To all

I am researching the cost of starting a small cattle ranch either in Laos or Issan. I know nothing about raising cattle and have no intention of doing so, only doing some reasearch for a much larger piece of writing. I am hoping some one can give me some broad figures on what it would take investment wise to buy, build and maintain a small ranch of 50 head of cattle. Any help would be appreciated. 

I can't answer your question directly, but there is an interesting thread currently running here which looks at inexperienced people keeping a herd of cattle in Thailand. There are some very good comments and advice on that thread which might be helpful to you and your research. 

 

 

First off define a cattle ranch ,are you looking at dairy cows ?or a beef rearing farm ,with beef are you going to buy in say weaned calves and fatten them up ,or buy in older stock and fatten then to slaughter ,or are you going for breeding ,buying in some good quality stock use good quality semen and sell the progeny ,heifers for breeding  the bulls as stock bulls .

Lets say you are buying in 12-16-month-old Brahman x bulls, not over fat the price would be  about 80-90 /kg baht, budget 15000 baht /head ,lets say you are going to do the job the Thai way keep them in a shed and bring all the feed to them ,buy the land in Issan not certain not my area, ask other members ,budget 300 000 ?baht/ Rie, or are you planning to rent, with a long-term lease ? good land up too 800-1000/baht/rie ?, but check on your chosen area, how much land ? are you going to grow all your forage or buy it in ie rice straw, say 50 head growing your own forage with good management 20 rie.

The cattle shed a eucalyptus pole barn would do the job ,some concrete for a hard feed standing would be required ,block feed troughs ,getting water and electric in ,are you next to a road ,easy or are you  2 km down a track with not existing lines to tap in to ,not so easy and expensive 20 000baht?,with Thai labor starting to get expensive 25000 baht for the cattle shed inculding a shed for storage, then you will need labor 300 baht/day, per worker, and they will need somewhere to live a basic house/ houses for workers 200 000 baht.

I would like to know what maintenance is , cattle are not cars,  do you mean feed costs ?, your feed cost would be a 14% concentrate ,7 baht kg rice straw depending on time of year 25 baht /bale,forage cost growing grass, not Nappier for 20 rie ploughing  drilling  ,use local farmers as contractors ,plus seed costs 20 000 baht then you have got to cut the grass for 50 head you would need a tractor and forage harvester something like a 36 hp Kubota and chopper 3-350 000 baht  ?,are you going to irrigate in the dry season?,if so boar hole up to 90 000 baht irragating equipment pump, engine, pipes etc 40 000 baht, fertilizer costs mainly urea 5 000 baht /year.

Vet and med for the cattle 5000  baht/ year.

That is one system they are plenty of others if you could come back with more of an idea what you what some figures could be more accurate.