That feeder calf post

rrlund · Dec 14, 2010

That whole cow/calf,stocker,feedlot thing,I'll never give anybody financial or business advice,but I'll tell you what's working for me here in Michigan. I got out of the dairy business after 33 years by running a cow/calf herd and finishing my calves out all the way.
I'm running about 10-15 more cows than I had dairy cows and finishing all the calves and doing it on the same acrs that I used for the dairy cattle. I pasture about 75 pair on 80 acres,feed them first cutting hay and corn stalks in the winter,then finish the calves out on the second and third cutting hay,corn silage and corn that I would have fed to the dairy cows.
The auctioneer at the stockyard says I've got kind of a revolving door setup,but to me,that would be if I was taking a load of fats and bringing home a load of feeders. It's more of a "closed loop" to me since all that I buy are service bulls.
Like I said,I'm not giving any advice,but it's working better than I ever dared think it would.

ChrisinMO · Dec 14, 2010

That sounds very good. Glad it is working well for you. Must be nice to not be milking anymore and still getting a pretty good paycheck.

Christopher

randallinMo · Dec 14, 2010

Interesting. How many acres total are you using? The post misleadingly leads us to believe you are only using 80 acres. How many acres of corn and hay do you grow? How much corn is used for silage? Do you have a figure of how many pounds of beef you are producing per acre utilized? 'Just curious.

rrlund · Dec 14, 2010

I put up about 140 acres of hay,grow 80 acres of corn,half for silage and half is picked as ear corn,and around 20 acres of oats. I start creep feeding every year right after I cut oats,use them heavy in the mix to start with,then finish feeding them up with the ear corn over the winter in the feedlot. Use the oats for straw too.
We're luck for one thing here in Michigan. We have a couple of pretty good livestock sale barns with buyers for fat cattle.
I didn't take any this week,but checked the sale barn website this morning for yesterdays results. Steers topped at $104.50,heifers at $104. I can live with that.

Pair-a-dice farm · Dec 14, 2010

That sounds like a good setup. Here we don't have a good finish market but the market for calves that are ready for the feed lot is pretty good. I have 80 cows and sell them when they are about 800#. If we have plenty of grass I buy up to 100 feeder calves and grow them out. It gives me a little flexability. I've got 400 acres of pasture and hay ground. It's still possible to make a modest living on a small farm but I inherited most of my farm and all of my equipment is old and paid for. It would be very difficult to make payments and make a living.

bison · Dec 14, 2010

I don't want to kick you in the shins.
but like i said in the other post,there is no money in feeding calves or running cow calf.

It takes 500 head to just break even these days.
The auctioneer,the packer and the retailer are the ones that make the money on your animals.

You're better off with bison,2 buck a pound on the hoof,3.30 cdn on the rail

randallinMo · Dec 14, 2010

Thanks for the reply. 33 years in the dairy business.......you earned every bit of it! I'm thinking the dairy cows were good to you. It's nice to have facilities to use for your beef operation now. My questions were along the lines to see if my operation was in any way similar to yours. I have a small farm, with only 55 open acres. I run 33 cow/calf pairs on my farm and sell the calves as feeders weighing 6-700 pounds. I grow alfalfa and orchardgrass. I get so much more tonnage out of the alfalfa compared to other grasses that it enables me to own more cows. Based upon the acres you use, I could run 13-14 cows on my 55 acres if I finished out all the calves. Interesting. Food for thought.

jackinok · Dec 14, 2010

I agree with you,and heavy on the modest living!LOL. I dont think I could finish mine out and be profitable,maybe if I were operating on improved pastures and lived on the place,but operating on native grass in my dryland area,I just cant reliably hold them that long year after year. I'm scattered out so far I cant make money if i have to make a 300 mile round trip daily to feed.so its far easier and better for me to sell my calves ready to go on wheat,hold my old cows on grass pasture year round,and feed cubes and hay when needed.

rrlund · Dec 14, 2010

Well.......it kind of surprises me to know that I'm not making a living. I sold the dairy cows 7 years ago and the wife hasn't worked in almost two years now.
Darn it,and I thought I was making a decent living here. Don't know how I'm gonna break it to her that she's gonna have to go back to work to support me. She's not gonna like that one bit.
I think some people put a little too much thought in to something that's pretty simple. I remember an old guy saying once that "farmers get into trouble when they go from trying to make a living to trying to make MONEY".
Back when I was milking cows and was real active in the co-op,I'd ride to meetings with some of the bigger producers. They'd laugh back then and tell me that according to the universities,I shouldn't even exist. I still just have to laugh. At them and at you.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 14, 2010

Bison, you sound like you are making millions of bison.. Your price on the hoof is double what you actually get. I would love to make that. Bison require more of a investment in fencing, handling equipment, and are tougher on pastures than cattle. I raise 500 bison in the dakotas and i am a real bison farmer

bison · Dec 14, 2010

Well i guess if the place is paid for and there are no other big debts to pay off,and just making a living is all you want out of life then i guess it'll work.

