#225 – He Was a Man
This past Saturday, my 96-year-old father went home to be with the Lord. I remember his words after we watched his dad pass away — a very short statement with a much broader meaning. I think it is a fitting epitaph for my dad as well. "He was a man." Click to read the full transcript Last Saturday...
#225 – He Was a Man
This past Saturday, my 96-year-old father went home to be with the Lord. I remember his words after we watched his dad pass away — a very short statement with a much broader meaning. I think it is a fitting epitaph for my dad as well. "He was a man." Click to read the full transcript Last Saturday...
#199 – Capturing Profit
The recent high cattle market has given ranchers a welcome reprieve from rising expenses. While our focus has been on increasing income, reducing expenses is much more important if we want to capture more profit in the future. NOTE: We misquoted the OSU study in the...
#198 – Expanding Markets
Describe a profitable ranch: They don't follow the herd They work with nature instead of against it They use grazing as a tool to build soil health They use low-maintenance, moderate-framed genetics They find value-added markets for their products...
#197 – Compare Cow $ize
Why does the status quo beef industry continue to select for more growth when the only thing increasing is cow size? They believe that bigger weaning weights mean bigger profits. Here's a challenge for you: run the numbers on your own herd and compare them to a herd...
#196 – Retirement Questions
Today we had a visit from some vacationing PCC® customers, the Unruhs. We're about the same age, so we had a good time getting to know one another, as well as a great discussion about retirement. This raised many questions, especially how to manage the cow herd as the...
#195 – Preconditioning Calves
This past week I made a trip to the mountains to precondition our bull calves in preparation for weaning. It was good to see them prospering, even in a pretty harsh environment....
#194 – Bull Evaluation
This past week, the PCC® crew finished up Bull Evaluations for the November sales in Nebraska, Colorado, Montana and Alabama. Here's a deeper dive into the traits we score....
The Latest from our Herd Quitter® Blog
Profitable Cows
These record-high cattle prices have made most cow-calf producers very complacent. They can do many things wrong and still be very profitable. However, when cattle prices drop, a high percentage of these producers will struggle to keep their head above water. Wise producers, on the other hand, are producing cows that will be profitable in good times as well as in not-so-good times. Profitable cows are low-input cows that fit their environment. They need very...