Herd Quitter Podcast

Laura has a pretty awesome story of education and work experience to getting back to her family ranch in the Texas Panhandle. Today she is running the family ranch with her dad and implementing sell/buy marketing, adapted low input genetics and grazing management to help her ranch become more profitable.

Resources Mentioned:

Healthy Land, Happy Families and Profitable Businesses - Dave Pratt

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

For the Love of Land - Jim Howell

The Art and Science of Sheparding - Fred Provenza

Chip Hines

Historical Journals like Lewis and Clark

The Book of Job

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Logan Duvall and his family run a privately owned outdoor farmers market where they source and purchase food from local farmers and ranchers and market them to health conscious consumers shopping for high quality regenerative food. In this episode we talk largely about what it takes to market food direct to consumer, we talk about his store and considerations if we want to do the same thing.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

I'm joined again by Hobbs Magaret. In our past conversation on episode 110, we left a lot of topics undiscussed and so today we hopped back on a call again to talk about his genetics, grazing management, and more.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Greg Judy is somebody who has personally impacted me and my farming career through his books and youtube videos! I'm honored to have him on the podcast today to share his journey from struggling to survive ranching to growing his farm as a custom grazier to the many enterprises he runs today!

Resources Mentioned:

Iann Mitchell-Innes

OnPasture

Stockman Grass Farmer

Social Media

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

John and his wife have always wanted to run a ranch, and so after years of saving and with a slight push from Covid, they sold their home, equipment from his business and bought a ranch in Oregon. In just two and a half years they have grown their sales tremendously and sell a variety of meat products in a variety of ways off their ranch.

Resources Mentioned:

Joel Salatin

Greg Judy

Herd Quitter Podcast

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

John Haskell of Ranch Right LLC walks us through his process of helping farmers record and understand their financial information. This financial information is essential for making informed decisions related to our business and enterprises.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

A couple weeks ago in my episode with John Haskell and Wally Olson, they reminded me of an expensive learning lesson I had purchasing my first herd of cattle at the high of the market in 2014. I thought I'd embarrass myself a bit here and share some of my early mistakes that turned into valuable lessons in the cattle business.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Chris Kerston is CEO of the Land to Market program which is working to create new markets for farmers who are working to improve and regenerate the lands through holistic management. They are actively building relationships with the large players in the food industry and connect farms with ecological outcome verification to those players. Chris explains in this episode the process of getting Ecological Outcome Verification and the work they are doing.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Bart Morris runs a first generation conception to consumption beef ranch on the edge of Missoula, Montana. We discuss how he built a successful ranch business from scratch in only 9 years. We talk about conservation easements, leasing ranchland, grass efficient cattle genetics, building a brand and marketing business and much more. There is lots to learn from this guest who has been recommended by multiple people!

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

This is an incredible conversation with Ray Marxer who spent 37 years working for and managing one of America's largest historic ranches the Matador Ranch. He recorded his experience in his book Cowboy in a Corporate world which is a fantastic read. In this conversation we discuss how he got there, his rapid move into management, and the many changes he made in calving window, winter grazing, cow genetics and more on this 7000 cow ranch. Ray has a wealth of wisdom he shared in this podcast and his book.

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching for Profit

Edward Demmings - 10 Points of Continuous Improvement

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Current market conditions are looking up for cattle producers. With low inventory and forecasts pointing towards rain ranchers are feeling some optimism. Today, Wally Olson and John Haskell joined me to discuss how we can take advantage of these good times and prepare for what comes next.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Kit and I discuss how we can make our ranches more profitable and more enjoyable to not only make it possible to bring in the next generation, but to actually make them want to come back and be a part of the ranch.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In just a short few years Hobbs built a ranch and marketing brand, sold the brand, moved to a new state and started from scratch building a new ranch and brand. Today we discuss that journey.

Resources mentioned:

Jaimie Elizondo 

Johann Zietsman - Man, Cattle and Veld

Allan Savory - Holistic Management

How to Win Friends and Influence People

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Colton and Ethan Munger are brothers who grew up on their families ranch in Nebraska. To learn more about their family ranch you can listen to my conversation with their dad Brian on episode 35, it's one of my favorites. I love what these two are doing because while many feel their is no opportunity in rural America to start a business and find success, both Colton and Ethan in their early twenties are finding tremendous success working for themselves. In this episode they share their stories of getting started, and the importance of organization, communication and much more!

Resources Mentioned:

Nelson Nash - Becoming Your Own Banker

Mary Jo Irman - Farming Without The Bank

Extreme Ownership

Movers of Men and Mountains

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Shawn has one of those inspiring stories that prove it's still possible to start and grow a ranching business from scratch. He shares his journey building a ranch and then making some serious changes such as improving grazing management, changing cow type, moving calving window, planting cover crops, and quitting haying. We wrap up the conversation talking about his direct marketing enterprise, along with his cover crop maze and pumpkin patch. Lots to learn in this episode.

