Beef Cattle Question

[Okie4570]

Got curious about acres planted east side vs west side and had a little time to kill. If you take a line down I35, from Kay County down to Love County and the counties east, 42 counties, there were roughly 700,000 acres in crops in 2017 (Kay and Noble have 270,000 of those 700,000 acres). West of that line, Grant, Garfield and Alfalfa alone have roughly 880,000 acres total, 635,000 just in wheat. If I get some more time I'll include the other western counties.

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publicati..._Resources/County_Profiles/Oklahoma/index.php

 

[CHenry]

So it's realative I guess, you say there's a lot, I say there's not. I can tell you first hand there's not lol.

And you'd be wrong.
Not as much as out NW I'm sure but there is quite a bit in the east as @SoonerP226 stated

 

[Okie4570]

And you'd be wrong.
Not as much as out NW I'm sure but there is quite a bit in the east as @SoonerP226 stated

Nope.........

 

[Oklahomabassin]

If you’re just looking to fill your freezer, I would suggest forgetting about raising your own and buy a kids FFA/4H show steer after they done with show season. I can assure you that you won’t buy the same quality animal for yourself and won’t be willing to feed to the extent those have been fed.
My brother and I have been splitting my niece’s show steer for the last couple or three years, and it’s been the best beef I’ve ever eaten. Splitting the entire cost, it’s ended up being around $4.50/lb which includes professional processing, and we end up with about 250lbs each.
This would be a HUGE time, money, and trouble saver for you, and you’ll thank me later.

Absolutely right. Lock this thread up.

 

[TwoForFlinching]

Got curious about acres planted east side vs west side and had a little time to kill. If you take a line down I35, from Kay County down to Love County and the counties east, 42 counties, there were roughly 700,000 acres in crops in 2017 (Kay and Noble have 270,000 of those 700,000 acres). West of that line, Grant, Garfield and Alfalfa alone have roughly 880,000 acres total, 635,000 just in wheat. If I get some more time I'll include the other western counties.

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publicati..._Resources/County_Profiles/Oklahoma/index.php

I worked through college with a farmer that had land in Kay and Grant counties. We cut, burned and plowed some 30k acres of wheat every summer. Never a shortage of things to do those summers.

 

[cowadle]

i can sum up your question in a few words. "the money you will earn in the cow industry is the money you don't spend".

sorry re read your post and have a better answer. build a pen with water tank and room for a few head. maybe .5 acre or so. go to okc west of tulsa or the local salebarn and buy a steer or bull calf about 600 lbs or more. bring home put in pen and feed some medium quality hay with some alfalfa flake or two or protien. a little corn until about 1200 lbs and haul to the butcher. watch the poop and keep it looking about like a pumpkin pie and not runny or hard turds and you will be ok. if the turds start to stack up add protien or alfalfa gradually until it loosens up and keep it there. figure about 3 lbs per day gain.

 

[CHenry]

3 cows will feed your family and pay for expenses.
Its a fun hobby to me and very gratifying to cut into that steak you raised yourself at a cost of 3-4 bucks a pound for all of it.
Do it small like you said and you will be fine.
Plan to calve in March. Gestation is 11 months if I remember correct. so I always went to vet for shots wormer, nutting and artificial incimination. Dont own a bull for 3 heifers or your cost go up a lot as well as damage to fence when it wants out.
Wein/separate calves at 3 months or at first sign you see them eating green grass.
Rotate pasture every 30 - 50 days if your pastures are 3 acres in size or less, less often if larger - this depends on grass quality.
While pastures are empty, fertilize and spray preemergent and roundup in Feb.
Sell excess calves at the auction in Oct so you don't have to pay for hay to feed them.
Slaughter one as needed and grass feed for good cheap beef or grain feed for 120 days with sweet feed. The OSU extension agent will educate you on feeding.
Basically start them ar 800 lbs, feed 3% of their body weight a day in grain and all the hay they want (they are pened up away from any green pasture or exercise, and they will gain 3 lbs a day. So I used a spreadsheet to calculate the amount of grain to feed as they gain each day. Mine always finished out a pound or 2 within the target of 1250 pounds. (this information came from the OSU agent)

This is what I did and it worked out well. I made $2000 a year or more selling calves and spent $500 on sweet feed when feeding one. Spent an unknown amount on hay but estimated $200-$300 per winter.
I made a little beer money and had top shelf grade A beef in the freezer.

I raises red or black angus.
PM me for further questions if you want.

 

[Parks 788]

My ag teacher was from Henretta. He said when he moved to my town he found out real quick farmers don't talk about the acreage they have they talk about the sections.

Around hear where we grew up we joked about how big her daddy's boat is or how many feet of beach front do they have. Since my son has been of age and his top choices for colleges have been Oklahoma State and Montana State I tell him that it is not about how nice the coeds car is or what zip code she comes from but how many sections of land her daddy has. Nothing else matters.

 

[Parks 788]

Dang it you don't have DEEP Pockets, and I was going to make you my BFF lol. SoonerP226, gave you some good advice. I had a friend that was doing the same but he was paying primo dollar for his freezer meat. Not to mention that every time he wanted to take for vacation he had to call me to go and take care of his animals. He quit and now he got more time to hunt and fish. Now days he buys a half of beef and is happier. I lost when he quit, lol, no free beef.

Ha! Obvoiusly a lot will go into just raising 2-3 beef cattle for the freezer and if it ends up being too much of a time suck then just purchasing a half could be an option. We would do this for 3- 4 families. If it is too much then we do one "season" and then cut it off.

Don't write me off as a BFF just yet. I plan on a lot a acreage and i know how valuable good hunting land can be in OK.

 

[SoonerP226]

Around hear where we grew up we joked about how big her daddy's boat is or how many feet of beach front do they have. Since my son has been of age and his top choices for colleges have been Oklahoma State and Montana State I tell him that it is not about how nice the coeds car is or what zip code she comes from but how many sections of land her daddy has. Nothing else matters.