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What's yer Cattle Background?

1-What is your background?

I grew up in prime Sandhills ranching country. Developed a love of horses very early in life when Santa left a Shetland pony tied out front. In high school I stared my road in the cattle business with my cow/calf pairs for FFA.


2-What breeds of cattle have you worked with?

Black angus the most. Red angus, branvieh (sp), wague (sp), charlaios, and cross bred mixed stuff too. Have been involved in AI ing red angus, banveh(sp), black angus. For two years our cows were recipts for bull breeders in the western states of Idaho and Oregon. The last year we did any recips for embryos the bull breeder was from Iowa.
3-What breeds have you thought about working with?

Lowlines
4-If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with?

Power Genetics, various angus crosses
5-Have you fed cattle?

Yes both manually with a pitchfork and with a bale processor. :D

Sent calves several times to the feedyards and followed them through to the grocery store.
6-Did you grid market the cattle?
No
7-Other comments about your cattle past, present, and future? Some of my fondest memories growing up and even as an adult were on a ranch. It seems a new chapter has started in life and though we still own cattle our livilihood isn't dependant on those cows. (Not saying they don't help.) It's a new chapter and a new way of thinking.
 
1-What is your background? Raised in East Texas, dad was farmer running cross breeds....graduated from Texas A&M 70,72 and 75 with two years to Uncle Sam 67-68.

2-What breeds of cattle have you worked with? Owned a dairy from'80 to 92 milking holsteins and raising brahman/holstein crosses on the side along with nutritional consulting. Am now retired but raise Brangus more as a hobby than anything.

3-What breeds have you thought about working with? Angus

4-If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with? Use to do some "trading" with just about anything that would make a dollar.

5-Have you fed cattle? Yep...TMR three times a day for years.

6-Did you grid market the cattle? no

7-Other comments about your cattle past, present, and future? Love the cattle......still looking for the money in cattle. :lol:
 
1. What is your background? Grew up in town and have no family involved in agriculture whatsoever. My family was friends with a rancher, and my dad would take me out there on weekends. I loved the animals and being outside. Dad bought some cattle when I was 10 in 1984. I got my first heifer calf then and started building a herd which eventually put me through college. I was given my first heifer calf, but purchased the rest on my own with no discounts just because I was a kid :D. At 16, worked with a good cowman who taught me livestock handling. During college, worked at the state veterinary laboratory...learned more there than in any class I took in four years. Also worked for a rodeo stockcontractor during school... was a challenge working with brahmas which made you think, not your average slow beef cow. At 21 worked for a good cattlewoman who taught me the "science" behind cattle husbandry. Got a BS in Animal Science from UW, started this job thinking it would be fun to do for a few years... that was over 12 years ago :D. Lucky to have this job and work for Jim since I've pretty much been given free rein to try whatever I think might work. I've had HUGE setbacks, and a few successes along the way. Just when you think you're the best at something, you become the worst :wink:. I kinda like doing this.

2. Breeds of cattle I've worked with? My first 4-H heifer was a Chi/Angus cross. Over the years I've worked with angus, red angus, brahma, water buffalo crosses :? , longhorn, corriente, brown swiss, charolais, tarentaise, shorthorn, simmental, brangus, braford, saler, maine anjou, hereford, and gelbvieh that I can remember :lol:.

3. Breeds I've thought about working with? I'm sticking with Balancers for now. I like Brangus because they're smart. Always have admired Angus/Charolais cross cows.

4. If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with? When I started this job, the herd was more of a rainbow coalition than anything else. Over time I've focused on getting an angus/gelbvieh cross. I'm FINALLY adding home-raised females into the herd which I think will be good... time will tell with some luck. How lucky am I to be able to build a herd :D.

5. Have you fed cattle? No. I've sold to the same buyer the past several years, and they've shared carcass data with me.

6. Did you grid market them? The feeder who's bought them has marketed them on the grid before.

7. Other comments - This is a fun industry to be a part of. I enjoy the lifestyle, the people, and working with my cattle. I think by not having ranching in my family, I look at the industry differently. It's a privilege to be a part of this. I like the variety, mental toughness, and independence of it all. I'd like to be a part of it as long as possible.
 
Very neat to hear everyone's history's! WR's post was very neat. WR, still waiting on that dern heifer to calve. :? Maybe she'll decided to get with it in tonight's blizzard?
 
MYT Farms said:
Very neat to hear everyone's history's! WR's post was very neat. WR, still waiting on that dern heifer to calve. :? Maybe she'll decided to get with it in tonight's blizzard?
Click to expand...

