Herdquitter Blog

Too much of anything is not good.   You’ve heard people talk about “everything in moderation,” and that is usually pretty good advice.   Just because a little bit of something is good does NOT mean more is better.

You can, and should, apply this line of thinking to your cattle and genetic selection.   It has been extremely difficult for most cow-calf producers to stop at the optimum level for any trait.   Most shoot past the optimum level without even slowing down.   They mistakenly believe they are not improving their cowherd unless they are changing it.   I fervently disagree!

There are genetic antagonisms between several of the most important economic traits in beef cattle.   For example, high growth will negatively affect calving ease, fertility, cow size and maintenance requirements.   High milk will also negatively affect fertility and maintenance requirements.   The optimum level for most traits usually lies somewhere in the middle.

Nearly all ranchers in North America have cows that are too big and milky for their environment.   Their input costs are much too high for their output.   When they were receiving record-high prices for their calves, they were profitable.   Unfortunately, that time was short-lived.   More and more ranchers don’t have enough income to cover their expenses.

Optimum production will always be more profitable than maximum production.   Bigger is NOT always better!   Optimum production is the point at which net profits are maximized.   Profit and enjoyment are the only two things we want to maximize in this business.   Is your program geared toward maximum profit and maximum enjoyment?   It should be!

Pharo Cattle Company has the genetics you need to maximize profit.   While everyone else remains focused on increasing pounds per animal (bragging rights), we remain focused on increasing pounds per acre (profit).   Pharo Cattle Company also has the philosophies you need to maximize enjoyment.   Call 800-311-0995 to request a catalog for our three fall bull sales.

Eeyore the donkey is one of the most lovable of the Winnie the Pooh characters.   There isn’t anything he would not do for his friends.   Unfortunately, Eeyore is extremely pessimistic.   He is always expecting the worst to happen.   In fact, he is surprised when the worst does not happen.   Eeyore is so concerned about all the bad things that might happen that he misses out on all the good things that do happen.   Unfortunately, I know a few people who remind me of Eeyore.

As stated on page 2 of our quarterly newsletters, Pharo Cattle Company’s mission has always been to help ranchers put more fun and profit into their business.   Ranching is a great way of life, but if it is not profitable and enjoyable it will never be sustainable.   Having one without the other won’t last long.

The average cow-calf producer in America is over 60 years of age.   That’s nearing retirement age in most industries.   What does that say about the cow-calf sector of the beef industry?   It’s not very healthy.   The reason for this is the fact that most cow-calf operations are not profitable and enjoyable enough to attract the next generation.   Folks, it doesn’t have to be this way.

We have been selling bulls for 30 years… and counting.   In that time, we have helped thousands of cow-calf producers put more fun and profit into their business.   Many of our customers are two to four times more profitable than all of their neighbors.

Last week, I watched a short video clip from “Training With Trent.”   Trenton Pierce asked, “Are you interested in or are you committed to your goals?”   Great food for thought!   There is a HUGE difference!   I thought I would expand on his thoughts and maybe make them a little more applicable to most of our subscribers.

We all have dreams and aspirations.   Unfortunately most people never become committed to their dreams and aspirations.   I think this is because they are afraid of failure.   If you never commit to something, you always have an easy way out.   When you are interested in something, you work on it only when it’s convenient.   In contrast, when you are committed to something, you will tolerate no excuses.   You will see it through – at all costs.

I suggest you put your goals and bucket-list items in writing and post them where you will see them frequently.   I think it helps to share your goals with someone else.   Reporting your progress to others will help you stay on task.   Set deadlines for accomplishing your goals.   Without a deadline, you will probably fail to reach your goal.   I have found it necessary to break my big goals down into smaller, more attainable goals.   Keep knocking out the little goals and before you know it, you are where you want to be.

I know many of our subscribers are part-time farmers and/or cattlemen who dream of making the farm and the cattle their full-time occupation.   Commit to that goal – and make it happen.   Accept no excuses!  Other subscribers are full-time cattlemen – but in a ten-year period, their business is breakeven at best.   It doesn’t have to be that way!   Commit to making the changes you need to make.   If others can do it, you can do it!   Many PCC customers are two to four times more profitable than all of their neighbors.

