Let's talk cow-calf today.  There is a truly repugnant axiom out in the mainstream cattle industry and academia that says "Cow-calf operators can expect to make money 3 or 4 years in ten.  The challenge will be to take the money made in those 3 or 4 years and stretch it over the other 6 or 7 years." 

I was personally taught this in college.  The course was beef science.  The venue was Weber Lecture Hall at Kansas State.  I was sitting in the second chair from the front on the far south side of the room, right by the front door.  Any of you who went to K-State can probably visualize the seat I'm talking about.  This was either the fall of '95 or the spring of '96.  I can remember the moment with crystal clarity. 

There are two things about this ignorant tripe that need pointing out.  First, the whole "30%-40% profitability" statement is just plain wrong.  A cow-calf man should make money on his cowherd 10 years in ten.  Period.  If he doesn't, it means that he doesn't know how to market.  The cow business is NOT tough.  In fact, it has WILd profit available.  The problem is, no one has any clue how to capture it.  Even worse, most cow-calf operators in 2009 have actually been taught how to LOSE money.  That's right.  The mainstream "marketing technique" (and I use the term VERY loosely) in the cow-calf business is a very specific set of steps that must be followed in order to lose money.  You literally have to TRY, and try really hard, to lose money on cows. 

Here is the second, and truly infuriating point.  Harken back to Weber Lecture Hall some 14 years ago.  There we were, a roomful of 18, 19 and 20 year olds, getting ready to strike out into the North American cattle industry.  The respected professor has just stood at the front of the room and told us that 30%-40% profitability is the standard for cow-calf operations.  Now fast-forward.  That roomful of kids, probably over 100 just in that one semester, have graduated and gone home.  A significant portion of those kids are running cows.  They make money 3 years in ten.  Are they outraged?  Are they embarrassed?  Do they realize that something is terribly, terribly wrong?  Nope.  They are perfectly content and satisfied.  Afterall, they are performing at exactly the level the university professor said they should be performing at on their cowherd.  THIS is the truly sick aspect of this problem.  It is one thing to do a poor job and recognize that you are doing a poor job.  Then your pride, conscientiousness and drive to succeed kicks in, and changes can be made.  It is quite another to be failing, and be utterly convinced that you are doing a good job.  That is the story of the mainstream cow-calf operator.  

So, cow-calf men.  It is gut-check time.  Are you CONSISTENTLY profitable?  If not, then something is wrong, and not with the market.  Something is wrong with YOU and how you do business.  Are you willing to seek out the skill set needed for consistent profitability, which really means ARE YOU WILLING TO CHANGE?  Only you can answer that question.

By the way, I'm not singling out K-State in particular.  It just so happens that is where I went to school.  I'm really calling out ALL of the big land grant schools.  Take your pick.  They are all falling desperately short.  Maybe if they spent less time and energy providing farm teams for the NFL and more energy on EDUCATING STUDENTS, things would be better.  A very wise cattleman was once asked, "What do you think of the universities?"  His reply was, "I think they're great.  They would be a wonderful place to put all of the homeless people."    

Forecasters are killing the North American Cattle Industry.
"Global warming" is a complete fraud designed to advance the cause of socialism and enslave humanity.
Abortion is the murder of an innocent human being and is never justified under any circumstance whatsoever.
Every human being is a question, to which the ONLY answer is Jesus Christ.   

Ann Barnhardt
Barnhardt Capital Management, Inc.
www.Barnhardt.biz
888-799-4577
Ann@Barnhardt.biz

Bud Williams Marketing, Inc.
www.BudWilliamsMarketing.com
877-799-4577
Ann@BudWilliamsMarketing.com