“So we can feed them more corn.” It’s a real comment that shows how out of touch even the players in the industry have become. Feeding cows corn only makes sense because of government subsidies and intensive industrial agriculture which is strip mining our soils. Corn being sold for less than its cost of production is throwing off the true price of food. The more corn you can shovel into the cows, chickens, hogs, soda, cheese product, etc the more money the food conglomerates make. End result the tax payers subsidize the meat packers and the “food” titans. The farmers lose their shirts and their land. Ahhh. Don’t get me started. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one with a rant. Keep teaching the good news. Your message is much needed. Thanks.
It's great that someone notices corporate communism in the US. Remember that communism has one purpose: to expropriate all of everything. Corporations are such an ultramodern version of the Bolsheviks. Poland was occupied by Soviet communism, today it is occupied by corporate communism. We know it. The effect is always one, slavery.
@Mark OnTheBlueRidge So I have one steer a Holstein Angus, I have in my back yard in Concord California. I got him at eight weeks old, took him off calf replacer and bought 30 bales of oat hay. After the oat hay is gone what should I feed this steer and for how long, how big should I let him get?
No You are out of touch. Corn feeding is awesome, and those attacking successful production techniques are immoral hateful and destructive. Shame on you. Shame shame shame shame!
WOW!!! You said exactly what i have always been telling my fellow small hold farmers here in South-Africa who been chasing 1200KG bulls and 800KG cows on limited resources and communal lands, i raise Nguni cows mated by a Boran bull which gives exactly what you elaborating here. SO GLAD TO HEAR SOME ONE MAKING SENSE OF SUCH ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECOMOMICAL FRIENDLY CONCEPT!!!
I’d love to email you and ask about your farm operations. I’ve been looking for Africans to exchange technique with because I have a lot to offer as far as technique goes and would love to hear about your experience.
I like the way this guy thinks. The entire structure of agriculture has been hi-jacked in my lifetime. The way food is produced and sold in this country is as backwards as it can be and its designed that way to profit large corporations. Everyone is paying the price, higher cost for lower quality food, eating cheap processed garbage because its more affordable. And....all of that would be gone in 2-3 days if someone wanted it that way. Nobody stores food anymore, groceries rely on multiple shipments a week. If those trucks stop coming their shelves are empty in a couple of days. More and more I wish I had a little bit of land just run a small operation on if only enough to sustain myself and family.
totally agree. The government subsidies are ridiculous and basically mean the end of the true family farm. Sure there's huge farms that are "family farms" but not like in my grandparents or even parent's ages! There is no compassion for the animals because the system is so imbalanced now to only favor huge corporations and their contracts. Tons of chicken farms in arkansas are going under because tyson requires them follow their regulations because their methods are so disturbingly disgusting, and it gets expensive to be required by contract to "upgrade" equipment just so that Tyson gets their bottom line. People talk shit about farmers doing things wrong, but it's the corporations that impose unrealistic demands on the farmer that really kills all of us in the long run.
@@ryanjones5592 exactly. It's interesting how there's so many burger joints because everything on the menu at a burger place conforms almost too well to the industrialized model of agriculture, and the subsidies trickle down into profits for those business owners. I am not anti profit, but I am against manipulating government and stocks to create utter exploitation of the people and the products available to them. Americans would be much healthier if our industrialized form of AG would be decentralized away from these huge food distributors that hi-jack profits from the farmers.
Check out Grass Roots Co-op. Cody Hopkins does a great talk to Iowa farmers on TH-cam. They are putting more money in the farmers pocket. They are also regenerative operations.
Had a class in college over 30 years ago. Professor had a program that figured long term payout costs/returns on a herd with the parameters you entered. He was big on those 1500 lb Limousin on Flint Hills of Eastern Kansas. I ran my herd parameters for 1000 lb Angus/Hereford cows in short/mixed grass pasture in central Kansas. My 'little' cows out performed his Limo's and humbled him. I work in a large packing house-don't believe those order buyers wanting bigger calves-some packers are actually moving towards smaller size for many reasons, ease of dressing for one, customer expectations, portion sizes...
Great info Greg....just got our first southpole bull! We're really loving him...can't wait to start breeding down our sizes...all my neighbors think I'm crazy and I love it!
Great talk Greg. I sat at the sale barn yesterday and pondered a few of the things you just covered. The price of maintaining that mama cow is one of the factors I often overlook. It's the calf that has to carry the mama's cost, so a 1500 pound cow eating a ton of hay every winter puts a real drain on the $700 price of the calf it produces in the Spring.
Shalom! Thank you so much Mr.Greg for the wealth of information you share with us all. I do appreciate you very much and I share your videos with my son and grandsons. Blessings to you and yours!
Your channel is really important. Not just to those interested in raising cattle in a sustainable way, but you are showing others who have no idea about any of this, and may never have seen a cow in person how cattle can benefit us and our planet, even if they are not meat eaters themselves. Great job!
Your honest opinion and straight forward answers just got you another subscriber! Looking forward to seeing more videos. I never searched for this video, it’s funny how I was just thinking about the open grass land my mother has just a few days ago and bam! Here’s your video!! Lol Thank you
Great chat Greg, sounds like proof of what I've been hearing from Johann Zeitsman! Smaller frame cattle can make WAY more money per acre, and will keep better body condition in winter as well! Thanks for sharing!
