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East Central, Nebraska | Well i will start by saying i am young and not very experienced (some might say dumb), we are decently sized row crop farmers but it never seemed like enough (income wise) for me to fit into the operation. I took on a cattle lease of about 25 cows and have had some pretty good luck. I calve in mid-march and things seem to go good. I don't have good facilities (well pretty much none) but have got along good. To be honest though this year seems to scare the heck out of me. I had the oportunity to take on some more cows so i did it. Since then it seems to snow every week so the corn stock thing isn't working too well. I have been asking guys what they are doing, since hay seems to be priced at about $80 to $100 a ton for alfalfa. Some say they haven't fed anything since it has started snowing, some say they were feeding hay at the beginning and now aren't and others tell me that they have been feeding hay the whole time because even though the cows are getting down to the corn they aren't getting the roughage and they are worried about foundering the cows. They are old cows and they know what they are doing but i don't know what to think. I would never let my cows go hungry no matter what the cost but they seem to be getting along pretty good out on the stalks. Im confused. One guy told me to bang to the beat of my own drum and i thought that was profound but i am losing sleep over this. I can't wait until calving time with this weather. Any advice is apprecitated. Thank you. | |
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Need a little advice (small cow herd)....
