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A question on cattle and sheep...

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Curly

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Helena, Montana
I have a few questions for those of you who know the cattle (or sheep) business. I've got twelve acres along the creek that I would like to run some steers on. I've got other properties that I use for winter wheat and the horses but no real use for this particular land that's near the house. The grass on this 12 acres is a mixure of alfalfa and grass, really nice feed.

Now I know there are folks here who don't like us small timers getting involved with the cattle and what not but I sure would appreciate some help from those who wouldn't mind lending a hand by sharing a little knowledge.

I am a horseman and I've put in my time working my uncles dairy and the duties that go along with that. In addition to that I had a dozen mother cows that ran with my father-in-laws herd on his Wyoming ranch. I helped with the vaccinating and branding and round ups but he did the day to day stuff. He's a hell of a guy and has been a good friend and source of information for me.

Here's my question-- My place is in Montana and thats where I live during the summer, but I currently teach school in Alaska (ten more years). We get 3 months off each summer. I would like to put that grass to good use by putting some animals on it. I realize three months is a pretty short window... what would be the best way for me to do it to make it economically beneficial? Maybe cattle cannot turn a profit in that short window, if that's the case would sheep be a better option? Any help from those who have more knowledge in these things would be appreciated.

Curly
 
I am not to up on the sheep markets but you could possibly put a few yearlings on the grass. 12 acres is not much ground to carry many yearlings and if it turns dry you can be out of grass real fast.

You could maybe rent the grass to someone to graze. Could be horses, cattle,sheep or lamas.
You mentioned it was along a creek. If it is the creek bank you won't want to graze it very hard as you will damage your riparian area along the creek and could cause more damage and possibly get in trouble with the conservation district.

If you had sheep and they could be used to clean up some other yards and such you could possibly make some money charging other small land holders for the use of the sheep to keep the grass down around their yards as well.

Don't know if i was much help but i may have given you some food for thought.
 
Curly,with a place that size and only 3 months to work, limits your options,but if the grass is strong..........
#1 get it baled and sell the hay
#2 put some stockers on it,they oughta gain good enough to make it worth your time,sell them when you got to go back to Alaska.
I have an ole coot for a neighbor that has a small place,he is set up to buy and hold them on his place till he gets a potload then hauls them to a feed lot.................good luck
 
My suggestion would be to rent it out to someone, with "flexibility" built into the deal. If you live nearby, you could monitor the grass situation. If there is plenty of grass, the renter could leave the livestock in longer than planned. If the rains stop and the grass runs out, have it understood that the livestock would then need to find another home. It would be more stress-free for you if someone else actually owned the critters. Then you wouldn't have to worry about a fluctuating market.

Alaska is a beautiful state. There seems to be more freedom and less government intervention there also, than there is here in the "lower 48."

Good luck.
 
You could put some heavier weight yearlings on there and then sell them as grass fat feeezer beef. You might as well own them yourself-the amount your going to run won't hurt you too bad if you take a loss and it will make your endeavour more interesting. Have some fun with it the possibilities are kind of endless-a good place to park a few mares and a stud perhaps.
 
All good suggestions here.

A lot depends on what kind of grass and how much there is.

By letting someone else run the livestock, you are making your risk smaller.

If it's close to town, maybe even run a horse or two for someone.

The fencing would make a difference also.

If there is a corral where you could keep the horses penned up most of the time and just let them out to "run" and graze a short while. Horses can be hard on ground. Worse than sheep.

Go with what you know or are willing to invest the time into, to learn.

And it all depepnds on what you want to do and how much money you want to make.

Yearlings can be high in the spring and they will usually test your fences worse than cows, but if you try to just buy one or two cows, you might be getting someone elses problems, as that is why they arer selliong them.

The way hay prices are looking to be for the next few years, if it is worth haying, that might be your best option. Especially little squares, put up for the horse market. Real clean and no must or mold, put up a little later when there is no chance of getting rain on the hay. Horse people will pay a lot more for a few bales than ranchers can afford to pay.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing and how it worked out. :)
 
Well I came to the right place. These posts all get me thinking and will help me decide what to do with this parcel of land.

As far as the fencing goes, I have the corner posts and anchor posts all up but I have not started stringing wire yet; I wanted to wait on that until I decided what critters I was going to be keeping in there. Right now I am leaning towards the beef so I think I will run 5 strand barbed wire.

