How Cattle Producers Can Take Back Their Time
Time is money, right? Time is also a lot of other things such as family time, giving back to your community, health, vacations and quality of life in general. Cattle producers never seem to have enough of it either. Zack and Susan Lindsley are young cattle producers who aren’t afraid to work and build a successful business but have made it a point not to let work get in the way of family life and community involvement.
Zack didn’t grow up on a farm or ranch but he was exposed to it in other ways. When his father-in-law wanted to retire, it created the opportunity for the Lindsleys to become involved in production agriculture. “What was alluring to me about farming was the success I was seeing other farmers have. They were also very grounded people who had great families. They were living a very nice and comfortable lifestyle. I really appreciated what I was seeing them become,” said Zack. Today, Lindsleys primarily feed cattle on-site and at other locations, plus are involved with farming and cow-calf production.
Not growing up in production agriculture meant Zack had a lot of research and learning to do. He leaned on making time to do the research himself and sought advice from friends and mentors because his father-in-law was unable to help much due to health issues. Zack said, “It was quite overwhelming to say the least because you'd read an article that might say one thing and then you read another article that would contradict the first one. So, I was kind of at a loss for what I should do. As I got into the industry more, I would go out and talk to other guys who had more experience.” Today, the tables have turned and now the upcoming generation of farmers reaches out to Zack for advice.
As he created these connections, he saw patterns between farmers who were successful and made a conscious effort to emulate these same traits and values. “One of the biggest things I noticed was that these guys were taking a very strong approach on the numbers side. They knew exactly what their breakeven was on a given day. They truly understood the financial side of the business,” said Zack. His drive to be successful financially and build the lifestyle he wanted for his family led him from tracking little to no data and putting all his time into the operation to tracking more data putting his time back towards his family and community.
Zack was able to create a clearer path towards success with the help of modern technology like Performance Beef. The cattle management software removes the guessing out of cattle feeding, offers timely data and gives Zack his time back. “Switching to Performance Beef was a pivotal moment for our operation. It gave us a lot of buying power and opened our eyes to what we actually could do and how we were already doing,” said Zack. The app allows Lindsleys to track daily closeouts, rate of gains and efficiency just to name a few things. One of the unexpected benefits Zack found with this program was discovering the increased efficiency with using feed bunks compared to drive-in yards as well as tracking the impacts of feeding cattle at a consistent time each day. Additionally, Zack works with Balance4ward to assist him on the marketing side. He recognized he had room for improvement in this area and that it was critical to their success, so he found help.
When Zack is vetting through new technology and resources, he looks at three main areas – return on investment, efficiency and ease of use. The technology must be priced at a level that offers a return on investment. It has to be more than a Band-Aid and truly make his business more efficient, and it also has to be easy for everyone on the operation to use. Zack said, “It is very easy to put all your time into the business but now I realize that how many hours we put into the business doesn’t make us successful. It’s what we do with those hours that determine the next six months to a year of profit and losses.” Learning how to use his time wisely allows Zack and Susan to have more time together as a family, coach local sports and volunteer for organizations that matter most to them.
Lindsleys are showing cattlemen and women how to take back their time and live the lifestyle that draws many people to agriculture. They are leading by example by finding the right technology for their operations, building a team to support all areas of their business and never losing sight of why they chose the cattle business.
