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Posted: 5/7/2017 9:23:18 AM EDT
Here is my soon to be new home.  Originally, this was supposed to be 14 acres.  Owner was mistaken.  Only 10 acres.  Still in love with the place.  


My question is, on the 9 acres (home on +- 1 acre) how many cattle can I raise?  I'm not in it for money.  Just want to raise a couple to butcher as needed.  
Planning on a garden and greenhouse on plot with house.  Also planning to add onto house.  1100 square feet as of now.

There is no creek or anything that runs through it, but good water well, and nice size trough in middle of acreage.
Link Posted: 5/7/2017 10:02:24 AM EDT
[#1]
In for interest.

We do goats and pigs on 6 acres and rotational grazing is a must on the smaller parcels.  Would really like to try a beef cow but it's not in the cards right now.
Link Posted: 5/7/2017 10:08:45 AM EDT
[#2]
My parents have acreage close by.  Planning on getting a couple heavy bred cows from the auction.  Castrate males, and raise for slaughter.  Any heifers, I can throw them in with my dads bulls.  I would like a milk cow as well.  Planning on a few honey bee hives.
Link Posted: 5/7/2017 11:41:37 AM EDT
[#3]
Link Posted: 5/7/2017 11:56:09 AM EDT
[#4]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


What exactly do you want to do?  Give us more information. I want to keep a few pairs on my property.  2 or 3 cow/calf pairs.  Castrate the males to feed out and butcher.  Not really wanting to feed much.  I can purchase a few bales of hay (or barter with my father)

ETA:  Are you talking about putting the heifers in with your dad's bulls for breeding, then bringing them back home? This is it exactly.

Are you gonna fence the whole property? Or pastures in the open areas?  The whole property is fenced already.  Not really planning on creating any new fencing unless necessary.

Or what?  Also, would like a milk cow.  This might entail a separate area fenced off.  Not sure about that, as I am totally unfamiliar with dairy cows.  I would also need a small barn or lean-to, but I can build that.  I'm fair with a hammer and nails.

OH...and CONGRATULATIONS!  That's a beautiful piece of land.
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 Thanks.  It has taken me a while to save up enough to do this.  Got a pretty good deal and managed to keep back about 85k to add on to the house.
Link Posted: 5/7/2017 12:10:59 PM EDT
[#5]
Link Posted: 5/8/2017 1:24:30 PM EDT
[#6]
Link Posted: 5/8/2017 1:46:27 PM EDT
[#7]
If you are going to raise a couple head of cattle for the freezer, skip the cows and just get steers as needed. Unless you want your own breeding stock or dairy, the cow won't help you.

As far as "how many can I raise", that depends on a whole list of questions:

Breed: I assume standard American full size breeds. I say this because I can put 2 Dexter cattle on the acreage required for 1 American breed.
Pasture growth rate/density: how well does grass grow in your area? NM and MN are vastly different on how much "food" is on a given acre
Pasture quality: What is growing on your pasture? Random weeds? What is growing matters.
Additional feeding: Are you willing to buy in hay?
Damage to pasture: Unless you use rotational grazing, they will eat down pasture in short order. Butter zone is to rotate when the grass gets down to about 8-10" high, for optimum re-growth rate. Depending on your area and that year, you may have to confine them to a particular area to destroy, while feeding hay. This would save your other two pastures, and allow them to grow back up as fast as possible. Once you destroy a pasture, its HARD to get it back w/o re-seeding.

So, using MN numbers for cattle/acre for a full size breed, you may have 1 at a time with no supplemental feeding (assuming you have a proper mix of grasses/legumes growing). You can shove probably 4 in there if you divide your pasture area into 2 or better yet 3 areas for rotation and buy in hay.

