When do you throw in the towel?

[Frankie]

i have had cows out everyday since last monday (and i'm not talking like one or two). i'm doing just the opposite of mr. Joe, trying to fence them out of the creek. there is no water in it, i mean none! never before. of course there is fence all in it but do the cows care? --no. to make matters worse they have also discovered a corn field. lucky for the corn farmer, since the corn sure as heck wasnt going to make any money.

i am trying to convince dad that we, collectively, all need to sell at least 100 head but he thinks we should feed them... :roll: apparently he orderd some "pellets" which i guess is range cubes but i dont know since i dont believe in feeding anything but grass and minerals. sounds like a real money loser to me but i cant talk to him.

i may just have sell some anyway whether he likes it or not.
on the only bright note there is, we got the irrigation moving today. so bring on the winds and the rain and whatever you got! *shaking fist in the air*

A feed store around here was selling a complete nutrition pellet last year. If you used it for your cattle, you didn't need to feed them anything else. He said they acted hungry, but he had copies of reports from Oklahoma State that indicated cattle did very well on them. The rebreeding rate was good and body condition held up, too, according to the report. If you're interested, I'll see if I can find the name of them. That might be what your Dad is using.

 

[branDcalf]

Sorry you're having to look at your options on this.

I just this spring decided enough is enough. 6 yrs. of drought. Buying water and hay last summer. Sinking two wells, where none have been needed in recorded time.

But, the bottom line for me was, having to live 1600 miles away to support the place. Away from family, friends, the landscape I know and love. Living so cheaply I put myself and youngest daughter in danger. (bad neighborhood, less food than we should have been eating)

I had to call it quits. I did't have a cushion, like a spouse with a decent job, or the cows or land being payed off.

It's a tough one, but I'm making new plans... scaled down plans. Re-prioritizing how I want to spend my last 20 to 30 years. I'm going to be the best volunteer ranch hand/weekend warrior my neighbors know, kind of like when I first moved to my home area.

 

[AngusLimoX]

i
i am trying to convince dad that we, collectively, all need to sell at least 100 head but he thinks we should feed them... :roll: apparently he orderd some "pellets" which i guess is range cubes but i dont know since i dont believe in feeding anything but grass and minerals. sounds like a real money loser to me but i cant talk to him.

Alls I got to say young Skywalker is "Don't underestimate the power of the pellets". And don't write your Dad off so fast.

 

[Beefy]

he doesnt know what it is. but we're getting 4 tons of it. lol?
whatever, its got to be better than wilted thistles. another on the bright side- no pigweed this year! the end of the world is near.

 

[Caustic Burno]

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic. ... management

 

[Beefy]

thanks for that Link Caustic. and Frankie i sure hope that is the same stuff. that doesnt sound too bad. of course i havent been told the price yet either.

anyway, i got it raining in the pasture today but then engine started smoking right before dark. i think the fuel filter just needs changing. *fingers crossed*

also Mr. Jo was kind enough to share some of his smoke with us this afternoon. thanks Mr. Jo!

 

[TheBullLady]

It's a tough deal trying to manage your way through a drought. And don't worry.... I think anyone that has been in this business for very long has had a LEAST a day or two when they have thought of hanging it up. It takes a lot of guts and determination to get through a bad situation. A lot of us here in Texas went through that last year.

There are a LOT of folks in central Texas that gave it up instead of hauling water.. and there are more than I would have thought that have given it up completely and won't try again.

Hang in there! You'll make the right decision

 

[Jogeephus]

Does that mean that your wife would like you to quit? Or that she herself would like to quit?

GMN

No. My wife is a gift from heaven that I surely don't deserve. She will back whatever decision as if it were her own - which it sometimes is. But we both agree that cattle have to pay their way and we will not pay for the privilege of owning them.

By nine this morning, I had already gotten seven phone calls saying the cows were out. They weren't mine but these calls were definitely a harbinger of what's to come if something doesn't change.

As it stands, "they did not expect any appreciable rain till July" plus we got 13 full moons this year. If these are correct, this means that though I might be able to make it thru the summer I will not be able to make it thru the winter with no hay and I surely can't mix feed with no hay.

So I won't be preconditioning any calves this year. Gonna sort out all the bull calves tomorrow. Called a stocker guy I've dealt with before and he is interested in buying all the bull calves I have. (A good reason for controlled breeding.) Next, I'm gonna cull the mothers of the bulls hard. Been culling about 15% each year so I don't have any real old cows, so I'll be looking for things like, "lost ear tag", "didn't like the way she looked at me", etc. (Oh, and I will get rid of that lebanese cow ya'll gave me such a hard time about.) :lol:

Next, I'm gonna look at weaning the best heifer calves and sell the rest then cull thru their mommas. Essentially, what I'm hoping to do is reduce my average weight per head hence reducing the total feed requirements while retaining my best genetics and maintaining my total head count in so much as possible.

Well this is as far as I've gotten. I feel better even if this plan isn't the best. But at least I have some certainty back in my life.

Beefy, you are right on! Send me a hurricane and let me be on the east side of it. *standing stark naked in the top of a 100 foot tall longleaf shaking fist in the air* :lol: (And don't think I wouldn't do it if it got me 4 inches of rain!)

