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Post by Glenn on May 14, 2015 10:12:39 GMT -6
In the spirit of trying to learn from one another, what was the best idea/invention/improvement/purchase you have made that really improved your ranching operation?
Land improvement? Irrigation? Watering system? piece of equipment?
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kent
Fresh Calf
Posts: 16
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Post by kent on May 14, 2015 11:47:12 GMT -6
Single herd grazing and management.
Better grass. More forage production. longer rest periods. More herd impact. Less fence to check.
Genetically: Best breeding bull sires most calves. Cows have a choice in mates.
Equipment: high and heavy post pounder. But I doubt I would buy a new one. Too high priced.
Bobcat with bale spear,trencher,scoop,post hole digger. With miles of pipeline, there is always something to fix.
Pickup bale bed.
All make former two+ man jobs into something you can do yourself.
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Post by larso on May 14, 2015 13:12:21 GMT -6
Re-designing the cattle yards and buying the best cattle crush and weighing scales I could find, it has made all the difference to handling the cattle. The other decision was implementing the Holistic grazing management tools I learnt from doing the course.
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hph
Fresh Calf
Posts: 25
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Post by hph on May 14, 2015 13:34:26 GMT -6
Installing headlocks along feed alley for cow work. Worming, vaccinating, preg checking, etc is a one man job. Pour out some feed, trip the lever and they are all caught, I vacinated 180 cows in less than hour...by myself. Downfall is they are expensive.
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Post by larso on May 14, 2015 16:43:19 GMT -6
HPH do you have a photo of your headlocks you could post? the other think is drafting cattle on your own, I would love to see a design that allows you to it without actually being in the yard itself yet still allows the animals to flow. I will build one if I can find the right design so I'm open to any surjections.
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Post by shumakerherefords on May 14, 2015 17:34:01 GMT -6
I too would like to see those headlocks.
30 years ago I declared war on weeds and brush (musk thistle, mullein, buck brush, sumac, hedge, locust and cedars. Now my Dad had done a respectable job of keeping the brush under control so I didn't have to start from scratch. I have found that most of the brush is pretty easy to control after you eliminate the source of the seed however birds carry the cedar seed for miles and 'deposit' it under fences and power lines. The primary benefit is you can drive over most of the pastures and use a boom sprayer if needed. The secondary benefit is you can find the cattle. Neighboring pastures are so covered with brush that it is impossible to drive over and there are many that you couldn't ride a horse through. Some of the neighbors never see their cattle all summer. The third benefit is that it sure looks nice.
One of the best tools for controlling the cedars is a heavy duty string trimmer. Take the string head off and replace it with a circular saw blade and go slaughter any cedars up to 1" thick. Another useful tool is an ATV. I have rigged up 2 to carry a 2 gallon hand sprayer. In most cases you can just drive up and spray the offending plant. If you need to spray something down in a ditch just carry the sprayer down in the ditch.
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Post by randy on May 14, 2015 19:09:39 GMT -6
1) Growing forages to be winter grazed rather than putting them up as hay. When I do hay I hay by telephone.
2) Feeding liquid supplement with the dry forages in winter. I haul my own, same truck acts as a water/fire truck in summer.
3) Built a one man tub system to the squeeze chute. I don't have to walk more than 10 feet once the cattle are loaded into the system.
4) I order almost everything online or over the phone. Talk to my vet online who happens to be 320 miles from here.
5) If a piece of machinery is too costly to own for my operation I hire the job done. If I cannot hire it done I figure out a better way.
6) I buy the heaviest ply tires that are sold for the size.
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Post by timbernt on May 14, 2015 21:07:35 GMT -6
Possibly the best single equipment purchase is an A1 mist sprayer. You can fog herbicide onto brush, weeds, roadsides, ditches, and other places you can't reach with a mower or field sprayer. You would be amazed how much more grass you will produce by growing grass instead of weeds under trees.
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Post by bltherf on May 14, 2015 21:56:53 GMT -6
Randy. Would be interested in a diagram of your working facility Tim. What is the range of your mist sprayer. Tractor or truck mount.