Just stumbled across your video. So glad I did. I just subscribed. Looking forward to learning much more about your operation. Best wishes from Amqui Quebec!
Thank you for the advice! I got a nice red Angus x highlander bull that fits description. Picked 2 low line black Angus cows. Glad you confirmed I'm on the right path
I heard you mention this in a speech you were giving here on TH-cam. It really inspired me because I do old spot hogs and the foundation herd was massive, huge awesome docile creatures. The could not maintain their 2nd winter girth on my pastures. They sunk deep into my clay soils and were just too big for my 5 acres. So I started breeding down, chasing an old rusty ginger color that come from the old berkshire that was in the wood pile. It was a closed herd so it was easy to breed down. Today some 6 years later, I have a really good sized pastured hog. Same docile stock, but now more manageable. And just through selection rather than bringing in new genetics or breeds that bring their own problems. So thanks for this observation as it really helped for my homestead.
Put my first animal in freezer after 3 years. People ask my if it's worth it, or better to go to store, worth is in the eye of the beholder. I get to be out everyday in my pasture feeding or moving my future food. Is that sunset in pasture worth it? Is that blizzard in pasture worth it? Is buying grass worth it? Is food as medicine worth it? Is restoring soil worth it? Is digging up an earthworm worth it? Is bringing grandboy out to see Cows worth it? You all get what you worth for. En arche een ho logos..!
Great video. I'm starting my own herd through my employer. He runs mostly herefords but runs black bulls with his replacement heifers. He and I both like that short round frame. My cows are F1 baldies weighing around that 1100 -1200lbs. I've always had the same mindset and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. Thanks again for the video.
Great video Greg, loved the part about starting to do what's best for us and the land and not do everything just for the packers. I'm striving to raise 950 to 1000 lb cows and I think it's the only way to go for many different reasons.
My first job out of high school was in a meat packing plant. One thing I learned is the first and only priority is more profit. The welfare of workers, the sustainability of the industry... they all take a back seat to more profit.
Real nice talk. My dad always said, you don't want those big cows eating all your grass, keep them small. He liked them about 1,200 pounds. He said a 1,200 pound cow will raise a calf just as big as as any other. I inherited some of his cows and their calves always brought top price at the sale barn. I bought some bigger cows a few years ago that I got a good price on, I can't wait to get rid of them. I never thought about the fact that big cows will tear up your grass more. That's something that really bothers me as we're in clay soil and it's pretty sensitive when wet. Thanks
Happy thanksgiving Greg. I think it would be hugely helpful to a bulk of your audience to make a video explaining how to get off the ground starting with about 5 cows and working your way up from there as more pasture becomes available and solutions for remote watering. I know you have a grazing school so you may not want to go too much in depth.
thank yaGREG ya shore can tell when a farmer is proud hisn cows,, they love love ta talk bout them an its no jist cows its all live stock.. thank ya fer nother great peek at yer beautiful ladies,, thank ya fer the video
Grew up on a 40acre field farm, not for profit but just to self sustain, lots of hard work and spring shoveling out the barn. We had red Herford cattle, My father disliked horns on his cattle after one popped his walled out of his pants pocket and knocked him a few feet !! Lol , I still remember that moment !! Of coarse I was ran over by a cow or two but it happens. Hurt my pride more than anything . Keep up the great work and your cows look great, very healthy and happy !
Very interesting information. Not many people today understand how different the breeds are and how suited they are to a particular situation. I myself never appreciated that domestication brings with it the same sorts of niches as arise from nature.
As an Irish person I would recommend looking into Dexter cattle for those of you looking for smaller cattle. They are a native Irish breed about 1/2 the size of a conventional cow used by farmers on poorer land traditionally for there efficiency in converting grass to beef. They were once rare but now seeing increased popularity!
the smaller breeds are more efficient on grazing and when selling beef direct to the consumer they don't care about live weight. they care about fresh well raised beef.
Loved that part of the second class citizens. Why do farmers have to take the hit in income when stores want to have a sale?? Or the brokers who dont raise a damn thing but earn more money per lbs than the farmer who raised the thing for a few years??
Yes sir. I run an angus bull and a charolais bull together on my cows, learned along time ago not to keep replacements from the smokies I kept that bred back to the charolais. They get to big. Now I dont even keep many of the smokies as replacements.
@9:15 "You shouldn't have to have a job in town." 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 EXACTLY RIGHT! I said as much in a comment to a commenter on a TH-cam video when she said that her son was aspiring to purchase a dairy farm which for making a living. I begged and pleaded with her not to go let her son financially hang himself by dairy farming; the Jewel Foods store has been selling 2% gallons of milk "2-for-$4.00" for years now. I further told her if articles that I have read where younger people are not drinking milk in the quantities as my generation did and that wholesale prices are reflecting this fact. The mother commenter replied back: "Oh-it will be okay: he will still keep his job driving a milk truck to make ends meet .....🤦🤦🤦 This is called "buying a job". It is the reason I do not haul Intermodal containers any longer: there is no "business income" in the rates. In other words, what I would make in my truck after all expenses and accruals is not materially more than if I was driving someone else's truck! Why beat my truck up for $400/day when I can gross $325)day driving someone else's truck..??!! MADNESS!
