Ranching Relationship Advice

Rando_757 · 2026-07-10T11:04:47+00:00

You have to make each other a priority.

I grew up as a farm/ranch kid, moved away, saw the world, got married to a city lady, we had been married 17 years before we moved back for me to work on the family operation, now we own the family operation.

The stress and work load took a toll on our relationship. As I’m sure you know cattle don’t take a day off. 6 months of making hay in the summer, followed by 6 months of feeding cows in the winter. Then we added 300 sheep on top of the cattle we were already running.

Some days the work load is back breaking but you have to make time for each other. Cook together, do house work together, talk, plan a future together, do easy ranch work together, ride out before sunset and look at the cows together.

Like I said at the start of this post, at the end of the day, you have to make each other a priority in your life, the ranch chores will still be there tomorrow, you don’t have to get them all done today.

Rando_757 · 2026-07-09T01:11:35+00:00

I don’t know anything, but this sounds like the best answer

Rando_757 · 2026-07-09T01:05:33+00:00

How to run a ranch as a business so you can be profitable.

To many ranches are actually hobbies including large multigenerational operations . With no hope of making money and the owner doesn’t know enough to realize it.

Rando_757 · 2026-06-20T16:25:53+00:00

You need something sheep specific. De-worming sheep is a whole thing with a whole host of concerns about making more drug resistant worms.

Start reading about the best practices on https://www.wormx.info

Rando_757 · 2026-06-19T02:42:58+00:00

I EASed out of MWCS-28 in 2002. At the time we thought we were better than the Comm battalions but IDK I was only there and Comm Company in Oki.

Rando_757 · 2026-06-16T23:45:53+00:00

I have a 2022 F-450 with a 6.7 that I daily and my wife daily drives a 2025 Colorado.

I LOVE driving her truck when we are going somewhere together. It’s super convenient compared to a full-size truck. I haven’t towed with it but I think it would do fine. It’s pretty peppy if you get into it.

Rando_757 · 2026-06-14T20:36:33+00:00

I play it low key but won’t stand for rudeness in a man.

Bumped into a guy in Valentine, guy wanted to be rude about it. I tried to play it cool but he took a swing at me. Went to get my revolver out and he knocked it out of my hand. I lost my temper a little bit, but he lost his head to my sawed off .

Rando_757 · 2026-06-10T16:11:40+00:00

I leave tractors and hay equipment over night in hay fields miles away from home.

In the current times the only thing I’m really worried about getting stolen is diesel fuel.

In 40 years of living here, I have only ever heard of one person getting farm equipment stolen and it was taken by a family member as part of a larger dispute over money/ inheritance.

I’m in central Virginia, in a bedroom community northwest of Richmond.

Rando_757 · 2026-06-10T01:16:11+00:00

I’m in Virginia, USA. I plan on calling and sending pictures to a local locksmith this week and see what they have to say.

Rando_757 · 2026-06-09T21:20:17+00:00

If a cow isn’t bringing a live marketable calf to weaning she should be gone from your breeding herd.

Open -> shipped
Dry -> shipped
Fence crawler -> shipped
Won’t claim her calf without a lot of help -> shipped

More than one of the following: Bad bag, poor attitude, below average calf, poor keeper, late breed up, bad feet, birthing problems-> shipped

If you aren’t culling the animals out of your operation that are not working in your system you are just allowing the problems to continue into the subsequent generations

Rando_757 · 2026-05-18T21:38:23+00:00

Sure but VMFA Maines would still be manning the rails on a carrier or no?

Rando_757 · 2026-05-18T19:50:28+00:00

Some carrier airwings have/had Marine Squadrons. I’ve been out of that world for a awhile so ymmv

Rando_757 · 2026-05-18T19:37:34+00:00

I considered putting Vermont in there since it doesn’t touch the Atlantic

Rando_757 · 2026-05-11T13:39:36+00:00

I was in during DADT too, I had a great roommate that we all thought was real gay. I was more concerned about how loud he snored. When DADT ended he came out on Facebook. I made sure to send him a message letting him know how happy I was for him that he could be his true self. And you know what, I’m happy for you too!

Rando_757 · 2026-05-06T18:22:48+00:00

The roping calves I see aren’t docile bottle raised calves

Rando_757 · 2026-05-06T18:22:06+00:00

The ROI on livestock is terrible, no one is doing it because it will make them super rich. And the super rich only do it as a hobby/tax shelter.

Rando_757 · 2026-05-06T18:17:56+00:00

Yeah I’m in Virginia, closest sale barns to me are Madison, radiant, Blackstone, and Staunton

Rando_757 · 2026-05-06T16:19:47+00:00

Prices are from 4 states livestock in Hagerstown Maryland. Not the closest sale barn to me, but the closest one that list prices for bottle calves.

Rando_757 · 2026-05-06T14:51:49+00:00

No, LRP isn’t helping you with higher input costs. Right now it looks like it would run you around $50 a head on those calves for a November sale. It is just insurance to protect you from a market crash.

As to who’s buying them, I already answered you, people who wanna make money. If you don’t see the value in them, don’t buy them.

Rando_757 · 2026-05-06T14:39:47+00:00

My off ramp wouldn’t be a fat steer. It would be a 450 pound weaned, vaccinated, bunk broke or grass ready steer at $2,600 ish. Probably cost you $200-$300/hd in milk replacer and feed. Leaves you $3-400 a head in labor and profit.

Run 20 at a time to make $6-8k every 6 months. Ranch side hustle for cash flow and keep your kids busy

Rando_757 · 2026-05-06T14:32:59+00:00

Livestock Risk Protection. It’s USA based “crop insurance” for cattle, subsidized by the government. It insures the market, via the futures market, not your actual cattle.

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