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…
Dean Hunt shares his story of growing the family ranch while working an off farm job. He had an opportunity to expand at a time that he wasn't sure he could handle it but shares how they made it work. He also shares his experience using Farmatan to stop coccidiosis…
Knute and Amanda are fun! They met working for the Seattle Seahawks and through a long journey ended up back at Knutes family farm in Iowa. It's there that they purchased land, built infrastructure and have created a successful meat marketing business Grand View Beef! They share the struggles, and…
I had a great listener question asking about how to convert from a high input cow/calf herd and operation to a low input operation. Kit and I discuss making that transition, both in management as well as actually converting the herd genetics. If you have questions you'd like answered on…
Mitch Dahl is another one of those guys my age making me feel behind the game and I love it! He had the opportunity to take over an existing ranch from retiring ranchers and took it and ran with it. He now owns hundreds of cows, custom grazes, has a…
Doug is building a ranch in Zambia and trying to develop a cow herd adapted to his harsh climate! He shares all the traditional paradigms he's pushing back against and where he's finding success. He also shares the story of how and why he left the family farm to build…
Everybody talking about #soilhealth talks about planting green. We are trying our 3rd year in a row of planting corn directly into standing, living green rye. We've been happy with the results and are excited about the soil building we're doing!
Integrating livestock on cropland is talked about a lot these days as one of the principles of soil health! I'm going to walk through one example of how we are doing that by grazing rye in the spring and cornstalks after corn harvest on this 30 acre field. That means…
Getting some last minute fencing done before we turn everything out on grass in the next few days and a little more seeding.
We got our latest delivery of Pharo Cattle Company bulls and discuss ways to reduce breeding expenses by co-owning bulls with people in other calving windows, and by using bulls you can turn out with more cows for longer! #PCC #PharoCattleCompany #bulls
After the angus cows came up from Colorado we ran them separate while the angus adapted and the reds were on cornstalks. But now it's time to combine groups and simplify things!
On our tillable land we try to integrate livestock in a cropping rotation using annual cover crops. Some fields will be warm season annuals for late summer, fall or winter grazing but these fields are cool season annuals for full season grazing!
In 2024 we tried bale grazing cornstalks for the first time to save money on our cows winter feed costs! It went well so we tried it again this winter! It leaves a lot of residue which definitely reduces forage growth but is building soil!