KCattle1
Active member
I currently help operate a feeder/stocker operation on about 200 acres in Ohio. We buy feeders in the spring, run on our pasture until late fall, then send to a custom feedlot to finish out. I have a young son, and another on the way, and would like to get them into showing cattle as they grow. I have around 30 acres that I would like to put a show cattle barn on and run a small herd of females. The situation I keep running through my head is to buy 8-10 really good cows, flush them, and use a Recip Herd to calve out and raise the calves until weaning, bringing the calves back to the barn to show/sell. The questions I need help answering are:
1. How many times a year can you flush a cow, how often do you breed her to have her own calf.
2. How much on average does someone charge to use one of their cows as a recip? I have a few farms who we buy feeder's off of that I would approach about doing this for us, but would like to have an idea before I approach them.
My plan would be to put in maybe 3 of the embryos out of one cow, and then sell the remaining to help pay for those three being placed in the recip. Giving me around 20-30 calves per year to choose from, the rest being sold or sent to the feedlot.
Thanks for any ideas, insight.
1. How many times a year can you flush a cow, how often do you breed her to have her own calf.
2. How much on average does someone charge to use one of their cows as a recip? I have a few farms who we buy feeder's off of that I would approach about doing this for us, but would like to have an idea before I approach them.
My plan would be to put in maybe 3 of the embryos out of one cow, and then sell the remaining to help pay for those three being placed in the recip. Giving me around 20-30 calves per year to choose from, the rest being sold or sent to the feedlot.
Thanks for any ideas, insight.