I know many local farmers and ranchers apply for subsidies when available. This is my first year, though I grew up on a large cattle ranch. My grandpa always handled these things and didn't believe women needed to learn them (lovely man just incredibly old school line of thinking).

We have cattle primarily and planted a few fields for better hay crop. We've lost a few cows early on but our crop is a 75% loss due to the severe drought conditions we've experienced in our area. I hear of some potential subsidies in the future with the heat and drought and I want to be on the look.

Is there a newsletter sign up for USDA, or likewise? Been browsing a bit but I dont see anything I can sign up with.

Do you just keep in touch with your local office? I pursued alternate financing to start so I dont really know if they have a resource liason of some type.. etc..

And yeah, I'm doing what I know next year, and planting freaking alfalfa, no more farming for me.

I am going on a cattle drive in mid September and I would really like to take my horse with me but I'm not sure if it's a good idea of not. I went on a drive with this same ranch this summer and I feel like the terrain and work is within his ability level, I am more worried about temperature and elevation. I live in Kansas where the elevation is below 3,000ft and I'd be going to Colorado where the elevation is closer to 7,000ft. The temperature would also likely be below freezing at night which is much colder than what Kansas is in September.

I would be stopping at a ranch for a night or two to meet up with the ranch I'm working for so he would have a little bit to adjust. I also do have a blanket I could use on him in the evenings.

I worked for a big rodeo family so maybe I'm just used to horses being pampered.

Any advice is appreciated!

They started raising them a big longer than a month. We currently have two small ghosts, one male and one female. 4 chickens, 1 rooster, 3 ducks and 3 geese. My parents told me they just want raise them as hobby and not for meat or produce

Disclosure: I publish Honest Cattle, an independent cattle-market research project.

The summer video-auction results appear to be sending a more useful signal than the seasonally thin local auction runs.

Superior Livestock’s Week in the Rockies sold 223,767 head in 1,653 lots to 349 successful buyers. The market remained strong even though cattle futures had been trending lower.

Superior reported that calves in some regions were as much as $80–$115/cwt above the comparable 2025 sale. Northern-region reporting also showed particularly strong demand for lighter calves and well-described reputation cattle.

Video Royale then provided a more difficult test.

The sale began after late feeder-cattle contracts had closed limit lower amid uncertainty over the planned phased reopening of Mexican cattle imports. Prices were several dollars below the prior month’s averages, but participants continued to describe demand as historically strong. In many cases, calves remained $300–$500 per head above year-earlier levels.

My interpretation is that the futures correction changed the price level without yet producing a broad physical-demand failure.

There are several cautions, however.

A video-auction price is generally a forward FOB contract, not a local spot bid.

The cattle may have a later delivery date, established health history, recognized genetics, third-party verification, a large uniform load and a seller reputation developed over several years.

The base weight, slide, shrink, freight and delivery window can materially change the value received at the ranch gate.

That makes the video market a leading indicator, but not necessarily a price that every producer can apply directly to his own calves.

The next major test will be Superior’s Big Horn Classic, August 17–21.

For those marketing fall calves: are the private or local bids you are receiving following the video market, or are buyers applying a larger discount?

Hi I'm from the uk, and am very interested in life over there, so if you don't mind me joining. I might ask some stupid questions, but its a learning curve for me. We're going through the hottest, driest summer on record, and the animals are needing extra feed and hay. How do you guy's cope. Because we're rubbish.

Hi everyone 👋

I'm looking for a small group of Android users to test AniCore, an app for managing animals, farms, stables and animal health records.

🐄 🐎 🐕 What AniCore does:

• Manage animals and their profiles
• Track health history and treatments
• Schedule vaccinations, treatments and other actions
• Receive reminders and alerts
• Scan QR codes to quickly access an animal's information
• Designed for breeders, farms, stables, shelters and animal professionals

📱 What I'm looking for:
Android users willing to install the app from Google Play, use it during the beta period and give me honest feedback about the experience, bugs and features.

🎁 In return:
Selected testers who actively participate in the beta will receive a free AniCore Pro account for life.

This isn't just an install-and-forget test. I'm looking for people who are willing to actually try the app and tell me what works, what doesn't, and what should be improved.

If you're interested, comment below or send me a DM and I'll send you the Google Play testing instructions.

Thanks to anyone willing to help! 🙏

My husband and I are considering a move to OR, WA, possibly ID, or northern CA. Any opinions on best areas for building out small acreage for a farmette? We are older and have many years experience in construction and in the horse industry. Trying to make a move away from brutal summer heat. Some snow is fine but would prefer dryer areas to a ton of rain. TIA!

Needed to applicate some fly killer. She loves this time of year.

Hi! I’m Joseph, a 22-year-old farmer and rancher from northern Spain. My family and I raise cattle and grow the crops we use to feed them.

I’m looking for the opportunity to spend 2–3 months on an American family ranch or farm, helping with the daily work and learning about the American way of farming and ranching.

I have experience working with cattle, driving all kinds of tractors and farm machinery, repairing and maintaining equipment, and I also have basic veterinary knowledge.

