Grazing Grass Podcast | Rotational Grazing, Soil Health & Profitable Livestock Farming

How grazing works for very small acreage, all because of wanting more learning opportunities.  Erich and Allison Henschel of Henschel Hof graze pigs, goats, and cattle in Virginia.

In this episode:

• Why small livestock is better for small arceage
• Why starting with smaller breeds lets you learn faster
• Why everything doesn't have to be perfect

This week's question: What did you start with for your grazing journey?  Why?  Join the conversation in the Grazing Grass Community | https://www.facebook.com/groups/grazinggrass

Henschel Hof on Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/henschelhof/
Grazing Grass Insiders | https://grazinggrass.com/insiders

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Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Huw Foulkes runs Pentrefelin Dairy in North Wales in the UK, where he has built a grass-based cow and calf micro dairy around native Red Poll cattle while also stacking direct-to-consumer beef and other enterprises to serve his local community. 

In This Episode, We Explore:

• Starting a cow and calf micro dairy with a low-input, grass-based mindset
• Why Huw chose Red Polls for a dual-purpose dairy and beef system
• Managing long rest periods and mob-style rotations to build soil and drought resilience
• Farming on dry, light sandy soils and what that changes in grazing decisions
• Outwintering strategies including bale grazing and standing hay
• Building a direct local market through farm gate sales, coffee shops, and education
• UK requirements for legally selling milk, inspections, and testing
• Keeping infrastructure simple, including milking with a portable machine in an older parlor
• How beef boxes help move the whole carcass and teach customers new cuts
• Adding poultry, pigs, and trees to stack enterprises on the same acres
• Using farm tours and courses to educate the public and support local food systems

Why This Episode Matters
This conversation is a practical look at building a resilient, small-scale livestock business by matching the animal to the land, keeping inputs low, and connecting directly with local customers. If you are thinking about micro dairy, direct marketing, or stacking enterprises, Huw shares what worked, what he had to learn the hard way, and how education and transparency can turn customers into long-term supporters.

Resources Mentioned

• Food Standards Agency (UK)
• Denbighshire local council food business registration (mentioned as the local authority process)
• Pasture for Life (study tours and farm visits)

Find Out More

• Instagram | @pentrefelin_
• Website | www.pentrefelin.com
• YouTube | Pentrefelin Dairy

Looking for grass-based breeders?
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Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Mike Guebert of Terra Farma in northwest Oregon joins Cal to share how he and his wife built a multi-species, direct-to-consumer farm over more than 20 years, from early days as first-generation farmers to running meat CSA sales, improving grazing systems, and teaching others through the Oregon Pasture Network.  

In This Episode, We Explore:  

• Starting a first-generation farm from a blank slate with invasives, no fencing, and rough infrastructure  
• Moving from vegetarian to raising and processing poultry on-farm  
• Building a multi-species operation including beef, pork, sheep, goats, poultry, and more  
• Managing grazing in a high rainfall, dry-summer region without irrigation  
• Chicken tractor evolution, daily moves, and using a winch system for efficiency and injury prevention  
• Marketing changes over time including launching a meat CSA in 2020 and the plan to transition away from it  
• Stopping raw milk sales after losing liability insurance and regaining time and flexibility  
• Moving toward a more seasonal, grass-only beef model to reduce winter feeding  
• Teaching and producer support through pasture walks, cohorts, mentorship, and events with Oregon Pasture Network  
• Conservation district work including farmland protection tools like conservation easements  

Why This Episode Matters  
This conversation is a practical look at how farm enterprises, marketing, and even personal capacity change over time, and why building community learning opportunities like pasture walks and cohorts can help producers avoid common pitfalls while improving grazing, profitability, and quality of life.  

Resources Mentioned  

• Acres USA annual conference  
• Ranching for Profit School  
• Executive Link (Ranching for Profit)  
• Oregon State University Small Farms Conference  
• Oregon Pasture Network pasture walks  
• Oregon FarmLink (Friends of Family Farmers)  

Find Out More  

• Terra Farma website | terrafarmaers.net  
• Terra Farma Instagram | @terrafarmaers  
• Oregon Pasture Network | oregonpasturenetwork.org  
• Friends of Family Farmers | friendsoffamilyfarmers.org  
• East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District | emswcd.org  

Looking for grass-based breeders?
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Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Tyler Flynn runs a small beef cow-calf operation in Northern California at Farmer Tyler Ranch, where he also grows hay and raises a few pigs and chickens for family use while documenting the work and lessons learned through his YouTube channel.

