Rations may change, business models won’t

You know it’s an unusual year when the silage pile is so tall that it interferes with the internet connection.

Of course, moving the antenna to a higher point on the feedyard office isn’t the only change that the crew at Redstone Feeders, near DeSmet, S.D., is making due to the widespread drought.

Earlier this week I met with brothers Todd and Bill Wilkinson, who own the 8,200-head operation with a third brother, Ed. In addition to cutting way more silage than usual, they’re buying more wheat straw, tweaking their rations and changing up the somewhat standard risk management routine. What was always a “push ‘em harder and faster” approach on calf-feds is getting a second look, as they pencil out ways to feed a little less of that high-dollar corn.

“We’re not sitting around crying about it. We’re developing strategies,” Bill says. (I love that optimism…and it seems like I’ve heard a line like that before..)

But what remains constant? “We’ll feed the kind of cattle that make us money,” Bill says.

Their target is predominately high-grading Angus genetics, because it gives them an “additional marketing alternative,” says Todd, who is careful to point out that it’s “not just about pounds.”

They own all of the cattle that come through their yard and say that helps take some of the gamble out of it. Both grid marketing and source-and-age verified programs help them capture premiums.

When I asked if they ever deal with folks who say they’ve got “good black cattle”—when really they’ve just got black cattle, I loved Bill’s answer: “Yeah, we deal with them. We deal with them by not buying those cattle.”

And drought isn’t going to change that.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

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