6030Deere - 2/7/2026 07:08

Take your seeding costs, fence, water development money and pour a pad, build a lot, put some fenceline bunks in. Have a trap area with creep gates so calves can leave.

Cows are all outside your back door. Not having to haul from patch to patch. Kick out on stalks and waterways whenever possible. Have 1600lb cows wean 60-70% of body weight and have steers dead by 15months of age.

Feed costs:
Hay $50/1500lbs
Modified laid in $95/ton
Silage $60/ton
Mineral $1300.

I come up with 1.64 on maintenance and $1.95ish on lactation. I probably take too good of care of the cows.

Hypothetically I see a fall calving herd work well with stalk and annuals grazing with some drylot time before calving on stalks or rye after corn silage. 

All this is rattling inside my head but don't have the balls big enough to do it yet.