The most important thing anyone should know about raising cattle

Raising cattle

The most important thing anyone should know about raising cattle.

The most important thing anyone should know about raising cattle is that no farm or ranch is the same. No farm follows another farm's production practices, and no producer manages their cattle in the same way as another. If you want to know about everything related to raising livestock, first get to know the basics, what makes each farm click, and everything else in between before anything else. Dairy or beef, it doesn't matter what, there are certain things about those businesses that make them run, from the feed for the cattle and the finances needed to run the farm to the cattle themselves.

It's a lot of hard work...

Anyone would be a fool to say that raising cattle is easy. To run a farm, you need to be a veterinarian, accountant, mechanic, carpenter, plumber, salesman, electrician, and everything else. You have machinery, buildings, fences, and handling equipment to maintain, repair – even replace if absolutely necessary – livestock drinkers to fix if they freeze in the dead of winter or if they suddenly stop working on you, hay to haul away, finances to keep on top of (loans, utility bills and taxes to pay), fences to maintain and repair, the list goes on. You will experience a period of fatigue when the farm needs you the most - whether it is mental or physical fatigue. Your muscles will ache, your head will ache, and there will be times when you'll wonder why the hell you got into the cattle business in the first place!

It can be a life-threatening, dangerous job...

Fatigue or complacency with machinery or livestock can result in serious injury or even death. It's so easy to get caught when you least expect it, and by the time you realize you're caught, it's often too late. It can be as simple as forgetting to never step over a running PTO shaft, never turning your back on a seemingly docile bull, cutting away from yourself with a knife, and so on. The best thing to do to ensure your survival and keep all your limbs intact is to always be aware of your surroundings, know if and when you feel tired, never wear loose clothing around running machinery and show the utmost respect to all bulls and new mother cows with their new calves. I could outline a whole list of things for farm security in this article, but I'm afraid it would take up more space than I intend and cause me to seriously get off track.

Regardless, of whether you work or manage a dairy or beef farm, bulls and cows must be respected and often distrusted. Especially dangerous are the milk bulls, who never turn their backs. Beef bulls can be just as bad: they can seem quite mild and docile at first, but they can turn on you at the slightest provocation. This is a problem if you haven't established dominance with them and if they don't respect you and your space. Hormones can play a big factor in bull aggression. 

Hormones are also a big factor in aggression in cows. A cow's primal instincts when the calf hits the ground is for her to feed, nurse, and protect it with her life. This means that no other animal should come within ten yards (some more, some less) of her child without her express permission!! Some may attack without warning, but I can say I doubt it - they give you the warning to stay away if you know what to look for. A pursed lip, that cold glint in her eyes, a shake of her head, things like that are body language signs to look for when she's telling you to stay away. Bulls also have their own way of communicating that they are not tolerant of your presence: showing their hips, craning their necks to show their size, shaking their heads, not acknowledging your presence at all (in other words, ignoring you) when you are in the pen with them, etc. All these are warning signs to either step out or be prepared to stand your ground and make it known that you do not tolerate their behavior towards you. Then be prepared to go through an escape plan if you have one.

It requires knowing a little bit of cattle psychology

When you raise cattle, you really need to know a lot about what the cattle are telling you to tell if they are just being friendly, a nuisance, a threat, or a potential cull. Livestock that acknowledges your presence and comes to you but keeps an appropriate distance from you (unless you invite them) are friendly. Some of the friendly ones can also be those who don't ignore you but go back to what they were doing before you interrupted them can also be considered friendly. Even those who run to you when they see you - can be considered friendly, especially if you know them well enough to know that they come running to get fed, not to create a crush! Cattle that are tense, head high, and run for him every time you are near should be put down - the cattle should keep an appropriate distance from you but not go so far as to try to jump the fence. get away from you! Sometimes these types of animals can be trained to be calmer around humans, but there are times when this can be more futile than rewarding. Some cattle simply cannot be tamed and remain "wild".

Breeding, calving, weaning, growing...

While this cannot be used for background/storage and feedlot operations, it is important to know the basics of breeding, calving, and weaning. The gestation period of a cow or heifer is on average around 285 days or just over 9 months. A cow or heifer has a 50% chance of giving birth to a bull or a young heifer unless bred using sexed semen (artificial insemination or natural service). Cow calves can be weaned at around 6 to 10 months of age. Dairy calves are taken from their mothers a day or two (sometimes less) after birth but are not weaned from the bottle until they are approximately 3 to 4 months old. The heat period in cows and heifers is 21 days, and heat, or heat, lasts 18 to 24 hours. Most heifers are ready for breeding at around 15 months of age. A bull is ready to breed at the age of 12 months. The age of maturity for most cattle is around 3 to 4 years.

The calving and breeding periods will overlap and the optimal length should be around 45 to 60 days. There is a lot of debate about the best time of year to calve cows, however, a cow can be bred - and therefore calved - at any time of the year. A cow can be bred either naturally - through a bull - or artificially - so-called artificial insemination using an AI gun and seed straw.

Know what to feed them

This is probably where the biggest variation in the way cattle are raised begins and is something I can only cover briefly here. There are basically five types of feed that cattle are fed: hay, silage, grain, alternative feed, and pasture. The latter is not exactly cattle fed, but rather the cattle are set up to feed themselves. However, for the first four, each farm and ranch varies in how much and what they feed their animals.

All dairy farms need to feed their dairy cows a mixed ration - called a TMR or Total Mixed Ration - of high-quality hay, silage, and grain to meet their cows' nutritional requirements for protein, energy, calcium, and phosphorus. Most hay fed to dairy cattle consists of alfalfa or clover and grasses such as orchardgrass and timothy. Silage – which is chopped and fermented forage – is often made from corn because it has a higher nutritional quality than barley or wheat. The grain portion of the TMR ration can be corn, barley, or wheat, depending on which is more suitable to grow in the area where the dairy farm is located.

