Rust, Rot, Depreciate

Starting with point #7 from last week‘s entry of setting oneself up for financially healthy ranching or business.

Reduce overheads! Stan Parsons said you only need a hammer and a wheelbarrow to be a financially successful rancher, and the wheelbarrow was questionable. Now, i might be paraphrasing, but his point is clear; that which rusts, rots, and depreciates is not an asset and likely adds labor and other unnecessary costs. Machinery, buildings, vehicles, even a stack of hay!

Nearly every ranch or farm has a massive amount of iron and steel piled around the farm or taking up space in a barn or shed of questionable value. Both the barn and the machinery must be pulled under scrutiny. Some farms may even have extra homes, though often the old homes and ancient barns may not even be worth tearing down, but the satisfaction of cleaning up a place may provide the incentive. However, there is also the issue of liability and, even the threat to health of livestock to leave such structures in place. Livestock has no need of buildings or machinery.

Approach each piece of machinery, barn, shed, house, corral, etc with a very critical eye. Be careful you aren’t fixing machinery and buildings you don’t even need! Additionally, consider whether or not you are making an overhead expense as a monument to tax evasion. If you purchase fence supplies, fuel, machinery, etc to offset income every year, what advantage is there except needing more room for storage and increasing chances of obsolescence and decay. Is it important to hoard fence supplies when you really don’t need to build fence? Even in our remote area with few people to do work, we can hire a fencing crew.

1. When was the last time i used this machine and why did i use it?
2. Do i have time to run this machine?
3. Does it have a purpose right now, this very moment in time which will add harmony to my life?
4. Does it have more value to someone else – in other words – before it is obsolete, would the kinder thing be to sell it to a younger person to give him an opportunity to purchase a needed piece at a discounted (used) price?
5. A shed or building may have value to someone else – either as selling it and moving it off your property (ideal) or if it’s in good condition and easily accessible maybe repurposed from storing your machinery you don’t need to leasing out the space. Remember though that maintenance expenses, depreciation, damage will still fall on you.
6. If a building is needed for necessities, be sure to update it so that it is easily used by all who need to. Consider overhead doors or smaller ‘people’ doors. Eliminating heavy sliding doors will save on health issues.
7. Corrals – good ones are a necessity on any ranch. There may be too many expensive systems scattered at various small parcels – Why? If the money has already been spent it becomes more difficult to decide the path forward. Should more money be spent to tear it out and sell the parts? or just leave it and use it once a year?

In some cases, the time to make the decision whether or not to spend wads of cash comes BEFORE the money is blown. This is most assuredly the case with more permanent type structures such as corrals and buildings.

I’m going to go so far as to say, the many farms, ranches, and businesses, could have ‘estate’ sales to generate 100s of thousands of dollars to reinvest and actually free up valuable time and be more profitable. In fact, you may have other valuable assets which need selling before they become liabilities or worthless. Harvesting mature trees comes to mind. Take inventory of your farm, ranch, and business. Decide what is not needed to keep it moving forward so it’s more rewarding – perhaps the next generation will be more interested in continuing the legacy you built with literal blood, sweat, and tears.

All the points i will be covering are so intertwined, it’s difficult to pull out each one as a standalone. Case in point is the example of excess corrals. Before spending 10s of thousands of dollars on multiple corrals, the better direction is likely to combine herds and build one good corral. If a small catch area is needed at another location, perhaps a mobile unit would be helpful. But better yet, the satellite location can likely be leased out or sold off.

The bottom line:

Sell off all unused machinery, buildings, vehicles, tools, etc   All these are liabilities and cause a lot of wasted time and expense in maintenance (labor and supplies), insurance, and depreciation.  Hoarding is not a good trait – help someone get started by selling off unused assets before they are obsolete.

Shabbat Shalom!

Create Something Beautiful Everyday!

