Douglas
Well-known member
I have been struggling with this for a while, and it occurred to me that I should ask the experts on here for advice.
Ok, in early April I purchased a dozen cows and calves from a friend going out of business. He was in a bind because some wanted to rent his land for row crops. The cows were very poor, lice etc.
Initially I was going to hold them a while for him but just bought them at a cheap price. At the time I was flush with grass, and of course it did not rain again for about 7 weeks and the ryegrass I had designated for them has now played out. The cows are in better shape now but my pasture is being stretched thin with my existing herd and it will be at least a couple weeks before I will have enough good grass to resume improving their condition. So basically I thought I had enough grass to make some cheap gains and Mother Nature had different ideas.
The calves vary greatly in size and age from about 2 months to probably 4 months. About half of the calves appear to have weaned themselves, probably because of the poor condition of the cows, or my friend sold the wrong cows earlier. Real idiot. These 11 cows ate a 50 lb bag of minerals the day they arrived.
We now have had some good rain and the summer pasture in coming on. My concern is that cull cows prices are pretty good now, but dropping. With good weather conditions I will be alright for a few months, but that depends on good rains, and who knows about that.
I was thinking of weaning the calves (I have started a little creep feed with them), and selling the culls now. What say you guys? What I am trying to do is protect the pasture and salvage what I can from the cows. Would you keep the 5 or 6 cows that are nursing well? So far I have kept these separate from my cows but eventually I will need to do something different to get back to a proper rotation of my pasture.
Ok, in early April I purchased a dozen cows and calves from a friend going out of business. He was in a bind because some wanted to rent his land for row crops. The cows were very poor, lice etc.
Initially I was going to hold them a while for him but just bought them at a cheap price. At the time I was flush with grass, and of course it did not rain again for about 7 weeks and the ryegrass I had designated for them has now played out. The cows are in better shape now but my pasture is being stretched thin with my existing herd and it will be at least a couple weeks before I will have enough good grass to resume improving their condition. So basically I thought I had enough grass to make some cheap gains and Mother Nature had different ideas.
The calves vary greatly in size and age from about 2 months to probably 4 months. About half of the calves appear to have weaned themselves, probably because of the poor condition of the cows, or my friend sold the wrong cows earlier. Real idiot. These 11 cows ate a 50 lb bag of minerals the day they arrived.
We now have had some good rain and the summer pasture in coming on. My concern is that cull cows prices are pretty good now, but dropping. With good weather conditions I will be alright for a few months, but that depends on good rains, and who knows about that.
I was thinking of weaning the calves (I have started a little creep feed with them), and selling the culls now. What say you guys? What I am trying to do is protect the pasture and salvage what I can from the cows. Would you keep the 5 or 6 cows that are nursing well? So far I have kept these separate from my cows but eventually I will need to do something different to get back to a proper rotation of my pasture.
