The King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management

06/16/2026

Interested in joining our team? We’re hiring! KRIRM is seeking a full-time Communications Specialist to help lead communications, marketing, content development, and promotional efforts across digital, print, and social media platforms.

Learn more and apply:

Job TitleCommunications Specialist III Agency Texas A&M University - Kingsville Department King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management Proposed Minimum SalaryCommensurate Job LocationKingsville, Texas Job TypeStaff Job Description About Texas A&M University–Kingsville Texas A&M Universit...

06/09/2026

"Today, KRIRM trains a small cadre of students to think like owners: to steward land, livestock and people while making hard financial decisions in a complex business."

The King Ranch Institute is designed for people who can already handle a horse and a herd — but want a seat at the financial table and the tools to keep ranches profitable for the next generation.

05/28/2026

Thursday Industry Insight: Heat Stress in Cattle
Cheyenne Young – KRIRM Graduate Student

Heat stress is more than just mild discomfort. As temperatures rise, so does the risk of heat stress for cattle. It can seriously affect herd health and significantly impact production and profitability.

Cattle are less effective at sweating, making it harder for them to cool down compared to humans. They start experiencing heat stress earlier, particularly in humid environments. As their body temperatures increase, producers often see reduced feed intake, which results in lower weight gain. Additionally, heat stress can lead to decreased milk production in mother cows and impair fertility.

Signs of Heat Stress in Cattle
• Panting
• Drooling
• Reduced feed intake
• Crowding water sources
• Standing (instead of lying down)

In some extreme cases, heat stress can lead to death. At risk animals may have of a higher body condition score (BCS), darker hides, and lack access to clean water and shade.

Prevention is Key
To prevent heat stress, provide adequate shade and fresh, cool water. Avoid handling the herd during the hottest parts of the day and schedule feedings during cooler times.

Producers have a responsibility to be proactive. We should recognize warning signs and monitor the weather to protect the wellbeing of our animals.

Heat stress not only affects the animals but also impacts operational profitability. Be vigilant and prioritize the health of your herd this coming summer.

05/08/2026

The ranching industry is more complex than ever and every decision has a ripple effect. Join us for the John B. Armstrong Lectureship on Systems Thinking for Ranchers on August 10-12, 2026 in Kingsville, Texas.

This thought-provoking lectureship will explore how systems thinking can help ranchers and natural resource managers better understand the interconnected forces shaping their operations. From recognizing unintended consequences to identifying high-impact changes, participants will gain practical tools to improve decision-making and long-term system performance.

Learning objectives include:
• Understanding hidden consequences and feedback loops
• Applying systems thinking to real-world ranch challenges
• Identifying mental models and system structures
• Recognizing trends and system archetypes
• Change our behavior so that we are working with these complex forces, instead of against them, to create what we want

Ranching is more than managing individual parts. It’s understanding the whole system.

Learn more and register today: https://krirm.tamuk.edu/systemsthinking/

04/30/2026

Thursday Industry Insight: Cash vs. Managerial Accounting
Carson King – KRIRM Graduate Student

Most cow–calf operations use cash accounting because it’s simple and often better for tax purposes. Under cash accounting, when you buy hay, the entire purchase becomes an expense the moment you write the check. Even if that hay sits in the barn for multiple months/years, it still shows up this year. With cash accounting that can make a perfectly healthy year look unprofitable just because you stocked up on feed.

Managerial (or accrual based) accounting works differently and gives a more accurate picture of how the ranch is performing.

Cash Accounting: Expense Immediately
• You buy hay
• Cash goes out
• The total cost is recorded as an expense immediately
• Profit appears lower this year, even if the hay has not yet been fed

Managerial/Accrual Accounting: Expense When Used
• You buy hay
• Cash goes out — that part doesn’t change
• However, the hay becomes an asset on the balance sheet because it’s inventory
• You only record an expense as the hay is actually fed to the cows on the income statement

This means:
• The cash flow statement shows the “flows” of cash leaving and coming
• The balance sheet shows the value of hay inventory
• The income statement only shows the cost of the hay that was fed during the period

Accrual and managerial accounting separates “I spent cash” from “I incurred a cost to produce calves.” That difference is essential for understanding true costs and profitability of an operation.

