Raising Cattle for Beginners 

Wish I was the one who came up with the salad bar term but I wasn't Thanks for watching

@@bigbearhomestead Hi my name is Jackelynn Laura Martinez Borroto my friend just gave me a piglet and it also happens to be the runt. It doesn't even want to eat I have had just about any animal you can think of but a pig isn't one of them. I am open to anyone that can help me figure out how to stimulate the tiny piglet to eat because it is on formula??? I am open to any suggestions or ideas so I can get her to eat. Please help

oh dear i hope you will be okay

Prayers

How are you doing with them?

Sorry for your loss.. My condolences to you and your mother. Wanna sell some?

How did you guys do?

thats awesome I hope it works out for you

Nice, good luck with your future business

Same here! :D

How did that work out? I’m same age and going threw the same process, minus the degree. I have my dad for that lol-he has an MBA I would love to chat with you about some of the economics of livestock.

Thanks and good.luck you can do it

Thanks for watching and we hope you hit the subscribe button and rang the bell. Do NOT ever give up on that dream. You CAN do it! Keep us posted on your progress, I would love to come eat at your steak house one day!!

I wish you Good luck to your future!! I am 21 looking to start my cattle farm soon. My boyfriend is also wanting to do the same. So we are researching and trying get all the equipment we need also! Hoping and praying we do this and succeed! This is the life we’ve always wanted and now we’re working hard to-get to our dream.❤️

Hope it worked out for you to start.

Thanks for watching

That's amazing. My friend and I have been talking about doing the same thing. She'll be in charge of dairy though lol I'd rather do meet cattle

Thanks for sharing

Thanks for watching

Glad you enjoyed it

Have you been able to start your homestead yet? Thanks for subbing hoping you are enjoying the content

So happy you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching

Wonderful!

LOL, Thanks for watching, Hope you hit that bell, because we are working on bringing a surprise to the homestead.

We are more than willing to help.

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks

Thank you for watching

Glad it was helpful!

Thank you

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks for watching

You can do it!

Thanks for watching

Semper Fi, and I say go for it. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't or talk you out of your dream.

Thanks

Thanks for watching

Thanks!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for coming over. Hope you stay a while and check.out.our channel and lives how on Saturday night at 8 pm est.

@@bigbearhomestead I will try my best to come by on the live stream but we boondock in our camper on our homestead every weekend while we build our house. So it all depends on if my phone is charged if I can jump in and say hi.

Thanks you

Glad you were able to get something from the video. Hope you hit that subscribe button and rang the bell

Thanks and thanks for watching. Hope you hit the subscribe button and rang the bell

Thanks

Did you get your cow yet? Did you see our videos about dairy cows?

Welcome!

THANKS!!

Have you gotten one yet?

@@bigbearhomestead No just a baby goat!

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Thanks for watching

We don't have to reseed, We only let them stay in a paddock for a certain amount of time. They will eat the grass all the way down but not low enough where it can damage the grass. Thanks for watching

Where do you live?

Thanks for coming over

Dependent on the type of cow you have

There are a lot of different variables that goes into answering your question. The biggest being is what is your pasture health. Do you have a lot of grass and things growing in it that cows would eat? Are you wanting to raise dairy cows or meat cows? Are you planning on running steers, cows, bulls or a mixture of all the above, because all of these different things will determine the size of the paddock . To be honest with you the only one that can answer that question is you, and the only way you will be able to answer it is by doing it. So don't worry about trying to find that answer right now because it will change over time anyway as you heal your land, and become a better judge of cow days! Thanks for watching and subscribing. Please come and join on on Saturday nights at 8 pm est for our live q and A live show!

Big Bear Homestead thank you for your reply. Maybe if i had paid land to start with this could be proffitable after a decade or two. Realy does looks enjoyable. But like anything, if it is a great thing then why iisnt everyone doing it?

There are lots of reasons why everyone is not doing this lifestyle. Some people are not interested it farming, others cannot afford the start up cost, then there is the availability of land. But the major reason is not that many people know about this type of farming and this lifestyle. That is the main reason why we started our youtube channel. The soul purpose of our channel is to educate those who want to learn how to live a simpler lifestyle and to produce a healthier food source for them and their families, and maybe even have a small business of their own.

@@bigbearhomestead so ideally you have 1 cow per acre? how many paddocks can you fit per acre? this land estimate is a little confusing to me.

Go for it, you can do it. Age is nothing but a number. Keep us updated with your progress.

My daughter's have spoiled and number of different livestock. In fact we just did a short video about our spoiled pig.

Thanks for the sub!

I have no idea what Kijjji is so I would not know the right wording for that, but if it is just like a want ad then you would simply say that you are looking for a calf ( if you want to bottle feed it then you can say day old calf) and where you are located and see if anyone has one for you.

