West Central Illinois | Hick - 2/23/2024 16:16
I would like to see the numbers that building a cow calf confinement is more feasible than turning crop land into pasture.
$2000 her head space at 8% interest is $160 in interest alone.
Let the cows live outside a good grove for the winter, calve on rye in the spring, plant the rye to soybeans, take the $160 you saved in interest per cow and use it to turn some crop land into pasture. Harvest some corn as early as possible so you can turn the cows out on stalks. Crop ground can produce way more than a rolling pasture.
Think making money not making barn payments.
Was at a grazing conference this past fall an older guy think he was in his mid 70s and had his farm setup for rotational grazing since the mid 90s, prior to that it was mainly just farmed corn/bean rotation. This guy kept complete financial records all those years and after he converted those marginal crop ground acres (rolling Illinois clay hill type ground) to pasture his margins every year per acre went up in that 25+ year spread vs. the like type ground he had that was not pasture. Of course it takes good grazing mgt. and cattle are going to be more labor than crop obviously but it's something to consider. Was running 135 cows on 240 acres i believe. No commercial fertilizer just fescue and rotation, typical grazing season was mid april to end of december every year.
Edited by Lb94 2/23/2024 17:00
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Cow/calf barn suggestions
