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Three Biggest

N

Northern Rancher

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Feb 10, 2005
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Location
saskatchewan
In the last ten years what are the three biggest management changes that have been adopted by alot of people in your area-these are what I'd say are ours.

Bale Grazing
We all scoffed at the first few guys that did it but it's gotten more and more popular every year. There's guys with several hundred cows not putting a hundred hours a winter on their tractors.

Later Calving
Less people are running more cows and ranchers are getting older. I used to do alot of my custom A'I ing in May now it's all moved to midsummer for the most part.

Calving Ease over Growth
I didn't think this was so much the case till the vets were telling me about it-says they hardly work at all compared to ten years ago. Maybe I should of said improved calving ease as there are cattle in all breeds will calve good and still grow.

I guess in my own situation timed A'I has changed the arm service business-you can schedule around other things. It used to be fun to pack your saddle and head to new country for a couple weeks to do the more traditional A'I projects.

Just interested in whats going on in your neck of the woods that is different-thopse three have changed things in our area.
 
Our biggest 3 might be a bit different...
1) Farm succession - including new bookkeeper, different decision making process, new ranch name, website, refinance, sale of machinery, different marketing and total different outlook by all parties.
2) Seriously extended grazing season - we are taking cows out to grass well after most of the neighbors have weaned and sold their calves, and we swath graze pretty late
3) Retained ownership of calves past weaning and extreme marketing flexibility - we can/may/do produce weaned calves, grass calves, heavy grass cattle, breeding heifers, bred heifers and are positioned to finish cattle if the math works. We are also moving into selling some beef.
4) we have also added AI into the mix in the last 10 years, but that may relate to #1...
 
I was thinking more area wide but ranch specific works too. In the last few years we've extended our grazing season by about 90 days by stockpiling grass-running less cows and not buying in as many yearlings enabled that and oh yeah IT FINALLY RAINED!
 
Area wide
1) cows are sold, land is in grain
2) guys with cows still left are growing/grazing standing corn
 
We played in Irma the other day is there ever alot of corn still standing there looks like enough till spring. I wonder if you grew it in strips with barley swath grazing if it would work as a sort of windbreak.
 
1) Cows outside year round - no housing or bedding required! Ya I know, that sounds a little ordinary and simplistic to most of you but it wasn't the norm here . . .

2) Unrolling hay on ground helps us make better use of lower quality forages because everybody gets to eat the same amount of the same quality of feed at the same time = less bale feeder usage and wear and tear.

3) Backgrounding calves over winter - it's worked well in several ways, a) more pounds of calf to sell after putting lowest cost gain them on and b) we have been selling into a rising market for the past 3 years. That will change at some point in time, but after the BSE kicking, every little bit has made a difference.
 
1. marketing requirements. Cattle are sold off the farm with age source verification plus farms have went thru GAP whole foods audit. Improved weaning and vacination protocols. Move to all natural certification to meet market demand plus more farms moving to grassfed.

2. Better forage management thru rotational grazing and other management schemes. More sharing of ideas between area farmers on grass management and ways to turn cutover land to pasture and improve old degraded pastureland.

3. Modified bale grazing starting to catch on. If plastic rapped bales place where need and remove plastic as needed. Dry stored under cover place 1 to 3 days supply where needed to improve land.

4. Dairies going out and starting small beef herds. Alot small scale producers starting up with 2 to 10 animals selling freezer beef.
 
Area wide - a lot of the small, retiree-type herds are gone. A lot of guys gone to custom feeding or providing yardage rather than owning cattle - go broke slower that way I guess. Just less cattle in this part of the country.
 
on a personal basis:

1. Later Calving - easier, less feed, better health & survival, but lighter weaning wts

2. More acres per cow. Went from 30 to 45. - less hay, put a few lbs on weaning wts., but less capacity

3. I, too have found that calving ease over growth has worked better. Maternal traits often go with calving ease, so in the end, my growth is the same, and calving is easier.
 
I attended the "Ranching for Profit" seminar about 10 years ago and it has taken me about 10 years to implement most of that management philosophy. Not all but most. I still put up my own hay.

