If One Can Do It…

If One Can Do It…

By Kit Pharo

If I had a nickel for every time my long-time friend and mentor Chip Hines has said, “If one can do it, they all should be able to do it,” I would have a truckload of nickels.   In the 30+ years that I have known Chip, he has had a profound effect on me, on Pharo Cattle Company and on the entire beef industry.

Although Chip has an excellent understanding of the minute details of beef production, he likes to keep everything as simple as possible.   Nature has always been Chip’s example and teacher.   He thinks cows should be able to produce and reproduce without any outside inputs.   If one can do it, they all should be able to do it.

In the mid-1990s… we were giving our cows a protein supplement three times a week for 30 days prior to calving.   We did this because that is what we thought we had to do with cows grazing short, dormant grass all winter.   I remember a cow (Angel 382) who wouldn’t even look up when we came to feed the range cubes.   She continued to graze – even though all of the other cows were frantically running to the pickup.

This cow reminded me of what Chip had told me many times, “If one can do it, they all should be able to do it.”   I decided to eliminate all protein supplementation.   I remember one university expert advising me against taking such drastic actions.   He said, “We both know the protein level of your winter grass is very low.   According to the book, you need to supplement some protein.”   I nodded my head, but ignored his advice… and I got away with it.

Do you know why I was able to ignore his advice and get away with it?   I got away with it because not one of my cows had read the book the university guy was referring to.   They didn’t know any better.   Who wrote the book anyway?

I’m sure some cows eventually fell out of our herd after we discontinued providing a protein supplement.   Most of the cows, however, were not affected.   This is how you make genetic improvement and progress.   If you never take away inputs, you will never know which cows can survive without inputs.   Over the years, we have essentially eliminated all outside inputs with the exception of salt and mineral.   I know a few PCC customers who have eliminated mineral supplementation.

Recently, I have taken Chip’s “If one can do it…” statement to a different level.   I have thought about how successful and profitable most PCC customers are in comparison to their neighbors.

What’s the difference between PCC customers and their neighbors?   The primary difference is that PCC customers are focused on increasing production per acre, while their neighbors continue to be focused on increasing production per animal.   There is a BIG difference!   If some cow-calf producers can do it, others should be able to do it.

Quote Worth Re-Quoting –

“The men who succeed are the efficient few.   They are the few who have the ambition and the will power to develop themselves.”   ~ Robert Burton (1577 – 1640)

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Here’s How to Successfully Grow Grass

By Victor Shelton  /  May 6, 2019  /

I took the time to walk through most of my pastures a few days ago. I recommend doing this fairly often to keep a mental forage inventory. It is best to record the findings. Some use fancy electronic data sheets, some track on paper charts, some just have notes in their pocket datebook or smart phone. I use a combination. I like the paper charts for long term planning, but for a quick assessment, I like a white board.

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I have a white board, you know, one of those new-fangled chalk boards that you use erasable markers on. I took 1/8-inch black tape and used it to outline the boundaries of all the fields. If I get present yield estimates taken, I put those numbers on the board with the date collected. But I use the board more for tracking grazing patterns and, more importantly, rest.

Animal groups are color coordinated and enter and exit dates are marked on the board. If animals are strip grazed across the field, then an arrow is included to show the move. I can now look at the board and quickly see how long it has been since the field was last grazed and/or how many days it has been rested.

Rest is very important – Really important!

How productive would you be if you worked 24/7 with no rest? It’s the same for forage.

Rest grows grass. If a pasture is continuously grazed, how much rest does the pasture get? None if the animals are never removed.

Forages can’t rest while being bitten off by ruminants. They only rest when they are allowed to regrow in peace! I often talk about stop grazing heights. It takes grass to grow grass! We need to move the animals to maintain an effective solar panel. Only green, growing leaves carry out photosynthesis! Most tall cool season forages, such as orchardgrass and tall fescue, need at least four inches of live leaf matter left for collecting solar energy for rebuilding roots, reserves, and then regrowth.

The grazing or harvest event of forage removal has a direct correlating effect on root growth. Research shows that we can remove up to fifty percent of the forage plant with little or no impact on root growth. If we removed more than that fifty percent, then root growth is drastically slowed down. Once we remove seventy percent or more of the plant, which is approaching hay removal levels, root growth comes to a screeching halt. It will now take a longer rest period. There is approximately equivalent live growth above and below ground. When we remove plant leaf matter, roots respond similarly because they are supported by those leaves. Therefore, there is die back of roots when not enough leaf matter is left for maintenance.

