|
Northeast Missouri | There is no place to get rich quick in any part of the beef business. You just have to figure out what you're best (most efficient) at and stick with it through thick and thin--making adjustments for technology and the markets and the weather as you go along.
Cattle used to be the "residual claimant" for resources in a diversified operation, getting the least management attention, scrounging the poorest feeds, etc. But all that has morphed into an efficiency-driven business, and economies of scale (or lack of them) will slowly erode your assets--at best, leaving you at break-even--if you don't figure out either a way to get bigger or to do well in a niche market that allows a smaller-scale operation to survive.
By the way, a lot of the "money" you see in the cattle business wasn't made there. Recently, a lot has come from corn and soybean profits. And some of the people who have a lot of assets *started* with a lot--maybe an operation Granddad put together. And too, think about all the physicians and other outside of agriculture who've accumulated a large operation in just a couple years' time--with price seedstock, all-new steel working pens constructed at the same time, and several hired hands/managers. The point, is that their equity in the beef business wasn't earned there.
Others have earned it all the hard way, over 20 years of so. The old adage that farmers "live poor and die rich" particularly applies to the cow/calf business.
Now before you think I'm down on the prospects, I need to point out that I'm not. There's *always* opportunity out there, and some people will figure out what their local opportunities are, and what their own unique talents are, and "make it" in the beef business.
But doing that is something you *cannot* learn by reading about others' success in a farm magazine., or trying to copy someone else with a cookie-cutter approach. You'll only do well if you figure out your own path and are constantly watchful about which way you need to turn next.
Finally I'll say, that a lot of people enjoy having cows or backgrounding a few calves, as a great "visit with reality" diversion and from their off-farm job. They (we) may not be all that profitable because of a lack of scale, but still have niche ways to get along with our "addiction" to raising cattle.
| |
|
How in the hell do you show a profit
