Starting to think Doc is right

[ALLFARMER]

Doc's idea of process calves later starting to
make more sense to me. I have 60 some calves
running around and no bale feeders...field shred
every evening, problem being I have 2 or 3
calves with their ear tags ripped out! Looks like
crap. One tore out tag was 80% ripped apart half
an inch down from the pin hole so something was
pulling pretty hard on that tag. We do have barb
wire and electric fence line but tags were found
no where near the fences. Also we pick up any
stay pieces of twine in the pasture. Pretty sure
were moving to May calving and maybe just ring
the bull calves as newborns. Thinking if we make
a huge calving field cows will spread out more
and mother up better with the more room so why
ear tag right away if the mother stick with her
calf?

[smcgrath76]

If you are ringing at birth you might as
well tag too. We tag at first processing
and knife cut bulls at the same time.
It would be interesting to see what is
causing the floppy tag losses. We use Z
tags and very rarely lose a floppy tag.
We don't shred, but we do pull the strings
off all the bales we feed/graze.

[ALLFARMER]

Ya gotta run the calves thru to brand them
anyway. Haven't branded calves in 25 some odd
years so should be an interesting day. Today is
gunna be an interesting day too, pulling the
quad/post pounder with the cat once my son gets
home from school. Just a little soft yet in the
bushes!

[wd40]

An old short grass rancher told me years ago that if we don't calve when the deer and antelope do it costs. Mother nature know the best time and us dumb people think....

[ALLFARMER]

SMC buying yourself any toys for the farm this
year?

Ordered me one of those Frontier Equipment root
grapples for my Allied 795 loader. Has a split
grapple, one cylinder for each side...close
separately till one gets tight then the other side
closes down. My neighbor has one on his JD
5603 works great on brush clean up. This will be
the 3rd sold up here. Have 4 miles of brush row
pile remains to tidy up.

[gaucho]

300 cows calving out west and I just checked them for the 1st time in a week... all looks well and the calves are healthy and cows are dottling beside them like mother goose... No ravens or coyotes around either so no deads... key lots of space, stockpiled grass and let mother nature do it on her own. One guy told me that in the ranching for profit executive link they found the most profitable ranches were the ones farthest from home... last years cost per cow on the west place including pasture and winter feed, (cows packed the calves for 10 months... was $350 / head including cow deprecation.... breakeven on the calves was $0.55/lb. That is low cost ranching

[comtex]

Gaucho is your net cost on your calves including open cows, dead loss and total live pounds of calves weaned?

[gaucho]

Average cost on these cows was $500 / head... highland and Longhorn cows bred Angus....so death loss and cow appreciation negate the cow cost. Death loss on the calves runs 3%... yes the cost of that was added against annual cost. Cows were bale grazed... no bedding, no manure hauling, no facility depreciation except for a $3000 wood corral system built... 10 years on it works out to $1/cow/year, only TM salt no 1:1 mineral, no machinery used to haul feed... hay was bought at $0.03 / lb landed in the pastures and the truck just left the feeder chain on dropped it in the field, cows were moved on 3 week rotation for bale grazing. We bought hay with Sisal twine. Plus cows don't get trucked back and forth they stay on that block year round. Land was bought seeded to Grass for $50,000 / quarter, plus extra land is rented for $1500 / quarter. I have a guy that drives by and checks cows every 2nd day to make sure they are in (lots of moose that hit fences out there, only been out once in a year) ... Biggest mind block that was needed to get your head around is that cattle can do it on their own and you don't need to watch over them like a dairy farmer... plus cutting the umbilical cord and moving to places where there are advantages... Plans are to expand that ranch again thsi year.

[comtex]

Wow, great to see that some ranchers actually figure out all the costs and not just the weaning weights!!!

[ASRG]

WOW! gaucho you are a nervy guy! I'd go nuts in that type of system!
All the power to you!

[gaucho]

It is not without its challenges.... mostly people related.. have been reported us twice since last fall to Alberta farm Animal Care / SPCA. One for 2 thinner longhorn cows (it was their type) out of 150... we were actually on our way to bring them home before the call when we got it... cows are doing fine and were fed no different at home. Second this past week because we have not been feeding cows for 3 weeks now and the cows are out of feed .. I told my vet who called me that the cows are on stockpiled grass (fescue) which he had a hard time getting his head around. Needless to say I thought I woudl check them out last night and they are all relaxed fat and happy.... no shortage of grass to graze on... Its no wonder many never get anywhere in life, as I am certain it was other cow guys out there that reported us

[comtex]

I enjoy reading comments on ranchers who challenge the status quo, working with nature is so much easier. Agribusiness has so much to gain financially by selling ranchers the newest technology with their bottom line in sight with no regards of your profits or lack of.

[ALLFARMER]

So Doc if you plan to expand what is the sticker
price on the dirt? 50k went to 150k? 200k for
open stuff?

[gaucho]

Not where I have this place... bought another quarter there last fall $80,000... oil lease revenue is $3500 / year... that said you don't need to own it all ...let some other guy buy the land and then rent it off him at cheap prices... we picked up 7 quarters fenced and cross fenced at $8500 for the package on a 5 year lease... the guy respects how we manage the land and in tern he gets to hunt our land... there are many ways to run cattle without owning the land... we have a great relationship with DU in our neighborhood as well and what we do on each others land is win win. That relationship secures us 500 acres of grazing land a year with out having to own it

[ALLFARMER]

Another good thing about being a renter is often
you can get first shot at buying it when they get
in the mood to sell.

Your buddy here got his new Bourgault air drill
today. Sure looks sweet hooked to that new
500hp quad trac! First day on the yard and the
Canada flag is installed on the back of the
cart...nice!