Where I was raised, most of the ranchers raised Herefords. One of my friends raised Short Horns, because they might get a few cents less per pound at market, but they would weigh about 400 to 500 pounds more. I guess the argument comes from both sides. He also had a Black Angus bull, that was just a pure mass monster -- probably about 2000 pounds. I remember that bull scratching his shoulder against a telephone pole, and the telephone pole was shaking like a willow sapling.
Happy Thanksgiving Greg, I love your views on grass feeding, and soil management. Have you experimented with composting, liquid compost and/or bioChar?
Greg - Quick question please... When you refer to a 1000 pound cow, when is that weight taken? Considering that body condition may change over the course of a year, is it at calf weaning, at breeding, or otherwise. Thank You and have a great Thanksgiving.
You make a lot of sense, the processes are only speaking in their own interests by what they prefer to deal with in their business. They do what they gotta do, and you do what you gotta do. Pretty simple.
That's what Allan Savory described in "Holidtic Resource Management almost 40 years ago as a "paradigm". The quickest way to go broke is to allow others to build your paradigm, period!
Thanks Greg for all the great info! Can you do a video sometime on marketing, and what the best avenue is for selling grass-fed cows....sale barn vs direct marketing ? Thank you
In the 70's belt buckle cattle we're the rage. People wanted huge steaks and ranchers quickly bred cattle so big you could stand next to a finished steer and your belt buckle could be seen from the other side. They might take three years to grow but the steaks we're huge!
As far as little bulls on big cows. When we got our first bull after quitting AI he was a young shorthorn. The first night I went out to the pasture after dark to check on him. He was standing beside a massive holstien X limousin old cow. By the date she calved he bred the biggest cow on the place that first night.
Hey there. We run Aberdeen /lowline which is the smaller breed for angus. Also we did a video showing your method (giving you credit of course) for pastures. Hope we did you justice
It also depends on where you live. In my country (Holland) as a farmer you need to buy production rights to raise cattle and these go per head, not per pound, Same goes for dairy cows and pigs. Combine that with very low margins and farmers are pretty much forced to raise big animals.
Greg your also right no farmer needs a town job!! Smaller cows is the way!!! You should be called Greg the cattle Profit!!! Yes the pun intended money PROFIT it’s not a dirty word!!! I like the red cows yes they take heat better even the white and red cattle. I think there is taste difference on the cattle raised on Grass vs corn lot cows!!! I wished all the cattlemen & cattlewomen would get the cows smaller and take the black out!! It’s the heat that’s coming with global warming it’s only right that you cattlemen get ahead of that curve!!! Enjoy your channel both you farms or on the stage talking about the Greg way!!!!
I wish I could have talked with my Grandpa about this. He was a rancher for 60 years… old school Colorado cowboy. “Bigger was better”… but I think he would have immediately understood the value in this thinking and grazing this way. We just didn’t know……
I've slightly slimmer cows by appearance and they are built for mountainous areas and hills without getting hurt or injured. Perfectly adapted in 🇬🇪 landscape
Right there with you Greg - I've been preaching this same message to a friend...a friend with 1400 lb cows. You're a great forward thinker, as we're entering a time with less available (overly expensive) land, lower premiums for the 600 lb calf and the "city folks" wanting to save an environment they know nothing about. Please keep doing what you're doing while inspiring/teaching. Thank you
I get what you are saying on cow size but where I live , when a guy brings 500calves to town every year and he has 400lb calves everyone wants to buy them the first year for grass cattle in the spring. When they take them to the finishing lot and they are fat at 1000lbs and the packer won't bid pretty soon the buyers make sure they don't buy your calves because there is no way they will get to market weight when they are 18months.
