Circle of Awesome

One of the greatest perks of my day job as an Agricultural Finance Specialist is the opportunity to work with some really dynamic farm families over the years. I don’t think I have met a customer that I haven’t learned from! However, that being said, there are always those clients that you just ‘click’ with, and over time you develop a strong, trusting relationship. As a relationship grows, it changes from being simply fulfilling financial transactions (how much, how long, how cheap), to becoming a key advisor who is sought out for advice and counsel well before any major operational decision is made.

In this regard, agriculture has evolved. In the past, I think farmers predominantly relied on family to provide a lot of the advice and guidance. As farming has become more complex farmers still engage family, but also involve specialists in order to ensure they have a good understanding of the intricacies of any potential issue. As a result, one of the trends I have noticed among my best clients is that they tend to surround themselves with key advisors that they can talk to whenever they are looking at making a strategic change to their operation. This is where the specialists come in – whether they are professional (accountants and lawyers), production oriented (nutritionists and veterinarians) or personal (family, friends). On a combined basis, these key people form what I like to call a ‘circle of awesome’ around your operation. Why awesome? Simply because, if they weren’t really good at what they did, chances are they wouldn’t be key advisors in your circle

As you can see, Circles of Awesome tend to occur on multiple levels. The professional circle, made up of your lawyer, accountant and banker, are relied on for the ‘business’ side of your operation – managing tax issues, ensuring you are legally protected and arranging financing are all essential (if generally boring) parts of a successful operation. If done right these parts are invisible; if done poorly, they can each create substantial headaches for both the business and the owners. These are the professionals that can cost a fair bit of money in the short term, with the hope that they save you a lot of money in the future.

The operational circle tends to be more hands on – your nutritionist, veterinarian, mechanic and (in the purebred business) sale management team. These are the key people that help make your business tick. One of the biggest changes over the past 20 years is that a lot of industry people who previously only provided a service, are also now sales people. Most nutritionists now work for feed companies; vets make substantially more of their revenue on drugs than on farm calls; accountants have software and succession planning seminars to sell. In order to gain access to your circle of awesome, you need to feel comfortable that they aren’t going to sell you a product or service that doesn’t fit your needs, just to make that sale. That being said, you have to be aware that their time is valuable as well. The best relationships are formed on mutual trust and are mutually beneficial – they are only going to recommend the products and services that fit – you are going to understand that there is value in the services they provide and compensate them for the work they do. These operational experts are essential – and their impact on the day to day management of the operation requires a strong level of trust.

The final circle is one of family, friends and peers. As mentioned above, farmers have always relied on family for advice – and based on the unique dynamics of the industry I don’t think this will ever change – simply because the line between the business of farming and personal life is so blurred. Farmers live on the land, and tend to think about farming 24/7 – there is often very little separation between the ‘business of farming’ and the ‘life of farming’. As a result, friends and industry peers that form part of this circle also tend to think the same way. By surrounding yourself with like-minded people, there is a tremendous wealth of knowledge, a sounding board for ideas, and an understanding of similar challenges facing your farm. It is this circle that is there to help you up when there is a problem, and a steady shoulder to lean on during the challenging times that often face our cyclical industry. While the time and advice from the personal circle is often considered ‘free’, I think it is important to be aware of the implicit two-way street. Don’t ask them for time or input if you cannot return the favour when they ask the same of you. It can be extremely easy to take advantage of friends and family so it is very important to make sure that there is an eventual balancing in the relationship when they may also need a hand up.

Good relationships also have the strength to respectfully disagree, to have differences of opinion, and tactfully get their respective points across. There isn’t much value in having an advisor that is just going to agree with everything you say and tell you how great you are. That is what your spouse is for! But in all seriousness, the people that you want in your circle are people that are going to add value to your operation. While having a ‘yes-man’ around might make you feel good, it certainly doesn’t add any tangible value. The balance to this is that there always needs to be tact involved when disagreeing. Being able to have a constructive and open dialogue without getting argumentative is a tremendous skill. I guess the easiest way to describe it is simple: give the type of advice you would wish to get in return . . . be constructive in your criticism, and be equally generous with your compliments.

One of the challenges of building a ‘circle of awesome’ is that not only is the industry becoming more and more complex, but change is happening at a much quicker pace. In a lot of cases, farmers used to be able to get away with finding a single mentor that could be a go-to person for most of their advice and counsel. Now it is more important than ever to have a group of key advisors – you just never know when someone you rely on for advice decides to retire or relocate. It is always essential to have a back-up plan to ensure that a void doesn’t form in your circle of advisors.

