My hay guy delivered this year because he had it on his trailer and needed it off. While he was out I started talking about needing the farm to make a little more money. He suggested I buy 5 to 690lb calf's in the spring run then on my grass tell fall feed nothing but corn for a few months and have them butchered. He said they would double their weight and I could clear 5 to $600 each. I have 96 acres more than 60 in grass . I will need to put in new premier fence and get a stock trailer so will cost some money up front.

I have no cow experience dose this seem likely or pipe dream. Not looking to get rich but would be nice to generate more income for equipment cost like tractors, hay equipment, ECT..

No. Cows suck money. Unless you are really good at direct marketing beef. Just my 2 cents.

A cow has to work for a living or she will break you

Most guys up here have gotten away from cow calf and just buy white steer stockers in the spring throw em on pasture and sell them in the fall . Don’t know what beef prices are like there but here it’s pretty hard to make money on cattle. To much government money in farming now keeping the prices down.
I think there’s more money in sheep now with all the new , “imports” , changing up the demand for beef

5 to 6 weight feeders run ? Figure 1 lb per day gain maybe 1.5 lb per day. How long can you run them will give you your total gain. Sell at 700 to 900 lbs for ?

Loose one calf then how much did you make?

I haven't followed current prices but look at usda market report for your area

His plan is a fairy tale. It won’t work like that and there is no way one can make that much money on feeders. If it was possible we’d all be doing it.

For starters you are talking two different types of cattle, your hay guy is saying to buy feeders and background them then take them to fats, you’re talking about buying breeding stock and starting a cow calf operation, both can make money but both can also lose money, if you’re looking at bringing in feeders you need really good fences unless you know the calves are calm and even then it can still be tough to keep them in, cows respect a hot wire better but just remember it takes time to get return on your money for the cows.

In order to do that you have to be sure that the slaughter house you choose has the ability to have the meat USDA inspected and then you have to have a way to store that much beef and an outlet to sell it as well. The easiest way to do it is to sell the beef in the field to someone for an agreed upon price per pound and deliver it to the slaughter house for them where they pay you when it goes across the scales that way you don't have to store the meat or market it one steak at a time. The down side to this whole equation is right now the slaughter houses that do farm kill are backed up a year or more in a lot of areas.

Small scale beef farmer here. The profit margin is really thin! Every year is totally different. We butcher and market ours so do ok, the tax deductions help. LOL
Also I'll put our beef against any, and will buy back anything we sell and someone does not like it. Has never happened, but our own beef in the freezer is priceless!

700 pound steer should be $900
Let's assume you only need 25 bushes of corn to finish them 25 bushes =$150
Let's assume 1300 lb at finish with these cost that means 559 lbs of yield
Total price per pound not including incidentals = $2.05 per pound.

Finished beef steers right now are bringing 1.98 a pound

You'll be getting rich quick.

Cattle put me and my sister through college (part time farm about 100 mama cows) We both have masters degrees. But then we have been in the cattle business for several generations. If you think you’re gonna just buy cows and make money then I’d say probably not the amount of money you want till you pay that steep learning curve price of admission first. But yes some years you can make money. Some years you don’t.

May dad and I had a conversation a little while ago. I’m afraid one day soon we are going to wake up and the few remaining small cattle farms will have just evaporated overnight kind of like the small hog farms did


With all that said I wouldn’t suggest anyone NOT get into cows if they want to do it and have room for them. I couldn’t imagine life without my cows

Around here goats will make 4 times the money for a small scale farm than cattle. We are in the heart of yearling country here and I'm sure in real world #s we can grow them cheaper than you can on a small operation
Some years they make a little and some years they lose more. Unless you can develop a good reliable market for the finished beef it will harder to make money than you think. And it's more work to develop that regular market than u think.

If you buy 700lbs. feeders you will have about 50 lbs. of shrink by the time they are at your place and adjusting to your facilities and feed. Even if you go to December 1 to double that weight to get to 1350 lbs. you would need to gain 3 per day for those 230 days. That is going to take a whole lot more corn then I am guessing you are planning on. Realistically you could figure more like 2-2.5 per day with medium corn in the ration, unless your grass forage is exceptional. That would mean you probably would be selling light weight fat stock with lower grades and weights. The only way you could even come out would to have buyers for blended quarters or halves and they pay you an agreed upon price per lbs. hanging and they cover the slaughtering and butchering costs. The market will really down grade unfinished heavy cattle. In either case you need to find a slaughtering plant far enough in advance to process your cattle when they are ready. If you slaughter 5 lighter cattle you will still have a ton of beef to freeze and store to sell later and that process is not low cost and also the income comes in slowly.