You hit the nail on the head. I really wanted to get on the small cow band wagon but let’s consider this on an extreme side: how efficient is a miniature angus? If I had little grass and needed efficient animals, I’d raise miniature angus for all the same reasons he mentions in this video. But, on a commercial basis, you have nailed it exactly - if you are selling these dinks as feeders or 4/5 weights, you’ll fool the buyers the 1st or 2nd year but if they bought big numbers - they will absolutely avoid these guys the next year. I have found that unless you have some type of ninche operation, buyers want leaner, framey calves that they can put some weight on. Pay attention to marbling epds and other carcass merit numbers and those calves will sustain themselves all the way through. I’ve also found some of my biggest cows keep their flesh even in the harshest conditions. I have both 5 frame and 6 frame cows that will shrink to bones when grass is thin - this is not specific to size at all and I have a few 6 frame belly draggers to prove it
@@thawk321 if your making a good full time living with your cow herd then you should not change a single thing. Keep doing what your doing. If a person is struggling to make a profit with his herd then you need to look at changing something. It may be cow size, grazing practices, poor soil, genetics, marketing and the list goes on. Bottom line is don't keep doing the same thing every year and expect a different result.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher I do run cattle full time (Registered Angus) on roughly 1600 acres of owned and leased pasture. We raise registered herd bulls and production cattle utilyzing AI and ET heavily. Smaller vs bigger cow sizes make a good argument but selecting for smaller animals year over year, especially smaller bull sizes (thus leading to smaller sizes with the terminal animals that end up in the feedlot) will not work across the other facets of that animals life (ie, feedlot & packer) after you sell and make your profit as the producer. The AAA has recently added another Value to their EPD's to help with this dilemma which is $C. I think this value will be leveraged heavily in marketing animals, especially bulls as it balances $B and $M which are representative of our very argument ($B typically = bigger animals but selecting for this year after year leads to increased size to a detriment. $M = efficient cows but selecting here can decrease size over the coarse of a few years thereby creating a dilemma for the the last few entities to impact a calfs life before harvest (which are the feedlot & packer because they can't get the needed growth from that smaller animal) I hope $C brings what it should to the table - one more balancing tool to keep us from trying to single trait select year over year. Anyway - I'm more relating my experience to your video. More-so for people just entering the business. There are a lot of views to consider before jumping into an investment as the cattle. Our business swallows new investors whole if their game plan isn't well thought out (from conception to plate)
@@thawk321 thanks for sharing your views Chris. One point that I want to add is that if you base your cattle marketing on selling to feedlots or packers there is not much money left for the cow/calf producer. To excel with your grass, you need to have control of what you sell your animals for. According to Drovers magazine, the average return on a cow/calf operation in 2019 was $67 per head. I want no part of that crowd. How is a cattleman supposed to make a full time living receiving $67 a head profit? This is exactly why I am fed up with the status quo, we can do much better with 100% forage raised animals that are in the more moderate weight class. Monster cattle takes most of your profit raising the calf.
I found out the hard way that this also works for grazing dairy cattle. Those big long legged show animals are prone to lots more problems. My breeding program now consists of bringing beef genetics into the milking herd so that I can get some shorter stockier and therefore hardier heifers for our harsher WI winters. Those tall cows are fun to look at, but I put up far less feed than my neighbors for the same number of head even while out-wintering.
@@andyr.3194 I've heard they are pretty vigorous & full of energy due to being bred as cart pullers. That people loved using them due to how fast they walk but that liveliness can make them harder to keep. Have you found that true with yours? With a breed as rare as the older milking Devon, it's hard to tell what information is true about 1 cow versus what is true of all of them.
There is a change happening, Dairies are crossing holstiens with Angus on a large scale. Wouldn't it be better to just keep buying them and manage the pasture only trough head count, more in the high growing season and less trough the winter. Dairies can have a very consistent streem of young animals. Might need better fencing.
![กินอาหาร ถูก vs แพง!! จานละ 500,000 vs จานละ 50!! [Ver. 2024]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FF_HppKg4vs/mqdefault.jpg)
“So we can feed them more corn.” It’s a real comment that shows how out of touch even the players in the industry have become. Feeding cows corn only makes sense because of government subsidies and intensive industrial agriculture which is strip mining our soils. Corn being sold for less than its cost of production is throwing off the true price of food. The more corn you can shovel into the cows, chickens, hogs, soda, cheese product, etc the more money the food conglomerates make. End result the tax payers subsidize the meat packers and the “food” titans. The farmers lose their shirts and their land. Ahhh. Don’t get me started.
I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one with a rant. Keep teaching the good news. Your message is much needed. Thanks.
and to top it off Americans less healthy. go figure. $$$$ in politics is destroying our country.
It's great that someone notices corporate communism in the US. Remember that communism has one purpose: to expropriate all of everything. Corporations are such an ultramodern version of the Bolsheviks. Poland was occupied by Soviet communism, today it is occupied by corporate communism. We know it. The effect is always one, slavery.
@Purebred Shekelberg Cornfed STEERS, you mean? Not all Cattle are "cows".
@Mark OnTheBlueRidge So I have one steer a Holstein Angus, I have in my back yard in Concord California. I got him at eight weeks old, took him off calf replacer and bought 30 bales of oat hay. After the oat hay is gone what should I feed this steer and for how long, how big should I let him get?
No You are out of touch. Corn feeding is awesome, and those attacking successful production techniques are immoral hateful and destructive. Shame on you. Shame shame shame shame!
Fun fact: you never searched for this video.
That's for sure, but interesting video..
Yet here I am learning how to raise cattle
AI sent it to you, specifically...
@@modernhustle11 not a bad thing!
Courtney Shoemaker I’m not complaining haha
Three things that don't hang themselfs; Aging Beef, PolyBraid, and Jeffrey Epstein
mobyhunr 😂😂
Now thats funny .... i dont care who you are
That the channel owner liked this post has made me subscribe to his channel.
😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣
I'm 35 year old and found this all out the hard way.. This man is spot on!!
I love how heated you got there at the end!! It’s refreshing to hear such truth, especially right now.
WOW!!! You said exactly what i have always been telling my fellow small hold farmers here in South-Africa who been chasing 1200KG bulls and 800KG cows on limited resources and communal lands, i raise Nguni cows mated by a Boran bull which gives exactly what you elaborating here. SO GLAD TO HEAR SOME ONE MAKING SENSE OF SUCH ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECOMOMICAL FRIENDLY CONCEPT!!!
