During the height of irrigation season this summer I was fantasizing about ranching in an area where you could rely on rainfall to grow grass. I spend all spring checking cows or irrigating. By August I am ready to be done irrigating for another year. I talked to my father about how nice it would be to live somewhere that didn’t require irrigation. His response gave me a lot to think about. He said, “Every place has it’s unfair advantages for cattle that allows them to compete with everybody else in this country. One of our unfair advantages is our Forest Service permits that let us run pairs for a couple of dollars in summer.”
In addition to our mountain grazing permits we have the advantage of wintering our cattle at a lower elevation in a little milder climate. As a grazer, we have another unfair advantage of having a very low cost of gain on our stocker and feeder calves. Compared to a feedlot guy, we have a lot of flexibility in what we can profitably buy. Because of our location, I can buy undervalued calves in Nevada and sell them over the mountains in California for an overvalued price. Still, other places have their own unfair advantages that make me jealous. I’ve noticed that calf prices for my part of the country are between $10 to $30 cwt lower than in the Midwest. That seems like a definite unfair advantage for producers in that region. There is a large Indian reservation about forty five minutes away from our ranch. They pay $6 a year per cow in range permit fees. They leave the bulls out with them all year and frequently gather pairs, give them an 8-way shot, brand them and sell the calves. The conditions are hard enough for them that they only calve every other year mostly. It’s a lot of fun for me to think about the cost of gain on those calves!
Here’s where I’d like to hear from some of the other people. What unique part of your region gives you an advantage that other places just can’t match? Maybe your area is terrible and you have no advantages at all. According to a lot of the people I overhear at the nearest auction yard, everybody else has it easier and it’s impossible to make any money doing this. I don’t agree at all, but a lot of people have that kind of mentality. What makes your area a challenge for you as a producer? C’mon people, I’ve got to know!
200891c9-e1b5-4720-8791-59fb61066225|2|5.0