In This Episode, We Explore: 

• Coming back to a family ranch and building a cow-calf business on small acreage  
• Northern California conditions, including irrigated pasture, rice country, and seasonal rainfall patterns  
• How and why Tyler uses irrigated pasture rotation, including short rest periods in his context  
• The shift from small square bales to round bales and what changed his mind  
• Using hay equipment as a pasture improvement tool, including baling pastures after grazing  
• Tackling smut grass by cutting, baling, and managing where those bales are fed  
• Breed composition over time, including Hereford roots and adding SimAngus genetics for heterosis  
• How YouTube influenced management decisions and helped drive experimentation  
• Practical YouTube lessons for farmers, including audio, camera stability, and consistent posting

Why This Episode Matters 
This conversation is a good reminder that management has to fit the place and the people running it. Tyler shares what works on irrigated pasture in Northern California, how he thinks through rotation length, equipment decisions, and weed pressure, and why consistency and realism matter when you are balancing time, labor, and livestock.

Resources Mentioned 
- GoPro cameras 
- Tripod (video stability) 
- Microphone (audio quality)

Find Out More  

• Farmer Tyler Ranch on YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@farmertylerranch4399  

Looking for grass-based breeders?
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Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Kasie Harriet is the milkmaid at Shepherd Farms, where she and her husband Jacob are building a direct-to-consumer farm business that includes raw milk, sourdough, tallow skincare, and more, while managing cows in a rotational grazing setup and learning what it really takes to run a small dairy at the family scale.
 
In This Episode, We Explore:  

• Kasie’s path from FFA and wildlife work into farm life and dairy cows  
• Why they pursued raw milk and how that led to buying their first family milk cow  
• Lessons learned from a first cow that tested positive for bacteria and how they handled it  
• Setting up a movable, low-cost milking stanchion and why “you don’t need a lot to do a lot”  
• Hand milking vs machine milking and the real-world importance of equipment that is easy to clean  
• Calf sharing, grafting a calf, and how that can add flexibility to dairy cow ownership  
• Selling excess milk, managing weekly customers, and handling jars and deposits  
• What to look for when buying a milk cow: testing, temperament, training, feeding history, and more  
• Using Facebook to educate customers, build trust, and grow a local direct-to-consumer community  

Why This Episode Matters 
If you are considering a family milk cow or selling raw milk direct-to-consumer, this episode walks through the practical realities that often get skipped, including cow selection, sanitation concerns, equipment choices, customer management, and the setbacks that can happen even when you do things carefully. Kasie’s story is a grounded reminder to learn, adjust, and keep moving forward. 

Resources Mentioned  

• Keeping a Family Cow by Joann S. Grohman  
• Keeping a Family Milk Cow, holistic and organic (Facebook group)  

Find Out More  

• Shepherd Farms | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087351095567

Looking for grass-based breeders?
 Explore the Grass Based Genetics directory.

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Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Jacob Harriet of Shepherd Farms shares how his background in wildlife management in central Oklahoma shaped the way he uses livestock, prescribed fire, and land restoration to build better habitat and a workable farm business. From starting on a small homestead to managing over 1,240 acres through creative lease agreements, Jacob walks through what has worked, what he learned the hard way, and how grazing fits into a broader land stewardship plan.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• Jacob’s path from wildlife law enforcement to using livestock as a habitat tool
• Turning an over-timbered 80 acres into productive grazing and wildlife habitat
• Using rotational grazing to improve land function, manure distribution, and plant recovery
• Tree and timber management decisions focused on getting sunlight to the ground
• Prescribed fire vs mechanical clearing for controlling woody encroachment, especially cedar
• How burn associations, burn plans, and local support make prescribed fire safer and more practical
• Managing land for wildlife needs alongside grazing goals, including turkey and quail habitat
• Finding and using grants for infrastructure, water, timber work, and prescribed fire
• Building a mixed-species orchard and using chickens to manage pests and understory
• A lease model that trades professional habitat management for grazing access across multiple properties
• Tracking grazing and land work with mapping tools and documentation

Why This Episode Matters

This conversation is a practical look at connecting grazing, habitat, and land access in a way that works in the real world. If you are trying to improve a neglected property, reduce cedar pressure, learn why prescribed fire matters, or find a creative path to more grazing acres without buying land, Jacob’s approach offers clear ideas you can adapt to your own place.

Resources Mentioned

• Natural Resource University (podcast network)
• OnX Hunt Maps (phone app)
• NRCS (local office support for conservation programs and grants)
• National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF)
• Quail Forever
• Ty Ty Nursery (trees for the orchard)

Find Out More

• Shepherd Farms | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087351095567

Looking for grass-based breeders?
 Explore the Grass Based Genetics directory.

