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The
Employees
"When
our people drive through that gate in the morning, I want them
thinking like owners"
Caring for
cattle takes a special kind of person, one who understands that
we are not building cars or making widgets; that the care and
feeding of cattle is a biological process. At Cactus, our Employee
Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) makes each employee an owner of the
company. Now, people ask me "why did you go to all the time and
trouble to give away part of your company to the employees? What
do you get in return?" I can tell you it wasn't easy to set up
our ESOP, but my reward is when those employees drive through
that gate in the morning thinking, "I am an owner". When they
think and act like owners, they take care of the cattle as if
they owned them - that's my reward, that's what makes Cactus successful
day in and day out. I've always said "it only takes concrete and
steel to build a feedyard, but it will only work when you have
the right people running them" - that's the secret to what has
made Cactus a success and what will continue to make us successful
tomorrow.
The
Cattle
"Take
care of the cattle first"
 The
cattle feeding business is unique because we are not dealing with
something you can produce and put on a shelf or in a warehouse.
In cattle feeding you are dealing with a live animal, producing
beef; ultimately you are raising someone's steak dinner. That
means first and foremost you have to be concerned with the quality
of the product, the way in which you care and feed that animal.
Caring for the cattle is a 24 hour, 7 day a week process. Those
cattle are dependent on us for their welfare. In short, the cattle
come first. I tell all our people, even if it means working long
hours or weekends or holidays, the cattle come first.
"You can tell a lot about an operation before you even see
the cattle"
At Cactus
we spend a lot of time and money taking care of the pens, the
facilities and the equipment. Now, why do we do that? Not because
it's the easiest way or because it costs less - but because we
want to provide an environment where our cattle can perform well.
It's paying attention to the small details, the pen conditions,
using mounds, dust control, having the right equipment to mix
and deliver feed that pays off in better cattle performance. I've
always said you can tell an awful lot about a feedyard before
you even see the cattle by looking at the equipment and the facilities,
by looking at the way they treat the cattle and how the employees
take care of the place. And by the way, it's also better for the
employees - to have a clean place to work with the right tools
for getting the job done.
The Cattle Business
"I'm
proud to be part of a business where a handshake still gets the
deal done and your word is your bond"
The
cattle business was built by people with strong ties to the land
and to each other. It remains a business where your handshake
and your word are your contract. Cactus owns feedyards, but we
also have ranches - stocker and cow-calf operations, because as
a company we can never get away from being cattle producers. Cactus
will always be in the cattle business and we will always feed
our own cattle along side those of our customers. You can't ask
a customer to trust you with his cattle if you're not willing
to do the same. We want our customers to know that they are doing
business with cattlemen, people that understand owning, raising
and feeding cattle. People they can trust with their handshake.
"If
you give your partner just a little better deal than your own
- that's the way to build a relationship"
 I've
always said it's easy to find someone to do business with but
if you want to build a long-term relationship - you better have
a partner not just a customer. That's why Cactus partners with
our customers, we want them to know that we have just as much
at stake as they do in seeing the cattle do well. You can't be
afraid to give the other guy just a little better deal than your
own, because if he knows that you're in it for the long haul,
with his interest in mind, that's where the partnership pays off
for both of you. That extends to all parts of the business, not
just feeding customers. I tell our people, whether it's buying
grain or value-based marketing; "if you want it to pay off in
the long run, build a partnership".
The Markets
"If
you're going to go to all that time and effort to raise, feed
and finish an animal, get paid for what you produce"
I have never
understood why we spend all our time and effort caring for an
animal, putting in the hours and hard work required and then when
it comes time to sell, we take what the packer gives us. Just
sit in any sale barn and listen to the way they sell cattle…."What'll
ya give?". That applied to the feedyard business as well, taking
the live average price for all our cattle. And it made us as an
industry extremely uncompetitive as well. We were producing a
lot of below average cattle and getting paid average price - dragging
the good cattle down as a result. That's why I have always looked
for ways to get paid for what you produce. It only makes sense
for the better cattle, and cattle producers, to get better money
for what they sell. Our value-based marketing agreements, better
known as "the formula", give us the ability to do this. Now, the
other thing I've told people is that the formula is not perfect
and it's only the first step in receiving true value for what
you produce. Cactus will continue to promote value-based marketing
and continue to look for ways to reward better cattle producers
with better prices.
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