10 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN April/May 2026 RUMINATIONS 4611 Cattle Drive, Lincoln, NE 68521 Phone (402) 475-2333 | Fax (402) 475-0822 nc@necattlemen.org | www.nebraskacattlemen.org NEBRASKA CATTLEMEN STAFF EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT | Laura Field lfield@necattlemen.org VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING | Jeff Stolle DIRECTOR OF MARKETING | John Roberts DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS | Libby Schaneman DIRECTOR OF PRODUCER EDUCATION | Bonita Lederer DIRECTOR OF STATE GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS | Matthew Melchor DIRECTOR OF MEMBER SERVICES | Sawyer Willrett DIRECTOR OF PRODUCER RELATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT | TaraLee Hudson ACCOUNTANT | Kathy Abel OFFICE MANAGER | Ashley McClinton MEMBERSHIP FIELD STAFF | Hannah Pearson Nebraska Cattleman is published monthly, except for May and July, by the Nebraska Cattlemen, 4611 Cattle Drive, Lincoln, NE 68521 – (402) 475-2333. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MAGAZINE PRODUCTION: CINCHED UP LLC ncmag@necattlemen.org EDITOR | Lisa Bard MANAGING EDITOR | Jessie Topp-Becker COPY EDITOR | Larisa Willrett DESIGNER & MATERIALS COORDINATOR | Megan Field ADMINISTRATION | Leslie McKibben CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Bill Coe | Natalie Jones STATE & REGIONAL ADVERTISING Amber Coleman | (402) 340-1588 acoleman@necattlemen.org NATIONAL ADVERTISING Wendy McFarland | (334) 271-6100 mcfarlandadvantage@gmail.com Working for Nebraska Beef Producers PASTURE TO PLATE TO PLATE NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN VIEW NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN DIGITAL VERSION BY SCANNING THE QR CODE. PREPARATION MATTERS LAURA FIELD | NC EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT As I put the finishing touches on this month’s column, Selection Sunday is looming ahead of the NCAA’s March Madness. By the time this hits your mailbox, there will be a handful of college basketball teams left from the field of 68, and national champions will be crowned in early April. For the last few issues of the Nebraska Cattleman magazine, you have read articles about the other AI – artificial intelligence. In full disclosure, the use of these tools leads me to more questions than answers most of the time, but my very talented, young staff talk to me about it often and share the ways they use AI tools in writing and design. Because of the timing of things, I asked one of the AI platforms to compare and contrast the beef cattle industry to March Madness. The results were really intriguing to read, and while you won’t catch me cutting and pasting its answers, I did take some of the generated ideas and summarize them on my own. March Madness is about preparation meeting opportunity. Teams spend an entire season building rosters, refining strategies, playing and preparing for the final tournament where their season of work and play is on the line. In the cattle business, preparation takes even longer. Decisions evolve over months and years. By the time cattle enter the final stage of production, the groundwork for success has already been laid. The beef supply chain can be compared to a tournament bracket. The cow-calf sector is the opening round, focusing on raising healthy calves with good genetics. Many calves then move to the backgrounding/stocker phase, where they continue developing. Finally, cattle reach the finishing stage, where feedlots put the final weight and quality on animals before they head to harvest. Each stage is a bit like advancing to the next round of the tournament. Good management, sound genetics and careful attention to health and nutrition help cattle “advance” through the system. Poor performance, disease challenges or unfavorable market conditions can knock profitability out of contention just as quickly as a buzzer-beater can send a top-seeded team home early. Of course, just like March Madness, the cattle business is never completely predictable. Brackets get busted and upsets happen. Weather swings, feed costs, consumer demand and market volatility can quickly change the outlook for beef producers. That uncertainty is part of the challenge and the excitement of both worlds. Coaches rely on scouting reports, player development and analytics to give their teams the best chance to win. Cattle producers lean on many tools to guide management decisions. Neither guarantees a championship, but both improve the odds of success. While the March Madness tournament starts and finishes in just a few short weeks, the beef cattle production journey takes years. Even with the vastly different timelines, a foundational principle remains: preparation matters. When the final buzzer sounds in April, only one team stands on top. In the cattle industry, success isn’t defined by a single champion but by thousands of producers making smart decisions that keep the entire system moving forward. I had fun considering the AI input as I wrote this. I will borrow the final statement from the chat summary – “In the pasture and on the hardwood, predictions are useful, but the real story unfolds when the competition begins.” Happy spring! ~NC~
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