Incredibly, this is an actual race (alleyway) that we still use. It is very dangerous with broken boards on each side which are sharp, jagged, but wired back into place. The remaining boards are just waiting to bust with a minimum amount of animal pressure. A few years ago, whilst quickly sliding a bar in behind an animal just at that crowding area, my finger was smashed against a bolt sticking out. Didn’t quite cut to the bone. It’s ridiculous, IMHO, to spend 10s of thousands of dollars on new seldom used corrals, when the main ones are badly neglected, yet are used quite often. Gates should swing and easily latch, proper sized race for type of cattle, butt stops, sharp edges, blind spots addressed, etc. Installing good equipment that can be used that will be far less than even one trip to the emergency room. Alleyways or races should be appropriately sized for the stock and have a back up gate. From experience, i’m so tired of bringing one calf at a time only to have the bloke manning the butt bar at the chute to miss and the calf barrels back into me, then having to crowd the calf back up to the headgate.

Piles of materials taking up valuable space and rusting down this past year. I’ve even toured farms and came upon a huge pile of brand new steel posts and multiple rolls of barbed wire completely engulfed by years of mature grasses and tree sprouts in the middle of the pasture! Not in good shape after 30 years or more. Count the cost BEFORE buying stuff to put into storage. The cost should include whether or not you have time or any help to get the job done. FIRST – do i really need this?

Building a corral with new materials, but in the wrong spot or in the same footprint which didn’t work before is a waste of time and money for decades. If the flow of stock didn’t work in the old layout, it won’t work even with new materials.

Quickest Ways to Profitability & Harmony

This list is old news, but reviews are seldom a waste of time. Oftentimes, we need to revisit a topic to find the low hanging fruit of our business or keeping a home to be more effective in our lives.

Questions to ask yourself:

“Am i asking the right question?” How can i do this without spending money? Do i need to do this? Am i very efficiently doing the wrong thing?

If you think it won’t work for you, then it won’t. If it’s something we don’t want to change, we will set up the situation to fail on purpose. We often are the biggest stumbling block to harmony in our professions and relationships by refusing to seek a solution which, oddly, in many situations would not only enhance our lives, but be more productive and profitable as well!

As Kit Pharo says, ‘The easiest money you will ever make is the money you don’t spend – and that money is tax-free.”

In ranching:

1. Combine animals into as few herds as possible. One or two is best. One cow herd, one bull herd kept separate until breeding season. Having one cowherd will greatly reduce the number of bulls you need to cover the cows. A single herd moved multiple times per day will actually improve productivity of the soil and increase desirable plant species (aka regenerative ranching) more rapidly than some popular managed selective grazing programs. Think outside the box on this one. Although one herd is ideal, sometimes there may be a reason for another. In the season of life you are young, strong, energetic, it is important to have cash flow and other income streams. Use separate pastures (leased or owned) for short term use. For instance, you may have a herd of yearling heifers or steers. Perhaps you want to breed your yearling replacement heifers to easy calving bulls. If you have many multiple pastures, miles apart – consider another use for the far-reaching ones. Perhaps hay it in the summer, then allow to grow for short term yearling grazing (sell the animals before winter). Lease or sell the land and focus on the main portions. Chances are very good that profitability will increase, labor will decrease, family life will improve.
2. Calve in sync with nature. In our part of the world of north central Missouri, one would look back in history and learn when the bison calved. This is typically mid-May through June, perhaps a bit into July. Oftentimes you may hear, ‘when do the deer fawn?’ But deer are more like sheep or goats than cattle and breeding season weather needs consideration in many parts of the world. While you are at it, shorten the breeding season to discover your most fertile cows.
3. Let cows raise their calves. In extreme weather conditions, it may be necessary to wean calves early and sell either them or their mommas.
4. Select animals for your breeding herd from your own stock. Starting out, try to find local animals raised the way you will be. This will likely be nearly impossible, and you’ll end up culling a lot. Expensive up front, but long term is the best solution to finding adapted animals which can perform without expensive inputs.
5. Incorporate some sort of managed grazing. I use Real Wealth Ranching techniques which is a way of incorporating nonselective grazing, identifying adapted animals, matching calving/breeding season with forage availability, increasing profitability, and creating harmony in your life and human relationships.
6. ‘Kick the Hay Habit‘ might be the name of a book by Jim Gerrish, but it is great advice for reducing costs. Hay and all the labor and machinery expense associated with it seldom makes sense in today’s ranching world. There are exceptions – especially weather related – but by and large it takes a huge bite out of the bottom line.
7. Reduce overheads! Stan Parsons said you only need a hammer and a wheelbarrow to be a financially successful rancher, and the wheelbarrow was questionable. Now, i might be paraphrasing, but his point is clear; that which rusts, rots, and depreciates is not an asset and likely adds labor and other unnecessary costs. Machinery, buildings, vehicles, even a stack of hay!

