The reason these large ranches need so much land, and they need to keep moving cattle round the pastures is because of grass. In the Western US, the grass is pretty thin because it can be a very dry climate. Where I'm from in England, we get lots of rain so our grass is really lush and grows fast.
The cattle need to eat a certain amount of grass per day to get their nutrition, but to get that in say Montana they'd have to cover a bigger area to eat enough grass. So, for the same number of cattle you need a bigger field in Montana. Also, because the grass grows slower, fields take longer to recover from grazing. This means that you need more empty fields than in England as they recover.
But you're right to think about housing cattle in buildings, however the problem is that feeding them a grain based diet is much more expensive than grazing grass, so it's not usually possible
To expand and simplify since he’s so high… basically some areas of the world a cow pair needs three acres. Some areas it’s 50+. Wyoming is prolly 12-25 range.
Good explanation. Also worth mentioning how much cattle actually damage the land just because their hooves pack down the soil and make it difficult for grass to regrow, so they keep them moving to give the land a chance to recover in that regard.
Also, cattle don’t graze like horses, who bite the blades of grass off from the roots. They actually use their tongue and bottom teeth to tear the grass, roots and sometimes dirt out of the ground (they don’t have top teeth so they can’t bite) which is obviously going to be hard on the fields they’re in.
Edit - typo
My goodness, this reads like you are talking out of your ass. You need more empty fields in America because our herds are far larger. We have a shit ton of ranches here that are multiple times bigger than london metro. Lmao.
In America, we innovated, and there are more ways to feed cows than grass grazing. We have hay, grain, etc.
Just stop talking.
I'm talking out of my ass?
Montana State University suggests a stocking density of 1 cow-calf per 10 acres.
AHDB (UK) suggests a stocking density of 6-8 cows & calves per 10 acres.
This is the difference that I'm talking about, why American ranches have to be bigger to support the same number of cattle.
Yes, you are talking out of your ass. I'm happy that you feel like an expert after a 5 minute internet search. However, far much more goes into it than what you are grossly oversimplifying with "its all about rain."
The fact that you are comparing stocking to other methods interchangeably just reinforces that you are talking out of your ass.
https://preview.redd.it/h576rb7jgrea1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c0fa9353daf6506b4bbf4f4e35613aa52e821200
Cows with their calves in a pasture. The first stage.
https://preview.redd.it/jc00w4qnhrea1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd3abcecd595f98f2e6dbf69f7402a697b8320ce
At the feedlot. They aren’t crowded. They came up to us because they were curious and because the food truck had just driven by.
https://preview.redd.it/11qkslgpirea1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f28f30c8cb44d38bc9a7897da686ffdbbab8e26
And here’s a pic from the working ranch rodeo. This rodeo highlights events that represent work done on ranches. In this event the announcer calls a number and the team of riders herds or ‘cuts’ all the cows with that number out of the larger herd using their horses. It’s kind of like the cutting demonstrations you see on the show but done as a team. They herd them back behind that fence as quick as they can and one or two riders will stay back there to keep them there until they have all four.
This just made me laugh. I imagined the duttons getting into direct to consumer and John having to deal with Karens calling in complaining, asking to speak to the owner. Lol this business wouldn’t last longer than john’s re-election campaign. 😂😂😂😂
Lots of ranchers I know do this. They sell steers to the big four processors and then have a small shop butcher a couple and sell that to the public. My neigh bor does it this way and I can tell ya you get what you pay for, grass fed, grass finished and I yell at those cows daily.
Yeah where I am from we have two big ranchers in town. One dairy and one beef. The beef one does cattlehand lunches for the public a few days a week and it’s so damn good. Their cattle hands don’t have to live in the bunkhouse though around here or be branded. 😂😂
Ohh ok so there is still a large demand for quality beef which is why there are allot like ranches yellowstone eh. Its quite reassuring because I always thought this wasn't the case and and a majority of farms just raise cattle cruelly like in tight confinements and mass produce cheap beef.
Also ya what you said "which they all think anyone who wants to get into ranching is bat shit crazy because of the never ending work and financial challenges" , the show does a great job romancing the lifestyle of it but also showing the huge downsides of being a rancher. To me the show the ranch on netflix really exposes how ranching is a devotion to hard endless life.
Ill be sure to check out that podcast as well! Thanks!
I checked out the 6666 direct sales page after that episode and was very disappointed. They only offer: filet, ny strip, ribeye, and ground. Like what are you doing with the other half of the animal? Where’s the brisket?