I want to add to my background, I really like and admire red angus cattle. Got to thinking, I haven't seen too many red angus that aren't nice... my hat's off to that breed association :D.

I hear ya'. I'm still waiting on 4 of my heifers to calve... must have had a woopsy, not very proud of them. Since they are sooooo late, I'm guessing they got bred, resorbed/aborted, and re-bred??? Looks like they'll pop this coming week... corresponds to when I stirred them up and moved them last July. Good luck with your heifer! I still wouldn't let her near that pretty barn of yours :wink: :lol:.

BTW, enjoy the current blizzard :roll:. We're up to about a foot, still snowing hard, but the wind isn't too bad. Richard, this still is white gold, just ready to melt the gold down into something useful...like green grass :lol:.
 
1. I have have been born and raised on cow/calf stocker/feedlot operation in Oregon. I have spent time on two other outfits while attending college and have done alot of farming as well and worked with alot of sheep as we still raise Rambouliets. I pride myself in the fact that I have had the opportunity to be so heavily involved in many types of aspects of the Cattle business at a young age.


2. Worked with primarily, Red and black angus, charlaois(sp), Hereford, simmental. Some Longhorn, brahma and chiangus and a few others.

3. Dont really need to work with any other breeds.


4. We run a commercial herd that is highly crossbred, mostly black baldy cows bred to Black or hereford bulls. Some Char.


5. We retain ownership on all our claves and run 2/3 of them through Country Natural Beef. A retained ownership program that pays the ranchers on carcass merit.

6. No grid marketting, if I understand it correctly?


7. I am excited about the cattle industry. I think that one day the world is gonna wake up and wonder where our cow herd went. Simple facts tell us that population increase will contiune to rise and beef demand will be ever increasing. If we can keep our exports like Mexico and Canada happy and build stronger markets in Asia I think the added value to the cow calf producer will be large. Someday I would like to own my own place but still be involved on the ranch board at home. I want to have my own place bought in 5 years and be able to start running cows on a regular basis for myself within 15 years. I am 23 so I have some time. I Love this stuff and believe that knowledge is power, I will be chasing a masters degree in animal science hopefully in the fall and will continue to get new and unique experiences in the cattle industry where ever I can while I am still in school.
 
1.Born and raised on a cattle/farm operation. I am 30 yrs old and guess you can say I have 30 yrs of experince :lol: My family raised reg. Simm cattle which we sold bulls and replacement heifers about 20 yrs ago. We run 250 head of cattle with half being my own herd. I had a small herd of about 25 going through high school then expanded my herd when I got out of college and came back to the farm. Which at the present time I am in the process of buying the farm and the rest of the cattle. I do custom haying on the side and also do some custom trucking along with our own hay and grain/hay hauling.

2. Worked with the reg. Simm cattle when I was a little fart and I guess you could say that I had no other choice in the matter. My dad did have alittle bit of a mid life crisis and decided to try some long horn cattle as a pet project :lol:

3. Really no other breeds as of now.

4.As of right now I run AngusX cattle with my dad running AngusX and some black baldy cattle.

5.Some times depends on what we have on hand for feed and corn. We have weaned and feed cattle out in the past but mainly we take our calves straight from grass to market. Have done video sales in the past.

6. Nope

7. Do a better job of saving back heifers than I have been doing the past couple years to help build my herd better. And make sure that I leave something for my son and new daughter to fight over when I am 6 ft in the ground :lol:
 
1-What is your background?
4th generation, born and raised on this same place. Grew up with purebred Angus, lots of showing and power-fitting. Went away to the oilfield for a time, came back and actually had to make money off of cows. Made a quick decision to buy Dad's AngusXTarentaise cows, sold my purebreds - and his - and went to June calving. Started using Galloway bulls, liked the 1/2 bloods, got some purebred Galloway cows, and away we went.

2-What breeds of cattle have you worked with?
Galloway, Highland, Tarentaise, Welsh Black, Angus, Shorthorn, Hereford, Simmental, Charolais, Limousin, Gelbvieh, Salers, Maine Anjou.

3-What breeds have you thought about working with? Belted Galloway, more Highlands, purebred Tarentaise

4-If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with? Angus crossed with: Tarentaise, Hfd, Shtn, Gall, Welsh, Simm, Gelb, Maine.

5-Have you fed cattle? Yes

6-Did you grid market the cattle? Yes

7-Other comments about your cattle past, present, and future? We plan on improving our Galloway and Highland genetics to a point where we graze year round, but have breeding stock that look so good nobody believes they haven't had grain. We plan to dabble with some Belted Galloways and maybe purebred Tarentaise as well. We keep an open mind and are willing to try anything twice. :wink:
 
PureCountry said:
1-What is your background?
4th generation, born and raised on this same place. Grew up with purebred Angus, lots of showing and power-fitting. Went away to the oilfield for a time, came back and actually had to make money off of cows. Made a quick decision to buy Dad's AngusXTarentaise cows, sold my purebreds - and his - and went to June calving. Started using Galloway bulls, liked the 1/2 bloods, got some purebred Galloway cows, and away we went.

