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Ridgway, IL | I guess I would say cattle feeding has not always been a calling. My great grandfather, dj maloney, was kinda a local man of note for the amount of cattle he fed. Up until the early 70s, he was the guy in the area that fed quite a few numbers. Back then, they were feeding calves on pasture, silage/hmc/pre mix. From the way I understand it, lot of stock moved by rail in those times and we have a good location for rail markets. So there are a lot of really great pictures floating around my family of cattle feeding in the older days... That probably gave me interest. Then I worked for a grain company 4-5yrs, after a while I think they realized my interest in livestock and put me to trading feed ingredients for export. Learned a whole lot about feed, but I never had owned an animal other than pets. I was always trying to learn how to anticipate when feed customers would switch the formulation of their rations, to position myself to supply them with ingredients... That got me to learning about rations, and animal requirements, and all sorts of things... Once I got to where I could halfway figure cost of gain, and break evens.... I started penciling how to make money feeding livestock. I actually pitched the company I was working for on corporate cattle feeding... But they didn't want any part of it. I thought it was a good enough idea that I quit my job, and here I am. 3 yrs after quitting, but only feeding for 2 yrs cause the drought of 12 pushed my construction back then.
My original feedlot is built on the concrete floors of great grandfathers 2 trench silos. The silage pad was 50x220xmaybe 12-15'. The hmc pile was 25x155x10 or so. We leveled the walls and used the pads for aprons.... That got me started.
It has changed me as a person. Mostly I think because people don't relate to the commitment, so it's hard for them to understand why I don't feel the need to go away for the weekend or insert whatever event people think they need to be going to do. Profitability wise, I've had some failures, and success. I believe this building is going to drastically change my business in a good way. But more so, I believe it's the right thing to do for the animals.
Kinda got me rambling... It's the season for reflection I guess. | |
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Moved them in tonight
