This week, Shaye welcomes back Chris Sherman, CEO of Tech Support Farm, to discuss fall cybersecurity and fraud threats facing farms and ranches. Sherman highlights RFID tag swapping in cattle sales, emphasizing vigilance and real-time verification to prevent animals being sold at incorrect values.  

He also warns that busy seasons increase bank fraud and vendor-payment scams, advising producers to verify payment changes and urgent requests by phone, watch for spoofed emails, and use simple email folder rules to flag fake invoices. If a bad link is clicked or money is sent, he recommends contacting a cybersecurity provider, reporting significant losses via the FBI’s IC3, and carrying cyber insurance.  

He notes commercial accounts often have only 24 hours to dispute fraudulent transactions and suggests tools like Positive Pay, along with MFA/2FA, strong passwords, and paid domain email for better protection. 

You can learn more about what Chris offers at https://techsupport.farm/.  

Learn more about Performance Livestock Analytics here: https://bit.ly/47PxY3W 

Learn more about Ambrook here: ambrook.com/casualcattle  

Learn more about Elanco here: https://farmanimal.elanco.com/us/beef  

Learn more about Corteva here: RangeAndPasture.com/CattleConversations 

00:00 Risk Meets Cybersecurity 

01:14 Meet Chris Sherman 

02:37 Fall Threats Overview 

04:03 RFID Tag Swapping 

06:00 Busy Season Bank Fraud 

08:22 If You Clicked Or Paid 

12:27 Ponzi Schemes Due Diligence 

14:15 Harvest Season Digital Hygiene 

15:52 Passwords And Paid Email 

16:25 Year End Vigilance Wrap Up 

Today on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast, Shaye interviews Corteva pasture specialist, Rachel Walker, about prioritizing fall weed control to maximize usable forage and extend grazing days. Walker explains that winter-emerging weeds like plantain, thistles, and poison hemlock should be treated in fall when young, using options such as DuraCor and UltiGraze.  

She describes DuraCor’s two-actives approach and notes grazing is allowed, with hay sales restrictions depending on state. They discuss why weed control matters in drought and for preventing livestock losses to toxic plants, and how improved control can reduce hay feeding and enable adding diverse grasses and clover. Walker recommends frequent soil testing and taking advantage of free forage testing, and adds fall brush control timing guidance. 

Learn more about Corteva solutions here: RangeAndPasture.com/CattleConversations   

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/    

00:00 Fall Weed Control Urgency 

01:10 Meet Rachel Walker 

02:43 Drought and Hay Outlook 

04:07 Grazing Longer Into Winter 

06:19 Targeting Winter Weeds 

10:21 Why Weed Control Matters 

14:09 UltiGraze and Soil Testing 

16:39 Forage Testing and Nutrition 

18:23 Clover Integration With NovaGraze 

20:16 Brush Control Timing 

Today on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast, Shaye talks with veterinarian Dr. Paige Schmidt-Rios about bovine respiratory disease (BRD), its impact across the cattle supply chain, and key prevention strategies for ranchers. Dr. Paige explains BRD (also called pneumonia or shipping fever) as a complex syndrome involving multiple viruses and bacteria, often triggered when stress and environment compromise immunity; she lists common pathogens and notes BRD is a major cause of post-weaning illness.  

They discuss treatment limits, including supportive care for viral cases and five antibiotic classes for bacterial pneumonia, highlighting mycoplasma’s lack of a cell wall and fluoroquinolone restrictions, plus the role and timing of diagnostics and the need for a VCPR. Prevention focuses on colostrum within 12 hours, clean/dry calving environments, proper vaccine handling, and timely boosters, including considerations around preconditioning versus vaccinating at weaning. 

Learn more about Noble here: https://bit.ly/3DD7uG0 

Learn more about Vence here: https://bit.ly/4kfWrCG 

Learn more abou Elanco here: https://farmanimal.elanco.com/us/beef  

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/   

01:16 4-H Memories 

This week, Shaye Wanner interviews Haley Potter from the Ambrook team about how artificial intelligence can support ranch profitability and long-term continuity when used responsibly. Potter, who has North Dakota ranching roots and splits time between ranches in Dell and Alder, Montana, says AI fits best for producers who need help with information gathering and admin tasks while keeping humans in control of decisions and fact-checking outputs.  

