Are you profitable as a cattle producer at current prices? Don’t you lie to me, or worse, yourself. The elevated prices in 2014-2015 were great, but we all knew it couldn’t and wouldn’t last.

The Christmas season marks the end of the year and is a great time to reflect on our year and to look forward to the next. It's a time to celebrate the birth of our Savior and the new covenant the book of Jeremiah promised. It's also a great time to reflect on the blessings of the past year.

What is it about election years that makes everyone dread them? If you ask most people, they will say they get tired of the politicians slinging mud at each other.

This weekend I had the pleasure of watching my daughter take off on a young colt that we have been riding for her. I love riding young horses and watching the lights come on when they really grasp what you are trying to teach them.

Stockmanship, cattle handling and facility design continue to be points of debate and interest among stockmen.

Agriculture as an industry is known for being comprised of fiercely proud and independent people. While we come together united when major issues arise, such as WOTUS and public lands use planning and the like, we do have a habit of not being able to agree more often than not.

As groupies form around one idolized stockman or another, I hear some say that anyone who invokes the concept of predator-prey relationships instead of stockman-stock relationship just doesn’t “get it.”

There I was, armed to the teeth and ready for a fight. He had done it for the last time. I wasn’t backing down, and one of us was leaving that barn dead. You guessed it – a pack rat.

Every producer meeting I attend and every time I go to the local sale barn, I can’t help but notice the gray hair everywhere. It speaks to the wisdom accumulating in the cattle industry, but it also poses some scary questions: “Where are the kids?” and “Who will lead this industry into the future?”

The power of our thoughts is an amazing weapon that can work for or against us. When I was 19 years old, I used to work for a cow outfit in East Tennessee for one of the finest stockmen you’ll find anywhere.