Finding Financial Success in Uncertain Times

Aug 03, 2021

By Jon LaPorte

The Desire 2 Learn (D2L) course “Finding Financial Success in Uncertain Times” is designed to help producers identify the uncertainties that exist within the farm business and how to achieve financial success through planning for and reacting to that uncertainty. The course provides a roadmap for the journey ahead and helpful information will be available at several stops along the way. 

One of the stops will include gaining an understanding of the importance of farm records in decision-making. Without good records, management decisions are made while viewing only a small part of the whole picture, which can limit the opportunities for success.

Participants will also learn about how to find the farm's cost of production. This will provide a meaningful way for farm managers to make well-informed decisions. Cost of production will lead into a review of break-evens and their connection to marketing strategies which can be useful for several types of decisions, especially marketing.

Lastly, participants will discover how the farm's marketing strategy can be refined with insurance programs. For many farms, this means utilizing features they already pay for with their insurance, but rarely use in the decision-making process.

Source : msu.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.