well that depends on what you are looking to get to be honest
you can get livestock from your local farmers
you can also get it from the livestock auctions theres one near me in lexington you can get everything from chickens cows pigs and sheep to parakeets and cockatoos (saw one go for $50 once)

and they can be had for a good price winter the prices are lower at auctions typically

and sick is not the end of the world either had a friend in HS used to get the sick calfs for 20-50 and hed nurse them back to health and then sell em for about 2000 once they put on a bit of weight
but i don't recommend that for someone just starting out

if you haave a tractor supply or a rural king or a southern states in your area id suggest you go by they have alot of books related to live stock feed for them and sometimes even carry chicks and other things

 

I can only speak about cattle as I was raised on a cattle farm and owned cattle myself up until 2 years ago.


If I was going to buy cattle the first thing I would do is make sure my fences are in good order and all the dead trees along your fence row was took care of so that a wind storm or whatever didn't push one down over your fence. Second what is your water source, cattle can do a lot but can make it very long at all without water.

Other things to consider do you have a corral, do you have a squeeze shoot, I ask these question as they will need these things to medicate them if they become sick, also a good idea to put new cattle in the corral a couple days until they get used to being at a new place.

As far as buying them, we bought most of ours at the sale barn which some may call an auction house. If I knew nothing about cattle I would not go this way as you have about a half a minute to make your mind up as to if you want this bovine or not as the bidding starts and moves fast. I would find a local neighbor that you know that has cattle and let him sell you some or help you find some.

How many do you want? Do you plan on having cows and bulls to raise calves? Do you have a tractor and plan on haying them thru the winter? You can run one bull to about 35 to 50 cows depending on terrain and environment (heat, cold, rain).

There is about only one way to transport them and that is a truck and stock trailer. Most sale barns have guys that will haul cattle for you at a price, if you bought some private treaty with a farmer I am sure you could work out transportation with them.

Being new to cattle I would recommend buying 250 to 300lbs calves in the early spring, picking out a couple you want to keep to eat and taking the rest to market in the middle to late fall. This keeps you from haying them in winter and will get you used to messing with cattle at a smaller expense.

It is hard to cover everything without knowing the extent of how deep you want in the cattle business.

 

your livestock auction seems alot different than ours ours is like a giant barn with stalls and you can go down and look at what you want and decide might be a couple of cows a stall or as many as a dozen pigs
same with the birds everyone brings there birds in whatever kinda cage/box you show up early look at whats there and when the auction starts about a hour later you bid on it when it comes up yours seems much more like a large scale fast moving yankee kinda place

We haven't figured out the details yet, we are at the moment still trying to get the land, but thanks for your comments.
I'm thinking I would like to raise sheep and goats. They are smaller than cattle and not as available, so you should be able to sell them for more money. Plus you can make expensive cheese out of their milk.
We want to make just a little money, to be able to get tax breaks for agricultural land use, and , well, to make a little money. Plus of course have food for ourselves. So probably not a lot of animals. From what I already know, goats and sheep do better on less than perfect land than cattle, plus they are smaller so I would imagine they are easier to take care of.

im sure arkie will correct me if I am wrong but you will need about 2-3 acres per cow you can conversly put 7 goats in the same space
a good practice is having one cow to rotate into pasture when you rotate the goats out as the cows/goats don't share parasites when you let the goat pasture lie fallow the cow can be grazing and then you keep one alwayse empty and just rotate through

weather or not you can "sell sheep and goats for more money than cattle" depends on a lot of factors.

First, do LOADS of research on the internet. and buy some books, and borrow more books from the library. You need to decide what features are important to you. Milk, meat, wool etc. and what climates the breed is best adapted to.

I would stay away from livestock auctions. In my area they are NOT the place for newbies to get stock. 9 times out of 10 you are buying someone else's problem.

good luck - it will take awhile to sort out what you want and how to get it.

even tho i hate haj the local halal slaughter house will pay about 1.50 a lb for goats of any kind meat or dairy goat it is where we take our surplus bucks took 5 bucks got around 400

 

We haven't figured out the details yet, we are at the moment still trying to get the land, but thanks for your comments.
I'm thinking I would like to raise sheep and goats. They are smaller than cattle and not as available, so you should be able to sell them for more money. Plus you can make expensive cheese out of their milk.
We want to make just a little money, to be able to get tax breaks for agricultural land use, and , well, to make a little money. Plus of course have food for ourselves. So probably not a lot of animals. From what I already know, goats and sheep do better on less than perfect land than cattle, plus they are smaller so I would imagine they are easier to take care of.

