Advice on making my Highland Farm profitable

[Rocktown Gal]

Please, I need advice on my highlands and how to make this farm of mine more productive.

My bull Arkle the 2nd of Lost Nation (ET) is registered and he was AI from semen from Micheal Gibson of Cullerne Fold, Scotland.

This is his line...


Brogach Alex of Glenfintaig
Uilleam Seumas of Burnside
Peigi Foil 7th of Leys
Sire: Arkle of Ousdale
Tearlach of Cladich
Bell of Ousdale
Laochag of Iomroll
Animal: Arkle the 2nd of Lost Nation (ET
Iongmhas of Strathallan
Lord Robert of Old Greenlaw
Lileas 17th of Douneside
Dam: Leodaig Og 4th of Cullerne
Manus of Douneside
An Uiseag 10th of Leachy
An Uiseag 2nd of Leachy

I see that another Highland owner has Arkle of Lost Nation and she is selling semen for $150 per unit. Is this feasible?

Only Arkle and Clemetine is registered. All others were not registered (not born on my farm)...from this point on I will register the calves...starting with the new bull...who's father is Arkle. The mother is not registered and not sure if I can register her now she will be 2 in November.

Any advice on how to get this started is very much appreciated.

Thanks!

[myersfarm]

some people price there semen SO HIGH to make people think they have a great bull....ask how many units they have sold in a year..not how many are stored...or collected


that price is a guy wanting to improve his pocketbook instead of the breed.....not saying He might have a bull that won at every fair and every show he was in...that would increase the price of semen.....also see what it cost to market and collect your bulls semen...you can not compare 2 bulls just because they have the same dad

[SpaceCadet12364]

WE market to grass finished beef. and we register all heifers and bulls are reg. if buyer wants reg. but beef is sold 3.75 lb. hanging weight. half (side) or whole. I deliver to processor. I ran out last year and this year. I may have to raise my prices.

[SpaceCadet12364]

Originally Posted by Rocktown Gal

Please, I need advice on my highlands and how to make this farm of mine more productive.

My bull Arkle the 2nd of Lost Nation (ET) is registered and he was AI from semen from Micheal Gibson of Cullerne Fold, Scotland.

This is his line...


Brogach Alex of Glenfintaig
Uilleam Seumas of Burnside
Peigi Foil 7th of Leys
Sire: Arkle of Ousdale
Tearlach of Cladich
Bell of Ousdale
Laochag of Iomroll
Animal: Arkle the 2nd of Lost Nation (ET
Iongmhas of Strathallan
Lord Robert of Old Greenlaw
Lileas 17th of Douneside
Dam: Leodaig Og 4th of Cullerne
Manus of Douneside
An Uiseag 10th of Leachy
An Uiseag 2nd of Leachy

I see that another Highland owner has Arkle of Lost Nation and she is selling semen for $150 per unit. Is this feasible?

Only Arkle and Clemetine is registered. All others were not registered (not born on my farm)...from this point on I will register the calves...starting with the new bull...who's father is Arkle. The mother is not registered and not sure if I can register her now she will be 2 in November.

Any advice on how to get this started is very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Is the mother registerable? If she is (sire and dam are already registered), then REGISTER her ASAP. Once she hits 2 years old, not only would you have to DNA the bull calf's mother, you would also have to DNA both her sire and dam. Which, if their owners have had DNA done already, or still own the sire & dam but they've not been DNA'd, is not a really big deal other than possibly having to pay for up to 3 DNA tests....at about $40 a pop. Not to mention registration fees, etc.

If her sire & dam are in similar predicament (registerable but not registered), it gets exponentially expensive from there.

Generally, we register all our heifers (so much cheaper), for bulls we do more of a wait and see. That, and bulls are more expensive to register...higher registration fee plus the DNA fee. I forget at what point the AHCA started the requirement for DNA typing of ALL bulls to be registered after that date. Didn't used to have to do that.

[Rocktown Gal]

Thanks, I believe she is registerable. I am going to do some extensive reading on the Highland Association pages and maybe call and get some info too.

Sire and dam are registered.

So, you suggest a wait and see on the baby bull. Sorry just starting this what do I wait and see for?

Definitely will register all heifers from this point forward as they will be born here and as I read on the Highland Assoc the farm that the animal was born on need to register the animal...correct?

