Luke Lackman

Luke Lackman runs a 2,500-head custom-feeding yard near Billings, Montana. Over the years, the third-generation farmer worked hard to build lasting relationships with returning customers. But in 2023 he realized he needed to make some changes to maintain his farm’s efficiency and productivity.

Kickin’ it old-school

“When the owners aren’t present for the day-to-day stuff, there's a lot of trust involved,” Lackman says. “If a set of cattle don't perform as expected, it’s always an uncomfortable question when we get asked what happened.”

Lackman used to operate old-school, scribbling down handwritten notes when loads of cattle arrived. He’d fill a notebook and use an Excel spreadsheet to create proper rations.

Closeouts were even more complicated as groups were often sorted and shipped at different times.

“It’s tough to figure out exact costs as animals don't all arrive the same day or leave the same day,” Lackman says. “We faced plenty of gray areas.”

A chance encounter with neighbors sparked the Performance Beef idea in Lackman’s mind. After some internet searches, he knew he’d found exactly what he was looking for.

Raising eyebrows and changing methods

“I’m not tech savvy and drug my feet trying to use it,” he laughs. To his surprise, the Performance Beef program was set up in just a couple of hours.

“When I showed my crew the iPads the first time and told them we were going to start using the Performance Beef tablets, a lot of eyebrows went up,” he says. “Two days later, they told me how much they loved it.” 
 
Rather than jotting down notes as the cattle arrived, Lackman entered a pen number, desired ration and pounds per head. The app calculates the next day’s feeding within seconds. He can even make remote adjustments from wherever he happens to be.

“It used to take two long, miserable days to make up all the feed bills,” he says. “Now, I do it in two hours. The app tracks everything and provides accurate and hard evidence of what’s happening.”

Long gone are worries about missed entries, overlooked charges and random over- or under-feeding events. Lackman and his team can easily track daily gains, close-outs for incoming and outgoing cattle and exact consumption.

Removing guesswork and refining the picture

Lackman says Performance Beef has removed the guesswork initiated from his customer’s questions. Before using the program, hours of research and calculations were required to verify accurate answers. Now, with all the relevant information in one place, feeding details, inventory and health are easy to confirm.

“It’s made everything black and white,” he says. “I no longer worry about the little details I might have missed or forgotten doing it the old way.”

Lackman explains that Performance Beef is so straightforward, even friends and family members not used to feeding cattle can operate it.

“It doesn’t matter if you're 10 or 70 years old. If you’ve used an iPad or smartphone, you’ll jump right in,” he says. “Anyone feeding cattle should use Performance Beef whether you have 400 or 40,000 head. The peace of mind, efficiency and ease of use it offers is so valuable.”