* I have this brainstorm that I want to run by
* all of you for input.
*
* I have a pretty good grass farm in Michigan
* and have been running holstein steers and
* dairy replacement heifers for the past 7
* years. My idea is to buy cull cows from one
* or two large commercial dairys that have
* failed to re breed within their systems. I
* want to buy in April and May and put the cows
* out on grass. I would expose them to bulls
* for 2 months and pregnancy check all of them
* in the beginning of July. Open cows would
* then be sold (and any others that are not
* performing well) as canner cutters. The
* remaining cows would be grazed through the
* fall on grass, residues and brassicas until
* they are 8 months pregnant and then sold as
* springers back into the commercial dairy
* industry. Why won't this work?
Hi,
This has been done a lot, and will work somewhat, but probably not as well as
you hope.
This a basically what a traditional cow dealer did, he made "backwards" cows
into springers with the aid of cheap grass. However, You may not have his
eye for poundage, and that is an essential factor in making this work.
And, of course, he would not limit his window for buying to just two months
spring months. The cows will be cheaper if you can rescue them from bleak
circumstances in mid and late winter.
I'm thinking that, in many cases, some of the profit will be in the form of
experience.
On the plus side, many of these cows will be pregnant already.
This may occur from errors in palpation, errors in record keeping, pregnant
cows exhibiting standing heat, culling of low producing pregnant cows, and
more.
A very big plus working for you is "Dr. Grass".
Dr Grass truly exists and may be the major factor in any success that occurs.
On the down side, hard breeders are hard breeders just like black cows are
black cows.
A lot of these cows are going to cystic. Cows that have been cystic for a
long time are pretty tough to fix. But, spontaneous recovery from cystic
ovaries does occur sometimes on spring pasture.
Fat cows are hard breeders. Most of these you might buy will be fat. The
economics favor fat cows... so that's what will be available to you.
A lot of cows that get culled for sterility or low production are actually
borderline gimps. Foot care has got to be part of this program. I'd dig out
the abcesses and corns on any coming out of freestalls.
Cows that have been standing dry a long time are difficult to get through
calving. They have a lot more metabolic problems around calving time. This
is no secret. Your buyers will know it, and may decline the opportunity, or
bid accordingly.
--
Kindest regards,
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F. W. Owen
Owenlea Holsteins
9430 Spencer Road
Homerville, Ohio 44235
e-mail fwo@bright.net
home page http://www.bright.net/~fwo
voice & fax 330.625.2369
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