raising cattle

Raising Beef Cattle - Know the Different Cow Breeds Before You Even Begin Rearing Cattle

Raising beef cattle can be very different from farming dairy cattle. The beef cows, also called feeder cattle, are way bigger. Even though the main reason for beef cattle farming in order to gain profits is for the meat manufacture, there are a lot of other things which the particular cattle are utilized for. There is not a great amount that is not utilized from cattle if they are traded to meat businesses. The cattle are really warily slaughtered, and extreme care is provided when they are being skinned. The cattle's hides are utilized in all types of leather merchandise, and the insides are utilized in cosmetics and shampoos. The beef meat is sliced into ground beef, roasts, ribs, and steaks.

The listing of cattle meat is really long and a number of kinds are more well-known than others, such as the Long Horn, the Hereford, the Brahman, and the Black Angus. A lot of countries are raising beef cattle and have manufactured their own beef cattle breeds. Ireland and Great Britain developed the extremely tough beefy cow called the White Park.

Texas USA's The Texas Longhorn is a good beef steer for raising beef cattle in order to gain profit on a little farm. Its horns are able to attain 120" in length, and they're extremely tough in arid weathers.

The Murray Grey, which is from the Eastern Australia, is a cow breed from an Angus bull and a Shorthorn cow. Murray Greys are very trouble-free to take care of. This breed is so well-liked that a lot have been transported to various countries for breeding and raising beef cattle.

The Nelore, which is an Indian breed, has been sold abroad to the country of Brazil wherein it has grown to be the major breed in the place.

The Longhorns, which is from England's Midlands, have really long horns which curve and form a ring. They are medium in size and are extremely hardy.

The Australian Bradfors, which is a cross-breed between the Brahmans and the Herefords, has a great resistance from pests as well as from daytime heat.

Raising beef cattle can improve quality of life and provide great satisfaction and responsibility for families. Explore your options and then decide. If you would like more tips on how to raise cattle, do visit: http://www.howtoraisecattle.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_R_Smith

cattle breeds

What Are The Main Cattle Breeds In New Zealand?

With a long history of cattle farming and dairying, New Zealand is home to many breeds of the animal. Each breed has particular attributes. If you are looking for cows for sale it would be advisable to have an idea of the types of breeds available to you.

Some of the key cattle breeds in New Zealand include Holstein-Friesians, Jersey Ayrshire's and English Shorthorns. All these imported breeds have their own advantages and their own history as they were brought to the country for various reasons.

For example the Holstein-Friesian, a breed which four years ago made up around 47% of the country's dairy herd, is prized for its milk. The milk is high in protein and a New Zealand Holstein-Friesian can produce over 4,000 litres of milk after calving. This advantage is one which New Zealanders have been enjoying since 1884 when they were introduced by Canterbury farmer John Grigg. This advantage makes them the most common milking cow worldwide.

Another breed to note if looking for cows for sale is the Jersey. Able to adapt to a wide range of conditions the Jersey can be found in Denmark, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Japan among other places. This breed was first imported to New Zealand in the early 1860's. This breed can allegedly produce around 13 times its body weight in milk product per lactation. The Jersey breed is also known to produce a higher amount of buttermilk per litre of milk than the Holstein-Friesian variety. Smaller and therefore easier to handle, they were - at the time of their introduction - particularly favoured in New Plymouth, appropriate for the smaller areas of farmland.

Ayrshire's are a third breed. Arriving with Scottish settlers this breed made their home in Otago. These breeds are strong-legged, have good constitutions and are usually dependable in terms of calving.

A fourth and less common breed is the English Shorthorn. These were one of the early breeds introduced. They were both a source of labour and meat but now with other breeds increasing in use and popularity this breed is not used so readily.

Other less common breeds exist such as the Brown Swiss and Guernsey. As particular traits in animals are being favoured by farmers, crosses are also being bred.

As you can see, there is a wide variety of breeds to be found, each one with different traits and with the ability to thrive in particular areas. It simply depends on what you are looking for in those cows for sale.

