Ross was born to a dairyman in Southeast Idaho. Although his family left the dairy when he was young, his father instilled in him the values of agriculture and a love for its way of life.
This led him to pursue a Bachelor of Animal Science from BYU-Idaho.
While attending Brigham Young University-Idaho, Ross worked as a guide and foreman for Halo Ranch Outfitters on a ranch just outside West Yellowstone, Montana where he was able to put into practice the things he learned about herd health and property management.
Ross managed day-to-day business operations during six different summers and came to truly love the greater Yellowstone area. To expand his horizons, Ross moved to Hawaii and became the Operations Manager at Gunstock Ranch on Oahu. Again, he was allowed to flex his management muscles. During almost five years in Hawaii, he ran both the horseback riding and cattle operations. He implemented rotational grazing and a local grass-fed beef program and worked to create better pasture management programs. It was here that he met his amazing wife Aubrey and their first child, Oliver, was born.
In an effort to move closer to his Idaho home, Ross ended up in Colorado as the Palisade Ranch Manager over a ranch for a high-end resort. He was integral in improving the ranch through better management of their pastures and hay meadows. During their five years in Colorado, he and his wife added two precious daughters, Cricket and Daphne, to their family. It was here that Ross had the opportunity to purchase his own herd of cattle.
As time went on, Ross knew he wanted to be involved in the industry on a deeper level. He applied and was accepted to the program at Texas & Kingsville’s King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management. He was thrilled to entrench himself in the ranching industry for two years straight and considers his Masters of Ranch Management one of his greater accomplishments. As part of his program Ross consulted for many ranches on issues such as precipitation data collection, marketing strategies for calves, cost of gain vs. marginal incremental value of fed cattle, regenerative practices for ranches, and range management and grazing strategies.
Ross is excited to have found a way to continue helping ranches identify the needs of their operations and the tools necessary to address those needs. He fully believes in Redd Summit Advisor’s mission to keep ranching families on the land.
Running a successful operation involves dealing with several variables that are out of your control.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take to understand, prepare and guard against negative repercussions in these areas of uncertainty.
You’re likely aware of many of the risks on your ranch, but finding the right mitigation tools can take a specific skill set.
Ross Bronson is the Ag Risk Consultant at Redd Summit Advisors. He works alongside our insurance agents to find and mitigate risks on their operations. Ross has been working on and consulting for ranches across the country for decades. You can get to know him by watching this video or visiting his profile page.
As a producer, you have certain expectations for commodity yields. Production risk is any external input that changes your expected yield outcome. While these influences, such as weather, are often out of individual control, there are many operational decisions that can influence production outcomes and risk.
Financial risk is associated with the ability to access capital and the cost of capital, and is often influenced by the other risk areas. It also includes cash flow needs, the ability to maintain and grow equity, withstanding short-term economic shocks, and protecting the financial well-being of the entity.
Maintaining clear records and implementing clear managerial accounting strategies can help you mitigate your financial risk.
Marketing risk is any risk associated with how you market a product, its associated price received, and market influences for necessary inputs to operations like feed commodities.
A detailed marketing plan that accounts for your production system is an important part of your risk management strategy.
Managing market risk with appropriate insurance products can prepare you for catastrophic black swan events.
Poor legal forethought, or protection can directly influence financial risk through fines and lawsuits. Examples of legal risk are:
- Contracts for services
- Goods and payments
- Business organization
- Laws and regulations
- Liability
- Public policy
There is no substitute for the advice of a good lawyer. Any plans to mitigate legal risk should involve conversations with a qualified attorney.
Do you have family working on your ranch? Who else runs, works on, or visits your ranch? The health and well-being of people participating in your operation is important because without them your ranch does operate.
The long-term viability of your operation should include developing skills in others that may be lost when primary operators have to step away from their role.
Having important conversations about passing on your legacy needs to happen while all those involved are able to sit in the same room. Do you have a plan in place for the succession of your operation to the next generation?
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Talk to Ross about the risks present on your operation,
or download our Risk Management Guide.
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