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Best Places for
the Best Advice :
By Evan Whitley, Ph.D., Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
It seems as though every year it
becomes more difficult for agriculturalists to be profitable.
Whether it’s mitigating the wrath of Mother Nature or
managing ever increasing input costs, there is always a major crisis to
overcome if you make your living from the land.
For this reason it is imperative that cattle producers
always be creative and flexible within their enterprises. More so, these
characteristics have to be leveraged by a good decision-making process.
I can’t think of any single factor more important to profitability than
the ability to obtain, decipher and implement information.
Conceptually this sounds simple but in application it’s
difficult. The difficulty ultimately lies in a person’s ability to be
critical of and decisive upon information that meets the following
criteria: proven, accurate, specific and timely.
Information is plentiful, especially in the cattle
industry, but when looking for information that fit the above criteria
one can utilize these sources:
Private
consultants
Agriculture is continually changing. As a result we are
seeing the number of natural resource consultants grow to meet the
accompanying demand.
Arguably, no other type of information will be as
tailored. Most often there is a monetary fee that accompanies this
partnership. Thus, they are being paid to work specifically on your
operation and answer your timely questions. Their livelihood is
dependent upon their ability to provide proven and accurate information.
Company
representatives
It is common for agriculture companies (feed, seed,
pharmaceutical, herbicide, pesticide, etc.) to place representatives out
in the field to provide information and assist farmers and ranchers in
their decision making.
This information can be specific and timely because
company representatives oftentimes have the ability to be present during
this process.
The obvious downside is their bias toward their product.
They are being paid to sell their company’s product, thus a good rule of
thumb is if only their company’s product is being recommended you may
want to dig a little deeper.
State
organizations
There are many state organizations that provide proven,
accurate and timely information. Specific information pertaining to your
operation will be determined by their locale and proximity to you.
State cooperative extension personnel offer information,
not only via educational outreach programs, but also at the ranch level.
County educators offer assistance in many different
areas and are supported by extension/experiment personnel at the
district and state level.
Other state organizations, requiring membership (i.e.,
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Texas Cattle Feeders
Association, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association) are excellent sources of
information but will be limited in their ability to be specific to your
operation due to logistical constraints.
Federal
agencies
For agriculturalists this information will most likely
either come from the Natural Resource Conservation Service or the Farm
Service Agency. These two agencies are charged with implementing
federally approved agricultural programs and appropriating funds
associated with them.
Bottom line: as long as there is a federally approved
Farm Bill and risk of natural disaster you need to know these
organizations and be abreast of current information from these offices.
Local
venues
I have often wondered if there is a positive correlation
between decisions made (and subsequently implemented) and the
consumption of coffee.
Although, there is a tremendous amount of information
exchanged at these local “coffee shops” be wary of observational data,
which accounts for the majority of coffee shop expertise. What works for
your neighbor may not work for you based on differences in soil/forage
type, breed differences, calving interval, etc.
Thus consult with someone that can qualify and quantify
these differences.
A local venue
to
consider is your local (county, parish, breed specific, etc.)
cattlemen’s organization. These groups often offer excellent programs in
conjunction with one of the organizations listed above that provide
high-quality information.
Ultimately, no one knows your operation better than you
do, thus profitability ultimately comes down to operational structure
(i.e., ownership, management and employees), identifying and deciphering
information and the ability to make sound decisions.
Someone once told me that the reason why the average age
of cattle producers is increasing is not because there is a lack of
interest in the younger community but because ranchers truly live longer
due to every day being “different.” It is because of these differences
that flexibility and adaptation are so crucial to the success of today’s
agriculture producers, and, both abilities are dependent upon quality
information.n
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