 

weather or not you can "sell sheep and goats for more money than cattle" depends on a lot of factors.

First, do LOADS of research on the internet. and buy some books, and borrow more books from the library. You need to decide what features are important to you. Milk, meat, wool etc. and what climates the breed is best adapted to.

I would stay away from livestock auctions. In my area they are NOT the place for newbies to get stock. 9 times out of 10 you are buying someone else's problem.

good luck - it will take awhile to sort out what you want and how to get it.

 

Only thing I know about goats is that if they want out of a barbwire fence then they will get out................

 

Barbwire? Ha! You ain't lived till you've had to get one off the roof!

 

We got our little 5 acre homestead/hobby farm in July 2011.

Our first year, we started with chickens in the fall and learned to take care of them. The next spring we added ducks and turkeys, after the chickens they were easy to learn about.

Then, last year, in late October, we got a pair of cattle. One bull calf, and one heifer calf. They were 5-6 months old and just weaned. We had to buy hay to get them through the winter, but they have been on pasture since May. They really do fine on grass, a salt lick, and plenty of fresh cool water. They also need a good fenced area, and they like shade in the afternoons. They seem to be doing fine, and are very friendly.

We had no experience with livestock before we got this place. What I recommend, is to go with your heart, on what breeds and species you want on your land. Then read everything you can about it. Include the internet, books, dept of agriculture, various breeders associations. See how much space you need, what pieces of equipment are required, and what shelters are needed. Find a breeder in your area if possible and really talk with them. Then decide if you can do it... physically and financially.

I did all that and I still feel like I leaped right into the deep water. It's a learning experience for sure, but I enjoy taking care of these animals. Soon I will learn to milk a cow, that should be interesting. I am hoping to keep a few hogs next year, or the year after. One new addition at a time, after 10 years I hope it appears I have been doing small scale farming all my life.

 

We got our little 5 acre homestead/hobby farm in July 2011.

Our first year, we started with chickens in the fall and learned to take care of them. .

Great post! Glad someone succeeded at what we plan on doing and on not that much land! I didn't think you could have any sort of cattle on just 5 acres. We are looking at 25-50, actually put in an offer for 50 but there are some issues so we might not get it.

Chickens are really easy to take care of, mine pretty much lay an egg every day, but they are only about a year old and get layer pellets
We spent more money on building the coop than we will ever get in eggs but it was fun

 

Might watch the heifer and keep her away from the bull until she is big enough to calve without problems, otherwise nature will take its course and she might get bred the first time she cycles

 

I was able to spare her the first couple of cycles, but I'm pretty sure she is bred now. She's 16 months now and it will be months before she calves. I hope she'll be big enough before the calf comes. Her condition looks good.

 

Poultry, I'd just order boxes of chicks from a hatchery.

Hooves, in small numbers I'd try to buy directly from locals. Most breeding operations will have some minor level of advertisement or word of mouth that you can pick up at livestock auctions, feed/supply stores, 4H shows, county/state fairs. Go to those events/places, ask a few questions of the people involved, and you'll start to build a list of names and locations for good stock.

 

One other resource you might consider is Craigslist in the farm and garden section. Though I find some of the prices fairly steep every once in a while you'll find free chickens. Usually from someone that got some backyard chickens and decided it wasn't worth the hassle and gets out.

Case in point the other day I was roaming Craigslist and someone wanted $70.00 for ONE turkey and another was giving away half a dozen 4 year old hens.

 

Case in point the other day I was roaming Craigslist and someone wanted $70.00 for ONE turkey and another was giving away half a dozen 4 year old hens.

: a 4 year old hen most likely will only be good for dog food....

but I suppose you can find just about anything on Craigslist

 

Always recall the 4 S of raising sheep Sick Sheep Seldom Survive

 

Here in Australia we use as a rull of thumb 10 sheep to one cow. My experience with real estate agents is if they tell you a place will run x number of live stock, I would recommend you halve that number. Better to have to much grass and the livestock you own fat, than having to many animals that are skinny with no grass.

