Tag: ranch life

RFP Successes

ranching for profit school

The Ranching for Profit School is sometimes called the “MBA of Ranching” or referred to as “better than college.” The RFP School has an amazing curriculum that can have enormous impacts on the alumni and their ranches, but I don’t like those comparisons. Here’s why: you will hear and interpret things differently in each stage […]

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Finding What You Look For

close up cattle

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses” is an Abraham Lincoln quote that I think about nearly everyday. To me it’s all about life’s perceptions and choosing your mindset. We get to choose our attitude. I have noticed this in multiple situations, and more and more as […]

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Repairs Save Money?

horse fence

Preventative maintenance on the ranch is easy to overlook, and it can be costly. Costly in dollars to actually fix whatever needs fixed whether it is fence and corrals, water tanks, or the farm machinery. As well as costly in finding the time which is nearly impossible; but why hire someone to do something that […]

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The Dip

snowboarding

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 […]

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Moneyball is a Movie About Ranching

baseballs

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 […]

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Making Changes with John Marble

napkin math

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 […]

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The Power of Visuals

flip chart discussion

The flip chart is one of the most important pieces of equipment on the ranch. If you are not using one, it is likely costing your businesses tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands each year. Every time you have a meeting on the ranch or when discussing something as a ranch team someone should […]

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A Good Day

ranch life

Yesterday was a good day. We pulled bulls from a group of cattle, I’ve been custom grazing for long-time customers who are now friends. The day started early with some neighbors loading horses before first light and making our way up the mountain to the pasture. After riding a circle, we had 3 of the […]

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Attracting & Retaining Quality Employees

“You just can’t find anyone willing to work anymore.” I hear this quite often from ranches struggling to find and retain quality employees. When we look deeper into the situation it is often no surprise, as we expect our ranch employees to give long hours in sometimes difficult conditions with mediocre compensation.  In the Ranching […]

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A Great Place To Raise A Family

I occasionally lead workshops I call Hard Work and Harmony: Effective Relationships In Family Businesses. In it I like to ask participants to explain to the person next to them, why they ranch. Some say they love being their own boss, or love working outdoors and with livestock. Almost all of them say something about […]

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