almost going to enter my 4th year of raising beef

[R A]

I think I've done 3 of these posts like this....keeps me going.

Recap...I moved here in May of '07 with 2 brahma cows and 5 bucking bulls. In the fall of '09 I was just about to break the 100 head mark....half cows....half bulls.

I racked up a pile of debt, had to hay year around, had to buy too much hay, ran out of hay, terribly high expenses for me, no money coming in, got as low as 20 cents a pound at the sale barn for stuff...usually 30 to 50 cents....73 cents one time for a brangus looking calf and I thought that was great.... .

Starting selling out of that and got into raising beef in the spring of '10. Started with 36 cows....16 beefier cows from my bucking herd and 20 black cows.

Culled those down to 8 in '12. I knocked off the brahma stuff pretty quick and bought black cows I shouldn't of. ...but I have payed off all my bucking bull debt and have one year left on my cow loan. I just refinaced to a lower interest rate and put my land and house together, which lowed monthly payments $600....more than what my land payment was.

I have no equipment debt, pick-up payment, credit card debt or anything like that.

I'm going the slow route now.

I'm back to breeding 16 this year....and feel I will be able to get as big as I want if I slowly get to that 30 or 40 head mark and build up other things first.

I can do my own hay now, which is great! My hay is way better this year than any other year and I can feed less.

have plenty horses to use...including my future pack mule in there for packing salt, mineral, fencing stuff, etc

I have plenty of stock dog help

I'm embarrassed how we used to eat, but have done a 180 on that.
small sample...

photobucket is acting up terribly right now for me.

I'm basically having a good time and learning a lot.... I should of just put that and that's it....

I know I'm small, but I feel going back in time is going to help me keep going and get bigger. All while doing it slow. I'm doing what I love right now!!!

I haven't started my truck since Jan 9th I believe...to take the hog to town....don't remember the last time I started the tractor...which it probably should be started.....that stuff really adds up IMO and really paying attention now to how I do things so I can save money, is helping a tremendous amount!! Work with mother nature, use the land like the buffalo, don't eat what you can't cook in the kitchen, do stuff so you don't use fuels, all kinds of neat stuff to live by is helping me!

Thanks for all the help on here through posts and pm's!!!

I can't believe all I learned in 2012....2013 is starting out like that too!!!

I have a bunch of chickens coming, going to plant more and bigger gardens, restock two of my ponds back with fish, getting turkeys, another hog to feed out, going to do a beef, plant more good trees than thorn trees I have cut down.....lots of great stuff...

 

[R A]

Oh and I have The Canadian Rancher video in playing today....I always love watching this vid...especially to get my haying cows with a team fix. I always think of you guys up there when I watch this.

 

[gcreekrch]

Just don't ask fer money. :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[R A]

Just don't ask fer money. :wink: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I was working on "my" asking for money thread when I seen how much slack the other guys was getting. So I switched to making this thread and am going to just keep going like I'm going....DARNIT!!!

 

[Bar M]

Sounds like you guys had one heck of a ride the first couple years. Glad to hear that you where able to straighten everything out.

 

[R A]

Sounds like you guys had one heck of a ride the first couple years. Glad to hear that you where able to straighten everything out.

Thanks!

Everything that has happened as made this current adventure easier....so in a way I'm glad it all happened the way it did. The bumpy ride started before '07....

Raising and breaking horses for a short stretch not knowing how to saddle a horse and being broke, taught me how to ride and shoe my own...

having bucking stock taught me how to handle cattle in a easy way....and to how to rope and handle big stuff with nobody around....and what it is like having lots of expenses.

..just lots of learning lessons. I just don't know much about raising beef, welding, equipment, etc,...yet.

 

[R A]

I feel I need to come clean. I do have a fancy John Deere tractor to chore with....

Been playin' with the self timer on the camera lately to entertain myself. Just took this to be dumb... I heard some cracking going on underneath me....

 

[rancherfred]

That last picture is hilarious. I have to sympathize with your pickup problems. I have some like that too. :lol: :lol:

 

[R A]

That last picture is hilarious. I have to sympathize with your pickup problems. I have some like that too. :lol: :lol:

That feeding outfit in that last picture there might really come in handy this fall when I have my 1 head capacity feed lot up and running...

 

[leanin' H]

That last picture is hilarious. I have to sympathize with your pickup problems. I have some like that too. :lol: :lol:

That feeding outfit in that last picture there might really come in handy this fall when I have my 1 head capacity feed lot up and running...