She shares examples such as using Claude to summarize bull sale catalogs based on EPD parameters, building grazing plans, and analyzing financials for expansion scenarios, plus customer examples like an AI-assisted ordering/lead tool for direct-to-consumer beef and a “ranch command center” dashboard. Potter explains Ambrook’s AI-assisted bookkeeping features (tagging, invoice matching, receipt scanning) and emphasizes data quality, transparency, and privacy, including choosing trusted services and requiring approval for data use. 

See what Ambrook can do for your operation here: ambrook.com/casualcattle   

Learn more about Noble here: https://bit.ly/3DD7uG0 

Learn more about Vence here: https://bit.ly/4kfWrCG 

This week,  Shaye sits down with Chance, a ranch manager at the Noble Research Institute, about extending grazing seasons to cut winter feeding and hay costs. Chance describes Noble’s 5,100-acre native-grass operation running about 200 cows, using intensive rotational grazing (moving daily to every few days) and aiming to remove only the top third to half of forage during the growing season so enough standing grass remains for winter. 

He stresses producers often plan too late, and recommends measuring pasture forage monthly to guide stocking decisions, destocking, or hay purchasing. Winter management includes protein supplementation (cubes/cake) for four to five months and occasional hay during heavy snow. They discuss other options such as cover crops (noting weather risk), rye winter pasture, crop residue grazing, and bale grazing/unrolling or pre-unwrapped bales to improve soil and return nutrients.

Learn more about resources from the Noble Research Institute here: http://noble.org/find-a-course 

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com 

00:00 Cutting Input Costs

This week, Shaye Wanner welcomes Chris Rawley of Harvest Returns to discuss what makes ranches “investable” and why it matters for operators seeking outside investors or bank financing to expand herds, land, or infrastructure. Raleigh explains Harvest Returns’ model of pooling investor capital and investing as a single partner via loans, notes, or equity, and says investable operations have a solid plan, clear financial statements, defined marketing/sales strategy, and a realistic path to investor returns. 

He outlines that key first steps include transparency and documentation across complex land and entity structures, accurate balance sheets reflecting assets and debts, and building a team for missing functions like finance, bookkeeping, accounting, and sales. Common mistakes include poor herd tracking/accountability (amid “phantom cattle” scams) and attempting to raise public capital without proper SEC-compliant legal help. Raleigh emphasizes getting herd and financial numbers in order, including hiring professionals. 

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/

00:00 Is Your Ranch Investible 

This week, Shaye Wanner interviews NDSU livestock development specialist Jon Biermacher about the economics of buying weaned/backgrounded heifers in spring, breeding them, and selling them about a year later as long-bred heifers or as pairs, using an Excel-based enterprise budget tool developed from a student producer’s plan.  

The model includes key costs (heifer purchase, pasture/feed/hay/mineral, health, breeding, transport, interest, marketing) and compares AI plus cleanup bulls versus natural service, finding about a $55/head advantage to not using AI (not counting added labor) and little observed revenue premium for AI’d breds. In their projections, pairs returned about $100/head more than bred heifers. Results show costs are dominated by heifer purchase and feed, with profit highly sensitive to purchase price; a ~$0.20/lb increase can erase roughly $200/head projected net return. This conversation is helpful for anyone looking to create projections on their operation with resources from the NDSU team.  

Join Rising Ranchers Here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/risingranchers 

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/  

01:31 Meet John Biermacher 

04:54 Defining the Enterprise 

06:08 Building the Budget Tool 

13:03 Markets and Assumptions 

15:04 AI Versus Bulls 

19:48 Where the Costs Sit 

22:26 Breds Versus Pairs 

25:35 Break Evens and Risk 

31:47 Tools Beyond Spreadsheets 

In a solo episode of the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast, host Shaye Wanner shares her background growing up on a ranch that evolved into a registered Red Angus seedstock operation and now living on her husband’s centennial family farm, to frame three key transition planning tips.  

First, she urges producers to honestly ask whether they truly want to be on the family farm or would rather farm/ranch independently while staying close to family, noting legacy isn’t limited to land ownership and that not all family members work well together. Second, she advises financially planning for the unknown by saving and working with bankers and financial professionals even without a clear transition timeline, since taking over must still be a sound business decision. Third, she emphasizes, “You don’t get to change what’s not yours,” encouraging respect for older generations and clarity about one’s current role. 

Join Rising Ranchers Here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/risingranchers

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/  

00:08 Welcome and Ways to Connect 

01:45 My Ranching Background 

05:20 Three Tips Overview 

05:41 Family Farm or Nearby 

10:01 Plan for the Unknown 

13:27 You Cant Change It