Beef cattle 2 calves a year?

[410farmer]

Hello everyone, before I purchase my next home I’m trying to decide on the acreage I would need. Everywhere online it says beef should only be frozen 4-6 months. So for me to raise my own hormone free beef it looks like I would need to harvest 2 times a year. I was thinking dexter cattle and maybe a cross steer in between times. I wanted 3 cows but given the 2 years it takes untill they are the right size looks like I would need more to be able to harvest every year

 

[sourland]

Or you could buy feeder calves every six months. A local farmer does that and always has 6 or 8 steers of varying ages all grass fed.

 

[410farmer]

Thank you for the welcome, economically that seems more feasible. How would you think that translate for acreage and rotational grazing. In my mind I was thinking 8-12 acres including 1-2 acres that’s for my home and backyard. I also plan to have guard llamas, around 4-7 goats, couple chickens, possiblely kune kune. The boy kune kune I had rooted up the ground but maybe because they was in a smaller space.

 

[res]

Um... the 4-6 mths is hogwash. We typically put a whole steer in the freezer every 2 YEARS, and you cannot tell the difference between a 2 yr old vacuum sealed steak and a fresh one.

Dexters are good SMALL cattle, moreso the "beef" lines, not so much the "dairy" lines. We used to breed them.... But.... you also have to realize that with a smaller frame comes smaller cuts, so your steaks and roasts will be TINY. That works for some families, but not all.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Have you tried Back yard Herd? It’s the brother of this site...I’ve had issues getting into it before...but it deals with all livestock..I have goats and pigs. We are thinking of cows this spring for the same reason, but a new Hereford. They are small and easy to maintain...since I do the farm work myself....Anyway, I think you could get more info from people who actually raise cows, goats and Llamas year round? No offense to everyone on here...I love this site..but we typically only talk about our birds.

 

[cassie]

Beef will keep a LOT longer than six months. Who came up with that nonsense anyway? It does keep better if it is vacuum sealed rather than wrapped in paper. If I had my choice for a beef steer, I would get an Angus Jersey cross. The flavor of Jersey beef is outstanding, and crossed with an Angus you get a nice well muscled carcass. Plus, they are on the small side which for some people is a decided advantage.

 

[Gray Farms]

I butcher a calf every other year. I can't tell the difference between frozen 2 months and 2 years.

 

[wyoDreamer]

It would help to know where you are int the world - just state is sometimes close enough. Stocking rates for land varies a lot across the US. Here in Wisconsin, with good grazing management you can raise one cow on one acre of land. In Wyoming, it is closer to 40 acres per cow.

 

[410farmer]

It would help to know where you are int the world - just state is sometimes close enough. Stocking rates for land varies a lot across the US. Here in Wisconsin, with good grazing management you can raise one cow on one acre of land. In Wyoming, it is closer to 40 acres per cow.

I’m in Maryland, I’ve never raised cattle before so anything I do I would start out with small numbers and I plan to talk to some cattle owners in the area to get an idea of stocking rate of cow per acre. I do want to have atleast one mini cow or highland that I keep if I go the beef steer route.
And that’s why the usda site and other sites confused me because all the info I get some people say they keep their meat for the whole year if not longer in the freezer. With the rough rule of 1 acre per cow(local conditions dependent). A growing steer would eat and less then this rule then say a full grown cattle?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I too agree that 4-6 months freeze time storage is quite short from what is reasonable. I'm not sure I'd stretch it out 2 years but definitely a year is very reasonable. When meat in my freezer gets much over a year, I usually have a big cook out and sometimes cook meat over the course of a few weeks to feed the chickens.

@wyoDreamer just took the words out of my mouth. Much better advice could be given if we knew the OP's location. Further, I know you haven't found your property yet but the quality of pasture will have a significant impact on carrying capacity of the land. You need to know the grazing season of your pasture in days per year. Is your calculation going to include acreage for hayland? Is some of your pasture going to be used for hay or will you be buying hay for winter?
You'll need to know the weight of your stock.
Cattle and other livestock need about 4% of their weight in forage each day.
A rule of thumb is about 2 acres per cow/calf unit but that is considering good quality pasture.

If you are in the US, your local Natural Resources Conservation Service office can answer many of those questions for you. They can help you balance the carrying capacity of your land. It is a free service of the USDA.
Other countries may have a similar service.