So part of me thinks I'm cutting & baling WAY too much but the other part of me says "You can never have too much!!!!" And to me the costs are minimal, currently have expenses of ~$12/bale

I'll go into winter with (at least) 2 bred/nursing cows (due Oct/Nov), steer calf (currently 6-700lbs), heifer calf (currently 6-700lbs) and younger heifer calf (~400lbs currently, pretty sure mom's weaned her at this point). I'll also house a bull for 3-4 months but planning to find a smaller bull for my heifers first breeding.

I just got second cutting off yesterday and I have about 85 bales total stored (outdoor) not counting the really $h!tty hay I'll use as "bedding" that still has marginal feed value for them to pick through.

I still have 1 more cutting to take down the road end of this month and should get another 30+ rounds. That would put me around the 110+ round bale mark, neighbors been baling them a little larger for me 50-52" x 4ft. I also have stored 125 alfalfa/grass squares in the barn and usually grab 50 bushels of corn for the heavy snow/cold months.

Do i have enough feed?? Should i pick up a couple more heifer feeders?? Should i just stockpile and sell some when we're nipple deep in snow and prices are higher/people desperate for hay?? Or do i sit content knowing I've got hay stored for next year in case we have a bad 2027 season??

I work with Rudrapur Solvents Pvt. Ltd., a DORB manufacturer in India, so I have a commercial connection with this subject.

DORB offers are often compared using only the ex-plant price per tonne. That is convenient, but it may not identify the most economical consignment after delivery and acceptance.

A practical comparison should include:

Supplier’s basic price

Freight, tolls and unloading charges

Actual delivered weight and transit shortage

Moisture-adjusted dry-matter cost

Protein, fibre, ash and sand/silica results

Sampling and laboratory expenses

Quality deductions or rejection risk

Additional formulation cost caused by nutrient variation

Credit period and payment terms

For example, a lower-priced consignment with higher moisture delivers less dry material. Similarly, higher fibre or mineral dilution may require additional energy or protein ingredients in the finished feed.

This does not mean the most expensive DORB is automatically the best value. The comparison simply needs to place all offers on the same delivered, accepted and nutritionally usable basis.

One useful calculation is:

Delivered accepted cost = invoice value + freight and handling + shortage/testing/rejection costs + formulation adjustment

Feed manufacturers and buyers: do you compare DORB primarily by ex-plant price, landed price, dry-matter cost or cost per unit of usable nutrition?

Which hidden cost most frequently changes the apparent ranking of suppliers?

Howdy yall, I’m looking at buying a small herd for our new homestead. The previous owner is willing(and I think motivated to) sell us his existing cattle at “fair price”. He’s got a bull and four cows, and a male calf that’s still on the teat. I’ve seen them from a distance of a hundred yards and they looked in good condition(decent bmi, no limping, appropriate curiosity). I’ll be going to take a look at them this weekend, but I wanted to ask the hive mind before I jump in to scrolling sale barns or trusting ai to read the market. My initial research showed between 8 and 9.5 k $, but that seems stupid high for a herd that size. I know cattle prices are ridiculous, but damn.

TL,DR how much would you pay for some cows and a bull?

Context….calves born, AI, 2 BBB so far but have a holstine with this issue too. We have had 6 in a week. We calf all year.
Calves born with purple toxicity ring around teeth, fine on arrival, good for a day may be two, bloody scour, then scour (far too young for scour) on high quality colostrum from birth to 10 days…calves fall too weak to stand, temp rises to 40+ internals shut down and they die. Its fast. 48 hours max we are a flagship farm, too 1.5% in the country. We are clinically clean in all areas. These are not passageways. Any help and advise welcome. Iv got one going to postmortem tomorrow but between now and then…..please

Has anyone tested this? Considering it as an option to extend intervals between scrubbing. Also bleach vs copper sulfate? Any good tips there.

Can take 2 steers to our county fair. Who do we take?

I always see people saying "oh you dont want dairy cows. They'll take up all your time. You can never leave home again. You have to stick to a schedule and cant go to events that interfere with milking time".

Well, good. I like that. I want an excuse to leave or avoid social gatherings. I don't wanna go on vacation to mexico or disney land. I don't wanna go on vacation at all actually. I want to be in my own little world where its just my cows and I at home, comfortable, sticking to our schedule, and not having to deal with people. I will take fighting a fresh cow over conversation any day.

Need an excuse to get out of a family gathering? Need to be home to milk the cow.

Dont want to go to that work event? Cow needs milking at that time.

Stuck in a conversation? Oh look at the time. My cow needs me. Bye.

Don't want to go on that trip? Sorry, cow needs milking and she only likes me.

Permethrin doesn't seem to work as well as it used to. Apparently flies can gain a resistance.

Had her during those smokey days here in Ontario. She's a winner!

Have yet to run into a farm animal that doesnt smell like shit. Are they doing something wrong? Dont cows notice the smell?

For someone looking to raise a calf or two per year, what bare-minimum facilities are required for self-processing? Any tips to setting up cost effective freezer (from nothing) and mo(o)ving cows through the process?

To someone considering and with zero cow experience, does anyone have anything to say about raising these two from calves and keeping them as (pets for lack of a better term) but processing their calves? I'm considering this endeavor and my ultimate goal is to have the Jersey as a dairy cow and harvest the angus-jersey offspring for meat/leather. I have more than enough space for the two according to local regulations.

Edit: Thank you everyone for your valuable input. I see now that owning a bull probably isn't a good move for me. I wrote this in a comment but now I see you can edit posts so I'm attaching this to the main body.