Ranchers Need Vacations Too
Mention the word vacation to a group of ranchers and someone will proudly state “I haven’t left this place for longer than 2 days in 25 years!”. Really? Is the business in such bad shape that it can’t survive for longer than 2 days without your presence? A healthy business should be able to continue […]
Read MoreThoughts on Being Accountable from Shanon Sims
Shanon Sims ranches with his family in McFadden, Wyoming. I’ve long admired their operation for pushing the limits of what is possible. They are leaders in grazing, and leaders in running a family ranching business. I’ve also come to know Shanon as a gifted instructor. He is passionate about helping others, humble, and a lifelong […]
Read MoreA Business Mind Shift from Treg Ulmer
Treg Ulmer and his wife Courtney are members of the Executive Link program and building a business in Ohio. Treg shared some thoughts with me around balancing profit with other reasons why they choose to ranch. I encouraged Treg to write a ProfitTips column on this subject and I’m excited to share that here, with […]
Read MoreApplying the Soil Health Principles
Recently I had the opportunity to co-teach a Soil Health Academy in North Carolina alongside Dawn and Grant Breitkreutz, Gabe Brown and Allen Williams. While attending the 3-day academy the participants and I got to see practical application of the soil health principles on Dark Branch Farm operated by Adam Grady. The results are undeniable. […]
Read MoreThe Dip
Seth Godin, author of The Dip, describes the period of time after a change has been made when the results are worse before they begin to improve. Participants of the Ranching for Profit School often envision going home to make a few changes to their business which will automatically have outstanding results and everything will […]
Read MoreMoneyball is a Movie About Ranching
The first time I watched the movie Moneyball, I about came out of my chair thinking, “This movie is about ranching”. The correlations are strong and the lessons from the movie are absolutely appropriate to agricultural businesses. In the movie Moneyball, Billy Beane is the general manager of the Oakland A’s, who have just lost […]
Read MoreMaking Changes with John Marble
John Marble, Ranching for Profit alumnus from Oregon is a not only a rancher, but a thinker, (I consider him a ranching philosopher) and a writer. He wrote the following piece for On Pasture and they kindly allowed me to share it with you. In class we talk about the inventories of grass, money and livestock; but we […]
Read MoreSilver Bullet
There isn’t a recipe for a profitable ranch. Not every profitable ranch calves in May and June. Not every profitable ranch has sold all their hay equipment. Not every profitable ranch uses some form of intensive grazing. It’s time to start looking beyond the production practices of some ranches and start looking deeper at the […]
Read MoreWhat Can We Do vs. What Should We Do?
In managing through the recent drought covering much of cow country, I hear a lot of discussion around questions like: “How many cows ‘can’ we keep?”; “How much hay do we have on hand?”; “How much hay can we afford to buy?”. These questions are not very helpful. They miss the larger point. In looking […]
Systems Thinking
I was recently given some book recommendations by Executive Link member, Shanon Sims. Book recommendations are everywhere right now, but when someone you respect says “read this book” you pay attention. Shanon recommended The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge. The Fifth Discipline is about training yourself to think in terms of systems. Humans are predisposed […]