New guy here: Livestock question...

[farmboy12]

Hi! I'm new here, and wondering what kind of animals to get.

-We have a 30 acre farm in Maryland, flat, small rolling hills.

-Only a few acres (3) to put cattle, with 1 acre seperate to move cattle.

-Can only handle a few, as only good possible shelter is an addition to an equipment/pole barn.

-Have some experience, we have 6 ducks and geese, about 30 chickens (getting more, have been up to about sixty), 2 goats, and 8 free roam rabbits. Note: Barn for goats is waaay to small for cattle, barely enough for two goats.

-We have equipment to handle bales, and have connections with barn builders, so just wondering about what kind of cattle to get.

We will most likely put in the goats with them, as well as buy probably a donkey or two. We have been looking at mini horses for my three year-old niece (4 in Feb.), and would like to ride with her, girl I know can teach, just wondering what would be best for me to ride with her on. The horses aren't wanted as much as cattle, so horse answers aren't important/needed.

Thankyou all very much!


Kyle

[Bird]

Welcome to Countrybynet. I'm afraid I don't have any answers for you, but if you're going to get "cattle" what do you have in mind. I'll assume beef cattle instead of dairy cattle; i.e., you don't want to have to milk. But then are you intending to breed and raise cattle, or do you intend to buy feeder calves in the Spring to raise to sell or slaughter in the Fall? Or are they primarily going to be pets?

[jimbrown]

Hmmn let me see 3 ac with maybe 1 other =4 ac.

2 goats, 2 donkeys, mini horse(s). cattle ?. Thats a lot of animals for 4 ac. Hope you are prepared to buy a lot of feed and hay. I don't know about Maryland but here in Az that 4 ac would look like a walmart parking lot in about 3 weeks. I think you need to be very careful what and how many animals you acquire. Be prepared for $200+ vet bills.

My opinion:

goats value minimum eat weeds.

Mini horse value minimum high feed cost vet bills.

Donkeys value none high feed vet bills.

Cattle value small high feed vet bills. If you name em you ain't ever gonna eat em. Profit after purchase, feed, vet = loss.

[farmboy12]

Ok. We spend about $40 a week on current livestock. The mentioned livestock + ours should only total to about $100 a week plus vet bills, and base price. Am I off?


Kyle

[Pat]

To get good advice you have to give good information. What is your intended use of the cattle? Are they to be rural looking ornaments or will you eat them or what?

You don't have enough land to get into a cow calf operation even if you limited it to one cow with a calf if you wanted to turn a profit or even break even. If you buy calves to feed out and sell or slaughter you could get our own beef and know what they ate but expect to pay more per lb than at Wally World.

If they are to be ornamental pets then I recommend Dexters or LowLine Angus. (Google on dexter cattle or lowline angus) These are both smaller breeds that are much easier on fence requirements, typically have a good disposition, and are fairly easy keepers.

A sample hit on low line angus:

Lowline Angus are only about 39" in height but produce 70% of the rib eye area of ... low fat, very tender, flavorful beef that fits todayç—´ lifestyle. ...
www.minicowswest.com/ - 10k - Cached - Similar pages -

There are exceptions (maybe) but in general if you have to buy a significant portion of your year round cattle feed requirement breeding cattle will never turn a profit.

For the last year I have had 21 cows and 1 bull on 160 acres. Right now there are 14 calves. Of these 5 are weaned and go to auction within 10 days. In a good year I can't graze off the grass fast enough but in a poor year I am overstocked.

There is general agreement that the best way to end the year with $10,000 in your cattle account is to start the year with $20,000.

Best of luck to you and if you supply better input information the folks here will be able to supply you with better suggestions.

Pat

[egon]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
best way to end the year with $10,000 in your cattle account is to start the year with $20,000.


[/ QUOTE ]

Oh Dear, How true! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

With three acres it's kinda iffy for cattle or a bovine critter. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Do some more looking and thinking before jumping in.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[farmboy12]

Ok. We will probably end up with three head. 1 steer as pet, one milker as pet, one steer to buy yearly and kill later. Maybe some calves every now and then to please the girls, and maybe 4-H projects to be sold to another farmer where they can visit and end up slaughtered.

The lowlines look cool. However, we have been researching a breed called Randalls. Since there are very few (200-250) they will be pricy. They would also have to be pets as they are illegal to eat since they are rare.


Kyle

[Pat]

A couple things to consider: 1. are you doing the breed a favor if you don't involve your individuals in a cooperative breeding effort with those trying to "save the breed?" and 2. are you sure you want cattle with horns?

Regarding (1) above, will the current owner(s) of Randalls agree to sell to you given your intended use and your background or lack thereof?

Lowline Angus would be a better choice as would some of the other mid to small size breeds.

On your small plot of land there will be no, let me repeat for emphasis, NO natural grazing. As stated by another poster earlier, all the land you open up to the 3-4 head will end up as bare dirt with a significant carpeting of dung. Likely a good portion of the year will find the acreage a messy mix of dung and mud but not so bad in the dry months. You will have a terrific fly problem. I hope you have no neighbors with delicate noses within a reasonable distance as not everyone likes eu de cow crap.

You didn't mention a pond or stream so you will be providing every drop they drink and every bite they eat on a daily basis. Have you a plan for handling the food and water AFTER they process it? It will just build up and build up as it doesn't evaporate or "self compost."

Maybe a single milker to start with would satisfy your "needs" and if that works out to your satisfaction, then expand your operation.

Sorry to come across negative but better to know what you are getting into than not.

Pat

[farmboy12]

I understand where you are coming from. We are on 35 acres, mostly wooded and residential with 11 buildings. We have one 5 acre field but do not want to use the whole thing, therefore using about 3 acres. If we were to open up the very close (we're talking 10 second walk) one acre lot, by making a corral to it, they would have access to creek.


We would make a covered, lean-to style shelter on the end of a pole barn for their shelter. In addition to the creek, there is tap water which would most likely go into a waterer under the shelter.

For food, some cattle grain mix under shelter, as well as square bales of hay throughout shelter and field. That's in addition to about 4 acres of pasture. That's more than one acre per head (if you can't count). The donkeys and horses aren't as expected, but if our two goats were added to this land, it rubs up against woods/brush for them.


As for dung- We do have neighbors across the mentioned field, but, we were here before those houses were, we have farmers rights, those two added up plus the fact that they would have to go outside and sniff hard before the smelt it, would be okay considering we have befriended most of them.

Dung can be collected by us, using an angled rake to rake in rows, when come by and put into loader, or maybe by then, utility vehicle.


There is a good chance that these would just be pets, so look at these and tell me what you think of the deal.

http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/dis...?petid=7751468

If the link doesn't work, go to petfinder.com, search barnyard/cow/adult/female. There you should find a family of three in Saugerties, NY.


Kyle

[Pat]

OK. Good luck!

Those Herefords look neat. When I was in high school the words cattle and Hereford were virtually interchangeable as there were virtually no other breeds in that local area. Now BLACK is the "IN" thing and Angus or Angus mix is the most popular and brings a bonus at the sale barn.

Pat