Working Cows - Regenerative Ranching to Maximize Profitability and Soil Health

You have done the work of successfully grass-finishing your animals. Now what? One often overlooked step is the processing phase. Great meat can be ruined during this crucial step. Dr. Allen Williams joins us today to discuss his tips to maintaining the quality of our grass-finished beef through the processing phase.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:UnderstandingAg.comRelated Episode:Ep. 430 - Dr. Allen Williams - Keys to Successful Grass-FinishingGuest's Previous Episodes:Ep. 404 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams on Fixing America’s Broken Rural EconomiesEp. 402 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Fixing America’s Broken Water CycleEp. 380 Gabe Brown, Dr. Allen Williams, and Fernando Falomir – Soil Health Academy Q and AEp. 369 Dr. Stephan Van Vliet and Dr. Allen Williams – Growing Nutrient Dense FoodEp. 361 Gabe Brown and Allen Williams – 2024 State of AgricultureEp. 305 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Matching Management to Context Ep. 290 Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams – Three Rules of Adaptive StewardshipEp. 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

Livestock integration is key to regenerating our food system, but is it possible in crops like produce? Jeb Cullipher is proving that it is. Not only is he proving that it is possible he is proving that it can result in the reduction of chemicals as well as increased profits.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:Redd Summit AdvisorsRanchRightLLC.com

One of the major determinants of ranch profitability is the amount of hay fed every year. One way to avoid feeding excess hay is to develop quality stockpiled forage for winter and dormant season grazing. Burke Teichert and Jeremy Sweeten have experience is very different contexts. This varied experience helps us get a very well-rounded perspective on how to develop graze quality stockpiled forage to increase profitability and herd performance.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:UnderstandingAg.comGuests's Previous Episodes:Ep. 445 John Hays and Jeremy Sweeten - Practical Tips for Regenerative Hay MakingEp. 439 John Hays and Jeremy Sweeten - How Amp Grazing Drives Profitability Even in the Midwest Ep. 434 Kent Solberg and Jeremy Sweeten – Capitalizing on the Wildlife Attracted by Regenerative AgricultureEp. 427 Burke Teichert – Five Essentials of Successful Ranch ManagersEp. 385 Kent Solberg and Jeremy Sweeten – Outwintering Cattle Ep. 324 Jeremy Sweeten – Adding Value to Land and LivestockEp. 302 Burke Teichert – Characteristics of Successful Ranch Managers pt. 2Ep. 299 Burke Teichert – Characteristics of Successful Ranch Managers pt. 1Ep. 100 Burke Teichert – Training the Next Generation of Ranch Managers

The market for products raised regeneratively is continuing to grow and mature. It may have even reached a tipping point. The consumers looking for these products are educated, tenacious, and willing to pay more for products that match their values and meet their demands. Kristine Root of Regenified joined me to discuss the ways this market has changed as well as how to market our products to those interested in regenerative agriculture.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:RangeWard.comPowerflexSupply.comRelevant Links:Regenified.comGuest's Previous Appearance:Ep. 365 Kristine Root – Verifying Regenerative Systems

Artificial Intelligence presents an opportunity for ranchers to outsource some of the tasks that they may not enjoy as much as others. Among them are data and analytics. Rooted Ag is on a mission to help farmers and ranchers track the things that matter and then analyze the data that they have collected. In time they hope to continue to expand the effectiveness of this platform as the AI is trained on more and more information and becomes adapted more to the different regions of the world. Nate Stucky, of Rooted Ag, joined me to discuss all that and more on this episode.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:Redd Summit AdvisorsRanchRightLLC.com Relevant Links:RootedAg.com

Diversity is a key to success in regenerative agriculture. However, most markets are not set up to receive diversity. This means we will have to develop our own markets to profit from the diversity we are bringing to our operation. Luke Jones, of Understanding Ag joins me to discuss the economics of introducing diversity.

