Ranching Returns Podcast

Latest Episodes:

73: Doug Ferguson & Wally Olson - Q&A Jun 27, 2022

Show notes

Doug and Wally are experienced sell/buy marketers as well as educators. They join me in this episode to answer your questions! You can listen to episodes 17 & 18 where I had some initial discussions with Wally Olson and then episodes 28 & 37 with Doug Ferguson.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

72: Dale Strickler - Pasture Can Be Profitable Jun 20, 2022

Show notes

Dale is a sales agronomist for Green Cover Seeds as well as a speaker, consultant, author and experienced grazier! He shares his experience building a grazing farm and dramatically improving grazing productivity, and profitability as well as soil organic matter and soil health. We talk about the advantages of a grazing system as opposed to a row crop system. So much value in this conversation, and if you want to learn more, I would definitely encourage you to check out the many youtube videos he has online or buy one of his three books!

Resources Mentioned:

Tree Crops - J. Russell Smith

Mycorrhizal Planet

Jim Gerrish

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

71: Ben Beichler - Herd Share Dairy Success Jun 13, 2022

Show notes

Ben Beichler always had a dream of being a farmer, but with no farm to inherit, he set out to build one of his own. After apprenticing with Polyface Farms under Joel Salatin, he bought and built a dairy selling raw milk directly to 1250 families through a herd share program! His story is inspiring, and while I wouldn't recommend everybody go out and get a mortgage to incentivize you to be successful, he does have a lot of great wisdom to share in his story!

Resource Recommendations:

Newman Turner

George Henderson

70: Joseph Hubbard - Part 2 Cattle Production, Land Leases and More Jun 06, 2022

Show notes

This is the second part of our conversation with Joseph Hubbard. If you haven't, I would highly recommend going back and listening to part 1 before listening to this episode just for context but also because there is a ton of value in that episode! Joseph is doing some pretty impressive things!

Resources Mentioned:

Herd Quitter Podcast

Working Cows Podcast

Ranching Reboot Podcast

Grazing Conferences

Steve Campbell

69: Joseph Hubbard - Part 1 Sheep Production May 30, 2022

Show notes

This weeks episode is part one of my two part conversation with Joseph Hubbard of Olsburg, Kansas. Joseph has a large diversified ranch made up of 450 cow/calf pairs, 800+ stockers, and 2000 sheep managed on around 10,000 acres of Kansas prairie! In part one we discuss his sheep production model both on pasture and in a feedlot setting. We discuss the EZ Care breed and rambouillet sheep and why each breed has a purpose in his operation.

Check in next week when I will share part two of our conversation focused more on cattle and a few other topics!

68: Kim Maloney - Brylee Farms May 23, 2022

Show notes

Kim Maloney returned home to her family farm in Quebec, Canada to work as their day-to-day operations manager but also to build a direct marketing enterprise! Over the past 3 years of her time on the farm they have greatly expanded their beef production and marketing, added sheep and pork and have succeeded in marketing all their product direct to consumer! She shares the strategies they have used to grow this enterprise and the choice to bring finishers on to the farm rather than own cows to reduce winter feed expense!

Resources Mentioned:

Five Mary's Marketing Course

Ian Mitchell Innes

Ranching for Profit

67: Riley Shay - Building A Ranch May 16, 2022

Show notes

Riley Shay is a friend of mine and inspires and impresses me whenever I hear his story! From a young age Riley has had an entrepreneurial spirit from trying to start a cow herd with four bottle calves to buying a tractor and starting a custom haying business at 16 years old. Today, at only 26, Riley has built a ranch of his own, purchasing a property not far from his family in NW Kansas and has developed an impressive herd of Registered Red Angus cows! His story is one we can all learn from! If you are interested in learning more about his story, or are interested in the drought insurance program Riley mentions, reach out to him at rileywshay@gmail.com.

Resources Mentioned:
PCC Newsletter

PCC Bull Development Days

Networking Opportunities: Conferences, grazing schools, etc...

66: Derek Schmitz - Building a Grazing Dairy May 09, 2022

Show notes

Derek started his farming journey immediately after high school when he decided he could learn better through experience and self-study than college. He gained experience working for several farmers, studied books, magazines and YouTube and used this knowledge to build his own dairy. Today he and his wife run their dairy in central Minnesota. They are impressive grazing managers and are using their herd to build soil! We discuss his journey, his grazing management and talk epigenetics in his herd and using nature to select for the animals that fit his program and environment. Even if dairy isn't your primary interest, there is a ton of great info in this episode!

Resources Mentioned:

Nourishment - Fred Provenza

Joel Salatin

Graze magazine

Stockman Grass Farmer

Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship

Soil Health Academy

65: Jared Luhman - Ranching for Profit School May 02, 2022

Show notes

I just got home from my week long trip to Oklahoma attending the Ranching for Profit School. Each night I tried to do a quick update on my day to summarize some of the topics they discuss each day to give you an idea what the school entails. I really enjoyed my experience and if you've ever considered attending a school, hopefully this helps and I would definitely recommend attending a school whenever you can.

Resource Recommendation:

The Turnaround: A Ranchers Story - Dave Pratt

64: Darrin Drake - Peaceful Pastures Story Apr 25, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 11, we talked to Jenny Drake. Today we talk to her husband to get more details on their story of moving from Indiana to the mountains of Tennessee and building a large successful grazing based and direct marketing farm there. He shares the stressful times, along with the successes and how he prioritized his marriage over his business and how that has helped lead to a long and successful marriage! We also discuss the importance of community in this regenerative ag world and how it was important in his early days of building their farm and how we need to do more of it today. We discuss genetics and how important they are to his business and much more!

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching for Profit School

Herd Quitter Podcast

Burt Smith book

Stockman Grass Farmer

A Pharo Cattle Company bull sale and presale meeting.