The key difference is that cash accounting will eventually tell you whether you were profitable or losing money — but often not until years later. Because expenses are recorded when the check is written, not when the inputs are actually used, cash accounting can delay the true picture of operational performance. Accrual/managerial accounting, on the other hand, shows profitability in the year the costs are actually incurred and matched to production, giving you a timely and accurate understanding of whether the operation is truly creating or eroding wealth on your balance sheet.

Photo courtesy of Matador Ranch & Cattle.

04/16/2026

Thursday Industry Insight: Cow Nutrient Requirements
Salvetti D’Ascoli – KRIRM Graduate Student

With spring calving just around the corner, it is essential to focus on the cowherd’s nutrition as they approach their greatest nutrient requirements. One of the first steps in developing a feeding plan is to know exactly what you are feeding. This could include knowing the differences in nutritional requirements for various stages and classes of cattle, or the nutrient content of the feedstuffs fed. The crucial factor is knowing exactly how much the cattle weigh to accurately feed and prevent wasting money by overfeeding. An article from Oklahoma State University Extension states that between 42-52% of cow-calf enterprise costs can be attributed to grazing and feeding/supplementation (Lalman, Holder, 2024). Recognizing that this is a large cost center, producers should design the most economically cost-effective and nutrient-dense nutrition strategy possible, especially during calving and lactation.

As spring calving approaches, it's important to consider how dry matter intake relative to body weight varies by stage of lactation—late gestation, early lactation, and late lactation—whether cattle are grazing or fed hay. For a diet consisting of low-quality forage, the expected values would be 1.5% of body weight (BW) during late gestation, 2.5% BW during early lactation, and 2.25% BW during late lactation. Growing heifers should gain 1.0-1.5 lbs. per day to achieve a higher percentage of mature bodyweight before their first calf. One effective strategy to support this growth is to increase protein supplementation to encourage dry matter intake of low-quality forages.

Protein requirements for running-age cows become important as they get into the final trimester, when two-thirds of fetal growth occurs. Increasing a cow's protein intake at this stage will help ensure she is in optimal condition as she approaches calving and lactation. It is essential to meet both energy and protein requirements during the last trimester to prevent any loss of body condition. Lactating cows will require nearly double the amount of protein as a dry cow, which is understandable given the milk she produces – averaging around 25 lbs./d – contains a significant amount of protein. Ensuring the nutritional needs are met during lactation is just as important as in the third trimester, as it helps maintain the cow’s body condition and supports successful rebreeding. Additionally, vitamin and mineral supplementation is a key component of nutrition to consider. Various informative charts, including those from the Beef Cattle NRC, detail the nutrient requirements for beef cattle.

In conclusion, prioritizing cow nutrition is essential, particularly during the final third of pregnancy and throughout lactation. This can be achieved through informed management decisions tailored to the cow’s specific environment.

04/09/2026

Thursday Industry Insight: Why Producers are Hesitating: Economics of Herd Rebuilding
Mason Dahl – KRIRM Graduate Student

As many of you well know, we are living through one of the most fascinating periods in beef production history. The US National beef herd is at its lowest level in over 70 years. Extreme market volatility, unpredictable weather, and rising costs have many producers wondering what is next.

Historically, the cattle cycle moves in waves; expansion when prices and forage are favorable, followed by contraction as supply grows and prices fall. But this time, things are a little different. Record-high feeder cattle prices make selling heifers more attractive than retaining them for breeding, especially when interest rates have jumped considerably, creating both financial barriers to entry as well as increasing the cost of money for current producers. Add in drought concerns, the threat of new world screwworm, and thin margins, and it’s no wonder herd rebuilding is on hold.

