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227: The 10-Step Year-End Checklist Every Ranch Should Finish Before January · CattleUSA Daily

• 0:03
  Welcome to the Cattle USA daily podcast Your.
• 0:06
  Go to source for. The latest livestock markets,
• 0:08
  industry insights and the update shaping agriculture today.
• 0:12
  I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
• 0:15
  agriculture here. To keep you informed.
• 0:17
  And connected. Now let's dive into today's
• 0:20
  episode. Closing out the year as a
• 0:28
  rancher is more than just being knee deep in feeding cows
• 0:32
  through winter and starting to put together some of your
• 0:36
  receipts from the past year. If you want a stronger 2026, the
• 0:41
  work starts now with clarity, with numbers, and with
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  decisions. Most ranchers push off until
• 0:47
  January, or honestly, never. So today we are walking through
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  the 10 things Every Rancher Should be doing before 2025 ends
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  and how those decisions set the tone, the margin, and your
• 1:01
  momentum for 2026. Let's get right into it.
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  Number one, get your books current.
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  If the books aren't current, nothing else in this episode
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  matters. Clean financials mean accurate
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  decisions. This means every receipt
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  entered, every expense categorized, fuel logs, updated
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  feed purchases, recorded repairs, documented everything
• 1:28
  that you could possibly need. The goal?
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  Start January 1st with the truth, not with gases.
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  Now #2 run your true cost per cow.
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  This is your operational heartbeat and this means every
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  single thing that you put into your operation divided by the
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  amount of cows that you are running.
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  If you don't know this number, you can't improve it, you can't
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  set goals, and you can't run a profitable ranch #3 Identify
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  your top five expenses and rank them by ROI.
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  Not all expenses hurt you. Some actually help you, some
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  create efficiency, and some drain.
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  You quietly take your biggest 5. Typically they're things like
• 2:14
  feed, pastor, rent, labor, repairs or equipment and fuel or
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  just whatever applies to your operation.
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  And then ask what did this expense produce?
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  What did it save? What did it prevent?
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  This becomes your road map for 2026.
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  Cost control #4 audit your herd performance.
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  And here you need concrete questions.
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  What was your pregnancy rate? How many opens?
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  How many slept late? Did calf weights track upward,
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  downward, or flat? Which cows consistently
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  underperformed? Write them down.
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  Start your call list now, not in March when you've already sunk.
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  Feed into them #5 Inventory everything.
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  Your forage feed supplies everything.
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  Your 2026 feeding and grazing plant only works if you know
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  what's actually in the barn and what's on the ground.
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  You need to inventory things like hay, grain, mineral
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  vaccines, diesel, fencing supplies.
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  Inventory is how you prevent panic buys, surprise shortages
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  and wasted dollars. Number six, meet with your
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  lender before Christmas. Interest rates matter and cash
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  flow matters. Loan renewals matter.
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  Do not walk in a 2026 guessing. Have the meeting now so you know
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  things like what your credit looks like, what payments hit
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  when, whether refinancing or restructuring is smart for your
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  operation in 2026, and how tight your cash flow will be in Q1 and
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  Q2. Disability with finances equals
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  power #7 Review your tax situation.
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  This is your last chance to adjust your 2025 taxes.
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  You need to be meeting with your accountant and asking them
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  things like should I prepaid on some feed?
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  Should you maybe defer some income?
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  Should you accelerate any purchases you were planning on
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  making in 2026 to before December 31st?
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  Or is doing nothing the smartest option?
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  Good strategy is proactive, not reactive #8 review your grazing
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  year honestly. Which pastures underperformed?
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  Which ones recovered well? Where did rotation fall apart?
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  Where do you need water development, cross fencing, or
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  just a different grazing schedule?
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  Next year's grazing success starts with this year's grazing
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  analysis #9 evaluate your labor systems.
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  Don't just evaluate people, evaluate the process.
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  You'd be asking Where did we waste time?
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  What chores are repetitive or poorly designed?
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  Which tasks could be automated or eliminated?
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  Are the right people doing the right jobs?
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  Did inefficiency cost us money? Fixing labor inefficiency earns
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  more than hiring new people. And #10 identify the things you
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  avoided all year long, which for a lot of us is probably a lot of
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  things on this list. This is an uncomfortable
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  category. Every single ranch has a list of
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  unavoided decisions. Pulling cows late, preparing
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  water systems, fixing a facility bottleneck, dealing with a
• 5:32
  financial issue, reorganizing grazing management.
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  Whatever it may be for you, write that list down.
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  Those are your first action items for 2026 avoidance
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  compounds. Deal with it now while you see
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  it clearly now. These 10 steps give you 3
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  things. They give you clarity, control,
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  and confidence. Clarity in your numbers, control
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  over your decisions, confidence in your direction.
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  For 2026, most ranches drift into the new year.
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  Successful ranches enter it. Over the next few weeks we are
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  going to be going over a ton of topics that will help you in all
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  of these areas. Things like how do I make my
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  stocking right decisions, planning out cash flow, grazing
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  strategy, nutrition programs, risk management, capital
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  decisions, labor systems, and just setting up clear goals.
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  Closing out the year as a rancher means more than just
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  surviving winter. It means ending 2025 with a full
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  picture of where you stand and starting 2026 with intention
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  instead of hope. Do the work now, give yourself
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  the clarity you deserve and run your ranch like the business it
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  is. This is the Cattle USA daily
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  podcast. My name is Lauren Moylan, thanks
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  for listening to another episode.
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  Have a great rest of your week and we will see you all next
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  time.