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching Like a 12 Year Old

Soil Health Coalition

Tony Robbins - Unlimited Power

Bible

Power of Positive Thinking

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Alejandro manages the 30,000 acre Las Damas Ranch in the Chihuahua Desert of Mexico. Through his management in under twenty years he has increased his ranch carrying capacity from 150 cows to over 600 cows and his next goal is 1500. He talks about focusing management on the best areas of your ranch to get the highest return on investment. He also shares how simple trials offer almost no risk and can demonstrate the immense value of these management principles.

Resources Mentioned:

Gabe Brown

Allan Savory

Jim Gerrish

Desert Grasslands

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Cattle herd numbers having steadily been declining for the past several years due to lack of profitability and drought. This has been resulting in a steady increase in cattle prices and one would expect that when rain comes again the current shortage of calves combined with pulling heifers back into the breeding program will result in a big jump in cow/calf profitability. The question is, what will you do with those profits? That is the question we discuss in this episode. 

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Join Clay, Brian, Jason and myself as we discuss our podcasts, what we've learned through them and questions we have surrounding ranching and agriculture.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Lance Klessig has been involved in agriculture his whole life in a variety of roles from working on a dairy farm, to working for the Soil and Water Conservation District, but in 2020 he and his wife purchased their own farm. Because of their willingness to pivot and focus on marketing experiences and finished food products instead of commodity's he was able to quit his off farm job after only two years! Lance shares many of their secrets to success and if you've considered incorporating some sort of an agritourism enterprise to your farm or ranch, this is not one to miss.

Resources Mentioned:

What Your Food Ate - David Montgomery

Youtube

Soil Health Academy

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Jacob Wolki brought a unique business perspective from managing several different retail businesses and dozens of employees before starting his farm in the past few years. Those skills have allowed him to scale a regenerative production model and direct to consumer meat business. He shares all of that along with how he set up a 24/7 self serve store, and much more! 

Resource Recommendations:

Fire Someone Today - Bob Pritchett

5 Love Languages

Joel Salatin

Richest Man in Babylon

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Allan Savory

Deep Nutrition

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Dave Pratt is past owner of Ranching for Profit and author of my favorite book "The Turnaround: A Ranchers Story".  In this weeks podcast he gives us a summary on the RFP definition of true profitability in business and then discusses retirement and succession planning from the perspective of both a young individual working into a farm as well as the exiting generation. The topic of succession is vitally important to the ability of a ranch business to pass from one generation to the next and Dave shares many of the secrets for you to get started working on this in your own businesses.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Trevor went to Ranching for Profit in February of 2022 and came home ready to make big changes. By the time summer came around he had sold his cows and was custom grazing cattle for somebody else. We talk about what this has meant for him and his ranch business. We talk about entrepreneurship in rural America, and much more!

Resources Mentioned:

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition

Ranching for Profit

The Turnaround: A Ranchers Story - Dave Pratt

How Not to Go Broke Ranching - Walt Davis

The Year Around Grazier - Steve Kenyon

Kick the Hay Habit - Jim Gerrish

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Allan Savory has a lifetime of experience developing what he has termed Holistic Management. He shares in this podcast a brief overview of his history and what the management has the potential to do for our businesses and our world if implemented at scale! 

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Dayton Steelman is a veterinary entomologist responsible for doing the research around genetic fly resistance. He shares in this podcast how over his decades of experience he made observations on how breed and size of animal impacted fly numbers on cows and shares his journey to figure out the cause. 

Many dairy farms when considering the opportunities to expand a dairy choose to build larger building and grow more feed to bring to the cows, and scale up on one site through infrastructure and technology. Joe Tomandl looked at the opportunity to expand his dairy farm in a  little bit different way. He loved the value that grazing brought to his dairy in soil and ecological benefits, as well as the financial advantages of an animal harvesting their own feed through grazing and he recognized that scaling up on a single site would reduce his ability to graze. So he has scaled through replication of grazing dairy farms in close proximity. Listen to this weeks episode to learn how he did it, the advantages of this model and much more!

Many dairy farms when considering the opportunities to expand a dairy choose to build larger buildings and grow more feed to bring to the cows, and com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Nevil Speer writes for Drovers magazine and has experience ranging from cattle production, to business management consulting and cattle market data. He joins me to talk about the factors contributing to the cattle market today, and what we should be doing to prepare for the years to come.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Cooper Hibbard manages his generational ranch in Adel, Montana and shares how his family through grazing management, changes in their calving season, and genetics have managed to increase ranch production even in one of the worst drought years in their history. We discuss his thought process on early versus late weaning and how they have reduced hay feeding to a couple hundred pounds of hay per animal per year. We also discuss their stewardship of water, wildlife and the people involved in the business in addition to just the land and livestock! 

Resources Mentioned:

Man, Cattle, Veld - Johann Zietsman

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Eunice Williams shares the story of how Bud, through observation, learned how animals respond to humans and developed his principles of stockmanship that are so valuable to reducing stress on animals which results in less health issues and increased profits. She also shares how he came to develop sell/buy marketing which has helped countless producers generate profit in marketing livestock.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Lance Gunderson is owner of Regen Ag Labs and he joins me to discuss soil health, why it's important to test, which tests to perform, how often and so much more! 

