Why do people have cattle if its so unprofitable?

[Boss Buck]

All cattleman lie a bit... Or there would not be so many.

[friscopaint]

My brother runs a bunch of cows, never can understand why. Definitely doesn't make enough off them for work involved and the hay he goes through. Its his hay but still cost money to grow and roll it.

[texan16]

We have a local cattle rancher. He is buying up land at $25,000 per acre and then clearing the land, having ponds built, installing irrigation for his grass(huge turret guns) and fencing it.

He will never make a dime on cows in this lifetime but chicken has made him a billionaire. If I was him I would be building chicken houses not cattle ranches.

$25,000 an acre ????? he wont be a billionaire for long.

[PondPopper]

It's seems to be some sort of "cowboy" status symbol in these parts.. I know guys that have 4 or 5. Just enough to be a PITA.. Lol

[JANKEII]

I have a couple of cows on my place for tax purpose.
Better than having the government controlling my property over wildlife exemption

[Atfulldraw]

people, including cattle people....lie.

Some get paid to not produce peanuts, some take a loss to offset other income, some just seem to like to poor-mouth for the sake of fooling people.

Make them an offer to buy their operation at ten times whatever they tell you they are making.

That's how you figure out the truth.

[doghouse]

All cattleman lie a bit... Or there would not be so many.

How many are there versus city dwellers?

[Atfulldraw]

$25,000 an acre ????? he wont be a billionaire for long.

did you actually do that math?

Him being broke is still about 40,000 acres away, and even if he paid twice what it's worth, he's still worth about 500 million more than most of us.

[friscopaint]

$25,000 an acre ????? he wont be a billionaire for long.

Near going rate up here, you could never pay for land farming it. Even in NW Oklahoma where its cheaper you could still not pay it off farming. Tack on a hundred thousand plus for wellls and irrigation pivots

[Calrob]

Some people were going to buy land regardless, may as well keep beef. I have cows and goats. Cows because Ive always been around them, goats for the money.

[brokeno]

$25,000 an acre. How would he like some in Gonzales county, Texas

[jds247]

It cost me 1.25 a day per head to keep a cow. That was 4 years ago and I figured everything from gas to grass.. anything that went toward the cow was wrote down for a year.. when I started 15 years ago on my own calves were around 1.30 a lb I looked the other day and steers were going for 1.45 trucks are 3 times as much feed is 4 times as high. Hay fuel etc everything has atleast doubled in price .. except the price you are paid for your calf at the sale barn.. I ran between 100 and 140 head for about 10 years.. I miss it and will eventually own a few head to mess with but it's a bunch of work for one person..

My grand paw told me if I wanted to make a small fortune in the cattle business you have to start with a large one..

[Moose]

Why do people have cattle if its so unprofitable?

Cattle prices are down significantly right now, $250 profit per calf would be on the extreme high side. I can assure you that unless your land is paid for and you’re running at least 400-500 head then you’re probably not gonna make enough to live off of. Most ranchers are asset rich and cash poor.


Best saying I’ve heard is most people are still ranching/farming because they’ve got bills to pay, but the only reason they’ve got bills to pay is because they’re still ranching/farming.....[emoji846]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[EastTexasMan]

Only way to make money in cattle is in numbers. You have to run a bunch of loads a year of feeder steers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[friscopaint]

Only way to make money in cattle is in numbers. You have to run a bunch of loads a year of feeder steers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is how my Mennonite friends in oklahoma operate. They raise irrigated corn and peanuts for silage then plant rye.