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SE Kansas | I have purchased 50 acres of grass. Breakdown house, barn, corrals on 3 acres, 30 acres in healthy fescue, 7 acres in established crabgrass, and the remainder in native bluestem type grasses that sits on shallow soil. Fescue and crabgrass have good profiled soils for our area. All 3 areas are fenced off separately. Right now I have 12 mommas stocked on the place, set to calve this early spring.
My question going forward is how can I best utilize this property and calf crop? I sure would like to background them and sell to a fat feeder. Is that cost prohibitive with only 10-12 head? What about ration development? I have access to feed ingredients, fescue hay, alfalfa, the crabgrass. Silage would be out of the question for the short term certainly. Can pick up some whole corn through the coop. Or have them develop a feed ration.
Do I sew the crabgrass to wheat in the fall and graze the calves and supplement a ration?
Easily I could wean calves and haul to local sale barn but I am not looking to going to that route at the moment. I like feeding cattle and want to give it a shot regardless of being a small player.
My plan currently looks like this. Calve & run pairs on the fescue through the fall. Wean calves, leaving them on fescue. Pull mommas and kick them over to the native range which has been stockpiled all summer, fenceline weaning. Eventually kicking the calves over to the wheat/crabgrass patch for the remainder of there time on the place and sell at 7-8 weights and moving the cows back to the fescue after it has time to bounce back (mid april).
That would leave the crabgrass to be hayed at least for one cutting in summer. I have access to a feed grinder, grinding a corn/alfalfa ration as well. Feed crabgrass to the cows and pick up some grass hay to offer to the calves.
Thanks!
Edited by wildcat_farmer 12/17/2017 14:29
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Direction needed...