2-What breeds of cattle have you worked with?
Galloway, Highland, Tarentaise, Welsh Black, Angus, Shorthorn, Hereford, Simmental, Charolais, Limousin, Gelbvieh, Salers, Maine Anjou.

3-What breeds have you thought about working with? Belted Galloway, more Highlands, purebred Tarentaise

4-If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with? Angus crossed with: Tarentaise, Hfd, Shtn, Gall, Welsh, Simm, Gelb, Maine.

5-Have you fed cattle? Yes

6-Did you grid market the cattle? Yes

7-Other comments about your cattle past, present, and future? We plan on improving our Galloway and Highland genetics to a point where we graze year round, but have breeding stock that look so good nobody believes they haven't had grain. We plan to dabble with some Belted Galloways and maybe purebred Tarentaise as well. We keep an open mind and are willing to try anything twice. :wink:
Click to expand...

Hey purecountry, I have a couple questions for you.
first a little background, we have a buch of moderate framed, 1150# angus cows, pretty hardy carefree bunch, get fed 2-3 months/year depending on conditions. Calve in April/May.
we just bought a galloway bull (black) to use this year for the first time.
wanting the 1/2 galloway replacements.Planning on breeding these back to angus. we also market a few commercial bulls. hoping some of the galloway cross will go this way as bulls.
Since you are experienced feeding and marketing your galloway crosses, heres my question, How did they do in feedlot?? on grid??
also the galloway calves in this area at the sale barn seem to bring
6-10 cents less, why is that??
How do you're 1/2 galloway perform in winter compared to you're purebreds??

Thanks
 
1.What is your background?
4th generation, of a farming and ranching family. My great grandfather farmed in Mo. and my grandfather came to S.D. from Iowa in 1929. My father started farming in 1952. I started on my own in 1978 on the ranch we are living on now.

2. What breeds of cattle have you worked with?
Mostly Herefords but have had Blackwhite faced cows,Shorthorn, Simmental, Charolais, Salers, Maine Anjou,and Red Angus. Like to think that I am open minded.

3.What breeds have you thought about working with?
I have already done most of my expermenting,so just trying to improve what I have right now.

4.If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with?
Hereford and blackwhite faced cows crossed with the aboved listed breeds. Really liked the hereford ,Red Angus cross cattle for our envirment and for there disposition.

5. Have you fed cattle?
Yes Several times.

6.Did you grid market the cattle?
No

7. Other comments about your cattle past, present.and future?
We are trying to consentrate on our registered herd to make them more profitable for the commerical cowman. As land and labor becomes available we will expand our commerical cows by cross breeding.
 
1-What is your background?
Military brat with no family in agriculture. Worked for a local horse trainer all thru high school. After college, worked for a number of different outfits in TX, OK, NM, MT,NE, SD before coming to Ohio & buying my own place & hangin out my shingle-cutters & ropers & working cow horses. Also partnered up with my neighbor & his Angus operation.

2-What breeds of cattle have you worked with?
Angus, Shorthorn, Hereford, Simmental, Limousin, Corrientas

3-What breeds have you thought about working with? Herefords

4-If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with? Angus crossed with: Herefords, Limos.

5-Have you fed cattle? Yes

6-Did you grid market the cattle? NO

7-Other comments about your cattle past, present, and future? Would love to retire from my day job early & devote all my time to the livestock operation (before my body gives out on me :wink: :lol: ).
 
1-What is your background?
Third Generation on this farm. DH was also 3rd generation where he grew up (1/2 hour from here). Possibly 4th generation in the area, although I don't know a lot of my history :oops: and now I'm curious :) . My dad, uncle and grandfather worked together on a very large farm. Dad wasn't into the livestock, but I worked for my uncle/aunt from the time I was about 12 years old til I graduated. They run 300+ head. Learned a ton about cows and horses from them. Always have been a horse nut, cows are right up there for me too. Learned from them a lot of what to do's, and a few things that I would do differently.

2-What breeds of cattle have you worked with?
Angus, Red Angus, Simmental, Hereford, Limo, Charolais, Gelbveih, Shorthorn, Tarentaise, and a few here and there from a lot of other breeds.

3-What breeds have you thought about working with?
South Devon, any of the Shorthorn type or derived breeds. I think a Brahman would be neat to try too.

