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266: If You Had to Start Over: What Would You Do Differently on Your Ranch? · 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.
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  I'm your host Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
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  agriculture. Here to keep you informed.
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  And connected. Now let's dive into today's
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  episode. I'm going to ask you a question
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  today, and I don't want you to answer it quickly.
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  If you had to start over from absolute scratch, same land,
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  same region, and the same resources that you currently
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  have, would you do it differently?
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  Would you run the same cows stock the same way?
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  Buy the same equipment, structure your debt the same,
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  feed the same, make the same hires?
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  Most ranchers never pause long enough to ask that question
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  because we're busy, because we're tired, because forward
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  feels easier than being reflective.
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  But here's the truth. That question is not about
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  regret. It's about clarity.
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  And clarity is what moves operations forward.
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  Now, this isn't a fantasy question.
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  It's a leadership question. If you had to start over, what
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  would you build differently? Would you buy less equipment?
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  Build better fences sooner? Invest in water infrastructure
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  first? Maybe you would call harder?
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  Avoid certain debt? Focus more on reproduction?
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  Run fewer cows, but better cows? Here's the thing, most
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  experienced ranchers already know the answer in their gut.
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  They just haven't stopped to say them out loud.
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  And that's powerful because if you know what you do
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  differently, you already know where your operation is
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  misaligned. Today.
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  There's a big difference between regret and reflection, and I
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  want to make that crystal clear. Regret sounds like I should have
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  known better. I messed that up, or I wish I
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  hadn't have done that. But reflection, now that sounds
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  like now I understand. You know what?
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  That taught me something. Or, Yep, that changed how I see
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  this. Every ranch that's been around
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  for longer than five years has mistakes baked into it.
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  Every single one of them. But the ranches that get
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  stronger over time are the ones where the owners actually sit
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  down and say, OK, that cost me, but what did it teach me?
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  When ranchers are honest, their answers tend to fall into
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  patterns #1 I would have matched my cows to my land sooner, not
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  what looked good, not what the neighbors ran, not what was
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  trendy, but cows that fit the forage and the climate #2 I
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  would have avoided unnecessary equipment.
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  Iron feels productive, but idle equipment drains margin fast.
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  Many producers admit if they'd started over, they'd own less
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  and custom hire more #3 I would have tracked my numbers earlier.
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  This is almost universal, and I think we've all been there.
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  But most ranchers say they wish they would have known their cost
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  per cow sooner, wish they'd understood break even sooner,
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  and they wished they'd caught insufficiencies before they
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  became habits. I would have cold harder is #4
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  emotion tends to keep cows longer than the math supports.
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  Many ranchers say that they wish they'd been more disciplined
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  earlier. I would have built systems, not
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  just worked harder is our fifth and final one.
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  Better corrals, better water systems, better pasture design,
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  better labor flow, Hard work. It's admirable, but systems that
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  that is what creates sustainability.
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  Now this is where I want to shift the tone because the
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  purpose of this episode is not to sit here and make anyone feel
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  behind. It's this.
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  You don't actually have to start over.
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  You can adjust from here. You can change your cooling
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  standard this fall, sell equipment that doesn't serve
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  you, redesign your grazing for next spring, tighten your
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  breeding window, Start tracking your numbers right now.
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  Renegotiate past releases, restructure debt, downsize if
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  needed, or just simply simplify. The only thing worse than making
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  a mistake is protecting that mistake out of pride.
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  And ranching rewards humility more than ego every single time.
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  Now let's get into the psychology of it a little bit.
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  And here is why. Most people don't change things
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  even when they know they should change.
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  Feels like admitting that you were wrong.
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  And ranching is deeply personal. So it feels like a personal
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  attack. The land, the cattle, the family
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  history, the way that dad did it, the way that grandpa did it.
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  But adjusting your operation is not betrayal to any of those
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  things. It is leadership.
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  And leadership means evolving when the environment changes.
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  Now let's flip that question. If you started over, what would
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  you absolutely keep? Maybe it's your work ethic, your
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  stewardship, your resilience, your community.
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  Maybe it is one of those things that we just talked about
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  before. Maybe it is your grazing
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  routines. Maybe it is your breeding
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  patterns in seasons. Reflection isn't about tearing
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  everything down. It's about keeping what works
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  and improving what doesn't. That's maturity.
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  That's experience and that's earned perspective.
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  Now here's what I want you guys to actually do as listeners this
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  week. And yes, you do have homework.
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  I want you to write or mentally make 2 less.
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  If I started over, I would stop fill in the blank.
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  If I started over, I would start fill in the blank and make them
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  less. I can guarantee you for all of
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  us, there is more than one, and I want you to be honest about
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  this and then circle or pick one thing from each list and act on
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  it before summer gets here. I'm not asking you to make 10
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  changes. I'm not asking you to do a
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  complete overhaul of your entire operation.
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  I'm asking you to find one thing because momentum builds from one
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  decision. If you had to start over, what
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  would you do differently? That question is not about
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  regret, it is about growth. The best ranchers I know aren't
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  the ones who never made mistakes, they're the ones who
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  learned faster than their pride could stop them.
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  It's not too late to shift, it's not too late to tighten things
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  up, and it's not too late to build something more
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  sustainable, more efficient, and more aligned.
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  You do not need a big red reset button.
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  You just need honesty and one next decision.
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  This is the Cattle USA daily podcast.
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  I'm your host Lauren Moylan. Thanks for listening to another
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  episode. We will see you all next time.