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Building a Cow Herd With Out Going Broke

Today's environment, even more so than in the past, leaves little room for an ambitious young person to gain a toe hold in the cattle industry. Capital start up costs are astronomical and approaching catastrophic. Land costs, machinery costs, fuel, fertilizer, insurance plus labor and the list goes on . To pay for this borrowed capital and realize a return on investment appears for all but the most fortunate almost unattainable. This start up idea is for those individuals who have a burning desire to own cattle but lack a pot or the window to throw it out of.

It dawned on me, several years into managing the local livestock auction, that most producers want top notch cows and a fair number of cancer eyed cows were being sold at yard sale prices. The real talent , I thought, would be to develop the innate ability to sort these cancer eyed cows mentally on the fly and determine which ones with a fair degree of accuracy could be saved.

After twelve years of buying, removing eyes and salvaging cows, I can say cancer eyed cows are a way for enterprising individuals with limited capital, to start small with manageable risk and grow a cattle business over a five to ten year period. This can be implemented even in the most challenging of macro economic environments, allowing an enterprising producer to create positive returns on investment with minimized debt risk.

Here are some examples: A five year old bred Hereford cow to calve in 60 days that is in good flesh, body score 6 to 7 will command a price of $900-$1000. She will raise a 550 black baldy steer calf sold for $1.20 a pound, grossing $660. Her sister Hereford cow comes in at the end of the sale, she is 5 years old to calve in 60 days with a body score of 5 and the affliction of a modest cancer eye. She sells not by the head but by the pound. She weighs [email protected] .29/100 grossing 290 dollars. You determine that her eye is a good risk for removal at the hands of a highly skilled veterinary surgeon for a fee of $100, after which you will put her on a ration to gain rather than maintain. Your factory unit has cost you $390 and will produce a 500 black baldy steer calf sold for $1.20 a pound, grossing $600. My question to you, cattleman, would you buy a factory unit for $1000 to produce $660 worth of goods or would you rather pay $390 for a factory unit that will produce $600 of finished goods? The answer appears obvious, but we must ask some other questions. Will your $390 factory unit have the same depreciable life as your $1000 unit? Odds are she will but at the end of her depreciable life you will sell her for .35/ versus her counterpart who will resale for .45/.

The black white - faced cow referenced here was purchased for 30 dollars / hundred weight weighing 1100 pounds and in advanced pregnancy. It was decided to increase her plane of nutrition and calve her before removing her eye. She is an excellent factory unit. This particular cow is 10 years old which will limit her longevity in the program but with adequate nutrition she should be productive for two to three more years and have excellent salvage value.

The ability to judge a cancer eye cow at auction is critical for a successful outcome. I believe that if one can be accurate at an 80% rate in selection then an excellent margin of profitability can be maintained. i.e. you can be wrong in judgment 20% of the time and still be successful.

There is no published grading system that I am aware of to assess cancer eye. The system we use is based on the location of the cancer. i.e. whether it is on the eye lid, the third eye lid or involving the eye only. Third eyelid cancers seem to be more aggressive and metastasize more readily. How extensive the involvement of the cancer must also be assessed. i.e. the extent of the area involved and whether it has invaded the boney structure of the head. Breed of cow also plays a role in long term prognosis. i.e. black baldy cows seem to have more aggressive cancer eyes than Hereford cows.

If the cancer spreads it will almost always show up as a lump jaw located behind the jaw and under the ear. Once the cancer has spread it is illegal to remove these lumps as they involve the lymph nodes and cannot be properly inspected at slaughter.

Northern latitudes are more conducive to positive outcomes as fewer screw worm or blow fly infestations of the surgical site are encountered. Seasonally, fall, winter or early spring are the best seasons for cancer eye surgeries. If removal is done in the summer, topical applications of fly repellants and insecticides may be warranted.

Infection is a rare complication of eye removal if careful steps are taken to limit contamination during surgery. Some drainage will always develop at the inside edge of the sutured eye lids as the body expels the blood collected in the socket after surgery. I seldom use antibiotics after eye removal as have seen no need and positive results without them.

This is a procedure that few producers attempt but can be mastered with little difficulty. I am of the opinion that for the time and equipment necessary to perform the surgery that unless a producer is doing a large number of eye removals, it may be more economical to have the procedure performed by a veterinarian, as us poor country vets have kids in college and need the money and should see the procedure done for approximately $100.

Let me say again, the cow referenced above is an excellent example of what can be accomplished with limited capital and minimal debt risk. As risks go, her cancer was a low grade tumor involving the eye only which should lend itself to a happy positive outcome even though she is a black whiteface cow. Her only drawback is her age which will limit her longevity but she will still be a positive cash flow cow weaning a 550-600 calf. You do the math as I have and you will find that someone beginning on a shoe string can actually gain a toe hold in the cow business without the cloud of oppressive debt keeping him or her up at night. The talent, the ability most paramount in this venture, is to, with a keen sense of accuracy, select those cattle with the best prognosis for improvement in the shortest time possible with the least input.

Sincerely, Cowboyblu D.V.M.

Cowboyblu is a graduate of The University of Wyoming with a microbiology BS and a graduate of the 1978 veterinary class of Colorado State University .Cowboyblu has been a mixed practitioner in the Great state of Wyoming since 1978 and has been affiliated with the local sale barn for a good many of those years.

Article first printed in RanchWorldAds Magazine Summer 2008
 

per

Well-known member
One eyed cows only like to turn one way. It would be necessary to have two groups (l and r) for successful herding. There are lots of cows that the previous owner didn't like that still have a useful life as a factory. Good post.
 

Silver

Well-known member
Another (better in my humble opinion) way to 'steal' good cattle is to buy cows that have survived a uterine prolapse. These cows have no need for further vetrinarian intervention, pose no higher risk of reoffending than any other cow,and it seems like many ranchers are willing to part with them for pretty cheap.
 

WB

Well-known member
I have no problem wtih someone who is enterprising enough to make a little money. Just remember that cancer eye is highly heritable so I don't reccomend keeping any of your own replacements.
 

RanchingMontana

New member
I liked this article when I first read it in the Magazine. Will say, I called the vet that wrote it in Worland Wyoming. He has over 150 head of one eyed cattle turned out.

Also cancer eye is most common in cows with white around the eyes and pink skin. As for calves born with dark pigment around their eyes it is far less likely to occure.

The Vet that wrote this article is one hell of a cow Vet. :D
 

Denny

Well-known member
I think I will stick to raiseing my own heifers. It's slower going but it worked for us. Now we could expand pretty fast but have no real desire to with the work load I've already got. Now if you could figure out how to buy land at 1/2 price that would interest me alot..
 

Blkbuckaroo

Well-known member
I agree that aspiring ranchers better be ready to look at some economical solutions to getting and staying in the cattle game.Thanks for the article.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Another option is to buy some cows that maybe aren't the flavour of the month breed but when bred to to flavour of the month bull will give you the flavour of the month calf to sell. A friend of mine started out with some angus/Holstein X heifers-bred them Angus and made out like a bandit.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
IMG_0713.jpg


There's a cow that you can buy for cheap and her Angus calf will sort and feed with the rest.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
You mean 'crossbred calf' that will sort and feed with the rest.
Anyway, you couldn't get away with calling that calf an Angus
down here.
:wink: :p
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
When he's done in the feedlot he'll probably go CAB and because he's got an Angus daddy I could put onre of the totally meaningless Canadian Angus tags in his ear if I was dumb enough to believe the CAA's propoganda.
 

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