Visit our Sponsors:
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Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Glenn McCaig of Perry's Corners Farm returns to the Grazing Grass Podcast to talk through livestock systems that stay practical when you stop trying to perfect everything. Farming with his wife Megan and their three young children just outside Kitchener, Ontario, Glenn shares what is working on their sandy, rocky ground with Lynch Lineback cattle, English Large Black pigs, Clun Forest type sheep, and pastured poultry.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• What Lynch Lineback cattle are and why Glenn values a closed herd approach
• Calf-sharing milk cows and feeding milk to pigs as part of a whole-farm system
• A gilt-only farrowing system that simplifies pig management and tightens farrowing windows
• Selecting boars early using practical traits like teat count and mothering ability
• Farrowing in pens vs pasture, and what changed with labor, predator pressure, and piglet losses
• Using simple ear notching to make culling decisions faster and more consistent in sheep
• Closed-flock sheep management, prolific genetics, and handling triplets and quads
• The realities of wool marketing and why some wool is not worth saving
• Why Glenn went soy-free (and briefly corn-free) with pigs, and what he learned trying soy-free layers
• What migratory grazing changed for Glenn, and the cattle behavior he notices now
• A calendar-based way Glenn thinks about the summer slump, rest periods, and how hay decisions affect grazing

Why This Episode Matters
If you have ever felt like your livestock enterprise got harder the more you tried to fine-tune it, this episode gives a grounded look at simplifying without backing away from good management. Glenn lays out practical systems for pigs, sheep, and cattle that reduce moving parts, tighten decision making, and keep the farm working in real conditions like predator pressure, winter feeding, and limited labor.

Resources Mentioned

• Acres U.S.A. Podcast
• Barefoot Biodynamics by Jeff Poppen
• Steve Campbell (mentioned in context of clean minerals)
• Burke Teichert (quote referenced)

Find Out More

• Perry's Corners Farm | https://perryscornersfarm.ca
• Grazing Grass Community

Looking for grass-based breeders?
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Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Mason Lautenschlager and his wife Hannah run Arrow L Ranch near Berthold in northwest North Dakota, where they focus on grass-based enterprises including a cow-calf herd, some direct grass-finished beef, and selling multi-bred composite coming 2-year-old bulls developed on forage. 
 
In This Episode, We Explore:  

• Building a ranch back after his family sold out of farming and ranching  
• Buying cows at the top of the market and navigating the crash afterward  
• Shifting the whole operation toward lower labor and lower equipment intensity  
• Winter grazing decision-making around snow cover, forage quality, and flexibility  
• Bale grazing setup, timing, and what it changed on poorer soil areas  
• Water limitations, fencing lanes, and building a system for easier moves  
• Stockpiling forage and planning grazing around winter and spring needs  
• Increasing plant diversity through grazing management rather than seeding  
• Using forage clippings to estimate available dry matter per acre  
• Developing bulls on forage and selecting for longevity and fertility over max production  

Why This Episode Matters  
If winter feed, labor, and equipment costs are squeezing your operation, Mason’s story is a practical look at how constraints can force better systems. This conversation gets into the real tradeoffs of stockpile grazing versus bale grazing, how water and fencing design affect what is possible, and why selection for fertility and longevity can matter more than pushing production.  

Resources Mentioned  

• Agriculture Alberta video series: Managing Risk in Winter Grazing  
• Principled Land Managers grazing school (Bart Carmichael and Pat Guptill)  
• North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition  
• DV Auction  
• Movie: Moneyball  
• Book: Lasater Philosophy of Cattle Raising (Tom Lasater)  

Find Out More  

• Arrow L Ranch Facebook page | https://www.facebook.com/arrowlranch
• DV Auction video catalog for the Arrow L Ranch bull sale (opens Feb 6, closes Feb 8 with a soft close)  | https://www.dvauction.com/video_catalogs/13210

Looking for grass-based breeders?
 Explore the Grass Based Genetics directory.

