Cattle - Raising Small Animals - page 406

The goals of all cattle farms are not the same. Some beef farmers are proud to say their anim-
als are born on their farm and live there until time for slaughter. Other farmers focus on spe-
cific phases of cattle development and buy or sell animals at points between birth and death.
For example, stocker-cattle farmers handle animals in the phase between weaning and the fin-
ishing stage. Some dairy farmers will hire contractors to raise their heifers — females that
have not given birth — so they can concentrate on their lactating animals. All of these sys-
tems have their merits. Here are some cattle-raising strategies you should be aware of:
• Cow-calf: Cow-calffarmersraisecowsandbullswiththegoalofproducingcalves.These
calves are sold later to other farmers who will continue raising them for beef, sold to
farmers who will use them as breeding stock, or kept on the farm until they are ready to
be slaughtered for beef. If you wanted to start a cow-calf operation, you could purchase
pregnant cows or cows with young calves. Calves can be sold after weaning when they
are a few months old. Some farmers sell all their calves at weaning. Others keep them
until they are yearlings, which means they are between 1 and 2 years old and have had
time to put on more weight. This can increase the amount you make on each animal, but
onlyifyouhaveenoughgrassestofeedthemcheaplyduringwinter.Therearealsofarm-
ers who breed purebred animals and sell the calves as breeding stock.
• Stocker cattle: Some farmers concentrate on stocker cattle that are beef cattle between
the weaning and finishing stages, when they add an extra 200 to 400 pounds to reach
their mature weight and are ready for slaughter. Finished weight depends on breed; most
grass-fed cattle breeds are finished at about 1,000 to 1,200 pounds. Stocker cattle typic-
ally weigh between 400 and 600 pounds when they are purchased after weaning. These
farmers buy calves from cow-calf farms. The calves can be grown on pasture and then
sold as feeder cattle, which are cattle ready for the finishing phase. Stocker operations
have more flexibility than cow-calf operations because they do not have to wait out their
cattle's natural breeding and nursing cycles to buy or sell animals. They can buy and sell
animalsatdifferenttimesoftheyear,includingsellingtheirentireherdinthefall;sothey
do not have the expense of winter feeding that breeding herds must deal with.
• Grass finishing: You can grass finish calves that are born on your farm or bought from
someone else. Grass-finished beef is a niche product that provides extra value per pound
for your meat because customers appreciate the health benefits of animals raised in more
natural environments than those of conventional beef. The main challenge of grass fin-
ishing is to keep animals gaining weight their whole lives with no periods of loss. This