• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Ranching for profit

Help Support Ranchers.net:

Big Muddy rancher said:
Has anybody taken RMC's Ranching for profit schools and what do you think of them?

Somehow it seems like an oxymoron to spend ranch profit to hire some would-be guru to tell how to make a ranch profitable. "A penny saved is a penny earned."

Kinda like a ranch hiring a nutritionist. Heck, just spend the nutritionist's fee on nutrition instead. :wink: The cows would like that better. :)
 
If they discuss anything about rotational grazing than its worth its weight in gold. I used to think that people were crazy talking about that stuff UNTILL someone gave me a copy of stockman grass farmer. That got me to thinking and after 3 years i am a whole lot more profitable. It used to cost me 325 dollars a year to keep a cow . I have cut that in half. So i would go if one was closer to me.
 
The wife took a afternoon seminar and ever since we get letters soliciting us to attend a week long $2,500 school. I know who's making the profit. Kidding aside I won't pretend that i know all I need to know about ranching but I also wonder at the wisdom of someone from Califonia telling someone in Sask how to winter cows.

I also think that many of us use many "Holistic" practices with out thinking about them. I do know that I should spend more time planning keeping records and using the records but i would rather just work out side and doing paper work doesn't feed cows.


The ranching for Profit School web site is www.ranchingforprofit.com


Soapweed we have a program called Cow bites the balances a ration real easy. Can save lots of money in not over feeding or under feeding.
 
Faster horses said:
I kinda think Soapweed might have something there! :shock:

Since it worked so well, isn't a subscription to Stockman-Grass Farmer cheaper than taking the course? :wink: :roll: :p



yep i wouldnt spend that kind of money thats way to high in my book. That cheap subscription is looking better all the time
 
Hey, BMR, you just made a lot of sense, IMO. :shock:

One of our customers said something several years back that I thought was PROFOUND: "We can't afford to overfeed our cows, but we can't afford to underfeed them either."

Taking a forage test of your hay is one thing that will really make you money. So many ranchers purchase protein supplement that isn't necessary. They could find this out with a $10 hay sample. Course you need to sample more than one kind of hay, so it will cost you more; but could save you thousands of dollars in the end.

There is a lot of help out there and many times it can cost you nothing.
 
I went to one of the "introductory courses" one time. My impression was that the gurus think so far out of the box, it's as if the box weren't even there. :wink: Another impression was that their way was the only way, and they didn't encourage discussion or looking at it from any other angle. Those $2500 courses might be alright; after all, those fellers have to make a living, too. :? :)
 
We have field days around here one guy had a field day on forage grasses he has about 20 horses and 20 cows on 400 acres in this area a turn them loose program you could run 40 to 50 cows but his pension from the Government makes him profitable.Another neighbor has a rotational grazing program they have 15 cows and jobs in town but were all going to learn from them.The real thing to be learned from these 2 producers is how to get the Government handouts to cover the cost of their studies.There is alot to be learned from producers everywhere.

I talked with kit Pharo last winter now he's got his own Ideas which are fine but he's not open to any other thoughts it's his way or no way.Told me that I should graze my cows out all winter here's why that won't work here.

1.Your neighbors would turn you in to the Humane society.(this has happened to a friend)

2.We usally get a freeze thaw rain sleet thing in early winter so our forage is froze in ice(usally melts by April)

3.Summer pasture is VERY hard to find here but hayground is easy and cheap.

4.If it's fenced it's grazed pretty tight by October

5.When we get snow it STAYS till April and usally is so hard you can walk on top of it..

6.From Late December till late January it can get down to 40 below or colder add some stiff Northwest winds to that you cant even get a cow to come up for water let alone go out and graze.When its that cold they stay in the woods not much to graze in there even in the summer..


What Kit Pharo should develope is a cow that Hibranates now I would buy
semen for those....
 
Denny said:
What Kit Pharo should develope is a cow that Hibranates now I would buy
semen for those....

Good idea, Denny. You invent them, and I'll buy some from you. :wink:

Kinda like years ago, I mentioned that someone should invent a s***less chicken. My friend said, "Oh they exist, but they just don't live long." :)
 
Where Kit winters his cows is definitely different than where some of us winter ours, but he sticks to his story that anyone can do it that way. As far as the water, he says they don't need water in the winter. That is one place I really don't agree, so that gives me doubt on some of the other stuff he says.

What works in one area, definitely doesn't work everywhere, regardless of how bad you want to sell your program. If you short your cattle, they might not die, but they don't live either and the longevity of them is definitely shortened. They just can't do everything without proper nutrition.

Along this line, I just had a conversation last night with an older widow whose husband passed away and the son is running the ranch. He is very industrious, very good with iron and machinery. Not so good with the cows. He isn't moving them off pastures as he should be. His mother questioned him about it and he told her he read where you could teach cows to eat weeds. She is concerned and passed that along to me. I told her that there is someone who has done that; but with HEREFORD cows and calves that weigh 400 lbs. This woman and her son have high-producing black cows. They calve early and wean the calves in October. I don't think he should be trying to 'teach the cows to eat weeds' at this point and with those type of cattle. They are on irrigated ground and what I saw, was the cows NEVER laid down. Shows me they are not getting what they need, so they are eating all the time. Cows should quit grazing and lay down between 11 am to 1 pm. If they are not doing that, something is wrong. (That is if the wind isn't blowing~that kind of changes things.)

I liked what Soapweed said a long time ago, "If I have to run cows that way in order to have them, then I don't want them. I like looking at cows in good shape" or something to that effect.

The pleasure we (my husband and I) get from ranching is knowing our cattle are well-fed (and that doesn't mean over-fed, but it does mean nutritionally sound), satisfied and look good. Everything else kind of falls in behind that.
 
Another thing on weeds if you graze the land that hard you better have cattle that will eat weeds because thats what will grow to replace the grass...

Faster Horses your post was right on :clap:
 
Just for fun-everybody turn your cows out in a pasture that is't a monoculture-watch them for a day and list what they eat-the results might surprise you. As for Hereford's eating different than Angus-last I looked they both had four stomachs and no top teeth lol. I guess the decision we all have to make in running our cattle is whether we are practicing selection or evolution. To show you how screwed up things have become-bison producers grain their cows in summer so they'll cycle while us beef producers don't want to feed our cows in the wintertime lol.
 
I was very strange growing up,(How strange were you????????) So strange I would pack a lunch and take my horse and follow one cow around for a day........(Yeah I know) :oops: :oops: :oops: Anyway, today as I do my regular routine here at home with the cows it has helped. I know things and do things that most wouldn't know, sometimes it creeps me out because I can't explain it.
 
NR..
I was so strange my parents when they grounded me, instead of making me stay home like most parent do.... They would make me go to doings in town. That is no lie.........
 

Latest posts

Top