Management
Tips to be
a Better Ranch
Manager
15
By Burke Teichert
Sometimes we get so caught up in the daily
routine of work that we forget to manage. On
most ranching operations, management doesn’t
need to take a lot of time; but to be successful,
it does require some time every week.
It is so easy to get in a fixed paradigm or our
own “box” that we forget some of the things that
matter most. This is an attempt to remind us of
some of the things I have written that we could
easily forget. It is by no means an exhaustive list.
1.
Your approach to management should be
both integrative and holistic. In fact, being able
to manage holistically is completely dependent
on integration of science, ideas, information,
observation, etc. that come from many sources.
You will never get it all, but the quality of your
holistic management will improve as you
integrate better. By managing holistically or
with a systems approach, you make decisions
that fit your shared vision and move y u
closer to the goals included in that vision.
2.
You should strive for continuous improvement
of the key resources—land, livestock and
people. This should be obvious; not so obvious
is what to do to create the improvement and
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how to know improvement has really occurred
both economically and ecologically.
I like “adaptive multi-paddock grazing” as a
way to improve the land, cows selected to fit
your ranch environment with low input as
the way to improve livestock and helping all
team members develop skills and acquire a
better understanding of all things related to
the business for the improvement of people.
3.
You must wage war on costs because of
competition from other foods, other meats and
from our fellow ranchers. We need to place our
product in the marketplace at a price that is
attractive to the customer and profitable to us.
Being a low-cost producer is the best insurance you
have for poor markets and weather-related events.
4.
You should also place an emphasis on
marketing—looking at time, form and place
for selling your products. Time is what time of
year. Form is calves, yearlings, bred heifers, bred
cows or cull cows, etc. Place can be the internet,
video auction, sale barn, direct from ranch, etc.
5.
Unless you are already a good
grazier, improvements in grazing can yield
much more improvement to profitability