Herd Quitter Blog

Top 10 Reasons for Buying a Bad Bull

By Mark Parker 10. Your neighbor took one look at him and immediately began fixing the border fence. 9. Do the math: He only settles 3/4 as many cows but at half the price! 8. Him being a six-way cross — maybe eight or nine — just think of the hybrid vigor impact. 7....

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Cow Size and Profitability

By Kit Pharo For most of the last three decades, Pharo Cattle Company pretty much stood alone in promoting the benefits of smaller cows.   Among the high-input, big-cow, status quo seedstock producers, we were the butt of many jokes.   That did not...

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Supply and Demand

For the most part, cattle prices go up and down as a result of supply and demand.   When demand exceeds supply, prices go up – as they did in 2015.   Cow-calf producers were selling 500-pound calves for an unbelievable $1500 per head.   I don’t know of anyone who...

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Willingness To Change

Whether you want to believe it or not, your survival in the cow-calf business will be dependent on your willingness to make some changes.   Prices will continue to fall, while the cost of inputs will continue to rise.   A 500-pound steer is worth $500 less than it was...

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Preparation for the Future

What are your plans for the future?   Most people don’t want to spend much time thinking about the future – especially if the future might involve change.   Most people hate change!   You, however, are not “most people.”   You know if you do not prepare for the...

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You Need A Competitive Advantage

The lead-off article in our 2017 Winter Newsletter was entitled “Do You Have a Competitive Advantage.”   I bring this up again because we firmly believe having a competitive advantage will be the difference between mere survival and true success in the future of the...

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Dare To Be A Contrarian

No matter what the business is, very few in that business will ever have a competitive advantage.   Why is that?   The reason very few people will ever have a competitive advantage is because nearly everyone is essentially doing the same thing everyone else in their...

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Do Small Cows Make More Money?

By Alan Newport ANewport1@gmail.com  For years, indeed decades, the argument over cow size has been bantered about by cattle producers.   Now, adding to the debate, research from Wyoming shows smaller cows can produce more beef per acre, as well as produce more...

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More Drought Thoughts

As expected and as shown in the latest Drought Monitor Map, the northern-plains drought is increasing in intensity and size.   From what I have read and heard, many of the drought-stricken cow-calf producers have procrastinated to the point that they are behind the...

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