So I can just lease land and raise cows? There’s tons of unused land out here, I’m 99% sure I can scout out a property with a barn or whatever a cow house is called and talk the owners into letting me tend the cows in exchange for some wagyu. Is it really that easy?
>cow escapes
>cow starves
>cow dehydrates
>cow breaks a leg
>cow dies
Maybe I can raise them in a big bowl so they can’t climb out?
Frick off Klaus.
If somebody already has a cow operation, they aren't going to just let some random show up unless they're specifically looking for help. You might be able to lease some pasture and put a few cows on it, but you'll need to make sure that you don't put too many on the acreage. Cows need a lot of pasture. Then consider fencing, water, and medical needs. Most of the time, pastured cows are pretty easy though. I've had 2-3 cows at a time for years, and never had anything requiring a vet. Worst case, you might need to treat them for scours when they're still on the bottle.
I’m hoping to find someone with pasture not being used basically. Have you had any medical issues?
>Have second cow
Just buy some land and start a farm at that point. On mortgage if you can’t afford it. You’ll be playing a strange game with the tides of nature but others have done it successfully.
The most basic form of human civilization is the farm, if you control the food you control the people who want to eat. And everyone needs to eat.
Farmers have literally no control over anybody. Farming is the most state regulated activity in the world, in every country. There is no free market and your government dictates what you can farm and how much you earn
Yes civilization has worked very hard to gain control over farmers. Globalization makes it even more difficult. But history has shown owning a farm and feeding people to protect you is good enough to create an empire.
Yes but the farm is owned by the government. Farmers are just slave workers
Living free from civilization like 19th century pioneers is not possible anymore and even then they would be dirt poor outside of their own environment, and the ones who got rich fell in with the system and weren't free anymore
>Living free from civilization like 19th century pioneers is not possible anymore
Alaska says hi
You will not rule anything as a farmer. If people need food that badly they will shoot you and then shoot the cows.
No they wouldn't moron, anyone short of sub Saharans wouldnt kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
Yes, communists are sub saharan Black folk.
There's no actual Wagyu outside of some very specific farms in JP. Only knock off variants based on similar breeds of beasts of burden, relieved of their duty so they grow fatty
t. Butcher
Wagyu is overrated anyway. It's nice to have a bite here and there, but I'd rather have a good eating steak.
Agreed - and any wagyu outside of Japan is an imitation. It's too fatty a cut for a full meal, it's better as a sample, hors devour kind of thing. For a meal sirloin or a t-bone is more than good. But it's beome the "look at me, I spent money!" meat, so it's now some bizarre gold standard for steak.
The big issue I see with it is it's selling the very worst thing it can, grain fattened animals that are basically the same as obese.
Breeds like wagyu have gone hard for marbling or intramuscular fat but to such an extreme extent especially when you push enough grain into them to get that prized "white fat" and buttery texture.
Grazed is best, if you can buy beef finished on summer pasture and store it yourself you'll eat better and healthier. the feedlot systems or intensive fatteners are selling builk product raised for size as cheaply as possible.
Breed differences are small compared to what you feed it and how it lives and exercise. I still think the best beef I had was a grass summer hill pastured dairy heifer that wouldn't get in calf so went to the abatoir.
I just really loved the wagyu steaks I’ve had, and it’s a marketable meme right now. I understand it’s not for everyone. But maybe I’ll look into other breeds. I don’t mind that it’s fatty though and that the animals are lazy fatties personally, as long as they’re living well before slaughter. I’d hope to be able to sell calves as well, I just see it being a better way to carve out a niche as a business. I’ve intended to scale up my chickens for awhile now and I’m going to go the same route and get a purebred Bresse flock. Great layers, great meat, great feed conversion for a purebred and a desirable name so I can be the ‘Bresse guy’ and carve out a niche, rather than yet another Cornish cross seller.
I may just get one cow for fun this year or see if someone will let me help raise some or something in exchange for meat.
>steak
>:|
>steak (japan)
>:O
>Steak
>Tasty
>Steak (Japan)
>Umai
Look up Joel Salatin, he talks extensively about this in "$alad Bar Beef". He recommends people actually start out this way. You just pay the owner the equivalent of their property taxes, which is MUCH cheaper than purchasing land + paying property taxes.
