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i have this dream of owning a large track of land in america where i could keep angus cattle , however , ive been led to believe that cattle in america stay indoors all year round and eat corn , why is that , surely in somewhere like washington state , its possible to keep cattle on pasture for most of the year , if im wrong in my assumptions , how much is an acre of pasture land in somewhere like the pacific north west
In this area of Sw Virginia beef cattle remain outdoors 24/7 through out the year and are primarily fed by grazing in the pasture. Only when winter arrives do the farmers have to provide supplemental hay for them for about three months. I believe that dairy cattle are an entirely different situation.
This past winter was so mild that there were only a few days when it was necessary to provide previously cut hay.
A rough rule of thumb here is one acre per head of cattle.
In this area of Sw Virginia beef cattle remain outdoors 24/7 through out the year and are primarily fed by grazing in the pasture. Only when winter arrives do the farmers have to provide supplemental hay for them for about three months. I believe that dairy cattle are an entirely different situation.
This past winter was so mild that there were only a few days when it was necessary to provide previously cut hay.
A rough rule of thumb here is one acre per head of cattle.
thank you for your reply
i grew up on a farm and my brother is a dairy farmer , dairy farming in ireland is fairly unique , cows only spend around four months indoors full time , the rest of the year they graze grass in a rotating paddock system , its more profitable than feeding them maize and corn , feed like that is much more expensive over here , cows dont yield as much over here but the profit margins are as good if not better than in other parts of europe where a U.S style dairy system is the norm
land is extremley expensive to buy over here and it rarely comes up for sale , even you had the money , you could be waiting years to find what your looking for in terms of size and layout , you wont get much for less than 10 k per acre , i suppose thats around $ 13 k
i have this dream of owning a large track of land in america where i could keep angus cattle , however , ive been led to believe that cattle in america stay indoors all year round and eat corn , why is that , surely in somewhere like washington state , its possible to keep cattle on pasture for most of the year , if im wrong in my assumptions , how much is an acre of pasture land in somewhere like the pacific north west
thanks
LOL! Someone was telling you a tall tale.
No, angus cattle in the USA are usually pastured unless a cow is being watched while giving birth or you are talking about a high dollar bull who never gets out to pasture but has his semen collected and sold for the pedigree.
Suggest the OP just do a land search in the pacific NW. You can start with Realtor.com, UnitedCountry, Cabela's Trophy Properties, etc.... .
Pull up the newspapers and check the classifieds for the area you are interested in.
I've lived/worked on a dozen ranches in five different states. I've never known ANYWHERE that kept cattle indoors. They're always out on pasture, 24-7. Even in North Dakota.
Quote:
a large tract of land over here is anything over 100 acres
hehe It would depend on where you're at. A lot of Americans consider 100 acres to be a huge amount, too.
We own 40 acres. We're called "an acreage" in my part of the world because it's so small.
A "large tract of land" would be 5,000 acres or more.
i was wrong about the beef but i think its odd that no milk is produced off pasture anywhere in the usa , it must be a cultural thing , buying corn and maize from some other farmer down the road and feeding it to the dairy cows in a barn was always how it was done
i was in argentina around eight years ago on a trip , the climate is not too different to many parts of the usa and they have the same kind of holstien cows yet the cows stay outside eating grass , they are fed maize on a clay bank of sorts aswell but thier is none of this indoor 24 - 7 business
Although they are a small percentage, there are dairy farms who rotational graze their dairy cows. I was a rotational grazer from Minnesota and did so from 1993 til 2007 at which time I sold my registered Jersey herd and retired.
My son just bought the farm from me in February after leasing it the past 4 years.
He grazes Holsteins
We can usually graze from early May til mid October.
Cows are moved to a different paddock twice a day. Water is available in every paddock.
In winter, cows have access to a pole barn open to the south and are milked in an 8 stanchion area at the front
Corn is still fed 2 a day to help with milk production and also to prevent the cows from getting too thin. ( on good grass, they will produce so much milk that they start losing body weight.
Hay still has to be fed for the other 7 months of the year.
However, to grow good grass capable of producing lots of milk,you need good land and good grasses seeded.
(adequate rainfall,also )
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