The numbers tell the story: from a peak of 132 million head (nationally) in 1975 to now only 94.2 million (as of July 2025) as published by USDA NASS. Efficiency gains mean we are producing more beef with fewer animals, but that doesn’t fully explain the sharp decline.

Looking ahead, expect this trough to linger for several years, before national herd rebuilding gains any momentum. Tight supplies will likely support continued high beef prices through at least 2027. Eventually, demand for breeding females will increase, and expansion will return more gradually than experienced in past cycles.

For producers, the challenge revolves around managing uncertainty today while preparing for tomorrow’s opportunities.

(Data derived from USDA Economics, Statistics, and Market Information System historical data (https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/publication/cattle))

04/03/2026

Thursday Industry Insight: Prescribed Burning for Brush Management
Cooper Larson – KRIRM Graduate Student

Prescribed fire can be an effective tool for brush control on ranches across the country. Generally, this method is considerably less expensive than alternative chemical and mechanical treatments. Controlled burns can be effective for managing cedars, prickly pear, mesquite, and other mixed brush species. Efficacy rates will vary depending on the brush type and burning fuel load.

To decide whether burning is right for your ranch, first consider the fire mitigation equipment available to you. Fire lines, water trucks, and other firefighting equipment need to be in place before burning. The timing of the burn is also essential to prevent loss of control of the fire.

Also, consider the types of brush species to control and how they respond to fire. Some species are not well controlled with prescribed fire. Many brush species will only achieve a top kill, which only sets the brush back.

A quality-controlled burn requires enough dead-fuel load to maintain sufficient heat to be effective. If you are considering burning a pasture that has been grazed, you may need to defer grazing on the pasture for a duration of time until enough fine fuel is present.

Benefits of burning include thinning undesirable species and removing dead biomass that can smother and reduce the quality of the grazable forage. By removing the canopy of dead plants or undesirable species, stimulate the growth of desirable grasses and increase biodiversity. Burning also deposits and releases nutrients in the soil that stimulate growth.

Devise and follow a prescribed burning plan for your farm or ranch, and work with professionals in the area to safely capitalize on the economic, natural brush management tool that is prescribed burning.

03/27/2026

We're up in Fort Worth at the TSCRA Convention Trade Show! Come visit us at Booth 623. We'd love to chat!

03/26/2026

Thursday Industry Insight: Balanced Scorecard
Mason Dahl – KRIRM Graduate Student

During my internship between my first and second year of my master's program, I had the unique opportunity to work with a vertically integrated, large-scale cattle operation in Australia. Part of my project included implementing a ‘balanced scorecard.’

The concept of the balanced scorecard was originally shared by Kaplan and Norton in their Harvard Business Review article in 1992. Since then, its implementation to track the key elements of a company’s strategy and improvement has been used by Wall Street executives, cattle unit managers, and everywhere in between.

The idea revolves around the realization that no single measure or metric can provide a clear performance target on every critical area of any business. It links performance measures and goals surrounding the following four areas;
1. The financial perspective – an example in cow/calf production could be the net return per acre of the operation, the profit and loss statement, etc.
2. The customer perspective – how our target audience receives our product. An example could include a basis for how our cattle perform in the market compared to the industry average.
3. The internal business perspective – a measurement of the company’s competitive advantage. The company I worked for had an extremely low unit cost of production. This also measured internal management and operational efficiency.
4. The innovation and learning perspective – how our operation continually improves and creates value. This could explain how certain operational metrics improve year over year, such as safety or employee retention.

A balanced scorecard forces managers to focus on a few metrics that are most critical to the operation. To quote Kaplan and Norton, it “brings together, in a single report, many of the seemingly disparate elements of a company’s competitive agenda… and guards against suboptimization.” A potential unintended consequence of focusing on just one of these four areas.

By focusing on both the process and the results, managers can create a more dynamic and healthy operation that is better able to withstand market volatility and increase the likelihood of success.