Your Cattle Goals??

[skyline]

My Goals (at this point).

Make a profit - soon.
Enjoy the lifestyle and share it with as many of my city slicker friends as I can.
Develop my place and replace the 35 year old fences being held together by privet hedge, hackberries, plum bushes, and cedars.
Renovate my pastures to be lean mean grass producing machines.
Build up a solid commercial herd with as few problems in the herd as possible.
Run a good bull with my cows.
Get more consistent and confident in my herd management/health management skills.
Develop my reputation and herd over the years to allow me to sell my good heifers for replacements to other like minded cattlemen/women via private treaty.
Produce good steers and possibly try to find someone to work with (small numbers) to retain ownership through the feedyard.
Reconstruct my working pens to allow me to do more cattle work without help. The rotted cross timber posts need to be replaced. The squeeze chute needs to be replaced. The gates need to be repositioned and replaced.
Learn more about commercial cattle marketing options and the cattle price cycles and the issues that affect the price of cattle (like corn).
Over the next 15 years, find enough pasture to lease to increase my herd to make this a worthwhile full time endeavor upon retirement from my day job.
The good news is that I have enough work to do to keep me jumping for the rest of my life.

 

[greenwillowhereford II]

okay can't argue black is hopefully a fad. The image that a steer is better because of color is a bit foreign to me. Same thing in our area. If you look into my pasture you will see nothing but black 'cept my hereford bull. Looks as if I am a fad chaser too. Although the purpose is not to produce a black hided animal but a quality cow on our farm. I was counceled many years ago by a good man - Charlie Angel - who said the black white face never goes out of style. I have been raising cattle black white faced calves (some RWF) since I have started. Looks like the fad caught up with me :lol: :lol2:

George I have been guilty of the chase as well.
The perfect cow herd to me would be a hereford type cow and a Brangus bull as you have more options with a red cow.
Second choice would be a pasture full of Brangus girls and a Hereford bull ,calves will always ring the bell at the salebarn.
At my age I would rather have to deal with one Brangus than a herd of them.

:lol2: :lol2: Classic Caustic. The black baldie has never been too far from the top of the market my entire life.

 

[kjb]

I just stumbled onto this site and I guess im out if my league. I see you all talking about working all your life to build a herd, then you die and the kids ship them to the sale barn. Im the son of a small cattle farmer. im 35 years old, and been married twice with 5 kids. the only dream ive ever had was raising cattle. although ive had many jobs ive never yet reached that goal. right now im a broiler farm manager for a poultry company in sw missouri. i am doing better than i ever have financially and want to start working towards getting a herd started. But you can bet the farm when my dad dies i wont get one thing from him ( its a long story, due to step mother). But im not whining he wants me to make it on my own. I just want to get started and will accept any advise.

 

[Wewild]

:lol2: :lol2: Classic Caustic. The black baldie has never been too far from the top of the market my entire life.

They have been purty much right behind the yellows.

 

[MoGal]

Welcome KJB and you will enjoy this board. I don't post that much but I try to get over here about every day and read up on it. There's a lot of info here if one would take the time to read all the pages.

I thank each of you that have responded and I'm hoping more will step in.

I guess life in itself is an experience (I've come to applaud the elderly for sharing their life experiences and knowledge and just hope I can someday share the same with young people).

The hubby has been at this all his life and at least he has longevity and (size) consistency in his herd (even if they don't have a butt, but then what hostein x angus does?) His dad had holsteins and I think that's part of the reason he hangs onto them. If he told me tomorrow he wanted to add holstein back into them, I'd separate off into a different pasture the ones he wanted and go find a holstein bull ........... thank god he hasn't said that, but marriage brings compromise and if that made him happy I'd be all for it. So far, he wants a live calf every year so I'm free to chase my goals.

I also haven't figured out yet why some of the ugliest looking cows can have some of the best looking/doing calves.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

some of the ugliest looking cows can have some of the best looking/doing calves.

Ain't that the truth! I have one that is so butt-ugly and pitiful looking, but she always rasies one of the nicest calves of the bunch. Her temperament more than makes up for her looks.

Katherine

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Regardless of your goals, you probably won't wake up one morning and find you have arrived.

Success, happiness, perfect herd, etc is a journey not a destination, so have fun and enjoy the ride.

 

[alftn]

Black Angus is not a fad, we would have to agree...but using B.angus to turn everything else Black- like we have seen the last 25 years might be. If the Angus quality was not there, surly our herds would not be a changing color. I do like my Black Angus cows, but I love the f-1 Black baldies I get off them Hereford Bulls....A Good Black Hereford bull would be the ticket, o'well another argument there. 1. quality, 2. temperment, (I like friendly cows), 3. Having good babies, in equal parts, are the goal of breeders , weather Reg.. stock or comm. Not all people are breeders, I really like the fact I have 5 gen. of animals I have raised, replacements may be cheaper, hell they may even be better quality. I am a cattle breeder.