My best ranch innovations gave been winter grazing,a bale deck truck and knowing how to pasture treat cattle horseback (alone if necessary)
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Post by Sudsy on May 15, 2015 0:32:10 GMT -6
Holistic management. Holistic management. Hol........you get the idea.
and if I may be permitted to stretch the parameters just a little,.....line breeding.
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hph
Fresh Calf
Posts: 25
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Post by hph on May 15, 2015 6:56:41 GMT -6
HPH do you have a photo of your headlocks you could post? the other think is drafting cattle on your own, I would love to see a design that allows you to it without actually being in the yard itself yet still allows the animals to flow. I will build one if I can find the right design so I'm open to any surjections. I had to resize it to make it fit, but hopefully you can see them. They pivot in the middle. With the pull of the handle, the top pipe rotates so that when they when the "pivoting" upright is parralel it locks. As I said, these things are expensive, but it is also the only way that I can run the amount of cows that I do with no help.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2015 6:57:27 GMT -6
New fences and weed control. Especially in our leased summer pasture, I remember as a kid spending nearly an entire day sometimes working with dad just doing fence repairs on some fence lines that were in dire need of replacement. Finally convinced the landlord one year to do fence replacement in phases, did the north side 1 year and a few years later the south side. The thistles were so bad in that pasture we did aerial spraying several years and now dad can just spot spray with a tank and wand on the 4-wheeler when he checks cows. Nearly all the fence lines on our home farm have been replaced at some point too, it has really saved a lot of time over the years to just be able to drive around the fence line before we turned cows out and maybe have to hop off once in awhile to tack on a wire that came off a post or do a quick patch on a wire that a deer probably snagged or a snow drift was at where years ago we'd be replacing several posts and strands of wire or even rebuilding a segment of fence as the fence deteriorated.
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Post by mrvictordomino on May 15, 2015 7:24:53 GMT -6
Built new working facility with a commercial made tub like system with plenty of access doors, makes working cattle easy for one man. Also replaced the old Silver King working shute/scale with a new Formost shute and a new Tru test weighing system. The Formost has access doors for neck site vaccinations, a great idea. Added water systems to places where summer time dry weather was an issue. Also added to water to holding pens. Replaced all fences in the working lanes making life a whole lot easier! Purchased a boom less sprayer for weed control. Works great, just need to use it more.
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Post by Glenn on May 15, 2015 7:58:48 GMT -6
Good stuff, guys!
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Post by shumakerherefords on May 15, 2015 10:29:03 GMT -6
HPH do you have a photo of your headlocks you could post? the other think is drafting cattle on your own, I would love to see a design that allows you to it without actually being in the yard itself yet still allows the animals to flow. I will build one if I can find the right design so I'm open to any surjections. I had to resize it to make it fit, but hopefully you can see them. They pivot in the middle. With the pull of the handle, the top pipe rotates so that when they when the "pivoting" upright is parralel it locks. As I said, these things are expensive, but it is also the only way that I can run the amount of cows that I do with no help. What company sells those? I had thought about building something like that for my herd bulls. The older ones barely fit through my alley leading up to the squeeze chute.
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kent
Fresh Calf
Posts: 16
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Post by kent on May 15, 2015 10:34:55 GMT -6
Another thing that has simplified and improved our operation is the use of Kelp. We mix 3-4 bags of salt with 50 pounds of kelp. Has worked better than any mineral we have tried. Main limiting factor is finding a supplier. We also add apple cider vinegar, garlic meal, DE, and sweetclover seed to the salt periodically.
During this dry spell it has helped the cattle slick off to add a gallon of Soybean oil on top of the cake in the box. We have also thrown in a gallon of grass/forb seed in the cake feeder to introduce it to our pastures. Sometimes it won't show up for several years, but when the conditions are favorable it will show up.
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Post by Glenn on May 15, 2015 12:23:39 GMT -6
What is the benefit of Kelp for cattle? And where do you get it?
I have tried every mineral concoction sold and can not get my cattle to eat mineral here. Maybe they don't need it?