MyersFarm...was not trying to compare the two bulls...just trying to figure out what I should be charging for the semen as I have only charged $25 for each heifer so far and if I need to be charging more I would like to know what amount would be feasible from this point forward. I need to make this a working farm so that we can have a reasonable income from the fold. Not trying to get rich off of this...but do need to have an income.

[Chixarecute]

Well, it's like this...farming is what you do to SPEND your other income!

You may be able to rent out your bull, but at $25 per heifer you wont' have much of an income, and you run the risk of him coming home with disease and infecting your animals.

If you want to sell registered breeding stock, you will need to do much research, learn about conformation/breed standards, understand genetics and how the flaws & strengths of the individuals comes out in the young, get out and about to the registered cattle shows, etc. Lots of up front investment in time & dollars.

There are lots of people here with good experience, that raise bottle calves in small groups to sell as feeders, or raise to slaughter. There are also many who raise a few extra to sell, basically covering the cost of the feed for the one or two they keep to eat themselves. Check out the stickies at the top of the forum, do your homework.

Some folks do a large garden, eggs, jams, seedlings, cut & dried floral, etc for farmers' market sales. Perhaps not as much investment in money, but a large investment in time.

Good luck!

[DJ in WA]

First, how do you know the quality of this bull. The problem with novelty breeds is people think every one is a keeper. Professional cattlemen keep on the best. Evaluate for production and efficiency, conformation, feet and legs, the udder of the dam and offspring, etc.

Then I have to question the whole idea of long-haired cattle in hot, humid climates. They are designed for cool, misty regions. Cattle generally are heat producers and struggle to dissipate heat as you can read here:

http://www.stockmangrassfarmer.net/c...age.cgi?id=570

http://vetmed.iastate.edu/vdpam/exte...ss-beef-cattle

http://www.cattletoday.com/archive/2...e/CT1033.shtml

[myersfarm]

I was just saying you are comparing the two bulls...on wondering if you can get more money for your bull service...just because they have the same dad..if both were put in a show ring YOUR BULL MIGHT WIN and your bulls offspring might be 10 times better.....and I was saying thats alot of money for semen...since AI does not work every time...you could have $300 just to bred you cow before you turned around.....why i asked how much semen has he sold.....it might cost more to collect and store than you could every sell at any price.......as far as leasing out your bull.....that will just be a matter of time till something goes wrong

[SpaceCadet12364]

Originally Posted by Rocktown Gal

Thanks, I believe she is registerable. I am going to do some extensive reading on the Highland Association pages and maybe call and get some info too.

Sire and dam are registered.

So, you suggest a wait and see on the baby bull. Sorry just starting this what do I wait and see for?

Definitely will register all heifers from this point forward as they will be born here and as I read on the Highland Assoc the farm that the animal was born on need to register the animal...correct?

MyersFarm...was not trying to compare the two bulls...just trying to figure out what I should be charging for the semen as I have only charged $25 for each heifer so far and if I need to be charging more I would like to know what amount would be feasible from this point forward. I need to make this a working farm so that we can have a reasonable income from the fold. Not trying to get rich off of this...but do need to have an income.

Ok, if her sire & dam are registered, go ahead and get her registered before she turns 2. Do you own at least the dam, or did you buy her as a calf from their owners? If you bought her from someone, hopefully they still have an active membership with AHCA. If they don't, you will have to get them to reactivate their membership (offer to pay or go halfsies on it maybe?)...yes, you are correct that the original owner (the dam's owner if its not you) is the one to register the animal....but, that should be something easily worked out with who you bought her from if thats the case. If they gave you a cheap purchase price because she was not sold as registered, that may be something both parties will need to work out. There is a registration fee, and then a transfer fee to transfer the new registration into your name if you were not the owner of her dam when she was calved.

Not saying you HAVE to wait with the little bull with registering, but that is just something we do. It's not always as easy as you think to find a buyer for a bull to be used as a bull....and some people do not want a registered one, they just want one for crossbreeding or running unregistered stock...you really don't want to run one of these Highlands through a sale barn, you will lose money. Better off finding someone that wants some freezer beef, or putting him into your freezer and eating him yourself.

