raising cattle

[Bird]

Yep, same Bird, sold the farm and moved into an apartment in Lewisville in November.

[bigbukhntr]

where was the farm at?....near here.....we just bought in flower mound area.....13 acres..... off 2499/407 .....so i can come to you with my cattle questions, right neighbor??... lol

[Bird]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
where was the farm at?....near here

[/ QUOTE ]

No too near; about 85 miles south of here; 65 miles straight south of Dallas across the road from Navarro Mills Lake.

But now we're just about neighbors; I'm just 2 blocks off I-35 on Business 121.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
so i can come to you with my cattle questions, right neighbor??...

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course. I probably won't know the answer, but you can to me with the questions anyway. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[Stoneheartfarm]

Argee,

There is an article in the current issue of "Countryside Magazine" about the Dexters. Looks to be several pages long.

Steve

[Argee]

<font color="blue"> Argee,

There is an article in the current issue of "Countryside Magazine" about the Dexters. Looks to be several pages long.

Steve </font color>

Thanks Steve!!

[bigbukhntr]

Wow, I was going to junk this computer and decided to hook it up to the internet and see if there was anything on it that I might need or want to save. Luckily I found this forum again!!

What a couple of yrs it's been since I posted last.

We are now up to 18 hd of cattle, actually 10 cows and 8 calves. We started with 6 Beefmaster pairs, and sold off 6 black calves, and sold some mamas and bought some more angus cows. I had them all ai'ed last yr and those are the ones I am calving out now. I am getting ready to have them all ai'ed this yr as soon as the last cows have their calves. This has turned into a pretty profitable venture for me, even after spending a small fortune building corrals and buying hay and other equipment. The cows dont really take up that much time. I try to make it out into the pasture most days, but other than calving season, they pretty much take care of themselves. I worm them all and have the vet come out and give vaccinations / bangs to the calves before I sell them, but other than feeding and putting out hay, we mostly just sit on the back porch and watch them graze. Loading up the first set of calves to sell was an adventure, but somehow we got them into the trailer and off to the salebarn. Now we let them in the corral quite often and they seem to just go whereever we need them to. I can usually lead them to the alleyway and tell them to "get on the bus" and they will jump in the trailer and I can take them to the salebarn or the vet if needed. The AI guys comes out here and does the CIDR's and ai'ing, so it's really not that big of a deal. Especially compared to taking care of the bull for 3 months a couple yrs ago.

[Pat]

Just about any of the small to medium breeds should make good pets, especially if you buy calves and spend some time with them. If you want to get into a small "herd" cheap, buy young bull calves from a dairy and band or cut them right away if the dairy didn't. Bull calves or steers are not worth too much to a dairy operation.

For their comfort and health in addition to water, grass when available and hay when it isn't, pour-on wormer, mineral block and such... You need to put up some fly rubs and in general control insets. You con't want to have your kids around stock that is infested with ticks in these times when ticks here now carry so many dangerous diseases.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]