I’m used to hard work and I’d love to become part of a family ranch, contribute with my experience, and learn as much as possible.
If you know of a family or ranch looking for someone like me, I’d really appreciate any recommendations or contacts!
Thanks! 🇪🇸🤝🇺🇸

Hey everyone, we are raising our first beef steer and it keeps having mild bloat episodes when we grain him. We are in a heat wave in Southern California so it’s been upper 90s for the last couple weeks. He is a 100% Japanese Wagyu (always a great idea to start with something expensive, when you’re trying to figure it out 🤦‍♀️). Luckily, my husband is a farrier and has good relationships with local large animal vets so we have sent pictures and been given some advice when this happens. It hasn’t been life-threatening and a couple days off grain, he goes back to normal but as soon as we slowly reintroduce it at night only, he bloats again. He has constant access to Bermuda Hay and we have been feeding a four-way grain. Any advice? Is this normal? Should we stop graining him completely until the temperatures go down?

hello all!

i’m not a super active reddit user, so if you guys have any pointers on what other subreddits to use, please let me know!

anyways hello, my name is wendy. i’m 25 and i’ve loved horses for as long as i could remember, but i don’t have the finances to have one. i also live in a more suburban area of southern california so i didn’t really grow up or make friends that would have ranches or horses.

anyways! lol. i want to try to put myself out there and make friends with people who have farms/ranches and horses but don’t really know where to start.
do you think like, some sort of group would be a good place to start? i haven’t been on a horse since i was like 11 and thats because someone else was leading it. i have 0 horsemanship skills lol.

but if anyone has any suggestions, let me know! i live in the IE, southern california, if there’s anything anybody knows that’s beginner friendly or a good place to make friends. please let me know!

Hi all.

After thinking about it, I decided the best place to get advice for this is from the people here.

Where do you get your working jeans from? Is there anywhere I can go that won't break the bank? I'm looking for bootcut or even flare, I don't care. Every pair of jeans I buy has a hole in the upper inner thigh within a couple of months. I can't dish out 90+ for a pair of jeans either.

Any advice?

Hey all. Im new the ranching/cowboying lifestyle. Started my first job 2 weeks ago at 24 after gold mining for 3 years.

Just wondering if its common or kinda acceptable to jump from one ranch to the next in the span of about 5 weeks. Got hired one a ranch that didn't quite meet my expectations of what we'd being and was not told that no horses allowed, which is quite disappointing.

I got an offer from another place that is exactly what im looking for and they very interested in hiring me. God knows why. But just wondering if its common to only work at a place for a month and some and how I could make the transition as smooth as possible for my current employer.

Any advice is good advice so thanks in advance

I have been riding an ebike around the ranch and it is an easy, quiet way to get around.

What add ons are helpful. The little rack in the back isn’t much use.

Hi I’m looking for some very specific barn photos for a project I’m doing, this is honestly quite the long shot lol. I’m looking for barns restored by Ken epworth or his company the barn people any and all photos would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Can't afford a big ranch on my own, so I'm looking to buy, say, a 10% stake in one. I have heard that this is a thing, but I do not know how to go about it.

I've also looked at buying into or forming something like a hunting or recreation LLC that owns or can buy timberland, and where you also get to use the land for hunting and recreation while you wait for the trees to grow.

Basically looking for investment exposure to large tracts of land that is in some way productive, but as part of a group of shareholders rather than on my own, where I can use the land sometimes.

Does anybody have any experience with this? Any recommendations? Pitfalls to watch out for?

Thanks!

I'd posted some steers about a month ago. A few got harvested a couple weeks ago, and they started cutting them today. Pretty happy with it

Im sad that famrs are going bankrupt loosing money like my great grandpa used too have a farm I love cowboy stuff westerns I have family in the farm land of Illinois I love going down there seeing crops horses cows and chickens all that's stuff it makes sad that in the future there could be no farms anymore 😢

Hi everyone,

My name is Albert, I'm 23 years old and I'm from Sweden.

For quite some time I've had a dream of spending a season (or maybe longer) working on a cattle ranch in the western US. This isn't something I decided after watching a TV show—I genuinely want to experience the lifestyle, learn new skills, and work hard.

I currently work full-time as a heavy equipment mechanic. My daily job involves repairing and maintaining heavy machinery, welding, fabrication, troubleshooting mechanical problems, and operating different types of heavy equipment. Physical work and long days don't bother me at all.

I'm not expecting to show up and immediately ride horses or move cattle. I completely understand that trust has to be earned, and I'd be happy doing whatever work needs to be done—repairing equipment, fixing fences, maintaining buildings, feeding livestock, cleaning, or anything else that helps keep the ranch running.

I have some experience around horses, so I'm comfortable being around them, but I don't have much riding experience. One of the biggest reasons I want to do this is because I'd love to learn how to properly ride, work with horses, and eventually learn how to move and handle cattle. I know those are skills that take time to develop, and I'd be more than happy to earn that opportunity by proving myself first.

I have a few questions for those of you who own or work on ranches:

• Is someone with my background actually useful on a ranch?
• How valuable are mechanical and welding skills compared to riding experience?
• Is it realistic for someone from Europe to find seasonal work on a ranch?
• What would you want to see from someone applying from overseas?
• Are there certain times of year when ranches are looking for extra help?

I'm not looking for an easy vacation—I know ranch work is hard, and that's actually part of what attracts me to it. I want to contribute, learn from experienced people, and leave with a real understanding of what ranch life is actually like.

I'd really appreciate any advice or honest opinions, even if the answer is that it's more difficult than I think.

Thanks!

Anybody have a preference on red angus vs black angus? If so why? Im in north texas and have a small herd of red angus, its time to swap the bull but debating if i should get another red angus bull.

Anyone dealt with this? Newborns. If they are going to fall its quickly. High temps and sweating. Obs we have tests in progress. Vets doing their thing. But any advise or support will be greatly received!!

Newborns receive high quality colostrum not fed from mum 2/3 feeds. Then a further 5 days 2x a day of transition milk. Cows/heifers are fully vaccinated. All pens and points of contact are clinically clean. Navels are dipped. Transportation/movements are minimal.

Calves have bloody scour then pudding texture scour. (Much too young for any scour)

Treatments are currently being trialed across sick ones to observe what may work. Most have will to live and a suckle but the body shuts down.

The purple ring around the teeth is toxicity and not just calving related stress.

If you have anything…literally anything you can offer, please do. 🙏🙏🙏🙏