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Central IA | Sitting here brainstorming tonight instead of paying attention to the Super Bowl. I am a younger guy (26) and I farm 200 acres of row-crop. I have a feedlot that I can feed 80 hd in comfortably. I have been purchasing calves at the sale barn the last several years and finishing them. Another guy and I had a cow/calf herd for a few years several years ago, but after a loss of some pasture, we liquidated our cows and I kept just feeding. I have 12 acres of pasture on the farm that I need to utilize, and there is another small field that I plant corn on that adjoins my pasture. I would like to fence this field off and after I chop silage, seed rye or tritacale and maybe calf on this green growth the next spring (?????). Putting in some alfalfa would also not be out of the question (20 acres or so), but I don't know if this would be the best option. I have a Knight 3025 mixer wagon and equipment so I can utilize a variety of feedstuffs. I would really like to figure out how to build a herd of 40 cows and not have to depend on finding more grazing land.
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Am I better off sticking with just feeding and putting in more lots? If I could find a cow/calf producer and figure out a fair long term arrangement to buy and feed their calves, that would be fine as well. If anyone has done something like this, I would be interested in hearing how this was set up. I am just getting tired of being totally subject to using the sale barn. I also want to utilize the very little grass that I have as grass calves aren't always the best deal as they command a premium at grass time.
As I said, just bored and thinking about the future tonight. Any suggestions and opinions are appreciated. | |
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Building a cow herd in the middle of IA corn country
