax write-offs, that got a bunch of high dollar cattle, sold high dollar bulls and in 10 years were out of business. Now we are keeping a few bulls out of our good cows and have had some real nice calves. It is mostly finding the right combination that works for us in our operation.
We rent alot of land, mostly from people coming to us and asking us to rent it so they can get reduced land use taxes. Many times older farmers, whose kids don't want to work it, some too lazy to help the parents even a little...yet those parents and those farms helped put them through school for the "big money jobs" and they are sitting waiting for the parents to die and leave it to them so they can sell it off and gain from it without more than a few token minutes of effort. Or there is a big family and the one that stayed home can't afford to buy out the rest to keep on farming the family farm and the parents think that they have to leave it "equally" so the one that stayed is getting screwed out of his heritage and hard work by the ones that want a monetary return from the parents that don't really owe them anything. It hurts me to see the in-fighting... all that said, we have alot of places. Some are just 25 acre mini-farms that big money people buy and then rent out the land so they benefit from the land use tax reduction, some just to keep it mowed and open. Alot of it would be better off with animals on it but there are no fences.
I envy you when you were talking about putting in the fences and waterers etc., and being ready for the cattle. And for your doing all the research ahead of time to try to " DO IT RIGHT" . I think you are doing superb already...
Keep records, and keep only the best performing calves for replacements. Best performing isn't always the biggest either... Not saying that you should sh*t can a 1st time heifer if she has a problem....You did not breed them, they are adapting to your environment, and you can't control their past. But, if you do have a problem, make sure you keep track of it and put that down as a strike... One thing I think everyone will agree on, you need to have working facilities to get them in if you need to work them/treat them if you have any problems. That is imperative. If you can't get them in to work them you can't take care of them. I don't remember if you built any working facilities. It doesn't have to be fancy, just sturdy enough to hold an animal that won't be the happiest when there is a problem.
Feeding them a little is a big plus so that they look at you as Santa Claus when you show up. I used to tell people that the animals had to come to me, that I was not going to go chasing them, and around here 30 years ago they laughed at me as everyone went out to "chase" the animals to get them in, "because that's how granddaddy did it". Nowadays, it is the norm for farmers to have cattle that want to come in and I laugh when an old time farmer will say, you know, I thought you were a crazy yankee when you were training your animals to come in....now I can see how much easier it is....So just keeping your girls liking you and not skittish is great. Just sold a heifer calf that was nice but all she wanted to do was fight every human and vehicle that came into the pasture. I mean, came at and chase the vehicles etc... we finally got her to chase my son into the catch pen to get her in with everyone else. That whole family is high headed and we will not be keeping any replacements out of them. They are from some cows that we bought off a friend before he died of cancer so there was a sentimental thing with my son, until this episode with this crazy heifer calf. Very fertile and breed back every time, but I am too old to have to deal with "looney-tune" cattle. He agrees now.
We can go to any pasture and call and they will come running, know that they will get a "treat" and we do it enough and never shut the gates so they get used to being around us. Then when we do shut the gates they think about it a bit. I will often do it and shut the gates and then in a half an hour let them out without doing anything, so the calves learn that every time they are in and all it isn't a terrible thing. We have animals that load themselves on the trailer in the middle of the field because it means they are going somewhere good. Not everyone by far, but you get what I am saying. Seems to me that you are doing fine....
