Predicting Drought
What would the value be in your operation if you could predict drought? I know we can’t predict the weather, but we can keep track of monthly rainfall. Rainfall is going to be a darn good predictor of forage growth. In addition to rainfall, we can also keep track of monthly livestock head counts and […]
Read MoreDrought Isn’t a Surprise
If you’re in the ranching business, drought is a normal part of life. David McLean is part of RCS, our sister company in Australia. David refers to planning for the average year as “riding the unicorn”. David says it a bit more colorfully, “Stop riding the bloody unicorn!” Managing your business for the average year […]
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 […]
Drought Planning
Millions of dollars in bad decisions are made every year as ranches manage through dry-times. Not to mention the damage to pasture heath that occurs through delayed decision making. Primarily, hope of moisture to come and emotional attachment to breeding stock, drive the procrastination of necessary decisions. Having a well-developed drought plan is something that […]
Read MoreImplementing the Drought Plan
A good chunk of cow country is experiencing a dry time. If you are Ranching for Profit you had your drought plan done before spring arrived. That drought plan included key dates with specific actions tied to those dates, it was written down, and shared with others on your team who held you accountable to […]
Managing Through
The COVID-19 crisis sweeping the world is on everyone’s mind. We at RMC are making adjustments in our work to help slow the spread. It is easy to get caught up in the negative thinking about how this is impacting markets or impacting our normal routines. However, let’s pause and consider how we as individuals […]
Is Your Ranch Fire-proof?
The risk of wildfire has always been a normal part of ranching. But today we are faced with a new normal that includes the increased risk of catastrophic wildfire. The number of wildfires hasn’t changed much. There are roughly the same number of fires now as when I was cutting fire lines on a Forest […]
How Long is Long Enough?
The biggest mistake people make in grazing management is providing too short a recovery period for plants after grazing. Of course too much rest isn’t good either. In drier environments excluding animals from a pasture long after it has recovered will lead to reduced productivity, dead grass and bare soil. In wetter environments it can […]
Smart Debt
A lot of people tell me that they want to be “debt free.” They are tired of making big interest payments on land, livestock, machinery and their operating note. They have had too many sleepless nights worrying about making the next payment. They believe that if they didn’t have to borrow money they would be […]
You Might Be Ranching For Profit If …
You might be ranching for profit if your spouse doesn’t have to work in town so you can have health insurance. If you are making a profit you ought to be able to pay yourself whatever it would cost to replace yourself and the business ought to be able to provide a benefits package, including […]