COMPETITION IS STILL KING

In the early 2000s, I was assigned to B-Shift Engine 1 at the central fire station in downtown Fayetteville, Ark. We provided fire protection and emergency medical service to the University of Arkansas, the infamous bar district on Dickson Street and the tough neighborhoods of South Fayetteville. There were many different fire stations and companies in the city but we were the chosen ones that got to work downtown. We were an odd bunch. Gruff and arrogant with a chip on our shoulder. We were the busiest engine company in Arkansas at that time. We all wanted to be there.

All the cool stuff happened there. I’ve watched grown men cry when they had to go out to a substation in the suburbs on the outside of the city for a shift because somebody called in sick at that fire house. Some guys didn’t want to take promotion tests just because they knew that it would take them years to get back downtown in their new position. We had a passion for service but we also had a passion for being the best. The other companies in the city pushed us. Many of them were staffed with firemen that were downtown with us before they got promoted. They wanted to make their mark so they could get back downtown. I could go on and on about the lessons I learned at that place but today I’ll stick to the one that’s relevant to this conversation. Competition makes us all better.

As I traveled the Southeast this past fall, I watched sales get better every weekend. It just seemed that the prices continued to build as we went along. Some of that was directly related to the increase in pricing on the Chicago Board of Trade but another side of it was the fact that we are all pushing each other for better genetics. So many different camps in Brangus are doing an excellent job of breeding cattle. This is a huge win for Brangus as a whole. Competition makes us all better.

We are entering a phase in the feeder cattle cycle where we are seeing huge prices like we saw about eight years ago. Drought, input costs, aging producers and several other factors have gotten us to this point. Imagine being in your twenties or thirties and trying to start ranching today without a support system or government intervention. It would be nearly impossible without a spouse in town with a significant income and insurance plan. Even though prices are high, it’s a tough row to hoe today. But, there is a bright side to this deal.

We have pushed each other to the point through competition where we have a product that is exceptional in the market. We have long held the knowledge that we have the best momma cow in the business. But, we have taken a deduction at the auction block for years because the order buyers could discount us because of the ear deduction. We are gaining ground on this. The Brangus Foundation bought a set of steers on Dec. 14, 2022 for the Brangus Value Project. We paid 1.85 per pound on a set of Brangus sired steers that averaged 700 pounds. We had to give that price because other people wanted those steers. Competition makes us all better.

As we continue forward, I’m reminded of a conversation that I had this summer with one of my mentors. On a visit to one of our customers in Texas, we were discussing the state of Brangus in the 1980s. He was an integral part of Brinks at that time. Brangus was the biggest ticket at the game at that point. I asked him what changed that put Angus in front and us in the chase. He stated that Angus opened the playing field where the smallest producer could breed to the biggest named bulls in the breed and Brangus went in the opposite direction. He went on to say that the path forward for Brangus was to make every bull in the Brangus system easily available to every member. I’d say he was right. Competition makes us all better.