Who started from nothing?

[Bigfoot]

I have to agree, lots of good advice here.

I'll add this- You have to be stubborn, creative and have a no quit attitude and want it more than anything else if starting with nothing.

There were times I would have to haul big round bales of hay and had no tractor to unload them so had to push them off trailer, or put a strap or chain around them and tie to a tree and drive away from under them. One Winter the clutch went out on a tractor at a lease, I would have to load and unload hay and tractor in the dark while holding a flashlight between my teeth to feed cows after working all day, it was dangerous and sometimes you would get wet and cold or break something or get stuck, but the cows ate before I came in and ate. I told myself there must be an easier way after a few weeks of this. So we started putting a months worth of hay around 24-36 bales out in an area with like 6 bales per spot, and bought 3 more hay rings, we would put in 4-6 different spots and using electric fence to give the cows enough for 1 week 6 -7 bales and would move the electric fence during daylight on weekend along with hay rings, that way I would only need to haul tractor once every 4-6 weeks rather than twice every week and in the dark one of those days.

For the past several years I have had small herds in 3-4 different places on combination of leased and owned land, yet at the end of the day would still look forward to putting my eye on at least one of those groups before going home.

I share this to encourage you (or anyone wanting to start) and challenge you to ask; "How bad do you really want it"?

When I had just 5-8 cows a bull was a big expense but I still wanted quality because I knew I would be building a herd from his daughters, I took advantage of helping neighbors to put 2-3 heifers in their herd just to get bred and then move back with mine after settled, and not to have to buy new bull every 2 years. I'm sure there are many on here that have had many more challenges than I, but I bet ya quitting wasn't an option for them either!

I know 18 years when you are only 21 seems like a very long time... however 18 years ago I owned a single cow, no bull and no land. My wife and I have accumulated around 300 acres some paid for, and some we own along with the bank, none of this was inherited land though. Today my wife and I have over 100 head (all from that one cow from 18 years ago), on the place we call home. I could not wait for the day to have 10, 15 or 20 cows, and when only keeping 2 or 3 heifers a year seemed like it would never come. Last year we kept 14 heifers, this year plan to keep 18-20. 18 years go by really fast when you are busy. Obviously for us to keep most of the heifers, our cows are not paying their own way and supporting keeping heifers. That's why we both work outside jobs and have been fortunate enough to have money to spend to support our cows in the hope that one day they may can support us.

Very doubtful I retire early, yet look forward to the day of staying home on our own place and watching them and playing "cowboy" all day/every day instead of just a few hours in the evening and on weekends and Holidays.

How bad do you want it?

I fed rolled hay the first year, by dragging it on a truck hood with a 1969 international scout.

 

[Jackson]

I appreciate the advice. Sounds like gona be a long road ahead but it motivates me to know that it can be done and has been done.

 

[dun]

When looking for a wife/helper, shop with the right head!

 

[Dave]

I have to agree, lots of good advice here.

I'll add this- You have to be stubborn, creative and have a no quit attitude and want it more than anything else if starting with nothing.

There were times I would have to haul big round bales of hay and had no tractor to unload them so had to push them off trailer, or put a strap or chain around them and tie to a tree and drive away from under them. One Winter the clutch went out on a tractor at a lease, I would have to load and unload hay and tractor in the dark while holding a flashlight between my teeth to feed cows after working all day, it was dangerous and sometimes you would get wet and cold or break something or get stuck, but the cows ate before I came in and ate. I told myself there must be an easier way after a few weeks of this. So we started putting a months worth of hay around 24-36 bales out in an area with like 6 bales per spot, and bought 3 more hay rings, we would put in 4-6 different spots and using electric fence to give the cows enough for 1 week 6 -7 bales and would move the electric fence during daylight on weekend along with hay rings, that way I would only need to haul tractor once every 4-6 weeks rather than twice every week and in the dark one of those days.

For the past several years I have had small herds in 3-4 different places on combination of leased and owned land, yet at the end of the day would still look forward to putting my eye on at least one of those groups before going home.

I share this to encourage you (or anyone wanting to start) and challenge you to ask; "How bad do you really want it"?

