foreigner who might like to own a farm in america (calves, water)

[irish_bob]

Originally Posted by redwolf fan

Since it takes OVER an acre per cow ( of even excellent pasture ) a 5,000 cow pasture based dairy certainly would translate to more than 5,000 acres of pasture.

Try to keep up !

in ireland , a 100 acres would be more than enough land to keep 100 cows , from around late april to late august , 60 acres would be enough

[redwolf fan]

Originally Posted by Driller1

Any good dairy operation will supplement with hay and silage.

Every rotational dairy grazer that I know of relies on pasture with the supplementing being done with grain ( corn) at milking time

I once had a 62 lb per day milk average with my Jersey cows with only lush pasture and a scoop of grain at each milking.

Even my DHIA milk tester was impressed.

Plese tell us about your experience with grazing dairy cattle ( sarc )

[Driller1]

Originally Posted by redwolf fan

Every rotational dairy grazer that I know of relies on pasture with the supplementing being done with grain ( corn) at milking time

I once had a 62 lb per day milk average with my Jersey cows with only lush pasture and a scoop of grain at each milking.

Even my DHIA milk tester was impressed.

Plese tell us about your experience with grazing dairy cattle ( sarc )

Hey.....I drink milk....

We drill water wells for farmers......I have been around at many points of the day.

Read my post again....we said nearly the same thing.

[irish_bob]

Originally Posted by redwolf fan

Every rotational dairy grazer that I know of relies on pasture with the supplementing being done with grain ( corn) at milking time

I once had a 62 lb per day milk average with my Jersey cows with only lush pasture and a scoop of grain at each milking.

Even my DHIA milk tester was impressed.

Plese tell us about your experience with grazing dairy cattle ( sarc )

is rotational grazing more common on dairy farms which keep jerseys in the u.s ?

[redwolf fan]

Originally Posted by irish_bob

is rotational grazing more common on dairy farms which keep jerseys in the u.s ?

Although colored breeds are more popular in rotational grazing systems, there are Holstein herds doing it also.

My son has about 40 Holsteins and 30 Jerseys in his rotational grazing herd.

It appears the colored breeds can withstand the heat in the pasture better than Holsteins.

[itsMeFred]

Originally Posted by redwolf fan

Since it takes OVER an acre per cow ( of even excellent pasture ) a 5,000 cow pasture based dairy certainly would translate to more than 5,000 acres of pasture.

Try to keep up !

You're just determined to be snide, aren't you? I never quite know what to do with people like you...




To AUMs, that is completely dependent upon where you are in the country.

Going with a nice, easy plenty-of-rainfall ratio of one to one, and assuming you grow your own forage, that would indeed be 5000 acres for 5000.

However, no one in their right mind would have their entire place consist of a single pasture. (which is what your original post suggested with the "huge distances")
How would you grow hay? How would you rotate? And I'm not even talking intensive grazing rotation but simple things like summer pasture, winter pasture, calving pasture, etc.

And this is even before you get into the fact that a 5000 head pasture-based dairy probably supplements heavily with hay...

[itsMeFred]

bob, what are you planning? A dairy or a ranch? Because Angus cattle, as mentioned several times, are not a dairy breed. They are a beef breed. In fact, the BEST beef breed in my opinion, not that I'm biased or anything. (That's what my cattle are, btw ).

However you keep talking dairies, also.


You are talking two completely different industries...

[redwolf fan]

Originally Posted by itsMeFred

bob, what are you planning? A dairy or a ranch? Because Angus cattle, as mentioned several times, are not a dairy breed. They are a beef breed. In fact, the BEST beef breed in my opinion, not that I'm biased or anything. (That's what my cattle are, btw ).

However you keep talking dairies, also.


You are talking two completely different industries...

I agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence.
A dairy grazer needs a much different pasture system that is intensively managed in order for a dairy to be profitable.

Comparing beef grazing and dairy grazing is apples to oranges.

[HappyTexan]

Beef and dairy ? Limited acreage ?
Dexters would fit the bill (beef and dairy) and their smaller size means less acreage needed.

[irish_bob]

Originally Posted by itsMeFred

bob, what are you planning? A dairy or a ranch? Because Angus cattle, as mentioned several times, are not a dairy breed. They are a beef breed. In fact, the BEST beef breed in my opinion, not that I'm biased or anything. (That's what my cattle are, btw ).

However you keep talking dairies, also.


You are talking two completely different industries...

my posts were messy , i admit that , i drifted into a discussion about dairy farming in the usa

i know that angus are a beef breed , im not interested in buying a dairy farm anywhere , i just enjoy discussing it with farmers from other countries , i grew up on a dairy farm , my brother is a dairy farmer

angus are more dominant on north american , australia and south american farms than in europe , angus is still popular in ireland , the uk and europe but less so than the much larger french beef breeds like charoloais , limousin etc

buying a farm to raise angus cattle in the usa might be fantasy but i do like the idea of keeping a couple of hundred head somewhere , hard to do in a country like ireland where farms are small and rarely get sold