Advice needed from the GS cattle ranchers

[BBReezen]

Good pens to get them up in and feed them and work them will be your best time spent. It will make life easier. Tractor and cattle trailer would be important to, or a hay buggy. Like said above stay away from hay production unless you have someone come in and do it for u.
The rest you can kinda add as you go. Good fence is a must. And can be the most time consuming

Dont try to be a cowboy either. The easier you work them, the easier they work for you. And never let one not be penned while working them. You'll never get her in there again, and then the rest will start to do the same. Even if you aren't working them, pen them every now and then and just feed them I the pens. Then it's not such a bad place.

[AndyRealtree]

Don't leave your trailer parked on the property where it'll be easy access. Best cattle to steal are the ones that someone left you a trailer to haul them out with. As everyone has already stated, go with some Brahman influenced cattle. Better heat tolerant and insect resistant if being in that area. They wont be as marketable as the CAB cattle, but black cows don't do well on the coast. You might look into beefmasters, my mom said that trend seems to be sorta coming back around.

Definitely is in the show stock world. Huge numbers of beefmasters at every show my sister went to. The numbers for them were what Herefords and angus were for me when I was in school. At the HLSR she had like 36 classes of around 20. It was nuts. I showed in HS as well and beefmasters we're never that popular. Maybe that's why I won my buckles..

[GR5]

All sale barns have pick-up people. They will come and help you load your stock in their trailer and carry them to the auction for app $125

[Pistol&Pearls]

We raise registered red brangus as well.

My family and I raise registered red brangus cattle just south of sugarland/houston.

We had 60 head of registered red brangus on In laws land. Good tractor, bailer, hay storage, feed storage, and a barn was what we had to keep it going. Trailer to make vet trips and sale barn trips and go to work. Looking to try to get something back this way as I too need some tax relief but don't want that many head here. A good circle pen with squeeze chute will make life easy also.

[KR-oldmexico]

I've always wanted to raise a few cattle on a small farm when I got close to retirement. Not for profit, but maybe a break-even hobby to keep me moving. Well, fate has moved that timeline up a bit for me.
1)My wife just got control of 300 acres of heirs property on the Natchez trace.
2) we are in SERIOUS need of better tax write offs.
3) One of my customers wants to trade my Canadian fly fishing trip for a certified registered black angus bull. And will cut me a serious deal if I want cows.
I have the ag extension guy coming next week to advise me, but he knows the place and says that the pasture needs to be recleared but its good cattle land. Has a 4 acre spring fed lake so water should be ok.
Question: I know nothing about this and want to start really slow and small. What basic equipment would I need for a small scale operation? ie tractor, pens, barn etc. Also, i work in the area about once a month. Any advice appreciated fellas, thanks!

There are plenty of local people to help you for a small fee. No need to buy a bunch of equipment and build barns, etc.... Be careful who you become associated with in this business, there are a lot of experts that don't have a clue in the cattle business..

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[denowt]

Dont try to be a cowboy either. The easier you work them, the easier they work for you. And never let one not be penned while working them. You'll never get her in there again, and then the rest will start to do the same. Even if you aren't working them, pen them every now and then and just feed them I the pens. Then it's not such a bad place.

This is probably the best advice so far, no matter what breed of cattle you decide to get, especially the part about not letting one stay out of pen.
We have 3 different small places, running 25, 19, and 8 head on them. Most of the cattle will follow us into the pens with a bucket/sack of cubes. There are a few that we have to walk around/behind to "encourage" them to join the rest of the herd.
I know other people that like to play cowboy with horses, 4wheelers, etc. They play rodeo every time they need to pen their cattle.
Their cows run and hide whenever they drive onto the place.
Ours run toward us when we drive up.

[BBReezen]

This is probably the best advice so far, no matter what breed of cattle you decide to get, especially the part about not letting one stay out of pen.
We have 3 different small places, running 25, 19, and 8 head on them. Most of the cattle will follow us into the pens with a bucket/sack of cubes. There are a few that we have to walk around/behind to "encourage" them to join the rest of the herd.
I know other people that like to play cowboy with horses, 4wheelers, etc. They play rodeo every time they need to pen their cattle.
Their cows run and hide whenever they drive onto the place.
Ours run toward us when we drive up.

When I was in high school, I was out spot lighting and saw a few of our cows out. Got an empty corn sack out of the back of my truck, shook it a few times and I couldn't get the gate open fast enough.

[lab man]

First thing to look at in selecting a breed is to talk to people that are ranching in the same area. Get their advice on what work well in your area. Also try to figure out where you are going to be marketing your calves (sale barn, feedlots, etc.) and see what breeds they want. For someone new to it I would suggest staying away from F1 Brafords and F1 Brangus. They can get be a little high headed for someone new to cattle. The European breeds tend to be pretty docile for the most part and would be good for a beginner.

Second is to not skimp ($$$) on your bull. He contributes to half of your calf crop. A few sorry cow will not hurt you as bad as a sorry bull. Find someone you can trust to help you evaluate the bulls if you are not comfortable selecting one.

If you are not going to be able to check on them daily while they are calving I would recommend that you not get heifers and get cows that have already calved before.

Read up on cross breeding cattle. Yes angus brings more per pound but if you cross breed and get the hybrid vigor that comes with it then you can make up the difference in the added pounds that the cross bred calves will gain over a pure bred angus calf.

Good luck and have fun with it.

[Hawkins]

If you are only going to be there once a month and new to cattle I would not run yearlings.

I would take up your friend on his offer on some good middle age cows that know the routine. Good cattle that are from the same ranch and are cube broke and easy to handle will make things a lot easier.

The sale barn isn't a good place for a newbie, although they have people that will put cattle together for people. I don't know where the Natchez Trace is, but some people are suggesting F1 or brammer cows. "Sometimes" that breed of cattle isn't the easiest to handle. If you need eared cows I'd go with brangus, I have some at the house and they are easy to handle and so are their calves. My 2 cents.

[Russ81]

For those that are saying Brahman influence cattle are "high headed" and hard too handle need to come see ours. They come to a feed bucket and know my folks green Kawasaki mule is the treats mobile. You try to work them with rodeo or drugstore hands your going to have a show.

Work them gentle, don't scream and holler and don't lie to them when it comes to a feed sack and they will follow you anywhere.

Some yearling heifers we're keeping up by the house while their heads heal from dehorning

They were not happy the floating mule didn't have a sack of feed, but an ear scratch was appreciated

[jay07ag]

Good set of working pens and a good squeeze shoot are a must!!

[Hawkins]

I know what you mean Russ, thats why I said "sometimes". My daughter hopped out of the truck the other day and almost got her lunch ate by a Gert momma, scared me to death. And a ranch I help work cattle on has a pasture of tigerstripes that are plum crazy when you try to pen them. All breeds will have a wild one, I've just seen it more in brahma influenced cattle. Especially if he will only see them once a month.

[lab man]

Russ those are some good looking girls.

[txnduckhntr]

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[txnduckhntr]

Buy some lightweight black hide or char cross calves. 250-350lbs and you can run them for 9-12 months and sell them at 1000lbs.

If I could find 25 char char/angus crosses I would pay good money for them today. Love me a smoke colored cow.

you want stockers or heifers??? i got lots of both..char x angus+, gonna start pre-conditioning heifers approx June 1st, and hauling the steers and culls around that date...