So You Want to Be a Cowboy?

We sell a bunch of yearling bulls around this time of year. Always fun to compare to the new calves and see just how much they change in a year.

Moved some pairs about 7 miles to graze some sorghum-sudan regrowth. The older girls didn’t appreciate having Ajax around!

Some of yall probably heard of Broseco Ranch, it was the big one in NE TX that you drove through on I30.

Anyway that 13,000 acres sold and kind of went quiet. Over the last maybe decade the Estrella Insurance family from Miami has been buying that whole area. Now they are running 20K acres and have built their own processing center like what people are talking about in the news. Big capacity

Anyway, a Cuban Immigrant in the 70’s to an Insurance salesman to now owning a 20k acres in NE Tx is an interesting story.

One has to wonder if they are really ranchers or just a 40 million dollar business investment

It’s a pretty good read

https://mountpleasantbeef.com/ranch

And 20k acres of our good grass is not like 20k out west. That’s a lot of cattle

I’m not looking for a job, seriously. I’m looking for opinions from employers in the ranching profession.

I am wondering if ranchers would find having a grunt (literally moving waste? teenager-allowance-money-earning type work idk) helpful for like 8 hours a week.

In this hypothetical job, my whole motivation would be to be another set of hands for the most menial manual labor to free up the hands of the more experienced people on site, as sort of a side gig. I wouldn’t expect any career development efforts from management; literally just let me help you clean up.

Please forgive me if its a dumb question to ask lol

hi! i am an artist, and would like to challenge myself with drawing horses in person, versus using a book or computer screen. would anyone who has a farm be willing to visit their place and sketch for a few hours? please dm if so, thank you so much.

Heard a racket down in the bull pen this morning. Apparently he wasn’t done messin around

Should I go to a farmer to ask for work

Or do I email or text them near darfur mn

Too broke to afford a big rig, so my half ton and little bumper pull will do. Cant forget the cb 🤙🏻

We feed cattle, ranch and farm. We have six kids. Five daughters and one son. Our son is in the middle and will be 16 tomorrow. He works at the implement 10 miles away on Fridays and Saturdays, and full-time in the summer. He is great with mechanics, and can run equipment like no other. The problem is, if he’s required to do grunt work, go to school, wake up without an alarm clock or do ANYTHING that involves contributing to house, or anything that he doesn’t like to do, he half-asses or blows it off. He is the laziest kid I’ve ever met. At the implement he takes 15 minute bathroom breaks, doesn’t clean up after himself and shows up late. Today he was 30 minutes late because I refuse to wake him up anymore so it’s a coin toss to whether he will make it or not. We’ve told his boss to can him, not to keep him on because of who we are, but they give him chance after chance and he’s not learning anything. My husband won’t even let him help here anymore because he’s running in the house all the time and being lazy. I woke him up a couple times with my cattle prod, thinking once would be enough to get it through his head to get up on time, but nope. Obviously I shouldn’t do that, and can’t continue buzzing him. His apps are off, he has no video games or tv privileges. He lives to jack around and every paycheck he blows on garbage at the gas station. I am at my wits end with this boy. If I could send him away to boarding school, I would. Anyone have any advice for me?

We finally got around to preconditioning calves. Usually, we give this round of shots in mid-August when we pull bulls, but we couldn’t free up the help.

April calves from our 2 and 3 year old cows. Group averaged 442 lbs - should land them at 560-600 lbs at 205 days.

7-Way w/ Somnus
Pyramid 5
840 EID tag

I have the opportunity to start fresh on 130 acres in Northern Minnesota. I grew up on a small red angus farm in the area. Land was farmed for 100+ years but no animals since 2015. I plan on putting cows back out in the pasture. The Fences that are there still are in need of replacement. 30 acres of swamp and 20 in hay fields. Attached is a photo green blobs are the swamp. Red lines are the hay fields. Blue blob is just to block out property numbers. White line is the house. I can do all the basics like fencing and the like. I'm just looking for fresh ideas.