Are you committed to your goals or just interested?   There is a HUGE difference!   Those who are committed to their goals will often accomplish more in one year than most people accomplish in ten years.   Commitment will make it possible for you to take control of your future.

Henry Ford once said, “The man who is too set to change is dead already.   The funeral is a mere detail.”   I had to read that quote a couple of times before I fully understood how powerful it is – and how appropriate it is to the current beef industry.   You may have to do the same thing.

I want you to think back to the drastic changes that were taking place when Henry Ford made this bold statement.   The horse and buggy were being replaced by automobiles.   Draft horses were being replaced by tractors.   For many people, these changes were beyond comprehension.   If you and I lived during that time period, there is an excellent chance we would have been extremely reluctant to accept those changes.

People hate change!   Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the cow-calf sector of the beef industry.   It often takes two or three decades for cow-calf producers to make simple changes – even though they know the change will be for their own good.   Some changes are not possible until one generation gives way to the next.   As stated in the leadoff article of our Summer 2020 Newsletter, many family businesses advance one funeral at a time.   If you don’t think this is true, you are living in la-la land.

Cow-calf producers who think they can continue to do things the way they have always done them need to WAKE UP and smell the coffee.   As Henry Ford said, “Those who are too set to change are already dead.   The funeral is a mere detail.”   Are you already dead?   I hope not.   It’s not too late to make the necessary changes in your program and genetics – but time is of the essence.   Nothing stays the same.   It’s Time to Change Horses!

Visualize, if you will, an old cowpoke riding an old plug horse that stumbles along with its head just a foot off the ground.   The cowpoke represents a lot of today’s cow-calf producers — perhaps most of today’s cow-calf producers.   The old horse represents an outdated paradigm that will not allow the producer to be profitable.   If the producer doesn’t change horses, he will eventually go out of business, or be forced to subsidize his business with outside income.   At that point, the business is no longer working for him.   He is working for the business.

The old-horse paradigm is the result of a time when land was unbelievably cheap — at least by today’s standards.   It is also the result of cheap feed and cheap fuel.  Gasoline could be purchased for 25 cents per gallon in the early 1970s.   Labor was cheap — and equipment was cheap.   The old-horse way of doing things made sense 40 to 50 years ago.   Unfortunately, that era is over — and it ain’t coming back!   The old-horse paradigm also continues to be pedal-to-the-metal focused on increasing pounds per animal (bragging rights) — at the expense of pounds per acre (profit).

The new-horse paradigm is focused on making the most of FREE solar energy — instead of fossil fuel energy.   It requires very few outside inputs.   The cost to produce a pound of beef  is often half that of the industry average.   The new-horse paradigm is also focused on increasing pounds per acre — instead of pounds per animal.   There is a BIG difference!   Many PCC customers have successfully reduced their cost of production, while increasing their total production.   There is a reason our customers are the most profitable cow-calf producers in the world.

The interest in our spring bull sales was totally unbelievable!   As expected, many of the bulls were purchased by repeat customers — but there was an unusually high number of new customers wanting to purchase their first PCC Solar Bull.   They see the light and are very excited about creating a better future for their families.   They know the old horse needs to be put out to pasture.   They know that if they don’t change horses, they will eventually go broke — forcing their kids and grandkids to get jobs in the city.

It’s as though the beef industry is at a major turning point in which a high percentage of cow-calf producers finally understand what Pharo Cattle Company has been talking about and promoting for the last 30 years.   We really get pumped up visiting with these producers because they’re pumped up.   They are excited about taking the first few steps of the “Ten Steps to Double Your Profits.”   They all wish they had started sooner — but we assure them that in just a few years, they will be two to four times more profitable than all of their neighbors.

Imagine, if you will, that you are driving east on a highway with plans to meet up with a friend in a certain town.   You come to a Y in the road.   To continue traveling east toward your destination, you should have taken the left-hand fork – but you mistakenly chose the right-hand fork.

Now you are driving south on a different highway toward a totally different destination.   Once you realize you are on the wrong road, how long will you continue before turning back?   Five miles?   One hundred miles?   One thousand miles?   That’s a silly question, isn’t it?   Any rational person would turn back immediately.

