Raising livestock

[Rob Tucker]

Anyone out there raising any cattle? I'm thinking of raising some beef and was hoping to talk story with someone already doing it.

Thanks in advance.

Rob

[janeadams]

Rob,

Jack and Marty Lockwood raise cattle in Volcano... I think you know them already.

There're a couple of people up our way raising cattle, but I don't know them but could get an intro.

Jane

[Guest]

Here is an excellent article written by Hunter last year about Beef on the Big Island.

My family seems to kill a cow [V] about once a year and they do the slaughtering themselves and then freeze the meat for later use.

Something to note if your not wanting to slaughter the cow yourself:

Only Kulana Meat in Hilo, the J.J. Andrade slaughterhouse in Honoka'a, and Hawai'i Big Island Beef are processing meat on the Big Island.

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Coming home soon!

[Rob Tucker]

Thanks to both of you. I will follow up on this....

Rob

[waynesb]

The guy who runs Bear's Coffee has some cattle. I got the impression they were more pet than livestock, but you might call and ask.

[Kelena]

My dad lived on a farm and raised cattle, but as he got older he raised fewer and fewer. Based on my observation of his experience I have this advice:

1. Always keep at least 10....
2. Never ever start naming them which you will do unless you....(back to number one)

My tough Texas dad just wouldn't eat Bessie.

[Rob Tucker]

I have dealt with cattle before on our dairy farm. We milked sixty cows twice a day every day. That was in Connecticut. So I am not a stranger to farming.

Here I am thinking of running beef cattle on 20 acres of grassland I own. In this climate I don't expect to bale hay. I do wonder what the tropics might offer in the way of risks I can't assess. Curious also as to how many head per acre this area supports.

Thanks everyone for your comments. Keep em coming.

[csgray]

I had a friend who named their beef calves Filet Mignon and Hamburger so her kids knew they were headed for the table. She kept a family milch cow so the beef calves were an inevitable result of keeping the cow fresh. I was the backup milker when she needed to travel; there is something so peaceful about milking a cow (when you only have to milk one cow!) When I had a milk goat she was a royal pain in the butt to milk; she kicked, knocked over the bucket every chance she got, and would pee on my foot if she ever got the chance. On the other hand, she produced almost exactly the amount of milk I needed for my cow's milk allergic daughter. I would guess that parasites are a bigger problem here since there is no winter freeze, call a large animal vet and ask, they should be glad to tell you since you could become a customer. Try the county extension agent, they are the friend to small farmers everywhere, also maybe the UH Hilo ag. department.

carol

[janeadams]

Gotta laugh, Carol...

Back in the NW, we used to cooperate with friends, and raised either two calves or pigs a year. One year the pigs were named "Link" and "Patty", and the next year the calves got named Hamburger and Hotdog.

Jane

[Hotzcatz]

There used to be a black angus named "Roy" and the grandkids of the cow's owner would eat Royburgers but didn't really mind since Roy was always still out in his pasture next to the house. Sometimes Roy was about as round as a bowling ball and other times Roy had "been on a diet" and was a small skinny thing. Guess one black cow looks like any other black cow.

Parker Ranch has cattle auctions every once in awhile. They only seem to sell black cows, steers & bulls, though. Most of the horses they sold were brown.