IF IT WERE ME:
I would buy in 1 steer every spring, since it takes about 2 years to get to full size on primarily grass fed cows. If you keep in rotation, you will never have more than 3 at a time on the property, and 2 over winter. This would be sustainable on your land (assuming things grow well there) and minimize buying in hay while maximizing beef in the freezer. And before you go grass fed on your cows, buy some grass fed beef. It tastes different than corn fed beef. I personally don't care for grass fed beef. So, I have our steers raised with some corn along with choice grass and pasture. 
Link Posted: 5/8/2017 2:29:29 PM EDT
[#8]
The easy thumbnail answer around here is 2 acres of pasture per cattle.  That 2 acres per is total meaning you can have 4 separate areas of 1/2 acre each per cattle.  Even then when you have very dry months you'll probably have to get some hay/feed.  You'll have to cross fence your property to 2-4 separate pastures and plant different grass to get growth in different times of the year and move your animals around to different pasture to feed year round.
Link Posted: 5/8/2017 2:34:05 PM EDT
[#9]
You might be able to have 1 or 2 cows on that, at most....unless you are buying hay.

Your best bet is to get in contact with your local extension office and talk with them.  They exist exactly to answer these questions.
Link Posted: 5/8/2017 2:37:45 PM EDT
[#10]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
The easy thumbnail answer around here is 2 acres of pasture per cattle.  That 2 acres per is total meaning you can have 4 separate areas of 1/2 acre each per cattle.  Even then when you have very dry months you'll probably have to get some hay/feed.  You'll have to cross fence your property to 2-4 separate pastures and plant different grass to get growth in different times of the year and move your animals around to different pasture to feed year round.
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Tx and Fl are going to have vastly different stocking rates due to how productive the land is for forage.
In some parts of the usa, the stocking rate can be 1 cow per 24 acres, others it could be 1 cow per ac.

You need to figure that out for yourself....

And, you need to pay attention to how grazed it is.

Good rule of thumb is "take half, leave half" and make sure that each pasture makes it to seed at least once every other or every 3rd year if you want the forage to remain productive.
Link Posted: 5/8/2017 4:13:58 PM EDT
[#11]
Tag for knowledge. Will be getting 65 acres of pasture/ timber land here soon in Iowa and would love to be self employed raising cattle and maybe have a part time\ full time job on the side.
Link Posted: 5/8/2017 4:57:08 PM EDT
[#12]
One of many reasons that I bought this property was to save money on bills.  While I still have to pay taxes and insurance, I will have NO mortgage.  I should be able to feed them, if necessary.  Hay is a non-issue.  My family has land close by (within 5 miles) and cuts hay every year.  
Winters here are very mild.  This property is about an hour SW of Houston.  I think we had 2 days of freezing weather last year.  And that was just barely below freezing.  Maybe 6 hours freezing temps out of 24 hours on those couple of days.  

Thanks for all the advice.  This may take a couple years anyway.  The grass is eaten down pretty good right now.  The guy that was renting it has horses there now.  We told him we wouldn't be assholes about it if it took a couple months to find a place to put them.
Link Posted: 5/8/2017 5:32:17 PM EDT
[#13]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
One of many reasons that I bought this property was to save money on bills.  While I still have to pay taxes and insurance, I will have NO mortgage.  I should be able to feed them, if necessary.  Hay is a non-issue.  My family has land close by (within 5 miles) and cuts hay every year.  
Winters here are very mild.  This property is about an hour SW of Houston.  I think we had 2 days of freezing weather last year.  And that was just barely below freezing.  Maybe 6 hours freezing temps out of 24 hours on those couple of days.  

Thanks for all the advice.  This may take a couple years anyway.  The grass is eaten down pretty good right now.  The guy that was renting it has horses there now.  We told him we wouldn't be assholes about it if it took a couple months to find a place to put them.
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If you are looking to save money on bills, protein is where its at. We have been doing this for a while now, and you save nothing on veggies. Also, if you generally buy conventional, it is barely worth it. IF you eat organically (or want to) then you CAN save considerable amounts. Seems you have support from a working farm/acreage, so that will be VITAL to actually turning a "profit" on your efforts. Ask away or PM me if you want to discuss the economics of micro homesteading further.
Link Posted: 5/8/2017 6:00:29 PM EDT
[#14]
Link Posted: 5/9/2017 11:43:38 PM EDT
[#15]
I would suggest buying steer(s) and penning them for feeding out.  You can turn them out to forage but not much land to do more.  They will need fresh water 24/7 and cover for bad weather.  Most folks I know raise steers for meat in pens.  
Link Posted: 5/13/2017 9:55:37 PM EDT
[#16]
Tag for interest. In two years when I am done with college, I plan to raise steers for meat while farming full time. I don't know whether or not I will keep breeding stock.
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