The Cattle Project!!!
Whether its your first year in cattle or last, the amount of time and money you put into your animal is essential. To succeed in this project you must be dedicated! In the cattle project, you own your animal for about 10 months and this means you feed it twice a day, groom and walk it every day, wash once a week, and spend as much adition time as posable with you animal to create a tighter bond which will cause the animal to trust you and it will be easier to work with.
Purchase of Animal:
The Right Time to Purchase your steer for the upcommin year is between August and December for a June Fair (EDCF) your animal should weigh about 500lbs and be around 8 months of age (depending on what month you purchased in). Most Club Calfs (show quality) go for around 1000$ to 5000$ in price, but you can always pick up a steer from a backyard breeder for 500$ (not as much of a show quality animal) if you dont want to spend the money and you just want something that is going to make you profit (most recomended). Make sure you shoose the animal right for you, if your not impressed with the attitude or personality, than dont get it! you dont want an animal your not looking forward to working with. This part of the project is the most exiting part because you get to take on your new animal which means a new year :)
Training: --
Feed:
Showmaster, Purina, Showtime, Showmaker
These brands are only a few of the popular feeds, the prices vary. Its up to you on how much you want to pay and feed to your animal, but by the end of the year, all that matters is how well you do it. Your animal should be eating ---% of his weight every day for a three pound a day gain. You shuld feed your animal twice a day and exactly 12 hours apart, your animal should only have a bowl of grain in front of them for 30 min. max. this makes your animal rush wile eating and finish all of the feed because it knows you are going to take it away.
Show Day:
Sullivans Supply will become your best friend in the show cattle circuit. You will need these items listed below to be ready and do well at a show/fair and to get your animal prepared to enter the ring.
- Chute
- Blower
- Shampoos
- Adhesives
- Hocus pocus
- Clippers
- Combs
- Show halters
- Rope halter and neck tie
- Food and water bowl
- Bedding
- Show stick
- baby wipes
- hose
- cattle feed
Time to say Good-Bye:
Yes, like all market animals you have to say good-bye and load your animal in the trailer were it will be hauled off. This is probably the hardest part of the whole project because sence you have owned your animal for such a long period of time and created such a close bond, you wont want to let go. All the beef cattle will be loaded in at the same time, in a single file line where one animal will be loaded in the trailer at a time. This is a very emotional time for everyone, dont worry about acting "cool" and making people think that its just another thing that you do, we all know how you will be feeling, as we feel the same. Just think about what you learned and how much fun you had in the proccess, as well as next years project (This will ease your mind).
Purchase of Animal:
The Right Time to Purchase your steer for the upcommin year is between August and December for a June Fair (EDCF) your animal should weigh about 500lbs and be around 8 months of age (depending on what month you purchased in). Most Club Calfs (show quality) go for around 1000$ to 5000$ in price, but you can always pick up a steer from a backyard breeder for 500$ (not as much of a show quality animal) if you dont want to spend the money and you just want something that is going to make you profit (most recomended). Make sure you shoose the animal right for you, if your not impressed with the attitude or personality, than dont get it! you dont want an animal your not looking forward to working with. This part of the project is the most exiting part because you get to take on your new animal which means a new year :)
Training: --
Feed:
Showmaster, Purina, Showtime, Showmaker
These brands are only a few of the popular feeds, the prices vary. Its up to you on how much you want to pay and feed to your animal, but by the end of the year, all that matters is how well you do it. Your animal should be eating ---% of his weight every day for a three pound a day gain. You shuld feed your animal twice a day and exactly 12 hours apart, your animal should only have a bowl of grain in front of them for 30 min. max. this makes your animal rush wile eating and finish all of the feed because it knows you are going to take it away.
Show Day:
Sullivans Supply will become your best friend in the show cattle circuit. You will need these items listed below to be ready and do well at a show/fair and to get your animal prepared to enter the ring.
- Chute
- Blower
- Shampoos
- Adhesives
- Hocus pocus
- Clippers
- Combs
- Show halters
- Rope halter and neck tie
- Food and water bowl
- Bedding
- Show stick
- baby wipes
- hose
- cattle feed
Time to say Good-Bye:
Yes, like all market animals you have to say good-bye and load your animal in the trailer were it will be hauled off. This is probably the hardest part of the whole project because sence you have owned your animal for such a long period of time and created such a close bond, you wont want to let go. All the beef cattle will be loaded in at the same time, in a single file line where one animal will be loaded in the trailer at a time. This is a very emotional time for everyone, dont worry about acting "cool" and making people think that its just another thing that you do, we all know how you will be feeling, as we feel the same. Just think about what you learned and how much fun you had in the proccess, as well as next years project (This will ease your mind).