My uncle had many acres acres and few cows. He had about 30 cows running around 900 acres on the choctawhachee river at various times. He never bought hay, and made his own fence post out of white oak. Between cows, renting hunting rights and timber he did okay I reckon. A lot of people thought he was backwards in his management. He apparently was way ahead of his time. And the hunting was jam up.
That’s my retirement plan. When I turn 60, I hope to cut back on cow numbers, run just enough that I don’t have to feed much if any hay, 75-100 or so momma cows I’d say. Be the perfect life, man go check few cows here and there out his truck, hire some folks to do the small stuff, just hunt and fish rest of time. 😁😁
But to answer your question. It pays to feed cattle, no matter what there bringing. You’ll never starve a profit out of cattle.
What I’m referring to is not starving them……its basically what Greg Judy is doing in the videos……He doesn’t feed hay or fertilize pastures, etc……His operation has cut out a lot of the “inputs”……When folks complain about the high costs of inputs then the part I don’t understand is why not change the way you’re doing it then and not have to use those??......Maybe I just need to see someone stick a pen and calculator to it to show me that the old way still makes more money in the end
But to answer your question. It pays to feed cattle, no matter what there bringing. You’ll never starve a profit out of cattle.
What I’m referring to is not starving them……its basically what Greg Judy is doing in the videos……He doesn’t feed hay or fertilize pastures, etc……His operation has cut out a lot of the “inputs”……When folks complain about the high costs of inputs then the part I don’t understand is why not change the way you’re doing it then and not have to use those??......Maybe I just need to see someone stick a pen and calculator to it to show me that the old way still makes more money in the end
This past summer and most all the ones before it as well, our calves gained on average, 3 pounds per day. Weaned weights was 550lbs, we fed them for 60 days. They gained 180lbs. That $10 per day they made, feed and time costed me $6 per day, so it payed me $4 a day to feed em. Now there’s a sweet spot in them numbers, I know a 550 wt calf would bring more per pound than a 720wt calf would. But you still make money by feeding them. But you can’t flip a switch and start feeding cows/calves. It’s. Step process, you have to work your way up to it. Then it can be profitable. Input vs output.
Now that’s what works for me. That being said, some Guys may can make way more per pound with all natural ways, no feed grass only etc etc. it’s all what works for each person.
This is what I’m asking……I’ll put it in a scenario
Lets say we have 100 acres of pasture……With the traditional way of managing a farmer is typically gonna put the maximum number of cows in that pasture that it’ll support…..It’ll be constantly eaten down and he’ll feed hay during the winter yada yada yada…….Just to put a number on it lets say that its 40 cows……So at the end of a cycle when you go to sell calves or what have……you have to take all of the money that it costs to bail hay or buy hay….etc..etc…. and subtract that from the selling price to get your end profit…….
Now lets take that same 100 acres and cut back on the number of cows were running to whatever number that may be so that we can divide it up into 5 acre paddocks and manage the way Greg Judy is doing where we don’t have to feed any hay and don’t have those input costs…….This is where I’m not for sure how those numbers compare…..Is that gonna be 5 cows??…..20 cows??........How does the bottom line compare when we look at the profit made from that number of cows running on virtually no inputs compared with the higher stocking rate that has to feed hay??......Are the bottom lines similar??......Is one more profitable?? Keeping in mind that the Greg Judy way isnt so much at the mercy of fluctuating and rising input costs.......
Can you make the same profit with less cows and no inputs??......or potentially more profit if inputs keep going up??
From what I have seen, in Alabama you can run a max of 3 cows per 1 acre of fertilized pasture and woods (big majority in pasture) in the summer months. I would think a safe bet would be 2 per acre. We count on a cow/calf pair eating in the neighborhood of 3300 to 3500 lbs of hay during the winter months. I don't see how someone in Alabama could run a profitable size herd over winter without feeding hay or some form of supplemental feeding. I am sure you could cut those numbers way down and winter some without feeding, but you would be losing in the long run. I can't think of a good comparison. I guess it would be like having $100,000 on hand to invest into a likely gain, but locking $85,000 in a safe and making an investment with the remaining $15,000. On a side note, I have talked to cattle farmers in South Dakota and as predicted, the numbers are not close to ours. They run 1 cow per every 3 to 5 acres in the summer months.
Ok I’ve thought of another way of getting at what I’m asking…….Lets just take one of these quail plantations as an example……Lets go with Sedgefield since its already got a fence around it…….Now they’ve got thousands of acres of understory vegetation……I’m assuming that I could take 10 heifers and a bull and turn them loose into such and never have to feed them ever, correct……Now for easy math lets say those 10 cows are gonna produce me 10 calves a year that I’m gonna sale for $1500 each which gives me $15,000 profit…..other than counting our original 10 as depreciating assets I suppose……So I’ve got my $15,000 profits and it cost me virtually $0 input annually……
Now lets take the same scenario and keep adding cows…..Instead of 10 now lets make it 50…….now 100…..now 150…….and at some point we’re gonna reach a threshold where there are too many cows for the land to support on its own.......The question is now…….Do I keep adding cows and start buying inputs at this point if cattle profit is my main end goal??.....Is that a good decision?? If so that would seem to suggest that Greg Judy is leaving profits on the table to manage the way he’s doing…..My assumption was that he’s doing it because its more profitable to exclude the input cost.....I'm trying to understand the "pen and calculator" side of this...... (Sorry Matt )
I’m gonna jump ahead a little right here and go ahead and ask the question that was really at the heart of my original post…….Why does Sedgefield not already have 100 cows roaming around that produce pure profit (other than the original cost of the cow)??......Is all of that excess grass not essentially money that you’re paying someone to light on fire??
This is why I ask……What am I missing???......I think a big part of it may just be that we get stuck on the same ol’ way of doing something and don’t even stop to question it anymore
I think that would add profit to a hunting or other profitable means plantation. Reverse the scenario and you have what has been happening for 40 years. Row crop and tree farmers found that hunting leases would supplement their farming.
I think that would add profit to a hunting or other profitable means plantation. Reverse the scenario and you have what has been happening for years. Row crop and tree farmers found that hunting leases would supplement their farming.
I would think that the video guy needed to move his cows more often as the pasture grasses seem to be in the rank phase when they have seed heads. All grazing animal like the more tender forages and it’s better for them. I used to graze a pasture short then over seed with ryegrass and let the cows stomp it in for a few days. Then pull them off till it got growing good. Deer might like the shorter forage better also.
I thought this video was cool just to see that many cows moving in a mob.....I think he's says its 430+ cows.......I'll say this......Ol' boy must be doing something right to have a million dollars worth of cattle he's maintaining
I watched video where they had GPS shock collars on cows. No fence, moved them daily. just gotta train the cows.
Yeah I've watched a bunch of those videos.......That's a neat idea if you can get it to work the way they claim......I think the key would be getting a small initial group trained first and then slowly introducing more to the herd to learn from the others......It might be a clustermuck to try it with a big group at first
Unless they like dog fennel and horseweed, they'd starve to death on my place!
What I figure someone would need to do in the beginning on a place like that is start out with a breed of cattle like the Piney Woods that are more goaty that can handle such…….Transform the habitat into better forage and then move to a better breed for selling or producing meat
Could you imagine what the hunting in the Black Belt would be like if every cow pasture looked like these ……Just hundreds upon thousands of acres full of clover and forbs…….
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