The American Rancher featuring Bonds Ranch

well this is the cattle business it's not the cattle way of life it is a business and if you can't make money in it you it's either a hobby to you or you need to get out which is still the most efficient way of doing it and if it wasn't we'd be doing something else next on berenguer angle times the American Rancher we visit the diverse ranching operation of pete bonds in texas hello I'm Pam medic and welcome to the American Rancher this week we're outside Fort Worth Texas at the headquarters of the bonds ranch where we will visit with a family that's involved in all production phases of cattle ranching Pete bonds is an interesting individual who places a business emphasis on his ranching endeavors his experiences in the cattle business began in his childhood today we'll talk ranching with Pete meet his family and see the bonds ranch operation from several locations both inside and outside the Corral we're glad you joined us please stay tuned we'll be right back welcome back to the American rancher the bonds ranch began in the 1930s and is known by the turkey foot brand Pete bonds ranches in several parts of Texas as well as feeds cattle in Nebraska and as far away as Canada 20 years ago things weren't working real good in the market was terrible and I sitting on the tank hunting dove and it finally dawned on me if I was running GM we are any other big company we would be looking at return on equity and from that point on us but when we started doing it and and during that period of time we've grown this thing from about 400 cows to share without the homeplace at Saginaw just a few miles north of Fort Worth serves as the headquarters for all operations of the bonds ranch Pete's father PR bonds known as Bob bought the place in the 1930s mr. bonds died in 1954 when Pete was a small child afterwards Pete was raised by a very knowledgeable cowboy and Stockman this man was Pete Burnett a cousin of the famous Texas rancher Samuel Burkburnett Pete Burnett - Pete bonds under his wing and taught him well really when you're a rancher you're basically a grass farmer you've got to manage your grass and you you harvest your grass through capital and so you've got to manage this great stock these kind of these ranches - the amount of grass and the quality of the grass that you're growing well one of the things we're and superiors program the we're having this kind of setup in a vac 24 also these care this ranch is qualified for a program called NH TC which is nine hormone treated cattle these cans the beef from these calves will have the opportunity to be able to be exported to Europe everybody asked me what kind of cattle that we handle we handle the county care that make money I don't care what they are knowing that we have a place to go with them and knowing what our cost when we buy what our costs are and then what our margin is and then what we can lay that price risk off in Chicago more than how's everything going Pete asserts that bonds Ranch has never been about raising the best cattle it's constant focus is to consistently raise profitable cattle in each phase of the business and to understand the cattle or commodity that must produce his management practices follow this course and over time he has had business applications developed which enable him to make accurate cost and profit productions on cattle on a case-by-case basis okay pam has said Kelly we bought and sent up just east of Wichita Falls about 1750 of these cattle we figured a 3% death loss the cattle like 395 pounds are going in foot was fair to 40% interest 4% interest projected having them come out weighing 475 pounds they cost $1 1250 going in we tied up that deal at a 45 cent cost again those cattle will then come out and be shipped at Dumas cattle now or figure this to two dollars and ten cents rate bill another 1% death loss for the cattle coming out wins seven we hedge the cattle for where whether we're the basis that we're figuring they should bring a dollar five still maintaining the 30% equity that deal if there's going cost $85 ahead getting a pound and a half a day which i think is fairly conservative come out to 14 somewhere latter part of October the bottom line is he's kind of making about $90 a head but they're making a hundred percent return on equity which actually means the bottom line of this thing is you're going to double your money every year we we use a futures market in Chicago a whole lot we have a lot of guarantees that we demand from other people that where we run cattle from guaranteed cost of gains and guaranteed death loss we look at it is not necessarily profit per head but as return on equity we really kind of want a fifty to a hundred percent orally south of Waco Texas and outside the town of Marlin near the community of Reagan bonds ranch has several thousand acres of good Central Texas land with an extensive farming operation I think it's some of the best year in country on those there is in the nation north of the Canadian River in the Texas Panhandle Vaughn's Ranch runs both a cow-calf operation and also runs feeder cattle we have cattle turned out in 23 different counties in Texas ranging from bound by Uvalde to up by Canadian we have cattle on grass in Colorado and Kansas for summer pasture we run cattle in feed yards in Oklahoma Nebraska Iowa South Dakota and also Alberta Canada Pete and his wife Joe have three wonderful daughters Missy bonny and April the girls grew up in the cattle business and worked well with the cowboy crew they admire the things their dad and mom taught them one of my dad's favorite sayings is people get into trouble by doing it the way that granddad did it but they get into trouble also by forgetting the way that granddad did it as well the reason we do the traditional stuff is because that's what's worked in the past and that's what's continuing to work for us but he's not afraid if it's not working to try something new you get dirty thank yesterday we branded calves and was horseback all day but came home with enough dirt to plant a turnip patch on your face and it's it's long days long hours but if you love it then I couldn't imagine doing anything else Missy and Bonnie are very involved in the cattle business April has a great business as a wedding planner in Cabo San Lucas Mexico Missy works closely with Pete and oversees a lot of the ranches Affairs that harness technology to make things work more efficiently though we decided we need a delivery sheet is we were in Austin and daddy had his briefcase stolen and we had several thousand cattle contracted to be delivered within the next thirty days some of them what had already been delivery sets some of them had not been and when that briefcase was stolen all of that information was lost we were panicked so this came about from that saying that so we know where they're going who we need to contact to set up deliveries Missy handling a lot of the stuff that I don't want to do or can't do it's mainly the technical stuff she's really manages a hole all the camps that we produce our agent source verified we want to be able to get that meat out of the United States there's a demand it's there all you have to do is do it and the tongue alone in Japan adds $10 a head when we return we'll learn more about the bonds ranch and a little later we'll visit another location where Pete ranches that's near what was once the home of Oliver loving who founded a famous trail with his partner Charles goodnight this is the American rancher don't go away welcome back to the American Rancher we've seen some great ranch