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Michael Groot had the opportunity to take over his in-laws farm and quickly got to work transitioning to a regenerative crop farm and direct market meat producer after attending a Dave Brandt event. Now he is researching how rotating cropland with perennial pastures improves the soil and potential profitability of his cropping enterprise. We also discuss their direct to consumer marketing brand, Wholesome Pastures.

Resources Mentioned:

Land, Livestock and Life - Allan Nation

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

Sand County Almanac

For the Love of Soil - Nichole Masters

Herd Quitter Podcast

Working Cows Podcast

Notill Farmer Podcast

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In this weeks episode we follow up on our conversation last week with Rob Pierce and discuss in more detail his heat tolerant cattle breeding program. If you haven't already, listen to episode 91 to hear Robs ranch transition and this one will talk about the different breeds he using to produce a low input, heat tolerant, beef animal bred to thrive in portions of the country and world where heat and humidity stress cattle!

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Rob Pierce quit ranching in 2008 and after a member of his church signed him up for Kit Pharo's PCC Updates and Newsletters he found hope that there might be potential to be profitable in ranching. And so after a 4 year break from ranching he jumped back in with corriente crossed with PCC Red Angus bulls. He has since developed a heat tolerant breeding program which we will discuss in more depth in part two of this conversation next week. But we discuss this week how he managed to grow to over 500 cows and run cows at the same stocking rate while going from 4-5 bales per cow per year to less the half a bale! Rob also shares his journey to salvation, having not grown up knowing the Lord but finding him as an adult and the difference that made in his life.

Resources Mentioned:

PCC Discussion Group

Bible

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Mark and Sara Hewitt from Minnesota joined me in this episode to share their story of taking the bold step of leaving the family farm where they were constantly met with opposition and no promises of transition or change to start a farm of their own! They talk about the decision to leave the family farm, their focus on minimal debt and managing their business as well as the many enterprises they juggle while both working off farm jobs and managing a family with 2 kids. So much to learn from them in this episode.

Resources Mentioned:

Farm Bureau

Legacy Farmer

Minnesota Farm Business Management

Minnesota Department of Ag

Extension

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Jason Medows is a rancher in Missouri and also the host of the Ag State of Mind Podcast. We discuss his transition to an intentional low input ranch business, and how he runs the business while working full time off the farm as a pharmacist. We also discuss mental health in agriculture as his podcast is focused around breaking the stigma around mental health in Ag.

Resources Mentioned:

Can't Hurt Me

Atomic Habits

12 Rules for Life

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business! 

Eric Barth is the Farm Manager largely responsible for managing the steward program which is their internship program. In this episode we discuss his path to Polyface farm, the farm and all it's enterprises and how they manage their internship program to ensure that interns leave with a ton of value. 

Resources Mentioned:

Extreme Ownership - Book

Stockman Grass Farmer

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

By running their ranch as a business and focusing on return on equity they have expanded their business to owning livestock in 26 counties in Texas and 13 different states. Missy Bonds talks to me about how they expanded the business, how they run their numbers and take action with confidence!

Resources Mentioned:

TCU Ranch Management Program

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Bobby Thoman was first on the Herd Quitter Podcast back on Episode 16, check that out to hear about his ranch history and context. But today we discuss some of the philosophy around profitable ranching and then we get into a discussion around 4H show steers. Bobby and his kids raise 4H show steers right out of their PCC cooperator herd and develop them on grass and hay, NO GRAIN! And while they may not be grand champion steers, they are consistently middle of the pack competitors! This is pretty incredible considering what some people invest into their show animals to win, meanwhile his kids learn about what it means to raise profitable livestock in addition to the many benefits that come with working with livestock.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Brad Reese is owner of the Rockin 7 Ranch near Shawnee, Wyoming. They manage beef cows, a hunting lodge, an outfitting business and farming enterprise. Brad shares he perspectives on his production model, management style, views on land and land ownership, as well as his experience in season 41 of the popular tv show Survivor.

Resource Recommendations:

John Maxwell

Jim Collins

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In last weeks episode, Dale and I discussed managing while in a drought. Today we discuss how to prepare for future drought to be more resilient when it comes. Be sure to listen to episode 81 along with this one to get all the great information that Dale has to share!

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In part 1 of this two part episode with Dale Strickler we talk about managing while in a drought. He talks about emergency feed resources and land management decisions. In part 2 which will be released next week we will discuss management to prepare for future droughts and how we can make our land and businesses more resilient for those future weather challenges!

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Today we discuss the idea of diversification. Is it truly best to be diversified? Does it help or hurt a business? 

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

This one was way beyond my level of expertise and I felt like I learned a ton! Jordan talks about how our breeding management and selection of cattle based on breeding windows can drastically increase the profitability of our ranches! He discusses heritability of different traits, epigenetics, and a whole lot more in a way that after a little while even a guy like me can begin to understand! Definitely worth the listen!

Resources Mentioned:

The E-Myth

Thinking Fast and Slow

Out of the Crisis

Mizzourepro.com

Mizzou Repro Youtube Channel

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Vannie Collins just got started in the ranching business in 2016 and because he had no previous paradigms he had to break, he started immediately down the right path. He attended Ranching for Profit and with what he learned there along with help from mentors like Ian Mitchell Innes and Greg Judy he has since grown his herd to 2000 cows which over tripled the previous stocking rate of his families ranchlands. He is developing a herd of low input cows in a low input rotational management system over 15,000 acres that only requires two staff to manage. Lots to learn in this one!

