Thursday, November 15, 2012

What's Important in Ranching?

by Chad Cheyney
I give a short talk at the Lost Rivers Grazing Academy about paradigms. (No...not "pair of dimes".) The human brain is lazy, and paradigms are a trick the mind uses to make dealing with the world easier....at least for the brain. Paradigms also keep us from seeing (and understanding) the world and our businesses and professions in new or different ways....because..."that's the way we have always done it."


Examples of paradigms include things like learning the position of lights on a traffic signal indicates "go" and which indicates "stop"...so you don't have to think about the color...or the shape of the graphics on playing cards, so you don't have to think about the color....or more importantly to, for example, the (former) Swiss watch manufacturers, that you can use electronics to run a watch and not gears and springs...or to Eastman Kodak, that images can be made electrostatically , rather than with acetate film, silver nitrate and other chemicals....

Many cattle ranchers are in the paradigm that ranching is all about the cattle. Cattle disease, cattle genetics, cattle breeds, cattle pharmaceuticals, cattle supplements. Dave Pratt of Ranch Management Consultants took exception with an article that promulgated the idea that in this world the part of ranching most under the operators control is genetics. It’s not that genetics are not important....but unless you have these other issues under control, it’s not on the top of the heap of ranch business issues for serious consideration for ranch profitability and sustainability....read Dave's article...
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