Cattle

Beef cattle don't need you! If they have water and graze and tight fences they are fine in most locations for long periods.

Have a sturdy fence, good lock on the gate, good water supply, and ear tags/brands on the cattle.

yup what they said. Make sure they have a constant water source and pasture to graze on all summer and adequate hay to put in the racks in the winter. Doesnt hurt to make sure they have some trees and a hill or shed for a wind break on the really cold and really hot weather.

The property is mostly hillside so plenty of trees, constant water source from underground aquifer with water so cold it will crack your teeth! Pastures need to be made but barn lot is still in good shape. Thanks!

Cattle will not miss you for a week unless it is calving season, then you have to decide what kind of risk you are willing to take, personally I could not check less than once a day for that 20+ days.
Some breeds are more hardy than others and also have higher live birth rate. Texas longhorn are known for this but I don't think they handle severe cold as well as hereford, Simmental etc.
Just like the above posters I think water is the number one concern, then feed, then I would add salt because it is something that I have seen people new to cattle forget.

Birthing issues can be avoided by choosing cattle with wide hip pointers. The wide hips make for easier calving. The bigger breeds (Brahma, Brangus, etc) tend to birth better so you won't have to pull calves. Make sure you have a block and tackle just in case.

Cattle don't need to be baby sat constantly, so a 5 day stretch by themselves would be no problem, but they need to have an established herd order and plenty of grass based feed, If you need to pull calves it is from impropper feeding or not enough excercise, a cow needs to walk about 1/2 a mile a day to keep her body in decent shape, this doesn't include the distance she travels grazing, Do not feed pregnant cattle grain it causes problems with the rumen and inter muscle fat layers (due to an alergic reaction) Bovines are grass eaters, Grain feeding is what builds the "bad fats " that cause colesteral.

I'd take lots of pictures of your cattle. Rustling is becoming more and more of a problem. Once people figure out you are gone for 5 days at a time, they might get ideas. Having photos will help you identify them if they are stolen. Of course, if you leave on Sunday and they are stolen on Monday, the thieves will have a 5 day head start on you.

Thanks for the ideas! We are going to start going there often so ppl along the route get used to our vehicle and seeing ppl on the property. I have been confronted by well-meaning neighbors who didn't recognize my vehicle. I also have some distant family who lives within a few miles who might be able to help me. They garden, hunt and live semi off grid so maybe they're preppers! Wld be great, in exchange for watching my herd, we can give them a share of the slaughter?

Or let them put one of their own out there.

Hi, I'm new here but, I do know a think or 2 about cows. I would suggest a heritage breed, there are several to consider. I'm partial to our Devons. Historically these cows do great on poor forage and really haven't been "over bred". As a child and young teen I remember having to pull many calves. With the Devons we have had no calving problems. And, some of our herds only get checked once a week (except our brood herd).

dixiemama said:

Which breed does well left alone for 5 days at a time? I live 2 hours from my BOL so transporting our livestock we have at home will not be feasible. We need something that we can put at the BOL, feed and water weekly, but that will be left alone through the week.

The livestock at home will be slaughtered, prepared and packed in the days leading up to our BO.

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BM, not sure where you live... Cattle do not need contact on a daily basis, but be warned they may be a little on the wild side with once a week visitation...
Growing up in the South, we raised Black Angus and they did well on their own, we never fed them except in the winter. They had running water all year long and we only fed in the winter... You will need to put out enough hay to feed for a week at a time. Round bales with hay rings work best for this.

How many people will know that you have cows that are left unattended? I would also suggest that you install trail cameras around the property so that you can monitor anyone sniffing around. Use the infrared cameras, and hide them well so they will not be spotted...

Two hours is not really that far to transport cattle...

Good Luck...

Since everyone is mentioning the security aspect it is becoming popular around here to install video cameras to check on cattle, particularly for calving time. Quite a few people have cattle and yet live in town or just live on a different piece of property. It isn't all that expensive to get an ip camera these days and if you have internet at your site (even over the mobile networks) you can check on things when you aren't there. other security options like trail camera's are great but they only help after the fact. Most ip cameras can be set up to email you upon a particular motion, at least giving you a chance to save your stuff. If you consider it as a percentage of your property's value then it may not be too expensive.

Not many ppl will know they are there and others have agreed to check on them every couple of days.

For practical purposes, we wld not want to transport any animals. We have to travel back roads that are heavily populated of about 15 miles so if SHTF and people see us with a trailer full of cows, it's like a dinner bell. I'd like to get the cattle established in the spring (hopefully).

Thank you all for the breed recommendations. I will be doing lots of research this wknd while off work.

No personal experience with the breed yet but I am considering getting a few of the highland cattle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_cattle Supposed to be especially hardy and their hair can be used for spinning. Supposed to be esp good at dealing with predators and a leaner meat. Big ol horns on em may make them less desirable targets of rustlers as well as being unique would be harder for theives to sell them so again less likely to be stolen.

Probably cost a bit more to get started with them unless there is someone local already raising them.

We like the Longhorns ...

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f15/first-longhorn-calf-6373/index3.html

jsriley5 said:

No personal experience with the breed yet but I am considering getting a few of the highland cattle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_cattle Supposed to be especially hardy and their hair can be used for spinning. Supposed to be esp good at dealing with predators and a leaner meat. Big ol horns on em may make them less desirable targets of rustlers as well as being unique would be harder for theives to sell them so again less likely to be stolen.

Probably cost a bit more to get started with them unless there is someone local already raising them.

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I can tell you that if you have a herd bull they can take care of predators. A buddy of mine had 3 german shepherds go after some calves, none made it out of the fence and there was blood on the horns of the bull. When you are up close to a mature bull it reminds you of a short buffalo with longer horns.

This year there were bears around and not one calf was lost. Wolves were also chased off by the bulls.

Wow I knew they were good at self protection but had no idea they were THAT agressive. Wonder how they are to work around if they can be that ornery. Better make sure they know whos boss right off. Maybe they aren't the best leave alone livestock as I'd want somthing that can wipe out 3 sheps to darn well know and remember I"m the good guy.

We have never had a mean bull, reputable breeders will never keep one. Bulls fight with each other, that is absolutely natural to establish hierarchy and they may fight off predators but have to admit to that being rare in my experience, they usually just ignore them. I would not worry about lack of human contact, that is the norm and actually cows that are worked with too often can lose that bit of fear called flight distance so they take more care to avoid someone getting hurt. More people get hurt by halter broke bulls and milk cows by far than by normal beef cattle.