Resources Mentioned: 

Allan Nation

Stockman Grass Farmer

Ranching for Profit

Ian Mitchell Innes

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Craig Fischer and his family have a long history in agriculture in South Central Minnesota. They have a background in crop and dairy production, but chose a different route by raising pastured hogs, poultry and bison on their family farm. He talks about how he got into it, and why as well as some neat facts on the bison industry and building a direct market. 

Resources Mentioned:
Minnesota Bison Association

National Bison Association

Soil Health Academy

Stockman Grass Farmer

Bison Insider Podcast

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

There are plenty of things we can blame for a lack of profitability in our farm operations but at the end of the day it's our decisions that impact whether or not we are profitable, no excuses. Kit and I talk about this idea and how using excuses and blaming others can be what keeps us from recognizing our role in our business profitability and keeps us from making necessary changes to our business!

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Aaron Bradley farms with his wife Nicole in Bostic, North Carolina. We’re talk briefly about grazing operation and discuss in depth his marketing enterprise and how they hope that their brand can be a marketing outlet for other farmers passionate about raising regenerative meats but don’t have the market themselves.

Resources Mentioned:

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Chase Jones recently had the opportunity to take over his families generational farm in Southwest Wisconsin after his father decided to back out of the farming business. Recognizing the capital requirements of getting into the cow/calf business of equipment and cows but also wanting to keep the land in grass he went the route of custom grazing. He shares with us in this episode his first 3 years of custom grazing, the lessons learned and the successes that he had. He also provides some encouragement and motivation for young folks interested in getting into this business but are unsure of how. 

Resources Mentioned:

Greg Judy

Jim Gerrish

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Colter DeVries is a ranch broker in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado and is host of the Ranch Investor Podcast. Today we discuss the increasing ranch values over the past several years, who is buying it, and what that means for those of us trying to make a living on the land. We also discuss the need for turnover in the ranch business, people willing to think differently and bring new ideas and technology into the industry as well as the importance of land and property rights! To learn more check him out on social media at Ranch Investor.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Doug and Wally are experienced sell/buy marketers as well as educators. They join me in this episode to answer your questions! You can listen to episodes  17 & 18 where I had some initial discussions with Wally Olson and then episodes 28 & 37 with Doug Ferguson.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Dale is a sales agronomist for Green Cover Seeds as well as a speaker, consultant, author and experienced grazier! He shares his experience building a grazing farm and dramatically improving grazing productivity, and profitability as well as soil organic matter and soil health. We talk about the advantages of a grazing system as opposed to a row crop system. So much value in this conversation, and if you want to learn more, I would definitely encourage you to check out the many youtube videos he has online or buy one of his three books!

Resources Mentioned: 

Tree Crops - J. Russell Smith

Mycorrhizal Planet

Jim Gerrish

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Ben Beichler always had a dream of being a farmer, but with no farm to inherit, he set out to build one of his own. After apprenticing with Polyface Farms under Joel Salatin, he bought and built a dairy selling raw milk directly to 1250 families through a herd share program! His story is inspiring, and while I wouldn't recommend everybody go out and get a mortgage to incentivize you to be successful, he does have a lot of great wisdom to share in his story!

Resource Recommendations:

Newman Turner

George Henderson

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

This is the second part of our conversation with Joseph Hubbard. If you haven't, I would highly recommend going back and listening to part 1 before listening to this episode just for context but also because there is a ton of value in that episode! Joseph is doing some pretty impressive things!

Resources Mentioned:

Herd Quitter Podcast

Working Cows Podcast

Ranching Reboot Podcast

Grazing Conferences

Steve Campbell

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

This weeks episode is part one of my two part conversation with Joseph Hubbard of Olsburg, Kansas. Joseph has a large diversified ranch made up of 450 cow/calf pairs, 800+ stockers, and 2000 sheep managed on around 10,000 acres of Kansas prairie! In part one we discuss his sheep production model both on pasture and in a feedlot setting. We discuss the EZ Care breed and rambouillet sheep and why each breed has a purpose in his operation.

Check in next week when I will share part two of our conversation focused more on cattle and a few other topics!

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Kim Maloney returned home to her family farm in Quebec, Canada to work as their day-to-day operations manager but also to build a direct marketing enterprise! Over the past 3 years of her time on the farm they have greatly expanded their beef production and marketing, added sheep and pork and have succeeded in marketing all their product direct to consumer! She shares the strategies they have used to grow this enterprise and the choice to bring finishers on to the farm rather than own cows to reduce winter feed expense!

Resources Mentioned:

Five Mary's Marketing Course

Ian Mitchell Innes

Ranching for Profit

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Riley Shay is a friend of mine and inspires and impresses me whenever I hear his story! From a young age Riley has had an entrepreneurial spirit from trying to start a cow herd with four bottle calves to buying a tractor and starting a custom haying business at 16 years old. Today, at only 26, Riley has built a ranch of his own, purchasing a property not far from his family in NW Kansas and has developed an impressive herd of Registered Red Angus cows! His story is one we can all learn from! If you are interested in learning more about his story, or are interested in the drought insurance program Riley mentions, reach out to him at rileywshay@gmail.com.

