A cattle ranch is a business and should be treated as such.
Many who want to start raising cattle probably have had the romantic visions of cowboys riding the range and herding cattle all sunny day and would love to be ones to do that on their own ranch.
If only they knew they could do that simply by visiting a dude ranch on their summer vacations! Sitting in the saddle watching or herding cows all day doesn't earn you much money either.
A ranch must be operated in a manner that best suits your production practices and will hopefully give you enough income to keep you going for years to come.
The following should be considered essential in operating a cattle ranch:
Many who want to start raising cattle probably have had the romantic visions of cowboys riding the range and herding cattle all sunny day and would love to be ones to do that on their own ranch.
If only they knew they could do that simply by visiting a dude ranch on their summer vacations! Sitting in the saddle watching or herding cows all day doesn't earn you much money either.
A ranch must be operated in a manner that best suits your production practices and will hopefully give you enough income to keep you going for years to come.
The following should be considered essential in operating a cattle ranch:
- Keep and maintain all your records.
This ranges from calving to financial records.
Software is available for these sort of records, though many ranchers still like to use the old pencil-and-paper method over the computer tablet. - Fix and maintain fences and buildings.
Fences are more important and more often fixed than buildings.
Pasture permanent perimeter fencing should be checked regularly, ideally before and after moving cattle from one pasture to another. - Fix and maintain machinery.
All machinery involved in a ranching operation must be maintained and in good working order to be able to be used in the fields every year.
Grease, oil, inspect, replace and repair any and all parts of machinery, from the tractor to the combine harvester. - Manage your grazing operation.
A big part of a ranch is the space utilized for cattle to graze.
Pastures and grass must be monitored in order for them to keep producing healthy stands season after season, year after year.
Know your stocking rates, rest/recovery periods, grazing pressure and soil quality to determine how long your pastures and range can be grazed.
Ideally, you should manage your grazing operation on your ranch so that you are improving and maintaining soil quality, water quality, and habitat for other wildlife that reside on your ranch. - Manage how you are feeding your cattle.
There will be times when you cannot graze your cattle on pasture.
This means you need to feed your cattle feedstuffs like hay and/or silage instead.
Winter time or times of drought are particular times when feeding cattle is necessary, or any time when grazing cattle is no longer practical.
You have a choice of feeding your cattle in a drylot, or adopting more sustainable and lower-cost practices of winter grazing them.
Note though that the greatest source of financial loss is during winter and/or drought feeding, and is what makes or breaks the ranching business. - Manage your forage/grain enterprises.
Not all ranches are the same.
Some may just have hay and grazing enterprises, others may have hay, silage, crop, drylot and grazing enterprises.
Whatever you choose to have or have already, manage them according to when to seed, fertilize, spray herbicide, cut and harvest. - Keep up to date with vaccinations and dewormers.
Check with your local large animal veterinarian for vaccination and dewormer products best to use for your cattle in your area. - Prepare for and manage calving season.
Depending on what time of year you're calving, be prepared for the start of calving by getting supplies necessary, keeping an eye on cows that are getting close, and readying facilities--if necessary--to be used in calving out cows.
Heifers generally are calved out before cows are. - Manage cows and calves post-calving.
Keep an eye on calves for illness or injuries.
Things like scours, pneumonia and coccidiosis are common in young calves.
They may also be at risk of broken bones from being stepped on.
Cows may also not accept their calves, have little to no milk for their calves, lose their calves to disease or predators and may need to graft another orphan calf onto them. - Process your calves.
Post calving involves tagging, vaccinating and castrating bull calves.
Branding is not done until the calving season is over and most calves are around two to three months of age.
Branding is and should be a social event where you have the opportunity to invite out family, neighbors and friends out to help with the processing of your calves. - Prepare for and manage breeding season.
Get your bulls semen tested a week before putting them out with cows and heifers.
Heifers should be bred a week before the cows so they calve earlier.
Bull power should be set to one bull per 30 to 50 cows, depending on pasture size and age of the bulls.
You should have your breeding season to be around 45 to 60 days long. - Manage backgrounding/finishing operations.
You may choose to have both, either or neither operations.
Either way, you may need to purchase extra feed and have extra space or land set aside to manage this or these additional enterprises.
Don't manage your backgrounding/finishing operations like you would cow-calf.
You need to raise these animals so they grow and for optimum to maximum pounds gained per day. - Select and manage replacement heifers.
Your cows can't be expected to live or last forever.
Replacements are needed to replace cows that are culled or die of disease or illness and to improve your herd's genetics.
Heifers need to be managed like cows because they will be growing into cows, not as feeder cattle being turned later on into beef. - Make culling decisions in your cowherd.
Cows and bulls need to be culled based on factors such as disposition, teeth, age, conformation, performance, breeding status, health, prolapse and forage/feed efficiency. - Wean calves from the cows.
At 6 to 10 months calves must be weaned off their dams.
Whatever weaning method you choose to use is up to you: on the truck or pre-conditioning with or without the use of fence-line weaning or nose-rings. - Sell excess livestock.
All cattle that do not need to be on your ranch should be sold.
Weaned calves, cull cattle, backgrounded and finished cattle are those that can be sold off the ranch for income.
Besides, it's really the only way a ranch can directly make money without having to rely on other sources of income like an off-ranch job or a completely different enterprise of bee-keeping, running tours or allowing hunting or recreational areas for weekend warriors. - Manage your cow herd.
Cows need to be managed to breed back and raise a healthy "soggy" calf.
They need to be managed so that they are in good health, good condition and live as long and productive a life as possible on your ranch.
Ensure they have sufficient minerals and vitamins both in their feed and as can be supplemented (depending on their physiological needs).
Cows need to have their body condition checked around three times a year: at calving, before winter feeding or fall preg-checking, and a month before breeding. - Manage your bulls.
Just like above with your cows, your bulls need to be managed so they remain fertile, in good health and in good condition so that they are ready for the next breeding season. - Manage any dead animals you may get.
With livestock you will get deadstock.
It's your responsibility to dispose of these dead animals according to local laws. - Take care of your horses and stock dogs.
If you are more the type of rancher that loves and would rather stick with the traditional ways of working cattle, relying on horses and some good stock dogs to herd, doctor and brand cattle (among other things), then you need to look after those animals too.
Working ranch horses need similar feeds and feed sources as cattle do, except a little "hotter" rations to keep up their energy during the days they are out "punching cows", such as sweet feed and whole or rolled oats.
Dogs need to be fed and cared for too as working animals, and maybe a little as pets (though not spoiled as a family pet might be). - Repeat it all again next year.
Note though that not every year is the same.
Things change due to climate, weather, economics, markets, management practices, financial constraints, family crises, fire, and others.
Be flexible and take change as best as you can--embrace it, and use it to your advantage if you can. - Take time off for you and your family when you can.
Ranching is a way of life and a business all rolled into one.
However it shouldn't be one to rule your life and prevent you from taking even a little time off to spend with family or have a little change of scenery, however brief it may be.
Something as short as a camping or hiking trip to refresh the soul or give yourself a little reprieve may help alleviate and forget the stresses that come with owning and operating a business.
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