Taking control over circumstances creates opportunities while blaming surrenders power.
For me the theme for 2026 is building. I’ve taken some time to reflect on certain areas in my life, what I could improve and how I want that to look. For example, I’ve identified areas in my marketing schools that I could improve, or that I’ve noticed people need more detailed information on, so I’ll build a better curriculum. I want to try to run an ultramarathon, and I’ve identified several areas I am weak as a runner, so I am working on building those areas up.
I must get the updated curriculum done by the end of this month. I really need six months to build what I’m calling “goat legs” for the race but I have less than four to do it. Other people have studied successful people, and they tell the rest of us the high achievers act with a sense of urgency. The greatest mentor I ever had would always say “we don’t need to slow down; we need to calm down”.
I share this story in my marketing schools but was never going to share it on this platform due to the fact I am concerned about blowback. I’ve changed my mind because of things that are floating around and realized it’s time to share it.
Packer collusion exposed through strategic cattle marketing experience
Years ago, I executed a sweet leapfrog trade. When I bought the replacement cattle, I knew I was committed to feeding them out, since my brand was going to be the fourth brand on them. After looking at them one day I told the feedyard manager to show list them and see what happens.
I got a call from him the next week with a bid. I agreed to accept it. This is when it got weird. He said he’d call me back in a few hours and let me know how it went. The bid was only good if the packer could buy the entire show list. Translation, my ability to market my cattle was now in some incompetent fool’s hands.
I asked if he had any other offers. It went like this: One packer wasn’t bidding that week. They really didn’t need my cattle because they had 900 thousand of their own on feed at the time. Another packer wasn’t bidding because they bought a bunch of cattle the previous week and their kill weeks were full for the next two week out. The next packer I knew wouldn’t bid on mine because they are cattle snobs and when their buyer saw all the brands on my stock they’d pass. How convenient for the fourth packer, and they were leveraging the situation. What I just described is the collusion.
As a short rabbit trail here, I do spend time explaining to the cow/calf producers that the packer is not screwing them and that they are not beef producers. That would get too long on here today.
Social media crash outs undermine personal responsibility culture
After that call from the feedyard I made some calls of my own. I got my pen sold, and for a little more than the bid was for. It was my brand on their hip, and that means it’s my responsibility.
One skill that separates people who succeed from those who struggle is personal responsibility. When we blame, we surrender all our power. When we take responsibility, we claim our power. I wanted that bid because I knew I could execute a sell/buy marketing trade and get those fats replaced at a profit.
I also tell my classes this, you think your thoughts are private, yet all I have to do is look at the results you’re getting, and I know what you have been, and probably are thinking. Our health, the state of our business, our finances, and relationships are a result of our choices. If we do not like these, take responsibility and make different choices.
We have all heard this one: our life in five years from now will be determined by the books we read and the people we associate with. Most people underestimate their surroundings and how it influences them. It influences their thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and opinions. Most fail to realize how they absorb the opinions of others. My great mentor used to say “our environment has more to do with who we are than our DNA”. This is because what we consume consumes us.
In today’s world it’s not just books we read and people we associate with, it’s social media and podcasts too. All of these reflect a level of personal responsibility because they are choices.
Here’s the problem, there are grownups doing crash outs on these platforms. These crash outs get tons of views and shares. These crash outs are giving all their power away and creating an environment influencing others to give their power away also. Instead of using their phone like I did to get that pen sold, they use their phone to do a crash out and post it online telling the world how the packer screwed them. They don’t understand that obstacles become opportunities when we embrace personal responsibility. Like I said, when I made that call, I got a little more than the offer was for.
Bootstrapping philosophy under attack despite proven success stories
Here’s a post I saw this week that really got under my skin. “Bootstrapping is a hoax to convince us the injustices we face are a result of our actions instead of a system rigged against us”. Bootstrapping, for younger readers who may not know, is starting or running a company with little capital. This forces us to get creative with the resources we have and find ways to maximize them.