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Post by George on May 15, 2015 12:53:51 GMT -6
I have not invested a lot into anything other than genetics since getting back in, but the best non-breeding decision I've made was drilling this well and putting the windmill on it. I had it drilled in a corner where three of my pastures come together and there have been way too many times over the last 10 years where it was the only source of water in one or more of those pastures: The pond that you see behind the bulls catches the overflow from the water troughs. Probably the second best decision that I made was buying a used 2005 Ford F250 4x4 diesel pickup back when diesel was so high that they were practically giving them away. Having never owned anything but a half ton pickup my whole life, I was blissfully unaware of what I'd been missing! I am considering spending some money this year for improvements - a better working pen, scales, and squeeze chute. A Kubota UTV. And probably a building/barn for storing equipment and some round bales of hay. I'm really interested in seeing any lot/chute plans that work well for a one man operation.
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kent
Fresh Calf
Posts: 16
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Post by kent on May 15, 2015 14:07:20 GMT -6
Here is an analysis: www.holisticlivestock.com/thorvin_organic_kelp_analysis.htmWe used to get it from: www.welterseed.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=239It was $44 a bag for several years. Increases in shipping caused us to search for another source. The last batch came from a small independent elevator about 100 miles NE of here for around $50. A ton will last us a couple years. You do have to be careful. I told my daughter to give a little to the chickens. One morning she cooked us scrambled eggs. They smelled funny, but we didn't want to hurt her feelings. We couldn't eat them. They tasted like fish smells. I asked her how much she gave them, she said they love it and had almost finished the whole bag in a week. Had to tell her a handful in their feed would be plenty. Put the all the eggs in the incubator for a week or two so they didn't go to waste. Thanks for bringing up the water. We have put in 15 miles of 1 1/2" PVC pipeline. Placed watering points in the center of most quarters and a couple sections. Best investment ever.
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Post by larso on May 15, 2015 15:02:19 GMT -6
This is a joke guys, cause if she sees it I'm out of here but allowing a certain young lady to hitch her wagon to mine 39years ago was a good decision, she's come in handy many times in the yards, we generally don't speak to each other for a few days afterwards. Don't tell me I'm the only guy who doesn't take advantage of cheap labour.
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kent
Fresh Calf
Posts: 16
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Post by kent on May 15, 2015 19:25:34 GMT -6
Not everyone hits the jackpot in that area. Luckily I did.
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Post by guffeygal on May 15, 2015 20:51:51 GMT -6
Hydra-Bed. We unroll most of the hay we feed. Cows eat what we give them then go graze standing forage. I think we waste less hay this way also. Can also do a lot of other handy things with it. We practice Hydra - Bed Doctoring, Move feed troughs, pull posts and other things.
Bulk feed bins. Besides the bulk price rate, we can usually purchase when the price is on special.
Four Wheeler. Very handy. Doesn't eat when we shut it off.
Hustler Mower. Jane loves it. Rides great, cut our mowing time way down.
6 wire fences with a hot wire about 6 feet in on us next to the neighbor's bull.
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Post by bookcliff on May 16, 2015 15:07:49 GMT -6
knowing how to pasture treat cattle horseback (alone if necessary) kinda a dy'in art (especially if your by yourself) ain't it. always amazes me how many of these young bucks don't know the first damn thing about handling a rope once they got one caught anymore, but then again I guess if you learn how to twerl twine via a roping arena you never learn how to handle your line once you step off. I guess thats the difference, my generation learned how to rope in a pasture doctorin' and at brandings. same thing goes for tyin' one down to stay put till you get back with the trailer, another dyin art of the pasture
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Post by bltherf on May 16, 2015 16:13:45 GMT -6
I do it on a regular basis and have saved many calves by doing it early before things progress for the worst But the team roper methods and mentality don't work for bigger pasture situations and are not what I consider good stockman ship I guess those of us who appreciate doing things that way are getting replaced by dart guns and shark cages..
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Post by elkwc on May 16, 2015 18:12:14 GMT -6
My Dad would hoolihan a calf and many times never move his horse. If he did it was for no more than 10 ft. He claimed chasing one was as hard on one as not doctoring him. Him and my uncle were the only two I've seen who could forefoot cattle from horse back. I watched them forefoot cattle that would bolt the herd and head for the rough country and after a few times they would return to the herd and stay. So many today can only rope in the arena but have no idea how to handle cattle. My Dad and uncles taught us how to handle and doctor cattle even grown cows if needed by ourselves.
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