Cattle Chat thread and livestock showers

[CLSranch]

Does male or female taste better?

" Typically" no deference in taste. Females have a heavier bone mass therefore less meat per pound of animal. Therefore Typically Steers are feed out and Heifers are used as replacement cows. Unless your small and eating your own then eating your steer or heifer wouldn't matter. Also a Steer once castrated can gain weight faster than A heifer.
If you look at some of the large oxen they are often steers and they can get pretty big.

 

[ejtrout31]

Hi guys!!!
How are you doing? I am so excited to share that we just sold our calves and we have been able to find enough hay for the cows this winter. I also have picked my show cows out from the herd and are starting to build a connection with them for the coming year.

I don't know if anyone has heard or not but the beef industry especially where I live is struggling. A few things that are causing this is the big meat packing facility fire,the wet summer that was bad for hay, wet feed lots, the china trade problems and the daily struggle to be a small family run and owned farm.So i will explain each of these a little bit so you can understand.

The meat packing plant in Kansas had a fire causing damage to the faculty. It was one of the four major meat packing plants in the US. This fire meant they couldn't slaughter as many cattle. They were the closest plant to us and they cant take as many cattle so less feed lots re going to buy feeder calves and less calves will be bought from cow calf operations. Also packing plants are getting aid way better than farmers causing more farmer to file for bankruptcy.

This summer in Minnesota was extremely bad for all farmers who were growing crops in the fields. The summer was way to weight with not enough sun causing most farmers to only get a first cutting of hay of there fields. So most farmers don't have enough hay and have to buy more and sell more cows to make it through the winter.

Another thing is all the feed lots that are in southern MN were so wet they couldn't use them. So they were buying feeder calves so cow calf operations were struggling to find buyers for there feeder calves.

China was a huge buyer of beef cattle from the US so when all the trade stuff started happening it really hurt beef farmers and other farmers.

As a family farm we run everything ourselves. We don't have paid help its My grandma,My dad,2 of my sister, My brother and me that run and own this farm. We always face challenges but we are always going to make it through. Anytime i face a problem i think about my grandpa who would be so proud to see us continue on the family farm. My grandpa wanted to sell all or cows 10 years ago before he died of cancer and we promised him we would continue on and we are and i am so proud that we are.

 

[ejtrout31]

Hi everyone I know no one is really using this thread,but I am still going to post on here so. As you read in my last post this year has been ruff on farmers. In recntly watched this video called the last harvest and was in tears when I was done. Now this was for a few reasons it is something I understand as a farmer and how incredibly devastating this is actually is.

So Luke Combs new song I wish grandpa's never died also makes me cry so maybe I am just emotional but here is why. One line in this song is I wish farms never sold and then it says I wish grandpa's never died. Between those 2 lines I get emotional. That's because you should never have to sell a family farm but sometimes you have to make hard choices. We almost made that choice when my grandpa was sick right before he died.

Now If you have read this I ask one thing plz watch the video The Last Harvest | FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul