Getting Your Start as a Young Producer with Stocker Cattle (Part 1)

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Young Producers’ Council (YPC) is a group for NCBA members between the ages of 18 and 35. Opportunities for YPC members include a voting membership on NCBA policy group committees, professional development and leadership activities, networking opportunities, continuing education and career information, targeted communications and special offers and services.

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So you’re young, ambitious and have a dream of owning a ranch. Is it a pipe dream? Is it possible to become a first generation cattle rancher in the 21st century? There’s a great way to create your own cattle business without having to sell off a kidney. A small set of stocker cattle on leased pasture can be an inexpensive way to get a lot of experience. At the same time you’ll be surprised at how quickly your operation grows.

Why stocker cattle?

Stocker calves are usually defined as weaned calves weighing between 300 and 550lbs. Stocker calves are a great way to get started down the path towards becoming a young producer because they are an inexpensive way to get started. Generally, you can buy a couple of calves for the price of a bred heifer or cow. These calves will grow and turn into feeder calves that can be sold whenever you determine the time is right. Input costs are low; no bulls to buy or test, no preg testing, and no calving (hopefully!).

Well, how do you turn those calves into money?

It’s fairly simple, one of the hard parts is keeping from complicating it too much. Buy healthy calves, keep a watch on them, or have the person you are leasing pasture from keep an eye on them daily. Sell only healthy cattle in uniform bunches. Buy the calves, grow them and keep them healthy. Sell them, pay your expenses (pasture, processing, trucking etc), buy their replacements and take profit. After your initial purchase you can roll over your profits from selling and buying back into more calves.

It sounds hard, how do I learn about all this stuff?

It IS difficult to learn it all. I’m lucky enough to have grown up on my family’s cattle ranch and got to learn a lot of it as I grew up. Still, it wasn’t until I graduated college and started buying my own calves that I really started paying attention. Using your own money is a good way to keep your attention focused. If you’re just starting out and don’t have years of experience to help you, find a mentor. Chances are that if you’re starting off on your own you’ll be leasing grass somewhere. It’s possible that you could have your calves in a feedlot, but I feel that the slower pace of pasturing cattle is a better way to learn the ropes. Talk to the landowner if they own cattle. If they don’t know about stocker calves, they probably know somebody that does. Read some books, call your county extension agent. For a lot of people, it’s exciting having an enthusiastic younger person around that wants to learn this stuff. A word of warning: there are a lot of pessimists that love nothing more than telling everyone that will listen how hard it is to make money with cattle.

How long will it take before I can quit my boring job and be a full time cattle rancher?

That depends entirely on how much you are willing to put into the enterprise. If you’re like me, you don’t have a ton of spare cash lying around. I scraped together enough cash a few years ago to buy a few “leppies”. I am a full time cattle rancher, but managing my stocker herd and the ranch’s stockers (170 total) currently takes only a few hours each week on average, although certain times of the year will see a lot more time dedicated to it than others. I honestly think this is for the best though, by the time you get up to two dozen head you’ll be on your way and have experienced enough up and downs to get the feeling for it. It’s no get rich quick scheme, but this little business has the potential to bring a lot of joy to your life and down the line a full time job doing something you love.