Cattle Conversations

Today, Shaye Wanner is having a conversation with guest, Josh Gaskamp to discuss how wildfires affect ranchers and how to reduce risk through grazing management, prescribed fire, and planning. Josh explains that wildfires remove forage inventory, threaten livestock, and can raise feed costs, with fall fires creating greater hardship than spring fires.   He describes using adaptive grazing to reduce fine fuels by preventing excessive, gray thatch buildup, promoting younger growth with higher moisture, and improving soil health so residue breaks down faster. He outlines how to assess thatch by visual cues and digging into the soil, and when prescribed fire may be used for forage quality, brush control, biodiversity, and wildfire mitigation. They also cover planning for private and public lands, including livestock priorities, safe zones, alternate forage sources, and coordinating access for fire crews.   Learn more about wildfire mitigation strategies with Noble here: https://www.noble.org/find-a-course/   Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/             02:04 Meet Josh Gaskamp 03:18 How Wildfires Hit Ranchers 06:24 Grazing To Reduce Fuels 10:17 Spotting Too Much Thatch 12:49 Prescribed Fire As Tool 16:33 Public Lands Wildfire Plans 17:54 Building A Response Plan 21:32 After The Fire Recovery

This week, Shaye is joined by Jonathon Haralson of Your Ag Empire about building resilient, multi-generation agricultural operations. Haralson defines an “Ag Empire” as the dreams rural families pursue across cattle, row crops, and related businesses, then shares his background in Texas production agriculture and commodity risk management.   He explains Empire Ag’s work as business strategy support, improving recordkeeping, restructuring debt to match cash flow, and helping producers identify hidden business “holes” and emphasizes that sustainable success rests on strengthening body, mind, and spirit through preparation, nutrition, activity, gratitude, and belief in something bigger.   He outlines Empire Ag’s strategy, accounting, branding (including direct-to-consumer), and lending arm (EA Capital). They discuss growth versus optimization, opportunities from transitions, and the importance of family communication in succession planning, ending with Jonathon’s key takeaway on dropping the ego and aligning on your vision and mission.  Learn more about Your Ag Empire here: https://youragempire.com/  Learn more about the Noble Research Institute here: https://www.noble.org/find-a-course/   Learn more about Elanco here: https://farmanimal.elanco.com/us/beef   Learn more about Vence here: https://bit.ly/4kfWrCG     Learn more about AtTheYards here: https://bit.ly/400T7mF   Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/          01:25 What Does Building an Ag Empire Look Like  02:43 Jonathon’s Ag Journey  05:19 How Empire Ag Helps  07:28 Body Mind Spirit Framework  11:05 Busy Season Body Tips  15:08 Mindset Under Pressure  18:14 Spirituality and Purpose  19:44 Financial Levers and Lending  25:01 Growth vs Optimization  26:56 Opportunities for Young Producers  32:21 Succession and Family Communication 

Today, Shaye Wanner interviews Donovan Wagner of Wagner Financial Services about why ranchers should invest during strong cattle markets instead of putting all equity back into land, equipment, and cattle. Wagner emphasizes planning for retirement, health events, and farm/ranch transition challenges, especially balancing inheritances among on-farm and off-farm children and avoiding family conflict.   He discusses tools including life insurance (including second-to-die and riders that can provide funds for long-term care needs), SEPs for larger deductible contributions (noting complications with employees), traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs for lower tax brackets, and HSAs for deductible medical expenses. Wagner stresses asking advisors about experience, fees, and coordination with CPAs and attorneys, keeping wills updated, using goal-based planning, and starting systematic contributions, even a small monthly amount, to benefit from compounding.  Learn more about the Noble Research Institute here: https://www.noble.org/find-a-course/  Learn more about Elanco here: https://farmanimal.elanco.com/us/beef  Learn more about Vence here: https://bit.ly/4kfWrCG    Learn more about AtTheYards here: https://bit.ly/400T7mF  Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/      00:00 Why Invest Now  01:03 Meet Donovan Wagner  02:17 Equity Traps and Succession  05:04 Fair Is Not Equal  06:17 Life Insurance for Heirs  09:34 Pay Yourself Systematically  10:27 SEP and Roth Basics  13:32 Traditional IRA and Employees  15:19 Health Planning and HSAs  16:38 Long Term Care Options  21:15 Retirement Goals and Software  23:18 Avoiding Common Mistakes  26:10 Starting Young and Compounding   

Today on the Cattle Convos Podcast, Shaye Wanner interviews Shannon Emley, from Ambrook, about managerial accounting for ranchers. Shannon contrasts technical accounting for taxes and lenders with managerial accounting focused on clarity for business decision-making, emphasizing that clean, up-to-date books and properly categorized transactions are the foundation.   He explains how producers can analyze profitability by enterprise (cow-calf, stockers, custom grazing, hay), reduce emotion in decisions, and evaluate choices like grow-versus-buy feed, raise-versus-buy calves, or own-versus-hire equipment by capturing full costs including labor, fuel, and repairs.   Something he notes that makes Ambrook unique is that it can track sub-enterprises, locations, and metrics like profit per acre or per head, even down to individual cows using projects, plus inventory and timing of feed use. Emley recommends starting small, spending about 10 minutes weekly, and using the last 12 months’ P&L to forecast cash, including loan and equipment payments.  Learn more and try Ambrook at: ambrook.com/casualcattle  More links and resources from this episode: Learn more about the Noble Research Institute here: https://www.noble.org/find-a-course/   Learn more about Elanco here: https://farmanimal.elanco.com/us/beef   Learn more about Vence here: https://bit.ly/4kfWrCG     Learn more about AtTheYards here: https://bit.ly/400T7mF   Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/          00:00 Big Decisions Made Easier  00:59 Meet Shannon Emley  02:22 Managerial Accounting Basics  03:29 Clean Books First  04:27 Enterprise Profitability  06:12 Grow Versus Buy  09:03 Start With Key Questions  10:17 Going Deeper With Tracking  13:30 Forecasting Cash Flow  15:10 Simple Weekly Habit  17:35 How to Try Ambrook   

This week on the Cattle Conversations Podcast, Shaye Wanner interviews fifth-generation North Central Montana rancher, Tyrel Obrecht, about using Vence’s virtual fence system on their replacement yearling heifers (mid-May to mid-September) for the past three years.     Tyrel explains choosing heifers over the main cow herd due to cost and better water development on deeded ground, and securing initial cost share through World Wildlife Fund’s RSVP program to install towers and trial the collars. He demonstrates the software for drawing fences, training cattle near barbed wire before moving to invisible lines, and using heat maps to evaluate grazing patterns around water and minerals.     Benefits include tighter grazing control in prairie potholes and creek pastures, freeing BLM pastures, supporting conception rates, and better rest distribution; challenges included early collar retention issues fixed by improved attachments and occasional updates/weather-related breaches.  Learn more about Vence here: https://bit.ly/4kfWrCG    Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/  01:11 Meet Tyrel Obrecht  01:27 Ranch Background Setup  03:05 Why Try Vence  04:09 Starting With Heifers  05:44 Cost Share Funding  07:50 Benefits In Grazing  09:06 Software Fence Drawing  11:22 Training The Cattle  14:01 Moves Updates Reality  17:25 Heat Maps Insights  19:02 Nutrition Planning Data  20:45 Challenges Collar Retention  22:27 Is Vence Worth It?