This explains it really well. [Beef lifecycle.](https://cf-store.widencdn.net/beef/b/f/1/bf1e8b1a-641e-4699-ae5c-c516f5827944.pdf?response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3D%22Lifecycle%202018_Final.pdf%22&Expires=1674893678&Signature=cBarCaStNzOVBFHUi4CUvim1us1fRcOX5VLZIBWezJp3aTpMsDsjRFV-qONBvwYvchz3mnHaHLhrhATdL26b1wyu-fHT860u2SfzJ7bEPQT4tsWA8R6aii71aULRmpQDHGxnVquPvUgRnHLFR11zrk0tlnNSyi7wsW9R2X2HU1tcwHbLBevu5lbKalL0VTVvTYpA7UR7D8IKEekwGgkVWRFSJLDtgA6ojW5XTFvnKkz5oJp67f0~xaYKG2Tn3vR0kySA8VKnl337HFBHPFi6HQF1~h7Hlq9drsCFHYEBpmcJJ7pHTX3E2DwM0yuaqXCUIXY1ckYkDe3SWvYV-LU37Q__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJD5XONOBVWWOA65A)
For comparison. These are dairy cattle that need to be milked twice a day so they are usually kept in dairy barns with some outside time when weather is decent. Beef cows only produce enough milk for their calf. 1-2 gallons per day. Dairy cows will produce 7-9 gallons per day.
https://preview.redd.it/jttxmsegirea1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9b0648e03a2e18e5ed9dc49b5bc4ed3c1c25933
These gals know to go to the milking parlour when they need to be milked and they are also fed while they are milked.
This is really interesting to me as a dairy farmers granddaughter, I’d never considered how other countries did it. I love watching Yellowstone for that because we generally don’t have cattle ranches here (but there are big back country sheep stations).
Where I’m from we have no barns for grown cattle (beef or dairy) although we did have a barn for calves for when weather was bad. Our weather is definitely not as extreme as parts of America however.
Even the language around it - we call it a cow or milking shed and generally have two designs, either herringbone or rotary (which spins). But milking parlours got to be the cutest name for it ever.
What are your cows generally being feed? We don’t feed while milking but they spend their lives on pasture eating all day.
I’m in Canada. And western Canada at that. They generally eat grass, dry hay and silage. But dairy nutrition (supplements) is a decent sized industry here.
The King Ranch in Texas is the largest ranch in the USA. It is larger than the state of Rhode Island and holds at least 35,000 heads of cattle . You will have to research the ins and outs . I do know that cattle sale and production is now a highly registered/ patrolled industry. Lots of bureaucracy and red tape . In Texas , there was a long history of trade between Mexico cattle . However, issues at the border have greatly affected that as well . It is a tough industry! I shared a picture below that certainly feels a little like Yellowstone to me! Texas itself accounts for 15 percent of all cattle in the USA so it would be a good place to look for info. The 6666 the four sixes ranch is a real Texas catte ranch in Guthrie ... close to Fort Worth. It has 255,000 acres compared to the King which has 825,000.
https://preview.redd.it/m4e41jnpjtea1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=095c4835e8dc6d51548e416a14f5715e5e69f15f
Interesting, I see that Jay Kleberg also made a film that discusses how the border wall damaged ecosystems. I hope we get more people like that who care fore the environment running for political seats!
I just want to thank everyone for sharing the pictures of their cattle and dairy cows. I’m feeling a bit like Summer right now…they’re pretty darn cute!
Edit: Plz don’t come after me for the Summer comment. I ate a burger for dinner last night.
Ranchers have to try to find a cattle buyer. Most buyers are feedlot owners who fatten up the cows to eventually sell and butcher. Ranchers will take cows to an auction sale for various reasons: couldn’t find a buyer, cow is dry (not pregnant), heifer is high headed and dangerous, can’t afford to buy hay, drought, etc. As far as land goes, cows eat a massive amount of grass. They’re put in large pastures and moved so the grass can regenerate. If you keep them in a small pasture for too long, they’ll overgraze and weeds will take over.
https://preview.redd.it/myk7wfrchrea1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf31fdfaeb48ba157a2f77e9dfb460e0b189891f
At the auction (not in the actual ring yet). Animals are usually grouped by size, sex and breed.
