Thorbardin Ranch, LLC

There is a reason why most of us are ranchers, not saying that we all lack communication skills but most of us need to keep busy and not necessarily on the computer. 

A lot has happened since last time I wrote.  We are working closely with A Double J Outfitters to manage our hunting on our fabulous ranches.  We are excited about this.

In addition, our transformation is now about complete to an Angus style herd.  We are just finishing up the feeding of the last highland composite calves we have in the feedlot.  And with the strong calf values this fall, we sold all but our replacements heifers which is a first for us.  Our transition to Angus is well on track. 

We recently got in 125 head of Stevenson Angus bulls from the two families: Diamond Dot and Stevenson Ranch.  These bulls will be at our Laramie Ranch until the sale on April 14th.  We will of course have them PAP tested after they spent about 40 days here at the balmy high elevation in Laramie.  Can you picture a better place to spend your winters?  As in the past few years, these are an outstanding group of bulls, it is what one would expect from the Stevenson breeding.

The snow pack in the Snowy Range is exceptional so far.  It actually looks like it will be a good irrigation year.  Still have a lot of winter to go and of course spring.  A long cool spring with a slow snow melt would be ideal.

STop in and say hi and take a look at the bulls that we are managing.

Good luck!

jvaillancourt

Somehow time during the summer months seems to go much faster than in the Winter months.  As such, I’ve been a bit lax the past week running around and not keeping up with my writings.

There is a lot about sustainability in the media these days, which mode of agriculture and specifically beef for example should producers follow.  First and foremost, most who define sustainability are not in the business and even more importantly, sustainability has to be first and foremost profitable.  If the operation is not profitable regardless whether it is conventional or organic, the property will most likely be sold and agriculture land sold today typically gets converted to the best and high profitability which is of course non agriculture.

Yet more media somehow forget that profitability first and foremost will determine if that ranch or farm is sustainable.

Unfortunately the media in this battle has also pitted the various modes of operation against each other.  Reading a lot of comments on the various agriculture boards, there is a tremendous amount of bitterness, anger, vile comments and even pure hatred thrown at each other.  This is extremely unfortunate.  We need all phases of agriculture to succeed.  There is no magic bullet of a single approach that will work on all operations with all people to meet the needs of consumers.

This is amusing in some aspects.  A hundred years ago, it was all organic.  So called conventional agriculture did not even exist.  And yet was it sustainable?  There are goals of the organic movement I readily embraced, and there are practices of the conventional I also embraced. 

We all wish that we could farm and ranch like our fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers did (or mothers for that matter).  But the only constant regarding sustainability is change.  Sustainability is not a postcard snapshot of what we want agriculture to be, it is much harder than that.

England at one point grew grapes, rivaled France in wine making for a brief period.  The great herring fisheries off the coast of Iceland and northern Europe, thought to be infinite, the cod fisheries off the north east coast of American, thought to be infinite.  Sustainability was eluded by lack of knowledge but also the changes in society and the environment.

Sustainability also varies from operation to operation.  In visiting, New England for example as I was born and raised there, the small family farms with the vegetable stands the litter the country side take a more personal approach to farming.  It takes individuals with people skills, those who can talk and tell stories about their land, their operations to be successful.  Not all individuals have those skills.

The only thing we can say about sustainability is that it will change over time.  Sustainability will change because of environment, politics, culture and what the consumer wants.  Who would have dreamt fifty years ago that baby vegetables would be in such demand?

But in this discussion about sustainability, we need to recognize that there are different sides, different roads to achieve this goal.  We need to treat those who paths differ than ours with respect and dignity and to wish them success.

Take care and enjoy this great holiday weekend!

jvaillancourt

An unusual problem for Wyoming, too much moisture!  It is hard to believe after living through over 7 years of drought that May & June could be too wet and cold, and now Laramie is in a flooding problem with the past week's rainfall.

Our Laramie ranch received over 3 inches of rain, which when you are in a 12 inch annual rainfall area, is tremendous.  On top of that a major snow melt was occurring, the Laramie River has not been this high in decades.  Many of the area roads are under water as I write this and one especially that comes into  our ranch is.

Here in Buffalo, we received a good one inch plus.  We have not had dryland pastures look this good in nearly 10 long years.  It is truly remarkable and I find it a tad amusing in that the first few years of ranching it was very wet years.  I actually thought ranching was a piece of cake.  Pasture rotation was so easy, leaving grass, going into another full pasture of grass.  Even have seen a bit of kickback of the native grasses on cheat grass, it might be my imagination but it seems the native grass may be winning the battle with cheat grass with these late rains.