Do the breeds you now use tolerate that hot climate OK?
I’d love to email you and ask about your farm operations. I’ve been looking for Africans to exchange technique with because I have a lot to offer as far as technique goes and would love to hear about your experience.
I like the way this guy thinks. The entire structure of agriculture has been hi-jacked in my lifetime. The way food is produced and sold in this country is as backwards as it can be and its designed that way to profit large corporations. Everyone is paying the price, higher cost for lower quality food, eating cheap processed garbage because its more affordable. And....all of that would be gone in 2-3 days if someone wanted it that way. Nobody stores food anymore, groceries rely on multiple shipments a week. If those trucks stop coming their shelves are empty in a couple of days. More and more I wish I had a little bit of land just run a small operation on if only enough to sustain myself and family.
totally agree. The government subsidies are ridiculous and basically mean the end of the true family farm. Sure there's huge farms that are "family farms" but not like in my grandparents or even parent's ages! There is no compassion for the animals because the system is so imbalanced now to only favor huge corporations and their contracts. Tons of chicken farms in arkansas are going under because tyson requires them follow their regulations because their methods are so disturbingly disgusting, and it gets expensive to be required by contract to "upgrade" equipment just so that Tyson gets their bottom line. People talk shit about farmers doing things wrong, but it's the corporations that impose unrealistic demands on the farmer that really kills all of us in the long run.
@theprophetswhisper its all by design
@@ryanjones5592 exactly. It's interesting how there's so many burger joints because everything on the menu at a burger place conforms almost too well to the industrialized model of agriculture, and the subsidies trickle down into profits for those business owners. I am not anti profit, but I am against manipulating government and stocks to create utter exploitation of the people and the products available to them. Americans would be much healthier if our industrialized form of AG would be decentralized away from these huge food distributors that hi-jack profits from the farmers.
Check out Grass Roots Co-op. Cody Hopkins does a great talk to Iowa farmers on TH-cam. They are putting more money in the farmers pocket. They are also regenerative operations.
Katbryn Gagne Thank you! I will look that up.
Amen! People used to laugh and my short stocky cows. Up until the drought.
Thanks, Greg, for another business model tip that we can take to the bank.
Had a class in college over 30 years ago. Professor had a program that figured long term payout costs/returns on a herd with the parameters you entered. He was big on those 1500 lb Limousin on Flint Hills of Eastern Kansas. I ran my herd parameters for 1000 lb Angus/Hereford cows in short/mixed grass pasture in central Kansas. My 'little' cows out performed his Limo's and humbled him. I work in a large packing house-don't believe those order buyers wanting bigger calves-some packers are actually moving towards smaller size for many reasons, ease of dressing for one, customer expectations, portion sizes...
That's my home area. I believe I've handled your cattle at some point or another.
Where at in Kansas? I’m by Salina
Your passion for farming and your truth telling is inspiring.
Great info Greg....just got our first southpole bull! We're really loving him...can't wait to start breeding down our sizes...all my neighbors think I'm crazy and I love it!
If your neighbors think your crazy, your on the right path. It’s when they start approving of what your doing that you may be in trouble!!
I like the little rant at the end. It may not be long until you can name your price for food.
Great talk Greg. I sat at the sale barn yesterday and pondered a few of the things you just covered. The price of maintaining that mama cow is one of the factors I often overlook. It's the calf that has to carry the mama's cost, so a 1500 pound cow eating a ton of hay every winter puts a real drain on the $700 price of the calf it produces in the Spring.
Smaller cows also reach maturity sooner so replacement heifers and bulls have a higher chance of breeding early as well.
You nailed it!
Thank you mr judy your rotational grazing talks have motivated me to keep my goats moving out on my pastures thank you
Shalom! Thank you so much Mr.Greg for the wealth of information you share with us all. I do appreciate you very much and I share your videos with my son and grandsons. Blessings to you and yours!
Beautiful animals Greg. Love how you explain the process.
Your channel is really important. Not just to those interested in raising cattle in a sustainable way, but you are showing others who have no idea about any of this, and may never have seen a cow in person how cattle can benefit us and our planet, even if they are not meat eaters themselves. Great job!
Your honest opinion and straight forward answers just got you another subscriber! Looking forward to seeing more videos. I never searched for this video, it’s funny how I was just thinking about the open grass land my mother has just a few days ago and bam! Here’s your video!! Lol Thank you
This was a great video. I truly learned a lot. It doesn’t just make sense, it makes dollars! Thanks for these great videos.
Great chat Greg, sounds like proof of what I've been hearing from Johann Zeitsman! Smaller frame cattle can make WAY more money per acre, and will keep better body condition in winter as well!
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Greg ))) Makes sense and headed in that direction!
Just stumbled across your video. So glad I did. I just subscribed. Looking forward to learning much more about your operation. Best wishes from Amqui Quebec!
Very interesting perspective. And the light in the video is great as well
Excellent video! Happy thanksgiving!
Please Greg...never shut up! Lol. Bless you and thank you to you and your team for all you do.
