What Ranchers Can Learn from Walmart

Most people have an opinion about Walmart. Some of us love it, some of us hate it, some of us are too far away from one to care, but regardless, we all know about it. 

Walmart is not just a retail giant; behind the shelves and the yellow smiley face is one of the most disciplined, scrappy, and practical business minds in retail - Sam Walton.

His book, Made in America, shares his story and the story of how Walmart became Walmart. This book shares the story of how someone can build something big by thinking small, staying frugal, and never losing sight of the customer. A few members on our team have read it this summer, and we think you should too. 

From Pickup Truck to Powerhouse

Sam Walton didn’t start with billions. He started with one store, a relentless work ethic, and an obsession with efficiency.

He didn’t care about fancy suits or big offices. He cared about volume, margins, and turnover.

Sound familiar?

That’s ranching, too—except most of us are still running our businesses like it’s the 1970s while Walmart's model keeps evolving.

Sam built Walmart around a few core principles that ranchers would be wise to adopt:

• Keep costs low—ruthlessly low

• Know exactly what you’re selling and why

• Move inventory quickly and profitably

• Obsess over your customer

• Never stop experimenting

He didn’t build an empire by being lucky. He built it by making better decisions faster—exactly what we preach inside every simulation.

Turnover, Volume, and Margins: The Cattle Version

Walmart thrives on turnover. They move product fast. They make their money on thin margins by moving more of it than anyone else. Most ranchers get hung up on price—what they “should” be paid. But Sam Walton would flip that conversation:

“It’s not about what it sells for. It’s about what you can turn and how fast you can do it.”

If you apply that thinking to your cow-calf or stocker operation, suddenly Sell➧Buy Marketing isn’t just a theory—it’s a Walmart-style strategy.

Buy undervalued cattle. Add value efficiently. Sell when the relationship is in your favor. Turn that money into another opportunity.

That’s ranching the Walmart way.

Frugality Isn’t a Weakness. It’s a Strategy.

Sam Walton drove a beat-up truck well into his billionaire years. He hated waste. He hated arrogance. And he didn’t believe success permitted you to stop being smart.

Most ranchers have pride in being frugal—but we often forget that frugality isn’t just about saving money. It’s about maintaining flexibility.

Sam knew that by keeping expenses low, he could move faster, take more calculated risks, and adapt to the market long before his competitors even noticed the shift.

In a ranching context, this means:

• Don’t carry overhead that doesn’t return margin

• Don’t keep cows just because they’re paid off

• Don’t build infrastructure just because the neighbor did

• Stay nimble, and let profit, not tradition, drive your decisions

Love the Game

What shines through every page of Made in America is that Sam Walton genuinely loved the game.

He loved figuring things out. He loved beating expectations. He loved helping his team succeed. And he never stopped learning.

This wasn’t just a job for him, it was a challenge he couldn’t wait to wake up and take on. If you’re building a ranch business for the long haul, that mindset matters. You’ve got to love the game, not just endure it.

The markets will shift. The margins will tighten. But the ranchers who treat this as a challenge worth mastering, the ones who train and adapt and get curious, are the ones who build something that lasts.

Your Move

Pick up a copy of Made in America. Read it.