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Stocker Cattle for Beginners
- 1. January 2019 Stocker Project Year in Review Diamond Hills Farm Stocker Cattle 2018
- 2. 2 Not a production course This is what I did…mistakes included How I'm doing it next year How I'm going to do it better Please write down questions then we can answer them all at the end Remember…I am a first generation rancher and I love
- 3. 3 Diamond Hills Farm • Hudson, NY • 111 Acres Grazing Acres • 70 established acres • 40 planted acres (2018)
- 4. 4 Why am I farming The first three years The last three years Why change to stockers?
- 5. 5 What are Stockers?? Buy calves in the spring and sell them as feeders in the fall Get paid based on how much weight you put on them Race cars of the cattle world My Grandfather in the Polish Patch of Western Massachusetts sometime in the late 40’s
- 6. 6 My Overall Philosophy on the Ranch is “the way to make money in farming is not to spend money” No tractor No truck No trailer No hay equipment I do have a trailer out in the field (for sale!) All machinery work is custom…why????
- 7. Principles of Stockers ADD A FOOTER 7 This is not a how to raise stockers course, this is how I did things on my particular farm,
- 8. 8 The Costs Loan with interest Buy Cattle Fencing Rotation Water Minerals Sell Cattle
- 9. Securing Loans Working with FSA out of Greenwich, NY The process was transparent and easy to navigate but a committed loan officer is integral 9 50000@3.25=1625
- 10. Buying Cattle 10 Sourced Local Grass Fed Mixed Cattle Purchased 5 separate lots to make numbers Transportation Intake Protocol $39,000 $av. $619 per animal
- 11. Fencing Set Up 3-5 strand high tensile exterior fence Poly wire semi permanent runs Poly wire and posts for daily moves 11 $700.00
- 12. ADD A FOOTER 12 Why rotate ruminants Month Av. Rain 10 Year Av. Av. Temp 10 Year Av. Rotation Length May 2.56 4.37 72 73 22 June 2.62 3.78 75 80 30 July 2.83 3.86 80 85 44 August 8.25 3.86 80 82 30 September 6.75 3.46 79 73 / October 2.38 3.35 72 62 / The Rotation May 30th Rotation about 20 hours per week @12.00/ hour $240.oo/ week Mowing=475
- 13. The Water Gravity fed pump fed from stream that has never dried up Some ponds on farm for self watering or emergencies 1.5 inch polypipe to Jobe float system then into 100 gallon stock tank No Escapees! ADD A FOOTER 13 Cost for water set up 1434… about
- 14. 14 ADD A FOOTER
- 15. Minerals and Misc. Free choice mixture that followed herd Flies flies flies ADD A FOOTER 15 =275.00
- 16. Selling and Settling Up Hired Consolidator and Shipper to send cattle to Green City in Missouri Consolidation Shipping Auction Commission 16 National Missouri New York 600-700 steer 148.65 159.32 1.25 Numbers are not exact
- 17. cattle 73% minerals 1% trucking 14% mowing 1% hay 1% vehicle 2% water 3% interest 3% small tools 1% insurance 1% 2018 Cattle Costs cattle minerals trucking mowing hay vehicle water interest small tools insurance 17 Total Spent= Profit = -658.00
- 18. 18 cattle 67% minerals 1% trucking 13% mowing 1% hay 1% vehicle 2% water 2% interest 3% small tools 1% insurance 1% labor 8% 2018 Farm Expenses Including Labor cattle minerals trucking mowing hay vehicle water interest small tools insurance labor Total Spent= Profit = -5458.00
- 19. 2018 Financials Costs Income Revenue Total 57950 57292 -658 Total with Labor 62750 57292 -5458 19
- 20. 20 What Went Right No escapes Nurse cow Cattle overcame illness Cattle did gain on grass….not enough Not that I overpaid for cattle but that I overpaid for less than ideal cattle
- 21. 21 Mistakes Were Made…Total Daily Gain .63 lbs per day 1. Genetics A.Source preconditioned cattle B.Source animals is requested at particular market 2. Overstocking A.Bought animals bigger than I had calculated for B.New pastures are much less productive than established pasture 3. Sickness A.Source preconditioned cattle B.Fight disease prior to it being clinical (pink eye) C.Lost two animals to broken legs, one to BRD
- 22. 22 Meg Grzeskiewicz Western New York Almost Exactly the Same Problems this year as me Bought high but not able to sell high Expensive Trucking Pink Eye Uninterested Bull (1 month to breed) 17% Open Heifers Marketing Total loss = few grand of breaking even
- 23. 23 Next Year Better marketing with a back up plan Better breeding management Learn!
- 24. 24 “Switching gears from custom cow-calf to developing owned heifers in 2018 was a career move that I am proud of. I did some things right, a lot of things wrong, and became a more well-rounded cattle producer.” -Meg
- 25. THANK YOU! Alexander Martensson Phone 678-555-0143 Email martensson@example.com Jason Detzel Diamond Hills Farm Cornell Cooperative Ulster County jbd222@cornell.edu