Be careful of turning animals into pets, they can become dangerous mainly cause they are playful and don't know there own strength. New a old guy that was killed by a pet sheep. Any males that arnt to be used for breeding cut the balls out of them.

And as another poster sayed goats are notoriously hard to keep contained. Sheep are probably a bit easyer to manage than goats or cattle but don't handle warm humid weather well and most breeds need shearing which could be a problem.

 

Thanks for the comments!
I was thinking hair sheep, wool is not worth much here from what I can find, plus they would like the weather better and from what I read are more resistant to parasites. But, we are not planning on staying in Florida.
As for fencing for goats: how about electric fencing? I have heard from people that barbed wire is bad and injures the goats most of the time. So I would like to get something that is portable , high enough to prevent them from jumping over, doesn't injure them but keeps them in. Any such fence exist?

I think we have better win the lottery

So far on my list of things to get/do:
fencing
tractor with attachments for hay
barn
the livestock itself
4WD truck with trailer to transport the livestock

plus then there is the land itself, plus a house, well, septic, driveway
Maybe we'll live in a yurt?

 

I have lived on a farm my whole life, and we have raised about every type of livestock you can. There are literally tons of places to find stuff now a days. Local farmers are about the best source, they generally know a lot about who has what for sale, and what quality it is. If you have a stock yards around, check there. Quite often vet offices, feed supply stores, and even small grocery stores will have a board where people put notices of livestock for sale. If there is a fair coming to town, they usually have livestock being shown. Newspapers, 4H clubs, local agriculture extension office. As much as I loath facebook, there are all sorts of fb groups for people buying and selling livestock. :thumb:

 

In this area, livestock auction yards allow everyone to walk around out back and to inspect the animals.

I usually bring with me a livestock marker crayon. Then I go into the pen, pet and check teeth of any animals I am interested in. I put a colored mark on the rump of any animals I am interested in, and I write notes. So if I have looked at 200 animals before the auction starts, with my notes I can review their stuff when they each come into the arena.

 

I worked at a sale barn when I was a kid. They all have an adhesive sticker on each bovine with a number on it. Not to be argumentative I doubt very much unless cattle are different where you are than where I am that you could check teeth and pet them at the sale barn.

Most cattle have had a traumatic experience being pushed into trailer driven down the roads at speeds they have never traveled in their lives, separated from their calves/mother. Bulls would be busy sniffing out new cows while smelling the scent of other bulls which puts them on defensive.

But maybe you got a bit more cowboy or cattleman in you than I do. I just don't see you checking teeth without the use of a squeeze shoot................

 

you can use those pen boxes that fit in the back of a truck to transport goats and sheep

 

sonya1, be careful on the tractor and attachments. There are plenty of older tractors out there that will do a fine job for you and are easier to work on. It is not hard to spend $30,000 on a tractor nowadays plus having to buy attachments. I bought an old Allis Chalmers D14 for $3000 and got a bunch of attachments thrown in for free (plow, disc, mower, back blade). I've used that old tractor for just about everything there is to do on our place including push snow around when it is drifted over 3 feet. Sure, the new equipment is nice but you can get by and still do a good job with older stuff too. And you can pay it off and not have a payment really quick.

If you go to a sale barn, take someone with you that has experience working/raising the type of animal (s) that you're after. I would not buy at a sale barn unless I could inspect the animal before the sale.

ETA - On goat fencing. I got rid of our goats when they would no longer respect the electric fence. It turned into too many problems. I personally would not get goats again unless I had a ton of money to spend on tall fence panels. And even then I would still be hesitant.

 

ETA - On goat fencing. I got rid of our goats when they would no longer respect the electric fence. It turned into too many problems. I personally would not get goats again unless I had a ton of money to spend on tall fence panels. And even then I would still be hesitant.

Ok, tall temporary fence panels with electric fence all around it?
Wall of China? Electric dog collars?
It can't be that impossible to keep goats. I see them on people's properties here in Florida. I really need to look and see what they are using for fencing
No wait! SHEEP DOG!!! There you go! Our GS "herds" the chickens back into their coop now , and tries to herd us when we are out , she could learn to herd goats pretty easy I would imagine

 

That looks like a great set up. I would recommend any feeding you do of your livestock to be done in the corral or your tight pen. Also if you put out salt or mineral blocks (which I would recommend) put them in your corral as well. What this does is makes the animals see the corral as a place where good things happen and makes the cattle easier to catch. Feeding them a little sweet feed or range cubes from time to time in the corral helps as well.

Over the years I have bought some pretty wild cattle and if you work with them a bit like stated above pretty soon you can go out and rattle a feed bucket and they will all come at a run to your tight pen.

I hate that I keep throwing stuff out on this but I miss having cattle and this feels like I am doing something to help on a subject I know a bit about..


Best part about cows is what they look like on a plate

 

That looks like a great set up. I would recommend any feeding you do of your livestock to be done in the corral or your tight pen. Also if you put out salt or mineral blocks (which I would recommend) put them in your corral as well. What this does is makes the animals see the corral as a place where good things happen and makes the cattle easier to catch. Feeding them a little sweet feed or range cubes from time to time in the corral helps as well.

Over the years I have bought some pretty wild cattle and if you work with them a bit like stated above pretty soon you can go out and rattle a feed bucket and they will all come at a run to your tight pen.

I hate that I keep throwing stuff out on this but I miss having cattle and this feels like I am doing something to help on a subject I know a bit about..

Best part about cows is what they look like on a plate

" in the corral or your tight pen." Lol, I need one of these : so far we've been just leading them up to the barn and into a stall when we need to.

Molasses or oatmeal cookies from aldi's, the big soft ones that come like 10 or 12 in a pack for $0.99. Oh how popular I am when I walk out with a pack of those! These cattle will follow me anywhere for cookies. (or a bucket of grain with molasses on top)

But you're right about having corrals... were getting real good at setting up temporary fencing, and taking it down when it's not needed. It can be really a pain in the rear. Hopefully, we can get something more stout and permanant built over the summer. We just finished building a new pen for the turkeys, so that our bull can use that horse shed during the winter. I want momma and her calf in the barn. Last year he got to go in the barn, in his own stall, but this year he's staying out. The barn isn't heated anyway.

 

LOL you will never eat one of them.............

 

eat what? The cattle or the Aldi cookies? :

 

You should check out "The Cattle Thread" up at the top of the page in the stickies ^^^ lots of good cattlemen to chat with up there. I started it just before we got our pair

I'll bump it to the top with a question or something...

 

My favorite land shopping site so much fun when you're in the dreaming phase!

http://www.landwatch.com/Land_For_Sale

I actually found mine at trulia.com but you need to know the name of the small town you want to be near in order to make a decent search.

 

We used the landwatch site also, plus landsofamerica, but thanks for the other one, hadn't heard of that one!

 

Sonya, I am making you a reading list, since you have some time to plan...

Goats

http://www.adga.org/ (American Dairy Goat Association)

http://www.abga.org/ (American Boer Goat Association)

http://www.i-n-b-a.org/ (International Nubian Breeders Association)

http://www.georgiagoat.com/ (Georgia Dairy Goat Breeders Association)

http://www.arkansasmeatgoat.com/ (North Arkansas Meat Goat Association)

http://extension.psu.edu/animals/goats/meat-goat-associations (Penn State Extension List of Meat Goat associations)

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/farm-resources/livestock-resources/goat-breed-associations.aspx (HobbyFarms website list of goat breeder associations)


Sheep

http://www.ask.com/web?am=broad&q=s...us_gsb&kv=sdb&gc=0&dqi=sheep+breed+associations+&qsrc=999&ad=semD&o=11191&l=dir (Has links to sites providing basic information to help choosing the right breed of sheep)

http://gulfcoastsheep.info/ (Gulf Coast Sheep Breeders association)

http://www.sheepusa.org/Affiliate_Breed_Associations (American Sheep Industry, Breed Associations)

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/farm-breeds/others_sheep_all_landing.aspx (All sheep)

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/livestock-and-pets/hair-sheep-breeds.aspx (Hair sheep)

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/livestock-and-pets/sheep-by-wool-type.aspx (Wool sheep)

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Started-in-Raising-Sheep (12 steps to getting started raising sheep)

http://fivepondsfarm.com/StCroixSHEEP.html (I'm partial to this website, it's where I got my Dexter cattle pair from, good people)

Let me know if you are interested in cattle websites. I will leave this post with just one cattle link

http://familycow.proboards.com/

 

:thumb: Thanks so much!!! This is great!!

