What are the basic works for raising cows?

[salebarn junkie]

There's alot of good cattle go through the salebarn for no other reason than somebody had a bill the pay. You can buy crap cattle off the farm just as easy. I sold 40 of the best cows I ever had at the salebarn because the IRS wanted money. The main thing get somebody to help you.

[cowgirl8]

#4 Get a trailer first...That's another complaint/excuse I see on FB cow groups, "We don't have a trailer."
Just a note, we would never ever sell a good cow at a sale barn probably because we'd never let ourselves get in the position of needing to. Good money making cows, we'd sell privately If we ever needed to sell a good cow. Still a little scary selling to someone who's just starting out though. I've seen people in those FB cow groups publically trash the person they brought from because the calf the cow was carrying died at birth. I've seen people say they got taken advantage of.. Or this one person who bought a group of heifers and out of the 10 got only 2 live calves. Which goes back to #3, don't start out with heifers.
I had a friend that did that, her husband bought like 20 bred heifers. She was telling me how excited she was and could hardly wait for the calves to start popping out. I asked if she knew what they were bred to and she said Simmental... This was in the early 90s... Saw her a year later and she said they lost most of them, heifers and calves.

[BRYANT]

Special sales are good, but most people wanting in, want a good deal and special sales you pay more.

that's funny, I know several men that puts together groups of sale barn cattle then takes them to a '' special sale '' to sell them. There must be lots of people with your mind set because they will most always bring much better than what they gave for them at the weekly sale barn. Sale barn junk becomes special sale quality, don/t think so if she was a good cow at the special sale she was just as good at the weekly sale.

[backhoeboogie]

Special sales are good, but most people wanting in, want a good deal and special sales you pay more.

that's funny, I know several men that puts together groups of sale barn cattle then takes them to a '' special sale '' to sell them. There must be lots of people with your mind set because they will most always bring much better than what they gave for them at the weekly sale barn. Sale barn junk becomes special sale quality, don/t think so if she was a good cow at the special sale she was just as good at the weekly sale.

People have been making a living horse trading all their lives. There's an old saying about a "sucker being born every day" and it seems to be fact.

Entire estates go through the sale barn. Pop kicked the bucket and his lifetime work is being liquidated. That happens over and over.

It goes right back to having a good mentor. My Grandaddy had an eye for cattle I have never developed. He could look over a pen of cattle and tell you each one's problems. There are people that good out there. Take one of those with you to the sale barn.

I had a brother-in-law come home with a free martin. He knew it all! LOL I had offered to go with him. He went on his own. Bought that heifer for his daughter telling her they were going to build a herd off of her. A heartbreak for the kid.

[pdfangus]

I gotta stand with cowgirl8......
if I am looking for cows....I find someone with the cows I want and buy them off the farm....I know where they came from and where to go back to if they are not as advertised....

disease is a valid reason to avoid the sale barn...everything every cow can catch can be picked up at the sale barn....

When we established our registered herd we bough a cut of weaned heifers from a herd I had worked at as a cattle manager and never bought another animal. We bred up from there....

there are no shortage of cows for sale in the country.

for someone with zero experience to go to a sale barn and buy something unknown is a recipe for disaster.

not saying you guys who have been running cows since noah parked the ark can't do well at the sale barn...more power to ya...
but it is no place for a newby to get started...

[BRYANT]

I gotta stand with cowgirl8......
if I am looking for cows....I find someone with the cows I want and buy them off the farm....I know where they came from and where to go back to if they are not as advertised....

disease is a valid reason to avoid the sale barn...everything every cow can catch can be picked up at the sale barn....

When we established our registered herd we bough a cut of weaned heifers from a herd I had worked at as a cattle manager and never bought another animal. We bred up from there....

there are no shortage of cows for sale in the country.

for someone with zero experience to go to a sale barn and buy something unknown is a recipe for disaster.

not saying you guys who have been running cows since noah parked the ark can't do well at the sale barn...more power to ya...
but it is no place for a newby to get started...

Ain't no one saying its a place for a ''newby'' to go buy cattle but all are not culls or bad either. Say you or cowgirl8 get killed in a wreck and the kids load all your cattle up and take them to a sale barn does that mean they just became culls or bad cattle ? not if they were good before. Your kids might not would do that but there is plenty that would, mine has been raised around cattle his whole life and has no use for them, would probably sell them and let the place grow up and just deer hunt it. He has a good job and would rather hunt the land than raise cattle on it.
I really wish more people felt like you all do, would make more money for some of us to make off them sale barn culls. Them good buys are getting harder to get to many people there buying them and taking them back home.