Over the years… I have known hundreds of cattlemen who knew they were on the wrong road as far as their genetics and their business were concerned.   Most slowed down – but stayed on the wrong road.   Today they are even farther away from where they want to be.

Unfortunately, only a few were able to do an about-face and get back to the right road.   This is a very tragic and disturbing part of human nature.   If you ever discover you are headed the wrong direction, the best time to turn around is NOW!  

Problems are unavoidable.   They are a part of life and a part of business.   Each and every one of us will eventually have problems to solve.   How do you solve your problems?   Where do you look for solutions?

Most people today have been programmed to spend an inordinate amount of money on chemical, technical and mechanical solutions that are almost always temporary at best.   We often overlook the less complicated solutions previous generations were forced to employ.

Over the years… I have noticed the best problem solvers take a completely opposite approach.   When confronted with a problem, they will first look for a no-cost solution.   They don’t want to spend any money to solve their problem.   If they are unable to find a no-cost solution, they will look for a low-cost solution.   If they are unable to find a low-cost solution, they will go back and see if it is really a problem after all.

Many of the things we perceive to be problems are not the problems we thought they were.   In fact, I have found that some of my perceived problems turned out to be opportunities in disguise.   As I think back, I am reminded of several examples.   I will share one of them with you.

From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, we started our calving season on April 10^th.   Although it is rare to have a cow-killing blizzard after the 10^th of April, we are still 30+ days away from having an abundance of green grass.   We knew this was out of sync with nature and was costing us a lot of money we did not want to spend.

That would have been an easy problem to solve had we not been selling yearling bulls in April.   We knew we could not have 10 and 11-month old bulls ready to go to work in April.   We also knew having a bull sale in May or June was too late for many cow-calf producers.   I wrestled with this problem for two years before the light bulb finally came on.

The solution to the problem was to sell our bulls at a fall bull sale – instead of an April bull sale.   This would allow us to start calving the middle of May, instead of April.   It would also allow us to sell older bulls – that could be developed 100% on grass.   At that time, I only knew of one other producer in North America who was trying to develop bulls on grass alone.

Producing and marketing grass-developed bulls soon became our claim to fame.   Twenty-five years later, it continues to be one of our claims to fame.   Had we not had the original problem to deal with, we might still be using grain to develop our bulls.

I often have customers call me up to tell me they have a dud bull.   A dud bull is a bull that is not interested in breeding cows.   While cows are riding one another and at least one cow is obviously in standing heat, the bull will be lying down calmly chewing his cud – oblivious to all the action taking place.

I tell the customer that the only way we can know for sure what is going on is to be there 24 hours a day.   That bull could have already covered that cow several times before the customer arrived on the scene.   Cows will usually be in standing heat for several hours.   It is unreasonable to expect the bull to continue to breed the same cow over and over and over every five to ten minutes just so we can see him in action.

If it is a real concern, I suggest the customer corral the bull across a good fence from the cowherd.   When a cow is coming into heat, the bull should be watching with increasing interest.   I tell the customer to wait until the cow has been in standing heat for an hour, and then let the bull in with the cows.   It won’t take long to determine if the bull is interested in cows or not.   It is extremely rare to find a bull that is light in the loafers.

This also provides an opportunity to make sure the bull is properly penetrating the cow.   From a distance you can’t always tell.   From a distance, I always watch for the final thrust that indicates the bull has completed the job.   If something is wrong, you won’t see the thrust.

Over the years, I have noticed that some bulls are shy breeders.   You will almost never see them mount a cow.   This is the result of a built-in survival instinct.   Cattle should view people as predators.   When a predator is in the vicinity, the smart ones do not want to be caught in a compromising situation.   A shy bull is a smart bull.   He will ignore the hot cow until the predator is no longer a threat.

Whether you want to believe it or not, your long-term success in the cow-calf business will be dependent on your willingness to make some changes.   We all have the ability to change – but not everyone has the willingness to change.   Unfortunately, most producers will not change until they are forced to change.

Cattle prices will continue to go up and down, up and down – while the cost of inputs will continue to go up, up, up.   In the last 50 years, the cost of inputs has risen four times faster than cattle prices.   As time moves on, more and more producers will fail to have enough income to cover their expenses.   Those who are unwilling to change will slowly go out of business.

