The Padlock’s terrain ranges from mountains with snow and pines, to sagebrush and rolling hills. “The predictions are that there will be some profitability in the cow-calf sector that’s the other reason to try to hold on to these cows,” he says.Ĭonversely, if rain doesn’t come for another year or two, the approach will prove to be costly, but they’ve built some flexibility into their operating plan. When it does finally rain, Patterson says they don’t want to be in a position to have to replace cows in an economic environment where cows are expensive to purchase and calves are going to be worth quite a bit to sell. Although it’s still a tremendous cost to the operation, buying replacements in the current market would be more expensive.” “Those costs,” Patterson says, “get capitalized, the expenses come off of the income statement onto the balance sheet, and the animal is depreciated over a period of time. Padlock works to develop as many of their heifers as possible on ranchland in order to keep costs as low as possible. Patterson says the cost of producing a bred heifer has risen almost $200/head in the last five years. Part of Padlock’s plan involves utilizing raised replacement heifers. “The weather threats are a very real risk, but we aren’t anxious to liquidate a lot of cows.”ĭuring his presentation, Patterson outlined some of programs and steps the operation has taken to position itself against the challenges ahead, as well as for the coming opportunities. After losing 80,000 acres of rangeland to wildfire last year, Patterson says the operation’s current overall goal is to get through the drought and hold the cowherd together. The 70-year-old Padlock Ranch sprawls across nearly 500,000 acres in Wyoming and Montana. The key is being prepared.Īppearing before attendees of the recent 9th Annual Cattlemen’s Workshop in La Grande, OR, Patterson began by saying: “We’re as dry as everyone else around us north of Sheridan, WY, but we have the ability built into our production plan to deal with this situation.” Trey Patterson, chief operations officer of the Padlock Ranch, says he’s among those concerned about the risks currently facing the cattle industry, but he’s optimistic and sees tremendous opportunities ahead for cattle producers. Drought, wildfires and high feed prices have forced many cattle producers across the nation to evaluate their operating systems as they struggle to survive these weather-induced lean years.
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