An old bloke, new farmer

3 posts

Member for

4 years 1 month
Last seen: 02/26/2020 - 19:46
Joined: 02/23/2020 - 13:29

An old bloke, new farmer

Hi to all and sundry,
I have recently taken over managing a small farm in the south west of western australia. At the moment we have Murray Grey cows and the first of my calves are off to market on Tuesday. I am thinking that I will buy in small calves and grow them over the autumn winter and spring seasons then selling in the early to mid summer sales.
I was thinking of making the pastures smaller and moving the cattle more frequently. Does anyone have opinions on this? Does anyone have a recommended Breed? Obviously want to make a little bit of cash out of the exercise.
Any opinions on other things to do

Forums
Last seen: 03/28/2024 - 10:29
Joined: 02/28/2011 - 14:19

Hi Dazmac,

Welcome to the small farm forum and thanks for the question.

Buying in smaller cattle and growing them out is a good idea, particularly if you are new to cattle handling. Smaller animals are a lot easier to manage and you do not have to worry about bulls and them breaking into the neighbours. 

Splitting the paddocks up is sound grazing practice and rotationally grazing them. Work on the principle the longer the grazing period the longer the rest period should be. Regarding breeds, there are lots to choose from with many differences in do-ability, bos indicus (indian), bos-tarus (european), temperament and resistance to heat and ticks. I would recommend seeing what breeds some of your neighbours run and asking them.

We also have an active Facebook group which you may like to join, you can find the group here
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FarmStyle/?ref=bookmarks

Regards,
Charlie

Last seen: 03/17/2020 - 14:07
Joined: 10/11/2019 - 10:41

That is good advice Charlie - rotational feeding allows pasture to recover better and means you can use spare pasture paddocks for hay in the grass season. Which you can store for winter or drought feed.

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