4-If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with?
All of the above. Most of what we are using now is Shorthorn, Angus/Red Angus and Hereford.

5-Have you fed cattle?
Not enough to really count. Just what we use for our own table.

6-Did you grid market the cattle?
No

7-Other comments about your cattle past, present, and future?
Cattle are more than a job for me, it is something I love, something I am always learning about, and experimenting with. I have worked with so many different breeds in the past, that I have learned that cattle are cattle, regardless of breed there are good and bad in them all. Some are better for some things than others, and no breed is the best for everything, regardless of what some breed associations would have us believe. Herefords ARE quieter :nod: , Angus tends to be a bit snottier, especially at calving and down the chute. Limos are flightier, but man can they add muscle :wink:

Shorthorn are my breed of choice, and the breed that I would raise as purebreds, if I wanted that lifestyle. But I am not much of a people person, so I will stay with my cross breds.

If I could handle the monotony of a single colored calf crop :wink:, I would like to try a herd of Shorthorn/Gelbveih cows bred Charolais. Problem is convincing DH to do it, finding the right cows, and then that boring, one colored calf crop :cry: . But then I think of tht calf crop in the fall, and I want to try it again, til I start thinking again about the monotony, and the circle continues.........
 
MYT Farms said:
Cool histories! Can't wait for more.
Click to expand...

Yep MYT-- and there is several hundred posters and lurkers that still haven't posted anything...
I'll bump this back to the top and see if we can get a few more...
 
1. bought my first cow when I was 12 with money made splitting tamarack shakes. All the older fellows said the best cow they ever owned was a Durham, so I bought an old shorthorn cross cow. 2. Have worked most all breeds here in north america, there are good cows in any breed.3&4. Shorthorn, Hereford, Red Angus.5. Have not fed cattle, but have gotten some data back on my calves from the people buying them.6. Have not marketed any fed cattle as that is beyond my checkbook so far.7.I think about young folks who would like to be involved in the cow business, and it looks like an impossible task, with the price of grazing ground dictated by people buying a homesite. The other costs such as machinery, labor ,Taxes etc. But you you know what? Fellows 150 years ago had big obstacles too, and I am going to keep at it.
 
Oldtimer said:
bump this back to the top for any of the new folks or lurkers....
Click to expand...
Nothing special or exciding but it's different.


1-What is your background?
I worked on a dairy for 8 years. I milked for about 4 years before I was moved to the delivery and raising calves for the last 4 years of it.
20 years ago I bought a farm form an old man that was working with a red and black angus mix of grass 100% grass fed beef cattle. I have expanded the operation by 800%.

2-What breeds of cattle have you worked with?
jersey and angus

3-What breeds have you thought about working with?

4-If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with?

5-Have you fed cattle?
Our breeding stocks eats apples, oranges, pumpkins, outdated bread, and are kept on grass all year round. Most years they end up on hay for 3 months at the end of winter.
Our feed out operation is grass and hay fed only.

6-Did you grid market the cattle?
Part of them

7-Other comments about your cattle past, present, and future?
We work with an online meat company and sell most of our cattle to them.
We sell frozen beef though a local special store.
Were currently working on a contract to supply a yuppie restraint with ground beef.
I would love to expand more with the cattle but I'm out of room on my farm. I do not want to have cattle at a second location.
I own a few hey fields and do some custom work.
 
My family has ranched for at least 4 generations. It is kinda in my blood. Dad and Mom hailed out with a large debt, so they went to town and took jobs to pay off their note. They did. Dad,s uncle, and Moms brother each ranched. One in the mountains near Canon City, Co on his granpa's homestead, and the other about 10 miles from where we are located on the plains. I grew up in town, but loved the ranch. Worked on either place at evey opportunity. I wanted to be cowboy when I grew up. If I ever grow up, I would still like to be a cowboy. Actually I would like more to be thought of as a cowman, than a cowboy. Mom's brother was like a second dad, and put up with me a lot, and I learned a little. I started ranching with nothing, and still have most of it left! About 30 years ago we recieved 5 heifer calves from Jan's dad, and began leasing ground. Today, we have over 100 cows paid off, and have a little ground that is still encumbered. I have tried Herfords, Angus, Saler, Limo, Simmys, and Chars. I have gone with straight Char because they brought in the most pounds every year. We have ran yearlings, and have fed out a few every year since 82 to market to acquaintances. I have not grid marketed, but sold to a repeat buyer for a few years, and followed them to the rail. He recieved a bonus each year he bought them. I have learned there are a lot of successful programs out there. What problems do you want to deal with? I have watched the Gelbveih breed with interest, but have a nice string of Chars, so will stay with that. My definition of ranching is it's a great life, but not much of a living! When my daughter married, I mentioned that ranching was a great way to grow up, eh Beck? She looked me in the eye and said a pretty good way to grow old too, eh dad? I guess I will probably do just that. Interesting thread..............
 
