Thinking of getting in the biz (summing it up)

Help Support CattleToday:

A

Anonymous

I had offered the author of this earlier post a summary of my first year, so here it is. Hope it is useful and sorry it took so long to respond.

Summing it all up:

I learned alot from this board and a whole lot from the school of hard knox. My business plan was great it worked out well, but what I wasn't prepared for was all of the things that come along with raising cattle. I bought out a heard of 11 cows, 7 calfs, 1 bull. Sold the calves paid for 3/4 my herd. I went on to buy 38 more third stage cows and I more bull. My point here is that if you are not carefull you can create for yourself another full time job. They will get out, get sick, calves not nurse, cows not take care of their calves, bulls fight and tear down fences, even die, and many other things! Here is the things I would have done first, have done different and things that did work well for me.

Things I should of done first.
1. Had all my fences 100%
2. Had a tall and sturdy corrall with a headgate.
3. Kept milk replacer, colostrim, LA200, Baytril, bolices, shots, needles,
feeding tub, calf pulling device, feed, and hay on hand at all times.
4. Vacinated my herd.
5. Vacinated and worm every cow you buy, and keep them penned up for
at least 7 days before they get near your existing herd. (I brought in
a cow with IBR, got into the rest of my herd, what a nightmare and
expense!!)

Things I would have done different
1. Go with your gut instinct when you buy, if when in doubt DONT!
( For instance, I bought an awful poor cow that I was against at first,
but then bought because of a low price. She had the calf alright but a
few months later with no warning she just was dead!)

Things that worked well for me
1. My business plan, only bought 3rd stage cows @ prices that I would get
my money back on with their first calf. Its not easy to do but it can be
done. 1st and 2nd stage cows ties up ypur money too long.
2. I bought solid registered bulls!! Had their first calves the other day with
same ole cows and I can see a huge difference in calves already.
3. Checked my stock everyday. You never know whats waiting on you,
TRUST ME!!

Thats how it went for me, I sold my calves got my initial investment back and I learned a whole lot. Alot I dont know and am sure to learn more off this board and its supporting members. Hope this might save someone a little of the bumps and bruises I had to take on.

Rod
 
Glad to see someone start out doing some things right. Your first few sentences mentions buying an existing herd, wonderful, even if you pay a little more you will be ahead of just buying random cows and trying to put it together as a herd. Don't know why I am rattling on about this but it seems folks starting out do not understand that not all cows are the same. An existing herd to me implies that someone has had the cows for several generations and has spent the time and in some cases taken economic losses to put together animals that work well together.
 
cherokeeruby":2mdgqw4f said:
Glad to see someone start out doing some things right. Your first few sentences mentions buying an existing herd, wonderful, even if you pay a little more you will be ahead of just buying random cows and trying to put it together as a herd. Don't know why I am rattling on about this but it seems folks starting out do not understand that not all cows are the same. An existing herd to me implies that someone has had the cows for several generations and has spent the time and in some cases taken economic losses to put together animals that work well together.

I depends on the herd. We have some around here that are just misc. salebarn rejects. But they're proud of their "herd". Being discriminating of the animals is the first rule when buying a herd. I know of several people that have bought herds knowing full well that about half of them need to go down the road.

dun
 
Yes that happens, but they are still getting all the good ones aren't they. Anyway a herd should be composed of related animals, not just sale barn cattle put together. It could have started off that way and become a herd a couple of generations later by keeping heifers out of the best cows.
 
cherokeeruby":5rs3ascw said:
Yes that happens, but they are still getting all the good ones aren't they. Anyway a herd should be composed of related animals, not just sale barn cattle put together. It could have started off that way and become a herd a couple of generations later by keeping heifers out of the best cows.

Yes, in theory that's the way it should be. Maybe it's only in WA, CA, and MO that what are considered herds are too frequently derived from no specific breeding plan other then generating a calf to sell. Those are the only places I've been exposed extensively to what can sometimes be laughingly referred to a the cattle business. The hillbilly hybred is all to common in this area. As long as people buy junk pound bulls to breed there cows to it will remain that way. Buying a quality herd is a different matter entirely. But it can;t be assumed that because it's a herd that it's worth diddly.

dun
 
"But it can;t be assumed that because it's a herd that it's worth diddly."

That is certainly true and it seems the more they are promoted the more full of hot air they are. Or at least that is the way it seems to be in the Brahman breed.
 
cherokeeruby":23pit1kv said:
"But it can;t be assumed that because it's a herd that it's worth diddly."

That is certainly true and it seems the more they are promoted the more full of hot air they are. Or at least that is the way it seems to be in the Brahman breed.

The other day I stopped by a herd of basicly brown cattle with hairy ears that are noted for quality grade. He has been using an Angus bull the last couple of years and still sells registered full blood brown cattle but they're now black. BTW, the reason I know it's an Angus is because I know the seedstock producer that sold it to him. But that goes to basic dihonesty not he quality issue, I've seen registered cows from several breeds that I wouldn't crapon the best of.
To get back to the original post, I wish that these boards had a method of setting up FAQ like cattlepages so it could be included in there.

dun
 
Ahhhh yes.. "getting started" in the cattle business. Brings back some old and painful memories! I guess the good thing about it is we tend to learn from our mistakes!
 
Thanks for all the pointers. I'll definately be asking alot of questions, mostly dumb ones, but I'm excited to get started having fun with this. I should be making my first purchase in Oct.. Thanks again.
 
bwranch":hn589u5d said:
TheBullLady":hn589u5d said:
... I guess the good thing about it is we tend to learn from our mistakes!

Sigh....Well, at least some of you do. I'm perfecting mine.

My dad used say that you shoul learn something new everyday. Mistakes is what has allowed me to do that. Somedays I lear n a lot of things

dun
 

Latest posts

Top