How Did Everybody Get Started In The Cattle Business?

[Bawndoh]

I am wondering how everyone got started.  Their "herds" that is.  Whether you have 5 or 500 head. 
Personally, I aquired all of my 4-H heifers (my Father let me keep them as my own every year) from his herd.  He also was kind enough to purchase 2 PB RA females for me.  One never had a live calf and was sold as a motherless 5 year old.  The other has had about 5 daughters retained in my herd.  I also went ahead and bought myself a PB RA a few years ago.  I am up to about 10-15 head of retained females.  None of them are great cows, but they work.  I do not want to have to borrow money from the bank to purchase better cattle.  I have decided to use AI, (and some time), to progress my herd into better looking, sounder, thicker, more voluminous cattle.  It may take me 5 years to get "better cattle", but then I will never have loan payments. 

How many of you did the same thing as me?  How many decided to run to the banker and take out a huge loan and get started right away?  What do you think is smarter?

Explain

 

[duck213]

my dad had cattle and my friends wanted me to get some to show. so we started looking around and found this bred reg. heifer for $900. so we bought her and now she has a 1 year old bull and another on the way. (clapping) i "paid" for her by working harder and doing anything i could for my dad. they are the only ones i have but I'm happy with them and that's what counts. I'm still hoppin to get more here soon.

Kayla

 

[justme]

I started off with a couple lambs...sold them thru the 4-H sale.  Then bought dairy feeder calves and progressed to steers.  Went to college, managed a hereford farm in Kentucky and got married.  My poor husband was going to buy me a steer to keep me "happy" but I bought 2 heifers.  Every year we've added.  Sold the farm in Ohio moved to Missouri and now run around 30 or so head.  Still have one of the 2 original heifers.  Went from Club Calves to now primarily Maine Anjou.  Loving almost every minute of it!

 

[TJ]

I had bottle beef calves in part of my back yard when I was very young. 

 

[Show Dad]

I started with a T-bone on the grill and it has grown from there.

Grew up in the Great American Desert of western Kansas working with cattle and sod busting. Learned how to feed cattle from two of the best in commercial cattle. (Also learned some other things my mother wished I hadn't). Showing cattle is new to me but raising good carcass animals are not. But we have started an Angus (both red and black) herd while letting the kids retain ownership of their show stock. It's my dream that they will have the seeds for their own herds if they so wish.

As for me the cattle are stress relief and my future retirement income (or tax shelter )
<alien>

 

[ShowmanQ]

Got my start when I was like 13 showing dairy feeders, got bored with them.Took out a $5,000 youth loan from the USDA when I was 13 and bought some Angud cow/calf pairs, got shafted and di not know it at the time, but quickly figured it out a year later when I had to have my dad drive me 45 minutes away to get my reg. papers that "had not arrived yet." Y live and you learn. I had grown to a decent amount of Angus and commercial cows of very low quality when one day I had the strangest thing happen, I got bitten by the infamous "roan bug." Been raising Registered Shorthorns for about 3 years now, love it!!! I have had several opportunites to invest in some great genetice in the past year, so next year is looking very hopeful. Fallen in love with the Purebred show scene. 4 years ago you could not have handed me a set of clippers without tying me down, now you can't get them away from me. I have been helped by many great folks out there, and that is now what I strvie to do for any and all upcoming "newbies" willing to learn......come take a look at the calves and I will be sure to get you the full story, unedited and in full context, just be prepared to pack a lunch  (lol)

 

[Malinda]

I'm fourth generation.

When I was 5 one of the neighbor's Holstein cows died having a heifer calf. Dad gave the neighbor $5 for the calf and I raised her on a bottle. When she had her first calf I sold it, paid my Dad back his $5 and my feed bill. I saved the money from each year's Holstein calf and by the time I was 12 I had enough money to buy 6 half blood Charolais heifers or one purebred. I decided to buy the six half bloods and work my way up to purebred. I had up to 35 Charolais cows at a time and had them for 30 years (1962 to 1992). I fed out around 70 fat cattle each year that I siold privately for five cents a pound over market.

I had steers and breeding heifers in 4-H from 1960 through 1968.

All my money went into savings and I was fortunate enough to have enough saved to have my three years of nursing school paid for without a loan.

It is not how many cows you own, it's which ones. You can build up in numbers, sell them and buy less cattle, but up a notch in quality and keep doing that until you get the quality to meet your goal. Let's say you work your way up to 15 head, sell them and buy 5 better ones. Those 5 better ones can make you more money (and cost less to feed and less time to manage) than the 15 did. Just keep repeating that until you get to where you want.

But, it all started for mw with a $5 heifer.

I wish you the very best of luck.

Malinda

 

[showgirl2010]

Im a fourth generation also.  Great grandparents on my mommas side had dairy catlle and were pretty big into that, I guess.  Grandpa's on both side have really nice beef cattle and now my momma and daddy have a herd.  That is how I was influenced so deeply.  So I guess ya could say it is litterally in my blood and I love it!