 

[Beefy]

Mr. Jo, let me share a little story with you. You know a while back i got 7/10ths rain one night? well all that grass is dead now but anyway this is how i got that rain. i came in from checking on cows one afternoon and i parked the fourwheeler out in the parking lot (used to be yard) and got off. i saw something out of the corner of my eye that made me look down. to my surprise there lay a little snake, oh about 5 inches or so long. the little thing had been dead for a couple of days, he was all dried up but the ants were moving in. now i dont know who or what killed this little snake but i pretended like i had killed, i'm sure i ran over him at some point. anyway, i put that little dried up snake carcass on the fence belly-up just like people on here told me to do (see all these years ive just been putting them on the fence--not belly up! so no wonder it never worked before). And lo and behold if it didnt rain that very night! there is a little snake skeleton out there still on the fence. so you can bet if all the snakes havent already died i'm going to be hunting one of them suckers and i'm going to hang it on the fence belly up. even if i have to go scooping up roadkilled snakes.

 

[Fly-guy]

Last spring here in OKlahoma, the grass and hay looked pretty good, so I bought a bunch of 2-4d and sprayed about 2/3 of my ground. Needless to say, I didn't and won't be spraying this year.

The quanity is way up but the quality is way down but I figure it will eat! I hope to have the hay (weeds) cut pretty soon but doubt that I can get my "independent" hay cutter in here for quite a while. I'm sure that will really hurt the bermuda crop this year, darn stuff needs some sun on it.

It's strange that we are about 5 inches behind on rain in my area from last year, but there is quite a bit of hay being cut. Hope you get a bunch of rain real soon Jogeephus!

 

[Jogeephus]

I hope you can find a MONSTER. But I haven't seen many snakes this spring now that you mention it.

 

[GMN]

Does that mean that your wife would like you to quit? Or that she herself would like to quit?

GMN

No. My wife is a gift from heaven that I surely don't deserve. She will back whatever decision as if it were her own - which it sometimes is. But we both agree that cattle have to pay their way and we will not pay for the privilege of owning them.

By nine this morning, I had already gotten seven phone calls saying the cows were out. They weren't mine but these calls were definitely a harbinger of what's to come if something doesn't change.

As it stands, "they did not expect any appreciable rain till July" plus we got 13 full moons this year. If these are correct, this means that though I might be able to make it thru the summer I will not be able to make it thru the winter with no hay and I surely can't mix feed with no hay.

So I won't be preconditioning any calves this year. Gonna sort out all the bull calves tomorrow. Called a stocker guy I've dealt with before and he is interested in buying all the bull calves I have. (A good reason for controlled breeding.) Next, I'm gonna cull the mothers of the bulls hard. Been culling about 15% each year so I don't have any real old cows, so I'll be looking for things like, "lost ear tag", "didn't like the way she looked at me", etc. (Oh, and I will get rid of that lebanese cow ya'll gave me such a hard time about.) :lol:

Next, I'm gonna look at weaning the best heifer calves and sell the rest then cull thru their mommas. Essentially, what I'm hoping to do is reduce my average weight per head hence reducing the total feed requirements while retaining my best genetics and maintaining my total head count in so much as possible.

Well this is as far as I've gotten. I feel better even if this plan isn't the best. But at least I have some certainty back in my life.

Beefy, you are right on! Send me a hurricane and let me be on the east side of it. *standing stark naked in the top of a 100 foot tall longleaf shaking fist in the air* :lol: (And don't think I wouldn't do it if it got me 4 inches of rain!)

Sounds likeyou have a good plan to work towards to. I will surely hope for you that you get some rain.

GMN

 

[AngusLimoX]

Heya Beefy and Jogee - was in a rush when I posted earlier about the pellets, I'll explain a bit further.

I normally feed out 10 of my own every year freezer meat or to the barn and this year while talking to my nutritionist he mentioned these Purina pellets. We sat down and he started going through the numbers with me for current price of the pellets as compared to corn and it worked out the pellets actually were cheaper. ( $220/ton ). The pellets were 13% protein, and all minerals included.

Well once I got them on the pellets ( 2.5 lbs/day ) the hay consumption was almost halved! ( Free choice clover/brome/orchard mix, 15% protein ).

I went through most of 4 tons. The 4 that I have on the hook all graded AA-AAA at 13 months.

Thought I'd give you my personal first experience with them, goes with what Frankie said and some of the points in the thread CB posted.

Nobody mentioned that liquid protein stuff, CB talked often of it last year, I have no experience with it.

Be careful with your water - nasty chemical stuff can happen with ponds/wells when the water table is lowered.

Chin up guys, silver lining is that when you are done with the forced culling you will have the best of the best left. Good Luck!

ALX

 

[Beefy]

Mr. Jo, there is a 60% chance of rain next thursday!!!
0-10% up until then though.

 

[Carlos D.]

we had a drought 3 years ago -----we tub ground our round bales 1 bale of hay 2 bales staw ---incorporated grain so that each cow would get about 5 pounds a day --we made big piles and fed with an electric wire ----we got through the winter and there were a lot of days ,that were close to forty below weather ---calves were ok ----but I sure feel for you ---I,ll take wet over dry anyday

 

[Jogeephus]

I'm guilty of #1 in a big way. I actually thought nothing could be as bad as last year. Well I was wrong again. I really don't think its gonna rain till July and by then, if you folks that are getting rain haven't bought up some fine cattle at reasonable prices its your own fault.

On the bright side, its amazing how you can remember the least little infraction from the past when you are looking hard-pressed to cull.:nod:

 

[Frankie]

If it helps any, I see NOAA says they expect an active hurricane season. ;-)

 

[Beefy]

If it helps any, I see NOAA says they expect an active hurricane season. ;-)

bring it. maybe i can find some ocean front property for cheap when i sell out.

 

[aplusmnt]

If it helps any, I see NOAA says they expect an active hurricane season. ;-)

Didn't they say the same thing about last year though? And it was a mild one.

 

[Beefy]

If it helps any, I see NOAA says they expect an active hurricane season. ;-)

Didn't they say the same thing about last year though? And it was a mild one.

no. go to your room!