I think I want to buy some cattle?

Question

I was raised on a cattle farm. Now that I am an adult and my grandfather is passed away I kinda want to get a few cows. Not many. I guess I'm asking, "What should I know?" How much on average does a cow cost including their veterinarian needs? How much should I buy them for and how much should I sell them for? I could never buy one for slaughter. Please help me out cattle farmers!

Answer 1

A decent beef cow is going to cost you $1,200-$1,400 each.  If you plan on raising any calves, she needs to be bred so it's either $50 or so for AI, rent a bull or buy one.  they're expensive and will eat you out of house and home.  To be able to afford to own a bull you need at least 25 cows.  Getting into the cattle business can be very expensive.

If you want to get into some kind of production livestock enterprise, maybe you should consider getting into goats or sheep.  Don't laugh, the ethnic market has made both very lucrative.  They're smaller, cost less, produce young at a year of age instead of 2 years for a cow, are much easier to house and safer for a woman or older person to handle.  Two big management issues with goats and sheep are intestional parasite control and with sheep whether to go with wool sheep or hair sheep.  Wool has little value unless you have a specialty type wool.  Hair sheep are more hardy, don't cost $3 each to be sheared and don't have the parasite problems as wool breeds.  If you're interested in hair sheep, google katahdin sheep, khsi (katahdin hair sheep international) or email me for more information.

Answer 2

The cattle market is gradually sliding down right now so if you buy, I would buy someones old cows or heifer calves.  You can figure 2-3hundred a year each for feed depending on the length of grazing season and the fluctuating price of hay.  If you are looking for a lucrative hobby, buy some registered purebreds and sell seed stock.  This is an all or none risky business that takes several years to  establish a reputation.  I would immediatly subscribe to The stockman grassfarmer magazine before spending a dime on cattle.  Good luck you have chosen a great life.

Answer 3

You need to do some soul searching before getting into raising any kind of cattle.  You said that you could never buy one for slaughter, but any you raise to sell, someone else is going to slaughter them for meat.  It's like saying that you could never kill a chicken but have no qualms about buying one in the grocery store.  You may be better off raising chickens for eggs, or something like horses or lamas that you could raise for the use of something besides meat.  To raise cows for pets would be an expensive hobby.

Answer 4

your question depends mostly on what area you live.. Farther north you have a shorter grazing season and a long feeding winter. So if you want to be tied down by feeding them you would probably buy some very tame hefeirs from a bredder who has some nice tame animals that are easy to handle. You could breed them and get into a small cow  calf operation or if the fun is gone and you don't want to feed them all winter you dould sell them as bred hefiers. Some people who can't let their animals go for slaughter and just want to keep the grass mowed get a couple of longhorn steers. When they get about ten they have massive horns. If they spend enough time with them they pull carts in parades etc. good luck