When it comes to beef farms, cattle feed rations vary much more than your average dairy farm. There are three main beef operations: cow-calf, background/breeding, and feedlot. The lowest quality feed rations are received by farms with cows and calves and the highest quality feedlots. Cows on cow-calf farms often have no problem feeding on grass and hay, although some producers like to feed them grain and/or silage during the winter months. Barn and storage operations need to feed their calves to grow, so they are often fed pasture, silage, and quality hay. Feedlots finish cattle for slaughter, so an 85% grain-based ration is required. The remaining 15% is roughage similar to silage.

All cattle must be fed clean water and have constant access to minerals. Beef producers feed their cattle minerals of their choice, sometimes mixed into the feed. Dairy producers tend to mix these minerals into the feed.

Where do you feed from?

This is a big question to ask yourself if you intend to start your own cattle farm. Basically, you have two options: Make your own or buy one. If you are making your own, you need your own equipment and time to make the feed. You may need additional work if necessary depending on the type of feed you are making. Making your own feed can bite into your profits as it means more money is spent on fuel and maintenance/repair costs. Buying feed also has its risks. Even if you don't have half the machinery needed to make your own feed, you still need a place to store it, and you run the risk that the feed you're getting isn't as good as you'd like. There may be health risks associated with the feed you buy - the hay you get may contain bits of metal or trash, or the feed you buy from your feed store may be contaminated with something that will kill your animals.

The machinery needed on a cattle farm

You can literally have from just a few pieces of machinery to enough to make any farm machinery dealer proud. I've known several ranchers who only have a few pieces of equipment: a hay truck, a cattle trailer, and an ATV. A lot of other manufacturers can get by just fine with a good front loader tractor, baler, mower or mower, a good truck, a cattle trailer, and a choice between an ATV (I prefer to call it an "ATV") or a good cow horse. Many other cattle farmers need much more machinery than this: two to three tractors, a combine harvester, several pieces of tillage machinery (disc, plow, cultivator, Flexi-coil harrows, harrows, etc.), several rakes, several grain trucks, several grain augers, harvester, baler, mower, the list goes on. What type and how many machines you think you need (try not to think of it as "want") on your cattle farm will affect your bottom line and the way you raise your animals.

Think about it this way: If you want to graze your cattle all year round, there comes a point where you realize that the machines you want are not necessarily the same machines you will need!!

Your finances

Every producer of every cattle farm should consider their finances - purchases, loans, utility bills, fuel bills, fertilizer bills, feed purchases, veterinary bills, repair/maintenance payments, payments/receipts, livestock sales, feed sales, and other things that affect the operation of your farm. From there, you can do an evaluation to see if you're losing money, just breaking even, or actually making some money on your farm. It can also tell you where you are weakest or strongest and what choices you should consider if you want to increase the income level of your business. Creating and maintaining a business plan can help a lot here as well.

Shelter for your cattle

The shelter is not that important, although a simple shed or a stand of trees will suffice for most of them. Dairy cattle must be kept in a barn during the winter months. This may not be the case in areas that do not experience as extreme, freezing, or snowy winters as much of North America. If they don't have much shelter, they need to compensate for the lack of heat by eating more food to stay warm. This also applies to thin beef cows.

Herd health and signs of illness or disease

Most herds must be up-to-date on vaccinations each year, depending on the age and sex of the animals, as well as where you keep them. In most areas of the US and Canada, vaccination against diseases such as Blackleg (with bacteria related to Clostridia sp.), Bovine Viral Diarrhea, Bovine Respiratory Complex Virus Disease, and others is very important. Vaccination of heifers against leptospirosis and vaccination of young bulls against trichomoniasis is also important for the breeding herd. Some areas also require an anthrax vaccination. Check with your local large animal veterinarian about the types of diseases you need to vaccinate your animals against.

Check your flock regularly for signs of illness or disease. The most obvious symptoms I found in the cattle we had was lethargy or lethargic activity - calves that should normally be interested in eating are not, are either slow to get up or want to lie down and rest instead of getting up. eat. Other symptoms include lameness, dull eyes, loss of body condition, hairless patches, belly kicking, coughing, runny nose, too many abortions in your herd to be considered normal, or anything unusual about the animal's behavior or parts of its anatomy, from udder or scrotum to the eyes. Be aware that one symptom you see could be a sign of a much bigger problem.

Where you get cattle, you get dead

As the Circle of Life goes round and round, you can't expect any of your animals, young or old, to live forever. You get cattle that die on you, unexpectedly or otherwise. This is simply something to be expected on any farm or ranch. It's hard for any manufacturer to have an animal die on them, but that's just part of life. Many people who are generations removed from farm life don't understand this, but as someone who wants to get into the cattle or other kinds of livestock business, it's a hard fact to learn or it won't last very low.

Some ranches are so large and sprawling that it's no problem to haul the carcass out into the middle of the pasture and let the scavengers take care of it. Other areas require such carcasses to be immediately buried or burned or to be hauled away for you by a cattle carrion truck. Some people who have grown attached to a particular cow or bull, whether valued or not, choose to bury that animal in the same way one would bury a dog or cat that has been a part of the family for years.

I may have missed a few things in describing "everything about cattle farming" because there are many other things I haven't covered that involve not only cattle farming itself, but the actual animals, feed and machinery, and many other things. other little things that breed cattle ticks. I hope the above basics give you some idea of ​​what to expect from running a livestock farm.