Need advice - Never done this before...

[Inor]

Inor... excellent thread that I’ve followed. We have grown our little patch of Texas by a few more acres and I have considered buying a steer. We do have a small cattle ranch down the street and they run a few dozen cattle in back of our property.

But my hesitation is that my wife will name it, the grandkids will love it, it will become a pet and outlive all of us. Ugh.

That was definitely a concern with the first one. I half thought Mrs Inor would fall in love with it. In a way, she kind of did. She would go out and play with it and such. It would come to her when she called, etc. But when the time came to make him into steaks, she also had no problem at all. Part of it, I think, was they are so big (even when small) and they are never totally trustworthy. So it never became like a dog.

[Inor]

We just got Moth2 back from the butcher and he was a real beast. Live weight, he came in at 1556 pounds! That is HUGE for a Balancer beef. We ended up getting over 900 pounds of beef and had to buy a second freezer to hold it all!





Cattle prices were down last fall when we bought him, so we got him for a little less than the first Moth even though he was quite a bit bigger. However, due to our drought last fall/winter/spring and the extreme rise in feed prices, he did end up costing a little more per pound than last year's steer. - I think it is going to be around $3.60-$3.70 per pound. Still, the quality is SO much better than grocery store meat that we are okay with price. And since that is $3.70 per pound for EVERY cut, it is still a lot cheaper than the grocery store.

But even better... I found out the local feed mill will sell feed retail! (I did not think they would). Since I have to build a hay shack in the next couple months anyway, I will just add an additional storage area on it and buy feed from the mill by the ton for less than 1/3 what we have been paying at Tractor Supply! Also, we had a great monsoon season this year, so we will not have to buy hay until at least February or March!

All in all, I am calling this a victory and we are shitting in tall cotton!

[Prepared One]

All in all, I am calling this a victory and we are shitting in tall cotton!

That's probably what he was thinking all year while you were feeding him.

[Mad Trapper]

Glad this thread is active again. Last posts were before I joined OTP.

[Any Beastie]

Now that's quite the accomplishment! Good garden fertilizer and good human miracle grow all in one!

Would you ever consider trying pigs? You're the guy with BACON in his profile pic, just thought I'd ask.

[NewRiverGeorge]

Do you do all grain feed or grass? We tried some grass only beef last summer and I was not a fan.

This year we went with grain fed and the taste is great, much more marbling in the steaks too.

[Mad Trapper]

Do you do all grain feed or grass? We tried some grass only beef last summer and I was not a fan.

This year we went with grain fed and the taste is great, much more marbling in the steaks too.

Not to answer for Inor......

My cousin raises prime beef cattle, sells many as brood stock. Usual plan is to grow them on grass and cow corn, then finish any for the table with grain. He grows his own hay/corn and has plenty of pasture. I need to ask him if I can get in on the next steer he takes for the table, my other cousin is a retired butcher has all the tools, he will process for a cut of the beef.

[Inor]

Do you do all grain feed or grass? We tried some grass only beef last summer and I was not a fan.

This year we went with grain fed and the taste is great, much more marbling in the steaks too.

We feed him twice per day with grain. Then he gets as much alfalfa or wheat hay as he wants. They say not to feed a steer with alfalfa because they bloat but we have never had a problem.

Some folks say that you only need to grain them the last 6 weeks or so. But we have used grain the whole time on both of ours and the results have been outstanding. So I am not going to mess with success.

[Inor]

Now that's quite the accomplishment! Good garden fertilizer and good human miracle grow all in one!

Would you ever consider trying pigs? You're the guy with BACON in his profile pic, just thought I'd ask.

We were originally planning on raising a pig as well but several folks around us raise them. So it is just easier, for now, to let them raise the pigs and we just trade some beef for pork. We still have some land outside our fence line that I could fence off for pigs, but we are going to start doing meat chickens next year. So we want to see how much additional work that is going to be before signing up for pigs too.

This year is learning egg chickens and guinea hens. So far, they have been minimal extra work. If that holds true with meat chickens too, a pig would not be a problem. But we'll see...

[Slippy]

We just got Moth2 back from the butcher and he was a real beast. Live weight, he came in at 1556 pounds! That is HUGE for a Balancer beef. We ended up getting over 900 pounds of beef and had to buy a second freezer to hold it all!





Cattle prices were down last fall when we bought him, so we got him for a little less than the first Moth even though he was quite a bit bigger. However, due to our drought last fall/winter/spring and the extreme rise in feed prices, he did end up costing a little more per pound than last year's steer. - I think it is going to be around $3.60-$3.70 per pound. Still, the quality is SO much better than grocery store meat that we are okay with price. And since that is $3.70 per pound for EVERY cut, it is still a lot cheaper than the grocery store.

But even better... I found out the local feed mill will sell feed retail! (I did not think they would). Since I have to build a hay shack in the next couple months anyway, I will just add an additional storage area on it and buy feed from the mill by the ton for less than 1/3 what we have been paying at Tractor Supply! Also, we had a great monsoon season this year, so we will not have to buy hay until at least February or March!

All in all, I am calling this a victory and we are shitting in tall cotton!

My MAN!