# Which is better cow-calf or a stocker operation?



## farmlifeusa (Mar 18, 2005)

Which is better cow-calf or a stocker operation?
I have 40 acres of new land right now it is about 5 acres cleared the rest somwhat wooded. Buying small calfs and putting a few 100's pounds is this a good way to get started?


----------



## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

Do you have a supply of feed for winter months? If not, then you should consider stocker calves that you can sell when the grass gets short or the snow flys. If you have a hay supply or year around grazing, then you might give more thought to cows.


----------



## travlnusa (Dec 12, 2004)

If you can provide feed for the winter, you might want to consider a registered breed of your choosing. I would recommed Black Angus due to the sole fact as they have out marketed everyone else.

Buy two bred cows. You can sell the calves as direct to customer sales, sell heifers at 12 months old at a replacement calf sale, you can sell the bull calves at a test station/auction, or just keep them as you clear more land.

Otherwise, go with the feeder calf route. They eat less and gain the fastest at the younger ages. Buy calves and raise to 500# and sell.

The key is to fit your cattle to your feed supply, not the other way around.


----------



## Karin L (Oct 5, 2006)

They hay supply might also do with how long you plan on keeping the stockers. You may plan on keeping them over the winter to get them to a bigger size to get more $$$ so you can meet the market prices when they're at their highest.

Anyway here's the differences to consider between cow-calf and stocker:

-cows give you calves free which you can sell. Provided you put investment in to meet the cows' nutritional needs to wean a good calf.
-Cows eat twice as much as stockers.
-Cows can be a bit easier to handle especially if they are familiar with you and vice versa. It's also easier to cull the bad ones and keep the good ones.
-You gotta plan when to have your calving and when to breed your cows. Stockers: nope.
- Stockers need a higher plane of nutrition than cows. You can feed lower quality feed to cows, depending on their gestation/lactation cycles. Stockers need good feed all the time.
-You can't cull problem stockers like cows. You gotta keep them til it's time to sell them.
-You can pasture twice as many stockers as you can cows.
-You have to buy stockers in order to sell them. Plus there's the in-between expenses to contend with as well.
-You need to have a good eye to get the stockers you want. Same with cows.
-With cows, start small, like trav mentioned. Then watch your herd grow.
-Stockers, buy as many as your pasture stocking rate allows you to. I'd buy 500 lb weaners in the spring then sell them at ~800 lbs in the fall, if I were in your shoes. Repeat every year.


----------



## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

if this is right quote I have 40 acres of new land right now it is about 5 acres cleared the rest somwhat wooded

meaning you have 5 acres of land cleared and only have 40 acres all together and you live in Ok.

that is not very much land 5 acres to do anything with with a good stand of bermuda grass knee high..10 stockers would eat it down quick.... and 4 cows would also eat it down in no time

you need more land cleared first before cattle IMO


tjm


----------



## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

I agree with Myersfarm - 5 acres is not enough to have any sort of operation on except filling your own freezer and maybe thats where you should start. Then spend time bringing a bit more of your land into production.

I don't know how good your land is but you may be able to run up to 3 steers, one for your freezer and two to sell or buy one every 6 months and sell them as they become ready so that there is always two or three of mixed age.

Cheers,
Ronnie


----------



## Welshmom (Sep 7, 2008)

The other guys are right, you need much more pasture. Perhaps you can lease some cleared land nearby in addition to what you've got so far?

Other notes- payback (or loss!) on stockers is much quicker. A few months vs. years for cow/calf. I have done both, and I was able to make more money faster with stockers than cow/calf. Read Alan Nations books on stockers if you want to go that route. I did have trouble in my region finding beef calves, everyone here has dairy calves. So some of it is going to be regional, too.


----------



## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Acknowledge how much money you anticipate making from the effort and then I will give my response.


----------



## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

agmantoo said:


> Acknowledge how much money you anticipate making from the effort and then I will give my response.


:lookout:

 LOL


----------



## Texas Papaw (May 30, 2009)

Here are some great books:

http://www.powerflexfence.com/catalog01.25.html

I highly reccommend all of them. Gordon Hazards book is a must read for anyone in the cattle business. It really explains how to run a profitable stocker operation.

Good luck & happy trails

Brock


----------



## farmlifeusa (Mar 18, 2005)

Thank you for all the imput! I should have been more clear. I guess 5 acres that are cleared. 25 acres that are lightwooded, meaning knee high grass everywhere. 10 acres heavy wooded! For "agmantoo" question I'm not sure. I would like to turn around 15 to 20 cows per year at one point in the future. Is this rfreasonable?

I have 2 ponds on this land and a 300ft well. I would like to run a fence right down the middle for rotaztion grazing. I have a neighbor who has 1 sq mile of hay (usually 30-40 per round bale).


----------



## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

I would like to turn around 15 to 20 COWS per year 

10 to 12 calfs might wrok but not COWS

Calfs might work on a good year if you rotational graze in 3 acre plots buy at 250 pounds sell in the fall...keep in mind thats when everybody wants to buy so they will be higher to buy also everybody sells in fall so they will bring less when you sell


Here in Missouri a average year a cow and calf needs 3 acres of land and feed hay 3 months of the year that is a good rain year

30 acres some what cleared will not support but 7 or 8 cows here also you need a bull that will eat also with rotational grazing 10 fields 3 acre in each field that will mean running water so each field has water night mare

that is a good rain year now think of drought year



rotanial grazing will take more then just one fence run right down the middle

buying hay at $30 to $40 a bale will eat all your profitif not put you in the hole in no time if you run out of grass


----------



## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

farmlifeusa,

Here in western NC zone 7 I can, on a cow calf operation, meet the needs year around of the cow and calf on 1.6 acres. I do rotational grazing and feed no hay. In the Winter I feed stockpiled grass from the paddocks that were not grazed in the Fall. If you are considering this project as a money maker then I strongly suggest you read the "sticky" above. If it is hobby, then anything will work, it is just a question of how much money you want to spend.


----------



## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

Were I in your shoes, I'd call the local Extension agent and find out what your stocking rate is. 
Then come back and ask this question. But 30 acres of grass isn't going to let you run more than a handful, no matter which route you go... 

Stockers are probably the way to go, but you're not going to be able to run very many... :shrug:


----------

