Working Cows - Regenerative Ranching to Maximize Profitability and Soil Health

Rob Havard has been on a journey from disillusionment with agriculture to running a financially struggling farm to paying off debt and being able to help others in his community get started. This has been made possible by his adherence to the principles of Holistic Management. Holistic Management has helped him see how functional genetics fit into a profitable system.

Sponsors:

South Dakota Grassland Coalition "Grasslands in Action" Conference

Ranch Right

Ranching.FYI

Indreland Ranch

Relevant Links:

Call to the Land Podcast

Phepson Angus

Rob's Previous Episodes:

Ep. 225 Bob Havard – Grass-Fed Beef Genetics

Ep. 098 Bob Havard – Regenerative Ag in the UK

Jimmy and ShayLe Stewart of Big Country Genetics have scaled their operation from scratch. This December they will sell 130 forage developed bulls and 100 bred heifers. They started in 2019. The ability to scale that quickly intrigued me. I invited them on to talk about their mindset, how profitable cows helped this growth, and the values that have shaped their business over time.

Sponsors:

Remedi Animal Solutions

• Ep. 371 Ellen Bench – Implementing Homeopathic Livestock Health
• Ep. 368 Ellen Bench – Homeopathic Livestock Health

Relevant Links:

Big Country Genetics

Jimmy's Previous Episode:

Ep. 504 Jimmy Stewart - How to Let Your Environment Shape Your Cattle

The deck has been stacked against grass and specifically grazing animals for a while now. The RANCH Act seeks to help alleviate these challenges by creating a working lands payment structure that encourages marginal crop acres to come out of row crop production and open them again for grazing acres. AJ Munger has been involved in the development of this legislation. He joins me to discuss the process of bringing this legislation as well as what it seeks to accomplish and how it could help grow the cow herd in the United States.

Sponsors:

Big Country Genetics

Ranch Right

Graze! Magazine

Seven Weeks Coffee

Relevant Links:

South Dakota Grassland Coalition

South Dakota Grasslands Initiative

Central Grasslands Roadmap

RANCH Act

Luke Perman helps me think better. He has recently been sharing some challenging articles and perspectives on X. He joins me to discuss those ideas today. We talk about indicators of a peak in the cattle market, how to remain profitable no matter where the market goes, and where to make strategic investments to help mitigate our tax burden.

Sponsors:

Ranching.FYI

Big Country Genetics

Seven Weeks Coffee

Relevant Links

Luke on X

American Hippopotamus

Knowledge Rich Ranching by Allan Nation

The team at Vision Flight has helped many people hone their vision through their various consulting and educational roles. The problem was this wasn't scalable. They could only help one family at a time. Today we talk to Melinda Sims, John Locke, Shanon Sims, and Emilie Hopson about how they put their years of experience together and develop a tool to help people develop a great vision for the future of their business and life.

Sponsors:

Austin Hart at Redd Summit Advisors

Ranching.FYI

Big Country Genetics

Seven Weeks Coffee

Relevant Links:

Vision Flight (Code: WORKINGCOWS20 for 20% off)

Guests Previous Episodes:

Ep. 003 Melinda Sims – Windrow Grazing

Ep. 084 John Coleman Locke – Mob Grazing to Improve Land, Livestock, and Life

Ep. 147 Stuart Austin and John Coleman Locke – Discussing Density

Ep. 199 Shanon Sims – Raising Your Own Bulls

Ep. 276 Shanon Sims – Having Hobbies Away from the Ranch

Ep. 387 Shanon Sims – Being a Grass Nerd

Ep. 518 Emilie Hopson - How to Grow Employees that Help your Business Thrive

Stan Oller and his family have been making intentional pivots not only so they can generate greater profitability, but also to bring the business more into alignment with their passions. This includes pivoting away from direct marketing, pivoting to sheep, and now a desire to move West from Arkansas to fulfill their desire to steward vast landscapes.

Sponsors:

Graze Magazine

Big Country Genetics

Ranch Right

Austin Hart at Redd Summit Advisors

Relevant Links:

Contact Working Cows

In a previous conversation with Luke Jones he told me that healthy soil has room for air, light, and water. That got me thinking about the similarities to the conditions that help make for a healthy soul. I have had this sermon percolating for a long time and finally got a chance to share it at the Cowboys for Christ kickoff to the Newell, SD Labor Day Celebration.

Sponsor:

Seven Weeks Coffee

Relevant Links:

Ep. 411 Luke Jones – Changing Our Mindset to Facilitate Regenerative Agriculture

When Derek Jackson was described by his Ranch Rolodex Co-Host Zach Hopson Zach said Derek's strengths were in his ability to run the numbers and get useful information out of spreadsheets and other analytical tools. We discuss what numbers have mattered most in helping Derek and his family succeed early in their ranching journey.

Sponsor:

Remedi Animal Solutions

Relevant Links:

Ranch Rolodex Podcast

We are continuing to try and think outside the box regarding New World Screwworm. This time we are joined by Ellen Bench to discuss a homeopathic perspective on what makes animals vulnerable to infestation as well as how to prevent infestation and ways to approach care of those who are most vulnerable.

Sponsors:

Remedi Animal Solutions

The crew at Ranching.FYI has introduced a true innovation in the Marketing Education sector. Their Ranching SIM helps simulate the pressure we face everyday in our marketing decisions. Nelson Koehn, Cinnamon Lenhart, and Brian Munger joined me to discuss the mindset we must have to prepare for the next market fluctuation. We also discuss the ways that an understanding of the philosophy of learning has shaped their school.

Sponsors:

Kip Fladland Horsemanship

100th Meridian Ranching

Ranch Right

Austin Hart at Redd Summit Advisors

Relevant Links:

Ranching.FYI