Jim Gerrish besides his ranching operation is a prolific writer and popular speaker. He was the 2025 Plant and Soil Sciences “Distinguished Alumni” Award winner from University of Kentucky. In accepting this award he mentioned that the average cow-calf operation only returns 1.5% on investment. To do better than this, he said the emphasis on individual animal performance is not as important as overall land management.
His summary points are:
Ranching is a land-based business.
Find your optimum point between stocking rate and individual rates of gain.
You can have too many cattle.
Excess forage creates opportunities;
carrying too many cattle can stunt future pasture yields.
Do not calve in the winter.
Winter calving creates the highest feed energy demand when feed is the most
expensive.
Water makes grass grow.
It is funny how crop farmers will spend thousands to irrigate $900 per acre
of grain corn, but cattle farmers will hardly spend anything to irrigate $4000
per acre of carcass beef.
Time management matters more than spatial management.
Overgrazing is a function of poor time management. It will happen when grazing periods are too
long or when recovery periods are too short.
Grass benefits from optimal photosynthesis.
Focus on what you can control.
Manage your grass harvest. Manage
your cow reproduction. Manage your
beef marketing.
Have no fear of wasting grass.
Residual grass left in a pasture is never wasted. A four inch tall residue can regrow a ton
of feed in 40 days. A two inch stubble
will take 64 days. This is huge by the
time grazing ends.