What happened to that big plan we came up with where you were gonna ship your steer west and i was gonna custom feed him all the sagebrush and snow he could eat until he was finished? :???: But now that i see you got ANOTHER tractor and a grain cart, i guess you big outfits are too good for us little guys! :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol: Looking great back there as always!

 

[Bar M]

That last picture is hilarious. I have to sympathize with your pickup problems. I have some like that too. :lol: :lol:

That feeding outfit in that last picture there might really come in handy this fall when I have my 1 head capacity feed lot up and running...

What happened to that big plan we came up with where you were gonna ship your steer west and i was gonna custom feed him all the sagebrush and snow he could eat until he was finished? :???: But now that i see you got ANOTHER tractor and a grain cart, i guess you big outfits are too good for us little guys! :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol: Looking great back there as always!

Boys, boys, boys, play nice now H you should be glad he is going to feed his own. I think you might run out of sage before that poor steer would get fat. And I will have to say R A that chore tractor looks like it should be cheap on fuel...looks to be a good buy to me

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I don't know how cheap on fuel that tractor would be, by the time you get the tank on top filled it could be costly. :shock:

 

[R A]

That last picture is hilarious. I have to sympathize with your pickup problems. I have some like that too. :lol: :lol:

That feeding outfit in that last picture there might really come in handy this fall when I have my 1 head capacity feed lot up and running...

What happened to that big plan we came up with where you were gonna ship your steer west and i was gonna custom feed him all the sagebrush and snow he could eat until he was finished? :???: But now that i see you got ANOTHER tractor and a grain cart, i guess you big outfits are too good for us little guys! :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol: Looking great back there as always!

Well, I might as well get it out in the open. At the tail end of our negotiation on me sending my load of steer out every year to fatten, I could tell by the way you were typing via email, that you were using your management voice with me. I was like..what kind of partnership will this be, with H already trying to push me around. ...that's not 50/50. That and the abusive name calling and snappiness in BMR's thread, just hurt too much to be able to work anything out.... and I can't do it.....it cut too deep. So I put a 23rd morgage on the house and got that fancy feeding rig and am going to feed him myself. I plan on taking you, Five Rivers, Cactus, everybody down.... :twisted:

 

[R A]

That feeding outfit in that last picture there might really come in handy this fall when I have my 1 head capacity feed lot up and running...

What happened to that big plan we came up with where you were gonna ship your steer west and i was gonna custom feed him all the sagebrush and snow he could eat until he was finished? :???: But now that i see you got ANOTHER tractor and a grain cart, i guess you big outfits are too good for us little guys! :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol: Looking great back there as always!

Boys, boys, boys, play nice now H you should be glad he is going to feed his own. I think you might run out of sage before that poor steer would get fat. And I will have to say R A that chore tractor looks like it should be cheap on fuel...looks to be a good buy to me

I don't know how cheap on fuel that tractor would be, by the time you get the tank on top filled it could be costly. :shock:

Sic 'em Bar M....

It's electric boys. It's what all us high rollers are going to. We'll be in the next Working Ranch mag.

Wait...tank on top????...you mean me??? Does that tractor make me look fat?

 

[rancherfred]

Yeah, but it is better for the environment, running on natural gas it has a lower carbon footprint! :roll:

 

[gcreekrch]

Sagebrush and Snowballs? :shock:

Would that be a new niche marketed Antelope Flavoured Beef? :???:

RA, if you feed 2 I guarantee it will cut your yardage costs in 1/2. :wink:

 

[R A]

Yeah, but it is better for the environment, running on natural gas it has a lower carbon footprint! :roll:

I've been trying to invent a muffler for cows so we don't ever have to pay a cow fart tax (ha)....I hope they don't make me have a muffler for that natural gas running tractor.... :shock:

 

[R A]

Sagebrush and Snowballs? :shock:

Would that be a new niche marketed Antelope Flavoured Beef? :???:

RA, if you feed 2 I guarantee it will cut your yardage costs in 1/2. :wink:

As far as they do better with at least 2, can sell the extra,???

 

[jodywy]

Wish We could grow tomatoes outside great pics!!!

 

[R A]

Wish We could grow tomatoes outside great pics!!!

Thanks! This will be my second year gardening. I'm excited to get started. I failed pretty bad on a lot of stuff last year. The tomatoes did great though and I had kitchen counter after kitchen counter full of them.

I've been reading up on gardening and see where a lot of people from your area and up north have a really short growing season or none at all. My brother lived in Pinedale, Wyoming for awhile while he was training for the Iditarod. From the sounds of it, it never got above freezing there....