SURE THINGS: DEATH, TAXES, And PROFITS ???
2013
In the Livestock Business, profits are anything but a sure thing. Oh sure, prices on beef have been higher than at any time in recorded history. And profits are as high as they have ever been for those who have been fortunate enough to survive the factors that brought about this aberration in beef prices and profits for the cattlemen; including extreme and extended drought, high forage prices, to name a few.
But how long will this cycle of high beef prices continue? Any experienced rancher knows it’s only a matter of time before the pendulum swings back toward lower prices and difficulty making profits at all. So what will you do with this short term profit windfall? Pay your taxes? Pay off the mortgage? Replace that aging equipment? All good ideas.
But think about plotting a new course for your future as well. Look at something that starts with what you are doing now and steers you in a slightly different direction. Think about investing in an add-on venture that can bring you extended profits and higher margins than your existing commodity beef operation, preparing yourself for those negative pendulum swings in commodity beef prices when profits get scarce.
In an article a while back from Cow-Calf Weekly E-Newsletter, Troy Marshall wrote about “Production Efficiency” in the beef industry. His opening remark was this, “Efficiency is not the way to success for the U.S. beef industry.” And he poses this question to you. “How much have the phenomenal efficiency gains of the past translated into increased producer profitability?” You have to agree that the answer is not very positive. At best the efforts have only produced incremental profits. While all around you, the processors, distributors, and retailers in the beef industry have all grown exponentially; and have gained more and more control over your business. Should you keep listening to them, telling you what to do to give them a cheaper product, usually at your own expense and peril when things do go wrong?
“NO!! You have the responsibility to make decisions to benefit yourself first, and the industry second!!” shouts Bob Hasse, a Colorado rancher with a new approach.
Troy goes on to say, “ …We’re just polishing yesterday’s apples in a marketplace that is demanding new products.”
WOW! How about that for a stark realization of the facts by a man who is a leader in the beef business?! Now, consumers more than ever are demanding a new healthier product.
Business consultant, Tom Peters, challenges you with this concept, “ Cutting costs is hard work, creating additional dollars is genius.”
OK, you think to yourself, “They’re right! ...but what genius opportunity is available to me to change my course, giving me permanently higher prices, and better yet permanently higher profits? …..creating additional dollars without the risk of losing my a_____ppetite ? How should I invest some of my current profits, to go in a new direction, using what I already know?
“Think outside the box!” comes the challenge from Bob Hasse, who wants to share his excitement and enthusiasm with all of you who have an ear to hear. “Think new product, think exotic, think higher carcass value, all with additional efficiency gains….THINK YAK!!”
Hasse is the owner of DELYAKS, a Yak ranching operation in Montrose, Colorado, concentrating on providing you with an investment opportunity, by opening up new markets for Yak meats. He has been raising Yaks for 14 years, has about 150 Fullblood Yaks, and has been marketing Yak meats for 12 years. Many Yak breeders are represented by Hasse in his marketing efforts. But he has a need to share with you. Hasse has developed an opportunity for you to get in on the ground floor of a new crossbreeding program designed to provide the American consumer with a new meat product they actually prefer.
This is it! The genius of creating additional dollars for you, the entrepreneurial cattleman, by providing the American beef consumer with a new product that he wants, and is willing to pay more for what this new product brings to the table.
Yak meats are being marketed directly to high end restaurants, health food stores, health spas, the best burger joints, and discerning health conscious individuals; through internet sales and word of mouth. Most sales are in larger metropolitan areas and resort locations; at prices comparable to quality game meats. Now these Yak meat products are coming to your area.
The flavor of Yak meat is very desirable to the American palate, with 9 out of 10 people in blind taste tests preferring the flavor of Yak to the flavor of quality grain finished beef. Many comments come back stating that Yak meat is the best meat they have ever tasted. Its sweet and delicate flavor is never gamey or greasy or over-powering, yet has its own unique flavor that delicately caresses the human taste experience. Once you try Yak, you’ll always come back.
If this flavor of the Yak meat wasn’t incentive enough, the health aspects of the meat are truly amazing, and actually put this meat into a center stage position, just at a time when commodity beef markets are set back from the BSE problem and on-going e-coli problems. Yak meat is an all-natural product, with nothing artificial added or injected during the raising of the animals or in the processing of the meat. No hormones, steroids, or artificial growth stimulants are injected into the animal. No animal byproducts or antibiotics or cornstuffs are added to the feed. No feedlot confinement or contamination is subjected to these nurtured, pasture finished animals. No artificial colors or preservatives are injected into the meat during processing. Yak meats are truly all-natural by nature, and don’t need all these additives to “improve” the flavor or consistency of the meat.
And Yak meat is one of the leanest meats available, comparable to wild elk, but without losing the juiciness that consumers desire. But even more important than those facts is that Yakmeat boasts of a fat chemistry that is healthier to eat than any other red meat, or skinless chicken, or even fish!! It is extremely low in saturated fats, especially in palmitic acid (a real nasty in most red meats), including cholesterol and triglycerides; while boasting a higher percentage of CLA’s and Omega 3’s, which we need and desire in our diets. And because Yaks are pasture finished with no feedlot exposure to grain-forced e-coli problems or fed animal protein induced BSE problems, there are no contamination exposure potentials.
Yak meat truly offers the ideal meat potential. Historically, the native peoples of the Himalayan Mountains in Tibet have had the longest lifespans as a group in all of recorded history. Their reliance on the Yak for their primary food supplies, including Yak meat attests to the health potential that Yak meat can offer our society today. And Yakmeat is endorsed by health food stores and fitness gyms for not only improving overall health, but also for building lean muscle mass.
OK, so Yak produces a very tasty and healthy new meat product that is growing in consumer demand here in America, and offers a real alternative to consumers seeking a high end healthy meat product. But you ask, “Is this just another exotic fad? If I invest in Yak breeding stock now, will I lose my shirt when the price of these exotics plummets; just like bison, elk, and ostrich?
“NO!!” assures Hasse as he challenges you to check the facts! None of those exotics; bison, elk, and ostrich; have built their animal values based on the quality of their meats, nor on the feed efficiencies of their animals. Their perceived values were based on breeding stock demand to grow their numbers to restore their historical presence on the land, or based on the aphrodisiac qualities of their antlers, or even for the value of their plumes and eggs.
Now, each of those exotics do boast of very good meat qualities. However, their primary purpose was not intended to be raised for meat production. And in each case, the costs for their specialized equipment and fencing are much higher than for commercial beef cattle and Yak handling: while their feed conversion ratios and efficiencies are seriously substandard to commercial beef production expectations, leading to higher production costs as compared to beef cattle.
Add those facts to this one. Consumer demand for the meats of those exotics hasn’t substantially developed since consumers prefer the taste of commercial beef to those exotic meats, and aren’t willing to pay considerably more for those exotic meat products. The preferred flavor of our Yak meats have broken through that consumer barrier. Yakmeat is desired by the American consumer even at considerably higher prices than commodity beef. Retail Yak meat prices range from $9 per pound for Yak ground burger to nearly $60 per pound for Yak Filet Mignon.
Now consider costs of production; bison, elk, and ostrich have no real economic foundation to lure you into raising them for meat purposes. Yaks give you every reason economically to invest in them for this new gourmet meat. With no additional investment in equipment or fencing, Yaks have the feed efficiencies and stocking ratios to save you money on the front end, compared to raising beef. Yak steers only require 6 pounds of forage to produce 1 pound of gain, while beef steers require 8 to 9 pounds of forage and bison require upwards of 12 pounds of forage to produce 1 pound of gain. And 4 Yak cows graze on the same acreage as one beef cow. Yaks will browse as well as graze and clean up your pastures better than sheep or even goats, so your pastures actually improve over time, instead of deteriorate. Yaks will eat a wide variety of herbs including the coarse grasses and weeds that beef cattle will leave behind.
“I like the possibilities,” you’re thinking, “but what is my role to be in this opportunity?” “You can buy a Yak cattle-breeding bull from me,” says Hasse, “ to breed your first calf heifers. I prefer your cattle to have the following characteristics: a larger cattle breed, docile, not spooky, not fence jumpers, having rapid growth characteristics, with naturally tender meat. Then work with me, whether you want to develop your own all-natural meat markets, or you want to raise your Yak crosses for me to buy back for my meat program, or if you want to raise animals for your own meat needs.”
At birth, your half Yak cross calf will weigh 40 to 50 pounds, eliminating calving problems, especially in your first calf heifers! At 5 days of age, that calf will be more disease resistant and cold tolerant than its mother, with no scours and no vet bills! Hybrid vigor kicks in for a very rapid growth rate so the animal can be butchered at 18 months of age, without feedlots, without grain, without expensive feed supplements, without e-coli problems, and without BSE problems. At slaughter, you have gained 25% in savings due to feed conversion efficiencies, stocking rates, absence of disease problems, lack of vet bills, and minimal handling. Then you will sell the animal to Hasse for beef market price, or keep the animal for your own use and your own marketing program. You may consider this to be a terminal cross, or keep the Yak cross heifers as replacements with twice the stocking rate of your existing cows. This is a win-win situation for you. You either earn more profits than you would have with lower costs than straight commercial cattle using existing facilities and expertise, or you keep the animals for superior stock replacement. You have eliminated first calf heifer problems, and you have hedged your investment bets by changing your operation incrementally. This is a real opportunity knocking, Hasse believes.
Once you go Yak, you won’t go back!
Check out a real opportunity for your existing ranching operation. For small acreage owners, raise your own quality all-natural meats and qualify for your ag tax status.
For more information, contact:
Bob Hasse
DELYAKS
970-249-1734
Montrose, Co.
[email protected]