When starting out in cattle farming you should make up your mind on the type of cattle you want to raise. Generally there are two types of cattle, which are beef and dairy cows. Among dairy cows there are Holstein, Guernsey, Brown Swiss and Jersey breeds. And on beef cows you will get Hereford and Angus breeds. Other breeds include Semintal, Saler and Charolais cattle.
Dairy and beef cattle have over the years been carefully bred to produce the best possible milk and quality meat. Dairy breeds are bred to convert feed into milk and are not heavily muscled to produce meat like stocky beef breeds are. Their bodies are physically built to produce milk. Whilst beef breeds are bred to convert feed into meaty muscled carcass.
But this doesn’t mean that dairy cows cannot be raised for beef, a lot of livestock farmers have done so. Jersey bull calf can be raised to become roasts and steaks. However when breeding back the family milk cow to freshen, farmers choose an Angus bull or other suitable beef breeds. The result of this is renewed milk and a calf suited to meat production since it will have many characters of its Angus parents.
During the summer months you can allow your cattle to graze on pastures, but it the winter it is wise to give them some hay as well. What is hay? Hay is grass that is cut up and cured for later use, like winter seasons. Most farmers store it loose, in large round bales or small square bales.
Hay prices differ from place to place and are usually sold by the bales or tonnes. Bales weighing round about 50 to 75 pounds will normally sell for $1.00 to $1.50 for mixed grass hay. Alfalfa can sell for around $3.00-5.00 per bale. Large bales can come in various sizes and prices based on the make and size of the baler turning them. A fully mature cow may consume around one-half a bale of hay in a given day during the winter.
The proper fencing for your cattle:
When raising beef cattle it is very important that you fence your livestock ranch, the last thing you would want is your cattle going around destroying your neighbour’s property and plant fields.
A recommended fence to build is of sturdy woven wire on stout posts, this fence comes in different heights, and a suitable height is 40-inch. When installing the fence it’s a good idea to have a few inches extra at the top and bottom. When it’s erected, you should add a strand, a simple barbed wire at the top and bottom. Adding these strands of barbed wire will discourage the cattle from stretching out their heads trying to eat plants that are on the other side of the fence. This will also help you save on repairing of your fence since your cattle won’t be able to stretch out.
Some farmers use an electric fence as an alternative option. Don’t be afraid and that think it can electrocute your livestock, once the cattle notice its discomfort they will simple stay away from it.
Raising your cattle on pasture:
Raising cattle on pasture is highly recommended if you want to produce quality healthy beef. A couple of acres can be good enough to maintain one cow in the summer, but in the winter it may need more. To allow the pasture to grow a farmer would rotate the livestock to other areas from time to time. This also helps in destroying any living parasites.
The shelter for your cattle:
Just like any other livestock, cattle also need some shelter. The shelter you build should be draft free yet not air tight. An ideal setup is one with 3 sides closed in and the other side open looking at the opposite direction of the in-coming wind. Cattle give out a lot of moisture so it is important that the pen is not airtight so the moisture can escape. The shelter shouldn’t be something fancy but has to be sturdy.
