Duece.......I personally would consider the timing to be wrong to buy into the cow business as the prices are high right now and I hope they stay that way. It should if the rain keeps coming. Last year you could have bought them allot cheaper. If you buy good stock which you should, you could easily spend 25 grand right now by the time you get 20 cows and a bull. Hiefers can be ok but a pain to get bred again unless they are in good shape and have lots to eat. but I would buy them as pairs right now, meaning they allready have a calf by thier side. Ideally you want all calves to be born in Jan, Feb, and March. That might not be feasable for you to do in your situation but that is the ideal and it does'nt hurt to start of on the right foot even if you start to get a few cows that have calves out of season its still best to have the majority in that time frame. If your place has allot of woods I would go with a cow that has brahman influence (a lot of "ear"...Brangus, F1 tigerstripe, Santa gertrudus, ect...... as they will brows leaves better than the English breeds. The brahmans influence also take the heat better. Be carefull if you buy cows or a bull from the sale barn have them tested for Tric. also get your bull tested for fertility. Remember a cow should be femine with narrow shoulders and wide hips a bull should be masculine with narrow hips and wide shoulders. It sounds silly but youd be supprised how often it gets overlooked by people who have ben in the business for all thier life. A good book on the subject is "Storys guide to raising beef cattle". I've was raised on cattle all my life and still came away a better cowman after reading it.
CWard.....Thats a dang good turn out on those heifers! How did you market your corriente cross calves and did you wean em' early? The real question is how many of them hiefers are going to breed back?
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Waylon
