I have purchased 30 acres of land and over 20 acres in pasture. All 30 acres are fenced. It had cattle on it before I purchased it. I was needing some advise as to what would be the best way to manage it and keep it from growing up and the pasture degrading. I have no immediate plans for the property. I am thinking of leasing the land to have cattle put on it. I have some tell me that I should buy some weaned calves in the early Spring and sell them just before winter. I would have no associated costs. I have a pond and creek for water sources. What would be the best way to manage the property and make the most money. Thanks!!!!

-- John Lee (johnlee@cswnet.com), May 08, 2001

Answers

Weened calves sounds like a good deal, but then there is the initial cost of buying them and the chance you won't make your money back. My uncle was in the same dilema and traded pasture time for a certain amount of the beef. Their freezer was full for the winter and their grass kept short. At 0 cost.

-- Epona (crystalepona2000@yahoo.com), May 08, 2001.

Unattended stock with a non-resident owner have a way of disappearing from time to time.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 08, 2001.

Wouldn't you need some stock on their full time to be able to afford the taxes? AG exemptions, Homesteading exemptions, timber exemptions are the only way out in our area to make large acreage affordable. You can also have the pasture hayed in halves, the person with the equipment gets half of the bales, you as the owner get the other half to sell. Of course you could also lease your pasture to somebody else with cows and still hay. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), May 08, 2001.

I highly recommend the book, "Salad Bar Beef" by Joel Salatin. Also his other books: "Pastured Poultry Profits" , "You Can Farm", and "Family Friendly Farming"is the last one, to be released this year. I am so looking forward to it.

This guy lives very near here. He is extremely looked up to as a "guru" in the sustainable farming circles. I have been to his place multiple times, and am re-impressed each time I visit. His place is like a garden of eden compared to his neighbors, and he invests so much less, and makes far more. He is certainly one to learn from.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), May 08, 2001.

There are basically three phases of the cattle industry. Cow/calf operators who normally sell calves at weaning; stocker who raise weaned calves until they are ready to go into a feedlot and feeders who get them ready for the slaughter plant. Of the three, normally stockers are the most profitable. The primary advantage comes from not having to feed stock during the winter.

You didn't indicate where you are. Three areas per cow here would be high - more like half that. But, locals generally know what they are talking about. An animal unit is l,000 pounds. So you could roughly run twice the number of calves as you could cows.

This operation is not without expenses. There is upkeep to the fences. The fields will still need to be periodically overseeded, fertilized, limed and bushhogged. How will you get them there and back again to the livestock auction? If you are doing your own buying, can you tell the difference between a six-month-old 450-pound calf, and a one-year old runt weighing the same? What will it cost for you to build a corral with a headgate so you can vaccinate, worm, put in fly tags, etc. (and which will run about ten dollars a head). Some death rate is to be expected. Steers normally sell for more than bulls. Are you prepared to turn bulls into steers? You will have commission plus other costs when selling.

As the calves get larger, they sell for less per pound, and prices are generally lower in the fall than in the spring. However, as you noted, it wouldn't take much to do better than pasture rent.

It does have nice tax consequences though. You can charge off property taxes, depreciation on buildings and equipment and most of your other associated production costs. Some costs will also be deductible even if you rent out the field or let it be used for hay.

As noted above, I wouldn't recommend having livestock on the property unless you lived there. Cattle russling is still an active enterprise in most of the U.S. They can be taken to a livestock auction and sold with no questions asked.

I recommend you call The Stockman Grass Farmer at 800-748-9808 and order a copy of Pasture Profits With Stocker Cattle by Allan Nation. Also ask for a sample copy of the publication.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), May 08, 2001.

I second daffodyllady's recommendation of books to read -- we've been going through You Can Farm, and Salad Bar Beef, and they are great. Glad to hear from someone who's actually been to Joel's place and can verify that what he's doing is good. Sounds like you have a good place there, but those who say not to keep stock on property unless you are living there to keep an eye on things are right. Also, to get the best use out of your pasture, you need to 1. use intensively managed grazing, moving stock frequently (like every day, most of the time), and thus need to be there, and 2. it works best with multiple species which will also make you the most money, but requires more time and attention. So my recommendation would be to move to the land, read the books, and get going!!!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), May 09, 2001.

There is a story about a farmer who bought a new place. One day he was showing a friend around. The friend finally asked what he was going to plant there and the farmer got a sort of funny look on his face.

"Well, I don't suppose anything right away. I'll wait until it proves itself up.", replied the Farmer.

Since You've no specific ideas for what You'd like to do with the land, maybe consider letting it 'prove itself up'. Spend a year really becoming intimate with it in all seasons and finding the changes it goes through.

In the mean time, allowing a local to hay the land on shares will keep it in decent shape and help eradicate some of the 'weeds' that may be left from the cattle. You might also run some soil tests to get an idea of what health the land is in.

We don't often think in these terms, but in some ways our land is a 'critter' as any livestock.

Just some ideas. Good Luck!

Randle

-- Randle Gay (rangay@hotmail.com), May 12, 2001.

John,

Last year we bought 13 acres - about 10 of it in pasture. I am in the process of putting up and fixing fence. I am not planning on putting livestock on it very soon.

What we did last year is we had it hayed. Around here they go 2/3 1/3 or 3/4 1/4. That means for every 3rd or 4th bale you are paid for it.

I had no work involved. The farmer came and mowed, baled and picked it up. All the brush is kept off and it also cutts all the weeds. If they want more hay - let them do the fertilizing too.

I hope this gives you another idea.

Tom S.

-- Tom S. (trdsshepard@yahoo.com), May 14, 2001.