Decades ago, i sat in on an introductory Ranching for Profit course taught by Stan Parsons and i thought he had the craziest ideas. I’ve long since embraced many of his precepts, but the concepts need to be revisited to keep on track. I’m constantly making mistakes and forgetting to keep my life in harmony with my work.

Hopefully, future blog entries will dig a bit deeper into each point with real life, personal examples, and experiences.

Shabbat Shalom!

Create beauty and harmony!

Mistakes Into Positive Change

Not all changes are right, good, or positive so it’s imperative to evaluate the considered change in thinking or action as to how it will impact the environment, culture, family, mental or physical health of you or those around you. Expand your thought process into the ripple effect of your decision. Try to determine the unintended consequences BEFORE they are upon you.

In regard to my last blog entry and the lack of early grazing in spring which led to poor quality stockpile, i failed to consider how that decision would so drastically lower the condition of the young and old nursing, pregnant cows. With more animals this year, grazing the land chosen for stockpile will surely be attainable.

It is further exacerbated by having calved early (15 April) and therefore needing to wean in early February, which led to feeding hay to weaned calves for far too many weeks before springtime grass is emerging. Another impact i had this past year (2022) was that i’d purchased 56 first and second calf heifers (25 of which had March born calves at side!) plus had taken in several of Allen’s ancient good cows hoping for one more good calf out of them. All these animals suffered the most in nursing their calves through the winter on low quality stockpile despite the offer of high protein lick tubs.

Thinking holistically has led to an annual timeline tweaking once again. Moving breeding season to 5 Aug – 23 Sep which will mean cows start calving 15 May through 1 Jul. The breeding season will hopefully, be better situated for turning in bulls and mustering them back out after ragweed season. However, this past year (2022) was exceptionally long in that pollen did not dissipate until 2 October!

These calving dates will allow me to push weaning to first week or so of April vs first week of February! Great reduction in labor and feed costs.

One would think that after 30 plus years, i’d have this tweaked out, but each year and each mob of cows is a bit different in makeup which reveals problems that might be unexpected or unavoidable.

Create beauty and harmony in your life!

Shabbat Shalom!

Effects of Grazing Mistake

While there is an abundance of stockpiled forage, this standing forage in February is not good quality. For dry pregnant cows, it’s fine – but not for nursing pregnant cows which have suffered condition loss despite having high protein tubs on free choice offer throughout the winter since protein levels are too low in the available non growing forage for that class of cattle. There is a way to have better quality stockpile even well into winter.

Going forward into this year of 2023, the plan is to graze one time through the forages in the spring when the plants have reached sufficient growth levels to not cause diarrhea in the cows. This will be when the lower leaves are slightly yellowed, plant height maybe 6-9 inches tall, though that will vary in plant species. This will allow the plants to start their final growth to maturity a little bit later in the year so they will not reach maturity until the very end of the growing season rather than late summer, resulting in more green (protein) in the plants thereby providing better nutrition for cows during the winter non growing season.

The challenge is to find that sweet spot so that the grasses can be non selectively (total grazing) grazed through yet not overgrazed (regrazed before forages are recovered) by set stocking (not moving or bothering) the calving cows (mine begin May 1). Managing cool season and warm season grasses requires observation.

