What Ranchin' Aint
So I was scrolling through Facebook the other day and this gem of a comment caught my eye…
If you are a farmer or rancher, I will give you ample time to laugh hysterically while kicking a wall repeatedly in frustration. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
When I first saw this comment, I read it aloud to Lane who anxiously laughed for about five minutes then said, “That’s all it takes, huh?”
I sent a screenshot to a friend and she responded with, “Wow… my blood pressure went up when I saw that.”
I sent it to my dad, who sarcastically responded with, “smart guy.”
I’m going to go out on a limb and say most farmers and ranchers who saw this probably had similar reactions. And if you’re not a farmer or rancher and saw this, you may be wondering why these people had these reactions — let me explain.
What does it take to raise one cow? I can tell you right now it’s more than just water, grass, shots, and salt blocks.
In the paragraphs below, we’ll go over some different things to keep in mind when “raising a cow,” because, to be frank: it ain’t free, and people really, really need to realize that.
*All figures below are based on estimated costs for raising one cow in Northeast Texas. These figures do not include purchase price of the cow or depreciation of the cow herd. I called in a favor to my dad who based these numbers off a 1,000 head cattle operation for ease of math. Dad has been ranching for 30 years in Red River County, Texas and has a degree in Animal Science.
“What’s it take to raise a cow? Grass and water, both of which are free,” an uninformed Facebook user said. We’re already off to a bad start here.
Grass may be free, but how many months out of the year do you actually get to graze cattle on grass? Sure, some cattle see grass 12 months out of the year, but we’re not talking about the old cows who need less TLC. Back home in Northeast Texas, we graze on green grass for about eight months per year, whereas in a drier climate, your grazing period will be shorter. But during those dry months where you can’t just rely on grass as a cow’s primary source of nutrition, you need to feed them something else such as hay.
Each individual cow will consume about three round bales of hay per year and at $45 a bale, you get about $135 per cow per year. You will need to give them supplements and mineral, which added together is about $103 per cow per year. Totaled, we get $238 per cow and, based off a 1,000 head herd, you wind up spending roughly $238,000 on feed per year for the whole herd. Feedin’ cattle ain’t cheap and feedin’ cattle ain’t free.
“They live in a field,” Facebook User said. That “field” is not just some rundown plot of land that a rancher just happened upon and claimed for his own — this is not the 1800’s.
When properly raising a cow, you need to take into account your stocking rate. Stocking rate is the number of acres each animal needs to survive. Your stocking rate varies on your location. For example, in Northeast Texas where the weather is more tropical, you need less land per head. In a dryer, more rugged climate such as Montana, you would need more acreage per head.
Going off a lower, more optimal stocking rate (like in Northeast Texas), we’ll say your stocking rate is 5 acres per head. Five acres per head multiplied by 1,000 head is 5,000 acres for the whole herd. Granted, sometimes you can catch a good deal on leasing or buying ranch land, but at the end of the day, land ain’t cheap and land ain’t free.
“Only costs are essentially shots and salt blocks,” Facebook User said. Oh Facebook User, if it were that simple we’d all be eating gold for breakfast.
Yes, basic vaccines per head are relatively affordable and so are individual salt blocks. But what about the other “stuff” we need to operate a ranch?
You need to factor in your machinery cost such as pick-ups or tractors — and those NeVeR break down (sarcasm intended). You need to factor in the cost of turning a bull out for breeding and also take into account his cost of care. You need to factor in labor costs, because it’s nearly impossible for only one person to care for 1,000 head of cattle. You need to factor in your operating cost and cost of death loss.
This is just the bare minimum for a commercial cattle operation, this does not include cost for artificial insemination or embryo transfer.
When it’s all said and done, you’re looking at an estimated number of $706 per cow — which seems like a decent number UNTIL you realize how terrible the cattle market has been lately. Just in the past year, cattlemen and women across the country have barely been able to break even and many of them have LOST money after taking their cattle to the sale barn.
Between the Holcomb Fire and the Coronavirus Pandemic, I’m sorry to say it but the cattle market is absolute trash.
“With expenses like they are, any market disruption that comes along, like COVID-19, puts you in a position where you are fighting just to break even,” Dad said. “The price of our inputs do not go down when the market goes down, but the check we receive at the end of the year takes the hit.”
Dad said that COVID-19 cost them around $250 per head. If we’re basing that number off a 1,000 head herd, that’s a loss of $250,000.
“Farmers and ranchers[s] across the country will use ANY excuse to raise the prices,” Facebook User said. Farmers and ranchers aren’t the ones determining the price points at the grocery store — at the root of it, the Packers are.
We can HOPE for higher live cattle prices all we want but at the end of the day, ranchers don’t get to determine the price for cattle, the person who buys the cattle does. If we got to pick how much our cattle sold for, I can promise you we wouldn’t pick our break-even point but that’s what we’re getting…on a good day.
Bottom line: We work hard to feed you and we do it because we love it, not because it pays good because clearly, with current market prices, it doesn’t.
Farmers and ranchers across the country work from sunup ‘til sundown and are on call 24/7, 365 days a year including holidays with no sick days or vacation time. Farmers and ranchers break their backs in the bitter cold and sweltering heat so YOUR belly can stay full. They work hard, hope it pays off, and pull themselves up from their bootstraps when it doesn’t, just to do it all over again so some self-righteous Facebook user can ridicule them while he’s stuffing his face. Ranchin’ ain’t cheap, and evidently ranchin’ ain’t appreciated.
