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We live in a corporate America. Corporations own the news media we
watch, listen to and read. They are the advertisers, the brand names that
we live with day-to-day. The American public has been raised in this
environment.
This corporate culture is in stark contrast the majority of the people
involved in the cattle business - the producers.
Another distinction is between the type of management decisions required
in cattle production compared to most of the other protein providers who
can operate within controlled environments (like industrial America) and
those in other industries as well. An article from The Stockman Grass
Farmer (5/01) states these differences well:
"…it
must be recognized that agriculture is, first and foremost, based on
ecological science and not on industrial science. As a result, agriculture
operates from a much different set of rules than does the rest of corporate
America or the industrial sector. Agricultural production operates through
a series of ecological processes, which are governed more by the whims of
Nature than the hand of man. We cannot control the amount of sunlight
shining on earth. We cannot control the weather. We do not have complete
control over insects, diseases and the like. And with few exceptions,
producers have little to no control over the prices they are paid for their
products. As a result, we cannot predict, with any certainty, how much of
any agricultural product we can produce at any given time or how much
profit will be earned. In contrast, industrial output is controlled by
manmade schedules and quotas, which operate through a series of mechanical
processes and technologies that can be manipulated with fairly consistent
or predictable results. Through the opening or closing of a valve, the
pushing of a button or the flipping of a switch, industrial output can
grind to a halt or leap to meet an increase in demand. Industrial output is
entirely under the control of the hand of man. Agriculture is not."
The method of operation at the JHL has attempted to take the middle
ground. While we cannot control many
of our variables (i.e.weather, markets) there are decisions we can
make. We must first have a plan and
then go about implementing it around all the variables that are thrown in
the way. We must measure everything
that could be relevant.
You will be able to better understand what comprises the JHL's approach
to herd management with these thoughts tucked in the back of your mind.
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