When I had just 5-8 cows a bull was a big expense but I still wanted quality because I knew I would be building a herd from his daughters, I took advantage of helping neighbors to put 2-3 heifers in their herd just to get bred and then move back with mine after settled, and not to have to buy new bull every 2 years. I'm sure there are many on here that have had many more challenges than I, but I bet ya quitting wasn't an option for them either!

I know 18 years when you are only 21 seems like a very long time... however 18 years ago I owned a single cow, no bull and no land. My wife and I have accumulated around 300 acres some paid for, and some we own along with the bank, none of this was inherited land though. Today my wife and I have over 100 head (all from that one cow from 18 years ago), on the place we call home. I could not wait for the day to have 10, 15 or 20 cows, and when only keeping 2 or 3 heifers a year seemed like it would never come. Last year we kept 14 heifers, this year plan to keep 18-20. 18 years go by really fast when you are busy. Obviously for us to keep most of the heifers, our cows are not paying their own way and supporting keeping heifers. That's why we both work outside jobs and have been fortunate enough to have money to spend to support our cows in the hope that one day they may can support us.

Very doubtful I retire early, yet look forward to the day of staying home on our own place and watching them and playing "cowboy" all day/every day instead of just a few hours in the evening and on weekends and Holidays.

How bad do you want it?

I fed rolled hay the first year, by dragging it on a truck hood with a 1969 international scout.

I have unrolled hay to feed it by driving a bar through the center of the bale, connecting a chain to the ends of the bar, and pulling it with an old pickup. A 3-point bale spear on a 8N Ford will give it power steering. You can also pop wheelies that way too.

 

[RiverHills]

When looking for a wife/helper, shop with the right head!

If that aint the best advice out of all these post it sure would be the best advice for finding a wife. But we all know that's easier said than done at 21.

I managed and didn't get married until I was 30. That gave me time to clear my mind and get what I needed to get started. It still takes a lot of hard work and very good luck.

 

[bball]

Started with nothing. No agriculture in my background. Good day job. Did everything wrong at least once. Sometimes twice. Wish I woulda read more or something. Mighta stayed clean out of it then. Maybe shoulda. At least now I know not to be surprised when they find a new way to die. I've also learned that farmers are as crooked as church people. I always had the mistaken belief that this community operated on a handshake. Ironically there are as many sinners tilling ground as there are in any other profession. So many illusions - so little time.....

Dam good assessment! I love the very last line. :tiphat:

 

[GRTiger85]

I'm 29, and pretty much started from scratch in college. Grew up on cattle operations my dad managed. Started with 3 cows and leased land from my grandparents. Currently running about 45 Registered cows and about 30 commercial cows. Have about 500 acres worth leased. It's possible but you have to be willing to put in the work and make sacrifices to do it. Keep the landowners happy, and they will usually take care of you. Lease land is hard to find so dont do anything to screw it up.

 

[tdc_cattle]

In 1998 I inherited 240 acres and 100 head of crazy cattle. Some long lost relative contested the will and I ended up with nothing. That's the closest I've came to having anything given to me.

 

[riquezada]

Our first place was 47 acres, about half cleared half woods. We paid it off in about 10 years...land was cheap back then, nearly 30 years ago. We mainly bought bottle calves at the stockyard and farmers we knew and raised them into cows. We had a Jersey nurse cow now and then and the main tractor was a Farmall H with 3 point hitch. We sold the farm for quite a profit in 1998, cows and all. We then found a much better place 2 counties over which was part of a 250-300 acre feedlot. We purchased 5 bred Herefords and 3 bred Blacks from a friend. Borrowed a Charolais bull from our cattle dealer friend for a year or so (pulled a few calves) then bought a registered Black Limo bull which constantly got out (8 strand barbed wire). I now also have a hot wire up. I couldn't keep him home so I told the neighbor to keep him and swap me back a Charolais and that's what we've had ever since other than a yearling Angus I have now with the big Charolais bull out with the cows. I haven't pulled a calf for about 10 years now... But I could the next one...We have about 50 head and are still expanding, facilities, equipment and all. I have always bought all my hay so I can use land to run more head. We just paid off the place in April and we bought 10 bred cows and a few 500-600 lb really cheap heifers a few years ago from the stockyard, most of which turned out good and we still have, but I still prefer to raise my own...I do work full time at a factory.

 

[Quickdraw Farm]

I am now 47 years old. When I graduated high school in 1987 I received around $1,000 cash in graduation gifts. I added $400 I saved by bagging groceries at the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store. I spent the approximate $1,400 at the local sale barn on three heavy bred heifers. I borrowed my uncle's horse trailer to haul them to my parents' house. It was a 2 horse trailer I towed with my 1981 Toyota pickup. That's right, 3 heavy bred heifers in a 2 horse trailer. I put them in the 7 acre pasture behind my house with my sister's horse. I watered the horse and the three heifers in a #3 wash tub. All three heifers were Herefords and I had no idea what they were bred to. I waited, it seemed like a year, for those heifers to calve (it was only about 3-5 months but seemed like forever). All three had black, mottle faced bull calves, unassisted. That's the only Hereford colored cows I ever had but they were good to me for many years. I have owned several hundred, if not thousands, of cattle since then, but I will always remember my first three. I have owned cattle since I bought those first three heifers at the half rotten sale barn in Alabama.
Since then, every time I could save enough money from my regular job (administrator of the local nursing home) to buy a cow or two I did. I borrowed money to buy land when I could and when a place I wanted come up for sale. I kept heifers and/or used all of the money I got from selling yearlings at the sale barn to buy bred cows and/or pairs. As the years went by I rented land when I could. I now own 200 acres and rent an additional 200 acres. I own 312 mama cows. No one ever gave me anything. I worked it all out. It's all free and clear and I sacrificed to get it that way. My old tractors have a lot of hours on them, my hay equipment squeaks and fusses about having to work, and my creep feeder gates I have to open and close with a claw hammer my grandfather gave me in 1983. My cattle trailer is tired and somewhat rusty, my hay patches have a few weeds in them, and the batteries are dead in my hot shot. But my cows are fat, slick, and healthy, and by George I still make a little money in this ol' cow calf business. Someday I hope to do nothing but fool with these ol' cows. I do enjoy it - all of it. For example, I have pulled 5 calves in the past 4 days, and castrated 16 bull calves (none of them mine, all for neighbors and friends), and I even enjoy being a blessing by doing that.
A good friend of mine, who is a big time cattle hauler in the Southeast, told me "if you pull up to a farmer's gate to pick up his calves and he presses a button to open the gate he ain't making no money. But if you pull up to his gate and he gets out of a bent up pickup with cow manure slung on the side of it and has to untwist a piece of rusty barbed wire to open a rusty, bent up gate, he's making some money."
Ps. I enjoy all of your posts very much. Thank you for posting. I MAY enjoy Bigfoot's posts most of all. But Bigfoot has a major problem, it appears as though he is a UK fan, and UK fans are on my hit list. So down with Bigfoot! Just kidding buddy!

 

[Bigfoot]

