Planning our future farmette!

[WildRoseBeef]

Ha! Karin in ref. to getting attached to a bottle calf--the beauty of it is in the timing. If you have your Jersey butchered at 18 months, they are at the height of pesky obnoxiousness. Then you get a new calf right off and don't eat the new freezer beef for a month. Jersey bulls cost about $10.00 around here most of the year and are easy to find, beef cows very pricey. There's sure a lot of different angles depending on the part of country you live in, eh? I never thought much about it before--very interesting to me!
Cricket

Cricket, you definitely will catch me swooning over a cute lil' Jersey calf! But of course you got a point, once they get to the age that they're more of a holy terror and have worn out their cuteness, then definitely I'll be happy to get him on my plate instead of putting snot down my back pockets! I think it will be up to the OP on what to choose, especially as far as price is concerned when purchasing their first beef animal--be they beef cattle or a dairy bull calf. But of course it doesn't hurt to tell experiences from a body's part of the country.

 

[Nachoqtpie]

Just about baby anything makes me twitterpated!

 

[herfrds]

What Karin said.
It takes more acreage up here to raise a steer or cow because it is an arid place. Where you are currently you have a higher avg rainfall then we do.
So if you do move to Wyoming you need to keep that in mind.

Now where you are you could do that rotational grazing that beekissed had talked about because of the rainfall, but up here it would not work as well. It depends upon your water source too.

 

[Cricket]

If I moved ANYWHERE I'd be starting my learning curve all over again! Our version of rotational grazing the last few years has been trying to keep the pastures from turning to instant mudhole. I wonder whether it's harder to have grass not grow at all or to watch your hay go by and not have enough dry days to get it in?!

To be honest, I think if you're not used to eating grass fed dairy cows, you might not be impressed. Someone gave us rib steaks that I assume was western beef--they were a whole lot richer and had more marbling. But mine does compare well with local beef cows.

I'd think too that you'd want to know if you could get access to a bull that would be compatible with your cow size-wise if she didn't settle well with AI. Or get a cow and bull that you could start your own breeding program--possibilities are endless!
Cricket

 

[77Herford]

A Bull is nice to have if you have forty cows but for one or two I would either rent one for breeding or get AI.
Unless your Bull is going to be a draft animal, all they do is breed and eat.

 

[Nachoqtpie]

We thought about having a bull around... but... I'm not so sure that it's a good idea because he would be trying to breed everything all the time and I'm not sure how many calves we would need a year to keep us up with meat. I guess part of that depends on what breed of cow we get! I told hubs that I wanted to go get some grass fed beef, but the closest I can find it is about 3 hours away. I'm going to have to do some more poking around I think. I did find one that is rather close to me that is grass and grain fed, but it's all natural and apparently all the grain they use is grown on site. *shrug* Maybe we should at least try it.

I'm not really moving to Wyoming.. LOL I don't want to go any farther north than Raleigh NC!

We still have a lot to think about before we get our farmette... it's all still very confusing right now.

 

[Ms. Research]

We thought about having a bull around... but... I'm not so sure that it's a good idea because he would be trying to breed everything all the time and I'm not sure how many calves we would need a year to keep us up with meat. I guess part of that depends on what breed of cow we get! I told hubs that I wanted to go get some grass fed beef, but the closest I can find it is about 3 hours away. I'm going to have to do some more poking around I think. I did find one that is rather close to me that is grass and grain fed, but it's all natural and apparently all the grain they use is grown on site. *shrug* Maybe we should at least try it.

I'm not really moving to Wyoming.. LOL I don't want to go any farther north than Raleigh NC!

We still have a lot to think about before we get our farmette... it's all still very confusing right now.

I'm in planning stage too. Will be confusing until you really set down a plan. And how can you set a plan? Doing exactly what you are doing, which I'm doing. Asking questions, researching, figuring out what you want your plans to accomplish. It's fun, it's scary, it's confusing, but IMHO, the best way to make sure you are on the right path.

Wishing you all the luck in getting your plans together. Will be excited to see how it all works out for you. And what your final plan will be.

K

 

[herfrds]

I would just AI the cows then you do not have to deal with the bull.

Just take it one day at a time.
The only stupid question is the one you don't ask.

I finished one of our steers on both grain and grass. I have to say he finished out a lot better then the ones we did not grain.
Got one I am feeding out the same way and he is turning out nicely. Can hardly wait til spring.