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Common Sense for Maximizing Your Profits – Take Them to the Train Station

Posted by kellie.henwood | February 27, 2023

February 27, 2023

By Dan McCarty, WSU Extension – Clallam County Livestock Specialist

dan.mccarty@wsu.edu

I know a lot of you are busy this time of year with calving, feeding hay, breaking ice, thawing pipes and hoses, and not to mention those dreaded taxes!   Since you already have all your expenses reports or receipts laid out on the kitchen table, maybe it’s also time to look at your production records to see if there are ways to reduce expenses and maximize your time, resources and hopefully your profit.

Let’s start off by saying fuel prices are not coming down anytime soon, which basically impacts all farming and ranching activities.  We are also looking at another year of drought conditions, so the combination of high fuel prices and drought conditions means feed prices are going to remain high.

Open cows and unfertile bulls should be first on the list to “be taken to the train station”, my favorite saying in the Yellowstone TV series!  If you have a bunch of open cows, maybe it’s time to have your bull’s fertility checked.  But also look at the rest of the herd too.  Look at those production records and if you see some declining trends, give them some serious thoughts about whether they should stay or go. If calves aren’t meeting or exceeding the breeds average weaning weights, that’s costing you money and maybe that mama cow should be taken to the train station.  Make some hard choices to make your herd more profitable.  This might be a good time to take that ornery cow to the train station too!  In my experience, bad dispositions seem to be a highly dominant trait that gets passed down to the next generation and you don’t have time to be hurt or fix fences because of that one mischievous cow!

By keeping the best of the best, you are able to produce a more profitable and higher quality food product for our ever growing population.  Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to the agriculture industry.  May your pastures be greener and your cows be fatter than the neighbors.

 

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