How much rest is really needed or ideal?

Early in the growing season when forages are growing fast, it can be pretty short, but normally never less than 14 days. As forage growth starts to slow down a little, then rest should be at least 30 days. When summer heat and drier conditions kick in, cool season grasses then benefit from longer rests, quite often 45 and up to 60 days. To keep it simple, just remember when forages are growing fast, move animals fast (no running, a gentle walk from pasture to pasture is sufficient), and when forages are growing slower, move animals slower.

Longer rests periods and more live residual left behind mean more roots. More roots support quicker regrowth of grazeable material and increase drought tolerance. The more growth there is above ground means there are more live roots below ground. As longer, deeper roots move downward through the soil profile, they bring moisture and nutrients upward. Shallow root systems have no drought tolerance. It certainly doesn’t appear right now like the lack of moisture could possibly be a problem, but we are always only about sixty days from a drought. Drought management should always be a part of our contingency plan.

How can you rest your grass?

If you divide the pasture up into four permanent paddocks and rotate through them, 75% of the paddocks are at least getting some rest. Is it ideal? No, but it is still better than no rest. If we increase the number of paddocks to say, twelve and rotate through them, then 94% of the paddocks are getting some rest while the 60% portion is being grazed.

After grazing is initiated in the spring, I generally recommend continuing to graze around the system until the first paddock is ready to graze again. You can then move back to that paddock and start over. The paddocks that you skip can then be stockpiled for summer grazing or cut for hay. If forage growth starts slowing down quicker than expected, say from lack of rain, then you can always jump back to the paddocks you skipped. If you plan ahead, especially if you have been tracking moves for a few years, you can estimate what field(s) you may want to skip this year in the first rotation. If you have fields that could benefit from longer rests due to being used hard the previous year or overwinter, or one(s) that could benefit from some extra carbon, then this is a chance to provide some extra rest and recovery.

Annual rest is important too.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. It is best not to start the grazing season in the same field every year. Those first fields often get grazed before ideal conditions. This short time abuse, done year after year, can increase problem weeds and reduce diversity of forages, especially desired forages.

How low can you go?

The old adage, or rule of thumb, of “take half and leave half” is actually not a bad rule as long as the starting point is high enough! More importantly, when we allow animals to graze too close, we slow down regrowth, require longer recovery, and reduce year around production. For the highest production, most tall cool season forages do the best when grazing is initiated at eight to twelve inches and ended at four to six inches as the stop grazing height. Stop grazing height, or residual height, is not the tallest forage left behind after a grazing event, but the shortest! The shortest forages should be at least four inches tall. Animal intake is also influenced by the amount of desirable forage present, especially height. Intake can be reduced when a full bite is not possible.

The bottom line…

Forages need rest. Rest influences forage yield, persistence and, therefore, animal performance. No or little rest results in lower forage yields and poor persistence of desirable species due to depleted root reserves and roots. On average, most forages benefit from at least thirty days of rest between grazing events.

Enjoy the new grazing season and keep on grazing!

4 Points For Successful Outsourcing – A 5 Minute Mind Makeover

I’ve outsourced a LOT of copywriting jobs to my ace resource John Fancher.John is wicked good and he channels my inner voice like a pro. He’s doing a great job. But I can’t tell you how long I resisted that. And I can’t tell you how much time – and not just time, quality, optimum time of my day time – that I’ve freed for myself by forcing that evolution. Everyone in Planet Perry benefits.

Why did I resist that? Probably mostly cuz so many people said “Dang Perry you’re such a talented copywriter” that it had become my identity.

Dude, your job is NEVER your identity. Yeah, I know in English we say “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and your five year old says, “I want to be a policeman. I want to be a fireman.” But that is actually wrong. The guy who wears a uniform is not a policeman. He is a man whose job is police work. The fireman is not, at the identity level, a fireman.He is a human being who earns his bread by fighting fires.

Carol Dweck, author of the book Mindset, points out that when your kid gets an “A” on the test and you say “Krista you are really smart” then “really smart” becomes a part of her identity and now she thinks she has to live up to that all the time and if she doesn’t, she is a failure. And it actually becomes de-motivatingbecause smart is not what she is it is a gift that she has.

When your job becomes your identity you become unhealthily attached to it and you unwittingly build a prison for yourself. That’s why one of your top jobs in life is knowing thyself and getting clearer and clearer about the difference between who you are and what gifts you possess.