My dad gave me and my two sisters a heifer when we were born.  He gave us a choice and a about a year old we would choose our heifer which was born in the same year we were.  Well, of course they've all died now.  All being considered aged cows...doesn't that make me feel old at the young age of 16...lol.  Well I got started into the PB Salers 2 years after we made the trip to KS to buy a herd bull.  I bought my first heifer with the money from my steers and then a few more.  This year I took out a farm loan from the USDA and I purchased the best ones of the lot.  Two red heifers and one misfit black heifer that I always completely forget about because she runs with my dads herd.  I believe I am up to six head now and that is as much as my dad is allowing me until we get a bigger farm. 

Thats my story.

Jamie

 

[justintime]

Born into it as well. My grandfather started the registered herd in 1917 with some purchases from Scotland, which was where he was born. When I was 7 my father came home from a dispersal sale with a white bred heifer and told me it was mine. From then on I have had purebred Shorthorns but have also had purebreds females from at least 7 other breeds along the way as well. I have also had lots of commercials as well.

 

[GRsimm]

Born into it and started showing with a bottle calf and have never stopped yet, now I have my neices and nephews to so until I find someone that can put up with me to start on my own lol

 

[AAOK]

Here's my story, & I'm stickin' to it!

http://www.clubcalves.com/asklundhistory.htm

 

[William]

When I was 11 I got my first bottle calf heifer. The next fall when she was bred I bought another bred heifer with money that I borrowed from my grandpa. They calved the next spring and with that money I continued buying show steers and saving that money that I earned off of them. Two years ago I bought a registered Angus heifer and last year I bought a really nice show heifer. I am up to four cows now and a new heifer is coming tomorrow. I am planning to continue on increasing my herd.

 

[showgirl2010]

When I was 11 I got my first bottle calf heifer. The next fall when she was bred I bought another bred heifer with money that I borrowed from my grandpa. They calved the next spring and with that money I continued buying show steers and saving that money that I earned off of them. Two years ago I bought a registered Angus heifer and last year I bought a really nice show heifer. I am up to four cows now and a new heifer is coming tomorrow. I am planning to continue on increasing my herd.

Congrats on the new heifer!  Its always excitin' gettin' a new addition to the family.  Just sad my dad is making me stop buying so many.  I get bidder happy... (lol)

Jamie

 

[TMJ Show Cattle]

2 yrs. ago  i got a young farmers loan and so did my sister we both bought a young heifer. We traded  both of those for two other heifers  and bought another heifer out of Iowa. We sold the first 2 at the national top 40 sale. We bought another heifer at that sale(the national top 40).In March we bought a heat seeker heifer.  Then in April 2008 bought another heifer  out of Oklahoma. (This is just a small club calf operation owned and operated by 3 sisters) Now we have  4 bred heifers and a steer. (The steer was born in January and is now for sale)
                          Thanks
                                  Mickayla(TMJ Show Cattle)   

 

[Davis Shorthorns]

Well after I graduated high school I lived in town renting places for a few years.  I decided that I hated paying for someone elses house so I started looking for a place of my own.  I just happened to mention it to a buddy of mine and he said that his grandpa's neighbors were selling.  I contacted them and we came to a deal on a beautiful 80 acres of prime flint hills.  My parents and I talked about it for a while and decided that we should raise shorthorns.  That is what my great grandparents raised and my grandma showed back in the 30's and 40's.  Now I am here today. 

 

[OH Breeder]

We had a large family. Mom and dad took kids in and raised them as their own. The farm fed the family. As I grew up the cattle help pay for my college and then were food for our growing family. I was out of it for a couple of years and then came back to it. I went back to the first guy who I had bought a heifer from when i was 12. Bought a registered shorthorn and then started collecting cows from large dispersal sales. Older cows that had a few good calves left in them. We cut back last and this year due to grain and hay prices. We are down to 15 cows. Rent a clean up bull and we have 3 show heifers and 2 steers. Family has always farmed as far back i as I can see. The shorhtorns came in the 60's.
At one time we raised 15 feeders, 500 brolers, 50 laying hens, 55 head of suffolk sheep, 45 purebred angus cows, 5 shorthorn cows, and 250 hogs farrow to finish. Just do cattle today and few broilers

 

[jasper]

As a young girl my family in Ky. always had farms. We maoved to Fl when I was about 3 or 4 and we never continued the farming stuff.
My kids love animals and last yr my son showed his 1st hog. with the idea that if he stuck with it, he could move up to a steer or heiffer this yr.  Well, as it turned out he now has a steer and a heiffer. I am currently looking for pasture to lease,
because we love it. We buy books and I spend ALOT of time on the internet, researching. It has just been a wonderful experience for both of us.
It is my goal to have a small herd, just enough to turn a little money. We are thinking of AI'ing the heiffer in Dec and keeping the calf. ( we were planning to sell her at a show somewhere)
these pictures are about a month or so old and not very good.