Maintaining your pasture during the summer can be very tricky. In no time at all, it can go from adequate moisture to extremely dry. A manager has to be on their game to keep their pasture from suffering too much.
Though I am not sure how it is where you are here in west Texas it can be a very difficult job keeping pastures productive during this time. It seems most years that mother nature does not want to cooperate with you and hold back needed moisture.
While you can not control the weather there are steps that you can take to give your forages a chance. Things like rotational grazing and the right stocking rate can go a long way. Here are some things to consider when you are facing another dry summer.
Breeding season preparations are a very important task for any cow/calf producer’s bottom line. The steps that they take now will determine if they will have a good calf crop or not. Having good quality calves to sell is the defining factor between a successful and a not successful rancher.
Using a hay bale to supplement your cattle is a tried and true method that many producers use. It is reasonably priced compared to other feedstuffs. Though just like other feedstuffs the quality can vary depending on many different factors.
Having the right replacement heifers is important for the long-term profitability of any ranch. It is necessary to be able to rotate the breeding stock out to improve the overall genetic pool. Also, cows will get to a point where they will get to be too old to breed any more. When this happens you will need to have new stock to take their place.
There is one constant in the livestock industry, if you have animals then you will have to build fencing. Fencing is a barrier to both keeping your animals where you want them and keeping predators out.
The value of a bull is something we have always tried to figure out. It is a question that we have been asking for as long as we have been trying to make the next generation better. It is a question that is asked a lot during this time when many bulls are being marketed and we are getting ready for spring breeding season.
Feed costs remain the single largest expense for any cattle producer. This expense can easily be half of the total annual expenses for a rancher.
Trying to control flies that are on your cattle can be a very frustrating endeavor, to say the least. It can often feel like an uphill climb with no rest in sight. No matter what you seem to do they just keep coming back year after year.
Breeding season is a very important time on the ranch. We begin with the hope of making the new calf crop to keep the ranch going. In order to have a good calf crop, you will need to make sure that all, or at least 90%, of your cows will be bred.
Breeding season is a very important time on the ranch. In order to have a good calf crop you will need to make sure that all of your cows will be bred.
