Overheads Are Fixed!
What would you have to do to increase profit in a business where you couldn’t control costs? You’d have to increase production per animal, increase the number of animals you carry and hope for higher prices. These are the strategies most ranchers have followed, and Universities have recommended, for generations. It’s a logical approach if […]
Monuments to Tax Avoidance
We have our end of the year tax appointment next Monday. That reminded me of a ranch I visited a few years ago. The owner’s son showed me around. As we pulled out of the yard we passed a big aerator they’d bought to crush sagebrush. If you aren’t familiar with aerators, the drum is […]
Read MoreScraping By
I received the following email from a young rancher last week: Dave, I am a young rancher and have grown my herd to over 100 cows over the last four years. In addition to my own operation I earn additional income working for my Dad on his place. I owe $15,000 of my cattle loan, have […]
Read MoreTwo Mornings A Week
Several weeks ago I included a WOTB quiz in a ProfitTips column in which readers could score the extent to which they work ON their businesses. Click here to read that column. The column was picked up by some other publications and wound up generating conversations on several other popular blogs. Most of the people making comments said that […]
Read MoreThe Value of Gain & Grass
Wally Olson is a rancher from Vinita, Oklahoma. He has a profitable cattle trading enterprise based on the Sell/Buy marketing principles popularized by Bud Williams. At the foundation of Wally’s operation is an understanding of the value of grass and the value of gain. Wally is quick to point out that he doesn’t limit his […]
Cowboys and Grassmen
I once heard Bud Williams say, “Ranchers love their cows and hate their grass.” Bud thought they had it backwards. They should love their grass and hate their cattle. I know that Bud didn’t really hate cattle or think that anyone else ought to hate them, but his point was that for a livestock business […]
Top 10 Challenges In Ranching
In the last ProfitTips I asked you to share the challenges you face in ranching and share you did. Here is your list of the top 10 challenges facing your ranch: #10: We have a victim attitude We will never succeed if all we do is blame others for our failures. Self-proclaimed victims abdicate […]
Read MoreYou 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 […]
Pay The Damn Taxes
In The Ultimate Legacy, Dr. Don Jonovic says that the most critical issues in an estate plan are: Who will run what? Who will own what? How will you make sure you have the capacity to pay the taxes so that the first two things can actually happen? The transfer of authority can be […]
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 […]