How to Make Ranch Finances Simpler
Learn how Ambrook and can affordably make your finances clear as a rancher.
How do you make decisions on your operation each day? That’s a question Jason Barnard was posed with when he and his wife Candice, made the decision to clean up the finances for their diversified operation. However, it’s a question all ranchers should take the time to think about.
Jason and Candice’s operation is in Arizona and includes irrigated forage crops, stockers, raising fat cattle, custom feeding and selling beef directly to consumers. But that’s not where they started.
The Barnards started by doing what their families had done for generations – raise chili, cotton and hay. However, these can be high-risk crops, resulting in really good and bad years financially. In 2011, they moved to their current place and started shifting to a more cattle-oriented business based on the available resources.
Jason says, “About 15 years ago, I told Candice my dream was to walk all of our feed off the farm in the form of fat cattle.” Today, they have taken that to a whole new level, as what started as running yearlings on stubble and feeding by hand has turned into custom feeding cattle and selling beef directly to consumers.
Candice says, “Every transition hasn’t been fast, but risks, market prices and other factors kept moving us toward cattle businesses.”
This exponential growth didn’t come with growing pains for the Barnards. Making decisions about what to do for each enterprise became confusing as all the numbers ran together.
Candice says, “As we grew, nothing was separated like it should’ve been. It wasn’t clear which entities were making or losing money.” Instead of getting an instant picture of their finances for each enterprise, they had to reach out to their accountant and wait for a response.
This wasn’t working for their operation or their family. They needed the ability to make decisions faster and clearly to mitigate risk.
“In agriculture, we are having the time of our lives, but we are also experiencing some of the highest risk of our lives,” says Jason.
The solution Jason and Candice decided on was Ambrook – an accounting software designed specifically for agriculture. Ambrook allows them to get a near-instant picture of the finances for each individual enterprise and make it easy to enter, designate and sort through all income and expenses.
“I can see how they can adapt much quicker than their previous systems,” says Maika – an Ambrook customer success specialist.
This newfound organization has allowed Jason and Candice to show up more prepared for their loan officer, make timelier decisions, and even let go of their trucking business of 10 years because they saw how much money it was losing.
Candice says, “When you have clarity with your numbers, it no longer becomes an emotional decision to let something go, and it becomes empowering as a business owner.”
Increased organization can also reduce overwhelm and improve overall mental health for farmers and ranchers.
“In a diversified operation, we can manipulate our numbers to make other enterprises look better, but at the end of the day, you should know which ones are truly profitable and shouldn’t have to manipulate the books,” says Jason.
Deciding to switch from QuickBooks and spreadsheets to Ambrook didn’t come without a lot of time and hard work, but it has paid off for the Barnards. “It’s been a lot of work to get to this point, but the ROI of that time has been exponential,” says Jason.
Jason and Candice encourage other ranchers and diversified operators to take control of their future by organizing their finances because it has reaped bountiful rewards for their family.
Ranchers can try Ambrook for free by going to ambrook.com/casualcattle
