MANAGEMENT

Summer is an exciting time on a ranch or farm. The crops are growing. Children are out of school. Livestock are often outside. As summer progresses, the excitement can turn to what is often referred to as the August blues. Why?

It’s May; we shouldn’t have to worry about heat – yet.

Even with today’s technology, it seems the first heat event always sneaks up on us, and it can be costly.

As a young child, I remember my dad saying, “Children should be seen and not heard.” It was his way of telling me and my siblings or friends to tone it down, as we were most likely getting on his nerves with loud, high-pitched sounds of laughter and playing.

After the second-most-profitable year ever in 2017, cattle producers are wondering how long the good times will last. But with a growing global middle class that has a taste for red meat, it appears the long-term outlook is positive. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by 2030 nearly 5 billion people will be in that category, up from 2 billion in 2014.

For most producers in the West, elk are an expected and accepted nuisance in the winter, but for a neighborhood of ranchers in Montana, elk are a persistent problem all year long.