Spring is right around the corner, and as a rancher, it’s a hectic time of year. Whether you’re calving, getting cattle ready to head back to pasture or planting feed, you’ll be busy from sunup to sundown. While you’re planning and organizing your spring tasks, now is also the time to think ahead.

“Help wanted,” “now hiring,” “open positions,” “accepting applications,” “open interviews,” “apply inside.” Sound familiar? It sure does to me. Nationwide, nearly every industry is feeling the pinch for employees.

Carbon contracts are the current hot topic in agriculture. Essentially, a landowner or agricultural producer enters into a contract with a company or broker seeking to purchase carbon credits.

Have you ever sat down and figured out what it costs to breed a cow? It might seem like an easy number to calculate, since we can add up all of our natural service bull purchases and subtract out the salvage value of any bulls sold.

To address consumer concerns over a change in butter hardness and a resulting finger pointing to feed supplements containing palm byproducts, Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) formed a working group of independent experts to develop fact-based explanations for the industry.

Have you ever been told you must keep a detailed set of records for the ranch to be successful as a manager? And have you ever considered you might be wasting a great deal of time? Hopefully that’s not the case, but it is certainly possible to be 100% efficient but 0% effective.