1-What is your background?
My grandfather had a small dairy herd, he purchased my first 4-H project, a pair of working steers that I had to train. I also started showing dairy calves. He had already used the buyout to retire from milking by that time. A few years later when I was in 4th grade he died, we purchased our first beef animals in the early 90's, I started showing them as well. I sold the steers when they were over 3 years old. I went to college at SUNY (state university of New York) Cobleskill for my AAS in Dairy Management, then transfered to Cornell to get my BS in Animal Science with a dairy focus. 9/11 happened my senior year and I joined the Army National Guard before graduation. After graduation I worked in NY scouting crops and taking soil samples, in the middle of that job I was activated for a year at an Airforce base in Eastern NY and worked a winter in South Florida scouting crops. I moved back to Maine and took over management of the beef herd while working another job only to be activated to go to Iraq. Upon returning I decided to try grainfed vs. grassfed. Grassfed won. I kicked out the grain and it's been all grassfed since.

2-What breeds of cattle have you worked with?
Hereford, Shorthorn, Red Angus, Black Angus, Gelbveigh, Red Devon, Holstein, Jersey

3-What breeds have you thought about working with?
Galloway-not belted

4-If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with?
Hereford x Red Angus, will have a few Hereford x Red Angus x Gelbveigh this year from the cleanup bull

5-Have you fed cattle?
Yes, grainfed and grassfed
I direct market everything

6-Did you grid market the cattle?
Probably not, don't know what "grid market" is

7-Other comments about your cattle past, present, and future?
Managment practices I've implemented
Management Intensive Grazing
Mob grazing
Calving in sync with nature, late May
Stopped de-worming cows
Preg testing with BioPryn test
Volunteered to register premise ID's, MISTAKE!!!, still trying to reverse that
Bale grazed last winter
Out wintered the cows with pine trees for shelter the last 3 winters

In Process
Breeding smaller framed, easy fleshing cattle that will perform on grass
Trying to build more pasture (put up high tensile fence and develop water) so I can supplement my income with some custom grazing.
 
1-What is your background?

My dad is a life-long Nebraska Sandhills cattle rancher, and he is still doing well at age 86. My mother was a Minnesota farm girl of Swedish/Norwegian ancestry. She died in May of 2004, and in the fall of 2007, my dad got remarried to another very nice lady.

I was born in November of 1951. As a youngster just learning to talk, I was programmed to say that my lineage was "half cowboy and half Swede."

I grew up on the ranch that my dad and his dad had bought together in 1946. Dad raised Herefords, both registered and commecial, and he sold bulls for many years. My heart was never really in the registered business or in show cattle, but being a cowboy was always my greatest desire. I wore a western style hat to school every day of my educational career, from kindergarten through my one year of college, even though my peers snickered behing my back. :wink: :-) Of course, being a cowboy meant you needed a horse, and I have always managed to have quite a few around.

2-What breeds of cattle have you worked with?

Herefords, Angus, Kickaneena, Gelbvieh, and Charolais.

3-What breeds have you thought about working with?

All of the above.

4-If you have crossbred, what were the breeds you worked with?

Using Charolais bulls on either Angus or black baldy cows results in a good marketable terminal cross feeder calf. I don't think there is any benefit to retaining heifers of this combination as replacements.

Angus crossed with Gelbvieh is not a bad combination, but my theory is that a cow that is 3/4 Angus 1/4 Gelbvieh is a good cow. One that is 5/8 Angus 3/8 Gelbvieh is not a bad cow, but a cow that is half Angus half Gelbvieh has too much exotic.

5-Have you fed cattle?

I have retained ownership of our calves in a commercial feedlot three different times through the years. Having lost money two of those years, I am now plumb content to leave that part of the game to the big boys.

6-Did you grid market the cattle?

No.

7-Other comments about your cattle past, present, and future?

We run pretty much a straight Angus herd anymore. For a guy getting a little long in the tooth, Angus are as trouble-free of a breed of cattle as there is available. My ranching theory is to run as many cattle possible on as little labor per head as possible. Angus seem to fill the bill, and the buyers like them maybe just a little bit better than they do any other breed.

My youngest son and his very nice girlfriend are planning to get married and join our ranching operation this summer. There is enough work to keep us all busy; hopefully there is enough money in the game to make it all worthwhile.
 

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