Kelly Livestock is the largest independently owned livestock Company in the Taranaki Region. If you are looking for cattle, dairy cows / herds for sale take a look at cows for sale online here: www.cows4sale.co.nz

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_JJ_Kelly

cattle auctions

Buying Cattle For a Cattle Ranch - 5 Steps

"Bdd bllaa bdd going once, bdddd blllaaa bdddd going twice, sold, to number 452!" This is the sound of an auction. An animal is brought out in front of a group of people sitting in the bleachers, who are looking to buy. The highest bid, wins. To have a cattle ranch, there must be cattle. Auctions are the best places to buy cattle in bunches.

There are some steps to take before and after cattle are purchased. I have 5 that I will share, that helped me out when I started my own cattle ranch.

1. Before the auction begins, inspect the cattle that are for sale. The stockyard allows future buyers to walk the holding pens. Each one is numbered and some are sold in bunches.

2. When bidding on cattle, have a list of the ones wanted. The list should have the number of steers, cows, and bulls wanted for the cattle ranch. An example, there is 2,000 acres so there's going to be around 150 head of cattle. Take 100 steers, 48 cows, and 2 bulls. Steers should be a year old (yearlings). Cows between 1-2 years old is best. Bulls, they are older, like 2-4 years old.

3. After the cattle are bought, the stockyard can transport all of the cattle for a fee. Having a trailer works well. But remember, hundreds were bought. Making trips sometimes cost the same as to having the stockyard deliver one load to the cattle ranch.

4. When the cattle are brought to the ranch, unload each one through the ramp. Separate the steers, cows, and bulls.

5. This is where tagging and branding is done. It will take 3-4 individuals to hold the animal down to give shots to fight disease and to brand each one. The brand is your own "mark", it tells other ranchers this animal belongs to you. The tagging is more for the cows. When the cattle are out to pasture, it's easy to find the cows to inspect for pregnancy.

Now the cattle are ready to be released to pasture. Let the grazing begin. The cattle ranch now has cattle!

To learn more on how to start a cattle ranch, follow along with my future articles.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Boker

cattle prices

Cattle Prices - A Short Review

Cattle prices are just rising like skyrocketing and it may continue to grow higher in the coming time. Some of the reasons for increase in cattle prices include increase in export of feeder cattle, lower supply and increase in demand for beefs and cattle. According to the current structure of prices, an average cattle weighing about 800 to 900 pounds may cost $3.20 per hundred kilos of weight greater than the price of last week, which is about $107.97. One could see an overall increase of around $10 for each of the hundred kilos in each weight class.

It is being expected that some calves will be soon shown up in the cattle market in the coming weeks and cow and calf producers are hoping a great change or increase in feeder cattle prices through this calf run. Many of the countries world wide are now thinking and planning for diary projects especially by collaborating with an overseas or foreign partner so as to meet the increase in milk demands. Beef and other poultry production is also expected to show a sharp increase in coming year even up to 29-41 percent along with a steady increase in demands for diary products.

Integrated dairying and cattling also has an important role in ensuring a regular income for farmers and thus enable food security and native cattle has an essential role in this. Many of the state governments in several countries are planning to boost diary production through improved cattle breeding system including cloning and other methods. These ambitious plans are expected to raise good outputs in the field of cattle marketing. Cattle rearing do have an important role in economic raising in rural areas and so cattle breeders should be alert against this and must give extra care and protection for the same.

Click here to view more cattle prices

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jimmy_Jenkins_Ray

cattle market

Introduction to the Livestock Markets

Whether you are a rancher in the beef or pork industry or a seasoned speculator, the livestock futures contracts traded at the CME provide market participants with a liquid and transparent way to manage risk or speculate on price movement.

It is important to note that trading in this market involves substantial risks and is not suitable for everyone, and only risk capital should be used. Any investor could potentially lose more than originally invested.

What are the livestock futures contracts?
A livestock futures contract is a legally binding agreement for delivery of livestock in the future at an agreed upon price. The contracts are standardized by a futures exchange as to quantity, quality, time and place of delivery. Only the price is variable.

Market Personality

The meats have long been considered one of the more volatile markets because they have been known to be lock limit up and down in the same day. This usually happens on days where there is USDA report. This is not to say that the meats don't trend, but on any given day the markets can be extremely wild.

Hedgers and Speculators

The primary function of any futures market is to provide a centralized marketplace for those who have an interest in buying/selling physical commodities at some time in the future. The meat futures market helps hedgers reduce risk associated with adverse price movements in the cash market. Examples of hedgers would be food processors, ranchers and the food service industry.