Resources Mentioned:
PCC Newsletter

PCC Bull Development Days

Networking Opportunities: Conferences, grazing schools, etc...

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Derek started his farming journey immediately after high school when he decided he could learn better through experience and self-study than college. He gained experience working for several farmers, studied books, magazines and YouTube and used this knowledge to build his own dairy. Today he and his wife run their dairy in central Minnesota. They are impressive grazing managers and are using their herd to build soil! We discuss his journey, his grazing management and talk epigenetics in his herd and using nature to select for the animals that fit his program and environment. Even if dairy isn't your primary interest, there is a ton of great info in this episode!

Resources Mentioned:

Nourishment - Fred Provenza

Joel Salatin

Graze magazine

Stockman Grass Farmer

Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship

Soil Health Academy

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

I just got home from my week long trip to Oklahoma attending the Ranching for Profit School. Each night I tried to do a quick update on my day to summarize some of the topics they discuss each day to give you an idea what the school entails. I really enjoyed my experience and if you've ever considered attending a school, hopefully this helps and I would definitely recommend attending a school whenever you can.

Resource Recommendation:

The Turnaround: A Ranchers Story - Dave Pratt

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In Episode 11, we talked to Jenny Drake. Today we talk to her husband to get more details on their story of moving from Indiana to the mountains of Tennessee and building a large successful grazing based and direct marketing farm there. He shares the stressful times, along with the successes and how he prioritized his marriage over his business and how that has helped lead to a long and successful marriage! We also discuss the importance of community in this regenerative ag world and how it was important in his early days of building their farm and how we need to do more of it today. We discuss genetics and how important they are to his business and much more!

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching for Profit School

Herd Quitter Podcast

Burt Smith book

Stockman Grass Farmer

A Pharo Cattle Company bull sale and presale meeting.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Paul always had a love of cattle from a young age! His father recognized it when Paul could put together cattle family lines in a commercial herd when he was just a kid. However, the opportunity to take over a large family ranch was not in the cards, but this didn't stop him from building an operation of his own. In this episode we talk about his journey to building a ranch by focusing on low input cattle production and marketing his livestock at a premium. These principles allowed him to grow the business to where today he plans to retire working on the ranch he built. We also discuss his spiritual journey and his priorities of: 1) his relationship with his creator, 2) his relationship with his wife and 3) raising his children to follow Christ and 4) everything else. If you want to reach out to Paul, he can be reached at pjlandrigan@gmail.com

Resources Mentioned:

Bible

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

Blackabee - Experiencing God

Every Man a Warrior

Stockman Grass Farmer - Allan Nation & Joel Salatin

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Jordan Meyer and his wife Rachelle haven't been afraid to dive into new enterprises when opportunities present themselves. Over the years they have raised organic crops, conventional crops, dairy, beef cow/calf, stocker cattle, goat production, pastured hogs, turkeys, broiler chickens and laying hens! Today they still remain diversified raising dairy cows, beef cow/calf, stockers, goats, broilers and pastured hogs. They direct market what they can through their brand Wholesome Family Farms and prioritize soil health in all they do! Jordan also recognized value in land that most would overlook, and by grazing goats in woodlands, he found a way to capture that value on otherwise unproductive land. Throw in a family with six kids and it's plain to see this young family is absolutely crushing it! It was a blast talking to him and his story is filled with great tips and inspiration for anybody interested in getting started farming themselves! 

Resources Mentioned:

Wholesome Family Farms Youtube

Wallace Center Farms Youtube

Neighbors and local experts

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

On this weeks episode we take questions from listeners and ask them to Kit Pharo. A few of the questions he answers are:

- If you were starting from scratch today, what would you do?

- Why don't more producers use composite bulls when most are not breeding registered cattle or show cattle?

- AI or Bulls

- Heat tolerant bull program

- Cactus Feeders calf buy-back program

- What percentage of bulls tend to make it to the sale

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In a recent PCC discussion group there was a conversation around where is the ideal location to run cow/calf pairs in the United States. Overall, every area has advantages and disadvantages, but Jim Gerrish who has a unique perspective having worked with ranchers in 43 states and visited ranches in 49 states has his views on some of the best places. We discuss this as well as why it's important to break out land investments as a separate business from your operating entity. 

Resources Mentioned:

Land, Livestock & Life - Allan Nation

No Risk Ranching - Greg Judy

https://www.americangrazinglands.com/

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In 2019 Landan took over his family's ranch which had been managed in a high input, low profit manner for a number of years. He immediately worked to make changes improving grass management, buying low input genetics, reducing direct costs and overhead expenses and as a result has shown a profit every year since starting. Definitely an episode worth listening to if you have the desire to make a more profitable ranch and a better lifestyle.

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching for Profit

Jim Gerrish

Stockman Grass Farmer

Herd Quitter Blog

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Brian Alexander, also known as the Red Hills Rancher on social media joins me to discuss his history in ranching and his ranch in the Red Hills of South Central Kansas. We talk about fire, grazing management, succession planning and much more! If you haven't heard of it, be sure to check out his podcast the Ranching Reboot Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts! 

