Running a successful cattle ranch comes down to three key things. Preservation of natural resources, balanced food rations, and an effective health plan. Of these three things, a good health plan is crucial, as it ties everything together. Your cattle’s overall health, including eating habits, temperance, body development, and reproductive performance is crucial to your ranch’s profit margins. To increase your profitability and cut down on feeding costs, make use of cattle ultrasound machines.
Cattle ultrasounds are effective at helping you spot cattle that didn’t become pregnant after the breeding season. Culling first-calf mother cows is also important, as these heifers often develop calving problems. It’s also important to understand how to navigate the different stages of development that constitute a healthy beef cattle life cycle. Beef cattle have different requirements in each stage of development. You therefore have to work closely with the local farming and ranching community and ensure the final beef production stage retains a high market value.
However, not all calves raised as cattle make it to the beef market. To sustain the beef market industry, beef cattle are raised to fulfill different roles. Heifers can be part of the beef production stage or stay on the farm as part of the breeding system.
Bull calves are either taken to beef production as a steer or kept in the farm as part of the breeding system. Beef ranches take up a large tract of land and often include extensive operations. Thankfully, cattle work is less demanding when you work with beef cattle workers.
Cattle ranches for sale can be found in most western and southern states in the United States. If properly managed, cattle ranches have the potential to generate great profits for their owners. If profit potential is what you are looking for in a working cattle ranch for sale, here are some things you need to know.
Be sure to protect the land’s resources.
Ranch owners or those managing cattle ranch real estate should always be mindful of the resources entrusted to them. Managing the natural resources on the land is often seen as more of a responsibility than an elective to many in the industry. This is even more important if the ranch has had a drought.
Ranch owners and those who manage a working cattle ranch for sale should be aware of a conservation easement is placed on the property. These limitations are placed on property in order to protect the natural resources on the land.
Have a health plan for your herd.
There is no way around the need for a veterinarian and it is important to establish this relationship early on. In addition to this, ranch owners must work with a veterinarian to produce a plan to prepare cattle against risk and exposure to illness. Doing so will benefit in the long-run with the final production numbers.
At the least, calves should be vaccinated and bull calves should be castrated before reaching four months of age. They must also have ear tags, ear marks, or branding for identification.
strong>Good reproductive performance means more profit.
High calving and weaning rates are very closely related to production costs. A good rule of thumb for thinking of this is that for every percentage point the weaning rate goes down, production costs go up. Considering reproductive performance is the most important profitable factor in the industry, it is important to be able to maintain this well.
Make sure the cows are getting enough to eat
Ranch owners and managers should always keep an eye on the length of grass in a pasture. This helps determine if cows have enough forage for grazing. If a cow?s hooves are visible from 25 ft. or more away, or if the forage is less than 4 in. tall, cattle likely aren?t able to harvest all they want to eat. If cattle are grazing in the middle of the day, especially during hot summer days, they may be short on grazing. Light to moderate cattle grazing typically encourages forb production.
If you are in the marketing for a working cattle ranch for sale, consider the above tips to maintain a constant profit margin and a successful business. No matter if your ranch is as big as the more than 100-acre Flying D Ranch Ted Turner bought in 1988, or a moderately-sized property, Keeping the above tips in mind will ensure that your business makes the profit you are looking for and in an honest manner.
