gcreekrch how was Ranching for Profit?

[ALLFARMER]

gcreekrch how was Ranching for Profit?

[gcreekrch]

A month ago I couldn't spell Born Again Rancher and now I are one!

Seriously, I found the business management portion of the course very informative and enlightening. We will use what I learned there to operate this lifestyle as more of a business. The livestock management part of the school was valuable but to join the church so to speak, one would need to be in a location that favours year long grazing. Our distance from major hay producing areas will not see us selling any haying machinery soon.

Any and all businesses would benefit from the first three days of the school.
Another high point for me was meeting my internet and phone buddy Per face to face for the first time. It felt like we had just had coffee together the day before.

I plan on taking another school in the future and taking the wife then also.

[ALLFARMER]

That sounds great!

I was accepting for funding under Growing Forward they would have covered the coarse, not meals and rooms but I just could not get away. With the wife working out and 250 animals to look after in cold weather? For a week stretch that is to dicey for me.

I like u do like the Idea of year round grazing...we are going to try and swath graze later into the year but we are a long way north of any grazing teachers. They say a cow can graze in snow up to her eyes but I am not convinced yet.

Who from here did u meet up with?

[grassfarmer]

There are lots of cows eating swaths through deep snow this year Allfarmer - I guess some are blading snow off swaths with a loader and I've even heard of guys digging bales out so cows can "bale graze."
If you are way north you might have to contend with elk - if they are in your neighborhood they could eat your swaths up pretty quick.

Good for you gcreekrch for taking the course - it's a good reminder that although we have been doing the job for a while we can still learn. I'm finally doing the holistic management course after years of making excuses not to. It's timing is more convenient for me 3 x 2 day courses a month apart.

[jensend]

holistic and rfp are very similar although holisitic emphasizes finance and rfp emphasizes economics. cashflow vs profitiability.

[gcreekrch]

Allfarmer, firstly, where is "up here"?

Our cows do graze as long as weather conditions and wolf pressure permits. We have never ran out of grass in the swamps and push the wire as far as we can in the fall. Unfortunately for us, the grass in this area is worthless for cattle once it thaws and floods in the spring. There have been times when weather turned warm and then cold that we have had to chop the ice off a cows face so she could keep rustling.

GF, I had a conversation with an old graduate of the Holistic Management when I was in Lloydminster 2 weeks ago. The visit turned to the pros and cons of owning haying machinery. It was mentioned by the HRM person that they wished they had never sold theirs as some years it would have been cheaper to make their own hay.
Regardless of ones opinion, as with any school of thought, we do what works best for our own operation and take what works out of every learning experience.

[grassfarmer]

Not sure I understand your point gcreekrch. HM doesn't teach you not to own haying equipment - it hopefully teaches you to have a better decision making process whether that means you decided to own or don't own haying machinery will depend on ones situation.
I read the RFP course books a few years back from a friend that attended. It was interesting but I found it a little stilted towards production in a zone 1000 miles south of me.