What your credit report shows

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What Your Credit Reports Says Your score is similar to a grade for financial management and how you handle your financial obligations By Kelli Jo Buettner

22 Ozarks Farm & Neighbor • www.ozarksfn.com As a farmer or rancher, you know the importance of good record keeping and using it to track the progress of your operation.

Predicting or estimating results is part of your daily decision making. You spend time watching weather reports, reading publications, and looking back on previous experiences to make decisions. Similarly, your lender uses a variety of information sources to analyze risk and predict future credit behavior when making financing decisions. One of those sources is your credit report.

Your credit report verifies your identity and illustrates how you handle financial obligations. It includes your social security number, date of birth, current and past addresses, occupation, financial history, and details past and present performance on loans and credit card accounts. It also often includes information related to judgments, liens, bankruptcies and collection accounts. The information comes from the creditors and lenders with whom you do business. The three major credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Lenders may voluntarily share information with any of them. Creditors have the right to choose which of the three bureaus they furnish information to, which means your credit report from each bureau may contain slightly different information. Your credit report can affect approvals, interest rates, terms, and more.

Similarly, it’s important you understand your credit score. Derived from the information contained in your credit report, your credit score is a quick measure of financial health. Depending on the bureau and model used, your score may vary slightly.

A score generated by Fair Isaac Company known as the FICO score is commonly referenced. FICO scores range from 300 to 850, and they move constantly as information is reported. While IN SMALL BUSINESS LENDING. # Central Bank of the Ozarks has been the leader in small business lending for more than 10 years. This comes from a long standing belief that small businesses are vital to the communities we serve. All of our lending decisions are made locally, so we can be more flexible with your terms and get you through the process faster. So, whether you’re just setting up shop or financing a multi-million dollar expansion, stop by any Central Bank to start your loan today. Central Bank of the Ozarks has ranked #1 in Small Business Loans for the past 11 years in the Springfield MSA according to publicly available bank data for Small Business Loans of $1M or less. CENTRALBANK.NET | 417.881.3100 | MEMBER FDIC Recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of America’s Best Banks 11 years in a row. Ozark Farm and Neighbor Finance_2.indd 1 8/21/2019 2:20:05 PM

there is no magic recipe for a perfect score, your score is influenced by your payment history (35 percent), debt level (30 percent), length of credit history (15 percent), new accounts (10 percent), and types of credit in use (10 percent).

The credit reporting process is governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which requires data furnishers (creditors and lenders) to provide timely and accurate information to the credit reporting agencies. Under the FCRA, you have the right to obtain a free personal credit report from each of the three major bureaus each year. You may access your free reports by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com. Review your reports for accuracy even if you don’t finance your operation with debt to ensure you aren’t a victim of identity theft. If you find errors or fraudulent activity in your reports, contact the appropriate bureau to launch an investigation.

Additionally, free credit education apps are accessible online. Companies like Credit Karma offer access to your credit report with multiple bureaus if you agree to view the ads on their site or app. They may also include estimates of your credit score free of charge. The online apps allow you to actively monitor your credit report more than once a year and offer tips to improve your credit score.

The next time you visit with your lender, ask if they use credit bureau reports or scores in making decisions. If they do, share the information you know is in your report. Your lender understands your credit report is a good indicator of future behavior, but certainly not a perfect one as they aren’t representative of the whole story. Be prepared with your credit report and open to share more information to ensure your lender understands you and your operation. Kelli Jo Buettner is the FCS Financial Vice President of Scored Lending and Credit Operations.

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“We could run more cattle, but we’re trying to improve our soil and ground, so what’s the point in doing all of this if we’re going to overgraze?” Megan said. “Keeping our numbers low allows our ground to rest.” Another portion of the farm typically stockpiled winter grazing.

“We can usually get them through October to January just on stockpiles,” Jordan said.

Jordan, a native of Pleasant Hope, Mo., and Megan feel the improvements to their pastures also improved the overall quality and health of their cattle herd.