Resources Mentioned:

National Grazing Lands Coalition

Stockman Grass Farmer

Ranching for Profit

Holistic Management

Cleared Hot Podcast

Working Cows Podcast

Ag State of Mind Podcast

A neighbor who is doing the what you want to do57

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

To often people are convinced that finding success in agriculture is impossible because they can't find opportunity in their back yard. Andrew and his family were unwilling to accept that they couldn't run a profitable ranch business and did what many of us would never consider and sold their land in Ohio and moved to Oklahoma to start a new ranch in a new environment that was more suited to their cattle production goals. In this episode, Andrew shares how they came to the conclusion that moving might be the best option, the process of moving and the transition to managing a ranch in a new environment! His story is full of value and inspiring to those of us who wish to find success in this industry but aren't sure how!

Resources mentioned:

Ranching for Profit

Executive Link

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Will Harris is one of those people that I have looked up to as long as I've been involved in this regenerative world. He's got an amazing story of transitioning his farm over from commodity livestock production to a regenerative, diverse, direct to consumer business. The market millions of dollars in grass fed and pasture based meats and poultry raised on their 3200 acres in Bluffton, Georgia. They have improved their soils, taking them from 0.5% organic matter to over 5% and they have regenerated their community by providing jobs for 180 people. Truly an amazing and inspiring story I hope you enjoy!

Resources Mentioned:

Center for Agricultural Resilience, found on White Oak Pastures Website

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Jason joined me again to follow up on our conversation from episode 52. We discuss further the idea of reducing inputs and how it relates to veterinarians. We also discuss principles that apply to being a successful cattle producer, principles like developing cattle that are adapted to your environment, calving with nature, advancing your herd genetics through strict culling, and so much more! 

Resources Mentioned:

Book of Proverbs

Alan Nation

Gordon Hazard

Dave Pratt

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Doug Peterson has an extensive history working in the NRCS for over 32 years, consulting for Understanding Ag, and owning and operating his own grass farm in Missouri. We discuss what he learned through his career, and go in depth on the principles of soil health and how they can be applied in a grazing farm. And we discuss his own grazing operation and how he has improved his grass management and has an adjustable stocking rate which allows his to graze his cows through the winter.

Resources Mentioned:

Holistic Management - Allan Savory

A Soil Owners Manual - Jon Stika

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

Jim Gerrish

Soil Health Academy

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Jason Salchow is a custom grazier, bull developer and veterinarian from Missouri. We discuss his shift to custom grazing as a primary enterprise for his farm, how he began developing bulls for PCC, and what that process looks like. And then we just touch on the topic of how low input philosophies apply to veterinarians, although there is more to come on that topic in a future episode! No doubt that there is a lot to learn here in this conversation!

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Jason Rowntree is a professor at Michigan State University in their Animal Science Department studying low input beef production and regenerative agriculture. He shares how they have increased production on their grasslands, reduced expenses and increased profit on the beef farm and also shares the exciting and important work they have been doing around carbon sequestration in grasslands!

Resources Mentioned:

Grassfed Exchange

Understanding Ag

Savory Institute

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Luke Perman and his family run Rock Hills Ranch in North Central South Dakota. He shares why they have the diversity of enterprises they do, from cow/calf, to stocker to a custom sheep grazing enterprise and how each of those enterprises add value to the whole ranch. We also discuss the social aspect of a ranch management from engaging your employees, to being intentional about how the ranch impacts your family. This is an episode everybody can benefit from!

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching For Profit

Knowledge Rich Ranching

The Knowledge Project Podcast - Shane Parish

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Louis Martin knew very young that he wanted to be a ranch manager, and recognized early on that there is a big difference between managing cows, and managing a business than runs cows. He took every opportunity to learn from skilled mentors and advisors, and educated himself on the keys to business management rather than just animal science. His career took him from managing ranches in Texas, to Utah and finally landed himself in Colorado where he today manages over 75,000 acres of leased ranchland and along with 2 apprentices runs a combination of both owned and leased cows and stocker cattle. He shares tips for management, working with interns and apprentices, investing in your staff, and creating networks and relationships!

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching for Profit

Quivira Coalition

Allan Nation Books

Allan Savory

Holistic Management International

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Allen has an incredible resume filled with research, production experience and consulting experience world wide which has given him insight into some of the most successful farm and ranch businesses around the globe. In this episode, Allen shares a ton of solid practical advice that he's learned on how to build more successful farm and ranch businesses. We talk about combining herds to reduce labor and increase rest periods, how and why to develop fence and water infrastructure and so much more!

Resources Mentioned:

Regen Ag 101

Soil Health Academy

Understanding Ag

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Nathan "Bub" Daugherty and his wife Lakayah have an incredible story of hard work, sacrifice and determination that has resulted in developing a lifestyle that they enjoy! Bub spent years working overtime in a coal mine saving money and investing in land and livestock, heeding the advice of past generations and financial advisors. Today they farm full time running chicken barns and cattle on pasture! 

