Ranching in the Sierra Foothills

Note: this is the third and final installment in a series of posts on nonlethal livestock protection tools. Click here to see the first in the series. All three posts are adapted from: Macon, D.K, R.A. Baldwin, D.F. Lile, J. Stackhouse, C.K. Rivers, T. Saitone, T.K. Schohr, L.K. Snell, J. Harper, R.

Last week, we kicked off our 11th annual Farm and Ranch Business Planning Short Course. Every Thursday night for the next six weeks, a group of local farmers and ranchers will come together to discuss and learn about operating an economically viable agricultural business.

Most ranchers track production pounds of calves or lambs sold, seasonal gain on stocker cattle or feeder lambs, or pounds of wool shorn are all measures of ranch productivity.