“This time of year, you drive around and there’s a lot of cattle knee-deep in mud,” Jordan said. “Ours are clean and on grass… I’m seeing more weight on our calves with fewer inputs. I also take a bulk bag to the elevator and fill it up with 1,000 pounds (of feed). I can buy in bulk and don’t have any delivery costs.” Feed costs at Red Cedar Ranch have been slashed about 75 percent through the rotational grazing program, but cattle are not deprived. Mineral tubs from Missouri Livestock Supplements and other supplements are available to the herd.

Unproductive females are culled, as are any with disposition or health issues.

“One of the oldest cows we have is an old-style Simmental, but she’s never had pink eye, she throws a calf and milks,” Megan said. “She finally had a heifer and we’re going to keep that heifer. We will cull if we have one that struggles with pink eye year after year. If there’s a cow that’s a repeat offender, we won’t keep a heifer out of her and look at culling the cow. We will also look at factors like hair coat, if they stay slick and hold condition without having a bunch of feed poured to them.”

Cows are also evaluated on their ability to raise a calf without additional feed. Only in extreme conditions, such as drought, will calves be offered creep feed. Only heifers from a productive dam, among the first calves born in the season and structurally sound are considered for replacement females, and will go into the breeding program at no earlier than 18 months of age. “I used to want them to have a calf by 2, but I’m leaning more toward breeding Restoring the Land Continued from Page 13

them at 18 to 24 months because they are more mature, larger framed and quicker to recover from calving,” Megan said.

“We can also hold those heifers longer because of the grazing system,” Jordan added. “If they get a little older and we decide we don’t want to breed them, they can go into the beef program.”

After weaning, calves are backgrounded for about 30 days and fed a commercial ration before being marketed.

“We want them weaned and vaccinated before they go to the sale,” Jordan said. “That only helps us as sellers.”

“Today, you have to go the extra mile with your calves if you want that premium,” Megan added. “Genetics will have a

“This time of year, you drive around and there’s a lot of cattle kneedeep in mud. Ours are clean and on grass.”

– Jordan Richner

role in that, and you can see it now. In the future, I would like to do some DNA and genetic testing to see what our carcass traits are, what our maternal traits are. If we think one heifer is going to be good, but her data shows she might not be what we think, it would be good to know because we want to be selective with what we keep. It’s just another tool to help us raise cattle for that premium market.

The most recent set of Red Cedar Ranch calves through Mo-Kan Livestock Market in Butler, Mo., topped the market, and Megan credits the success to the culling and breeding program. “We got a new SimAngus bull and this was the first set of steers out of him,” Megan said. “That was our big news for 2019. I looked at the genetics before we bought him, so I’m proud of that. It takes some blood, sweat and tears, and worrying if you made the right decisions… The bull we have now has some good carcass traits and some maternal traits as well, so we’re hoping to hone in on those maternal genetics and get that milk up.”

A few Gelbvieh and Balancer females are waiting in the wings as replacements to help improve that maternal side.

Megan and Jordan have done some AI breeding, and plan to utilize the practice more in the future with select individuals from the herd.

In addition to selling feeder calves, the Richners sell beef through Willow Ridge Farm, a locally-owned farm-to-plate store near Stockton that sources products – such as beef – from local farms through their association with their local Farm Bureau board.

Megan said the tourism traffic in the Stockton Lake area, as well as the local food movement, has helped push their meat, as well as other products.

“We don’t claim to be grass-fed,” Megan said. “We like to say they are pasture-based because the calves do get some grain to supplement them, but we don’t pour grain to them; they get just enough to keep their rumen going; it’s a slower process, but then you don’t have all of the feed inputs.”

Calves marketed through the beef program are typically 18 to 24 months of age at the time of slaughter. They have sold about six calves through the store, as well as wholes and halves to individuals.

“For us, it’s a good market for our calves, and I think we will always try to be a part of the local market,” Megan said.

Off-the-farm jobs kept Megan’s parents from doing everything they wanted to do on their farm, which is also a struggle for Megan and Jordan, but reducing the herd size and improving the operation, make things a bit more manageable, thanks to a little science.