In this regard, I think that Circles of Awesome can also relate back to building a stronger purebred cattle herd. It is often tempting to build a herd around one elite genetic line that has done well. While it is great to have that one foundation cow or herd bull that is renowned for the quality it produces, I think it is beneficial to ensure there continues to be diversity in your herd from a long range planning perspective. In order for commercial customers to become repeat buyers, they require diversity in their selections. Likewise for fellow purebred breeders kicking tires on genetics, they are always on the lookout for something different. From a herd management perspective, it also creates a built in succession plan – if you happen to lose a cow/calf/bull all your eggs aren’t in one basket. This process can be a major challenge for smaller producers like ourselves, where there just isn’t the capacity to run too many cows (or bulls). Our ability to maintain outcross strains is reduced, but diversity remains something that we try to continually focus on. In the long run, having a ‘constellation of stars’ (ideally unrelated) should create a deeper, more flexible herd that doesn’t rely on that one awesome superstar animal.

While it is important to have a group of people that you can count on for advice and counsel, it is equally important to remember that you as an individual are responsible for making that final decision. Advisors do just that: advise. While the issues may vary from being extremely complex (tax or estate planning) to the mundane (such as which AI sire to utilize), it is you as a farmer/business owner that not only gets to make the decision, but will also still be there to manage the consequences – no matter how they turn out. A great example of this is in the current lending environment – just because you can borrow additional funds, it doesn’t mean it represents a good business decision to spend it. Borrowing money is easy – it is paying it back that is the hard part! (And not something your advisors are going to do for you!)

Probably the best thing about forming these networks is that they often happen intuitively on their own – the respective circles develop over time, and contacts naturally grow among people you have a good working relationship with. The key is perhaps to periodically take a step back and ensure that you have all the bases covered before you actually need the guidance – having time and space to consider your options prior to making decisions always helps. And when emergencies arise and the time isn’t there – you already know who to talk to.

So in summary, I think developing all three circles – professional, operational and personal – with people you trust can provide tremendous value to an operation. Together they create a diverse sounding board that creates a combined wealth of ideas and knowledge on everything from big picture items like succession planning to immediate items like how to deal with a calf that refuses to suck. The best relationships are mutually beneficial – and often a lot of fun. Building long term relationships are always more than just business – especially since farming permeates so much of what we do.

Applecross Cattle – Now also on Facebook

We have decided to add an Applecross Cattle page on Facebook to supplement our blog/website.  Our goal is to utilize Facebook for quick updates and as a forum to share a number of the pictures we take through-out the year specifically on our frequent ‘cattle tours’.  To check us out and ‘like’ us on Facebook please head to http://www.facebook.com/ApplecrossCattle

We will continue to use www.applecrosscattle.com for all of our lengthy ramblings, and this will still be home to all of the detailed information on our program.  We expect our Facebook page will contain links back to the website whenever new posts are made.

The Value of Exclusivity

With our AI program wrapping up this week, and spring (finally) in the air, it is always a great feeling to have the bulls go out.  While we still watch for activity to ensure dates on all the cows, the ‘active management’ part of the year has predominantly drawn to a close.   We are walking the same two herd bulls as last year – both APLX Escalade and APLX Samson have continued to develop and have matured well over the past year. With a couple of calves from each on the ground, we look forward to a bigger impact from each bull next calving season.

Selecting a walking bull is perhaps the biggest decision that we purebred breeders make when shaping our herds.  Those bulls are what will impact your herd for at least the next 5 years; not only in siring top replacement females for your own operation, but also in producing highly marketable sons for your customers.  As a result, making a mistake in bull selection can have a dramatically negative impact to your herd – one that can take a long time to fix.    This is one of the reasons that we kept back two of our own bulls in 2012 to utilize – we knew the cow families and their respective backgrounds.  Having the privilege of watching their maternal lines develop and evolve over the past 20 years certainly decreased the risk in utilizing these two bulls.

The challenge with utilizing your own bulls is that, for smaller operations like ourselves, we can back ourselves into a genetic corner very quickly.  We do continue to utilize AI for 4 weeks at the start of breeding season, with the goal of introducing both proven and outcross genetics, while also ensuring the heifers are bred (early) to a bull we know will calve out.  The downside is that anyone can access those genetics – they are far from exclusive.  As a result, I seem to be spending more and more time paging through bull sale catalogues, looking for that perfect outcross herd bull that will fit the myriad of criteria that we try to select for.