From the inception of Pharo Cattle Company, we have always been very different from the mainstream beef industry.   In the mid-1980s, we realized the beef industry was headed in the wrong direction at a high rate of speed.   While nearly everyone else was focused on increasing the size of their cattle, we said, “It doesn’t matter how big your cattle are if they’re not profitable.”   We decided to provide an alternative to the “bigger is better” way of thinking.

You can’t get something for nothing.   It wasn’t difficult to increase size and performance – but most producers failed to realize that as individual animal performance and size increase, production and profit per acre decrease.   At the time, the land grant universities and seedstock producers were leading the way.   Unfortunately, they still are.   Within a few years, most cow-calf producers had substantially bigger cows.   This forced them to reduce their stocking rates and/or increase supplemental feeding to keep their so-called “new and improved” cows in production.

Being different is seldom easy – but we knew we were different for all the right reasons.   Therefore, we persevered.   Slowly but surely, more and more commercial cow-calf producers understood our philosophies – and broke away from the herd-mentality way of thinking.   We went from selling six bulls at our very first bull sale 30 years ago to selling over 1000 bulls per year.   We have cowherds in 12 different states.   We develop bulls, mostly on grass, in four different states and Australia.   We have proven that our philosophies and our genetics can increase profit per acre in nearly every environment.

When I came up with the Herd Quitter concept in 2008, it was not well received by others within the PCC organization.   Although everyone understood the message I was trying to convey, very few wanted to be called a Herd Quitter.   I wondered why.   I soon found out that most ranchers have experienced the frustrations of dealing with a herd-quitter cow.   You know the type.   Whenever you are gathering the herd, the herd-quitter cow is always looking for an opportunity to escape – usually at a high rate of speed.   She will wear out a good saddle horse.

I have dealt with several herd-quitter cows in my lifetime – and I know how frustrating they can be.   Moving or gathering a herd of cows would be an easy job if it was not for the herd-quitter cows.   If a herd-quitter cow suspects something is up, she will do everything she can to get away.   She can make you so mad that you want to rope her and drag her back to the herd.   Consider this, though… out of the entire herd of cows, the herd-quitter cow is the ONLY cow thinking for herself!   I have developed a tremendous amount of respect for those herd-quitter cows.

We use the term Herd Quitter to refer to people who have enough courage to break away from the status-quo, herd-mentality way of thinking.   It is more about thinking for yourself than anything else.   If you follow the herd and do what everyone else is doing, you will never be above average and you will never have a competitive advantage.   Dare to be a Herd Quitter.

We continue to believe most cow-calf producers can double their profits once they STOP focusing on increasing pounds per individual calf and START focusing on increasing pounds per acre.   There is a BIG difference!   We know ranchers who have more than quadrupled their net profits after changing their focus.

For the past 50 years… the status quo beef industry has been single-mindedly focused on increasing individual weaning weights – and they have had great success.   Although this provided some bragging rights, it has been very detrimental to ranch profits.   As individual weaning weights increase, pounds and profit per acre decrease.   Many ranches that were put together and paid for with 400-pound calves are struggling and going broke with 600-pound calves.

The difference between focusing on pounds per calf and pounds per acre is much, much greater than most cow-calf producers can even imagine.   Since changing the focus from one to the other involves a major paradigm shift, it is not easy.   Several PCC customers are still struggling with making this change.   Most producers will not even attempt to make a change of this magnitude until they are forced to make it.   Unfortunately, that will be too late for some.

In commodity agriculture, average is breakeven at best.   Below average producers are losing money.   The only way they can stay in business is to subsidize the farm or ranch with outside income.   Above average producers are profitable.   Some are extremely profitable.   They are profitable because their management differs substantially from average producers.

Most PCC Customers are well above average.   Many have more than doubled their profits.   They are focused on production per acre – instead of production per cow (bragging rights).   They are using ultra-low-maintenance bulls – instead of the high-maintenance bulls everyone else is using.   They know nothing affects profitability as much as stocking rate and cost of production.

Following the crowd and doing what everyone else is doing has never been the best way to manage a business.   In most cases, it is the absolute worst way to manage a business.   If you are part of the status quo herd, you will never be above average – and you will never have a competitive advantage.   Dare to be different.   Dare to be a Herd Quitter.