I am now 47 years old. When I graduated high school in 1987 I received around $1,000 cash in graduation gifts. I added $400 I saved by bagging groceries at the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store. I spent the approximate $1,400 at the local sale barn on three heavy bred heifers. I borrowed my uncle's horse trailer to haul them to my parents' house. It was a 2 horse trailer I towed with my 1981 Toyota pickup. That's right, 3 heavy bred heifers in a 2 horse trailer. I put them in the 7 acre pasture behind my house with my sister's horse. I watered the horse and the three heifers in a #3 wash tub. All three heifers were Herefords and I had no idea what they were bred to. I waited, it seemed like a year, for those heifers to calve (it was only about 3-5 months but seemed like forever). All three had black, mottle faced bull calves, unassisted. That's the only Hereford colored cows I ever had but they were good to me for many years. I have owned several hundred, if not thousands, of cattle since then, but I will always remember my first three. I have owned cattle since I bought those first three heifers at the half rotten sale barn in Alabama.
Since then, every time I could save enough money from my regular job (administrator of the local nursing home) to buy a cow or two I did. I borrowed money to buy land when I could and when a place I wanted come up for sale. I kept heifers and/or used all of the money I got from selling yearlings at the sale barn to buy bred cows and/or pairs. As the years went by I rented land when I could. I now own 200 acres and rent an additional 200 acres. I own 312 mama cows. No one ever gave me anything. I worked it all out. It's all free and clear and I sacrificed to get it that way. My old tractors have a lot of hours on them, my hay equipment squeaks and fusses about having to work, and my creep feeder gates I have to open and close with a claw hammer my grandfather gave me in 1983. My cattle trailer is tired and somewhat rusty, my hay patches have a few weeds in them, and the batteries are dead in my hot shot. But my cows are fat, slick, and healthy, and by George I still make a little money in this ol' cow calf business. Someday I hope to do nothing but fool with these ol' cows. I do enjoy it - all of it. For example, I have pulled 5 calves in the past 4 days, and castrated 16 bull calves (none of them mine, all for neighbors and friends), and I even enjoy being a blessing by doing that.
A good friend of mine, who is a big time cattle hauler in the Southeast, told me "if you pull up to a farmer's gate to pick up his calves and he presses a button to open the gate he ain't making no money. But if you pull up to his gate and he gets out of a bent up pickup with cow manure slung on the side of it and has to untwist a piece of rusty barbed wire to open a rusty, bent up gate, he's making some money."
Ps. I enjoy all of your posts very much. Thank you for posting. I MAY enjoy Bigfoot's posts most of all. But Bigfoot has a major problem, it appears as though he is a UK fan, and UK fans are on my hit list. So down with Bigfoot! Just kidding buddy!

Good post. Btw.
I get some guilt by association by living here. I watch UK play once the NCAA tournament starts, but don't follow them the rest of the year. I'm actually on campus this week for a meeting.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Bigfoots new bedroom :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

 

[Bigfoot]

Bigfoots new bedroom :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

That game is actually why I quit watching. I wasted that whole winter watching them that year on TV, to see it given away at the end. Now I just watch the end.

 

[JMJ Farms]

I'm sorry Bigfoot. That was a low blow. It is a great rivalry however. Kinda like being a Georgia Bulldogs football fan.... They usually disappoint but somehow I always wind up watching anyway.

 

[Bigfoot]

Looks like Richie will be able to attend if they have a reunion game:
http://www.courier-journal.com/story/ne ... /77345968/

 

[Supa Dexta]

I now own 200 acres and rent an additional 200 acres. I own 312 mama cows.

How are you making this work feed wise?

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Bigfoot, I'm like you I don't watch UK until the tournament starts. I just don't like Calipari. Also that has to be the ugliest made bed I've ever seen.

 

[Ol' 243]

I now own 200 acres and rent an additional 200 acres. I own 312 mama cows.

How are you making this work feed wise?

You can run that many in the south if you don't mind paying your lime and fertilizer bills.

 

[Brute 23]

I now own 200 acres and rent an additional 200 acres. I own 312 mama cows.

How are you making this work feed wise?

You can run that many in the south if you don't mind paying your lime and fertilizer bills.

A cow per acre... it would have to be wide open country with improved grass and we would have to have record rainfall.. and I'm still not sure if that would work.

 

[NECowboy]

Lease land is hard to find so dont do anything to screw it up.

Definitely the case in my part of Nebraska so not going to bother to try and find something to lease, this is the Plains and the economy here is almost all ag so both purchasing and leasing land is just about on lockdown. Land prices are definitely higher than they should be due to limited availability (little being for sale or lease) and farmers who made a bucket of money on $8 corn (most people farm corn + ranch around here). Seeing them retreat very much though is doubtful for the previous 2 reasons even though commodity prices have fallen steeply.

Wife and I have outside jobs and we are starting from nothing with quarter we recently purchased. Looking into management intensive grazing/rotational grazing to run more head given the high land prices. Though it makes you want to cry looking at what land prices were say even 5, 10 years ago, we weren't at a financial position at that point in our lives to buy then and now that we are, when the right property came along we pulled the trigger. We weren't willing to wait forever to pursue our dream and wait around and be miserable in the hope that land prices would decline drastically.