Do you run your farm like a business? If not, are you interested in doing so? How will it be structured? What’s the centerpiece of your enterprise? How can you ensure you’ll consistently make profits year after year, and build a sustainable operation? Asking the right questions and seeking proper knowledge ahead of time is critical to business success. And reading the right … [Read more...] about Creating a Family Business (Allan Nation book)
The Why’s and How’s of Culling Cows
If you're interested in building a cattle herd with a focus on long term profit and sustainability, you need to be culling cows. Without a disciplined culling strategy in place, under-performing cows will bleed profit out of an operation quick. Not familiar with culling? It's simply the practice of removing poorly performing animals from your herd. But even though the idea … [Read more...] about The Why’s and How’s of Culling Cows
Kick the Hay Habit: Book Review
Kick the Hay HabitJim Gerrish2010, Green Park Press Hay is far and away the greatest cost to a cow-calf operation, so anything we can do to reduce the amount of hay feeding in our operations will save us big money. Jim Gerrish challenges all of the mainstream ideas of cattle operations when it comes to feeding hay. Gerrish grew up in a custom hay business, and through his … [Read more...] about Kick the Hay Habit: Book Review
How Fast Should You Grow Your Cattle Herd?
When my wife and I decided to start a cattle farm years ago, we had a specific goal in mind. 100 head of momma cows in ten years. I'm still not sure why exactly I went with the 100 head, but it seemed like a good lofty goal to shoot for, and at the time it made mathematical sense. If you start with 10 heifers, retain all heifer calves as future cows and continue that … [Read more...] about How Fast Should You Grow Your Cattle Herd?
Why Are Lighter Calves Worth More Per Pound?
If you keep an eye on cattle prices, you'll notice the large disparity in prices paid for calves of different weights. For instance, 700-800 lb steers in Nebraska are currently selling for around $1.60/lb, but in the same market, 300-400 lb steers are up around $2.20/lb. Now that's a huge difference! So what's the deal? To better understand the disparity in prices of different … [Read more...] about Why Are Lighter Calves Worth More Per Pound?