be for others. In years when we have lots of rain, we can put stockers on the grass. Since I’ve been here we have 3 good years of grass growth and the rest has been drought. You have to be delicate with it. If you take the grass away, you have nothing.” O’Brien says that while many
ranchers had to liquidate cow herds in 2011 and into 2012, the JA and XL sold stockers and only cull cows. “When we hit the drought in 2011, we destocked yearlings pretty fast,” he says. “We did it because if we had de- stocked the cow herd, it would impact profi ts for years to come. “When you sell off production,
there are many costs. That must be addressed in your ranch plan. There’s a cost of drought. You have to plan so you can adapt to it. There are lessons to be learned from famine.” Having a plan to hold back
cows proved fruitful for 2012. “Cow prices stayed healthy,
which also kept calf prices high,” O’Brien says. “We had the grass to handle the cows.” He notes that some ranch plans may have a provision for adding hay and other supplemental feed during drought. “However, the cows will still graze your grass. It needs rest,” he says. “We must take into account that the grass plant takes longer to recover than you think.”
Flexibility “You need fl exibility in a plan,” O’Brien adds. “If
you utilize all of your resources all of the time, you don’t have fl exibility. Just remember that restocking has to come slowly.” Restocking plans must take into account the po-
tential for disease and other situations. “While you have long-term goals, you must plan for short-term,” he says. “If you see disease breakouts, have a plan to isolate those cattle from your overall cow herd so that you don’t put your whole herd in jeopardy. “We ran into a grass termite problem in 2011, even
on a laid-out pasture that received a rare 2-inch rain. I was counting on that as my safety pasture — and it