Reservoirs that have not been full in decades are suddenly full.  It is a very unusual year for us.  While there are certain operation headaches, washed out culverts, flooded roads, ditches that are overflowing and washing out, it is so far better than looking at a burnt pasture and wondering where to move the cows to.  Knowing that even new pastures are already burnt with very little forage in them.

Years like this, we wish we had major reservoirs on the ranches to store the water for the years that it is extremely dry. 

In the West, one can look at averages of rainfall, temperatures; however in an arid climate that is all they are purely averages.  Each year is unique and dramatic. 

The only constant in ranching and farming is change.  We all wish it could be a Norman Rockwell postcard, year in year out.  It doesn’t happen.

Take care,

jvaillancourt

May was a unique month for the tremendous amount of moisture that we received, of course some of it was heavy wet snow, but it without a doubt one of the better May's in recent years for moisture and grass growth.

Fortunately the cool and wet May pushed off the hatching of grasshoppers, but now it is time to count and determine if they need spraying.  Johnson County landowners were quick to enroll in the district Weed and Pest program to manage these critters.  The more acres that are enrolled the better it is for everyone, grasshoppers can travel up to 30-50 miles once they sprout wings. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100531/sc_livescience/westpoisedforworstgrasshopperoutbreakin30years

We brought in 400 yearlings at Buffalo and another 1,000 head down in Laramie on top of our own cow herd.  I expect they should have a good year for gain unless the summer suddenly turns hot and dry, which it certainly could.

Cattle markets have heated up in the past few months.  Not sure it is a bubble in cattle, (would hope it would be much bigger one), but I know I don't have a sharp enough pencil to make these economics work.  Making profitable decisions would be far easier if we all knew what the future entailed, with cattle markets seemingly following the stock markets of the world, it is even tougher now to determine what cattle prices will be in the fall for calves and cull cows.

There is a lot of babble in the media about agriculture sustainability.  Most of the babble involves methods of production, and the battle between conventional agriculture and organic.  However, the media is missing the most import aspect for sustainable agriculture and that is profitability.  It doesn’t' matter what road one chooses for their modes of operation, if they are not profitable agriculture will not be continued to be operated on that land.  And land is always sold for best use, which many times will mean for non agricultural purposes.

Enjoy your week!

jvaillancourt

Hello!

It has been nearly 15 years, since Thorbardin Ranch was formed and bought it first cow and where we have travelled in that time with our cattle.  But, recently an era has ended.  This past month we sold the last of our highland cows about a 120 head. 

There is sadness with the last of the cows being sold.  The highland cows are unique in their looks, their colors and their horns.  I’m not sure there is a more beautiful herd of cows on a pasture.  But in saying that, beauty alone doesn't keep you in business.  The highland cattle have some great traits, and I think genetically there may be more traits in the rare breeds that we are not fully aware of.

Some of the positive attributes of the highland breed was the mothering abilities, superb meat, moderate frame.  It is unfortunate but the bottom line in raising cattle is beef production, unfortunately for most ranchers it is pounds and cost of gain not beef quality.  I personally believe beef consumption would soar if the grocery stores had better beef.

The down side to the highland cattle were the horns, heavy coat and the breed being unimproved which meant they were never selected for performance.  And I will take a pot shot at the American Highland Cattle Association; its members are more worried about the looks than about the economics of the breed.  There are a handful of members that would truly love to make a living running the breed, but they are in the minority.

But while one era ends, another begins.  The past four years we have slowly been shifting to a commercial Angus herd.  We are truly excited about this.  We are identifying cattle that can thrive at the high altitudes of Laramie and the West.  We are also working with other Angus breeders to test their genetics at our Laramie Ranch for high altitude disease using the PAP test.

We recently completed a very successful high altitude bull sale with Stevenson Genetics.  Everyone involved in our company was very pleased with the quality of their animals and how they grew while in our care.  We were also excited how the valley and other areas that require high altitude genetics desired these exceptional animals.

We are proud of what we accomplished and did with the highland breed, everybody in the company is, Cody, Brandon, Moe and myself.  But at the same time we are extremely excited about our future and the direction that we are moving to.

Stay tune for the next great adventure!

jvaillancourt