Herd Quitter Blog

During my presentation in Beaver, Oklahoma, we branched off on a discussion of "wedge-shaped" cows. For many of our subscribers, this is old news. However, most cow-calf producers get a confused look on their face when we mention "wedge-shaped" cows.We returned home...

For as long as I can remember, observant ranchers have noticed calves will have larger birth weights after a long and cold winter. This observation was confirmed by research conducted by the University of Nebraska back in the 1990s. Prolonged low temperatures and...

Question: Why are your bulls able to cover more cows for more years than bulls coming out of other programs? I am also wondering how many cows you recommend putting with a bull. Answer: The fact that our bulls can cover more cows is a result of two things....

The current beef industry was built on cheap feed and cheap fuel. That era is over – and it ain’t coming back! In the last 50 years, fossil fuel-based expenses have risen four times faster than cattle prices. Consequently, a cow-calf producer’s net profit is quickly...

My mom, Shirley (Kimmel) Pharo, was born in a small adobe house on the edge of a small town in extreme Eastern Colorado. The date was October 6, 1929. That was just 23 days before the infamous Black Tuesday when all the stock markets crashed.Black Tuesday was the...

You may not believe this, but there have always been more opportunities to advance during tough times than during good times. For example, more millionaires were made during the Great Depression of the 1930s than at any other time in history. While most people could...

Is there such a thing as a cow for all seasons or a cow for all environments? Based on my 35 years of experience, I say, “Yes, there is a cow size and type that works best in all seasons, as well as in nearly all environments.” I realize this goes against popular...

Most cow-calf producers get so focused on their problems they totally miss the opportunities that are staring them in the face. That’s why I get so excited and inspired by those who see opportunities in nearly every problem. They look at life differently! Most of the...

When I returned home from our Nebraska and Montana Bull Workdays I was way behind on my reading (thumbing through). I had a large pile of status quo beef publications to go through – including the Angus Journal and the Red Angus Journal. There were also several bull sale catalogs – but I don’t waste much time on them.

Bulls always cost less in the fall because the demand is greater in the spring. For example, the bulls we sold in our Colorado sale last fall averaged $1100 Less than the bulls we sold this past spring. That’s a BIG savings!