Cattle?

[allenw]

Not enough information to give a meaningful answer.

Buying a steer to fit your grass cycle would be to cheapest way in the end, one that would be finished or close to being finished as your grazing season came to an end.

A general answer would be a 600 to 800 lb animal to start with just depending on your grazing season.

A hot wire is not always the best answer, the animal needs to be settled in before being turned out in a hot and the wire needs to be HOT. The hot wire I have now is hot enough that the cattle won't reach under it where it is closer to the ground.

 

[Overthinker]

They'd mostly be eating hay i cut off the big field or purchase from neighbors and grain

Thinking maybe a yearling in the summer would be ready by next fall.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I raised a few Holstein bull calves from a few months to butcher. It took 2 full years for them to reach full size.

Some breeds fill in/grow faster. Mine were dairy extra calves not really bred for meat production.

 

[allenw]

Honestly you might be ahead buying a beef from a local farmer. I understand the desire to raise your own but the more you have to feed the calf and the less he feeds himself the less profitable it is. Wouldn't blame you for doing it just to say you did.

 

[Happy hen lover]

Pasture : steer ratio depends on your location.
You would need to get a feeder steer (certain age I can't remember pbly almost yearling) their weaned if your going to feed out.
You will have to finish them out feed corn right before butchering it to get decent meat. Or can get it all made into hamburger too. Cheaper way you could get bucket calf in spring but not advised for a novice as you need a healthy one . You also get REAL attached to them and that makes butchering tough. First hing GET GOOD FENCES ! Cattle are notorious for pushing through to other side( grass is always greener stuff) Most cattle you see in electric fencing have tons of room with lots to eat.
I'd make friends with an old cattle man and pick his brain. Go to sale barn and observe to get familiar with the atmosphere. Go to the extension office and/or ask vet who is a good cattleman to ask ??to.
Heifers ( teenage girl cows ) are STUPID some won't claim their own calf!
You will need to feed hay once pasture dries up . Do you have a way to put up hay? Maybe focus on hay field first build fences, and find a cattle man to buy a 1/2 beef from at first. It costs us about 2.50 per pound live weight = around 600.00 and another 400.00 for processing , plus a good stand up freezer.
It's great meat but there's a lot to learn first . Good luck it's possible but it's a lot easier to be ready than to be chasing them and fixing fence all the time. They can die if on alfalfa hay field.
So many questions. Cattle are a lot to take on.
I lived on cattle ranch for 18 years in NW Kansas just so you know.

 

[cassie]

Dependin

So hypotheticaly I'd get a few steer calves and raise for meat. They wouldn't need milk or a mamma right? Would I get in spring and harvest in fall? Or would they need to age longer?

Whether or not they need milk depends on what age they are when you get them. If they are drop calves, obviously they will need milk. If they are older they do not. I would suggest you start off with calves in the 300 pound range. All the baby problems will be past. I usually kept my steers until they were at least a year old.

 

[Iluveggers]

Howdy,
Finally got our chickens going woo hoo! They are 4 weeks old and will be heading out soon.

We moved to 4 acres 2 years ago and it was really run down, like rental run down. The hay field was covered, I mean can't see thru it covered in elms. I cut a lot out and some how I have hand sprayed it enough that we might actually get hay next year

I'm interested in having a few head of cattle to feed our family beef but am pretty clueless.

Does anyone have ideas on how to get started?

I have 1 acre fenced and 2.5 that's not. I assume I'll put two or so cattle in the 1 acre most the year and let them into the bigger pasture in the fall after our last cut.

What I don't know is do I buy two bred heffers and what time of year? There is a ton I don't know.

So call local extension office? Didn't find any active forums, know any? If I'm allowed to ask

I suppose i should fence the big pasture but Id like to get a game plan soon to fill my freezer.

Any help appreciated, thank you!

Joel Salatin has a bunch of great books on farming, he uses rotational grazing to cut down on feed costs. Definitely worth checking your library to see what you could find!

 

[Overthinker]

Thanks for all the help, guess i have some thinking to do.

Going to cost a lot of time and money if i do.

Maybe we'll do bee's next, but I'm hesitant

 

[Mrskrieg77357]

Howdy,
Finally got our chickens going woo hoo! They are 4 weeks old and will be heading out soon.

We moved to 4 acres 2 years ago and it was really run down, like rental run down. The hay field was covered, I mean can't see thru it covered in elms. I cut a lot out and some how I have hand sprayed it enough that we might actually get hay next year

I'm interested in having a few head of cattle to feed our family beef but am pretty clueless.

Does anyone have ideas on how to get started?

I have 1 acre fenced and 2.5 that's not. I assume I'll put two or so cattle in the 1 acre most the year and let them into the bigger pasture in the fall after our last cut.

What I don't know is do I buy two bred heffers and what time of year? There is a ton I don't know.

So call local extension office? Didn't find any active forums, know any? If I'm allowed to ask

I suppose i should fence the big pasture but Id like to get a game plan soon to fill my freezer.

Any help appreciated, thank you!

We started with just one cow. She was all black and we called her agnus! We raised her out on just hay and cattle cubes and corn in a .25 acre fence with a couple goats. She had a great life and was overall really easy for us to do. Way easier then pigs or ducks. We got her delivered for $450 I think at the end of it all out cost with butcher, feed and hay and everything was $2000 and we got over 450 lbs of meat. We got to choose all our cuts of meat and it filled our stand up and reach in freezer ! Overall it came out to to be $4.50 a lb for our meat which couldn’t come at a better time. We never had to take her to the vet, never had any issues with her. As long as she has shelter, water and grass to graze and food and you give her dewormer then you’re good! We did get insecticide for her because she had giant horse flies biting her but she was the easiest animal we had!!! We now have our second cow Cyrus who is a steer for when we start running out of beef which is happening pretty quickly ! I’ll post pics for you the black and white one if Cyrus our new steer.

 

[Mrskrieg77357]

Here’s pictures