I really love the logic and the delivery... Greg is a true missionary for smart farming
Perfectly said at the end.. bravo & Thanks !!
Thank you for the advice! I got a nice red Angus x highlander bull that fits description. Picked 2 low line black Angus cows. Glad you confirmed I'm on the right path
i learn so much from this channel
Great video again! Happy thanksgiving 🦃!
I heard you mention this in a speech you were giving here on TH-cam. It really inspired me because I do old spot hogs and the foundation herd was massive, huge awesome docile creatures. The could not maintain their 2nd winter girth on my pastures. They sunk deep into my clay soils and were just too big for my 5 acres. So I started breeding down, chasing an old rusty ginger color that come from the old berkshire that was in the wood pile. It was a closed herd so it was easy to breed down. Today some 6 years later, I have a really good sized pastured hog. Same docile stock, but now more manageable. And just through selection rather than bringing in new genetics or breeds that bring their own problems. So thanks for this observation as it really helped for my homestead.
I really like what you had to say. First time viewer. I don't own any land or cows, but may soon. Subscribed. Thanks from Texas.
Amen, Greg!
Wow, awesome speech. In some countries the brokers are the ones that make the money, and the farmers are the ones that make the hard work.
Wow, so glad I came across this video thank you.
Put my first animal in freezer after 3 years.
People ask my if it's worth it, or better to go to store, worth is in the eye of the beholder.
I get to be out everyday in my pasture feeding or moving my future food. Is that sunset in pasture worth it? Is that blizzard in pasture worth it? Is buying grass worth it? Is food as medicine worth it? Is restoring soil worth it? Is digging up an earthworm worth it? Is bringing grandboy out to see Cows worth it?
You all get what you worth for.
En arche een ho logos..!
Great video. I'm starting my own herd through my employer. He runs mostly herefords but runs black bulls with his replacement heifers. He and I both like that short round frame. My cows are F1 baldies weighing around that 1100 -1200lbs. I've always had the same mindset and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one. Thanks again for the video.
Great video Greg, loved the part about starting to do what's best for us and the land and not do everything just for the packers. I'm striving to raise 950 to 1000 lb cows and I think it's the only way to go for many different reasons.
My first job out of high school was in a meat packing plant. One thing I learned is the first and only priority is more profit. The welfare of workers, the sustainability of the industry... they all take a back seat to more profit.
back again... can't hear this logic enough! I really enjoyed listening to Greg and Teddy Gentry talking the nuts and bolts of ranching
Real nice talk. My dad always said, you don't want those big cows eating all your grass, keep them small. He liked them about 1,200 pounds. He said a 1,200 pound cow will raise a calf just as big as as any other. I inherited some of his cows and their calves always brought top price at the sale barn. I bought some bigger cows a few years ago that I got a good price on, I can't wait to get rid of them.
I never thought about the fact that big cows will tear up your grass more. That's something that really bothers me as we're in clay soil and it's pretty sensitive when wet. Thanks
Happy thanksgiving Greg. I think it would be hugely helpful to a bulk of your audience to make a video explaining how to get off the ground starting with about 5 cows and working your way up from there as more pasture becomes available and solutions for remote watering. I know you have a grazing school so you may not want to go too much in depth.
thank yaGREG ya shore can tell when a farmer is proud hisn cows,, they love love ta talk bout them an its no jist cows its all live stock.. thank ya fer nother great peek at yer beautiful ladies,, thank ya fer the video
Thank you great advice. I will consider changing my size of my stock now.
Amen, brother.
Great comments you say how it should be!!!!
Grew up on a 40acre field farm, not for profit but just to self sustain, lots of hard work and spring shoveling out the barn. We had red Herford cattle, My father disliked horns on his cattle after one popped his walled out of his pants pocket and knocked him a few feet !! Lol , I still remember that moment !! Of coarse I was ran over by a cow or two but it happens. Hurt my pride more than anything . Keep up the great work and your cows look great, very healthy and happy !
Amen, preach it brother!
I just learned so much thank you👍
Preach bro! I have to wonder how much this sort of wisdom permeates academia.
Words of wisdom indeed !
I never fell for the push for those exotic breeds in the 1970's.
Thank you sir!
I guess youtube wants me to get into the cattle business.
You know deep down you wanted to all along, but weren't conscious of the need...
Ironically, your TH-cam name is (Running off instinct).
Very interesting information. Not many people today understand how different the breeds are and how suited they are to a particular situation. I myself never appreciated that domestication brings with it the same sorts of niches as arise from nature.
Great Educational Video!
As an Irish person I would recommend looking into Dexter cattle for those of you looking for smaller cattle. They are a native Irish breed about 1/2 the size of a conventional cow used by farmers on poorer land traditionally for there efficiency in converting grass to beef. They were once rare but now seeing increased popularity!
Can they be wintered out?
the smaller breeds are more efficient on grazing and when selling beef direct to the consumer they don't care about live weight. they care about fresh well raised beef.
Ha, I agree with EVERYTHING you said!
Good looking advice.
