Flying H Genetics
Cattleman’s Chronicle
Fall Newsletter
2015
Vol.17
c at t l e m e n —
Celebrate Your Success
2014 was by far the most profitable year beef cattle producers have ever seen. And 2015 looks to be the second most profitable ever!
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That is worth celebrating.
t seems like forever, the cow/calf producer scrimped and worked to try and make $20 or $50 per cow. Doing things like breeding and calving that the backgrounder or feedlot and for sure the packer would never do. And the cowman only gets his reward once a year, not daily, weekly or monthly as the rest of the beef industry. Cow/calf producers are long term investors with thousands of dollars invested per cow, plus the land, equipment and facilities. Cowmen must be good at herd health—diagnosing and treating sickness, preventive vaccinations and proper deworming plus annual boosters and fly control are just a part of the job. Managing grazing and plant health and fertility and soil health is also a requirement. Genetics, bull buying, selecting replacements and identifying culls is just part of the expertise needed to produce the beef calves that become the beef supply for Americans and the world. And we do this 24/7 job with little fanfare and appreciation—BECAUSE WE LOVE IT!
That, my friends, is a great problem to have and a great opportunity to “CELEBRATE YOUR SUCCESS”. Take the family out for supper, take an overdue vacation or pay off the cow note and go out for supper would be a great, well deserved treat. But we are talking about hundreds of dollars profit per cow instead of $50 so there are thousands of dollars that need to be spent wisely. No one expected these windfall profits (it’s almost like winning the lottery without buying a ticket) so we couldn’t plan ahead for it but we sure don’t want to waste this opportunity to solidify our future in the cow business. So, after a little celebrating, how do we invest these extra profits to get the most out of them? Every cowman’s situation will be different but history tells us the first thing you should do is: 1) Pay Down Debt. (If you are a cowman without debt you are very fortunate and probably don’t need any help with investing your profits but most of us are not that fortunate.) Pay off the smaller more current debts first to increase your
So when we get paid way above our wildest dreams, we don’t know what to do.
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