Productive But Not Profitable
North American agriculture could be described in one statement. “Productive but not profitable.” For decades the primary messaging to farmers and ranchers has been to become more productive. You see it everywhere, from the magazines, to the radio ads, to the messaging in our youth development programs. “It’s your responsibility to feed the world. Less […]
Read MoreKnow Your Destination
There isn’t a one-size fits-all approach to running a profitable ranch. If it were as easy as coming up with a list of practices to follow, ranching would be easy and it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting and fun. Those who have never attended a Ranching for Profit School often have the misconception that we […]
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 MoreA Strong Gross Margin
If you’re ranching for profit, there is one way to define “a good cow”. She has a strong gross margin. In much of my writing and speaking it might seem that I’m not a fan of cows. But I enjoy cows like most people. My family runs cows each summer for a long-time custom grazing […]
Read MoreCan Small Scale Operations be Profitable?
I often hear from people operating on a smaller scale that their limitations of size make it impossible for them to be profitable. “I only run 12 cows and operate on 30 acres. I can’t possibly be profitable!” The limitations to profitability are usually self-induced. When we look inside this operation what we will likely […]
Biggest Mistakes in Grazing Management
Too short a recovery period – When turning into a pasture ask, “Has this pasture recovered from the previous stress (grazing, fire, grasshoppers etc.)?” If not, then you need to lengthen recovery. It is possible for recovery periods to be too long, but too short is more common to see. Too long of a graze […]
Gross Margin Inside the Cow Herd
We just wrapped up a full school in Oklahoma City. It was an amazing week where 54 people spent a week exploring the leadership of their businesses and making new friends along the way. Wally Olson of Olson Ranch and founder of Ranching FYI stopped by and discussed cow depreciation and how to make decisions […]
Read MoreWinter Calving
Calving season has begun across cow-country and so have the stories of sleepless nights, calves being brought inside the house to warm up and heroic tales of battling the recent polar vortex across the country. Granted this weather was extremely unusual for some parts of the country, but for places where this is part of […]
Allocation of Overheads is a Bad Idea
The team here at RMC has been busy holding Ranching for Profit Schools in several locations. At these schools, a good part of classroom time is spent teaching and applying the Ranching for Profit Economic Model. This is our trademark way of doing an economic analysis of the ranching business, but the fundamentals apply to […]
Read MoreCow-Calf Profitability
If you could only show me one number on your ranch that directly correlated to the profitability of your cow-calf operation, what would that number be? If you follow traditional thinking you might assume weaning weight, or price received for your calves. Not it. In fact, those numbers have little correlation to profit. So, what […]