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching for Profit

Doug Ferguson Marketing School

Jim Gerrish - Kick the Hay Habit

Knowledge Rich Ranching

Thoughts and Advice From an Old Cattleman - Gordon Hazard

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Pete Bauman has a range of experience working with grasslands but in his role as SDSU Range Field Specialist he works one on one with producers and grassland managers across South Dakota working to improve the grasslands and increase plant diversity as well as production and profitability of the grazing enterprises. He discusses the importance of mindset as well as some practical ways we can improve our grasslands.

Resources Mentioned:

Soil Health Academy & Understanding Ag

Jim Gerrish

Stockman Grass Farmer

Tri State Neighbor

Local Grasslands Coalition

NRCS

State Game Agencies 

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

This week I am doing a solo episode to discuss how using the philosophies of Kit Pharo and other regenerative ranchers and farmers we transitioned our farm to a position that didn't require to full time people leading to me getting an off farm job working for the Sustainable Farming Association, or in other words, how Kit Pharo got me fired! I also discuss briefly the Sell/Buy marketing class I attended this past week and how we need to take responsibility for generating profit in our businesses! Next week we'll get back to talking with awesome guests from around the country! As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Kat Weinert along with her husband Sean, interviewed in episode 5, have an incredibly unique story of starting a ranch from scratch. Today, Kat shares her tips and tricks for managing a ranch while raising 4 kids while her husband works of the ranch and she runs a photography business. If doing all of that at once makes you feel like your not doing enough, I am right there with ya! She shares her "Ranch Mom Starter Pack" and all the real struggles of what they did. If you are struggling to raise a family on a ranch, then you must listen to this episode. Also be sure to follow her on Instagram at Lost Creek Cattle.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Everybody wants to have a competitive advantage in this industry, but most think it's not possible, or don't have time to discover some of the competitive advantages that are available to them. Kit shares how having a cost advantage and a differential advantage can set your ranch business apart from the rest and help you create a sustainable business for the next generation!

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Ryan Schmid is an entomologist at Ecdysis where he researches the importance of insects and the roles they play in our ranch businesses and our grassland ecosystems. He shares some pretty cool data and fun facts and shares practical ways that we can increase insect abundance and diversity on our own farms and ranches!

Resources Mentioned:

The Prairie Pioneer

Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands

Ecdysis.bio

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Andree and Bianca Soares of Star Creek Land Stewards have built a solid service based grazing business where they manage 7200 sheep and goats in California. They strategically graze in highly populated areas as well as along fire roads for fire prevention to help protect towns and communities during wildfires. They also graze targeted areas for invasive species management. They discuss the many aspects of managing their grazing business from managing over 70 clients annually, 7200 sheep and goats in groups of 400,  over 15 staff members and the countless civilian and public community members they engage with regularly. If you want to learn how to think creatively, build a resilient profitable business and use livestock for more than just meat productions then you can't miss this conversation! As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Taylor Collins has an awesome story of building a national food brand from scratch, selling and then starting a regenerative ranch from scratch in Texas along with his wife Katie. He shares a ton of value that should get anybody excited about the potential of raising food regeneratively, and the potential we have to impact our lands and soils!

Resources Mentioned:

Force of Nature

Dirt To Soil - Gabe Brown

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Cody has a pretty unique story of doing what many would not be willing to do and moving his family farm and ranching business not once, but twice! First ten miles down the road, and second to another state! Hear his journey and the reasons why he made each transition. He demonstrates how to make decisions holistically with a focus on not only the financial or environmental aspects of the business but the lifestyle aspect as well. Now he ranches in Montana and will be part of the first ever PCC bull sale in Butte, Montana on December 11!

Resources Mentioned:

Chip Hines Books

Stockman Grass Farmer

Working Cows Podcast

PCC Discussion Group

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Patrick Robinette didn't grow up on a farm but when he had the opportunity to move back to his in-laws family farm in North Carolina he took the opportunity. They immediately began the transition from conventional crop farm, to conventional beef producer, to a grass-finished beef producer. Today he and his family business produce, process and market grass finished beef all over the country! Listen in to learn how he did it and the many tips he shares for any producers looking to do the same!

Resources Mentioned:

Sand County Almanac

Man Must Measure

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

After continuing to hear great feedback on the episodes we have based around sell/buy marketing, I had Doug Ferguson come back on for another episode to go more in depth on this business plan. We learn how to talk to your bankers, how to use your cattle as a college savings plan, and so much more. If you want to learn more, Doug has a Sell/Buy Marketing Class coming up December 8-9 in SE Nebraska. You can find that at https://mrcattlemaster.com/marketing-school/

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Duke Phillips built a ranch management business managing nearly 300,000 acres across the American West starting with nothing more than a truck and trailer, a few horses and twenty cows. Listen in to hear Duke's fascinating story and don't miss the many great tips that we can all learn from and apply to our own ranches and journeys.

Resources Mentioned:

Allan Savory

Western Land Owners Alliance

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Brian Munger along with his wife and six kids run a diverse ranching business in Nebraska. They own and operate their own cow herd managed in a low input, regenerative model, they manage a ranch and cowherd for a non-operating land and cattle owner, they custom develops bulls for the PCC Nebraska bull sale and they direct market meat off their farm. Listen in to hear his ranch story and how they've found success and profit in the ranching business.

