Cattle Ranching: Quick way to wealth in the American West
“Life is a long lesson in humility.” – James M. Barrie
My friend, Bruce, bought a brand new F250 4-wheel drive pickup. He built some wooden side rails and announced that he was going into the cattle business. Bruce had 60 acres of land in the town of Viola. Well, not really a town. Sort of a community of independents. Anyway, he decided that the way to supplement his income would be to drive down to the Lewiston auction and buy a couple of young steers in the spring, let them graze on his land, get all fat and happy and then sell them in the fall after they gained a bunch of weight. “Buy light. Sell heavy. And pocket the difference,” exclaimed Bruce. So, Bruce drove his brand new red and white Ford truck down to Lewiston, and bid and bought two young steers. He told me later that it was more difficult to load a steer into the back of a pick-up than he thought. Apparently, the steers didn’t much want to go for a ride in the back of Bruce’s pickup. But with a little assistance from the auction hands, they got them into the back of the truck whence they began kicking the crap out of his new truck. An hour or so later, Bruce arrived home, let the steers out of the back of his truck, surveyed the damage, shut the gate and went into his house for dinner. After dinner, he went out to check on the beginning of his new herd only to discover they had knocked down the fence and escaped. He called me and asked if I might help him round up his cattle. He said it like an old rancher who had hundreds of head of cattle and that the roundup was just a typical part of being a rancher. I knew different. I told him I would be glad to, as long as I didn’t have to ride a horse. I’d ridden lots of horses in my life and never once had a pleasant experience. The life of a cowboy was not for me. He assured me we could use my pick-up since his was in the shop with a couple thousand dollars worth of body damage to get fixed. We searched miles and miles of back roads until well after dark to no avail. The herd had disappeared.
Over the next week, Bruce went door to door asking his neighbors if they had seen his maverick renegades. Eventually word got out and while Bruce worked hard to strengthen his fence, his wild steers were found, and reunited back at the ranch. Well, Bruce fed his steers well and they were happy and gained weight just as Bruce had planned. So, as Bruce explained to me, the smart thing to do with steers is buy them in the spring while the grass in the field is growing so you don’t have to buy feed, and then sell them in the fall after they’ve gained weight and before you have to buy hay for the winter. I was impressed with his deep thinking. It turns out other hobby ranchers had the same deep thoughts and the auction house was flooded with animals coming to market in the fall which had the unfortunate effect of depressing the price per pound. So, just like my ability to pick stocks, Bruce’s business plan consisted of buying high and selling low.
Husbandry 