The Nine Calf Cow
I just read an article written by an ag economist on the value of bred heifers. He wrote that a crossbred heifer producing 9 consecutive calves in her lifetime is worth just over $3,200. Whoa!!! Nine calves! To be fair the author acknowledges that not all heifers will produce 9 consecutive calves. He figures 34% […]
Read MoreHalf and Half
Take half – leave half. It is probably the most common advice you’ll hear regarding grazing utilization. In my opinion it is bad advice. It was probably the brainchild of someone looking for a one-size-fits-all, easy-to-remember recipe. It may be easy to remember, but this recipe is likely to produce a crummy meal. What does […]
Stocking Rate Rant
A Ranching For Profit School alumni sent me a paper published by the Society for Range Management on calculating the optimum stocking rate. The authors crunched 14 variables through 1o equations to reach the conclusion that the optimum stocking rate is somewhere between a low rate that maximizes per/head performance and a higher rate that […]
You Might Be Cell Grazing If…
A lot of ranchers use some kind of grazing rotation. Very few do it in a way that has even a 50/50 chance of improving the health of the land, the performance of their cattle and the profitability of their businesses. There are so many names attached to various rotations, it is hard to know […]
Boots On The Ground
You can’t monitor the health of land from a windshield. You’ve got to have boots on the ground. Even then, we tend to look across the land rather than into it. Looking across gives a distorted picture of what’s really going on. We need to look into the land. Study the photo below. It was […]
Rotational Overgrazing
Nearly 15 years ago I surveyed over 300 commercial cattle producers asking them questions about their grazing practices and their attitudes about change. One hundred twenty of them (40%) identified “rotational grazing” as their primary method of managing cattle on pasture. Over 80% of the rotational grazers reported having fewer than 8 paddocks per herd. […]
Two For The Price Of One
Would you like a free ranch? This summer I had the pleasure of visiting several Ranching For Profit School alumni ranches from Texas to Montana and points in between. Most are applying cell grazing and are producing impressive results. Cell grazing involves giving paddocks adequate rest, keeping graze periods short, increasing stock density and adjusting […]
Ranching with Nature
North American livestock producers are the most productive in the world. We are also the least profitable. Could it be that our battle to increase production is the reason for economic failure? We are engaged in a cold war with nature. We are armed with an impressive arsenal. We seed and fertilize and spray and […]
Read More