To compound my problem of allowing the young and old nursing cows to lose weight was to push them too hard in grazing dry forages which had no nutritive value. Though it will benefit land next year, the practice caused the cows to lose far too much condition. The decision i made to give the cows some relief and start their return to good condition before May 1 calving was to wean their calves by February 12.

Winter total grazing cattle here one can see i forced the cows to eat old sedges which are typically unpalatable with little nutritional value.

Not to be forgotten is the importance of selecting genetically adaptive cattle. To increase the number of mouths on my farm, i purchased 40 Angus 3-year-old pairs which originated from Montana and South Dakota – clearly not our high humidity, deep cold, toxic endophyte fescue environment with managed grazing. They have had a tough time getting used to life in north Missouri and a few have fallen out. There are also several first calf heifers and ancient cows which have struggled in maintaining body condition.

Not having enough stock last spring is a large part of why my pastures were not grazed properly and resulted in the poor stockpile. However, Jim Gerrish reminds us too stock for winter grazing. This may mean removing enough animals to graze without hay through the winter. Real Wealth ranching protocols is different than more well-known grazing schemes in that one will know earlier in the year whether or not there is enough forage available.

Create beauty and harmony in your life!

Spaced-Bale Hay Feeding

In the past, i’ve been a proponent of and have often used a common practice of feeding livestock and distributing manure and organic matter in a chosen area. It is still popular and may still have purpose. If you need to feed hay, it can cut down on labor and the amount of time feeding out when it’s bad weather.

However, my experience is that it concentrates organic matter and nutrients (manure included) so much that it takes years for grass to grow back in those areas. The photos illustrate my point. Those spots are at each place a hay bale was set (truckload of 38 count 1350 lb bales) in the fall (be sure to remove netwrap in advance of setting on the ground) and now it is 3 years hence. Still no forage of significance.

Jim Gerrish has a fabulous six-part series of nutrient management with feeding hay and i highly recommend reading through it before making hay feeding decisions. Find video series on other topics on his website; American Grazing Lands.

I’ve also used, with better impact unrolling hay bales. This reduces intense trampling and distribute manure much better. However, a huge drawback is having to feed the hay in the winter, with special large equipment. Oftentimes it may be muddy which will make huge ruts in the pasture. Greg Judy sells a hay unroller which would help mitigate this, but the hay would have to already be stored near the pasture your stock is in and accessible with equipment able to grab the bale and unroll. Deep snow or ice would make this difficult. My farm is 35 minutes away and in some cases not accessible until ice and snow melts. Your situation may be different and require different decisions, but always put a sharp pencil to the situation and remember family and harmony.

So, after 30 plus years of managed grazing, what do i do now? Total Grazing! By utilizing the principles of total grazing outlined and taught by Jaime Elizondo, Real Wealth Ranching, there are few reasons to produce, haul, buy, feed hay. In fact, it really cuts profitability to do so. This has entirely eliminated feeding hay to cows for two years now and i see no reason to ever feed again unless there is a huge blizzard and 3 plus feet of snow. Which could happen, but rare in north Missouri. In which case, spaced bale feeding may be the only option since it’s already in the pasture or let the cows find their own tall stockpile. Adjust your livestock numbers to match your winter resource.

Sheep bale grazing near a small patch of timber back in 2015.

Kick the Hay Habit by Jim Gerrish is the book that really convinced me to explore and implement the move completely away from feeding hay. The only time i might consider feeding (purchased) hay is in the summer on exceptionally poor ground which has never produced forage. Unroll it and have the stock eat it so as to add microbes to the soil profile. Saliva, manure (having past through the gut will shed microbes), hoof trampling, may all stimulate and improve soil health without breaking the bank.

Create Something Beautiful Today!

In the foreground is clear indication of where a hay bale sat three years ago surrounded by tall stockpile forage.

To Burn? Or Not To Burn?