Marketing is one of our biggest levers. If we are not intentional about marketing, we will leave a lot of money on the table. Ty deCordova and the team at LiveAg are on a mission to make that process easier for ranchers through creating an online platform for auctions as well as the XChange for livestock and equipment.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:RanchRightLLC.comRedd Summit AdvisorsRelevant Links:Live-Ag.comWe Live It Podcast

We often think that hay making and land regeneration are at odds. That doesn't have to be the case if we are intentional with our approach to hay making. John Hays and Jeremy Sweeten of Understanding Ag join me to discuss the ins and outs of regenerative hay making. We discuss the challenges to landscape regeneration presented by hay making as well as some practical tips for how to hay in a way that fits the 6-3-4 framework.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:UnderstandingAg.com

When it comes to regenerating landscapes hay fields present a particular set of challenges. Keith Berns of Green Cover Seed joined me to share what he has seen work well in helping those hay fields improve using cover crops, grazing, and strategy to keep progress moving forward.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:TireWinder.com\PatreonRelevant Links:Green Cover Seed<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ALWgx2CvTV0?si=oWaF03y8QA7XfHTT" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Northern Environments can be challenging. From ice and snow to bitter cold temperatures there are a different set of challenges in the North. Blain Hjertaas and Michael Thiele of Understanding Ag have a lot of experience making Regenerative Agriculture work in these challenging environments. We discuss the strategies and practices that they have found helpful in overcoming the many challenges of their environment.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:UnderstandingAg.com

Cow poop is an ecosystem unto itself. There are many insects and other organisms living in a dung pat that can help us to make use of the nutrients excreted out of the back end of a cow. Dr. Ryan Schmid shares with me what he has seen work well as far as taking advantage of the helpful insects and mitigating the impact of those that can become pests if the system gets out of balance.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag!Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:Ranch RightSD Grassland Coalition Grazing SchoolRelevant Links:Ecdysis.bioCow Patty Critter w/ Dr. Kevin Floate on Wednesday Night Networking

You will go farther with people than you can go by yourself. To succeed with people you will need to build different skills than it takes to manage grass, money, and livestock. Josh Kerpan is seeking to equip ranchers with the skills they need to manage their people well.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag! Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:Ranch RightSea-90 Ocean MineralsRelevant Links:KZNSolutions.caJosh's Previous Episode:Ep. 407 Josh Kerpan – The Necessary Pieces for Leaders to Replaces Themselves

America is a global leader in agriculture. Our influence has an incredibly broad reach. The problem with that is most places around the world don't have the infrastructure and supply chains to support feeding cattle like we do in America. The result is that many places around the world that have used American beef genetics (Taurus and Indicus) now routinely have 40% calf crops with most females only producing a calf every two to three years. Grant Vassberg is working to change that by finding and platforming producers in these countries that have largely stayed the course and continued to raise cattle the way their ancestors did. He does this through his company Bos Sires. He joins me again today to discuss the growth of this company since it's recent launch.Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag! Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today!Sponsor:UnderstandingAg.comRelevant Links:BosSires.com

The Midwest can be a difficult place to graze for a host of reasons. The competitiveness of the cash rent market, parasite load, mud, forage quality, and many other issues face those seeking to profitably graze in this region. Today we are joined by John Hays and Jeremy Sweeten of Understanding Ag to discuss their own experience with profitable grazing businesses as well as what they have seen work well as they have consulted on a wide variety of operations. Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag! Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today! Sponsor: UnderstandingAg.com

As Taylor Moyer and his wife have sought to bootstrap their ranch operation they have had to think outside the box from an enterprise mix perspective, marketing perspective, and as it pertains to the potential sources of revenue the ranch can produce. This has led them to many capitalize on many different opportunities including custom grazing poultry and using “weeds” as a backdrop in senior photos and wedding photos. We discuss this and more today on the Working Cows Podcast. Thanks to our Studio Sponsor, Understanding Ag! Head over to UnderstandingAg.com to book your consultation today! Sponsor: Get Sea-90 with Garlic for Fly Control at Tractor Supply Today! SD Grassland Coalition Grazing School Relevant Links: LandTrust.com Taylor’s Previous Episode: Ep. 138 Taylor Moyer – A NASCAR Crew Chief on Managing People