Distance to pasture

[Nebrfarmr]

Cattle across the fence is not the problem in my mind, as crops across the fence.

Cattle can do more $$$ worth of damage to a corn field in a day or two, than your profit from that cow all year.

Cattle that get out on growing alfalfa, often are found 'legs up'.

At least if you adjoin the pasture, you shouldn't have those problems.

[Nebrfarmr]

Out here, that would net you $50+ an acre, over expenses, if you rented it out, even if you required the renter, to fix the fences.

[sw363535]

yes shaggy,     and you can afford to take a lesser return in the change because you have less assets to come up with all at once.

The last factor is doing what you like to do.

The financials tell you what you can or can't do.     But after that------- what you enjoy doing should determine the choice.

Stuff you already know-------------- 🙂

[k-289]

SW Interesting on the forage concept of conversion to BTU's  - time will tell as some of the E-plants around here go dark --- 

[Nebrfarmr]

Shaggy, have you raised cattle before?

[bikinkawboy]

Since you're thinking of buying the land for grazing, a lot of whether you buy or not depends upon the existing livestock related infrastructure.  Is the perimeter fenced?  If not or the fence is in poor shape and needs to be replaced, you're looking at 1 mile of fence needed if it is a square 40.  Depending upon what type of fence you build and the topography, you're looking at somewhere around $7,000-$14,000 for fence.  That's assuming there are no trees or old fence to remove.  If there is, you could easily spend double that for clearing and fencing.  Poor fencing can cost you a healthy chunk of change should your animals get out and graze the neighbors cornfield for 3-4 days.  Or if your animals gets out onto the highway and causes a car accident and death, you had better have some darned good liability insurance or you could lose the whole farm. 

What about water?  Are there any existing ponds that are in good enough shape to adequately supply water during a long dry summer like we had in Missouri this past year?  Old ponds in former crop fields are often silted in and hold very little water.  An average sized pond capable of supplying 40 acres worth of cattle is going to cost you $10,000 without brush removal to double that if a bunch of trees have to come out.  As for cleaning out an old pond, do that only as a last resort because you can spend a small fortune.  You never know what you will find before you start and once you've socked $5,000 into it and find out you're not even close to finishing, do you consider it a 5K loss and look elsewhere for a new pond site, or do you spend more money on the old one?  It may only require another $1,000 or it may take another $10,000, you never know.  Do you plan on keeping animals there overwinter?  If so, you'll need a freezeproof waterer.  An energy free tank and concrete pad can cost $1,000-$2,000 depending upon the size tank and whether or not you do your own plumbing and concrete work.  If rural water is nearby, it may or may not be cheaper than digging a new pond.  In winter you better figure 8-9 gallons/day/animal unit while in a severe drought, you better figure upwards of 30 gpd per unit.  Spring and fall will require 5-20 gpd depending upon how juicy the grass is and the ambient temperatures.  See what the rural water rates are and go from there.

A single open pasture will requrie 2.5-5 acres per animal unit depending upon the soil fertility, weather and forage species.  Install a grazing system with 8-10 paddocks and you should be down to around 1-2 ac per unit, again depending upon conditions.  EQIP has cost share assistance for grazing systems and your state may also, depending upon what state you live in.  Depending upon the paddock numbers and how extensive of a watering system you need (pipeline, tanks, pump, etc), you can expect to spend $30-$75/ac for fence and $40-$80 per acre for water.  Again, much depends upon how close electricity is located, your water supply, topography, soil condition obsticals such as rock or large streams and so on.

In addition, most of the long term CRP in Missouri is very low in P and K when it comes out.  pH is usually fairly stable after seeding it down, but P and K plummets for whatever reason.  Also, is the existing CRP grass species adequate for the type or grazing you want to do?  Fescue was supposed to be endophyte free when seeded, but that's no guarantee.  You might want to send a grass sample in to do an endophyte test.  Less that 30% infected and you should be ok, over 70% and you are going to be loosing tails, hooves and ears as well as have low gains.  Infected or not, interseeding legumes is a plus on any species of grass.  Also, have sprouts and trees spread over the field?  If very small, mowing will take care of that.  If bigger, it's tree shearing time and you better figure $70/hour for that.  Big stuff and it's dozer time, which can cost $1,000-$5,000 an acre depending upon size and thickness.

I'm not trying to bust your bubble, but a lot of expiring CRP is cost prohibitive to convert to quality grazing land.  I'm a district technician in north central Missouri and I design all the grazing and water systems here.  You might visit the local NRCS office to see if any cost share funds are available.  And don't forget, cows 40 miles from home are hard to keep a close eye on and look awful good to rustlers.       

[Shaggy98]

Personally I have never owned cattle. I helped my parents with their cattle operation for 25-30 years. With working off the farm, I don't have time for cattle and the grain farm both. I opted for the grain farm since I took over all my Grandpa's ground when he retired.

[Nebrfarmr]

I agree with everything you said, except that instead of ponds, I'd recommend a well, and some trees for shade.

[Nebrfarmr]

If you raised them in the past, then you know what you are in for.

I have seen a few people in my generation, who have never been around a cow, who inherited some ground from Grandpa or an uncle or whatever, and decided to become 'ranchers', with the idea that you just 'have' cows, they take care of themselves, and you sell some in the fall, and make a lot of money.   By about 1/4 of the way through calving, they wonder why they ever took up such a thing.  By the time they got the fences walked in the spring, they realized it was WAY more work than they wanted, and in mid-summer, when they tried to break up a couple bulls on the fight, wished they just reneted the grass out to someone else.

Just wanted to be sure you knew what you were in for.

[k-289]

Nebr. -  That info you have provided is on target--- shade for animals I my opinion is an overlooked asset along with a reliable water source as this last year got a lot of folks attention --- a mono-culture of brome grass didn't complete the pasture season well either---