If it were me I would buy a couple and eat them in the fall or find a way to sell one to get most of your beef at a lower cost and sell as many bales of grass has as you can. Cattle raisers are always looking for clean good quality grass forage.

Bryce

Every area of the country gonna be different. You should talk to some people who are doing what you want to do locally and see what kinda gains they are getting ECT. We in a bad drought most place up this way are. 5 to 6 weight calves looking to get cheaper by the day right now. I don't know for your area what is considered to be small acreage but cows take acres to make any money. If you don't have that I'd suggest sheep or goats. They are good money and don't need all the acres or feed to run them. Also everyone is an expert with other people's money. Just my opinion.

If u really want to make $ plant it to switch grass and cedar trees and lease out deer hunts. I know what hunters pay around here, I can't image what the craziness would be in Indiana.

If you live near a major city, direct sales to the consumer can make you relatively wealthy. Many people who live in cities have no clue how cheap they can buy livestock at auction to have processed. They have no clue how cheap they can buy produce at auction either. PBS pushes farm to table, buy local, buy fresh and support your local farmer in many of their programs. Rich people, who feel guilty living in the city, will pay ridiculously high prices.

Sales are so good locally to citiots that many small farmers buy animals and produce at auction and from farther away farms, to resell at huge profit margins, because they can't produce enough on their own.

All of the local produce stands that I know of sell produce that they buy at the Amish auctions at a pretty amazing markup.

Keith

Buy some broken mouth or short solid heavy bred cows this spring turn them out, let them have their calf. Then August or September spilt the cows and calves and sell them all. You don't have to deal with feeding anything in the winter.

I left out we currently have 5 dairy goats, around 60 egg layers, and raise under 150 Cornish cross along with 5 to ten csa's.

Some we eat some get sold. Dart goats are used for cheese, soap, and mils sensitive daughter. The farm generates income but ran at a loss last year. But was nice at tax time.

I put in 1200' of water line, and 4 hydrants, and built a 30'x75' high tunnel this year still need to put plastic on yet. Also expanded my bees from 2 Hives to 4. Was up to 8 but had some loses due to my inexperience. Should expand more during swarm season. I planted a few peach and pair trees and some blueberry's.

We also maple sugar but only finish 3-5 gal per year. I have many trees that don't get tapped but need to get a more efficient evaporator to tap more. It's more of an added bonus for our csa customers if we have a week or so with low production and we have something more made from the farm to deliver.


Direct marketing is the way to go but like stated takes a lot. I need more costumers and I would raise more Cornish cross. We do ok on them and they really build soil where they are run.

I was hoping to fence off around 20acers and run a few cows 5 or less to start tell I learned more. I figured if I were lucky I could eat free and make 1000-1500 maybe. That would pay for the fence in 10 years;) Sounds like that is not even likely unless My boys raise one or two and sell them at 4h. They really support 4 h in our area. That would also be a good use for the land.

Around here it's the Amish selling auction bought produce at farmers markets..

We are 35 min from downtown Louisville and the metro areas sounding. Definitely need to develop markets there but working out of town 3-4 days a week makes that tough.

I guess I could also trap it harder


Thanks for all the comments and insight. Keep it coming.

Meat goats are bring $3 or 4 a pound around here.

If you buy cattle of any sort, buy quality, sell quality. Right now sheep$ are out doing cattle$ on units per acre.. Back grounding cattle takes experience and luck but can be profitable. would not try this unless you are experienced. For you, the least risk would be as a former poster said, buy older beef cows, calve them, sell both in the fall early winter.

