Source: Oklahoma Farm Report | March 22, 2019
Hugh Aljoe is director of producer relations with the Noble Research Institute based in Ardmore, Okla., and has advice on putting all the pieces of a management plan together in order to help producers get the most success they can from their ranch.
Aljoe shared some of his advice on that subject with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays, boiling it all down to the notion that if producers are intentional in their management decisions, they will enjoy more favorable outcomes.
“It all begins with a management plan and often times we have an idea of what we want to achieve, but we never put it into some sort of context as materials we can not only help determine what our priorities are – but how do we track it and were we successful or not,” Aljoe explained. “How will we review our activities to say whether we need to change or modify? We get so involved in the process, we forget about the metrics and the metrics are what’s important in order to obtain a goal.”
A good place to start when developing your management plan, according to Aljoe, is by figuring out exactly what physical resources are available to you. In other words, what can your ranchland support? Aljoe says in making this determination, a producer must consider all the facets of their operation starting with your ranch’s stocking rate. He advises producers to ensure the numbers actually reflect what can be achieved in reality. Once that is decided, he suggests building into your plan room for flexibility so that when the unexpected happens, you can pivot your operation and adapt to strenuous situations or opportunities when they arise.
As your plan develops and matures, he says you can then start making those decisions that leverage your capabilities and maximize your operation’s profit potential.
“Ultimately, it is all about net return per acre and determining whether or not what we’re doing is profitable and that we’re actually adding value,” he said. “We should always be improving our bottom line and that’s ultimately what a producer should be looking at.”
For more of Aljoe’s advice on developing a management plan for your operation, listen to his full conversation with Hays on a recent Beef Buzz podcast below or click here.