Wow, this conversation to me was incredibly powerful and inspiring! Giovana and her father faced difficulty that most never would have to losing family and nearly losing the ranch! Through it all she grew in her faith in God and both her and the ranch today are thriving! Everybody should…
Seth shares his family's story of building the family business over generations as well as the investments they have made into adding value to their animals by owning them through finish as well as a share in the cooperative that markets the meat. We discuss his thoughts on how to…
In this episode Jared Luhman speaks with Lyndsey and Chris from Shady Creek Lamb Co., who share their innovative approach to sheep farming through solar grazing. They discuss their backgrounds in agriculture, the challenges of transitioning from cattle to sheep, and the importance of water management and infrastructure in their…
Sam has an awesome story, he shares how he decided to separate himself from the family farm and go out on his own in order to preserve family relationships. We discuss the process of building his operation on his own and also discuss his thoughts on debt, leverage, land ownership…
Lots of good stuff in this conversation with Jacob. We discuss his path to farming, his decision to leave the off farm job, the many enterprises he has experience with and spend a while on his record keeping strategy and enterprise analysis. We then discuss his most recent venture which…
Ben is founder and president of Bear Hug Cattle Company which is a non-profit that trains retiring military members on the basics required to work in the cattle industry in the west! And in the second part of the conversation we discuss Ben's experience buying a well drilling business to…
During calving season we process every calf to tag, weight, DNA test and score the mothers. In this video I process one new calf and we also move them to the next pasture which can be a little bit more challenging with newborn calves but seemed to go pretty well!
Drew talks about why in this particular market he chose not to invest in stockers and switch entirely to sheep. He discusses his permanent flock as well as his stocker ewe flock experiment for this year. He shares the main challenges with sheep production and how he manages them and…
We're always trying to find ways to improve our operation either through reducing costs or labor, or increasing profits. This year we are trying two unique things, we're planting grain corn with the intention of not harvesting it and grazing it next winter after we get off cornstalks! We're also…
Matthew shares his incredible story of turning down a dream opportunity to take over a family business because he couldn't do so profitably. He shares how he grew an ag business and eventually got back into farming and ranching when he knew he could do so successfully! He shares his…
Every spring we get busy hauling pairs to pasture. Part of farming in row crop country is the grass is small chunks people can't farm so we do a bit of hauling cows. It's always fun to see them get out on grass though!
Randal shares his incredible story of building a farm. He now operates on over 650 acres and direct markets meat and eggs to local individuals and wholesale accounts! A story that highlights the relationship he has with his community is that when he experience complete drought and destocked almost entirely,…
Alex and his wife have built a diverse farm and ranch business that started with direct to consumer vegetable production through a CSA and has grown to a large ranch that does custom grazing, goat production for weed management as well as building a brand that serves food from their…
Caleb has a unique story to getting into agriculture, he had the opportunity to take on a 40 year land lease from a non-profit and built a dairy farm from scratch. He shares that story and also how he recently switched from the dairy model to a sheep production model…
Hayden felt some resistance when wanting to experiment with new farming and ranching practices on his family farm. Rather than give up, he has been growing an operation of his own on the side of working for the family business and is experimenting with low input ranching. Resources Mentioned: Greg…
I absolutely love Ryan's story of finding a creative way to building a large and successful ranch from nothing! He shares his story of buying and improving a medical sales business that was weeks away from being shut down and turning it around and ultimately selling that to buy and…
After doing missions work overseas Neil moved back to the family farm in Iowa. He is working to build a diversified and profitable farm that integrates cattle on land that most wouldn't consider for anything but crops. We discuss how he does that as well as his marketing business that…
I really enjoyed discussing Craig's operation and perspectives on things from diversification vs. specialization on a large farm and ranch, to land ownership and more. We also discuss his unique cow program which involves grazing thousands of cows on thousands of acres of corn every year! Check out www.pharocattle.com (http://www.pharocattle.com)…
George shares his story of starting his own farm when there wasn't room on the family farm. He also discusses why he moved from a direct marketing model to sell/ buy marketing and how that has improved his business and lifestyle and why he's so excited to continue. Resources Mentioned:…
Doug is the developer of all the bulls being sold at the PCC sale in Texas coming up on April 1. He shares his story of not being raised on a ranch and after years of working on other ranches having the opportunity to lease his own land and start…
Laura has been a popular past guest back on episodes 122 and 126. Today she comes on again to discuss their stocker cow enterprise. She discusses what it is, the advantages and challenges and why they choose to have that in addition to a native herd. Check out www.pharocattle.com (http://www.pharocattle.com)…
I have known Steve for years but this is the first time hearing his story of shifting his ranching focus from a high production, high input ranching to a more enjoyable and profitable ranch system. Resources Mentioned: PCC Updates and Newsletters For Ranching Returns shirts, hats, and sweatshirts check out…
