Back to school

Around our house the changing of the summer season is usually commemorated by the turning of crops, preparations for weaning, and a little relief from sweltering humidity. When you don’t live in a world that runs on semesters, it’s easy to forget that the end of summer also means back to school for so many families.

For the last few weeks it’s been impossible to overlook all the signs that school is back in session. Parents post photos of their kids, college students have moved back to campus, and my mother, a high school math teacher on Eastern Time, tends to be a little grumpier when I call her at 10:00 p.m. on a school night from my Central Time zone (Sorry, Mom!). It’s enough to make a person just a bit nostalgic about the days when you could dedicate the majority of your time to formal learning.

As cattlemen and women, it’s sure easy enough to get caught up in all of the chores and responsibilities around the farm and ranch. We try to keep up with the news and research articles as best we can. Although, if your coffee table is anything like ours, it carefully cradles every Ag magazine and newspaper published between the start of planting and the end of hay season. You know you’ll get to them eventually after you get those spring calves weaned.

Sometimes there’s a lot of value in geographically removing yourself from your cattle business to take time and enhance your own learning. This summer, I had the opportunity to do just that through NCBA’s Young Cattlemen’s Conference (YCC).

It’s a big commitment to spend 10 days jet-setting between three different time zones, but the value was ten-fold the sacrifices to be there. Not every learning excursion can be so in-depth, but there are several fundamental lessons from off-the-ranch training beyond just the new material.

Reviewing Current

It’s true. Some of the material we covered in YCC wasn’t all that new to me. I had a relatively decent grasp on some of the consumer beef demand topics, but it was not a waste of my time to hear it again. It’s valuable to see someone new present familiar information. I learned new ways to explain answers to common questions, and likewise heard questions I’d never considered.

My challenge: Don’t let an old familiar topic deter you from attending a cattlemen’s meeting. You may have a great vaccination program in place for your herd. A public forum on herd health might have new research to make it even better. Never become complacent about the things you’re already really good at.

Perspective

All our tours were at operations that were “all in” for their segment of beef production. As it turns out, there’s a lot that ranchers can learn from burger processors, farm equipment developers can learn from legislators, and feedyard managers can learn from meat scientists. Spending time with people who are some of the best in their business is a great way to gain perspective. Even though we all have different jobs along the way, there are a lot of strategies that aren’t that different. While visiting with the JBS corporate team, one leader said the packing industry used to look at everything as one big pie and everyone was trying to get a bigger piece. He said today we need to challenge that thinking by figuring out how we can make the pie bigger. We can all put that logic to work.

My challenge: Chances are all your focus lies in whatever segment you’re in. If you’re a cow-calf operator, you spend the minimal amount of time necessary understanding the world of cattle feeding. When you head to a conference, take in a session that is targeted towards a different arm of the beef business.

New faces and making time—tune in tomorrow to read the rest of Kara’s lessons learned from YCC.

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