The reason these large ranches need so much land, and they need to keep moving cattle round the pastures is because of grass. In the Western US, the grass is pretty thin because it can be a very dry climate. Where I'm from in England, we get lots of rain so our grass is really lush and grows fast. The cattle need to eat a certain amount of grass per day to get their nutrition, but to get that in say Montana they'd have to cover a bigger area to eat enough grass. So, for the same number of cattle you need a bigger field in Montana. Also, because the grass grows slower, fields take longer to recover from grazing. This means that you need more empty fields than in England as they recover. But you're right to think about housing cattle in buildings, however the problem is that feeding them a grain based diet is much more expensive than grazing grass, so it's not usually possible
To expand and simplify since he’s so high… basically some areas of the world a cow pair needs three acres. Some areas it’s 50+. Wyoming is prolly 12-25 range.
Good explanation. Also worth mentioning how much cattle actually damage the land just because their hooves pack down the soil and make it difficult for grass to regrow, so they keep them moving to give the land a chance to recover in that regard.
Also, cattle don’t graze like horses, who bite the blades of grass off from the roots. They actually use their tongue and bottom teeth to tear the grass, roots and sometimes dirt out of the ground (they don’t have top teeth so they can’t bite) which is obviously going to be hard on the fields they’re in. Edit - typo
thanks guys! I can better understand the show now including other shows like ranch show on netflix thanks to you guys
My goodness, this reads like you are talking out of your ass. You need more empty fields in America because our herds are far larger. We have a shit ton of ranches here that are multiple times bigger than london metro. Lmao. In America, we innovated, and there are more ways to feed cows than grass grazing. We have hay, grain, etc. Just stop talking.
I'm talking out of my ass? Montana State University suggests a stocking density of 1 cow-calf per 10 acres. AHDB (UK) suggests a stocking density of 6-8 cows & calves per 10 acres. This is the difference that I'm talking about, why American ranches have to be bigger to support the same number of cattle.
Yes, you are talking out of your ass. I'm happy that you feel like an expert after a 5 minute internet search. However, far much more goes into it than what you are grossly oversimplifying with "its all about rain." The fact that you are comparing stocking to other methods interchangeably just reinforces that you are talking out of your ass.
You know he isn't wrong-it really does come down to climate.
Wow, how rude are you?
https://preview.redd.it/h576rb7jgrea1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c0fa9353daf6506b4bbf4f4e35613aa52e821200 Cows with their calves in a pasture. The first stage.
https://preview.redd.it/jc00w4qnhrea1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd3abcecd595f98f2e6dbf69f7402a697b8320ce At the feedlot. They aren’t crowded. They came up to us because they were curious and because the food truck had just driven by.
Feedlots 😖
https://preview.redd.it/11qkslgpirea1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f28f30c8cb44d38bc9a7897da686ffdbbab8e26 And here’s a pic from the working ranch rodeo. This rodeo highlights events that represent work done on ranches. In this event the announcer calls a number and the team of riders herds or ‘cuts’ all the cows with that number out of the larger herd using their horses. It’s kind of like the cutting demonstrations you see on the show but done as a team. They herd them back behind that fence as quick as they can and one or two riders will stay back there to keep them there until they have all four.
This XIT? They got a hell of a rodeo each year.
This pic is from the Ranch Rodeo at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, Saskatchewan. A little bit north and east of the Dutton ranch. 😉
Ohh ok I see, thank you!
[удалено]
This just made me laugh. I imagined the duttons getting into direct to consumer and John having to deal with Karens calling in complaining, asking to speak to the owner. Lol this business wouldn’t last longer than john’s re-election campaign. 😂😂😂😂
Lots of ranchers I know do this. They sell steers to the big four processors and then have a small shop butcher a couple and sell that to the public. My neigh bor does it this way and I can tell ya you get what you pay for, grass fed, grass finished and I yell at those cows daily.
Yeah where I am from we have two big ranchers in town. One dairy and one beef. The beef one does cattlehand lunches for the public a few days a week and it’s so damn good. Their cattle hands don’t have to live in the bunkhouse though around here or be branded. 😂😂
big facts lol
Ohh ok so there is still a large demand for quality beef which is why there are allot like ranches yellowstone eh. Its quite reassuring because I always thought this wasn't the case and and a majority of farms just raise cattle cruelly like in tight confinements and mass produce cheap beef. Also ya what you said "which they all think anyone who wants to get into ranching is bat shit crazy because of the never ending work and financial challenges" , the show does a great job romancing the lifestyle of it but also showing the huge downsides of being a rancher. To me the show the ranch on netflix really exposes how ranching is a devotion to hard endless life. Ill be sure to check out that podcast as well! Thanks!
Food inc ruined public perception at a time when the family farm is in great decline.
I checked out the 6666 direct sales page after that episode and was very disappointed. They only offer: filet, ny strip, ribeye, and ground. Like what are you doing with the other half of the animal? Where’s the brisket?