Burning grasslands is a landscaping management tool used by many to burn off old, thatched grasses and forbes which are preventing new seedlings from growing thereby creating dead zones where nothing is growing. It’s not necessarily a ‘bad’ management tool, but i prefer not to use it because:

1. it releases carbon and smoke pollution into the atmosphere
2. completely eliminates all habitat for small wildlife
3. often burns up those small critters overtaken by fire and smoke
4. can be dangerous by getting away due to high winds and massive fuel (dry grasses)
5. for safety, burning requires multiple people and management equipment to prepare the site in advance as well as continued monitoring

These are reasons i choose not to burn -plus honestly, fire simply scares me. Brush piles, i’ll burn, but even those can get away.

Many articles will argue first that fire is nature’s way of managing grasslands. Hmmm – maybe, but unless the prairies and plains are mismanaged, there are very, very few situations in which fire is ‘natural.’

It is true, however, that if you have land enrolled in CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) and you receive payments from the government for letting land lay idle year after year, then mowing or in some situations fire or chemical is required to keep those payments coming.

My choice is let the livestock, and to a lesser extent, wildlife, manage the grasslands with far less danger to man and beast, less erosion, natural fertilization, increased forage diversity, no pollution or carbon release, and small creatures, like mice, turtles, voles, moles, and other ground nesting animals are completely unharmed.

I am talking about a managed grazing technique called ‘Total Grazing.” Total grazing is not over grazing, it’s not grubbing the plants into the ground, it’s not selective grazing. All plants are grazed AFTER they have been allowed to grow tall and even to full maturity if needed before being grazed. This results in a balanced diet for the animals, habitat for nearly all wildlife until grazed, and lets those plants develop deep roots which stabilize the soil and prepare for growth. Thatch is grazed along with the green portion of the plants opening up the space for more desirable plant species. Deep roots create humus, organic matter is not humus. Organic matter still needs to be broken down and incorporated into the soil profile before it can even think about becoming food for soil microbes. Roots are ready made snacks. Grow fat roots for fat plants for faster recovery, but don’t graze until the plants are at the proper stage and don’t allow that second bite. Total grazing spreads out the manure across the paddocks for even coverage of nutrients.

Total grazing requires a good amount of education, just like burning, before diving in. Animal adaptation, observation, mobbing and shifting stock at the appropriate time, not allowing that second bite,

OR

CREATE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL TODAY!

Landscaping

Having been involved in total grazing protocol for only 2 1/2 years now and still being understocked for such a venture, I’m only starting to see some grazing pressure on tree sprouts and multiflora rose bushes. Therefore, i’m still full on with cutting sprouts and treating stumps with Tordon.

Granted, control would be much faster if the time spent moving the cows 4 times a day at the right time would be effective. However, distance, time, and weather simply won’t allow it. However, i bet i’m getting close to at once a day over the course of the year.

This morning, at long last, i’ve met with a couple men who are equipped to clean out the junk trees along my ditches and draws so that quality trees can be allowed to grow (if they are away from the ditch), the ditches will be cleared of shade, so mud will be greatly reduced, which should result in my losing fewer cows to getting stuck and dying each year. On top of that, without trees on ditch banks, deep rooted native grasses will be allowed to take hold and stop the erosion caused by rushing waters. Trees simply are not designed to hold soil in place. Managing trees and brush will much profit the land, wildlife, water quality, viewshed, and timber harvests of the future.

Using livestock and a few small tools early on is a good plan, but, in my case, i’m way behind the eight ball, so big equipment, strong backs, and expertise will be the most effective use of time and money to get my farm in good working order quickly.

On this tiny plot after total grazing, i lopped about 140 tree sprouts and 30 some multiflora roses! I was glad to find several sprouts had had the tops and buds chewed off, others were broken off. Both signs of cattle molesting the plants for nutrition and a bit of a scratch.

Sure, it’s not knocked back enough to kill it, but smaller ones could be decimated. In the meantime, i keep after them.

Shabbat Shalom

Create something beautiful today!