In 2019, Kat and I received an award from a local farm/ranch organization. It was called the Young Producer of the Year award. We were very honored to have a group of local producers recognize us for what we have been able to achieve in our short ranching career.
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However, I was very disappointed in the overall negative tone of the rest of the meeting. There seemed to be no hope for anyone in production agriculture. Ever since we began our journey, we have heard that it is impossible to get into farming and ranching unless you are born into it or have a spouse that was. We continue to hear this message, along with a new one: THERE IS NO MONEY IN AGRICULTURE!
These negative messages are like a disease that, if repeated often enough, will mentally disable most people in production agriculture. Buck Brannaman once said, “If all you are thinking about is your horse bucking you off, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.” I think the same holds true in business. If we only focus on the negative, we will only see the negative. Money may be tight in agriculture—but that does not mean success is impossible.
When I graduated from college in 2009, I had dreams of owning my own ranch someday. I didn’t know what it would look like or how this dream would be accomplished. I seldom told anyone about my ambitions because when I did, I was told that I wasn’t born into that life, what did I know about ranching, I could never afford to get into that business—and this was from those I felt close enough to that I could share my dream.
In the fall of 2009, while working for another rancher, Kat and I attended our first PCC bull sale. I was blown away by the open sharing of ideas and the outside-the-box thinking. Most importantly, you believed there was a way to make a good living in the cow-calf business. PCC’s program and philosophies are very different from what they taught in college. Pharo Cattle Company has shown me that through the right genetics, proper grass management, and working with nature, a decent profit can still be made in this business.
As a first-generation rancher, I want to thank you and the entire PCC organization for the positive encouragement and reinforcement we have received. Because of PCC’s positive messages, we have been able to accomplish many things that everyone else said would be impossible to accomplish. Thanks for everything!
Click here to learn more about Sean and Kat and PCC’s other Cooperative Producers.