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Kit Pharo in Wisconsin

I have no problem with Kit. He preaches lower inputs which is great. (EveryoneI know has already been doing that). I think everyone should read his stuff and if his program ideas and cattle work for you.....go for it.
His calving times are more in synch with nature..........
but so many things can change to other ranches.
Having bulls born early so they can work as a yearling, pasture rotations, farming, current calf markets etc all dictate calving times.
I will agree on needs to watch supplement cost, but if one can spend a dollar on supplement and get ten dollars return on that money.....what would you do.
One old timer told me the quickest way to go broke..................


top the market.................



.......


With three hundred pound calves
 
:lol: :lol: :lol: Passin thru!!

It is my opinion here that LOW INPUTS does not mean NO INPUTS.
I think Kit may have lost sight of that as many others have as well.

A remark was made once that Kit really knows how to make money.
He does not put extra feed into his bulls; he does not provide lunch the day of the sale; he does not hire an auctioneer (which is not all bad; I did enjoy the pace of the sale and knowing who was still bidding) and he does not provide free transportation for the bulls to his customers. Kind of unsettling when you buy 4 pretty pricy bulls and it cost you $100 each to get them within 100 miles of home and you have to go pick them up. Especially when a semi was going to that particular ranch from the sale anyway. :P
 
there are two kinds of ranchers,
some ranchers think that they need to provide for there cattle.
some other ranchers think there cattle are there to provide for them.
I think kits cattle are for the ranchers that want there cattle to provide for them.
 
Cows are not pets they are employees.Non-productive high maintenance employees don't work here long.
 
The object of so much discussion and disagreement is the size of cattle you decide to raise. Kit Pharo doesn't have a monopoly on the theory of reducing inputs in your operation to produce more income. That's been around for quite some time.

What he does have in my opinion, is a monopoly on the idea that smaller cows will raise more pounds of beef per acre. Nobody else to my knowledge is touting in their sale catalogues that their bulls will raise you smaller calves. They kind of sidetrack that way using terms like easy fleshing and efficient but they don't go so far as to say that their bulls are going to sire you smaller calves.

That is where Kit Pharo is different.

If you can raise huge calves out of big cows on your operation with less inputs more power to you. But if your feed bills and stocking rates are more than you would like them to be, maybe downsizing a little bit wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. He has carved himself out a niche where he is about the only place in North America where you can go to find those type of genetics.

I've never been to his place or bought one of his bulls either, but I admire his courage to be different. The fear of doing something different is a powerful deterent for most people. We just might find out we've doing things wrong all these years. :shock:
 
Here's what I think could benefit Pharo Cattle company the most a class in public relations. I don't know a producer alive (until you all prove me wrong) that finds it appealing to read "Buy your bulls from someone who raises cattle the way you ought to." Not to sound cocky but I think we are raising nice cattle without Pharo genetics. We buy bulls from local producers and even some from other states in trying to build the genetics of our herd and also eye appeal and even following our beef through the kill floor trying to improve or sustain the meat grade in our product.

Without the Kit idea we have also been focusing on trying to retain smaller heifers with the realization that the cow herd is being based on to big of maternal framed cow. Did we have to read Kit for this idea? No sorry common sense can tells a person a smaller cow is going to take less energy for keeping her ideal body weight and shape.

Anyone in the cattle business is out to make as large of profit as possible while still raising a product that grades well, sells well, weighs well while trying to keep costs at a lower level. Everyone I know including myself can use another buck.

My biggest problem is I'm just not impressed with the look of the bulls. I also have been unimpressed with the calves I've been exposed to from a Pharo bull. It's all in opinion and each of us have our own. I don't claim to be the best cowperson it's an opinion. However, I will say the calves that I saw did not do at all what the owners expected them to across the scale or at the salebarn either.

Good for Pharos for having people buy into their program and for making a profit. Good for the people who bought in and are making a profit. I like to see people in the cattle business doing well. I'm just not ready to buy in to this genetics program myself. His ideas aren't all new some have been doing it a long time just talk to some of the ranchers from Mullen Nebraska who have been making cows produce for years and years due to the environment they were given to ranch in.
 
Here, Here Denny. The Cows work for the outfit, the outfit works for me. This is how it has to work unless it is a hobby.
 
If you can ever get your hands on a Cole Creek sales catalog, do read some of the thoughts Greg Golden puts in it about the cows working for you- and not you for the cows...Probably one of the hardest tested purebred angus herds in the country for cows that have to earn their keep...Altho they don't quite have the extremes Kit has in frame size they run cattle with much the same philosophy- no extra feed besides the grass/hay- no grainbuckets or silage-- all cattle run together- first calf heifers right with the main cows and the oldtimers...And this was their 50th year of doing so- so these cattle bloodlines have been well sorted for the lines that will survive...
Much the same as Larry Leonards Shoshone herd and Diamond D's DDA's..
Some folks on another site were commenting how they wait for the sale catalog-just so they can read Gregs thoughts on running cattle....
 
Faster horses said:
Do you know Greg Golden, OT...or have you ever met him?
I have.

He's definitely a nice man, but definitely different than most ranchers.
But he doesn't try to win any popularity contests. I find that refreshing.
Click to expand...

I've never had the opportunity- but have talked to him on the phone a couple times...My son really liked him...Jeff Y. and J.Bob Hould really speak highly of him and his and his Dads cattle....Jeff sounds like he's trying to go back to the direction his folks old cattle had- and is using some of Greggs cattle to get there...He and some other person together bought a Band 105 of Hyline 2380 (old Younkin Angus co-owned bull- born in 1980) son out of a HBR Encore 0544 mgs dam.....

And your thoughts about Greggs views is about the same impression I've got from everyone....One of his main articles in this years catalog is entitled "Whatever Happened to the Angus Cow?"
 
Big Swede said:
Does anyone know how to get on their mailing list? I would really enjoy reading their catalogue.
Click to expand...

Their address is Cole Creek Angus- Box 94- Joliet Mt. 59401...Phone # 406-962-3743.....
 

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