I don't want to mess up the creek banks so maybe I will start out with 4 or 5 cows and see how the grass holds them.

Couple dumb questions--

What are stockers?

What would I expect to pay for heavy yearlings on an average year?

Will these animals need to wear my brand for that short a period of ownership?

What will be the best way to sell the animals at summers end?

I sure appreciate the help on this guys. I've been around this type of thing all my life but I have never taken the plunge and done it on my own. This is going to be a small time deal so it will be a good way for me to learn a little. Thanks again.

Curly
 
Soapweed said:
Alaska is a beautiful state. There seems to be more freedom and less government intervention there also, than there is here in the "lower 48."

Good luck.
Click to expand...

There is a lot more feedom up here and I love the hunting and fishing-- to tell you the truth though I miss Montana. Teaching up here has been good to my wife and I but I miss the west, I will be glad to be home in two weeks.
 
Curly,

Which creek are you on? My wife is from Helena, and my niece is just finishing here freshamn year at Carroll.




Best $$$?


Rent the pasture to someone for their horses. Since you will be there in the Summer, you can make dang sure they don't overgraze it.


Badlands
 
hi curly
i think all of the above suggetions are good
here's my thoughts
on a place that small you could make some money on some big yearlings as was stated above
but if you have one die or get sick and not gain or get foot rot then your profit is gone and maybe some of the intial investment
if you want to buy cows
this is what i would do if you have a cow killing plant close to you
buy some older gummer type cows that are bred to calve real soon or already have a calf "something you can upgrade on good grass"
in the fall take the cows to the killing plant and send the calves to the sale
this works great for my boss except he keeps the calves and runs them on wheat and sells them when the wheat is gone
he genarly gets the calves for free this way as when he sells the cows they pay for themselves and the cost to run them
but we have a large cow killing plant just down the road
if this is not possible i would but some smaller stock to graze and sell in the fall such as some good quality goats or sheep wheathers
you can buy more of these for less dollars and if you have apoor doer or one die you still have a chance at making some money
just my thoughts
jerry
 
you folks have some good ideas here. thats why i stop in and read through them.

we've got a little 11 acre place here in eastern wisconsin that we keep some horses on. i use them for stock horse and ranch roping events.
to train and practice we keep a few steers every summer. i've found that buying smaller calves can make me a little more per pound than buying heavier calves. if i get 4 weights and put two hundred pounds on them i'll make more than putting that same two hundred pounds on 6 weight steers because they'll bring more per pound when i sell them in the fall.
 
Curly said:
Well I came to the right place. These posts all get me thinking and will help me decide what to do with this parcel of land.

As far as the fencing goes, I have the corner posts and anchor posts all up but I have not started stringing wire yet; I wanted to wait on that until I decided what critters I was going to be keeping in there. Right now I am leaning towards the beef so I think I will run 5 strand barbed wire.

I don't want to mess up the creek banks so maybe I will start out with 4 or 5 cows and see how the grass holds them.

Couple dumb questions--

What are stockers?
Click to expand...
What would I expect to pay for heavy yearlings on an average year?

Will these animals need to wear my brand for that short a period of ownership?

What will be the best way to sell the animals at summers end?

I sure appreciate the help on this guys. I've been around this type of thing all my life but I have never taken the plunge and done it on my own. This is going to be a small time deal so it will be a good way for me to learn a little. Thanks again.

Curly
Click to expand...


Purchasing calves (stockers) in summer and selling them in the fall as feeder cattle may be a way to convert pasture to profit for those with a surplus of grass but not a lot of facilities.
I doubt you get rich but,it's a start..................good luck
 
Curly said:
"I don't want to mess up the creek banks so maybe I will start out with 4 or 5 cows and see how the grass holds them."

Several cows for a long time is harder on the ground than a whole bunch for a short time. Short duration graqzing and then get off, just like mowing a hayfield. Make two pastures at least and rotate.

Just because you have only a few, they can still do damage to the creek bank. Think of a garden, a whole bunch will mess it up if they get in it, but one can mess it up too, if she's in there loing enough.



"Will these animals need to wear my brand for that short a period of ownership?"

Only if you ever have to prove ownership. If they are slick and you can't find the papers to prove you bought them, someone else may put their brand on them and then they will legally own them. Thus, why we have brand laws, in this part of the world.

A brand is a critters return address. If they get out or are stolen, that brasnd will bring them or the money from them home.


Curly
Click to expand...
 

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