[pdfangus]

I gotta stand with cowgirl8......
if I am looking for cows....I find someone with the cows I want and buy them off the farm....I know where they came from and where to go back to if they are not as advertised....

disease is a valid reason to avoid the sale barn...everything every cow can catch can be picked up at the sale barn....

When we established our registered herd we bough a cut of weaned heifers from a herd I had worked at as a cattle manager and never bought another animal. We bred up from there....

there are no shortage of cows for sale in the country.

for someone with zero experience to go to a sale barn and buy something unknown is a recipe for disaster.

not saying you guys who have been running cows since noah parked the ark can't do well at the sale barn...more power to ya...
but it is no place for a newby to get started...

Ain't no one saying its a place for a ''newby'' to go buy cattle but all are not culls or bad either. Say you or cowgirl8 get killed in a wreck and the kids load all your cattle up and take them to a sale barn does that mean they just became culls or bad cattle ? not if they were good before. Your kids might not would do that but there is plenty that would, mine has been raised around cattle his whole life and has no use for them, would probably sell them and let the place grow up and just deer hunt it. He has a good job and would rather hunt the land than raise cattle on it.
I really wish more people felt like you all do, would make more money for some of us to make off them sale barn culls. Them good buys are getting harder to get to many people there buying them and taking them back home.

there is also the matter of location and history....
my guess is that a stockyard in Oklahoma is somewhat different than a stockyard in Virginia. There are two or three that I know of with decent reputations within three hours of here...then there are two or three with somewhat shady reputations.

the local yard is a thing of the past in my part of the country...closest one to me went bust last year and has just reopened under new management...don't know the guy or his reputation yet.

but in general....around here if you walk into a stockyard as an unknown quantity be it buying or selling there will be plenty of assistance in attempts to separate you from your money...

as an old friend of my daddy's used to say "there is characters there that I wouldn't trust in an outhouse with a muzzle on."

and my strongest objection is still the disease factor....Had a neighbor who bought a set of put together cows from an order buyer...he wanted herefords bred to hereford....He got a bunch of red and white cows bred to goodness knows what all, but the calves didn't start to drop till four months later, and only lost three of the twenty to anaplasmosis that came in with them....not to mention getting to treat the whole herd for anaplasmosis and the one sick cow that went crazy and tried to kill him....anaplasmosis will do that.

not trying to tell anyone that they should not buy any darn thing they want anywhere they want....personal freedom and personal responsibility are my motto....

[callmefence]

Most everything above is correct to some degree. Except the guy who thinks all you need is a bull a cow and grass.
I f I was to add anything it would be never ever make pets out of cows. You have make hard decisions at times. You can always get back in.
As long as you don't go broke trying to save a sinking ship.

[Hunter]

Well, I started with heifers and bred heifers and still have no trailer. All my calves will be sold at the sale barn and when they go I think someone will be getting some decent ones.
To each their own and good luck.

[True Grit Farms]

Where I come from, a cow, a bull and some grass = calves. Mr. Tom Lasater used that saying about Beefmaster cattle. He used another good one also, raising cattle is a simple endeavor, the hard part is keeping it simple. I would of thought a real Texan would of know that.

[backhoeboogie]

there is also the matter of location and history....
my guess is that a stockyard in Oklahoma is somewhat different than a stockyard in Virginia. There are two or three that I know of with decent reputations within three hours of here...then there are two or three with somewhat shady reputations.

I have never been to a Virginia Sale barn. So there is no way for me to make a comparison. My disagreement with buying is based on what I have seen here. When really good cows are coming through and no one is bidding, I find myself sitting on my hands. Other times I go to buy something and drag home an empty trailer.

When an estate of really good cows come through, it is a good time to buy, here in TX.

We do have horse traders who buy up individual animals and put lots together. Some are merely professionals filling a market. Others are looking to take advantage of people.

I've never bought an animal off of Craigslist. That is where I see junk around here. It wouldn't bring half of the asking price at the sale barn.

[djinwa]

Funny, another supposedly simple newbie question that isn't so simple, and leads to disagreement. Good thing we have newbies.

Anyway, if you haven't been around cattle, you first need to learn the real basics, like how they behave, and how to build a fence and a pen and about watering and hay and such.

I would get a couple young steer calves, spoil them with grain (not too much), halter break them, and learn slowly. Work up to a couple of bred cows later. No reason you couldn't build a pen tomorrow and get a couple weaned jersey calves at least and start learning. You need a laboratory while you're reading books.

The basics are grass/hay, water, mineral, strong pen, and then wire fencing for larger pastures. Plus shade, and probably a shed.

[Caustic Burno]

This is about grass farming converting grass to beef to dollars