This is a story I used to share in many of my presentations 20 years ago. It made a very good point most cattlemen needed to hear. Since many of today’s cattlemen still need to hear this message, I decided to share it in on the Herd Quitter Blog.
First… you start with a cage containing five monkeys. In the middle of cage, you place a ladder with a cluster of bananas on top. Before long, a monkey will go to the ladder and start to climb towards the bananas. As soon as the monkey starts up the ladder, all of the monkeys get sprayed with ice cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result – all of the monkeys are sprayed with ice cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the ladder, the other monkeys will prevent it.
Now… put the ice cold water away.
Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new monkey. The new monkey sees the bananas and wants to climb the ladder. To his surprise and horror, all the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the ladder he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with another new monkey. The newcomer goes to the ladder and is attacked – and the previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey, then a fourth, and then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the ladder, he is attacked.
After replacing all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with ice cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey will ever again approach the ladder to try for the bananas. Why not? Because as far as they know, that’s the way it’s always been done around here.
And that, my dear friend… is how traditions get started.
Let’s put this in the context of ranching. While some ranch traditions make sense, many ranch traditions make absolutely no sense. Some never did make sense. If I had a nickel for every time I heard a cow-calf producer say, “That’s the way it’s always been done around here,” I would have a truckload of nickels.
Cow-calf producers who think they can continue to do things the way they have always done them need to WAKE UP and smell the coffee. Today’s beef industry is not the same as it was just 20 years ago. The cost of inputs has more than doubled in the last twenty years! DOUBLED! Much has changed – and yet most of today’s cow-calf producers are operating as though nothing has changed.
When cattle prices fall – and they will – the cost of inputs will continue to rise. This will be catastrophic for cow-calf producers who are unwilling to make some serious changes in their operation. I’m afraid we will experience a monumental fallout in family farms and ranches when cattle prices fall this time around. Please don’t wait until it is too late to make the changes you need to make.
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.” ~ Charles Kettering