I am a retired cattle rancher.  I miss my cows.  I don’t miss making the hay to feed them, and I don’t miss broken-down hay equipment, and I don’t miss irrigating, but I miss my cows.  I loved my cows.  I had the finest herd of cows in the county.

If I had to do it over again I’d go about things a little differently.  I learned a few things over the years.

First off, I think that I would consider not investing in hay equipment.  I’d convert my hay ground to pasture, run more cows, and purchase all of my hay.  Instead of running 120 mother cows on my place I could possibly have doubled that number.  It took two tons of hay per cow to get my herd through the winter.  At $200 per ton it would cost $400 to buy the hay to feed each cow.  She would raise a 700-pound calf selling on today’s market between $1.10-$1.55 per pound.  That’s $770-$1,085 per calf.  That’s an acceptable profit.

I’d begin with a herd of the finest black angus heifers that I could find.  I’d breed them to Tarentaise bulls.  I’d save the heifers from this cross, and those would become my base herd.  Angus/Tarentaise cows are medium-sized, great mothers, have good dispositions, and give lots of milk.  The agricultural experiment station at Miles City, Montana experimented with the various crosses and breeds and determined that this cow bred to a Charolais bull is the most profitable breeding program.  I had those three breeds, and I believe it.

I would keep a small herd of my best angus cows to continually supply me with Angus/Tarentaise replacements.  I’d breed those replacements to angus bulls the first year to facilitate easy calving.  Thereafter I would breed them to Charolais, and would sell all the progeny.

I’d keep good records on each cow.  Any cow that required assistance during calving would be culled at the end of the season.  So would her calf.  In a short time I’d have a herd that would require hardly any assistance at calving time.

I would schedule calving for the middle of August through September.  I would thereby avoid cold-weather calving, scours, grass tetany, and other headaches associated with spring calving.  January through April calving is not nature’s way.

One fall I ran out of pasture.  The cows were desperate for feed, so I let them go up in the woods for 12 hours.  They ate some pine needles, and I had 12 abortions.  Since the abortions were my fault, I let those cows stay around.  They immediately rebred and thereafter calved in the fall.  The calves stayed on the cows all winter and ran with the rest of the herd.  They received no extra hay.  The calves were huge the next spring.  Some weighed over 800 pounds when I sold them, and they’d nearly all weaned themselves.  Fall calving eliminates the stress and bother of weaning.

I always used an elastrator on my new-born bull calves.  I’d continue that practice.  I’d also only use polled animals in my breeding program.  I’m all for eliminating any pain and stress to the animals that I can, such as that associated with castration and dehorning.

I’d work my cattle gently.  They respond to that.  I’d cull any wild, mean, or flighty animals.  My herd would be such that I could walk among them, and they would pay hardly any attention.  Some of them I’d even be able to pet.

Every time I’d pull into the field to feed the cows I’d give my signature whoop.  That would train them to come when I’d call.  At roundup time, or when changing pastures in the summer, all I’d have to do is whoop, and the cows would come running.  I wouldn’t have a horse at all.