How to Start a Cattle Ranch
Working outdoors on the open range is the dream of every little kid that wants to be a rancher. There are some obstacles as an adult, perhaps, but who wouldn't want to ditch that cubicle under fluorescent lighting for the great outdoors and herding cattle out to the south forty.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Lasso
- Chaps
- Ten-gallon hat
- Cowboy boots
- Cattle
- Land
- Fencing
- Fence posts
- Cattle brand
- Horse
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1
Locate a piece of land large enough to accommodate and feed a herd of cattle. This land should be at least 30 acres and have enough vegetation to can feed the cattle during the growing season and provide them with shelter. If you choose land that does not have these features, you will spend a fortune on feed and have to build a barn big enough to house the entire herd.
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2
Buy the land if you do not already own a suitable piece of land. You can usually arrange financing from a bank, but you will need to show the bank a viable business plan for the cattle ranch or they will not lend you the money to purchase the land.
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3
Build all the necessary fencing to keep your cattle from wandering off your land never to been seen again. Without fencing, cattle have a tendency to mosey on off the land and leave you with a heap of work to get them cattle back on the property.
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4
Round up a herd of cattle from the auction to populate the cattle ranch. You will need to purchase one bull and at least 50 head of heifers or female cattle. You should never purchase more than one bull because they will fight each other until one of the bulls is dead or forced to leave the herd. You also need to decide what breed of cattle you want to raise; Texas longhorns are one suggestion for new ranchers
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5
Brand the cattle to make sure you can identify your cows at auction and if they wander off the cattle ranch. If you do not have a brand, go to the local blacksmith to get him to design you one.
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Comments
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I grew up raising cattle and now run my families cattle ranch and where I live there's plenty of pasture in the lower parts of calif in the mountain's water is not an issue neither is grass but in the lower part of the state it is so placement is and for as far as using number's to identify your cattle well that's fine but when your cattle gets mixed with other rancher's cattle it becomes hard to id them so branding them is best and it really don't hurt them at all.
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Love this
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Obviously, there's a lot more to consider than what is in this overly simple set of instructions. For instance, you don't have to have a brand for your cattle. You can use ear tags with numbers instead. You also have to consider the climate and terrain where you set up your operation. Out west, for example, you have water considerations and vegatation considerations which include number of acres needed to sustain one head of cattle, sometimes averaging around 15 acres per head. In the south, the vegetation and water may be more abundant requiring a smaller spread and averaging maybe 1-2 acres per head. There are opportunities, as well, to set up your opeation by leasing land rather than buying it. As far as the equipment list here, 6 out of 10 of those items are not required. Many ranchers do not look like your typical cowboys and prefer work boots, a feed store hat, and overalls to traditional western apparel. It is more than possible to herd your cattle on foot and without a lariat. We do it all the time. However, wearing a straw Stetson and pair of cowboy boots sure looks a lot cooler and makes the girls turn their head more than shorts, a tank top, and a pair of converse hightops.
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daneer
Nov 30, 2009
Well, I wouldn't mind, but lots of people would not want to spend their entire day sweating or freezing, reaching their arm chest deep into the back end of a birthing cow. You can have as many bulls as you want- just keep them in seperate fields. It is somtimes easier to make a profit off five really nice cows than fifty crappy ones. Don't just buy 50 cows at the first auction you go to.