Loved that part of the second class citizens. Why do farmers have to take the hit in income when stores want to have a sale?? Or the brokers who dont raise a damn thing but earn more money per lbs than the farmer who raised the thing for a few years??
let's hope we can educate the public
Yes sir. I run an angus bull and a charolais bull together on my cows, learned along time ago not to keep replacements from the smokies I kept that bred back to the charolais. They get to big. Now I dont even keep many of the smokies as replacements.
@9:15
"You shouldn't have to have a job in town."
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
EXACTLY RIGHT!
I said as much in a comment to a commenter on a TH-cam video when she said that her son was aspiring to purchase a dairy farm which for making a living. I begged and pleaded with her not to go let her son financially hang himself by dairy farming; the Jewel Foods store has been selling 2% gallons of milk "2-for-$4.00" for years now. I further told her if articles that I have read where younger people are not drinking milk in the quantities as my generation did and that wholesale prices are reflecting this fact.
The mother commenter replied back: "Oh-it will be okay: he will still keep his job driving a milk truck to make ends meet .....🤦🤦🤦
This is called "buying a job". It is the reason I do not haul Intermodal containers any longer: there is no "business income" in the rates. In other words, what I would make in my truck after all expenses and accruals is not materially more than if I was driving someone else's truck! Why beat my truck up for $400/day when I can gross $325)day driving someone else's truck..??!!
MADNESS!
Where I was raised, most of the ranchers raised Herefords. One of my friends raised Short Horns, because they might get a few cents less per pound at market, but they would weigh about 400 to 500 pounds more. I guess the argument comes from both sides. He also had a Black Angus bull, that was just a pure mass monster -- probably about 2000 pounds. I remember that bull scratching his shoulder against a telephone pole, and the telephone pole was shaking like a willow sapling.
Well, economics aside, that's a gorgeous herd and a very beautiful lay of land, just a really pretty setting.
Dang Greg, you've got one beautiful lookin herd!
Happy Thanksgiving Greg, I love your views on grass feeding, and soil management. Have you experimented with composting, liquid compost and/or bioChar?
I'm learning about raising cows.
I live in the city. I have no intention of ever owning a farm or cows. It's still interested though! Thanks TH-cam
I love your talks, brilliance is easy to listen to. 👍👍🇺🇸
Excellent 👍
All true👍🏻.
Wisdom for the ages right here ladies and gentlemen.
Greg - Quick question please... When you refer to a 1000 pound cow, when is that weight taken? Considering that body condition may change over the course of a year, is it at calf weaning, at breeding, or otherwise. Thank You and have a great Thanksgiving.
Amen! Direct purchase and small reliable processing shops. ❤️🌱
Great video!
You make a lot of sense, the processes are only speaking in their own interests by what they prefer to deal with in their business. They do what they gotta do, and you do what you gotta do. Pretty simple.
That's what Allan Savory described in "Holidtic Resource Management almost 40 years ago as a "paradigm".
The quickest way to go broke is to allow others to build your paradigm, period!
Thanks Greg for all the great info! Can you do a video sometime on marketing, and what the best avenue is for selling grass-fed cows....sale barn vs direct marketing ? Thank you
The last minute of his speech - is the most telling. Nature will get it done for him too.
City OG saying “Thanks for good advice Greg”!
This guy knows what's up.
Good ideas!
In the 70's belt buckle cattle we're the rage. People wanted huge steaks and ranchers quickly bred cattle so big you could stand next to a finished steer and your belt buckle could be seen from the other side. They might take three years to grow but the steaks we're huge!
Greg,
I can't say how many times i've watched this video. Can you do a video on how to judge/determine relative weight based on sight only?
You do make an awful lot of sense at times Greg!
And with the state of the agricultural economy of recent, your banker appreciates those many extra cents.
As far as little bulls on big cows. When we got our first bull after quitting AI he was a young shorthorn. The first night I went out to the pasture after dark to check on him. He was standing beside a massive holstien X limousin old cow. By the date she calved he bred the biggest cow on the place that first night.
Great video
Great stuff.
Hey there. We run Aberdeen /lowline which is the smaller breed for angus. Also we did a video showing your method (giving you credit of course) for pastures. Hope we did you justice
It also depends on where you live. In my country (Holland) as a farmer you need to buy production rights to raise cattle and these go per head, not per pound, Same goes for dairy cows and pigs. Combine that with very low margins and farmers are pretty much forced to raise big animals.
Do you think the farmer protests over there will change things?
Greg your also right no farmer needs a town job!!
Smaller cows is the way!!!
You should be called Greg the cattle Profit!!! Yes the pun intended money PROFIT it’s not a dirty word!!!
I like the red cows yes they take heat better even the white and red cattle. I think there is taste difference on the cattle raised on Grass vs corn lot cows!!!
I wished all the cattlemen & cattlewomen would get the cows smaller and take the black out!!
It’s the heat that’s coming with global warming it’s only right that you cattlemen get ahead of that curve!!!
Enjoy your channel both you farms or on the stage talking about the Greg way!!!!
I wish I could have talked with my Grandpa about this. He was a rancher for 60 years… old school Colorado cowboy. “Bigger was better”… but I think he would have immediately understood the value in this thinking and grazing this way. We just didn’t know……
I've slightly slimmer cows by appearance and they are built for mountainous areas and hills without getting hurt or injured. Perfectly adapted in 🇬🇪 landscape
Good video!
