What county?

That is a green pasture. Our winter grasses are just now coming up and it is almost spring. Been a dry winter

Medina

What concerns me is what did that neighbors cow die from, and now I have her calf running with my cows!

Knew someone who had their entire herd fall dead from blackleg last year. Apparently when the weather goes from an extended period of drought to very wet it causes the old diseases in the ground to come up. Or at least make cows more susceptible to diseases.

After that I started to do the booster of 7 way annually for every cow. Normally I would just vaccinate the calves twice and call it good.

oscar9 said:

---

Knew someone who had their entire herd fall dead from blackleg last year. Apparently when the weather goes from an extended period of drought to very wet it causes the old diseases in the ground to come up. Or at least make cows more susceptible to diseases.

After that I started to do the booster of 7 way annually for every cow. Normally I would just vaccinate the calves twice and call it good.

---

How big was the herd?? That is an extremely unlikely scenario, even in unvaccinated cattle.

As the OP, glad to see this thread is still having solid discussion.

To the poster that asked, no I'm not broke yet....still saving up my money so I can blow it on a herd of cattle.

I'm in Bowie county. Old cowboy told me down the road I could run 20 head on my 31 acres and clear
About $5k.

polksalet12345 said:

---

I'm in Bowie county. Old cowboy told me down the road I could run 20 head on my 31 acres and clear
About $5k.

---

That's an incredibly high stocking rate. Those numbers don't add up.

spud1910 said:

---

Yeah, that is what I talked to USDA about. They are willing to help out with some $, but he said no one had tried it that he was aware of. I thought it would be nice to do, but in talking to him, it didn't seem like it was a good financial decision. I still may try to do a small plot (2 or 3 acres), just to see what happens.

---

The toughest part of switching from an introduced monoculture to a good native mix is the soil dynamics. You're dealing with a soil that evolved with a mixed plant community that had native perennials growing 24/7/365. The microbial life was based on that. Now you have essentially 1 species that is warm season. Changing it over will mean killing the Bahia (a tough species with a ton of hard seed), planting a mixed cover crop for a season or two, and then planting the natives. It can easily run $150 and acre and take 4 years or more for a grazable resource.

Does anyone have experience running cattle via the 44 farms "right way program"?

Thanks B-1. That was my conclusion. It would be a fun project, but not a good business decision.

One of our neighbors did it for a year or two and has gone in a different direction. I'm not sure the details, but he implied that they didn't come around at sales time to buy his calves.

I figured this would be the case. Makes sense. Just curious. 44 may have one of the better marketing departments out there.

Found this old post but this was actually a helpful response. Thanks!

Thanks for all of the responses to this post. I learned a lot.

I agree. I am always tinkering with little subplots trying to get natives started. It's not an easy task at all.

I know this is an older thread, but ones like these are why I still disagree somewhat when people say "the OB isnt as good as it used to be 10+ years ago". This thread has it all: some jokes/condesention, but a lot of useful knowledge and info scattered throughout.

I actually have it bookmarked in my phone and always thought it should be on the offical FAQ thread because its great for anybody looking into the cattle industry.

I'm not a farmer.

I do like to eat beef.

This thread makes me very grateful to all of you who make that possible.

CPDAggie10 said:

---

As the OP, glad to see this thread is still having solid discussion.

To the poster that asked, no I'm not broke yet....still saving up my money so I can blow it on a herd of cattle.

---

Glad to see this thread pop back up!

An old rancher told me one time "Ya know, the only way to make a million dollars raising cattle is to start with two million…"

Todd 02 said:

---

CPDAggie10 said:

---

As the OP, glad to see this thread is still having solid discussion.

To the poster that asked, no I'm not broke yet....still saving up my money so I can blow it on a herd of cattle.

---

Glad to see this thread pop back up!

An old rancher told me one time "Ya know, the only way to make a million dollars raising cattle is to start with two million…"

---

I remember a Johnny Carson show from the mid 70's where one guest was an older famer . Johnny asked him what he would do if someone gave him a million dollars, his reply " I would keep farming until it was all gone."