I inherited a ranch of my grandparents in Wyoming. They sold all the livestock a couple years back when they retired. Now I really want to get it going again. They had cows, sheep and pigs. There is 160 acres and 100 acres of that is irrigated for hay. Also the ranch is right on the river and has a canal for irrigation. Any ideas of how many cows and sheep I could run would be a great help. Looking at doing a cow calf operation.
New ranch in Wyoming
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Talk to your neighboring ranches in the area, they should be able to tell you what they have had good luck running.
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The rool of thum is ideally 5-10 acers ahead but if you won't to feed more then you can halve more but if you feed al year around then you can halve all you won't but think profet just think haw long it wuld take 1 caw to eat an acer and go from there if you halve a qweshtion you can also call me 541-741-8591 I hope to talk to you soon
What part of Wyoming are you in? It does seem to require more acres of grazing land per head up there. The sheep seem to be very profitable. I helped my friends when I lived in Wyoming occasionally. They ran a Rambouillet x Hamp/Suffolk cross variety and seemed to do very well. They also had a few head of cattle, but you need more specialized and heavier equipment or knowledgeable manpower to handle many cattle. Cattle give you less cause to worry than sheep, but sheep have a quicker financial return than cattle. A good Great Pyrenees dog is worth it's weight in gold. What they had was successful. So I would say run both species of cattle and sheep. I would start with maybe two or three head of bred cows and five head of sheep ( a ram and four ewes) and see how you make it through the first year (the real test up there is making it through two winters). Knowing the volatility of the hog market and the cost of feed and feed conversion factors, I wouldn't recommend raising hogs up there except for your personal consumption. And the only reason I would do that is so I would know what that hog had been fed. If you can find a good source of butcher hogs I wouldn't raise a hog. I am assuming you will confine your animal husbandry efforts to the 60 acres not committed to irrigated hay. Irrigation is a big deal in Wyoming. Water rights conflicts are serious business so maximize your irrigation production. Wait till you produce some calves and see how your grazing is supporting your cattle before you buy a bull. You can ask someone for help with artificial insemination or possibly find a nice neighbor that will let you use their bull. You will need to have good quality cows though.
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Perhaps pick up some close lease grazing if possible.
sounds like a great irrigated hay base.
I figure you can easy run 30 cows now ( and save heifers over ) by running some over lap grazing off the hay acres.
just never know...if you could winter out on a close lease, then graze In during the summer ( forget haying it...graze it ) your deal could run say 200 cows.
go with some New Zealand style rotations etc..
it's generally cheaper to buy hay or cake than putting it up, btw.
what part of Wyo you talkin?
sounds like a great irrigated hay base.
I figure you can easy run 30 cows now ( and save heifers over ) by running some over lap grazing off the hay acres.
just never know...if you could winter out on a close lease, then graze In during the summer ( forget haying it...graze it ) your deal could run say 200 cows.
go with some New Zealand style rotations etc..
it's generally cheaper to buy hay or cake than putting it up, btw.
what part of Wyo you talkin?
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