RANCHING Business
By Lorie Woodward Cantu
Editor’s note: This is the fi rst installment in a 12-part series on “The Realized Value of Management Decisions,” developed with the advi- sors in the Consultation Division of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Ardmore, OK. The independent, non-profi t Noble Foundation assists farmers and ranchers and conducts plant science research and agricultural programs to enhance agricultural productivity regionally, nationally and internationally.
M
OST RANCHERS ARE GOOD AT MANAGING, WHICH IS handling or directing someone or something with a degree of skill. Management, which is
organizing and coordinating a business’s activities to achieve defi ned objectives, can present more challenges. “Lack of planning is an issue we deal with time
after time,” says Hugh Aljoe, consultation program manager for the Noble Foundation. “Most producers proceed without giving much thought to their desired outcomes or how they’re going to reach them. Then, at the end of the year, they look at their bottom lines and it’s too late to do anything about it.” To compound the issue, many producers don’t keep
adequate records that would enable them to perform a meaningful analysis, he says. “The lack of information and a plan prompts people
to do what they’ve always done, creating a self-defeat- ing cycle,” Aljoe says. “Unfortunately, if a decision or strategy was ineffective last time, it is usually ineffec- tive the next time.” And to make things more complicated, the love of
tscra.org
ranching can interfere with the business of ranching. “How many of us would
rather work in the business instead of on the business?” he asks. “It’s a lot more enjoy- able to look at cows than it is to look at a spreadsheet. No doubt, ranching is romantic, but the romance can’t over- shadow the bottom line if the ranch is going to be viable.” This is especially true since weather patterns have
Hugh Aljoe Noble Foundation
shifted and rain doesn’t fall as regularly or abundantly as it did in previous decades. “Favorable rainfall covers up management mistakes,”
Aljoe says. “In a drought, the little things not only ac- cumulate, but their impact is magnifi ed.” Drought’s upside is that it often forces people take
a hard look at their operations. For many people the fi rst step is asking 2 important questions: What are my
January 2015 The Cattleman 67
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