Ranching Returns Podcast

Latest Episodes:

63: Paul Landrigan - Building a Ranch While Working Full Time Apr 18, 2022

Show notes

Paul always had a love of cattle from a young age! His father recognized it when Paul could put together cattle family lines in a commercial herd when he was just a kid. However, the opportunity to take over a large family ranch was not in the cards, but this didn't stop him from building an operation of his own. In this episode we talk about his journey to building a ranch by focusing on low input cattle production and marketing his livestock at a premium. These principles allowed him to grow the business to where today he plans to retire working on the ranch he built. We also discuss his spiritual journey and his priorities of: 1) his relationship with his creator, 2) his relationship with his wife and 3) raising his children to follow Christ and 4) everything else. If you want to reach out to Paul, he can be reached at pjlandrigan@gmail.com

Resources Mentioned:

Bible

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

Blackabee - Experiencing God

Every Man a Warrior

Stockman Grass Farmer - Allan Nation & Joel Salatin

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!

62: Tyler Burkey - Finding Opportunities Apr 11, 2022

Show notes

Tyler Burkey and his wife Megan have a unique story of seeking out new opportunities and not being afraid to change course when those opportunities arise and the numbers make sense. Their start in agriculture was producing hay, they grazed covers after seed corn harvest, raised cow/calf herds in barns and today they are implementing sell/buy marketing of cows and stockers and raising them in barns and out on cover crops and stocker cattle. Lots of things to learn from in this episode.

We also discuss the first sale with Big Iron Livestock where PCC bull customers have the opportunity to sell females and folks looking for female PCC genetics have the opportunity to purchase them. Check them out at Big Iron Livestock.

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching for Profit

Doug Ferguson Marketing School

61: Jordan Meyer - Dairy, Beef Cows, Stocker, Hogs, Goats & More! Apr 04, 2022

Show notes

Jordan Meyer and his wife Rachelle haven't been afraid to dive into new enterprises when opportunities present themselves. Over the years they have raised organic crops, conventional crops, dairy, beef cow/calf, stocker cattle, goat production, pastured hogs, turkeys, broiler chickens and laying hens! Today they still remain diversified raising dairy cows, beef cow/calf, stockers, goats, broilers and pastured hogs. They direct market what they can through their brand Wholesome Family Farms and prioritize soil health in all they do! Jordan also recognized value in land that most would overlook, and by grazing goats in woodlands, he found a way to capture that value on otherwise unproductive land. Throw in a family with six kids and it's plain to see this young family is absolutely crushing it! It was a blast talking to him and his story is filled with great tips and inspiration for anybody interested in getting started farming themselves!

Resources Mentioned:

Wholesome Family Farms Youtube

Wallace Center Farms Youtube

Neighbors and local experts

60: Kit Pharo - Q&A Mar 28, 2022

Show notes

On this weeks episode we take questions from listeners and ask them to Kit Pharo. A few of the questions he answers are:

- If you were starting from scratch today, what would you do?

- Why don't more producers use composite bulls when most are not breeding registered cattle or show cattle?

- AI or Bulls

- Heat tolerant bull program

- Cactus Feeders calf buy-back program

- What percentage of bulls tend to make it to the sale

59: Jim Gerrish - Best Place to Ranch Mar 21, 2022

Show notes

In a recent PCC discussion group there was a conversation around where is the ideal location to run cow/calf pairs in the United States. Overall, every area has advantages and disadvantages, but Jim Gerrish who has a unique perspective having worked with ranchers in 43 states and visited ranches in 49 states has his views on some of the best places. We discuss this as well as why it's important to break out land investments as a separate business from your operating entity.

Resources Mentioned:

Land, Livestock & Life - Allan Nation

No Risk Ranching - Greg Judy

https://www.americangrazinglands.com/

58: Landan Fear - Making the Ranch Profitable Again Mar 14, 2022

Show notes

In 2019 Landan took over his family's ranch which had been managed in a high input, low profit manner for a number of years. He immediately worked to make changes improving grass management, buying low input genetics, reducing direct costs and overhead expenses and as a result has shown a profit every year since starting. Definitely an episode worth listening to if you have the desire to make a more profitable ranch and a better lifestyle.

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching for Profit

Jim Gerrish

Stockman Grass Farmer

Herd Quitter Blog

57: Brian Alexander - The Red Hills Rancher Mar 11, 2022

Show notes

Brian Alexander, also known as the Red Hills Rancher on social media joins me to discuss his history in ranching and his ranch in the Red Hills of South Central Kansas. We talk about fire, grazing management, succession planning and much more! If you haven't heard of it, be sure to check out his podcast the Ranching Reboot Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts!

Resources Mentioned:

National Grazing Lands Coalition

Stockman Grass Farmer

Ranching for Profit

Holistic Management

Cleared Hot Podcast

Working Cows Podcast

Ag State of Mind Podcast

A neighbor who is doing the what you want to do57

56: Andrew Morris - Moving the Ranch to a New State Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

To often people are convinced that finding success in agriculture is impossible because they can't find opportunity in their back yard. Andrew and his family were unwilling to accept that they couldn't run a profitable ranch business and did what many of us would never consider and sold their land in Ohio and moved to Oklahoma to start a new ranch in a new environment that was more suited to their cattle production goals. In this episode, Andrew shares how they came to the conclusion that moving might be the best option, the process of moving and the transition to managing a ranch in a new environment! His story is full of value and inspiring to those of us who wish to find success in this industry but aren't sure how!

Resources mentioned:

Ranching for Profit

Executive Link

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

55: Will Harris - White Oak Pastures Feb 21, 2022

Show notes

Will Harris is one of those people that I have looked up to as long as I've been involved in this regenerative world. He's got an amazing story of transitioning his farm over from commodity livestock production to a regenerative, diverse, direct to consumer business. The market millions of dollars in grass fed and pasture based meats and poultry raised on their 3200 acres in Bluffton, Georgia. They have improved their soils, taking them from 0.5% organic matter to over 5% and they have regenerated their community by providing jobs for 180 people. Truly an amazing and inspiring story I hope you enjoy!

Resources Mentioned:

Center for Agricultural Resilience, found on White Oak Pastures Website

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

54: Jason Salchow - Principles of Successful Cattle Production Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

Jason joined me again to follow up on our conversation from episode 52. We discuss further the idea of reducing inputs and how it relates to veterinarians. We also discuss principles that apply to being a successful cattle producer, principles like developing cattle that are adapted to your environment, calving with nature, advancing your herd genetics through strict culling, and so much more!

Resources Mentioned:

Book of Proverbs

Alan Nation

Gordon Hazard

Dave Pratt

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