Registered Angus and Registered Senepol & Senegus Cattle
Bell Rule Genetics
436355 E 360 Rd
Adair, OK 74330
ph: 918-698-2993 Dean
alt: 563-299-7609 Brandon
sales
This is a page we have created to help our customers stay up to date and informed. If we find news or information we think will be useful, we will add it here.
Intensive Grazing at Bell Rule
At Bell Rule we are constantly trying to increase our bottom line. As such we have became very interested in intensive, rotational grazing. Here are some videos showing a couple of our latest projects.
Intensive Grazing of a millet/haybean mix in August of 2017. Click Here
Very high density grazing of a weedy, abused trap in June 2018. Click Here
Solar Fencer install - custom 100 watt panel setup Click Here
Tire Tank Waterer install. Click Here
Do Small Cows Make More Money?
By Alan Newport
For years, indeed decades, the argument over cow size has been bantered about by cattle producers. Now, adding to the debate, research from Wyoming shows smaller cows can produce more beef per acre, as well as produce more income.
The research report is available in the journal Rangelands and it shows, in the plainest terms, that 1,000-pound cows on the working university ranch in Wyoming are weaning more pounds of beef than any other category of cows up to 1,400 pounds. Because they can be run at higher stocking rate, this ends up being more total pounds of beef produced per acre and for the whole ranch.
The researchers divided the existing cows into five weight classes and then extrapolated each class to a whole-ranch stocking rate for comparison. The four-year study included the drought year of 2012, the wet year of 2014, and two years of approximately average rainfall.
In an article I wrote for Beef Producer, I calculated from the pounds weaned in each scenario what the potential value of the calf crops would be in the drought year, the wet year, and over the four years as an average. I chose a price of $142 from the fall of 2012, which was about the middle of the price range for the years of the study (2011-2014), from a weekly futures price chart.
This is how the gross sales values calculated for the biggest-cow ranch versus the smallest-cow ranch, using the researcher's records for calf production:
The big-cow ranch had a four-year average of $139,024 gross calf income. In the wet year, they brought in $140,018 gross calf income. In a drought year, they brought in $124,325.
The small-cow ranch had a four-year average of $173,753 gross calf income. In a wet year, they produced $204,592 gross calf income. In a drought year, the cows produced $133,600 in gross calf income.
The management did not change for cow size so this suggests much higher profit potential for the smaller cows.
| 4 year average | Wet Year | Drought Year |
Big Cows | $139,024 | $140,018 | $124,325 |
Small Cows | $173,753 | $204,592 | $133,600 |
9/26/2017
This is an excellent article from the OnPasture website based on research done in North Dakota. We may like to look at the big, fat, pretty cows but the little workhorses we don't notice are the profit makers.
Contact us today!
We welcome your questions and queries. Please see our Contact Us page for complete contact information.
Copyright 2011 Bell Rule Genetics. All rights reserved.
Bell Rule Genetics
436355 E 360 Rd
Adair, OK 74330
ph: 918-698-2993 Dean
alt: 563-299-7609 Brandon
sales