Working Cows - Regenerative Ranching to Maximize Profitability and Soil Health

If you read one author you can become a clone, if you read two authors you can become confused, if you read 100 authors you can become wise. Taylor Henry listened to many books as he planned his exit from one profession. We discuss what he sees as the commonalities among those books and how that has shaped how he thinks about the business of agriculture.

Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!

Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!

Sponsor:

Remedi Animal Solutions

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

Acres USA:

Conference

Podcasts

BeefMaps.com is facilitating direct connections between ranchers and those looking to purchase beef. They have a variety of producers on the platform to meet the demand of a variety of consumers. RS June and Shanen Ebersole both have a unique set of skills that helps them to accomplish this task well. We discuss the challenges and the ground they have gained toward the goal on this episode of the Working Cows Podcast.

Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!

Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!

Sponsor:

Ranch Right

Sea-90 Ocean Minerals

Relevant Links:

BeefMaps.com

BeefNews.org

Beef Initiative on X

Shanen Ebersole on X

Zach Osburn's farm has become a place that produces more than just healthy soil and profits. He is working to see life transformation among men in crisis on his farm. He does this through several different approaches. He shares some of the different pieces of this process today on the Working Cows Podcast.

Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!

Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!

Sponsor:

Ranch Right

Sea-90 Ocean Minerals

Relevant Links:

Rockside Ranch

Relevant Episodes:

Ep. 236 Craig Thompson and Gordon Decker – Restoration Matters Podcast

Ep. 190 Craig Thompson and Gordon Decker – Rockside Ranch

Gabe Brown has traveled extensively within the United States and around the world. He sees a movement taking shape. People are passionate about healthy food that is grown in healthy soils. This movement reaches into communities, businesses, and governments. It has even reached into the castle of a king or two. He joins me to discuss the way this movement is impacting these different sectors and how we can make sure our businesses are primed to make the most of this opportunity. 

Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!

Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!

Sponsor:

UnderstandingAg.com

Gabe Brown's Previous Episodes:

Ep. 459 Gabe Brown and Dr. Temple Grandin on Creating a More Resilient Food System

Ep. 404 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams on Fixing America’s Broken Rural Economies

Ep. 402 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Fixing America’s Broken Water Cycle

Ep. 380 Gabe Brown, Dr. Allen Williams, and Fernando Falomir – Soil Health Academy Q and A

Ep. 388 Gabe Brown and Luke Jones – Making the Regenerative Shift

Ep. 361 Gabe Brown and Allen Williams – 2024 State of Agriculture

Ep. 305 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Matching Management to Context

Ep. 293 Gabe Brown and Matt McGinn – Transitioning to More Adaptive Stewardship

Ep. 290 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Three Rules of Adaptive Stewardship

Ep. 288 Gabe Brown and Shane New – Managing the Nutrient Cyle

Ep. 283 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – The 6-3-4

Ep. 281 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – The State of Agriculture in North America

Ep. 277 Gabe Brown – The State of the American Food System

Ep. 121 Gabe Brown – Heifer Development in Sync with Nature

Ep. 067 Gabe Brown – Dirt to Soil

Many gurus and business consultants have sung the praises of highly diversified businesses with many streams of income. These businesses are not without their own unique challenges. Dallas Mount of Ranch Management Consultants is here to help us think differently about what success looks like. Sometimes it means identifying the one or two things we do really well and then doing a lot more of those few things rather than adding a lot more enterprises that only produce marginal results.

Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!

Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!

Sponsor:

Ranch Right

Sea-90 Ocean Minerals

Relevant Links:

Ranching for Profit

Dallas' Previous Episodes:

Ep. 372 Dallas Mount – Using Business Language – July 8th, 2024

Ep. 333 Dallas Mount – Making Good Decisions

Ep. 304 Dallas Mount – What is Profit For?

Ep. 198 Dallas Mount – Succession Strategies – July 14th, 2021

Ep. 179 Dallas Mount – The Grazing Principles – March 9th, 2021

Ep. 156 Dallas Mount – Having the Courage to Talk – September 22nd, 2020

Ep. 120 Dallas Mount – Working ON the Business – December 30th, 2019

Ep. 090 Dallas Mount – Profitablity Targets – May 21st, 2019

Ep. 043 Dallas Mount – Turning the Tables – August 20th, 2018

Ep. 029 Dallas Mount – Learning in the Land Down Under – May 15th, 2018

Ep. 002 Dallas Mount – Four Pillars of a Ranching Operation – November 6th, 2017

Winter feed costs often go a long way in determining our profitability as ranchers. As a Canadian Rancher Blain Hjertaas has learned some valuable lessons in controlling winter feed costs. He joins me today to discuss the strategies that he has found that go a long way to helping drive profitability by reducing expenses related to winter feeding.

Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!

Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!

Sponsor:

UnderstandingAg.com

The idea of purchasing land and animals at the same time seems unthinkable. However, if we are willing to think differently about our management of our key inventories, we can open up a whole new realm of possibilities. John Haskell and Wally Olson are familiar with many stories of people accomplishing lofty goals because they were willing to think outside the box.

Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!

Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!

Sponsor:

Redd Summit Advisors

Remedi Animal Solutions

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

Relevant Links:

Ranching.FYI

Cow Bell Curve Image available at workingcows.net/460

Richard Tufton and Claire Mackenzie of the Six Inches of Soil Podcast generously shared with me a conversation they hosted between Gabe Brown and Dr. Temple Grandin. This is a fascinating conversation that covers Dr. Temple Grandin's perspective on regenerative agriculture and some of her solutions to the fragility in our food system. We get some great back and forth between Gabe and Dr. Grandin. Thanks again to Richard and Claire for sharing this conversation!

Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!

Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!

Sponsor:

UnderstandingAg.com

Relevant Links:

Dr. Temple Grandin

Subscribe to the Six Inches of Soil Podcast:

Gabe Brown's Previous Episodes:

Ep. 404 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams on Fixing America’s Broken Rural Economies

Ep. 402 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Fixing America’s Broken Water Cycle

Ep. 380 Gabe Brown, Dr. Allen Williams, and Fernando Falomir – Soil Health Academy Q and A

Ep. 388 Gabe Brown and Luke Jones – Making the Regenerative Shift

Ep. 361 Gabe Brown and Allen Williams – 2024 State of Agriculture

Ep. 305 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Matching Management to Context

Ep. 293 Gabe Brown and Matt McGinn – Transitioning to More Adaptive Stewardship

Ep. 290 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Three Rules of Adaptive Stewardship

Ep. 288 Gabe Brown and Shane New – Managing the Nutrient Cyle

Ep. 283 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – The 6-3-4

Ep. 281 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – The State of Agriculture in North America

Ep. 277 Gabe Brown – The State of the American Food System

Ep. 121 Gabe Brown – Heifer Development in Sync with Nature

Ep. 067 Gabe Brown – Dirt to Soil

More Info About Six Inches of Soil:

Six Inches of Soil Podcast, Episode 8:

Unbound: discovering unlimited potential when what’s better for cattle is better for business

Host, producer: Richard Tufton

Co-host, producer: Claire Mackenzie

Six Inches of Soil:

Website: https://www.sixinchesofsoil.org/

Book: https://www.sixinchesofsoil.org/book

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sixinchesofsoil/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/six-inches-of-soil-b75059234/

Introduction:

Dr Grandin and Gabe explore how uniting animal welfare with regenerative agriculture and combining soil practices with Temple’s farming solutions, you have nature and nurture working together as one big metaphorical “hug machine”. This offers a communal hug, if you will, by enveloping the animal’s life with a safe, healthy, happy and tranquil environment, which we know will undoubtedly provide a better life for them.

Their conversations weave between regenerative agriculture, animal welfare, and consumer demand. The speakers discuss the importance of integrating livestock with crops, the challenges faced in modern agriculture, and the role of youth in shaping the future of farming. They emphasize the need for visual thinking and innovation in agricultural practices, as well as the impact of climate change on food production.

Featuring:

Dr Temple Grandin is an American scientist and industrial designer whose own experience with autism funded her professional work in creating systems to counter stress in certain human and animal populations.

Dr. Grandin did not talk until she was three and a half years old. She was fortunate to get early speech therapy. Her teachers also taught her how to wait and take turns when playing board games. She was mainstreamed into a normal kindergarten at age five.

Dr. Grandin became a prominent author and speaker on both autism and animal behavior. Today she is a professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. She also has a successful career consulting on both livestock handling equipment design and animal welfare. She has been featured on NPR (National Public Radio) and a BBC Special – "The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow". HBO made an Emmy Award winning movie about her life and she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016.

Gabe Brown

Gabe Brown is one of the pioneers of the current soil health movement which focuses on the regeneration of our resources. Gabe, along with his wife Shelly, and son Paul, ran Brown's Ranch, a diversified 5,000 acre farm and ranch near Bismarck, North Dakota. Their ranch focuses on farming and ranching in nature's image.They have now transitioned ownership of the ranch over to their son, Paul and his wife, Jazmin.

Gabe authored the bestselling book, “Dirt to Soil, One Family’s Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture.”

Gabe is a partner and Board Member at Regenified and serves as the public face of the company. He is a founding partner in Understanding Ag, LLC.

Websites:

https://brownsranch.us/

https://regenified.com/about-us/

https://understandingag.com/partners/gabe-brown/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brownsranch/?hl=en

If we can develop animals that don't depend on inputs we can drive profitability. To do this we need to pay attention to more than just genetics. We need to also allow epigenetics to play a role in that selection process. Dr. Allen Williams was a university professor focused on genetics. His perspective has changed radically since those days. We discuss his understanding of what it takes to use the lever of epigenetics to our advantage.

Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!

Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!

Sponsor:

UnderstandingAg.com

Related Resources:

Epigenetics: Blessing or Curse

Guest's Previous Episodes:

Ep. 430 - Dr. Allen Williams - Keys to Successful Grass-Finishing

Ep. 404 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams on Fixing America’s Broken Rural Economies

Ep. 402 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Fixing America’s Broken Water Cycle

Ep. 380 Gabe Brown, Dr. Allen Williams, and Fernando Falomir – Soil Health Academy Q and A

Ep. 369 Dr. Stephan Van Vliet and Dr. Allen Williams – Growing Nutrient Dense Food

Ep. 361 Gabe Brown and Allen Williams – 2024 State of Agriculture

Ep. 305 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Matching Management to Context

Ep. 290 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Three Rules of Adaptive Stewardship

Ep. 283 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – The 6-3-4

Ep. 281 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – The State of Agriculture in North America

Ep. 148 Dr. Allen Williams – Grazing for Soil Health

Rural America has been hollowed out by agricultural practices that divorce people from a connection to the land. This has had massive negative cascading and compounding effects. We don't know our neighbors. We don't depend on the land to make ends meet. Our rural communities shrivel up and we are dependent on people farther and farther from us for our necessities. JR Burdick has been on a journey to reverse these negative realities for his family. He shares that journey today.

Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!

Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!

Sponsor:

Sea-90 Ocean Minerals

Relevant Links:

JR Burdick on X