Thanks George! I've been direct selling beef to customers since about 3 years. Last year I raised and butchered 5 steers and sold off the meat in meat boxes ($150-200 per box). This year I'm hoping to butcher 6-8 steers and eventually get up to 12 per year. My main enterprise so far has been custom grazing cow-calf pairs for a couple producers. Between owned land and leased land I've fenced off 135 acres of pasture. This coming year I'm going to switch to custom grazing steers and open heifers, the cow-calf pairs eat too much grass for what people are willing to pay to have them grazing. My goal is to sell breeding stock down the road, focusing on Red Poll cattle / grass-genetic cattle. I find having a direct sales element to my operation enables me to impose some very strict culling practices without losing money. Looking forward to watching the video of you on Greg's channel at lunch time today!
Where did you get your red poll from ? This is a breed I’ve been interested in for some time now. I’ve heard there was a breeder in Antigonish area but haven’t looked any further.
Good morning.... I'm located in Antigonish and I've been able to source some stock from another breeder about 20 minutes from here, although he's breeding a red poll bull to his hereford cattle. So not pure red poll. There is another farmer who I've bought a couple heifers off of in Guysborough but he's a smaller producer, keeping about 6-8 cows. There is a producer near the Rawdon Hills I believe, they sent a nice group of heifers through Atlantic Stockyards last year. Not sure there name.
Hi Nick I have been looking at your videos and was wondering about any kind of shelter ,I understand the importants of breed , and how do you restrain them for say vet checks etc.
Hello jeff, thanks for the comment and questions. I built a handling corral with a holding pen to sort and load cattle. If I need to restrain an animal for veterinary work ( maybe once a year) I use a local farmer who has a portable cattle chute . I’ve designed my corral so he can back his chute right in. Works really well and saves me from having to invest $5000 or more in my own chute for now. I’ll certainly make that investment down the road as it is very convenient and really is a necessity for an operation. In terms of shelter for weather, I basically utilize a couple dense forest stands of spruce. Another project is like to tackle down the road is a lean-too roof behind my barn for shelter during those 5-6 really nasty days we get over the winter with freezing rain etc.
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 thanks Nick for getting back to me, I am looking to buy some farm land up around Houlton which isn't to far away from you, I grew up on a dairy farm back in the 60's so trying to get a plan going forward. Jeff
@@JeffParent glad to hear! Sounds like you’ve got some exciting times ahead. Nothing better than a small herd of cattle for managing and restoring land!
Hmm if the animals are grazing close to the ground aka eating the grass stems right down to the dirt, then yes it could be an issue. Typically the unrolled hay is sitting off the ground enough that the cattle dont appear to be touching dirt. Parasites are much less active at the surface of the soil during winter months as well due to cold. I haven’t dewormed a single cow in 4 years.
I have a mix of British breeds, Herefords, Beef Shorthorns, Red Devon and Red Poll cattle. My preference would probably be the Red Poll. A lot of my cows were sired by red poll bull. I’ve got a few videos up on the channel about them.
That's a smart way to manage that land. It's good you're feeding them hay. Plus, having them move around.
Great work.
Thank you! We're trying to do our best!
Like your vids please keep em coming ❤
@@bobdanob5346 thank you!
Looking good up there, what is your plan going forward? Finishing beef or cow calf? Keep up the good work. Have a wonderful day
Thanks George! I've been direct selling beef to customers since about 3 years. Last year I raised and butchered 5 steers and sold off the meat in meat boxes ($150-200 per box). This year I'm hoping to butcher 6-8 steers and eventually get up to 12 per year. My main enterprise so far has been custom grazing cow-calf pairs for a couple producers. Between owned land and leased land I've fenced off 135 acres of pasture. This coming year I'm going to switch to custom grazing steers and open heifers, the cow-calf pairs eat too much grass for what people are willing to pay to have them grazing. My goal is to sell breeding stock down the road, focusing on Red Poll cattle / grass-genetic cattle. I find having a direct sales element to my operation enables me to impose some very strict culling practices without losing money.
Looking forward to watching the video of you on Greg's channel at lunch time today!
Where did you get your red poll from ? This is a breed I’ve been interested in for some time now. I’ve heard there was a breeder in Antigonish area but haven’t looked any further.
Good morning.... I'm located in Antigonish and I've been able to source some stock from another breeder about 20 minutes from here, although he's breeding a red poll bull to his hereford cattle. So not pure red poll. There is another farmer who I've bought a couple heifers off of in Guysborough but he's a smaller producer, keeping about 6-8 cows.
There is a producer near the Rawdon Hills I believe, they sent a nice group of heifers through Atlantic Stockyards last year. Not sure there name.
Hi Nick I have been looking at your videos and was wondering about any kind of shelter ,I understand the importants of breed , and how do you restrain them for say vet checks etc.
Hello jeff, thanks for the comment and questions. I built a handling corral with a holding pen to sort and load cattle. If I need to restrain an animal for veterinary work ( maybe once a year) I use a local farmer who has a portable cattle chute . I’ve designed my corral so he can back his chute right in. Works really well and saves me from having to invest $5000 or more in my own chute for now. I’ll certainly make that investment down the road as it is very convenient and really is a necessity for an operation.
In terms of shelter for weather, I basically utilize a couple dense forest stands of spruce. Another project is like to tackle down the road is a lean-too roof behind my barn for shelter during those 5-6 really nasty days we get over the winter with freezing rain etc.
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 thanks Nick for getting back to me, I am looking to buy some farm land up around Houlton which isn't to far away from you, I grew up on a dairy farm back in the 60's so trying to get a plan going forward. Jeff
@@JeffParent glad to hear! Sounds like you’ve got some exciting times ahead. Nothing better than a small herd of cattle for managing and restoring land!
I like the unrolling idea, but it seems like a bad idea from a sanitation perspective.
Does eating on the ground lead to parasites?
Hmm if the animals are grazing close to the ground aka eating the grass stems right down to the dirt, then yes it could be an issue. Typically the unrolled hay is sitting off the ground enough that the cattle dont appear to be touching dirt. Parasites are much less active at the surface of the soil during winter months as well due to cold. I haven’t dewormed a single cow in 4 years.
Could you tell us about the differnt breeds you have. Do you have any breed perfances.
I have a mix of British breeds, Herefords, Beef Shorthorns, Red Devon and Red Poll cattle. My preference would probably be the Red Poll. A lot of my cows were sired by red poll bull. I’ve got a few videos up on the channel about them.
What area of NS are you in?
Antigonish County - Near St. Andrews.
@@nicholasmacinnis1486 ok. I'm from NB. Just found your videos yesterday.
@@ryanforbes3021 oh right on! not too far away. Thanks for checking out the channel
Are you getting your calves from that blue belgian bull?
Nope, and that was actually a speckled park blue I think your referring to. The heifers were bred to black angus