For most entrepreneurs, this means your natural role is STARTER NOT FINISHER. You don’t need to finish anythingyou start. You just need to make sure that others successfully finish it. Yeah, I know – that sounds a lot easier than it really is. Here’s a tool I picked up from Rob Berkeley and his Entrepreneur To CEO Mastermind with Victor Cheng – the Circle of Commitment:

1. Request – You tell someone what you want

2. Negotiation – You discuss what they can actually deliver, until you reach agreement

3. Performance – They do what they said they would do

4. Acceptance – You communicate to them that they did indeed do what they promised to do. If they did not do it, you go back to #1, #2 or #3 as necessary until they finish in an acceptable way.

Those of us with “High Quick Start, Low Follow Through” tendencies tend to rush through the Request and Negotiation part, not making it clear exactly what we want. I know I often completely skip the Acceptance part and never give appropriate feedback.

That’s why “outsourcing” can be such a mess.

If you start a project by defining “What feedback is going to come back to me? And what feedback am I going to give to others once the project is successfully completed?”, then you are set up for success. This is the practical version of Stephen Covey’s “Begin With The End In Mind.”

Replacing the Monkey –

By Kit Pharo

The PCC Discussion Group recently had a very interesting discussion that tied in very well with the “Woe is Me” article in last week’s PCC Update.   While most people know what they should do, very few actually follow through.   Why is that?   What prevents most people from making the changes they know they should make?  I will share a few high points from this discussion.

The discussion thread was started by Jim Gerrish, who is a world-renown grazing expert.   Jim discussed two clients he had worked with.   He helped one client double his carrying capacity and reduce hay feeding by 60% in just three years.   Since the infrastructure required to do this cost $36 per acre, this client essentially purchased another 8000-acre ranch for $36 per acre.   Rangeland in that area is currently selling for $1000 per acre.   That was a no-brainer.

Jim worked with another client who had a 30,000-acre ranch.   Jim said, “I am confident we can double the carrying capacity on this ranch similar to what we did on the other project.   Spread across the 30,000 acres, that is a stock water and fence infrastructure cost of less than $40 per acre.”   He went on to say, “That is the equivalent of buying another 30,000-acre ranch without closing costs, additional taxes, or all the other associated overheads for less than $40 per acre when the prevailing land cost in that area for similar rangeland is about $800 per acre.”   Although the client understood the possibilities, he decided not to go forward with the project.

Doug Ferguson, who lives in Nebraska and is a very active and outside-the-box contributor to the PCC Discussion Group, responded by saying, “Jim, I have spent several years studying the subconscious mind and paradigms – and how they affect our results.   I’ll try to condense what I have learned.”

Doug went on to say, “What you ran into with the second rancher is called the Terror Barrier.   He probably understood it, and gets it.   So, what is stopping him?   His old paradigm.   The old paradigm is what keeps us from doing what we know we should do.

“The second rancher has the knowledge and you gave him a simple plan to follow.   But then what I call the Monkey Mind kicks in.   The monkey represents the old paradigm – and that monkey talks a lot.   He’s going to put up one hell of a fight because he doesn’t want to be replaced by a different monkey.

“So, the monkey says things like: That’s a lot of money.   How are you going to pay that off?   What if there is a drought in a couple years and you have to destock?   What are you going to do then?   People will laugh at you because you spent all this money to increase stocking rate and you ended up destocking.   You’ll never be able to show your face in public again.

“The monkey may go a different route.   Fear of success: What if this works?   If your stocking rate doubles, where are you going to get the stock?   Can you afford to buy that many cows?   That’s a big risk putting all those dollars out there.”

Doug concluded this part of his discourse by saying, “The second producer was on board and fired up right until the monkey started talking.   Then he gets scared, hits the Terror Barrier and goes right back to his old paradigm – with results he is comfortable with.

“Paradigms are a multitude of habits.   Habits are hard to change.   That reminds me of a great quote that ties in with what Kit is always preaching, ‘In times of change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists’”

It is not easy to replace the old monkey.   It is a bit scary and a lot uncomfortable.   Nevertheless, monkeys must be replaced every now and then if we want to achieve true happiness and success.

Quote Worth Re-Quoting –

“Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen.”   ~ Horace Mann

“The cure for boredom is curiosity.   There is no cure for curiosity.”   ~ Ellen Parr

 

Rules of Thumb for Ranching

Steve Moreland

May 20 at 8:31 AM

Rules of Thumb for Ranching
Compiled by Steve Moreland, March 23, 2017

This subject has come up on Ranch Talk on the Ranchers.net Bull Session. Here are a few axioms that have been passed on through the years. Others might find them to be of interest.