 

The last little bull calf on this page "Stetson" would be perfect for our farm if my Daisy throws me a heifer calf. I've been looking for a polled red or dun. Then, I could put Joey Sirloin in the freezer Wow he's a beauty... and way too expensive! I shouldn't have looked there :

http://fivepondsfarm.com/DexterBullsForSale.html

 

We purchase most of our stock from an auction barn. After 30 years, I have gotten somewhat good at judging. I'm willing to purchase some sick animals if the price is right and if I have an idea of what the animal has. We milk goats during the winter,spring and early summer. we milk 10-20 does and use the milk to raise lambs, calves and goat kids. Upon occasion we pick up day old bucklings from a goat dairy.Our success rate is good on the healthy purchases. If you have a reliable ranch to purchase stock, it is always best. Just remember that not all ranches are honest and not all auction animals are sick. Auctions do have a lot of sick animal ran through them so exposure is always a problem. The best advice is to read a lot of books, stock you barn will an excellent selection of medication and equipment. Learn how to give injections.
I look at the $5.00 calf as a learning experience. If it survives that is great! But I look at how much it taught me on injections, oral feeding and anything else that happens.

 

I look at the $5.00 calf as a learning experience. If it survives that is great! But I look at how much it taught me on injections, oral feeding and anything else that happens.

Cheap way to learn how to be a vet, huh? But I am not sure I want to learn on some poor sick animal. I think if a lot of them died I would get very discouraged.

But I already went through this with my chickens. They ended up with bloody poop around 2 months of age, and I looked up on it. They probably had coccidiosis. So I went to the feed store, and got a large container of medication ( cost more than the chickens... but it did cure them. They've been fine ever since

 

I found out something rather annoying , reading up on dairy goats. It is very expensive to start up, if you want to sell milk legally. So almost nobody that isn't a huge dairy farm makes any sort of profit from it. Sounds like it is better to raise meat animals and just have a few dairy ones for your own needs. I haven't read up on how difficult it is to sell cheese. Only a few States allow the sale of raw milk, but the one we really wanted to live in ( Vermont) we can't afford property in Oh well

 

Getting undeveloped land can be expensive, but it doesn't need to be. When you look at fenced land with a house and some outbuildings, set up for farming, things start getting real pricey. Then, to start up any kind of business, your looking at alot of money plus government regulations to give you headaches. The only other choice is working a job, then working evenings and weekends at your homestead.

Don't settle for something you don't like though. If you want to be in Vermont keep looking there, something will come along. Have you tried looking at forclosed properties? Maybe someone from the boards who is familiar with the area will be able to help you look.

 

Livestock-grade molasses has had all the sugar removed. It is the final by-product of sugar refining. Thick, black with a very strong smell and flavor, but it is bitter.

I buy it in 5-gallon buckets as game bait. Many use it for luring deer, moose or bear.

I dribble it on grain mixtures to make 'sweet feed', just like the feed stores do.

It is cheap, it will keep forever, and animals love it

DO NOT TRY TO USE IT IN THE KITCHEN TO BAKE COOKIES!

 

I tasted it before and it's gross. The recipe I had was for cow cookies rather than people cookies. They didn't turn out very well, they were too crumbly and would burn on the bottom before they were cooked. If I made them cookies I'd probably go with human molasses cookies or Oatmeal cookies. Oats are cheap

Far as baking for them, was just in case dillin didn't know that we can make treats cheap at home, and we don't need to buy packaged cookies. I don't see anything wrong with doing things the easy way while times are still somewhat good.

 

My tiny herd wanting and getting treats

 

Point I'm trying to make come any kinda major collapse, hay will be unprocurable and grain, molasses and cookies will be diverted to human food. Livestock will need to revert back to eating grass and only grass like the good lord intended them to do and like they do in most poorer countrys.

 

Very true.