1. Developed a lot of water. Pipelines and tanks with a lot of supply. The farthest the cattle have to walk to water in any of my pastures is about a 1/4 mile. The really intensive grazers recommended 1/8 mile but I think I'm satisfied with where I'm at.

2. Crossfencing. Most of my paddocks are about 320 acres in one block. This gives me 12 paddocks in one rotation for about 425 pairs. In another block I have 9 paddocks that are about 160 acres for another 140 pairs. The paddocks get at least 60 days rest after the first pass through and then get a second pass starting about the middle of July. I would guess if I crossfenced each paddock again I could increase stocking rates another 10-20% but I'm tired of fencing for now.

3. Calving later. Heifers still calve close to home starting about the middle of April. They are done about the time the cows start. The first week of May the balance of the heavy cows go to grass. No tagging, no night checks, just drive through them once a day to check water and rotate when needed. This year I ultrasounded my cows and will sort into groups. About 75% in the first 30 days of calving go to the big grazing block and the last 30 day calvers go to the smaller grazing block. I had some scours in the youngest calves last year so splitting them should help that problem. I can rotate away from neighbors who turn bulls out sooner and in 3 years I've never had a stray bull get in.

When I was in partnership with my Dad I never could have convinced him to make these changes. It wasn't until after I bought the ranch that I started "screwing" things up. :wink: It's taken a while but he has come around and likes what I have done. At least he gave me the chance and the opportunity to do things how I wanted and for that I am eternally grateful.
 
For the majority close to us....

1. Sell the cattle.
2. Tear out the fences.
3. Either switch to grain or rent out to someone who grows it.

:? :? :? :? :?

Those who are left.....

Hard to talk about the near vicinity. There aren't enough left to establish a trend. Farther afield bale grazing and later calving are more popular. Maybe because it leaves spare time to work out?
 
We also went to Ranching For Profit about three years ago and then joined E.L. to keep our feet to the fire and did two years of that. The biggest change or paradigm shift for us was to learn about electric fencing and stop haying. Now the neighbors can put whatever they like on their side of the fence any time they like and it has no effect on us at all. We custom grazed our hayfields along with our inside pastures while the cows were out on range and have more feed for them to come home to than we ever had after haying. We bank more forage and graze further into winter every year and buy all of the feed we need. We haven't bought fertilizer for three years and between bale grazing and not haying our fuel bills are almost gone. The two things left to do are selling the haying equipment and get the cows calving even later so we can push them a little harder in winter. It seems we don't need as many cows when they look after themselves and don't have as many inputs to pay for.
 
NR , the 3 things that keep the one neighbour more profitable than the others is they get;
1. Peter Hofer
2. Jonathon Hofer
3. Joe Hofer
To look after the cows for their room and board . :wink:
 
The angus revolution was maybe a little late getting to the east side of Saskatchewan but is here in full force now. The 'chop pail' guys are bailing out in droves now that they can get out for a dollar. Lots of 50 head dispersals of big char or simmy cows that are going to kill at $8-900+. The top sellers are always moderate angus cows as they work best in the big numbers low input herds that have evolved.
 
Where we live corn has been creeping into alot of acreage. With the access to distillars by-products there are getting to be alot of smaller 200 to 1000 head background/feedlots. Knowone bale grazes most all unroll baled hay.A few guys have 30 bale rings and feed once or twice a week filling all of them in rows and slowly work across a field. We get alot of fall rains here that would raise hell on any type of swath grazeing. Our hay is normally best the middle to end of june by mid august all that is left is stems.Some of the older generation are switching to fall calveing,(they feed dairy quality hay to stock cows so it seams to work for them).

Not much has really changed here in 30 plus years were either makeing hay,hauling hay or feeding hay.
 
Northern Rancher said:
They sold some breds here for 8-900 bucks last Friday-I guess they weren't fancy but they'd probably work at that money.
Click to expand...

They should work really well with butcher cows bringing the same money! Unless the wheels fall off again and we are left staring into the abyss like we were the past years . . .

Same prices around here but there are not that many for sale anymore. Only one ad with cows/heifers of any description in the Ontario Farmer last week. Down from 1 - 2 columns worth of them last year all year.

The other biggest change over the last year, I guess!
 

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