How Graber Land and Livestock reduced bookkeeping time by 90%

Jonathan Graber and his wife built their ranching operation from the ground up. "Me and my wife, neither one of us come from immediate ranching families, but we have ancestors that were involved. So we're pretty much first gen," Jonathan explains.

After working on other ranches for years, Jonathan started his own operation in 2019 while still employed elsewhere. By 2022, he had committed fully to ranching, purchasing land outside of Cuero, Texas. In 2024, his wife joined him full-time, completing their family's transition to agriculture.

The Challenge

Jonathan created a diversified ranch with multiple revenue streams. "We have a small cow herd and we do some calves on beef share. But we train horses, we breed with two studs. We sell and then we also raise dogs and golden retrievers mainly," he explains.

This diversity strengthened their risk management but complicated their finances. Like many ranchers, Jonathan preferred being in the field rather than handling paperwork. "The most challenging thing about financial recordkeeping is doing it. As with most people in agriculture, we love what we do and so we want to be outside working. We don't want to sit on the computer," he shares.

Without dedicated office staff, the financial records piled up. This became critical when they purchased their ranch in 2022. "Not knowing my numbers, I didn't know what the costs were. I kind of knew in my head, but you didn't know exactly. We got pretty close to the pickle because all of a sudden you don't have any money left because you overspent. And because our numbers weren't up to date, we were just kind of winging it," Jonathan recalls.

The Solution

Initially, Jonathan hesitated to invest in accounting software. "I didn't want to spend the money. Every little bit that comes out of your account every month, I just wanted to put it in some other stuff. I thought we were too small to spend the money."

But as their operation expanded, he decided to try Ambrook. "I knew what I wanted. And then an ad for Ambrook popped up and I was like, well, I'll try that. I'll give them a shot. And they had everything I needed, so I rolled with it and it's been working great ever since."

The ability to customize the system to match his thinking was key. "I'm big on customizing stuff, and they make it really easy to do that. I have some of the categories they recommended. But what I like about it is you can make your own and you can make your books fit the way you think in your head, but then it also fits with the way that the CPA and the tax people need to see it."

The Results

Jonathan transformed how he handles finances. Before, the paperwork was overwhelming: "I was so far behind. It was just stacks of stuff and I'd have to lock myself from my computer for a whole day and still not get done with it, trying to make sure everything was right."

Now, he stays current while continuing his field work. "We're a small operation, so I'm working all the time and I can't be stuck in the office. But with the mobile app I can create invoices. I can tag transactions. When an expense hits my bank account, it shows up on the Ambrook app and I can tag it in the field anywhere, you know, and so it lessens the time I have to sit in front of the computer and catch up."

Most valuable is the visibility into each enterprise on his diverse operation. "I separate my dogs, my horses, the cows, stockers, and my beef program so that I can see what's making money, what's losing money." This transparency drives better decisions: "Then I have to go, 'Okay, look, this is really doing good. This is doing good. ]This is not making any money. We have got to make changes.'"

Looking Forward

With clear financial data, Jonathan confidently plans his ranch's future. "Knowing the numbers and staying up to date on it is very important because we're still trying to make sure we can keep doing this so we don't have to go back to off-farm work. The only way to really do that is to know our numbers and to know, all right, we can build on this and we can make this even better."

Jonathan embraces innovation to strengthen his operation. "Don't be scared of trying a new program, trying a different way of doing it," he advises, committed to continuous improvement in both his ranching and financial practices.