Ranch Manager Duane Daskam oversees two Colorado ranches that have little in common other than being in the same state. More than 1,000 head of cattle travel 150 miles twice a year between the Stirrup Ranch at 9,000 feet in altitude and the Golden Stirrup Ranch at 4,500 feet in altitude. One of the most challenging aspects of his job is navigating the weather extremes at the alpine ranch and occasional drought through the prairieland at the other.
Though Daskam had more than 20 years of ranch management experience when he came to the ranches five years ago, Pasture, Rangeland, Forage Coverage (PRF) insurance was new to him and he was introduced by Silveus Insurance Group (Silveus) Agent Aaron Tattersall to a program already in place at the ranch.
“Understanding the ins and outs of PRF and PRF Strategy was a learning experience and something I was excited to be a part of,” said Daskam. “Aaron navigated us through each weather extreme to make this a profitable program for us. As a result, risk management is a really important part of our business plan now.”
Daskam relies on Tattersall’s expertise and superior customer service to help him fine tune the PRF program with a good PRF Strategy every year. The pair meet in the fall to go over both historical and predicted climate data and come up with a plan for the upcoming year, which must be in place by November. “The weather changes year in and year out, so I talk to Duane to understand his goals and how he wants to adjust his plans every fall to work best for his operations,” said Tattersall. “We’ll begin talking about updates for the following year over the summer including long range forecasts.”
“It gives me peace of mind knowing that when one or both of the ranches are experiencing drought and are producing less grass we have this program in place and it will compensate us for those losses,” said Daskam. “We then have the money to buy hay if needed; it just gives us more options.”
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