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Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Hayden and Taylor Sievers of Sievers Blumen Farm in the Brussels, Illinois area share how their farm has evolved from a cut-flower business into a growing grazing-focused cattle operation, alongside grain and hogs, while keeping an eye on family, profitability, and building a system that works on limited acres.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• How Sievers Blumen Farm got its name and the cut-flower beginnings behind the brand
• Farming in Calhoun County between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, and what that landscape means for grazing
• Converting a heavily tilled, flood-prone 80 acres into pasture over time while still cash cropping part of it
• Challenges of establishing pasture on heavy “black stick” clay and lessons learned with broadcast seeding and needing timely rain
• Using wheat followed by cover crops and pasture as a transition plan away from cash cropping
• Infrastructure choices including high-tensile perimeter fence, step-ins, reels, and thoughts on central alley layouts
• Moving from Dexters to South Pole-influenced cattle and what they noticed with fly pressure, forage efficiency, and easy-keeping traits
• Using cow-calf as a base herd while considering stockers and sell-buy marketing to capture excess forage
• Takeaways from stockmanship training, including receiving calves and getting them grazing quickly by focusing on mental and emotional state
• Raising meat chickens (including Red Rangers) and layers, plus building and using a chickshaw-style coop
• Taylor’s path into indie publishing, what she writes, and the discipline of finishing books while raising a family

Why This Episode Matters
If you are trying to make grazing work on limited acres or on land that is less-than-ideal, this conversation is a practical look at how a young family is building infrastructure, improving soil over time, selecting cattle that fit their system, and staying focused on profitability and quality of life instead of chasing too many enterprises at once.

Resources Mentioned

• Joel Salatin (Joe Rogan Podcast)
• Greg Judy (grazing and fencing approach)
• Jim Elizondo and total grazing concepts
• Hand ’n Hand sell-buy marketing class (Tina and Richard)
• Stockman Grass Farmer
• Working Cows podcast
• Ranching Returns podcast (formerly Herd Quitter podcast)
• Bud Williams stockmanship (referenced through stockmanship training)
• Dirt to Soil
• Braiding Sweetgrass
• For the Love of Soil
• The Creative Penn podcast (Joanna Penn)
• Wish I’d Known Then podcast
• The Two Authors podcast
• Justin Rhodes Chickshaw (mobile coop design)
• O’Brien step-in posts
• Taragate reels
• Meyer Hatchery
• McMurray Hatchery
• August Horstmann's Ranch (Missouri)

Find Out More

• Website | https://sieversblumenfarm.com
• Instagram | https://instagram.com/sieversblumenfarm
• Facebook | https://facebook.com/sieversblumenfarm
• YouTube | https://youtube.com/@sieversblumenfarm

Here is a discount code for our farm shop (https://sieversblumenfarm.com/shop) that listeners can use for 10% off. The code expires in July. GRAZINGGRASS26

Looking for grass-based breeders?
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Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Jonathan Kilpatrick of Red Lantern Ranch and Kilpatrick Land & Livestock joins Cal to share what changed since he first appeared back on episode 2, including moving from Oklahoma to west central Minnesota (Alexandria area) and rebuilding a grazing operation from the ground up with sheep, goats, and pastured poultry.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• What prompted Jonathan and his family to move from Oklahoma to Minnesota and restart their operation
• Lessons Jonathan took from the Ranching for Profit School and how they shaped his decision-making
• Starting a grazing operation with a clean slate and building genetics that match the environment
• Grazing sheep and goats together and using goats as part of a buckthorn control strategy
• Outwintering sheep and goats with minimal infrastructure and what that requires
• Using adaptive grazing decisions that fit real life, time constraints, and family priorities
• Expanding from a 45-acre grazing lease by adding tillable acres and converting some to perennials
• Partnering with a regenerative crop farmer for strip-till or no-till, cover crops, and added grazing opportunities
• Mobile range coop pastured poultry production, daily moves, and labor efficiency
• Processing options, state-inspected processing, and why time is often the limiting resource
• Marketing channels including direct-to-consumer, wholesale, and opportunities in ethnic markets

Why This Episode Matters

If you are building or rebuilding a grazing business, Jonathan lays out a realistic path that balances production, business management, and family life. This conversation is a good reminder that experience matters, time is a real constraint, and matching livestock, grazing, and marketing to your context is what keeps the whole system working.

Resources Mentioned

• Ranching for Profit School
• Executive Link program (Ranching for Profit)
• Google Sheets
• Excel
• ChatGPT
• Gemini
• P.L. 90-492 (Poultry Products Inspection Act exemption referenced in the discussion)

Find Out More

• Red Lantern Ranch website | https://redlanternranch.com
• Kilpatrick Land & Livestock website | https://www.kilpatricklandandlivestock.com
• Sustainable Farming Association (SFA) | https://sfa-mn.org

Looking for grass-based breeders?
 Explore the Grass Based Genetics directory.

Visit our Sponsors:
Noble Research Institute

Redmond Agriculture
Grassroots Carbon

Grazing Grass Links
Website
Community (on Facebook)

Original Music by Louis Palfrey