Herd Quitter™ Blog
Competition
Sam Altman had a good piece of advice in the Farnam Street blog this week: “I think one thing that is a really important thing to strive for is being internally driven, being driven to compete with yourself, not with other people. If you compete with other people, you...
There is a Difference!
I put together several groups of replacement heifers last year with the goal of selling them as bred heifers. I made sure to buy reputable heifers as I didn’t want to deal with all the issues of sale barn cattle. I put together over 400 heifers and planned to expose...
Wasted Time
According to my cowboy calculations, I waste 30 to 40 hours every year waiting on hot water. In ten years, I can spend as much as 400 hours waiting on hot water. In addition to wasting time, I am wasting water. I guess I could use cold water – but I much prefer to...
Competitive Advantage
No matter what business you’re in, having a competitive advantage is a good thing. It is often the difference between mere survival and amazing success. There’s no reason you cannot have a competitive advantage – if you want one. Who wouldn’t want one? There are three...
Change Before You Have To
Make Ranching Great Again The business of ranching can be much better than many people have been led to believe – but only for those who are not being restrained by outdated traditions and paradigms. We believe the sky is the limit for those who have enough courage to...
Bad Decisions
We all make poor decisions. Some are minor, like eating that second donut for breakfast. Some are major, like losing all your money in the stock market. Even worse, sometimes the fear of making the wrong decision paralyzes us and keeps us from making any decision....
Spring
It’s finally spring and our cows are just starting to calve. This is my favorite time of year. Yes, I know, summer calving would probably be much easier, but there is a high demand for spring PCC yearling bulls and we live in the nice part of Wyoming where the winters...
Overlooking the Obvious
I do not understand how so many intelligent people in the beef industry can continue to overlook the obvious. Perhaps, instead of overlooking the obvious, they are ignoring the obvious. Perhaps they are ignoring the obvious because the obvious is not a popular...
Where Have All the Family Farms Gone?
New census data released by the USDA in February provides reason for concern. The number of farms operating in the US and the number of farm acres have both fallen significantly. There were 141,733 fewer farms in 2022 than in 2017. The number of farm acres was reduced...
Professionals vs. Amateurs
A recent blog from Farnam Street on success caught my attention. The blog pointed out that the one thing that stands out when it comes to success is mindset. If you want results, you need to approach things like a professional, not an amateur. It all comes down to...