One of the big reasons we wait to register with a bull calf, hopefully before you HAVE to do something with him you can get a decent idea of how he will turn out, conformation, temperament, etc. That, and if you don't get a herd of ladies lined up for him, if you are going to run registered stock you would need to get that bull calf away from the girls (especially his momma or sisters) in the herd before he starts wanting to make calves of his own. If you have enough land to run a couple different herds, well that can work out. But, if you have more than one intact bull over 8 months of age in your herd, you would need to DNA everybody in order to prove what sire got which dam in calf. It would kind of be a waste of your money if you spend $100-105 to get that bull calf registered and you end up having to steer his butt to prepare him for freezer camp down the road.

The ladies in the office at the AHCA are very nice, very helpful.

[Lazy J]

Originally Posted by DJ in WA

First, how do you know the quality of this bull. The problem with novelty breeds is people think every one is a keeper. Professional cattlemen keep on the best. Evaluate for production and efficiency, conformation, feet and legs, the udder of the dam and offspring, etc.

You nailed it!

The breeds we have now are because people in the past selected animals for productive traits, made tough decisions. They realized that not all animals are worthy of breeding.

[oregon woodsmok]

The people I know who actually make money with cattle are in two camps.

One way is to have tens of thousands of acres of grazing land and run huge herds of range cattle. You collect them up in the fall and ship them to the feedlot by the truck load.

The other folks who are making money have top of the line registered cattle and they go to all the important shows and beat the pants off of everyone else. They use state of the art genetics and they sell cattle to people who really want to be the one to win those big shows.

They also sell club calves to 4-Hers whose parents have a ton of money and little sense. Plus a good solid market for yearling bulls to the cattlemen who are running a couple thousand head of range cattle (but those don't go for show cattle prices)

I'll tell you what. I don't know anybody who has ever won anything with a Highland. They are more of a lawn ornament. The meat isn't worth any more once that hide is off.

The people I know who are raising and selling show cattle all have Angus, except for one guy who raises and shows Holsteins.

[SpaceCadet12364]

I don't know many that have won with Highlands either....oh, wait, WE did at the local county fair level. However, in order to go to the state fair and not be in the catch-all class if they have one, is to have a minimum of 10 animals to make a class. Since there aren't so many of them in our area, we would have had to truck all of our animals in order to make our own class. Kind of defeats the purpose, eh? To win with Highlands, you have to have the $$$ and time to travel to the shows that showcase them. Some breeders do that, and do well with it. I currently neither have the extensive $$ or time or inclination to do so. Might be fun to do eventually, but not in the cards at the moment for us.

Yes, they can be lawn ornaments. If they are fed properly, i.e. grass fed since that is a natural diet for cattle, the meat is very delicious. All beef cattle I think if fed the same, will pretty much eat the same. Problem is, most people don't know how to cook the leaner grass fed beef. They are used to the fatty grain fattened and solutioned stuff from the store.

I love our Highlands for their temperament, their sizing.....they aren't usually as monstrous of a size as compared to what some breeders have been doing for a long time with their animals. Our mature cows run about 1200 pounds or so, bulls have been more around 1500 or so. Every bull we've had so far, I can go out in the pasture and brush him out and decockleburr ALL OVER...yes, even including around mr. winky. Of course, with any large animal ESPECIALLY one with horns, you have to watch what you are doing.

An area where you can make money with the Highlands is in the niche marketing for either breeding or freezer beef. Also, with Highlands, it is not uncommon for cows to keep calving yearly up into their 20's. We have had a couple of our cows qualify to be "foundation" dams, where they have had calves less than a year apart. In other words, those Highland bulls know what they are doing, and get the job done quickly!

The Angus people have some dang good intensive marketing...thats why people think if its not a black cow, its not as good. As you say, once the hide is off, they are all about the same. Same with the dairy group and Holsteins. They are the predominant breed, even though there are other breeds that actually put out better quality milk...but those ginormous holsteins and their udders from Hades blow them out with output.

People seem to think Angus and Holsteins are the best, but I have seen and heard of too many that go crazy on their owners...my neighbor got bruised up pretty good by a huge angus bull they were using that cornered her. Lucky she didnt get it worse than she did. Another guy with a good sized dairy, he was really lucky because the big crazy holstein bull he was using near killed him.

