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N FLA | The NAT community is all fired up today. I just though I'd share my history. I've mentioned before I had never been around cattle in my youth or career. In 2011 I bought 16 kill cows. I sold the 13 of them that lived, a few months later. Because I learned everything I knew about cattle from stock talk, I just went with open kill cows because I didn't know how to pull calves or want to check cows in the middle of the night. And I learned on NAT, that's how you have to do it.
Texas Papaw advised me go ahead and try some old bred cows. They know how to do their job, he said. Fast forward 10 years and I just have a basic keeper herd from other people's culls. I think I have 70 calves or so on the ground currently. I lost one calf this year that I found trapped in the cow pens on 2 occasions and I don't recall what other drama was associated with that. Anyway, here 10 years later I have still never seen a calf born. I have had 2 landlords call to say it looked like a heifer was having problems, and I pulled those calves. So I have some concept of the birthing process.
Anyway, I've become comfortable as a half-way hobby farmer with 100 or so of my own that I really don't check. I always be sure to let people know please don't look at what I do and think I'm saying it's right, I have used up old cows, poor replacements, and low quality bulls. But dang if every year it doesn't look like I'm getting a little better established. If I was able to secure a 2 year lease on some land, I might invest more in better genetics. But until then it's all on a year to year basis.
You guys often ask if I'm still buying trader cows. But I've gotten where I don't spend 5 hours per week to care for/or feed 100 cows, and I just couldn't do that going to the sale and hauling cattle and trying to keep them alive the first two weeks, and then sending them back to the sale on many different trips.
No real story here, just some water under the bridge...... | |
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My experiwnces