Right there with you Greg - I've been preaching this same message to a friend...a friend with 1400 lb cows. You're a great forward thinker, as we're entering a time with less available (overly expensive) land, lower premiums for the 600 lb calf and the "city folks" wanting to save an environment they know nothing about. Please keep doing what you're doing while inspiring/teaching. Thank you
I get what you are saying on cow size but where I live , when a guy brings 500calves to town every year and he has 400lb calves everyone wants to buy them the first year for grass cattle in the spring. When they take them to the finishing lot and they are fat at 1000lbs and the packer won't bid pretty soon the buyers make sure they don't buy your calves because there is no way they will get to market weight when they are 18months.
Sell them direct as grassfinished beeves or to other grass finished beef outfits. The packers can go bully someone else.
You hit the nail on the head. I really wanted to get on the small cow band wagon but let’s consider this on an extreme side: how efficient is a miniature angus? If I had little grass and needed efficient animals, I’d raise miniature angus for all the same reasons he mentions in this video. But, on a commercial basis, you have nailed it exactly - if you are selling these dinks as feeders or 4/5 weights, you’ll fool the buyers the 1st or 2nd year but if they bought big numbers - they will absolutely avoid these guys the next year. I have found that unless you have some type of ninche operation, buyers want leaner, framey calves that they can put some weight on. Pay attention to marbling epds and other carcass merit numbers and those calves will sustain themselves all the way through. I’ve also found some of my biggest cows keep their flesh even in the harshest conditions. I have both 5 frame and 6 frame cows that will shrink to bones when grass is thin - this is not specific to size at all and I have a few 6 frame belly draggers to prove it
@@thawk321 if your making a good full time living with your cow herd then you should not change a single thing. Keep doing what your doing. If a person is struggling to make a profit with his herd then you need to look at changing something. It may be cow size, grazing practices, poor soil, genetics, marketing and the list goes on. Bottom line is don't keep doing the same thing every year and expect a different result.
@@gregjudyregenerativerancher I do run cattle full time (Registered Angus) on roughly 1600 acres of owned and leased pasture. We raise registered herd bulls and production cattle utilyzing AI and ET heavily. Smaller vs bigger cow sizes make a good argument but selecting for smaller animals year over year, especially smaller bull sizes (thus leading to smaller sizes with the terminal animals that end up in the feedlot) will not work across the other facets of that animals life (ie, feedlot & packer) after you sell and make your profit as the producer. The AAA has recently added another Value to their EPD's to help with this dilemma which is $C. I think this value will be leveraged heavily in marketing animals, especially bulls as it balances $B and $M which are representative of our very argument ($B typically = bigger animals but selecting for this year after year leads to increased size to a detriment. $M = efficient cows but selecting here can decrease size over the coarse of a few years thereby creating a dilemma for the the last few entities to impact a calfs life before harvest (which are the feedlot & packer because they can't get the needed growth from that smaller animal) I hope $C brings what it should to the table - one more balancing tool to keep us from trying to single trait select year over year. Anyway - I'm more relating my experience to your video. More-so for people just entering the business. There are a lot of views to consider before jumping into an investment as the cattle. Our business swallows new investors whole if their game plan isn't well thought out (from conception to plate)
@@thawk321 thanks for sharing your views Chris. One point that I want to add is that if you base your cattle marketing on selling to feedlots or packers there is not much money left for the cow/calf producer. To excel with your grass, you need to have control of what you sell your animals for. According to Drovers magazine, the average return on a cow/calf operation in 2019 was $67 per head. I want no part of that crowd. How is a cattleman supposed to make a full time living receiving $67 a head profit? This is exactly why I am fed up with the status quo, we can do much better with 100% forage raised animals that are in the more moderate weight class. Monster cattle takes most of your profit raising the calf.
I found out the hard way that this also works for grazing dairy cattle. Those big long legged show animals are prone to lots more problems. My breeding program now consists of bringing beef genetics into the milking herd so that I can get some shorter stockier and therefore hardier heifers for our harsher WI winters. Those tall cows are fun to look at, but I put up far less feed than my neighbors for the same number of head even while out-wintering.
Great to hear, I run Devons, small cows
Red devons like the more modern meat cross version or the old fashioned triple purpose milking devon?
What have you thought of their temperament?
@@joelhollingsworth1926 old fashion Devon mostly. Very gentle.
@@andyr.3194 I've heard they are pretty vigorous & full of energy due to being bred as cart pullers. That people loved using them due to how fast they walk but that liveliness can make them harder to keep. Have you found that true with yours?
With a breed as rare as the older milking Devon, it's hard to tell what information is true about 1 cow versus what is true of all of them.
Nothing better than grass fed beef! Great info.
There is a change happening, Dairies are crossing holstiens with Angus on a large scale. Wouldn't it be better to just keep buying them and manage the pasture only trough head count, more in the high growing season and less trough the winter. Dairies can have a very consistent streem of young animals. Might need better fencing.
You should be president, Greg! No kidding!
@Mark OnTheBlueRidge Because he is a good man. That is why.
How will this breed do in cold winter temps