Originally published in Progressive Cattle magazine:

https://www.agproud.com/articles/61931-southeast-swiss-cheese-and-bmps

Picture a slice of Swiss cheese: light yellow, square, and full of holes of various sizes. If you tried to use that slice as a patch, it wouldn’t be very effective because the holes would still allow things to slip through. Now imagine a large block of Swiss cheese. The holes in each slice come from air bubbles formed throughout the block, but they don’t align perfectly from one slice to the next. If you cut that block into slices and layered them together, the holes in one piece would be covered by solid areas in others. The result is a much more solid barrier.

What does this have to do with cattle management?

I didn’t invent the “Swiss cheese model,” but it’s one of my favorite ways to explain best management practices (BMPs) in beef cattle production. In this business, we’re always trying to reduce inefficiencies and improve outcomes, whether that’s increasing weaning weights, improving reproductive rates, or getting more value from our forages. There’s no magic solution that fixes every problem. Instead, we rely on layers of best practices that, when combined, cover more gaps in our system.

In this analogy, each best management practice is a slice of Swiss cheese. One slice alone, such as feeding a balanced mineral, helps address a specific weakness like a nutrient deficiency. But that mineral program alone won’t solve every issue on the farm. If I stack that practice with others, like maintaining good body condition scores, culling open cows, strategically deworming, or extending the grazing season, I begin to close more of the gaps. The more complementary practices I layer, the fewer holes remain, and the stronger my system becomes.

There are countless best management practices available to cattle producers. Aside from those mentioned, producers might select genetics suited to their environment, implement a defined calving season, or rotate pastures to optimize forage use. No single strategy eliminates all risk or inefficiency, but stacked together, they can make a significant impact.

That’s not to say you need to adopt every practice all at once. There’s an ebb and flow to every production system, and changes should be made thoughtfully and over time. But thinking long-term and strategically layering practices that complement each other will lead to more consistent performance and a more efficient cow herd.

Just like layering Swiss cheese slices to form a solid block, stacking best practices makes your operation stronger, more resilient, and better equipped to handle challenges.