You have to be johnny on the spot with fencing though.
I’ve actually watched hours of his stuff, love him. I’m hoping to find someone who has a pasture but no cattle basically, ideally I pay almost nothing to get it started.
Don't trust Salatin too far, he's wrong about a few important things
Such as?
well he didn't used to understand nutrient cycling when I last looked at him
interesting guy, but never rely on one voice
For sure, I just found his attitude toward leasing really cool and have been wanting to do it ever since learning how cheap it can be to get started.
Does anyone here know anything about cow breeds? If this happens I’d want to get Japanese Black just because I’d wanna be growing top shelf stuff if I’m only gonna have few cows too, but I also love the look of highlanders, pic rel
I guess I just don’t get why anyone would raise anything other than wagyu, at least at my scale.
frick why? get something bombproof and hard to kill if you want to start out not some foreign barely tested breed, hereford and angus are solid genetics with proven track records, good maternals and high forage performance with a ready market
*and you can get good quality calves for reasonable prices.
Highlands are tough as hell in cold climates but small and pretty slow growing.
avoid bulls, steers are the calmest.
wagyu are probably pretty docile but probably high maintenance, if you really want to get some buy some weaned crossbred steers out of hereford/angus or similar breed type dams, dairy cross are another option, if bucket raised they're super tame but the dairy blood will reduce their kill value.
Not an american so I can't really recommend for your likely circumstance meaning my advice might be useless.
You won't have the instincts for handling cattle it takes experience to get your eye in, so play it safe, your typical farm boy grew up with this stuff it's literally like learning a language, way easier when you're young.
avoid anything wild
I don't know much about wagyu so hopefully someone can contribute better info, looking on a few sites they seem to be pretty docile and adaptable so they might be fine.
I want to raise the best meat possible, and id rather be a niche in my market than compete with bigger farms. It’d be cool to be the wagyu guy. Thx for the other info, there are some hybrids that look just as good imo
I'd just like to remphasise that if you don't know shit about managing and handling cattle you should proceed with a lot of caution, maybe get your hand in on another farm or something? they're living things, that can escape or die on you. don't be the sort of city guy that goes out and buys a bunch of cattle from market and only then thinks what he's going to do with the damn hairy foul smelling beasts.
Remember the keyword for buying your stock is docile, docile, docile.
Of course! I’d be looking at this as a way to start my own farm basically, and won’t be jumping into it before I’m completely confident in my breed, location, budget, market and available time I can put in. I’ve just always wanted cattle and I need to make it happen. I have chickens currently (just hobby sized flock, 8-10) and run a small vegetable farm on leased land. I may just spend this year stepping up the chicken game since I’m more familiar with them and certain I could sell chicks and eggs, and eat the meat/barter. I just really want some cows and freezers full of wagyu.
Try and find a way to get some experience on a farm with large animals.
I don't know what it's like there but here there's always a need for an extra hand when you're moving stock about.
*maybe check out the local ag extension offices, see if there are open days or farm walks.
I've lived on a cattle ranch my whole life. We tend to buy any cheap cow that isn't horrible and try to get a few calves out of her. Because of this, I have worked with many breeds. Firstly, I have never heard much about actual Wagyu meat being raised in the U.S. I think you would have a hard time finding a market that would give you a premium for it. Angus are a solid breed with good maternal instincts and a tendency to marble well, and you can actually get a premium price if it meets the specs for certified angus beef. Lowline are basically a miniature angus breed and are good for small operations. Their small carcass size means you'll get docked at large slaughter plants though. British whites tend to be similar to angus but are unlikely to meet certified angus specs due to coat color.
A lot of people like herefords, but I have had pretty bad luck with them. They are the dumbest cattle I have every worked with, but are extremely durable. I am convinced some herefords are too dumb to feel pain, as they hardly even flinch when you bend a pipe over their head. They aren't great mothers and have a bad tendency to lose calves and have trouble producing enough milk sometimes.
Simmentals have a very large frame and are good at getting very heavy carcasses. Their large size also means they have little trouble with birthing. However, they need to eat a lot and don't fatten well on grass. Also they tend to have udder issues later in life.
