Low Cost Cattle Production - Dr Bruce Shanks

[@lauralee2514]

Just listened for the 2nd time, 1st was at the event...great information! Got my first 1/2 breed South Polls in July, a bull and a heifer...growing it slow, keeping it simple : )

[@embercattle]

It’s always helpful to listen to some presentations again because there is so much good info! Congrats on your first 1/2 bloods! Those have been some of my best cattle! Good luck!

[@marvinbaier3627]

Thanks for the video! I’ve been weed eating our fence lines since the some of the forage is so thick. I just trim out 2 acre area where I’m keeping our rams at. When I started it was 2.8-3kv, now it is 6kv or higher. I just shocked cutting a tree by hand and it sure made me jump hard and it got me good. I have 2 nice bulls but I’m keeping one for breeding because his mom breed back right away when I AI the first time twice in a row. Then, when I naturally bred her she bred back in 33 days. All our calves were born in July and she bred back in August. It was right in the heat of summer. I’m trying to move them up every year to have them calf in April/May timeframe.

[@embercattle]

Sounds like you have a lot going on! Great! In the breed back with your cows! That’s always a win!

[@mcchupka9718]

Thanks for sharing. All common sense but still good things to review and keep in mind.

[@Andy-ix2ox]

Kiss is my motto “ keep it simple stupid “ regardless of what you are farming, we have a number of enterprises dairy, cow / calf, sheep and beef. We have feed grass , grass silage and a maize soya and beet pulp meal , mixed to what we they need ( sucklers never get meals) finishing cattle get some meal , bucket calves get as much as they need and dairy cows get c. 0.75 tons per annum. I work off the principle that is an old adage here in Ireland “ half stocked full rent, fully stocked half rent “, we do house our cattle with the exception of the first winter stock which are out wintered as they are not heavy enough to do excessive damage to the land ( winters are wet here). We use fertiliser sparingly and lime liberally, sheep are never housed and receive very little meal but do get silage if needed. We stock at a total live weight of about c. 400kg per acre cows and sheep calve/ lamb march/ April, nothing is born before the first of march or after the first week of may( this year we had one lamb and two calves in the first week of may out of 520 ewes and 220 cows) any lambs not slaughtered by the end of august are sold as stores and any cattle not slaughtered by the first week of April are also sold as stores generally 120 lambs and 20 cattle, it’s a very simple system and it works however we own our land and only rent about 10 percent of the land we farm, we have no long term borrowings and we are only family labour so when things are not great we can always cut back on the drawings ( we have three houses which we own so the farm can accommodate the family with out mortgages to worry about) in the past we have bought land and intensively farmed and may do so again, however the system we operate is one we have followed for the past decade as my father was getting older and myself and my brother had young children so it suited us at the time and now we find that apart from march and April the work load is not excessive and we are usually reasonably profitable.

[@embercattle]

Thanks for sharing a little about how your farm in Ireland. I visited the island once 15 years ago and it is an extremely beautiful country. Always wanted to visit again. I like your mindset of kiss. That is how I feel about farming systems as well. Sounds like you have your operation figured out to what works for you and your family!

[@jasonnisbet6293]

Thank you! Great info

[@FarmAnimalsShowNZ]

I'm pleased to have found this channel.

[@embercattle]

Thank you! Glad to have you following along!

[@LtColDaddy71]

I’m a zero input farmer and cattle company. Is anyone truly zero? No, I have to buy little stuff, but I don’t buy supplements or inputs. I’m also 1000% about quality. It requires raising an animal that is all but sale proof at any sale barn, but my mix of genetics does produce 70% prime grading, and my dams produce an income. They don’t just eat and give us calves. We nurse cow 2:1, and milk 250 cows. I’m breeding Dexter Wagyu cross cross bulls with Jersey cows, and taking 24-30 months to accomplish it. We use them as our primary source of fertility on an at scale zero till row crop enterprise. Their is no prescription or start up plan. All you can do is be modular, able to expand and contract based on demand. It was 17 years of reinvesting, out of the 22 years we’ve farmed and raised cattle. If you want to build a great farming and cattle enterprise, get used to the fact that it’s not going to pay off until long after your dead and gone. Their is no greased lightening in a bottle, seminar or silver bullet. Just a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but you won’t be broke and farming for the scraps thrown your way from the farm bill.

[@embercattle]

Thanks for sharing. I agree there is no prescription when it comes to farming, and there shouldn't be! Prescriptive farming can get you in trouble in the long run I believe. Do you graze row crops or do you apply manure from holding barns?

[@triciahill216]

Somewhat off topic, but the construction of the barn is interesting. Is it typical in Virginia? I’m thinking that the air space between the vertical siding boards is either for drying tobacco or ventilation for hay storage. Does anyone know?

[@embercattle]

It’s been a little while since I’ve watched Bruce’s presentation in this video. Do you know what time he talks about the barns?

[@triciahill216]

@@embercattleHe doesn’t talk about the barn, but the backdrop shows the barn fairly well. The vertical boards have air spaces between them and I’m trying to figure out why it was built that way, e.g. tobacco, ventilation for hay, aesthetics, etc.? Thank you.

[@FlyingDutchmanFarmMI]

Small producers like myself (21 lowline angus, 100 sheep, some chickens and pigs) and not a lot of land farming, in the margins or the unfarmable land of others is a way to things happen cheaply.

[@jimmyjohnson7041]

At 24:26 exactly right.... hands out for making money ! Prime example Mr Glyphosate ( Greg Judy ) !!! How many so called.......streams of income dose he need ???? Think about it ???

[@jimmyjohnson7041]

Bale grazing......bale rings...... bale smaller bales.........problem solved ! I bale all 4 x4 bales..... easy to move....light weight and the cows eat and move on !

[@dennisholst4322]

Do you have to become a doctor to accumulate to a functional purpose

[@dennisholst4322]

Maybe he likes setting on a school room chair

[@kalebesseskew5525]

Curious what his cows are lacking in minerals. Talks about judy even he puts out mineral. Unless he talking about protein tubs not mineral tubs

[@jimmyjohnson7041]

Judy ? You mean Mr. Glyphosate ??? Take note relating to Mr. Glyphosate !!!! He never fails at anything.. heavenly ! Never has a cow with calving issues. He claims he sells those cows that have calving problems ??? How does that work .......sell the cow with a calf hanging out ??? Take note... how Mr. Glyphosate has is " internes " silenced ??? Nothing heard from them ! I question why that is ???? Suppose it has something to do with " money " ?? No one dare be critical of Mr. Glyphosate ! But he in turn tells the world about his next door neighbor saying their soils are dead ??? Think about how you would see Mr Glyphosate knowing he sees your land / soils as being " dead " ??? Start asking the real questions...... a person might learn much more !!!!!!