One of the questions I try to continually ask myself is simply: why would someone purchase genetics from our operation?  What brings customers to our yard?  I recognize that strong customer service is essential, but setting that aside, customers want to buy something that will both improve their herd, and – especially in the case of bulls – is outcross to their existing genetic base.  I think it is important to recognize that both traits are important; bulls have to be good and different.  This ‘different’ generally comes from your walking bull, which is traditionally exclusive to your operation.  If bull buyers want those genetics, they have to get them from you (not your neighbours or your fellow breeders in the area).  It is this genetic exclusivity that plays an important part in marketing of genetics.

We are very fortunate to have been able to tap the genetics from my parents operation at Dora Lee.  When we started Applecross, we  selected a package of females that contained some older genetics (King Arthur, C&B Western, Carrousel, Antonius) that by virtue of their scarcity, are now essentially outcross to most of the current Fleckvieh breeding lines.  We also have been blessed with the ability to help prove both Dora Lee Eclipse and Dora Lee’s Equinox.  While not necessarily exclusive (Dad sells some semen privately and via their annual Fleckvieh Forum Sale), having a comfort with the genetics has allowed us to incorporate these exciting young sires into our herd quickly, and evaluate them for ourselves.  It is the combination of older outcross genetics with some outcross polled sires that hopefully differentiates our program (not better – just different), from our peers – with the hope that being different will provide additional marketing opportunities.  In this regard, I think geographic location can also aid in exclusivity – with Dad in Ontario and us in Alberta, it is not as if we are competing for the same customers!

The degree of difficulty in trying to produce quality cattle while staying different only seems to increase when looking for that new ‘walking bull’.  I know I am not unusual in this (apparently wives compare horror stories about husbands who talk cattle non-stop).  Hours are spent paging through bull sale catalogues, old female sale catalogues, the CSA database and breeder websites all looking to reduce the guesswork on finding new, good, outcross genetics.  It is tremendously difficult to judge the potential of a 14 month old bull that was developed in various management programs, across several provinces (and climates),  when the proof (of success) will not arrive until 5 years down the road when those daughters are milking.    No wonder finding a good, outcross bull takes so much work!

One of the big challenges to exclusivity that I have noticed recently, is that it seems that more and more sales catalogues include a note at the front indicating that the breeder of the bull retains the right to collect semen on any of the bulls he is selling at sellers cost and buyers convenience.  With the value I place on exclusivity and being different than my peers, this is not a trend or sentiment I agree with.  As a result, I would think twice about purchasing a bull from programs that have adopted this policy.  I guess I can understand the value to retaining semen on that one elite bull in the calf crop that might have a unique set of circumstances behind it, as this also indicates to the potential purchaser that you feel the bull is truly elite and worth retaining use of.  That being said, putting a blanket policy in place to retain and interest in the genetics of the entire bull offering seems a little excessive.  If I am going to invest the years into proving a bull in my program, there is a tremendous amount of value in retaining exclusivity.  There should be sufficient benefit to the breeder in selling that bull for a fair price, and having their prefix on that successful bull.

So as spring (slowly) returns to central Alberta, after successful calving, bull sale and breeding seasons are over, the planning and evaluating stage of the cycle kicks into gear, and the focus on finding different, outcross genetics only seems to intensify.  It is always a challenge and a risk to try to incorporate something both new and different, but even a turtle wouldn’t get anywhere if they never stuck their head out from under their shell!  That search for good genetics that you can make exclusive to your operation just goes on and on.

Applecross Giselle 10A – an exciting polled Bronson x Arnold’s Image heifer calf.

Calving Season!
Calving is in full swing here at Applecross, which means it is a really exciting time of year – and makes all those night checks at 40 below worth it. Months of anticipation have led up to that instant when we first get to see a calf. Bull or heifer, coloured right or not, getting that healthy calf up and going is always a great feeling.

We have been blessed with a solid start to the season, and after a recent run of bull calves, we now have a balanced mix. On the heifer side, we have a couple of exciting Bronson daughters (including Giselle pictured above) that we hope to develop into the awesome cows Bronson is known for. There is also a really neat polled Gidsco Appollo heifer (also a cow maker), and Eclipse has passed along some really nice daughters from our first calvers. It is great to know that a service sire is going to calve out and give consistent calves that are up and going in a hurry. There also looks to be great competition shaping up to make next years’ bull pen. Our ‘Dora Lee’ sired group of Eclipse, Equinox and Jake all have provided us with sons that are already strutting their stuff.

We are about 60% through calving, and should be finished up by the first week of March. There are plenty more interesting calves on the way – both AI and the first calves from our walking bulls – so that sense of anticipation will stay for a while yet. With a nice group of calves already forming, it will be great see the complete crop and to compare each calf as they develop on grass this summer.