Those who can’t….

….well you know the rest.  And it’s certainly true in the cattle business.  Some of the best-known consultants have never really successfully managed a herd, much less produced a notable cow.  You can check.

But here’s a Devon cow bred by a consultant, Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grassland Beef, that would be a star in any herd.  Her name is 12 Stones Maxine and she traces her roots back to the Lenoirs Creek and Lakota farms.

Bill not only produces beautiful animals but does a limited amount of consulting when he can fit it in between finding grass steers for processors and running a mineral business.  I hope you’ve been tracking the discussion, including the comments, on marketing grass fed beef down just a few blog entries.

A point that another grass fed producer, David Hawkins, made bears highlighting.  If you’re going to direct market your beef, make sure you consider the time you’ll spend just driving…driving to the abattoir, driving the meat back, boxing and distributing your product.  For a 40-steer operation, David figures it was about 50 man hours a year, just on the road.  That’s more than a weekof your life you’re not really in the cattle business.

Incidentally, the name of Ranching for Profit’s Dave Pratt came up in the discussion.  And for those of you dealing with drought (just about everybody) Dave’s latest newsletter features his 11 Commandments for dealing with drought.  Follow the link:

http://www.ranchmanagement.com/sallysilvia/11commandentsdrought.pdf