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Looking for help understanding the cattle business
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Jim
Posted 11/15/2012 10:53 (#2698538 - in reply to #2698310)
Subject: Re: Looking for help understanding the cattle business


Driftless SW Wisconsin

Brandon SWIA - 11/15/2012 07:29 ...Don't get a bunch of money tied up in cattle equipment. I'm always amazed at the guys with a $25,000 trailer for their 20 head of cows...

One of the things about cattle is they do require fences, water and some place/way to handle them.  You may or may not need a trailer at all.  We have a good reputable local cattle broker who will pick out and sell you whatever cattle you want to buy, deliver them to you, buy them back when you want to sell and pick them up. Of course he has to make money on the deal but it is a way to get started.

Vet's will bring their own chute for a few bucks a visit more when they come twice a year. All you really need is a simple pen or a group of cattle panels along the road with a trough where you give them a pail of grain once in a while to keep them coming to you and into the pen. A way to get them down to single file is helpful.

You do need good water but they can walk quite a ways for that.

Cattle can be a hobby. Cattle can be a business. Cattle can be both. A good way to get some return out of a few otherwise wasted acres and maybe some crop residue.

If folks want to spend $25,000 on a trailer rather than go to the casino or buy a boat, then that is certainly their choice. But cattle can be done in various ways with little cash if you have some ground. And the money that is spent on fences, water, and pen does not all need to be amortized the first year.

I just read on Drovers or somewhere that most of the calves in this country come from herds with under 30 head. We need to not look down on folks with just a few head.

Jim



Edited by Jim 11/15/2012 11:12
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