Petersons' patience, marketing attitude create profitable operation

     Steve and Debbie Peterson love their work.
     And their work and lives are centered around cattle, particularly custom raising calves, on the Peterson operation, Owen, Wis.
     "You gotta love what you're doing. It shows in the quality," Steve said. "Calves take a lot of patience." And the Petersons have patience after 24 years in the business.
     The core of their business is grain-fed calves, Steve said. "And that's the part of our operation National Farmers helps with the most."
     They sell 200-lb. to 400-lb. Holstein feeder calves through National Farmers, most placed throughout Minnesota or Iowa. But, their calves end up anywhere from South Dakota to Ohio, to. They also raise veal calves.
     They buy most of the calves sold through the Curtiss, Wis., National Farmers Marketing Center, and some through the center near Brandon, in southern Wisconsin.
     "There are 2,000 calves at any given time that we own, that are coming and going," Steve said.
     On their home farm, they keep 350 bottle-feeder calves in their barn. But that's a lot of calves for one person to bottle feed, so they train them to drink out of buckets. Debbie handles that batch, and spends about 1 1/2 hour per 100 calves per day. "Some days she spends a lot of time in the barn," he said. "She loves what she's doing."
     Frank Pries, Curtiss Livestock Marketing Center manager, speaks with first-hand knowledge of the Petersons farm practices. He has known them for about 25 years. They moved into the Curtiss, Wis., area at the same time, the Pries family from southern Minnesota, and Petersons from Southern Wisconsin. They live about four miles apart.
     "They are very professional with their cattle," Pries said. "They're good caretakers."

Independent growers
     They have calves on 10 different farms, using independent growers. It's a method for custom calf growing they have relied on for the last 15 years.
     "We keep all our growers independent," he said. "A lot of them are younger. We swing by each farm weekly to see how they're following the program.
     "We remember starting out and wanting and needing support," he said. Selecting which producers to work with is no small task. About one-tenth of the individuals who approach the Petersons to raise calves with them meet their standards.
     Steve credits Debbie for being a good judge of character. She sees and determines which growers will partner with them for a length of time that justifies the Petersons' commitment and investment.
     They value those who stay and provide quality animals. "I tell the growers, 'You don't work for me; you work for yourselves.'"
     Different customers of Petersons have different weight desires. To provide consistency to buyers, they set it up with one calf grower to one feedlot.
     Peterson reminds the growers of an important fact, and remembers it himself in raising calves, and in finishing cattle. "'Your reputation goes with every load of cattle. Treat people like you want to be treated,'" he said.

Petersons market through National Farmers
     "We market the majority of finished cattle through National Farmers," Peterson said. They market fat steers through the organization as well, and Peterson said they're always in the "top 1/3 of prices."
     "They know what we have for open cattle in the neighborhood," Steve said. "Frank calls when prices are moving up or down. I listen now. When I haven't listened, it has cost me."
     On March 3, Peterson sold fat cattle - then the market dipped. "I'm glad I did that," he emphasized. "We won again."
     "And sometimes Frank says, 'Wait a couple of weeks. It ain't going to hurt nothing."
     With their finished cattle they capitalize on National Farmers affiliate - Nexus Marketing- forward contracting, aiming at marketing 50 percent of the cattle they finish. Sarah Nelson, Nexus Marketing risk management consultant, "has pulled us some real nice contracts."
     Peterson says they are pleased with the contract pricing. As for corn costs chasing them out of cattle production, "We don't cut and run, just because corn went up," he emphasized. "When everybody is running away from something is when you stay in it. High corn prices are our highest income level."
     In fact, he reviewed his tax returns from the 1990s. When corn was high, he discovered, he made the most money.
     He foresees good things for the cattle industry overall. "But something could go wrong, mad cow, FMD. Unforeseen things can affect marketing. We lock in the forward contracts. We still need price protection, just in case we're wrong."
     "In our 20-year history lesson, we see a 90 percent possibility of it being very good, but, you need to buy things correctly, cover yourselves the best you can, and go forward."
     "You need to do price protection. Lock up corn. You need price protection on finished cattle," he emphasized. "There's too much money involved to be on the open market."

Family operation
     Steve and Debbie have three children. Trisha, 24, was very involved in the operation. Brittney, 15, enjoys helping outside. "She's good at sorting," Steve said. "She's quite a helper and runs the Bobcat. She loves the calf business."
     Logan is eight, going on nine in April. "He'll be dad's helper in another year. Right now, he mows the lawn and does little jobs."
     In addition to calf care on the home place, and working with Steve to find promising growers to partner with, Debbie handles the accounting. She reserves afternoons for that work, tracking medicine costs, feed bills, figuring out which growers need to be paid what amount, and overall deciphering the costs and income.
     The Petersons don't get caught up in waiting for a better price, and end up missing out on profitable sales. "They're good with their records, know what's profitable, and know when to take a profit," Pries said. ".. He eliminates the risk. When a profit opportunity arises in a marketing situation, Steve says, 'I know I can make money on these, I can make a profit. I'll take it.'"
     Steve shared one of their family's secrets for doing well. "It helps when you love what you're doing," he said. "I can't imagine doing a job every day just for the paycheck . money comes and money goes if you love your work or if you don't. But it's best if the money comes from something you love doing."