We sell direct to consumers and even some chef's

You could do that, but you will asking for more problems after your first heavy rain storm. Thanks for watching

Thanks 👍

I would ask, why can't you do both? There are a lot of things that a formal knowledge of livestock and pasture management can help you be productive on a larger scale. But if you are just thinking of a small herd, knowledge and experience from new and old farmers can be priceless too.

@@bigbearhomestead well would you consider under 100 cattle small?

Thanks hope you hit the bell also so you don't miss any future videos or liveshows

@@bigbearhomestead already done

The only way is to fence it off.

@@bigbearhomestead yeah I agree! But I’d have to pump the water from the lake right? Or do you know of another way I could access it?

You can do it and don't let anyone tell you differently.

@@bigbearhomestead thanks buddy. Enjoying your videos

I don't but there are always a bunch coming through the sale down here

Jerry, That is a good question, and I wish I could give you a set answer but I can't because of it all varies. It depends on how you raise it. If you feed it as they do in a cafo then it will be a shorter time than if you let that cow just eat grass. If you let it just eat grass then it depends on the amount and the variety of grasses that you have in your pasture. But if it is one a good pasture with a good salad bar then you are looking at about 18 months or longer.

M.m Hossain don’t need to do anything. Often, the cattle will be rotated from one paddock to another, allowing the grass to rest, and the poop to breakdown. It doesn’t take long for the poop to break down, and it acts as a fertiliser in the paddock, helping it to grow back 10head/1acre is a little too much. Most will often run approx. 1/acre, then rotate regularly.

M.m Hossain, Firstlet me say sorry that it has taken me so long to respond. To answer your question we run chickens behind the cows three days later. The reason why we wait three days is because that is how long it takes for fly eggs to hatch. Once the maggots are there the chickens will attack the cow dung likw a platoon of Marines. They will scratch it up which will spread it out over the paddox and help fertilize that area. Which in returns keeps that area clean and the soil healthy. I hope this answers your question again so sorry that it took me so long to respond

Well, unfortunately I cannot answer that question. I don't know the area you live in and the market there. Prime example you quoted that a calf cost you $1400, I can get steer calfs or day old bulls for a couple hundred bucks. Sometimes less depending on the market. Also it depends on how you raise them and market them. Will you be selling to people or restaurants, or both. There are a lot of variables that goes into this, but in all honesty due to the variables there is not a set number of cows that will guarantee success. Thanks for watching, we hope you hit the subscribe button and the bell so.you can catch future videos and liveshows.

@@bigbearhomestead I live in Chicago and obviously know nothing about farming. This weekend, I went to battle creek Michigan to play some poker. Battle Creek is just a Beautiful Place. I realized I had not been in a place like this sense I was a kid on a field trip. So I started thinking. Chicago is slowly becoming too expensive to live in. Even home prices in a poor neighbor hood are becoming outrageous. I'm thinking or at least playing around with the idea of getting a government loan to buy a nice peace of land out in some country area. Maybe southern Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, etc. Once I have the land I can play around with farming. Getting calf's four a couple hounded of bucks makes it even more affordable too. Obviously i'm in over my head with this..... two more questions. What are winters like for farmers? I imagine they can be brutal for live stock? Also, is cow stealing a thing in this day and time? Whats keeping me from waiting for you to leave your farm, then stealing two or three of your cows? I would imagine this was a thing back in the day, and that's probably why farmers branded their live stock?

Well the winter depends on where you are, the areas that you are talking about would be worse than my area. As far as stealing someone's livestock, it.does happen in this day and time. In my state.it is a felony and since I am a stand your ground state I can use force to stop you up to and including deadly force. Buy most of the time it doesn't come to that because in most real areas neighbors look out for each other. Besides who wants to go to prison for a cow or chicken?

and just doing it. His books were the base line for how we do things here, but we have evolved over the years to make things work for our area

Most people would tell you about 4 to 5 feet. And I would have told you that too, until I watched a cow jump over a 5 foot fence of barbed wire. Most of the time 4 to 5 ft is sufficient especially if you make sure they are happy and have what they need. (This particular cow wanted a boyfriend 🤣)

I don't know anything about pasture conditions in Iowa. but with that being said it all depends on what you are looking to get out of the cow. I would guess that all breeds do well in Iowa . Thanks for watching

Which one?

@@bigbearhomestead the lean to

Like little children Thanks for watching

Our land has natural water sources.

We have two video on raising an orphan pig. They should have all the information you need. Good luck

Yes, but it will be very lean. Most people use dairy cows for ground beef.

@@bigbearhomestead is dairy cows the only ones you can use for the milk we drink?