Chapter 1
The Rewards and Responsibilities of Raising Beef Cattle
In This Chapter
Surveying the benefits of owning beef cattle
Taking care of your cattle’s basic needs
Creating a budget for your finances and time
Putting together your advisory team
Contemplating safety and legal concerns
Raising cattle can be fun, educational, profitable, and downright entertaining. Cattle provide you and your family with wholesome food, and they can put a few extra dollars in your pocket as well. But before you get too wrapped up in all the different opportunities that come with raising cattle, you need to take a moment to look at the investments you need to make in order to properly care for your animals.
This chapter helps you understand what it takes to raise cattle. We show you the positives associated with owning cattle, and we also explain what’s involved in meeting their basic needs. Next, we discuss how much money and time you need to raise cattle. Fortunately, you don’t have to go it alone when caring for cattle, so we also give you pointers on how to put together a bovine advisory team. Of course, safety should be your paramount concern when raising cattle, so we conclude with some ideas about how to keep yourself and your cattle safe and on the right side of the law.
Burgers and Beyond: Examining the Benefits of Owning Beef Cattle
For more than 30 years, we’ve had the privilege of caring for cattle. These amazing creatures continually impress us. They have provided so many opportunities and benefits for our family. And they can do the same for yours. Consider some of the main benefits:
They produce food and income.
With proper grazing management, they improve the health and productivity of your soil.
They teach you a lot about animal husbandry.
They give you the opportunity to develop friendships with other cattle farmers and beef customers.
It’s exciting to think about what owning cattle can mean for you and your family! We discuss these benefits in the following sections.
Becoming more self-sufficient
Producing the very food that’s served at your kitchen table is a noble goal and one that’s shared with an ever-increasing number of people. A single beef animal can yield from 300 to 550 pounds of meat depending on its size. Speaking from personal experience, knowing you have plenty of food in the freezer for dinner every evening is a good feeling. Just as important, raising your own beef cattle gives you peace of mind and a sense of pride by knowing where your food came from and that you raised it yourself.
Can you raise your own beef at a price comparable to what it would sell for in the grocery store? It depends. If you’re starting from scratch with your cattle enterprise and need to build fences and shelter and purchase supplies, it may take you some time to recoup those costs. Having some of the basic infrastructure in place reduces your expenses.
If you’re a big bargain shopper, producing your own beef costs more than buying everything on sale at the store. However, if you’re willing to pay extra for beef raised in a certain manner (without antibiotics or on pasture, for example) and like the higher value cuts of meat (such as steaks or extra-lean ground beef), producing your own beef can be comparable in cost to buying similar quality products at the grocer.
Producing extra income
If you’re already raising a beef animal or two for your family and have the space and feed resources, it doesn’t take much more effort to raise a few more animals to sell at a profit. You’ll find that it doesn’t take any additional time to open the gate and rotate eight head of cattle to a new pasture than it does to open the gate for five animals!
Raising additional cattle helps reduce the per-head production cost. Spreading the fixed costs of things — such as taxes, insurance, and (to a certain extent) fences and facilities — over more animals enables you to raise each animal at a lower cost.
In Part IV of this book, we provide more details on ways to make money with cattle.
Improving the land naturally
Well-managed cattle-grazing can improve the soil and diversity of plant species. Research and on-farm experience has shown that controlled grazing by cattle herds
Increases the number of earthworms and the amount of organic material in the soil
Leads to a balanced mix of plants
Increases the production of nutritious edible material per acre
And guess what? A pasture that has been properly grazed is also pleasing to the eye and can help increase the value of your property. For more on working with your land and cattle, head to Chapter 6.
Providing a fun and educational family project
Many families enjoy working together on their beef projects. Caring for cattle has many different facets, so people of all ages and skills can play a role. Because cattle shows occur all over the country, raising cattle also provides your family a chance to exhibit your animals and see the country together. The opportunity to travel with your family and work together can make for some wonderful memories and learning experiences. Check out Chapter 14 for more about showing cattle.
Even if your family doesn’t become involved in showing, raising cattle still provides the chance to develop dependability and a good work ethic. Cattle need consistent care everyday — rain or shine. Your family can learn about animal husbandry and develop a greater appreciation for other living creatures. Watching your budget and ...