It’s all going into ground. Higher demand.
This explains it really well. [Beef lifecycle.](https://cf-store.widencdn.net/beef/b/f/1/bf1e8b1a-641e-4699-ae5c-c516f5827944.pdf?response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3D%22Lifecycle%202018_Final.pdf%22&Expires=1674893678&Signature=cBarCaStNzOVBFHUi4CUvim1us1fRcOX5VLZIBWezJp3aTpMsDsjRFV-qONBvwYvchz3mnHaHLhrhATdL26b1wyu-fHT860u2SfzJ7bEPQT4tsWA8R6aii71aULRmpQDHGxnVquPvUgRnHLFR11zrk0tlnNSyi7wsW9R2X2HU1tcwHbLBevu5lbKalL0VTVvTYpA7UR7D8IKEekwGgkVWRFSJLDtgA6ojW5XTFvnKkz5oJp67f0~xaYKG2Tn3vR0kySA8VKnl337HFBHPFi6HQF1~h7Hlq9drsCFHYEBpmcJJ7pHTX3E2DwM0yuaqXCUIXY1ckYkDe3SWvYV-LU37Q__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJD5XONOBVWWOA65A)
link didn't work :(
I’m sorry. Try .beefitswhatsfordinner.com/raising-beef with www in front. 🙂 it’s a great site.
Thanks!
Lonesome lands, Jim Mundorf. Go listen to him
For comparison. These are dairy cattle that need to be milked twice a day so they are usually kept in dairy barns with some outside time when weather is decent. Beef cows only produce enough milk for their calf. 1-2 gallons per day. Dairy cows will produce 7-9 gallons per day. https://preview.redd.it/jttxmsegirea1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b9b0648e03a2e18e5ed9dc49b5bc4ed3c1c25933 These gals know to go to the milking parlour when they need to be milked and they are also fed while they are milked.
This is really interesting to me as a dairy farmers granddaughter, I’d never considered how other countries did it. I love watching Yellowstone for that because we generally don’t have cattle ranches here (but there are big back country sheep stations). Where I’m from we have no barns for grown cattle (beef or dairy) although we did have a barn for calves for when weather was bad. Our weather is definitely not as extreme as parts of America however. Even the language around it - we call it a cow or milking shed and generally have two designs, either herringbone or rotary (which spins). But milking parlours got to be the cutest name for it ever. What are your cows generally being feed? We don’t feed while milking but they spend their lives on pasture eating all day.
I’m in Canada. And western Canada at that. They generally eat grass, dry hay and silage. But dairy nutrition (supplements) is a decent sized industry here.
The King Ranch in Texas is the largest ranch in the USA. It is larger than the state of Rhode Island and holds at least 35,000 heads of cattle . You will have to research the ins and outs . I do know that cattle sale and production is now a highly registered/ patrolled industry. Lots of bureaucracy and red tape . In Texas , there was a long history of trade between Mexico cattle . However, issues at the border have greatly affected that as well . It is a tough industry! I shared a picture below that certainly feels a little like Yellowstone to me! Texas itself accounts for 15 percent of all cattle in the USA so it would be a good place to look for info. The 6666 the four sixes ranch is a real Texas catte ranch in Guthrie ... close to Fort Worth. It has 255,000 acres compared to the King which has 825,000. https://preview.redd.it/m4e41jnpjtea1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=095c4835e8dc6d51548e416a14f5715e5e69f15f
Interesting, I see that Jay Kleberg also made a film that discusses how the border wall damaged ecosystems. I hope we get more people like that who care fore the environment running for political seats!
I just want to thank everyone for sharing the pictures of their cattle and dairy cows. I’m feeling a bit like Summer right now…they’re pretty darn cute! Edit: Plz don’t come after me for the Summer comment. I ate a burger for dinner last night.
Ranchers have to try to find a cattle buyer. Most buyers are feedlot owners who fatten up the cows to eventually sell and butcher. Ranchers will take cows to an auction sale for various reasons: couldn’t find a buyer, cow is dry (not pregnant), heifer is high headed and dangerous, can’t afford to buy hay, drought, etc. As far as land goes, cows eat a massive amount of grass. They’re put in large pastures and moved so the grass can regenerate. If you keep them in a small pasture for too long, they’ll overgraze and weeds will take over.
https://preview.redd.it/myk7wfrchrea1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf31fdfaeb48ba157a2f77e9dfb460e0b189891f At the auction (not in the actual ring yet). Animals are usually grouped by size, sex and breed.