Originally published in Progressive Cattle magazine:

http://www.agproud.com/articles/62157-southeast-making-do-with-what-you-have

We’ve all heard the saying, “Sometimes you just have to make do with what you have.” That phrase came to mind recently at a conference where beef producers and Extension professionals worked together to identify the top challenges facing the beef industry.

The goal was simple: rank the top six issues; the results were telling. The highest-ranked concerns, such as farmland loss, were critically important, but also largely beyond the direct control of producers or Extension professionals. Preserving farmland requires policy change, conservation programs, and large-scale community action. It’s an important fight, but one we can’t win on our own from the farm gate.

Falling lower in the rankings were issues like improving the adoption of best management practices (BMPs) and technologies and boosting forage use efficiency. Now those are in our wheelhouse. Extension professionals can educate and demonstrate, and producers can put these tools into practice.

As the discussion continued, it became clear that the “lower-ranking” issues are actually the action items that influence the bigger challenges. Take farmland loss, for example: we can’t stop the sale of farmland, but we can get more production from the acres we have.

Ask yourself: How do I make the most of the land I already own or lease? One good measure is pounds of beef produced per acre, often calculated as pounds of weaned calves. Say you wean 50 calves at 600 pounds each. If you can add just 12 pounds to each calf from birth to weaning, that’s an extra 600 pounds total, essentially another calf to sell, without adding a single acre.

That kind of gain might come from something as straightforward as using growth-promoting implants. Other strategies include improved grazing, selecting genetics adapted to your environment, aiming to wean calves at 50% of the dam’s body weight, and applying proper weaning techniques. Each of these BMPs moves the needle on productivity per acre.

Of course, participating in conversations about the “big” problems is important. But those discussions can be time-consuming, overwhelming, and at times, discouraging. Day-to-day, your greatest impact will come from the changes you make within your own operation.

In my last article, I wrote about the power of layering multiple BMPs. This concept fits right alongside that. Review your own BMP adoption, identify gaps, and look for ways to squeeze more pounds of beef from every acre you manage.

Cattle prices won’t always be this strong, and the availability of land isn’t going to improve. So maybe “making do” with the land you have isn’t just the best you can do, it’s the smartest thing you can do.