Retirement Dreams

[KMD]

I am looking to retire soon and here is my dream: I would like to have a few acres of pasture in the Flint Hills of Kansas with a couple of retired rodeo steers.
Here is my question: What would be the best and least expensive way to provide winter feed? I would like to let them forage pasture grass with range cube supplement and grass hay when temperatures are in the teens and when the grass is covered in snow.
Would this work and if so what would I need to watch out for and consider?

 

[Beekissed]

I am looking to retire soon and here is my dream: I would like to have a few acres of pasture in the Flint Hills of Kansas with a couple of retired rodeo steers.
Here is my question: What would be the best and least expensive way to provide winter feed? I would like to let them forage pasture grass with range cube supplement and grass hay when temperatures are in the teens and when the grass is covered in snow.
Would this work and if so what would I need to watch out for and consider?

I don't think you'll get by with feeding them on pasture with just a few acres. At that point, you'd be buying hay and I'm not sure how much hay cost in that area but just two steers wouldn't eat you out of house and home.

 

[Baymule]

If you don’t rotate pastures, giving the grass time to grow back, you will wind up with dirt and no grass. If having a few acres and a couple of steers is your dream, go for it, but plan on feeding them and keeping hay in front of them. A three sided shelter from storms would be nice too.

 

[KMD]

Thank you for your responses. Looks like I may need to do some dreaming.

 

[WyoLiving]

You should be able to raise a couple steers (2) on a few (3-4) acres without stressing the pasture too much. You will need to do pasture maintenance of mowing down the stuff they won't eat and spreading the manure around some.
By the science from the NRCS, you can raise 1 cow/calf unit for each 1.8 to 2 acres. 1 cow/calf unit is a cow and her calf raised to weaning stage.

 

[Grant]

Keep in mind 3-4 acres of pasture. I have 13 acres, but only about 8 acres of pasture. You have to take out for house, yard, barn, etc, etc. I have 1 bull, 2 heifers, and a steer. All miniature cross. I’m not sure I’d want much more on what I have.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep....livestock per acre estimates don't always fit all places. I'd find out what it's like in the exact area you will be living before planning on livestock numbers. Smaller acreage often cries out for smaller stock....have you considered meat sheep or meat goats instead of cattle?

 

[KMD]

Thanks for your replies. I am not looking to raise for meat. I like walking through pastures and was thinking of steers to graze down the grass some and to give me something to mess with. I was thinking of dividing the pasture into three paddocks to give the grass a chance to recuperate.

 

[MoreAU]

Thanks for your replies. I am not looking to raise for meat. I like walking through pastures and was thinking of steers to graze down the grass some and to give me something to mess with. I was thinking of dividing the pasture into three paddocks to give the grass a chance to recuperate.

Have you considered sheep, or even goats? They'll also help to keep the grass down. Sheep also sell well as pets, if you don't want them for meat.

I'm a little south of you in OK, I'm paying $40 for a large round bale of prairrie hay. A bale lasts me 7-9 days in the winter with a bull, a cow, and 3 heifers eating on it. Of course, a good amount of it becomes bedding, even with a hay ring. My point is, 2 steers would probably take 3 or 4 weeks to go through it on the winter. Longer in the summer with green to supplement it.

I am curious, why rodeo steers? I would think raising a bottle baby would give you a more docile animal to work with. Wouldn't a rodeo steer either bolt away when it sees you if it were previously a roping steer, or charge you if it used to be a riding bull or a rodeo clown fighting bull? I don't do the rodeo circuit at all, so I'm just guessing. Am I full of misconceptions for these animals?

 

[KMD]

Have you considered sheep, or even goats? They'll also help to keep the grass down. Sheep also sell well as pets, if you don't want them for meat.

I'm a little south of you in OK, I'm paying $40 for a large round bale of prairrie hay. A bale lasts me 7-9 days in the winter with a bull, a cow, and 3 heifers eating on it. Of course, a good amount of it becomes bedding, even with a hay ring. My point is, 2 steers would probably take 3 or 4 weeks to go through it on the winter. Longer in the summer with green to supplement it.

I am curious, why rodeo steers? I would think raising a bottle baby would give you a more docile animal to work with. Wouldn't a rodeo steer either bolt away when it sees you if it were previously a roping steer, or charge you if it used to be a riding bull or a rodeo clown fighting bull? I don't do the rodeo circuit at all, so I'm just guessing. Am I full of misconceptions for these animals?

I am thinking roping and wrestling steers would be done growing and only need