But you'll have to admit it's impossible today to pay off a farm with beef cows or feeders(or grain for that matter) and making a living from it at the same time without off farm income,unless one wins the lottery or inherrits.

I started ranching(150 hd cow calf on 1800 acre) 23 yrs ago with 85% borrowed money.
It has been a struggle from day one(Job on the side) till i got the drift, and started working smarter instead of harder.
In 96 i sold the beef and bought bison,sold them again at the top of the market $5300/hd and bought back a bunch 2 yrs later at the bottom $60/hd.I kept them all but the bulls and let them multiply till bison prices started picking up 3 years ago.
Now i got a life,make a living,have money to spare and can stay home to do what i want.

Life is sweet,IMO i got the last laugh.

Bruce from Can. · Dec 14, 2010

rrlund, I have herd that kind of remark from some large scale know-it-all producers to, and it don't mean spit. Smaller operations with good management, low overhead and little or no debt , will out last the university type every time. You can only teach theory , not common sense,good judgment,experience or a keen eye. All of these have to be learned on the job.

bison · Dec 14, 2010

i don't know what prices are in the US,but i sold my yearlings to a fella that exports them live to the states,i got $1.85 cnd on the hoof FOB farm for my yrls last june(prices are higher today,i got offered over 2 buck a lb for my calves last week)
The bison packers here in Can offer up to $3.30 on the rail for butcher hfrs and bulls.
I ain't kidding you.

I never said i make or made millions,not by a country mile,but it beats beef by a longshot.

Yes fencing and handling system costs are higher,my total cost for fencing(12 mls pagewire all new)+ a new squeeze was 55 grand,i did the work myself.I needed new fencing anyway cause the cattle fence was shot.Upkeep i found over the yrs has been minimal,a post here and there and a tangle to straiten out,same as cattle.

yea,bison dig a wallow here and there,so what,no big deal.

I'm just as real a bison rancher as you,its all i do.I got 200hd at the moment,sold 200 last yr cause of drought.

DBAF · Dec 14, 2010

Everyone gets a different hand and has a standard of liveing they are comfortable with.If their happy and not on the giverment boob,whats it matter to you?

JayinNY · Dec 14, 2010

Sounds good to me. Glad it works for you. Ya beats the heck out of milking.

JayinNY · Dec 14, 2010

Well money isent everything, if you were to passaway, people will thing what shame, but he was a wealthy bison farmer.

bison · Dec 14, 2010

Well,i agree money ain't everything.Personally i don't care for the stuff,but it sure as heck is nice for a change not have to worry where the next dollar has to come from. I been in that boat for to many frigging years.I'm not rich at all.Is it a crime to finally do reasonable well after 40 odd yrs of toiling
At least my family won't have to sell the farm to be able to stick me in the ground if i happen to croak.

If you're telling me you're not to make an extra buck if the oportunity is there,you're either lazy or lying

I hear the same BS from neighboring cattle guys who where making fun of me when i made the swap to buffalo.They didn't have the guts to do what i did back then and are still working day and night(wife included)to try to make ends meet
Making fun of me has stopped,now they're just jealous

bison · Dec 14, 2010

It doesn't matter to me what someone else does.
i just responded to a post about my opinionated experience in the cow/calf business and voiced that.

Is there anything wrong with that?

JayinNY · Dec 14, 2010

No, Im not lazy or lying I work a job 8 months a year and have off all winter. Thats when I get time to play around with the cows, horses chickens. Im not a full time farmer, I bale and sell hay, eggs and some veggies. And sell a few cows now and then. My living provides me the means to farm, so I dont have to depend on farming to survive, but I still make a profit or some extra money to invest from it. I like my 4 horses which are a waste of money, but after 21 years with them I give them the best life I can, and I like having them. I m glade you are making it and living a good life.... nothing wrong with that

J.. Besides I like bison burgers too!

DBAF · Dec 14, 2010

You might want to say.

I could not make any money with feeders or moma cows or there wasn't any money in it for me.

When someone tells me something like you said in your above post.I don't pay much mind to anything else they have to say.

MN Scott · Dec 14, 2010

What part of MI do you live in rrlund? I'll be visiting the Caro area for Christmas.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 15, 2010

Those steers that topped at 104half, what weight were they.?

rrlund · Dec 15, 2010

1250-1300 pound colored steers.

rrlund · Dec 15, 2010

I'm west of there about half way across the state.

bison · Dec 15, 2010

Well sorry for being to blunt,it wasn't meant that way,lack of using proper english i guess.

On the other hand some people get their hairs up when they hear the truth,blunt or not.

That feeder calf post

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