42 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN January 2026 An open two-year-old cow may still be worth $3,000 in today’s market. If she weans a $2,000 calf before she’s culled, much of the downside can be softened. Planning for that outcome requires discipline and flexibility, and will soften the landing if it comes earlier. Brandt acknowledged the stress this volatility creates for young producers. High sale prices are seductive, but without downside clarity, debt-fueled expansion becomes fragile very quickly. Hill returned to fundamentals. Even in large, efficient systems, rising operating costs are compressing margins compared to previous cattle cycles. “Don’t get giddy just because of today’s price structure,” he warned. Biehler summarized it with the caution to develop heifers inexpensively but never cheaply. Smaller Producers and First-Generation Operations The audience then asked about the best choices for smaller producers who are looking to develop and build their herd. The panel’s tone became even more conservative. Brandt cautioned against building cow herds that rely on constant purchased feed. Supplemental feeding may be strategic, but dependency is risk. Performance data must determine which cows stay, rather than excuses. Sewell challenged the assumption that a cow herd must immediately support a full household income. Many successful producers built cattle operations alongside diversified businesses. There is no shame in multiple income streams, especially when they provide the capital buffer that protects the cow herd during downturns. Hill echoed this. Off-ranch income often provides the oxygen needed for disciplined expansion, he reiterated. Sewell and Hill also cautioned producers to make sure the cows work for you. THE PANELISTS J.D. Hill, Livestock Manager, Padlock Ranch, Ranchester, Wyo. Padlock Ranch is a large, family-owned, diversified cattle and farming operation in north central Wyoming just south of the Montana border. Padlock Ranch grazes commercial cow-calf pairs on native grassland in Montana and Wyoming in rotational grazing programs, spanning 430,000 acres with 12,000 head of cattle. Cows are bred to calve in May and June and weaned into their grow yard in the fall. All cattle, including heifers, calve on green grass unassisted. J.D. has been with Padlock since 2016. James Sewell, Sewell Ranching, Saratoga, Wyo. Sewell Ranching is a first-generation ranching operation that runs cows and stockers on a number of leased ranches in Carbon County, Wyo. Most of their several thousand stockers are sourced from western Nebraska and Wyoming. Kiernan Brandt, Trans Ova Genetics Kiernan Brandt, professional service technician with Trans Ova Genetics and former Extension educator with South Dakota State University, is also a co-spearhead (along with Connor Biehler) of the Great Plains Heifer Development Program at the UNL Haskell Beef Lab near Concord. The program aims to give producers gamechanging data about their replacement females years ahead of data tracking at home. It serves as a platform for testing cutting-edge technologies while helping producers improve on tools they already have. Connor Biehler, Ruminant Nutritionist, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Connor Biehler is a Ph.D. student with a specialization in ruminant nutrition at UNL and also serves as a livestock systems Extension educator based in Saunders County. Biehler is a co-spearhead (along with Kiernan Brandt) of the Great Plains Heifer Development Program at the UNL Haskell Beef Lab near Concord, where their goal is to identify strengths and shortcomings of the cow herd in the upper Midwest to figure out applicable methods to improve cattle longevity, parity and decrease fallout of replacement heifers in every herd. REBUILDING THE COW HERD CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41 CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 Jay Parsons, far left, moderates the panel on “Rebuilding the Cow Herd,” including, left to right, Connor Biehler, J.D. Hill, James Sewell and Kiernan Brandt.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTMxNTA5