Dylan,
When I was referencing enviornment I was thinking about our physical enviornment here in northwest florida, the heat and humidity. But your reply makes me realize that I was also thinking feed input. Your correct, it is also a part of the enviornment . We have beautiful grass here in northwest Florida but to say it is high quality forage would not be accurate. In the spring our grass is really good but by June and July it loses a great deal of its quality. Now a forage person might be able to give you all the science and studies that would explain it, all I can give you is that if a cow is thin she will gain weight on our grass in the spring but by June she better be in pretty good shape because all that grass is going to do is maintain her condition, she may gain a bit but she sure isn't going to get butter ball fat. Grass in some parts of the country is better than others, weather mitght be better in one location there could be a drought or a harsh winter there are just so many factors that have to be considered. I am saying as a breeder we need to be aware of what will work for us taking all of these things into consideration. We need to know our customers, we can't be all things to all people, and if you try to convince someone that you are then you are going to end up with a unhappy customer. Twenty years ago when people said they wanted to purchase cattle from someone with a program I didn't fully understand what that meant. Now after breeding cattle for twenty years, I do. An operation with a program breeds cattle from proven genetics, it takes years (and mistakes) to build a program. When you make a breeding decision, it takes five years to truly know weather or not it was a good decision or not. It isn't until the calf from that breeding is in production that you truly know if it worked or not.
I guess what I am really trying to say is being in the cattle business is one of the toughest jobs but can also be one of the most rewarding jobs you will ever do. If we didn't love what we are doing we sure couldn't or wouldn't continue.
Gizmom