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Terri9630

Terri9630

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We moved 2 of the steers to the new place. The third was not cooperating so he will be moved tomorrow. He kept ducking away from the chute so I couldn't get him in the trailer.😡. He only got a half ration tonight and his breakfast will be late and served in the trailer. Some missed meal cramps will fix his wagon.

Anyway... We dropped the other 2 at the new place and they were running, jumping and hollering like calves. Looked like they were having a blast. When we went back to check on them I walked the fence line (elk, as large as a horse but as graceful as an elephant!) and their tracks told me they had already done the same. I guess 30 acres wasn't enough, they had to check the fence to see if they could have more.
 
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Biggkidd said:
Must not be Dexter's ours will follow like a puppy.
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We have 4 Dexter's and a Holstein. The pain in the rear is a Dexter. I honestly think he's in love with my milk cow and refused to leave her. He'd duck away from the chute and run to where she (and her calf) were tied. Tomorrow I will load her first and bring her back home after unloading him.
 
This guy puts out some pretty good videos on various topics this one is on raising Dexter's. Even if you don't have or want cattle he has lots of other video's you may be interested in. I think his farm is 45 acres and he's raising 30 head of cattle, chickens, turkeys, pigs etc.. They appear to produce all of their animal feed as well.





This guy has a lot of videos and the few I've seen have all been pretty good.
 
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Patchouli said:
He ran out of their homegrown hay in another one I watched yesterday.
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That's what I was thinking... he's stretching the limits. Growing your own hay plus 30-head on 45 acres is do-able but only with great land, good water, perfect weather and a large standing order for fertilizer at the feed store. One bad growing season and he'll be slaughtering extra beef, Or buying hay.

We used to raise big Charolais, had about 65 acres in pasture, 20 acres of it were used for hay and grazing. Plus another 20 acres just for hay on another farm. Counting calves, 40 head was pushing it. In drought conditions 25 head was pushing it.

I just shake my head when someone says... I'll have X# acres and put X# cows on it. The land dictates the number of cows it will support and that changes every year.
 
Dexter's are smaller and don't eat as much as the larger breeds. He is also rotating pastures with hotwire and I think he has a certain AMT of acreage he doesn't graze until after he bales it. He also said he's going to cut his herd down to get back down to carrying capacity. He said he was paying$25 for round bales when he has to buy them. Wish they were that here......
 
I saw that yesterday as I watched more of his videos in the mid day heat. But even feeding just the cows is impressive. Yes he did have to buy some hay after all first impressions can be misleading! lol Still they have quite the operation going. I know I can't do all he's doing!
 
Sent 5 calves and a 2 year old heifer to sale. She has been with the bull for long enough to be bred but shows no indication that he has. She also acts bully around me sometimes and I am too old to play that game. Prices have been decent and I will pick up the check tomorrow. I now only have 12 cows and 1 bull. I have already sold off 4 of my older cows and saved a few heifers. Now they are mostly angus with some brahman mixed in as well as a brahman/hereford mix. I Prefer braford over other breeds but auction buyers prefer black baldies . I have about 60 acres open land. The rest is wooded. Large lake and several springs flowing. I still have to suppliment with hay and cubes in the winter. Can't afford having hay cut or fertilized. Not much coastal left and mostly bahia grass. Husband says I can run 20 pretty easily. Could run more but would require more supplimental feed. Hope I can hang on to my money and buy a couple of cow calf pairs in future. Probably wont happen.
 
Patchouli said:
He's also got the egglayers and turkeys out on part of the acreage too.

@txcatlady can you post any photos of your braford mix? i'm just curious what they look like.
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no photos. Most popular are tiger striped with shades of brown, tan, yellow etc. Some are brown white face with a hump. The tiger stripes sell better than registered stock. They are also very popular for county shows commercial heifers which are two heifers that have to look the same and same conformation. Now they are adding a little charlois to the the angus mix for a black white face for shows. All what the market can bear. actually what the landowner can bear. One of my daughter has recipt cattle that she puts embryos in. Trashy cows can raise a beautiful registered calf. Mixed breeds actually are more hardy as with any animal. It is a tricky balance. My son in laws asked me one night what I would do if I won the lottery. I said if I played the lottery and won, I would buy 50 registered brahman females and 2 hereford bulls and raise tiger striped cattle. They said but you are old. They wanted to go on cruises etc. I said if I won the lottery, I could hire someone to help me.
 
Looking up braford tigerstripe on google shows photos from the circle d ranch. That's quite unusual. Looking up braford shows one that looks like the hereford coloring pattern but the brahma build. The Charolais are huge! (Edited to correct spelling of charolais. I know, I'm sorry).
"But you are old," ha. Can't cruise forever, sonny boy.
We had a great county 4H fair where I lived in Maryland, believe it or not. I haven't found any similar fairs in my area of Texas. I'm not a farm girl but always interested in learning about it, just in case. :ghostly:
 
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txcatlady said:
My son in laws asked me one night what I would do if I won the lottery. I said if I played the lottery and won, I would buy 50 registered brahman females and 2 hereford bulls and raise tiger striped cattle. They said but you are old. They wanted to go on cruises etc. I said if I won the lottery, I could hire someone to help me.
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Reminds me about a joke I heard in IL about a farmer who won the lottery. When asked what he intended to do... "I guess I'll just keep farming until the money runs out!" ;)
 
i have to admit since I started working full time I have not been working with my Jersey, Claire like I used to. Tonight I ended up haltering her with no problem. She hasn't let Hunny and ends up roping her and making a halter out of that, when he needs to. And if he leaves the gate open, she is a runner. All I have to do is get a feed bucket and she will walk back into the pasture. On our walk tonight she did try to go where she wanted but apparently with the halter maneuvers and me saying Whoa or No she went right back in line. I was impressed with her tonight with her even letting me pull on her backside,
 
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