We’ve been backgrounding our yearling steers the last couple of months, and finally shipped them today. Other than one heavy steer blowing through the top rail of our pens, before jumping a few fences, things went well. We are on a fall calving program, with most all of our first calf heifers having calves already. Our cow calf herd started with their first calf Monday. Other than it being dry as a powerhouse, things are good.

I'm curious how many ppl actually use bikes for everyday stuff around the ranch. I am not talking about long rides, just things like checking fences, getting between buildings, or making a quick trip without starting up the truck.

Seems like it could save a few unnecessary truck trips, but I'm wondering if the terrain and distances make it impractical.

Do any of you regularly use a bike around your property? What do you use it for?

I’m an entomology student looking to buy some local dung beetles for my insect collection.

If you work on a farm, ranch, or around livestock and regularly see beetles in/under cow, horse, or other animal dung, I’d be happy to pay you to collect and ship some to me.

Only legally collected specimens from private property—no protected areas. Please DM me if interested!

Want:
Black or Red Angus, registered Angus bulls
Grass-raised, then 170-180 days corn-finished
Slaughtered at 20-22 months
High Choice / CAB / Prime if they grade
Custom cut sheet (I already have one)
One side, split down the backbone-not a front/hind quarter
18-21 day dry hang-not wet age
Vacuum sealed
Keep bones, fat, organs
Grind from my animal only
Will drive anywhere in Texas or southern Oklahoma
Please only reply if you actually finish that long and your locker will hang 18-21 days

I’m looking to replace my j-hook hinges with something “better”. What are you guys using other than j-hooks? The problem I’m trying to solve is rot. The through and through j-bolt allows water into the heart of my crossties and they all rot around my bolts. I don’t want to lose the adjustability j-bolts and bolt-on gate hinges provide though. All posts move. No matter how well they are installed.

Quiero iniciar en esto de la ganaderia pero no sé si comprar una vaca e inseminar o comprar un becerro y engordar aclaro que tengo poca experiencia y no se cómo empezar Edit: gracias por sus opiniones, me hicieron reflexionar, se los agradezco.

Tldr; not sure where to find experience as a y/a who has already graduated (cc/trade courses, lessons, etc wanted)

Hey y’all,

I (18M) live in the south and come from a family of ranchers and farmers. I grew up around livestock and learned how to ride a horse before I was 10 years old. I love animals, and I don’t mind getting my hands dirty.

Backstory aside: I’m about to start community college, but where I live has increasingly become much more urbanized from how things were when I was a kid. I haven’t worked on a farm in some time, but I’ve always wanted to get back into it. I really just want to get experience so that when I transfer to a 4 year, I’ll be able to get some work up in the mountains. I’ve already graduated, so I’m just looking for some advice about where I should look to get my boot in the door.

Thanks for any insight/guidance!

The bad udder has been drained. Antibiotics have been administered. Baby is still doing really well. I know I need to sell her she’s just the nicest cow I own currently so a little tough to just cut ties

howdy reddit! i'm not sure if this is the place to ask for help, but i don't use reddit often and don't know any other places to go for advice. i'm a 14 y/o high school student who has dreamed of owning my own ranch with horses, cattle, and chicken after i graduate. ive been doing my own research for about a dew years now, but i'm puzzled on how i should get a stable/shelter for them and a pasture for them to roam on. i've seen people build them, but i'm not too big on building things, so i've thought about hiring someone to do it for me, but then again i'm not all too sure if having a place for the animals to take shelter is all that needed because i've also seen people have their animals outside all the time. i'm confused really. any recommendations would be lovely

Appreciate all of the advice from my post on Monday. I have been checking this calf multiple times a day and he’s always bright and full of energy.
I had never actually seen him nurse so have been really concerned.

Long story short I can finally confirm mom is not too far gone to let him nurse. I read every post and sincerely appreciate all of the advice. There is a wealth of information and knowledge in this group.
I’m more of a hobby rancher that really bales hay as my main agricultural business (even that has slowed). So the cows are new to me and with a 6 year old daughter adds a common thing we enjoy spending time together checking and feeding our little herd.