country outside Fort Worth Texas and down below Waco now we continue our story with bonds ranch as they ship out some steers on a cold day bonds Ranch has been a superior livestock auction customer from the inception of superior heat regularly buys themselves over superior and considers it a valuable tool for Stockman Ronnie McNutt has been a friend and business associate of heat bonds for many years we had them into a 750 but because of the weather conditions in the mud and there's cold weather we've had cattle haven't done anything so we're just compensating instead of five trucks we'll just load four trucks this morning sir Perry is a great company I mean you can expose these cattle to everybody out there that's big enough to buy one we're able to utilize it and both from the by and the south side it's a great - of great bunch of people just like about any other day when the cowboy work is at full speed Joe bonds is right there on horseback with Pete and the crew doing the sorting shipping and working of cattle my wife has done there's a good hand she's been doing this ever since we got married and ever had rode a horse any before then but she was a farm girl from Georgia and I had to go plumb out of the state of Texas with my reputation back thirty some odd years ago to find anybody that marry me really if you're a rancher you're actually in two businesses during Catalan real estate and you don't need the other to do the other well you can operate real well in one side of it and not necessarily do anything in the other you can trade land and lease it out and make a lot of money or you can lease land and operate the cattle side and make a lot of money some of these guys they're just hammered on Heritage you've got to get over that and you've got to go where the opportunities are if the opportunities aren't there in your back yard move what you really need to understand this is not the cattle way of life this is the cattle business what you're doing these cattle er widgets and you're managing money Pete bonds graduated from the TCU ranch management program in 1973 he regards the program highly and thinks that it is equipping young ranchers with solid up-to-date knowledge that's needed for today's cattle industry this is another ranch that we've got least were out probably about 80 miles west of Fort Worth a little place called German it's we're actually in area code Lost Valley and lost valleys of the actual point where goodnight started the good night loving trail back to her west over next set of hills living had a ranch and this valley had wouldn't take a whole lot of man to hold a bunch of cattle in here in 1866 having heard about the probable need for cattle at Fort Sumner New Mexico all of her loving gathered a herd combined it with that of Charles goodnight and began a long drive to the four their route later became known as the goodnight loving trail the trail drive era that spans some 20 years following the Civil War formed a colorful and rugged chapter of Texas history the turkey foot brand I guess was the old Hicks ranch brand and when my dad bought that hitch ranch there in Fort Worth back in the 30s he bought the brand two loving also but used this turkey track brand for a turkey food brand for our for his brand to bonds ranch has a number of staff people and associates that make the operation work in all phases from the office staff to the farming operation outside Marlin the cowboy crews and the feeding operations supervisors Pete has a great group of people about him and says the cattle business is full of good folks I can't tell you how proud I am all the permanent help that we have and how proud I am of them and they're a bunch of great guys and also I can't tell you how proud of the people that we do business with it we send cattle to they they'll do a great job my dad has all of his bases covered if the markets doing one thing and going down with with one sector of the industry he's got it too you know he can make up with it in another section it's sector of the industry there's not many people that do it he's passionate about what he does he is very knowledgeable in all aspects and I he's not afraid of him and and I think that's why he's able to do what he does I do exactly what I want to do everybody thinks I'm less I have no hobbies I really don't care about doing anything except what I do and I just absolutely love the challenge my recreation is being out there working cap it's to be able to get out of this office and I just love it and I love the challenge of being able back in them and sell Kevin and we don't actually trade cattle we're always adding value to them but to make that thing work and make the business work is I couldn't ask for a better life Pete and his wife Joe with her daughters Missy bonny and April are a fantastic ranching family like so many other Stockman that we get to visit on this show the bonds family is committed to the enterprise of cattle production in our nation you're watching the American Rancher stay tuned the thing that I see out there today that I just flat despised is the statement is this is a great way of life but a terrible business I hate that I think we have driven kids away from this business and we need to bring them back I'm adamant about it Pete wants to see the cattle business and ranching celebrated and successful he admonishes young people to get a business as well as ranching education and to objectively evaluate your practices and yes your traditions based on what really works and what doesn't from a bottom-line standpoint really the true future of this business is not on shoulders its offshore I think exports will lead this business and will grow this business I have a lot of young people ask me you know Pete where's the best way to I want to come back to the ranch what's the best education I can get in I've got a standard answer and I've never had one of them do it yet but go get you an MBA from Stanford go to a business school it makes no difference where you go but get a good business background and then come back and take the TCU Rancher management program you can look at our industry organizations such as Texas Southwestern cattle raisers Association I started attending meetings on a regular basis when I was about 20 years old there were no people my age we've really seen a growth and the youth awareness of the organization by a program cattle raisers have started called the young leadership series they do different opportunities whether if it's how to talk to your legislator legislators how to give a News interview or how to approach your banker and say I have an idea Pete is quick to point out that he loves being a cowman and the business that he's in yet to some he may seem to be an antithesis to the traditions and heritage mindsets of many in the cattle business Pete feels at times that there is a false sense of entitlement that can come over people and ranching that is marked by doing things for the sake of tradition which has lost its relevance it can be a great life but it is a business first and you've got to change with what the market says yeah that was kind of what a special thanks to Pete bonds and his family for a great show on their ranching operation to find out more about us visit our website the American Rancher calm I'm Pam Minich thank you for joining us see you next time you

Channel: Superior Productions

Views: 47,935

Rating: 4.8232932 out of 5

Keywords: Superior Livestock Auction, The American Rancher

Id: 0MOaTy9dHII

Length: 20min 45sec (1245 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 13 2016