Winter 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 […]
Cow-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 […]
How Much Can You Afford To Spend On Feed?
A midwestern University specialist recently wrote a column for a leading beef industry magazine claiming that winter feeding is the biggest expense in most cow/calf enterprises. That may be true in most cow/calf enterprises, but I doubt it’s true for any of the most profitable cow/calf enterprises. The specialist offered suggestions to “reduce feed costs […]