Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Raising beef?

Find a dairy close by and buy a couple day-old calves. Feed 'em milk supplement until they are eating good.

When they get ready, sell one and butcher one. You'll recover ALL your expenses that way.

Wait until late spring/early summer, when the grass is in good shape and buy a couple steers or heifers in the 4-600 lb range. If your 2 acres can handle them all summer, sell one in late August for profit and use your free barley to grain the other in preparation for butcher a month or so later.

If you check around, you might be able to sell the one intended for profit to someone else wanting a butcher animal. That way you could keep both together until butcher time.

I'd get a known docile breed for raising in a small pasture. Try to buy both animals from one source that has them vaccinated and ready for turn out on summer pasture.

I'd stay clear of a cow/calf situation for what you want to do mostly because your acreage can't handle grazers year-round.

Two acres is not enough even with 40 inches. You have to be able to rotate and rest, and even then, you need to FEED. That means tractor, hay bale trailer, or pay through the nose to have it delivered.
Best case is you buy one or maybe two spring feeder calves, put them on the grass until it's gone, then slaughter. Even so, that's not so great.
Find someone with some goats who can bring them in, let them mow, then take them away.

The old, "The smaller the herd, the bigger the hat", comes to mind.

Sam Olson might come along after chores, but I'll recommend, unless you want a PHD from the school of hard knocks, you leave the cow punching to the pros.

It's actually the cattle that do the punching!

Get a weaned calf. Plan on penning it up regularly so that it doesn't ruin your pasture (when it's muddy, when it's too dry, when it's been grazed down, etc). When raising cattle, you're really trying to "raise grass" perpetually; the cattle are an extra.

Lots of soils in Wetter Washington are glacial silt, low in nutrient content and the grass makes mediocre forage. I don't raise beef anymore but got away with two on three and one-half acres. About two acres was improved pasture that had been tilled, fertilized and seeded with good grass. I'd start with one animal and plan on supplementing the feed. It might go better and you can try two the second year.

Some critters just don't take to a small pasture. Had one angus that would break fences regularly and mostly go under the wires. Most I raised were herefords or hereford crosses.

Good luck with your beef project. It is mostly rather fun but there are times like riding the handlebars of my neighbor's half ton steer down a busy road that I'd rather forget.

This will start a fight but Hereford would be better for a new guy. Angus have a rep. for being a little ornery and testing fences. Herefords are more calm. However they seem smarter and a little more stubborn. They learn from bad experiences and will avoid a repeat, ie. getting vet work in a headgate. Wont go back in very easy.

I'll be damned, I'm in full agreement with one of curdog's posts! Done it this way myself. Anybody says a holstein isn't good eating never ate one I fed out. Cheap as hell to buy (dairy has very little use for a bull calf), band the nuts, feed it milk replacement till it's old enough to wean off, then turn them loose on the grass. Up to you how you want it to taste, but the last couple weeks of life I fed em out on whatever grain leavings I could get cheap off the neighbors. Trick is though selling the other steer. Lots of folks turn their noses up at a dairy breed for meat. Last one I did I fed out a holstein steer, and sold the red angus I had to keep him company and actually made money on the deal.

Unless you've got some really schitty luck, doing a couple steers isn't hard. Just make sure your fence is good, and don't make them TOO freindly, a big phoucing steer bounding across the pasture to come play isn't as cute as it is when their little. Sounds simple i know, but trust me.

Several years ago, when cattle were dirt cheap, one of the dairy farmers at Windthorst,Tx put a portable pen right on U S 287. He put 5 day old bull calves in it and a big sign that said FREE.

Next morning he had 7 calves in the pen!

Around here people are getting north of $500 for a decent Holstein bull calf. Which still might be the cheapest option.

The only thing I'll add is chitty feed equals a chitty animal. Feed it the best you can and you'll be rewarded at the table.

Damn, I paid $80 apiece for the last ones I bought.

I would go with a couple few sheep, and buy a 1/2 beef every year.

I heard the Midwest feedyards are buying them up. I guess with cattle numbers so low they started buying dairy steers to fill space and keep them going.

week old dairy steers are hitting $400 each here. I paid $90 each for 2 week old Jersey steers 18 months ago. Agree on getting a couple of dairy steers if you are feeding out to eat. They grow slower and the yield will be less but they are great eating. With only 2 acres you will need a good source for hay as well as the grain. By the way all steers can get frisky so if you get some work with them daily and make sure to watch your back when they get big enough to hurt you. The last ones I had I did not dehorn and one of them got pretty bullish and hooked me a couple of times. Dehorn and castrate them early. By the way his heart is in the soup pot tonight.

Oh yeah, forgot about the dehorning powder.

Thanks for all the info fellas!

I'm going to hit a couple auctions and see what's what. If I can get a youngin' around Feb / March, we'll see what it does by end of October. Maybe it'll be worth it.....maybe not.

As much grass that grows in that spot, I can't imagine one cow will starve on it, but I'll find out.

Any of you guys ever feed spent grain from a brewery?

Makes great bait for hog traps.

lmaorotf!!!!!!!
right now is a poor time to get into meat cattle. prices for cow/calf pairs are making me sorry I sold out last summer!
the best bet if the idea is meat for your self is the dairy calf.
get one straight from a dairy though or be prepared to lose a few auction calves to scours.

I don't know what's important for a cow but reminder - that spend grain will have all the sugars boiled out of it. That's what makes wort - or the precurser to beer.

I'd be surprised if there's much nutritional value left after it goes through the process.