[lonelyfarmgirl]

If you want to make money off breeding stock, yours better have a long line of wins and winning children behind them. Otherwise, you money is in selling the beef.
One other problem you will face if going the 'breeding stock' route, is a name. If you want to sell high dollar semen and brood stock, or show animals, you need to develop a name for yourself in the highland world. If you are a 'nobody' in that respect, no one will care what you have, and you will have a hard time selling regardless of what you have.

I have been in the 'show world' for other species most of my adult life, an unfortunately, that is the way it is.

[lakeportfarms]

We raise both Dexters and Highlands. Whether you sell meat or are a breeder, a name and reputation are essential. It takes time, or it takes money to get there. You sometimes have to make emotionally tough decisions about what goes, and for what price. Don't try to sell a $600 cow for $1200, better to let it go for less, reduce your numbers, and concentrate on making the good animals that you have GREAT. Even if you have to save or earn $1000 through other means to replace that cow with a great one, it means that you'll have one more happy (or one less unhappy) customer. Be honest and up front with yourself and your customer about why a particular animal is worth more than another. They are not all alike.

For breeding animals or bulls, we pay particular attention to matching people's needs with the right animal. Families with children are different than couples where the kids are grown. Some people are more confident around livestock, and can handle a more challenging animal if it possesses some traits that are important to them. It is not a "one size fits all" proposition.

These things take time, but eventually you will have very happy customers returning to you for repeat business, or word of mouth will bring new customers to your door. Just this year we sold $7500.00 worth of Highlands (a bull and two cows, and their two 3 month old heifer calves) to a couple who met two heifer calves that we sold earlier in the year to a different person, who recommended us. The first family's heifers (at 4 months old) come running to them when called! So do the ones we more recently sold (except the bull, but he goes where you point him to go) I'm not sure I'd want a Highland bull running toward me when he's called When we have visitors, my wife loves to go walk into the middle of a group of Highlands that are laying down chewing their cud, pick one, (with really big horns) and lay down on top of it. Not one of the group budges and inch. You should see visitors faces with that, and it also gives them confidence (if they are new to cattle) that they are not something to be afraid of (just respectful of).

One last thing. Don't show people your animals up to their knees in mud and manure and expect to get top dollar. At a minimum they should be in a clean dry pen, but best of all is in the pasture, happily grazing away on medium length green grass.

[Brooks WV]

We're in WV, not too far from you RG... We researched to the end of the internet before deciding on Highlands. We're pretty small, having only 5, but we think we've found the prefect "homestead" cow; and that is where you potential lies. Highlands cannot compete with production breeds like Angus, and that's by design. They're smaller framed, and mature slower. There are so many advantages to having Highlands, as pointed out by Spacecadet and Lakeport: friendly, low feed cost, easy calving, minimal shelter in nasty weather. I would target people that have relatively small acerage and want to produce their own beef. The highland beef is far superior to production beef, in my opinion. We ordered 50#'s of various cuts before we bough our cows. It was SOOOOO tasty!

edit: And they do make excellent lawn ornaments! Everyone who drives by our farm wants to stop and ask about them. When we tell them they can pet them, they're amazed...then we tell them about our chicken/eggs/pork... and a sale is made!

[SpaceCadet12364]

Heh, Brooks, we have been out in the yard working....car will go driving by, slow down, then stop and back up or turn around and pull in to ask us about our Highlands....."what are those, yaks or buffaloes?"....or, the "nice looking black bull you have there" going on the assumption that only bulls have horns (our big black cow who is the head cow is going on 13 years old come May).

[Rocktown Gal]

Thank you all for your replies.

Brooks you are right they are tasty...they are easy care...they are great lawn ornaments...everyone slows down to see our fold.

Had a policeman come on the property one day and said you have some nice looking bulls back there...had to explain that they weren't bulls...

[agmantoo]

Rocktown Gal

From a management aspect is where I think you need to concentrate. Determine how much you want to earn from the enterprise. Then realistic review whether your decision/choice has that potential. If the potential isn't there then no matter what you do will render the end results anticipated. If the potential is there, then determine how you are going to extract the income desired. Whether it be a marketing method or whether you can get a competitive edge something will have to be forthcoming to give you the advantage. How to accomplish this advantage is up to you. Without it, you will be just a "me too" operation competing in a market that may soon be over sold. May luck be with you.