By Brandi Buzzard on December 19, 2025
Wins and Misses on the Ranch
A Kansas rancher reflects on 2025
The final weeks of the year are generally a time for reflection of our past year’s work on the ranch. It’s been an interesting and exciting year, one with many lessons learned and accomplishments reached. If we aren’t learning, then we aren’t improving, so let’s dive in.
Horsepower, Figuratively
Starting with the wins, we were able to upgrade our equipment this year, in some much-needed ways. Our ranch desperately needed another tractor as we consistently need to grind hay, feed silage and other heavy-duty tasks on the ranch simultaneously. We purchased a used John Deere tractor at a farm estate sale for a good price, and it has made such a difference in our productivity and stress level.
Additionally, we acquired a used Honda Pioneer UTV I used extensively during calving season. It was much easier to find calves in the tall grass without fear of running over one in a truck which, again, significantly lowered the stress level on the ranch.
No [Holes in the] Fences
Why can’t cattle just stay in the pasture or pen? Grass, hay and feed lie within those borders, can’t the cows just appreciate it? No. They cannot.
Fencing is such a headache. However, getting the “the cows are out!” call at 2 a.m. is a much larger headache. Thus, in 2025, we invested significant time and money toward repairing fencelines in four pastures. I wouldn’t say the fences are perfect, but I don’t lie awake in early winter hoping the piecemeal strand fence will stand up to the pressure of yearling bulls. We’ll probably continue this work to replace larger tracts as time and resources allow.
Missed Opportunity
As we watched the cattle market climb ever higher through the summer and fall, we couldn’t help but feel a bit of regret for not buying stocker calves in later December 2024 or early January 2025. Those calves would have turned a very large profit for our ranch had we pulled the lever, even when factoring the market changes in October. We had no way of knowing the market would go that high, but in hindsight, we wish we had taken the jump and capitalized on it.
Unloved Flowers
When it comes to our weed and pasture management, we are on a three-year rotation for burning any pasture inundated with sericea lespedeza, which is an indescribably frustrating weed. This year we were due to burn our largest leased pasture – 200 acres – which has a massive number of trees and sericea, both of which are hard to eradicate. Due to windy weather alternating with rain in conjunction with time availability and just plain bad luck, we didn’t get the entire pasture burned, not even by half. In 2026, we’ll have to be strategic about burning and spraying to get the weed pressure under control.
We are looking forward to setting 2026 goals over the coming weeks before travel, junior rodeos and work obligations fire up again, and we’ll be sure to reflect on these wins and misses when we do so.
From our ranch to your home, we wish you a very happy holiday season, however you choose to celebrate, filled with the things that bring you joy. Here comes 2026!
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