A theory I heard just lately is that the cost of five months of rented summer pasture should be equal to a third of what a steer calf is worth at weaning time. If the calf is worth $900, a third of that would be $300. $300 divided by five months would be $60 per month.

Always keep your best heifer calves.

Don’t keep kicking a dead horse. If something isn’t working, kick the habit.

Have a rigid culling program on cows in the herd. If you have to give them extra attention to get a calf sucking, graft the calf onto a better young cow and say adios’ to the problem cow.

Good nutrition trumps high-falutin’ genetics.

Never sell hay, especially if there is any chance you might come up short for your own cattle before green grass.

Uniformity helps to achieve premium prices.

If you are sitting in a pickup waiting for a cow to have her calf, park sideways to the cow and try to act nonchalantly disinterested. If the pickup is facing the distraught cow, she regards the headlights as “eyes” staring at her.

My dad and other neighbors always used to say that you should half your hay left by the first of March. Of course in those days it was a lot harder to haul in stacked hay if you ran short.

An hour in the morning is worth two in the afternoon.

Glamour tends to dissolve in sweat.

One old neighbor that my dad worked for as a young man would say each evening before supper, “Well, we didn’t get much done today but we’ll give ‘er hell tomorrow.”

It’s easy to cut a big strap if you’re using someone else’s leather.

If the sun is shining, take along a coat. If it’s cloudy do what you want.

The only way to move cattle fast is to move them slow.

It’s amazing how dumb a cow can be. What’s more amazing is how many cowboys can’t outsmart a dumb old cow.

A good cowboy on a poor horse can get a lot more done that can a poor cowboy on a real good horse.

A boy is all boy; two boys are half a boy; three boys are no boys at all.

The two most critical weeks of each year for grass and hay production are the two middle weeks of May. If you can get some rain and sunshine and no late freezes during that time period, the rest of the summer usually goes quite well.

An extra inch of rain takes the place of a lot of management.

Substance over style.

Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Always keep your cattle saleable. If cattle in good condition are worth a premium if they are offered for sale, they are worth that same premium if you own them. If you have to sell them for some reason, they will command a good price.

Extra feed on hand, whether it be left-over grass in a pasture or year-old hay, is always an asset and not a liability. It is just as good as money in the bank, and you don’t have to pay income tax on it.

You can’t starve a profit out of a cow.

The best insurance is a fat cow going into the winter.

Fat is a pretty color.

A good horse is never a bad color.

It is easier to pull a chain than to push one. Often times the same principle applies in moving cattle. A feed pickup in the lead can save a lot of whooping and hollering and exasperation at the rear of the herd. If a bunch of cattle won’t cross a bridge, try stringing out a little cake in front of the ones in the lead.

If a bunch of cow/calf pairs won’t cross a barrier such as a bridge or slippery ice, rope a calf around its neck. When it bellers, its mother will come and bring many of her bovine buddies with her. Pull the calf across the barrier, and the rest will follow.

Portable corral panels are very handy. Often times a panel or two in a strategic place can make cattle sorting a whole lot easier.

An ounce of rain is worth much more than a pound of hail.

A job well done is a self-portrait of the one who did it.

A sign in an implement dealer’s store that holds merit: “Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on our part.”
The best cow dog in Cherry County resides on our ranch. He stays in the house yard digging up petunias while we work cattle.

Very often a dog that shows up at a cattle working screws things up as much as if three hard-working cow hands had not come at all.

Chinks look cool, but if the wrestler on a calf’s head is wearing them, the fringe tends to be very much in the way of the workers who are vaccinating, installing ear tags, ear marking, implanting or dehorning.

If you think a horse might buck and give trouble, try leaving the spurs off of your boots. Often times, the extra inadvertent poking that a horse gets from a rider trying to stay on, only further antagonizes the horse and makes them buck harder.

A brand put on properly gives extra insurance that it will be easily seen for the rest of the bovine’s time on your ranch. This is your stamp of ownership, so apply it the best you can—not too deep but not too lightly. A brand that does not blotch is an extra bonus.

DISCLAIMER: All of these rules of thumb have served well through the years except for 2016. It seems like last year none of these rules worked. But this has always been a “next year country,” and I have high hopes for 2017 and beyond.

Feel free to add to the list, or to debunk some of my theories.
Some of these ideas vary greatly from those of others. I am not trying to offend anyone, but only offering food for thought.