Before you read any further, take a moment and point to yourself. My guess is that your index finger is pointing towards your heart. In our calling to create, to be useful, to take up the work of the steward, our intellect is required. However, if we leave our conviction, enthusiasm and heart on the sidelines, we risk missing out on the wholeness of life.

While the work of cattle raising comes with a host of tasks, chores and jobs — some more fulfilling than others — there is something more intrinsic and deeply rooted that comes with tending to the herd. Certainly, profit and wealth creation are motivators for our work.  However, there are more layers to the onion; at the core lies the experience of a deep connectivity to creation and community.

It is my hope to encourage you to seek and be aware of those experiences born from the pursuit of meaning, purpose and the process of establishing deep roots. Please allow me to share a moment of my life that might be useful to stimulate your contemplation.

More to the motivation

Snowfall had been abundant resulting in a 3-foot (ft.) layer of frozen frosting on the top of every haystack across the ranch. In preparation for opening a stack and to mitigate the effects of the inevitable melting and subsequent moisture penetrating the bales and reducing feed quality, the snow had to be shoveled from the top of each stack, which would later be moved by a small snowplow. We were putting up hay in square, 100-pound bales, and most stacks were six to nine bales wide and 150 ft. long. Getting to many of the haystacks required a journey of a mile or more on a pair of cross-country skis coupled with an investment of sweat equity.

It was one of my favorite assignments. The landscape was magical, and it was a rare day to not encounter a coyote, deer or elk. The solitude provided a time for focus and thought; the work was hard but deeply satisfying; and as the sun began to drop to the horizon, it was time to strap the skis on and retrace the path that had been created hours earlier. The return trip was more relaxed, less urgent. 

As I passed pastures where our cattle stood with their breath creating a cloud of mist above the herd, for a slice of time my head gave way to the signal from my heart and soul that quietly reminded me that stockmanship was to embrace something deeper than the chores and work at hand. It was indeed a time of wholeness, clarity and meaning. 

Challenges and problems will most certainly be part of the beef business and our own enterprises. Tough conversations and difficult decisions are part and parcel of business ownership. However, life in all its complexity becomes more manageable when we open ourselves up to those times of connection to purpose, place, profession and people. Those are the moments that mold and shape our perspective, invigorate our imaginations and strengthen our character.

Building up a great herd is more than the application of reason and science. It requires levels of tenacity, courage and conviction that can only be found in matters of the heart. When we examine the heart of the herd and find it strong, we find it was created by the investment of our full capacity — to leave any part of that capacity unused is to risk missing the mark.  

Editor’s note: Tom Field is a rancher from Parlin, Colo., and the director of the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.