# Contract Growing Cattle



## ANewman (Sep 20, 2012)

My wife and just bought her parents house which sits in the middle of 58 acres. Her dad sold his cows in July. I'm gonna rent the acreage with the intention of putting row crops on most of it and haying the rest. I've been toying with the idea of getting into cattle. I've never had any and have very limited experience with them. Right now I'm contemplating sowing down 40-50 acres (aprox. 8-10 acres not tillable) in annual ryegrass and clover mid-end of sept. My thinking is I could graze some calves (about 400#) starting in Nov. til mid April and get them up to the 700# range. I'm leaning toward trying to finding someone locally who could furnish the calves and pay me based on the amount of gain.

Is this a doable idea?

Have any of y'all done this?

What kind of stocking rate should I be looking at?

I know that it's not as simple as it sounds, but I'm looking at it as a piece of the pie kinda thing. If I could make a few thousand over the winter on the calves it would offset my rent. Then I'm could cut it for hay about mid May and plant beans. Am I being overly optimistic or overlooking anything that should be obvious?

BTW I'm in southern middle Tennessee about 40 mi from Alabama border


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

Cash rent is probably the only option unless I am about to learn something about There vs Here.


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## Fowllife (Sep 10, 2010)

You could try to background some calves, but I don't know how well it would work for you. I don't think they would add a whole lot of weight over the winter on just grazing, maybe they would in your warmer climate though. You would have a good chunk of change into it to get started too. A #400 calf @ $2-2.50 is going to run you $800-1,000 per head. 50 acres at 2-3 head per acre would be $80k-$150k for calves. Someone from you area may have a better idea of prices (Tim maybe?) Thats a lot of money to invest and hope to make a few grand off of it. Especially when you factor in shipping, death lose, water, ect. Depending on if you caan find a source for that many calves, and an outlet for someone to finish them you may have to go the sale barn route for both buying & selling.

It can be done, people do it all the time. Personally though I would not take the risk with these high priced feeders. That's a lot of cash on the line for a little bit of gain. If they stall out, you lose. If they get sick and die, you lose. Being new to calves, a train wreck could be very expensive.

I agree with Nitram, renting it out would be a better fit. If you want to sow it this year, find someone to costume graze it?

It's hard for me to recommend someone get into cattle right now since it's never good to get in at a peak. I do think prices will be lever to slightly higher the next couple years though, so maybe it wouldn't be too bad. I would go the cow calf route though.


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## ANewman (Sep 20, 2012)

Fowlife, those are the concerns I have too. That's why I was thinking of contracting with someone else. Basically they retain ownership of the calves and I would provide the land and feed, therefore eliminating some of the risk on my end. I don't own the land. I'm cash renting it from my FIL. I'm just looking to get some income off of it through the winter.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I would not personally buy cattle for a short term profit right now. An established cow/calf operator is going to make money. Investing in stockers at the current price and needing to show a profit to pay for cattle and rent is more of a gamble than I would risk with the current stocker market. A few cents per pound can be the difference is breaking even or making a profit when the plan is to only keep them short term.

Having to rent the land from your in-laws then trying to re-rent it might be tough. Locals do not like to pay by the pound of gain. They would rather have a fixed price per unit, so much per month per acre or so much per month per animal unit.

Grazing a winter blend for us is to supplement only. We depend on hay to carry the cattle. We only drill 20 lb. of seed per acre. To try grazing alone we would need to drill 5 times that amount. Just cost prohibitive for me when you include the amount of fertilizer needed to feed that much grass.

Owning land and trying to figure how to best utilize it for a profit can be a challenge here in the Southeast.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

How about wheat and straw then beans?

Regards, Mike


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## ANewman (Sep 20, 2012)

I don't really want to go the cow/ calf right now. One, because I would have my money tied up for two years. Two, I want to use the land for row crops come spring.

I was thinking about drilling 50#/ acre. I have access to broiler litter. Including drill rent I'd have roughly $95/ acre in it. I would also have to supplement with some hay


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## ANewman (Sep 20, 2012)

Vol said:


> How about wheat and straw then beans?
> 
> Regards, Mike


IMO I'd take too big a hit on my bean crop. Wheat wouldn't come off til around the first of July. The guy I help some had about 300 acres of wheat last year and it was almost a disaster


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

ANewman said:


> I don't really want to go the cow/ calf right now. One, because I would have my money tied up for two years. Two, I want to use the land for row crops come spring.
> 
> I was thinking about drilling 50#/ acre. I have access to broiler litter. Including drill rent I'd have roughly $95/ acre in it. I would also have to supplement with some hay


I agree with not getting into a cow/calf operation. Start up cost would be unbelievable.

You are far enough south that winter grass should do well. I wonder if there would be a market for it as hay? Some around here pull the cows off and bale it for their own use. Would it be worth it to plant and bale for the hay alone?


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## ANewman (Sep 20, 2012)

Tim/South said:


> I agree with not getting into a cow/calf operation. Start up cost would be unbelievable.
> You are far enough south that winter grass should do well. I wonder if there would be a market for it as hay? Some around here pull the cows off and bale it for their own use. Would it be worth it to plant and bale for the hay alone?


If the calf idea will work I plan on cutting and baling about mid May, keeping it for the next winter, possibly selling some of it. In my area I figure I could probably get $30-$40/ roll (4x5) barn stored, maybe a little more. I'm not due what kind of yield to expect...6 rolls/ acre??? Regular grass hay brings about $25.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

ANewman said:


> IMO I'd take too big a hit on my bean crop. Wheat wouldn't come off til around the first of July. The guy I help some had about 300 acres of wheat last year and it was almost a disaster


 If wheat comes off too late for your liking to go back with beans what about barley? Here barley is ready by the first of June. Oats are ready to combine mid June or you could take them off as hay in early May.


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## Fowllife (Sep 10, 2010)

IMO, you are trying too hard to squeeze the little bit of extra profit out. I can't really see you making enough to justify the effort. Unless you need to do something over the winter I would just row crop it like you planned on.

If it is hilly or you want some winter cover they go ahead and seed it for a winter cover crop, then hay it in the spring. From the sounds of you setup I don't think I would mess with stockers just yet.


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