We have found a $125-$150 market for live lambs that weigh 55-70 lbs. and we are not in a big city area but there is a buyer that knows how to find the markets. If I had that much grass I would do some type of meat goat or meat sheep breed. you can probably put 3 or a tad more ewes per acre where you would need probably 1.5 acres per beef cow selling a weaned calf. More work in some ways but at even 250-300 for ewes and double that for a ram you will get a lot more breeding stock for every $1,000 you spend. I had a small cow herd of Herefords for 4 years and did luck out with a neighbor who paid me market price plus a dime for the calves in the fall. We needed to buy a lot of hay, had more manure to haul and only had 2.5 acres. The kids wanted to expand the sheep flock from 8 to 15 to twenty so I sold the cows and bought 6 ewes and had money for the next years hay and grain. I always was a dairy cattle person so sheep were not what I was used to but we make more, spend less and have less work except over all. The other thing is if you lose a ewe you lose a couple hundred, you lose a half weaned calf or a cow you lose a lot more.
Bryce

We bought a registered sheep that was breed but never produced. She had 3 lambs the year before so figured that would be a good start on sheep. Keep her with the goats. She was to flighty for our portable fence operation. The goats just get let out when we move the pen that sheep we would never have caught. Sold her. I like how the goats are in my pocket like a dog vs run from you like that darn sheep.

What Jarrett said

sheep are very herd orientated, very, one alone will be a problem. With a small herd, where one is , all will be.

Dems get their way, they will be taxing your cow farts! Thats now the american way!

Well that's ok I'm betting my cows will be like my wife and mother whom have never farted In their life so I should be clear on the cow fart tax since my cows won't fart.

Money can be made in cattle.

Like any business to do it successfully it takes work and more than like some money up front for infrastructure.

Grass fed, sell direct to consumers and sell a premium product at a premium price.

Be smart about your operation, look at all expenses and drive them down, look at income stream and maximize it.

Don't follow the ways of those who complain that money can't be made, listen to those that are successful and look at why they are.

I heard that last night. I tried to convince my brothers and dad 10 years ago that we should start raising them after i spent some time researching demographics across the country and how they were changing.

One of the things we are very concerned about is where nitrogen prices end up at. If the price continues its climb to $1000/ton it could lead to a drastic switch from corn acres to beans. This could be a real kick in the butt to the cattle industry. Cost of gain on $10 corn is not pretty! Combine that with the drought in cow county and beef at the store may look dirt cheep right now.

Yes there well may be a short term switch to more beans then corn but if you farm in areas that can raise 200 plus bushels of corn on a regular basis and we get more beans and prices drop to say below $10 or even $10, even with high input costs corn will be grown as there is more profit there. Corn is an input responsive crop which means with the genetics and soil added inputs typically increase yields. Where beans are more of a glass ceiling type crop where you plant, hope for a good stand, rain in August and harvest. There is also more world pressure on beans as Brazil and Argentina now raise more beans then the US does.

Bryce

I always enjoy your informative posts on these ag subjects !

I married the farmers daughter literally. Milked many cattle and fed many steers. Never could get a clear conclusion if the beef, or milk, or crops were money makers or not. I assume the farm was in the green but never got to see the books. Can tell you the cows were first to go, starting renting the land out versus farming second, and the steers have been on there way out. But we like to raise what we eat. Also, the cows were a government buyout deal. All I do know if I believed there was money to be made on small numbers like five steers, I would keep one and sell the other four to cover as much of my eater as possible. But I buy from a local farmer instead.

Someone brought up the adjustment of a prospect beef to you moving it and to the new local. Sometimes that adjustment is not a short time and sometimes ends in complete loss due to death.

Also, a bunch of work involved. Like many things if you counted your hours into the scenario you would very likely show a loss just running numbers. I love raising critters but at this point in my life my hours make a lot of money. Years later I may be in a different position.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck at whatever you decide!

If wanting to generate extra income . But don't have experience and don't want to bury yourself in long term start up costs . I would recommend starting out renting the pasture out . You could either just provide the pasture at set price or offer your services of managing someone's livestock ( rotating pasture , putting salt/supplements out , keeping an eye on there health for the owner ) Work closely with the owner of livestock and hopefully gain knowledge to help you decide what direction you want to go . Not much pasture available anymore with farming pressure . I would think you could find a good producer in your area to learn from and generate income at the same time

70-80 % of American's are overweight and many are trying their hand at dieting.

All the new diets are pushing grass fed beef and butter, cheese, and dairy products. If you can tap into that market and make it work, you could sell higher than corn fatted for sure.

Same with your chickens and eggs. They don't want corn or soy fed anything anymore.

Probably less headache and more money in leasing it to a farmer.

I had to have at less 25 head to make anything off them. Even at that I could have made more working at McDonald’s with the time I put in to it.

So do I. I think he should have a weekly show on RFD-TV to spread his knowledge and insight.