On the ranch I grew up on, we would "A/B" test new bulls all the time. Literally the first year we would try a new bull, we'd only give him access to 15-20 cows. If the calves came out easy, and grew fast, he'd get put into circulation with the larger herd.
We also tried different things with crops... plant one side of the field one way, plant the other side a different way.
Different kinds of fencing in different pastures... I can't remember a year when we didn't test a new kind of fence. Fencing takes so much labor, even something that shaved a few days off the maintenance each year would have been welcome improvement.
I remember we tried moving gates to the corners one year, just to see if it made moving cattle between pastures easier. It did!
We tried a lot of different rotation patterns, too. Mostly to try and reduce bugs and have to spray for flies less.
Perpetually testing new medicines. "This pill costs more, but you don't have to give it as often, vs. that pill costs less, but you have to give it every day..." turns out there's benefits to being out among the herd every day.
Ranchers aren't very technical folks, but they tend to know their profession extremely well. Above all else, they need things that reliably work.
I remember switching to electric branding irons... like they made branding faster, gave a more consistent brand, and had faster heal times -- but it wasn't just a decision to switch the whole herd, we had to test them out on a small group... and learn and then apply what we learned to the larger herd the next year.
A ranch was, honestly, a sort of perpetual experiment. There's very little "We do it this way because that's the way it's always been done..." If you talk to one generation of cattlemen vs. their fathers, the sons will inherit a bunch of the equipment, but they almost always want to change things up. I'd wager no group of fathers and sons on the planet butt heads more.
On the ranch I grew up on, we would "A/B" test new bulls all the time. Literally the first year we would try a new bull, we'd only give him access to 15-20 cows. If the calves came out easy, and grew fast, he'd get put into circulation with the larger herd.
We also tried different things with crops... plant one side of the field one way, plant the other side a different way.
Different kinds of fencing in different pastures... I can't remember a year when we didn't test a new kind of fence. Fencing takes so much labor, even something that shaved a few days off the maintenance each year would have been welcome improvement.
I remember we tried moving gates to the corners one year, just to see if it made moving cattle between pastures easier. It did!
We tried a lot of different rotation patterns, too. Mostly to try and reduce bugs and have to spray for flies less.
Perpetually testing new medicines. "This pill costs more, but you don't have to give it as often, vs. that pill costs less, but you have to give it every day..." turns out there's benefits to being out among the herd every day.
Ranchers aren't very technical folks, but they tend to know their profession extremely well. Above all else, they need things that reliably work.
I remember switching to electric branding irons... like they made branding faster, gave a more consistent brand, and had faster heal times -- but it wasn't just a decision to switch the whole herd, we had to test them out on a small group... and learn and then apply what we learned to the larger herd the next year.
A ranch was, honestly, a sort of perpetual experiment. There's very little "We do it this way because that's the way it's always been done..." If you talk to one generation of cattlemen vs. their fathers, the sons will inherit a bunch of the equipment, but they almost always want to change things up. I'd wager no group of fathers and sons on the planet butt heads more.