Charolais are good at heavy muscling. I have a limited experience with them but can't recall a whole lot of calving or mothering issues.
Salers are a less often known breed. I found they make great mothers with some of the most aggressive calves I have seen and gain well on grass. However, their meat is more lean and doesn't marble as well.
If you don't know much about cattle I would recommend getting a job where you can work with them. Feedlots have a huge demand for labor right now.
I didn't know herefords had such poor maternal traits?
There are quite a few lesser known old english beef breeds, like lincoln reds, welsh blacks, beef shorthorns, etc, etc.
Are british whites somewhat common over there I've heard they have good maternals?
Where I live there aren't too many British whites. We've only every gotten one group of them, but they have lasted pretty well so far. The group we have is VERY maternal, some to the point of self destructive aggression.
My family use to raise milking shorthorns before switching to beef (long before I was born), and I hear they are pretty good cows, though I haven't worked with a ton of them either.
My great grandfather use to have lots of herefords, but got so sick of them he got rid of them.
Grandpa used to milk south devons then when friesians started to be brought over from holland switched over to them around the seventies then slowly added in holstein genetics, now South Devons are pretty much a beef breed but big framed, milky and a good grass finisher with marbling.
A lot of old milking breeds couldn't survive that period, breeds like the rare gloucester breed survived in tiny amounts although they were given new lease of life as their milk was used for stinking cheese.
I always wonder what the value of the genetics lost would amount to now?
Bit of a tangent there sorry, the british whites were once managed under the same herd books as the white park cattle breeds The Chillingham estate has a herd of feral white park cattle isolated for 800 years
*long vid with some history
coincidentally I found another example of isolated feral british catle on Swona.
Its probably better to stick to the breeds that others are having success with in your area before springing for something exotic.
My grandfather raised Highland, they have the cutest fricking calf. the female have horns so be careful when you touch the young. It's the leanest beef I've ever had, had to add olive oil to the burgers. Delicious.
>You have to be johnny on the spot with fencing though.
this OP 100%. if there is a hole in the fence the cows will find it and they will go through it. They don't even make their own escape but if one shows up they all know about it instantly somehow, they're a strange animal
Still better than goats, fricking things have their own laws of gravity.
I don't even want to imagine. For all the cattle around where I live I think only one guy has goats and he's got maybe 6, not sure if he has anything else or is just a goat man
>diy discovers serfdom
Very peasantpilled anon
>serfs
/diY/eomen
>or whatever a cow house is called
>Is it really that easy?
no
Absolutely no other thread seems even remotely relevant, so here goes
I have some questions asbout stock fencing.
What are the differences, advantages and disadvantages of horizontal vs diagonal strainer post bracing?
What are the arguments around the footing of the diagonal strainer brace post. I have seen conflicting reports on hammering deep anchors to brace against while other models call for a floating plate.
Are there any good resources showing strength comparisons of different wire knots? On a related topic in comparison to other wire connectors, ie gripples, crimps, twits, etc, etc?
as an extra
Wood vs metal vs concrete posts?
thoughts on regenerative ag?
natural agriculture
that's the real good shit
don't need pesticides just grow something to distract pests
don't need fertilizer it's all there
don't need gmo we can just self select
plows?
irrigation?
debt?
don't need it
>cow house
No, you really need to do your homework on what property you want to lease, fallow or unsused agriculture ground is better than trying to turn a forest into pasture. You must make sure there is water on the property as well, along with fences to keep them safe.
>fallow or unsused agriculture ground is better than trying to turn a forest into pasture
to make a pasture breaks a man
>Is it really that easy?
No. Not at all. You ever been around a dead cow? Are you prepared to deal with dead cattle? Because every professor, operator, and owner agrees that you'll lose ~10% of your animals every year to disease, old age, accidents, whatever. That's the average. If you aren't prepared to deal with 1,000+ lb dead animals every twice in a while, do yourself a favor and go to a petting zoo, then buy a hamburger. You'll live a happier life.
>you'll lose ~10% of your animals every year
Are you actually counting culls and baroners? I don't think op wants to run a system with calving cows.
I don't think OP knows what he's trying to get himself into.
sort of relevant migratory pastoralist