Are Bulls too Dangerous to Keep?

We calve 6 cows, 4 Dexter & 2 Jersey plus the heifers from 2 years previous, so we raise how ever many steers the cows give us. And I didn't mean that in a smart----- way, it's usually pretty close to 50-50 on 8-10 calves. No outside calves are bought.

We are currently getting $3.50 per# hanging weight for sides, including processing, our 25# beef packs, a mix of cuts, are bringing $4.00 per# actual delivered wt. The pork packs are $4.00 #; our fresh eggs go for $2.50 per dz. We sell our products as natural raised with no antibiotics or non-natural hormones, mostly grass/hay fed so we don’t have a huge feed input.

I am very fortunate in several respects 1. I live close to Columbia, Mo it’s a college town, University of Missouri and 2 others, and numerous medical facilities, so lots of people with plenty of money to spend on food they want to buy. 2. I have access to very high quality hay, less than ¼ mile from my place @ $20 ea. for 1000# bales. 3. I have an excellent and very reasonable priced processor, my cost including kill fee, cutting. grinding, packaging, etc. runs about $.50 per # hanging weight.

Granted, someone in an extremely rural area a long way from the type customer base I have would struggle to have the success we are. This didn't happen overnight, we have worked for several years to develop our market

The Dexter and Dexter X steers finish out at 600-800# so they are not huge carcasses, very affordable, small enough to fit in a home freezer, and be consumed by a small family before it freezer burns. The Jersey steers are usually ground into hamburger; I have customers that prefer it.

The fresh heifers are sold as family milk cows, I make sure they are tame and friendly, broke to lead, will milk by hand or machine, from either side and bred back for a 3/4, or more, Jersey calf. Depending upon the individual we usually get $1000-1500 each.

It is work, but not as hard as it sounds, since I enjoy being around and working with the cows and heifers. I wouldn’t want to have to make a living at it, but it’s a nice supplement to our retirement. We have our system refined to the point that it USUALLY goes pretty smoothly. Also, we are in the position of not having to "make do" or cobble together anything, if we need equipment or tools we are able to buy what is needed.

Way more info than you asked for but that's how we make money on bulls. I hope that answers any questions you may have.


Merry Christmas.

65284 thanks for the input......merry christmas

Myersfarm, thank you so much for posting this. You have given me a lot to think about. Like I stated before, we are just starting out and really haven't considered some things. Not because of anything other than we are city people and are pretty ignorant when it comes to some farming things (ie all my questions which may sound silly to some). My husband and I are writing down all our expenses, but there will be some that we will have to write down as they produce themselves. We have read plenty of books and have friends who already do what we have planned to do and advise us, but there is nothing like real life experience (like a fence breaking and how many times that will happen in a month/year, the loss of an animal, etc....) that for some reason people do not think to put in a book for us newbies to consider. lol I really appreciate your frankness and sharing this information with us. We are also very lucky that naturally raised beef here sells for a lot more than .60#. From all we've calculated (including our time), I can't imagine selling that low.

Your information is very helpful and appreciated. For now we are not really in it to make us rich or make a living off of it tomorrow. It's more for us to slowly come to a place where we can pretty much raise and grow most of our food while selling whatever excess we have. Once we have that somewhere close to where we want it for our family and have too much excess to sell to just our friends and family, we do plan on joining our local CSA and other groups. We hope to acquire some sort of clientele through them. Not on a big scale, but enough to off set some of our expenses and put a little change in our pockets. We also will not only be selling beef. We also raise mini nubian goats, have chickens and eggs, a small vegetable garden and plan to add turkeys and pigs this Spring. All of this on a small scale and adding to it as needed. About our time, my husband is currently out there adding fences and digging snow away from the fence with our children who are homeschooled. They are working very hard, but at the same time giggling, having serious conversations, and spending more time with their parents than the average child in our country does in this day and age (sad to state). For this reason and this reason alone, our time spent working on our farm and with our animals is priceless. These will be amazing memories for our children and (I believe) teaching them very good work ethics. My son (through 4H) plans to start his own flock of meat sheep for his own "money".

__________________
~Jen
Married to my best friend and mother of 5.

jlgoinggreen
Have your or your hubby read any of the long sticky above on rotational grazing?
IMO to make any money in a business that the buyer dictates the price and the seller buys retail the seller has to get control on his expenses somewhere. 80% of the cost of raising a beef animal is in feed. That is where the producer can gain an advantage. I sell into the feeder calf market. Minimizing the feed costs is where I make my money. Most feeder calf producers net 20% or less of the gross sale. I look to make an 80% return. My competitive advantage is low cost forage and I am the low cost producer. You need to concentrate on where your advantage may exist.

__________________
Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

Thank you agmantoo. I am reading through it now and writing things to look up and questions to ask as I read. lol I'd like to do this for all my animals and I'm trying to figure out what would be healthiest for all, which animal should go first, etc.... We are also on our way to the library to get some books on it. Do you have any you would recommend?

__________________
~Jen
Married to my best friend and mother of 5.

jlgoinggreen

Other than the individuals on this forum, most people are trying to sell something. IMO their commercial interests get woven into the area of awareness/skill/experience and therein lies a conflict. I cannot recommend any individual or any books at this time. I just know somethings and am a master of nothing. My fees are zero and what you glean from me may be worth zero. However, I will answer your questions where I know something and will admit when I do not. You may have to tolerate my coarseness as I am a blunt person. I am not interested in a pen pal. If you are serious and dedicated to your project, I will spend as much time as necessary. You are welcome to visit my farm should you be in the area, western NC.

__________________
Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

Thank you. I honestly don't think anyone on here running a farm (especially with small children) has time to pen pal. lol I find myself writing two sentences before I have to pause to take care of one of my kids or animals before I get to complete my messages and clicking on submit. I do appreciate you sharing with me what you have learned through experience and do not mind your coarseness/bluntness and please forgive my ignorance as I learn. We sometimes wonder how many of the books we have read are written by someone in the city who has only "visited" farms and really does not have the experience of living on a farm. That is the reason I am so glad I found this forum and really have learned so much from all of you (especially in reading the stickys). Thank you.

__________________
~Jen
Married to my best friend and mother of 5.

Why do we do it when there's no money in it?
Mostly for the feeling that we are "really" farming and to provide food for our families that we feel is safer than the stuff in the store.
People can make a living raising dairy heifers, if they live in an area where there are dairies buying replacements and if they can keep them from dying.
Re-read the parts where I wrote "feel" and "if".
Back to the title of this thread.
Yes, bulls are too dangerous for a small farm. Becides, there is no reason or justification for it. The cost for keeping a bull for just a few cows cannot be justified. Artificial insemination can provide superior calves.