American’s love an underdog story. Underdogs are bootstrappers, if they weren’t we’d call them privileged. Myself and everyone I consider in my circle started our operations from scratch. To say bootstrapping is a hoax is denying what we accomplished. What I don’t think people realize is that part of bootstrapping is making different decisions.
Basic business skills lacking among struggling agricultural operations
I’ve noticed another trend emerging from the calls I’ve gotten this month. I called some consultants I trust, and they confirmed they see the same thing. I then called some retired bankers to see if they could verify what the consultants told me, and they did. People don’t know how to track and calculate costs, nor do they know how to calculate their net worth. The banker did it for them. It’s not just in agriculture, I learned it’s also the blue-collar businesses in town too.
Operations don’t go under because the system is rigged against them, they go under because they don’t know how to do the basic things of running the operation. They go under because they don’t have spending under control. They didn’t take personal responsibility for fundamental things and gave their power away.
Here’s an action step, take your time back. Quit consuming garbage on various platforms and read a good book, run your numbers yourself or learn how to. Things like that. I’ve challenged people to do something like this for six months, and the point is to quit consuming the garbage, and see what happens. The ones who did it all told me they experienced a quantum leap. In a short period of time with the right information and skills, they build something better.
Market analysis shows breeding versus feeding opportunities equal
The feeder market had a little of everything in only two days this week. Overall, the Value of Gain (VOG) is signaling this is a weight gain business. The implied hint is the word overall. I am using that word to say from flyweights to fats it’s paying to put weight on, however there were some spots in sales that put in leapfrogs. Replacement heifers caught a $18 premium.
Fleshy cattle were up to 27 back. This is not for everyone. This creates an opportunity to add value and prosper by melting weight off.
Unweaned calves were up to 30 back. Some were upset the discount was this severe. I’ve heard this plenty in the last month. Someone is upset at the price they received for their cattle. I ask when they sold them and it’s always been the week of Thanksgiving, or Christmas. I then ask why they sold that week, and the answer was they didn’t want chores so they could spend time with the family. My next question is why are you upset? You got what you wanted, and that was no chores. Making a profit wasn’t the first thing out of their mouth, getting out of work was. Be committed to making the profit. Keep this in mind, the feedyard that is buying those cattle has to be fair to their help and let them have time off for the holidays too. The winning bidder is going to be the person willing to do the work when everyone else wants to go play.
Quick rundown of a female sale. 6-8-year-old cows were the bellringers. Bred heifers came in second. When I subtracted the highest selling lot of bred heifers from the average, the average dropped $75 per head. There were nearly 775 head of bred heifers. Dropping one load lot pulls the average down that much shows the price difference between them and the others. People pay premiums for what they want to buy. There was a $1450 price drop when the cow was called short solid.
To paint a clearer picture, bred heifers, without the one group, $4,070, 3-5-year-olds $3,860, 6-8-year-olds $4,460, shorts $3,000, brokens $$2,760.
Since the popular cookie cutter is to sell young cows before they depreciate, which we can see here wasn’t the case, and replacing them with open heifers. I’ll start there. This trade would have the operation selling $1,458 value into the market and getting paid $1,276 for it. We can clearly see we don’t want to do this. Sell/buy marketing is not selling and animal and buying a cheaper one, there are parameters we work within. It’s like putting the bumpers up on the bowling alley to prevent us from rolling a gutter ball.
The trade of selling the more mature cows or bred heifers and replacing with opens is a good one. Both of these have us getting paid more than the value we would’ve sold into the market.
The experts are telling us we’re highly profitable right now and we will be keeping heifers to breed as a result. With the price difference between an open replacement and a bred heifer it makes sense to breed them. Hold the phone. Remember we will be paying a premium for replacement quality, and it’s still attractive. What about feeing the plain heifers? Just as attractive. It’s really six one way half a dozen the other. If the price of bred cattle doesn’t go up, and the market throws a dime on top of fats, that will change things. My point is, while everyone is looking at the breeding option there is another good one, and not every heifer should be bred.
We have added another school for 2026, in Tyler Texas in the month of July. Registrations are already coming in for that, and there is still room for Bismarck ND. Marketing Schools | Mr CattleMaster
