oakrunfarm
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- Apr 6, 2009
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OK, first off, I admit it, I know nothing about raising or keeping cattle beyond what I learned growing up helping my uncles on their beef cattle farms (Herefords and Angus).
We've been breeding, raising, and showing Quarter horses for 20 years, and recently moved to a larger farm. We've always wanted a few head of cattle, but did not have enough acreage for both horses and cattle. We have 20 acres - about 80% of that is in lush pasture (fescue) and the rest is wooded. It's all fenced and cross-fenced with a combination of very heavy four board wood (80%) and stock wire (20%). One pasture has a pond, and there's water to the others.
WARNING: Here's the silly part... We really just want to have them around basically as "pasture ornaments." We're not looking to sell them (except for any bull calves), eat them, or make any money. (We're already used to the not-making-money part after 20 years in the horse business.)
I've decided on Belted Galloways because I just plain like their looks and they are smaller-framed. I'm hoping they are relatively well-tempered.
My questions:
What brand of set-up of headgate, chute, etc. would allow us to safely manage a small herd of 4-6 without breaking the bank? (I had planned on Priefert, but good grief, that stuff is expensive!) We do not plan to ever have any bulls, and will be doing our breeding either AI or offsite.
Safety is the number one concern, but it also needs to be easy to operate, and operable by one person if need be since there are only two of us. Plus, it needs to be one that will catch smaller-framed animals.
Is it totally out of the realm of reasonable to think you can manage without a chute/headgate? We're used to being able to restrain and treat horses without that type of equipment, but I know it is not the same, and don't want to get hurt. (We plan to start out with two weaned heifers and halter break/gentle them.)
If we really do need to have facilities in place, is it feasible to place the facilities on the long wall behind a run-in so as to utilize one wall of the run-in to crowd the cattle into the chute-headgate?
Thank you very much, and feel free to give me any kind of info you think might be helpful. I'm used to being knowledgeable about stock, and it's kind of embarrassing for me to be such a greenhorn! :dunce:
We've been breeding, raising, and showing Quarter horses for 20 years, and recently moved to a larger farm. We've always wanted a few head of cattle, but did not have enough acreage for both horses and cattle. We have 20 acres - about 80% of that is in lush pasture (fescue) and the rest is wooded. It's all fenced and cross-fenced with a combination of very heavy four board wood (80%) and stock wire (20%). One pasture has a pond, and there's water to the others.
WARNING: Here's the silly part... We really just want to have them around basically as "pasture ornaments." We're not looking to sell them (except for any bull calves), eat them, or make any money. (We're already used to the not-making-money part after 20 years in the horse business.)
I've decided on Belted Galloways because I just plain like their looks and they are smaller-framed. I'm hoping they are relatively well-tempered.
My questions:
What brand of set-up of headgate, chute, etc. would allow us to safely manage a small herd of 4-6 without breaking the bank? (I had planned on Priefert, but good grief, that stuff is expensive!) We do not plan to ever have any bulls, and will be doing our breeding either AI or offsite.
Safety is the number one concern, but it also needs to be easy to operate, and operable by one person if need be since there are only two of us. Plus, it needs to be one that will catch smaller-framed animals.
Is it totally out of the realm of reasonable to think you can manage without a chute/headgate? We're used to being able to restrain and treat horses without that type of equipment, but I know it is not the same, and don't want to get hurt. (We plan to start out with two weaned heifers and halter break/gentle them.)
If we really do need to have facilities in place, is it feasible to place the facilities on the long wall behind a run-in so as to utilize one wall of the run-in to crowd the cattle into the chute-headgate?
Thank you very much, and feel free to give me any kind of info you think might be helpful. I'm used to being knowledgeable about stock, and it's kind of embarrassing for me to be such a greenhorn! :dunce: