On the high, dry, wind-swept plains of southeast Wyoming, the Sims family strives to make $3 profit per acre with their cow/calf and yearling operation.

When yearly precipitation falls to six inches, compared with the 11-inch average, like it did during the exceptional drought of 2012, that’s not possible.

But by developing low-input, environmentally adapted cows and virtually eliminating winter feeding, they are stacking all decks in their favor.

Since 2007, the family has accomplished these cost savings to help boost profits:

Grazing and breeding slash feed costs

The Sims family has dramatically reduced winter feed costs on their southeast Wyoming ranch by disciplined bull and heifer selection, well-managed culling, leaving windrowed hay in fields for grazing, and later calving.

During the often harsh, long winters, cows feed on available standing forage and windrowed hay that stays put despite strong winds. This hay, too, acts as a snow fence, which improves soil moisture and early spring grass growth.

“We only use supplemental protein in strategic situations when the nutritional value of the grass and windrowed hay is less than adequate for proper body maintenance,” notes Shanon Sims. “Any females requiring more nutrients than our environment offers in a typical year are eliminated from the herd, thus eliminating inferior genetics.”

He adds: “We operate in a commodity market; thus, we have very little control over income. But we do have control over our input costs and have found that we can operate at a highly profitable and sustainable level by not spending money on supplemental feed and associated expenses other than for those inputs that are necessary for the health and well-being of the herd.”

They use ration balancing software to help keep costs down, but also test windrowed hay for its nutritive value and have fecal samples tested for nutrition balance through Texas A&M University’s NUTBAL (nutritional balancer) system.

“If the hay or NUTBAL tests show that the forage is not providing enough protein or energy to meet the cow’s needs, we begin supplementing with the least-cost supplement available,” Shanon says. “Cows have not been supplemented for the past three winters, and we believe this will continue to hold true except in years of extreme drought.”

Also critically important to their evolving program of trying to fit cattle to the environment is genetics. The cows are currently a mix of 50% Angus, and 25% each of Gelbvieh and Simmental.

“We like the hybrid vigor, and we have also determined that proper culling and disciplined bull selection have a much greater impact on herd fertility than feed and fuel,” Shanon says.

His father, Scott, adds: “We are breeding and calving more in sync with nature instead of fighting nature. We are creating a cow that will breed and thrive in our conditions with minimal inputs.”