Cattle & Ranch Guides
14 practical write-ups on stocking, winter feed, herd management and marketing cattle — written for people who run cows, not for a search engine.
Latest guides
Body Condition Scoring Beef Cows and Why BCS 5 Pays
What each score looks like by hand and eye, and why a cow calving at BCS 4 costs you a breeding season.
Updated
Budgeting a Winter Hay Supply Before the First Frost
Bales per cow per day, waste by feeding method, and how much of the stack a February cold snap really takes.
Updated
Bull Power: How Many Bulls a Breeding Season Actually Needs
Age of bull, size of pasture and terrain set the ratio. The BSE decides whether the ratio means anything.
Updated
Grazing & Forage
Carrying capacity, rotation, dry matter and the arithmetic behind how many pairs a place will run.
Cattle Water Requirements and Sizing a Tank That Keeps Up
Daily gallons per head is the easy part. Peak-hour demand is what empties the tank in August.
Updated
Fencing a Rotational Grazing System Without Overbuilding It
Lay the paddocks out around water first. Order the posts second. Most people do it the other way and pay for it.
Updated
How Many Cows Per Acre: Working Out Stocking Rate Honestly
Cows per acre is an output, not an input. Here is the dry matter arithmetic behind it, the utilization rate most people get wrong, and honest numbers by region.
Updated
Winter Feed
Hay inventory, feeding waste, supplement decisions and what a mild or hard winter costs.
Budgeting a Winter Hay Supply Before the First Frost
Bales per cow per day, waste by feeding method, and how much of the stack a February cold snap really takes.
Updated
Pricing Hay by the Ton Instead of by the Bale
Two loads at the same price per bale can differ 40 percent on cost per ton of dry matter. Here is the conversion.
Updated
Protein Supplement on Dormant Forage: When It Pays and When It Does Not
Dormant grass below 7 percent crude protein slows the rumen. Supplement fixes intake — if you price it per pound of protein.
Updated
Herd Management
Body condition, breeding season, bull power, replacements and calf performance.
Body Condition Scoring Beef Cows and Why BCS 5 Pays
What each score looks like by hand and eye, and why a cow calving at BCS 4 costs you a breeding season.
Updated
Bull Power: How Many Bulls a Breeding Season Actually Needs
Age of bull, size of pasture and terrain set the ratio. The BSE decides whether the ratio means anything.
Updated
Developing Replacement Heifers to a Target Breeding Weight
Target weight, required ADG, and the true carried cost of a home-raised heifer by the time she weans her first calf.
Updated
Marketing & Economics
Breakeven per cwt, price slide, shrink, sale timing and cost of gain.
Shrink on the Way to Town, and What It Costs You
Fill shrink comes back. Tissue shrink does not. Knowing which you are paying for changes when you load.
Updated
The Price Slide, Explained With Real Numbers
Why heavier calves bring less per cwt, and how to tell whether a contracted slide is fair before you sign it.
Updated
Working Out Your Real Cow-Calf Breakeven Per Cwt
Annual cost per cow divided by pounds actually weaned. The weaning percentage moves this number more than hay ever will.
Updated
Buying & Selling
Reading a sale catalog, valuing a lot, consigning to an online auction, and what changes hands after the hammer.
How to Read an Angus Sale Catalog Without Getting Sold
An Angus catalog page is dense on purpose. Here is what each block means, which EPDs matter for a commercial cow herd, and how accuracy changes what you should pay.
Updated
Selling Cattle in an Online Auction: What Buyers Actually Need to See
A timed online sale rewards preparation the way a sale barn rewards a good set of calves. Here is what a serious buyer looks for before they will bid sight-unseen.
Updated
Run the numbers while you read
Every guide points at the calculators that do its arithmetic. All free ranch calculators are open — no sign-up, imperial units, nothing gated.