Cattle Starter

Category: Book Reviews

  • Creating a Family Business (Allan Nation book)

    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 business books can accelerate the learning process even more. The late Allan Nation, editor of the Stockman Grass Farmer magazine, had a brilliant business mind. In addition to building his own successful business in the publishing world, he visited successful farms all around the world and studied the keys to their success.

    “Creating a Family Business: From Contemplation to Maturity” was Nation’s attempt to help others avoid the business mistakes he made, and guide folks through the different phases of a small business. The book’s different sections mirror the process of raising a child, which in many ways compares well to the process of nurturing a business. Contemplation, Gestation, Birth, Terrible Twos, Adolescence, and Maturity are all phases a business goes through, and Nation’s writings guide us through each with a great deal of wisdom, personal experience, and case studies from other businesses.

    For a deep dive into all aspects of starting a small business, with a focus on the small family farm, and countless pieces of hard earned wisdom and advice, check out “Creating a Family Business”. You may be surprised by the amount of mistakes it’ll help you avoid, and it might just contain the information that triggers your greatest business success.

    Click here to find the book on Amazon.

  • Kick the Hay Habit: Book Review

    KicktheHayHabit
    Click to Buy!

    Kick the Hay Habit
    Jim Gerrish
    2010, 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 years of experience as a University forage systems researcher, he’s developed a solid understanding of what it takes to supplement livestock, and why minimizing hay feeding is just good business.

    Throughout his book, “Kick the Hay Habit”, Gerrish discusses ways to reduce the amount of hay you feed to your cows, saving time and money, and freeing yourself up to work on other aspects of your operation.  While he admits that there are certain parts of the country where feeding hay is necessary (particularly the temperate Northeast U.S.), he demonstrates that year-round grazing is possible throughout much of the United States, if operations are managed properly.

    Creating stockpiled pasture, properly measuring and evaluating your stockpile, and timing forage needs with seasonal supplies are critical to the goal of year-round grazing.  Gerrish explains in remarkable simplicity the idea of measuring forage availability and using that information to make adjustments in your herd.  He explains things in very simple terms that anyone can understand, demonstrating that even University professors have common sense every now and again 🙂

    By properly timing your calving season, being flexible with the size and makeup of your herd and planning ahead, Jim Gerrish shows how farms and ranches can spend far less on hay and be truly profitable.

    Even living in an area that’s considered by most to be impossible to winter cattle without hay, Gerrish’s book has saved me a great deal of money.  While most farmers in the area begin feeding hay in October, we were able to extend our grazing season to December 14th this year using tactics I learned from Jim’s book.  If you’re looking for outside-the-box ideas to bring profitability to your farm or ranch, check out “Kick the Hay Habit”.  You’ll gain knowledge far more valuable than the cost of the book.

     

  • Ranching Full Time on 3 Hours a Day

    Holmes_RanchingFullTimeBook

    Ranching Full-Time on 3 Hours a Day
    Cody Holmes
    Acres USA, 2011

    In Norwood, Missouri, a 1,000 acre ranch stands out from the rest.  The grass is green and lush.  More than a hundred species of plants are grazed by intensively managed herds of livestock, and the ground is fertile.  The cows are low-maintenance and the ranch is low-input.  Healthy food is produced here, and it doesn’t come only from beef cows.  Milk cows, pigs, sheep and chickens add to the beef cow/calf operation, promoting diversity and ecosystem health on the ranch.

    That’s the short story of Cody Holmes’ operation.  Cody uses his experiences and advancements on his ranch through his book, “Ranching Full-Time on 3 Hours a Day” to educate others on how they too can be successful farmers in today’s environment.

    Don’t let the book’s title fool you.  When I first purchased it, I thought the book would focus on how to be efficient and run a cattle operation with minimal effort.  That was a little misleading.  In one section of the book, Holmes talks about the fact that a couple hundred head cattle operation is NOT a full time job, and shouldn’t be treated as such.  That leaves time to focus on other aspects, such as marketing and focusing on the management of other species.  Overall, though, the book was more focused on holistic management and not efficient time management on a ranch.

    Each of the chapters in the book focus on an important aspect of farming, including grass management, economics and multi-species grazing.  Holmes has a lot of opinions on those and other topics, and shares his wisdom and experiences with the reader.  It reminds me a lot of Greg Judy’s book “Comeback Farms”.

    If you’re looking for a book on how to manage a cattle operation with just 3 hours of labor a day, this isn’t the book for you.  But if you want ideas for holistic management, rejuvenating the land, and thriving on the family farm, you’ll enjoy Cody Holmes’ book.

  • No Risk Ranching – Custom Grazing on Leased Land

    Judy_NoRiskRanchingNo Risk Ranching – Custom Grazing on Leased Land
    Greg Judy
    Green Park Press, 2002

    We recently wrote a blog post on leasing grazing land.  The inspiration for our leasing endeavor came primarily from reading Greg Judy’s book.  It’s a book that has helped change the mindset of cattle farmers and ranchers across the country, and helped many achieve a greater level of profitability.  Read more below.

    While most of us desire it, land ownership is probably the greatest obstacle to profitability in the cattle business today.  In his 2002 book “No Risk Ranching”, Greg Judy tackles this issue head-on, and describes in detail how you can successfully start up a cattle operation without owning land, or even animals!

    Like many others, it had long been Greg’s dream to own a farm.  He bought a bunch of land in his home state of Missouri, put together some cattle, and struggled for years to make it all pencil out.  After coming dangerously close to losing it all, Judy met a friend that helped him see ranching in a totally new light.  He began reading the Stockman Grass Farmer publication and attending grazing schools where he realized the importance of Management Intensive Grazing, and looking at grass and cattle management in a whole new light.

    Greg realized quickly that his land mortgage and cattle ownership were sinking his operation.  He also began to discover the many parcels of unoccupied grazing land surrounding his farm.  Absentee landowners were looking for someone to manage their ground, and Greg was looking for land to put cattle on.  He also realized that many cattle owners are looking for someone to manage their animals and are willing to pay for that management on a per-pound of gain or per-day basis.  Greg began a headlong journey into land leasing and custom grazing that rocketed him to incredible success as a Missouri grass farmer.

    In “No Risk Ranching”, Judy describes how to find idle land to lease, contact landowners and put together a lease proposal.  He even provides a detailed example of a lease proposal.  He then provides details on custom grazing and how to work an arrangement that is profitable for both the cattle owner and grazier, while improving the quality of the leased land.

    Throughout the rest of the book, Judy walks the reader through the details of setting up a leased farm from scratch, including high tensile electric fencing, water development and overall grass and property improvement.  He describes stocker cattle management and the economics of ranching as well.  Greg writes this book from a very humble perspective of someone who’s learned a lot and wants to help others along as well.

    “No Risk Ranching” is one of my favorite cattle-related books because it planted in me a philosophy and mindset that I believe is essential to our success in the cattle business.  It also provides some excellent detailed, practical information I’ve used for setting up infrastructure on our farm and the expansion we have planned for the future.  It deserves a place on every livestock farmer’s bookshelf.