Hedgers take a position in the market opposite of their physical position. Due to the price correlation between futures and the spot market, a gain in one market can offset the losses in the other.

For example, a rancher who is looking to sell his cattle sometime in the future is worried that prices will drop, and that he will get a lower price for cattle. So to 'hedge' himself, he will sell futures that will make money if the price of cattle drops. But if the market moves up, he will lose on the futures position but will make money on the sell of his cattle.

Contract Specifications

There are four different markets that trade livestock at the CME. They are: live cattle, feeder cattle, pork bellies and lean hogs.

Live Cattle
According to the CME, the live Cattle contract reflects current supply and demand for competing meats and feed grains, along with long term cyclical patterns for meat supply and consumer preferences.
Live Cattle is traded in dollar and cents per pound and one contract controls 40,000 lbs. If the current price is $0.90 per pound, the total value of the contract is $36,000. For example, if a trader was long one contract of live cattle at $0.9260/lb and sold at $0.9500/lb, they would make a profit of $960 ($0.95 - $0.926 = 0.024, 0.024 x 40000 = $960). On the other hand, if the trader had sold at $0.90, they would have lost $1040 ($0.926 - $0.90 = 0.026, 0.026 x 40000 = $1040).

The minimum price movement or tick is $0.00025 or $10 per contract. The exchange also has a daily limit that is the allowable daily move in a market. For live cattle, it is $0.03 or $1200 per contract.

The most active months traded (according to volume and open interest) are February, April, June, August, October and December.

The exchange will set position limits to maintain an orderly market, to make sure no one market participant has too many positions on at any one time. There will different limits for speculators and hedgers.

Live Cattle delivered in numerous places around the US in Syracuse, KS, Tulia, TX, Columbus, NE, Dodge City, KS and Amarillo, TX.

Pork Bellies

Frozen Pork Belly futures contracts are for what is essentially bacon in storage.

Frozen Pork Belly contracts are traded in cents per pound and one contract is for 40,000 lbs of cut and trimmed pork belly. Much like live cattle, each penny move equals a change in $400 for each contract. .

The tick size is $0.0025 or $10 per contract. The CME's daily limit for pork bellies is expandable, but starts off at 3 cents.
The most active months for delivery (according to volume and open interests) are February, March, May, July, and August.
Pork belly contracts, like live cattle, also have position limits set by the exchanges.
Delivery for pork bellies are at CME approved warehouses 'east of the western boundaries of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas (CME Rulebook).'

Feeder Cattle

Feeder cattle represents living cattle to be placed in the yard for fattening. Feeder cattle is a derivative of live cattle.

The feeder cattle contracts are very similar to the live cattle contracts, the only difference being the size of the contract. Whereas the contract size for live cattle is 40,000 lbs, the size is 50,000 feeders. For example, if a trader was long from 105.50 and sold at 106.50, they would have made $500 (106.50 - 105.50 = 1 cent, $0.01 x 50,000 = $500).

The minimum tick is still $0.0025, but in feeder cattle that equals $12.50 per tick. The daily limit is $0.03, or $1500 per contract.

Feeder Cattle is traded in January, March, April, May, August, September, October and November.

Position limits apply.
Feeder Cattle is cash settled so there is no delivery.

Lean Hogs

Lean hogs trade similar to live cattle and pork bellies, in that one contract equals 40,000 lbs. and it is traded in cents per pound. So every penny move in hogs equals a $400 change in each contract. For example, if the market moved from 58 to 60 cents, that is a move of $800 per contract.

$0.00025 is the same minimum price move like the others 'meats.' Lean Hogs are traded in February, April, May, June, July, August and October. Position limits also apply.
Lean Hogs are also cash settled meaning no delivery.

Conclusion

The meats offer investors a lot of opportunity as they tend to feed off of grain prices and (lately) mad cow disease. Also, I would be aware that these markets are still pit traded which has its own inherent pitfalls. Any investor looking to profit from the meats needs to be aware that there are risks investing in such a volatile market.

If you would like to receive our free daily Trade Rec emails, please email your name, phone, markets you trade to hking@trendphonicfutures.com

If you would like to demo our trading platform, please clikc here: [http://www.trendphonicfutures.com/]

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hank_King