Resources Mentioned:

Zig Ziglar

Earl Nightingale

Ranching For Profit

Bud Williams & Wally Olson (Sell/Buy Marketing)

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Ryan Usmar manages Furracabad Station in Australia and is part of the start of Pharo Cattle Australia. Listen to hear about their cattle station, their rotational grazing system, and how they brought PCC genetics to Australia. 

Resources Mentioned: 

https://klrmarketing.com.au/ 

https://www.rcsaustralia.com.au/ 

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Over the years Doug transitioned from a high input commodity dairy farm to a low input grazing based operation with a stop as an organic crop farmer in between. Hear how he made those transitions and how his focus has never been on dollars first but on stewarding his land resource and improving his soil. Even with a focus on improving soil, his farm has remained profitable and his lifestyle has improved dramatically.

Resources Mentioned:

Sustainable Farming Association

Soil Health Academy

Grazetek.com

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Today Kit shares how we can reduce the work required to run a ranch and make it more enjoyable! If a business isn't enjoyable it's not sustainable and there are some very simple changes that we can make to simplify our ranch businesses. The neat thing is that typically profitability comes along with these simple changes.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Ed Bezett came to our farm in 1981 as a foreign exchange student and wasn't afraid to tell my grandpa that he thought there was a better way of running our beef, sheep and cattle operation here in Goodhue, MN. This began a decades long journey to where we are today of being a low-input, pasture based production model and today we talk with Ed about his families farm in New Zealand and his time here in Minnesota.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In part 2 of our conversation with Seven Sons we talk to Blaine Hitzfield, CEO of Distribution for Seven Sons. He goes into depth on the transition from commodity production and marketing farm to a direct, diverse and profitable farm! He shares practical tips for people just starting down the path of direct to consumer marketing and for people who are well into their marketing journey! 

Resources Mentioned:

https://www.statsamerica.org/radius/big.aspx

Story Brand - Donald Miller

Ranching for Profit

Grazecast Podcast

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Seven Sons is a farm and food brand from Indiana that has focused on raising and marketing grass finished and pasture based meat products. Today we talk to Blake Hitzfield, Chief Ranching Officer for Seven Sons. He talks about the transition of the farm from a 1500 acre conventional crop and hog production model to the 500 acre grass finished beef, pastured pork and laying hen operation today. He talks about the reasons why they made the transition, the logistics of management, and much more! Next week, join us again when we talk to Blain Hitzfield about building the brand and marketing meat. There will be tips for the meat marketer at any scale!

Resources Mentioned:

Dirt to Soil - Gabe Brown

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

I might be biased, but this is my favorite episode yet. Every time I talk with my dad about the history of our farm I learn something new! In today's episode, I sit down with my dad and get into the details of how our farm came to be what it is today. From our roots as a progressive, high input crop, beef and dairy operation to our transition to a low input beef grazing enterprise and all the stops in between. 

As always, check out the Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Robert Pulliam has a history of diversified farming in Missouri, beef production in Iowa, 12 years in ministry, and then found himself managing a ranch in the mountains of Western Colorado. After all his experience in agriculture, it was a challenge to transition to a low input, high profit enjoyable ranching business model. But several years into the transition, he has no regrets. In this weeks episode we discuss his history and experience changing paradigms.

Resources Mentioned:
Pharo Cattle Company Newsletter

Jim Gerrish - Kick the Hay Habit

Books by Chip Hines

As always, check out the Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Whatever your goals in life, career or business plans, very rarely are we able to accomplish much entirely on our own. Building a network around you of people to bounce ideas off, share work load, and to learn from is essential and Kit Pharo realized this necessity early on in his career. In this episode, Kit talks about his start with 5 or 6 local ranchers and how he has grown his network to tens of thousands! We discuss the tools he used, how providing value to the network is essential, and simple steps you can do to start your own network.

Resources Mentioned:

Seth Godin - Tribes

Michael Gerber - The E Myth Revisited 

As always, check out the Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In part 2 of our two part conversation with Jim we discuss the differences in environment, and management of grasslands in arid Western environments and Midwest and Eastern high moisture environments. We discuss how every location has it's own advantages and disadvantages and how to work with them. Jim shares grazing infrastructure and management tips and wisdom and wherever you ranch there is something of value for you in this episode!

Resources Mentioned:

https://www.americangrazinglands.com/

As always, check out the Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Jim Gerrish is an experienced grazing expert and well known author of Management Intensive Grazing, and Kick the Hay Habit. In part 1 of a 2 episode series we discuss the expense of making hay and how to reduce hay making through extending your grazing season. We also talk about how to manage your grazing during drought, which many of us across the country are in today!

Resources Mentioned:

Kick the Hay Habit

https://www.americangrazinglands.com/

As always, check out the Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

August had his eyes set on building a profitable angus cattle operation operating in the old school way of high inputs and labor. After getting started he quickly realized it wasn't as easy as it seems. A coworker recommended he look up Gabe Brown, Greg Judy, and Ray Archuletta and from there is regenerative grazing farm journey began. Today, he and his wife Katelyn are taking their family land base and transitioning it into a profitable, regenerative grazing based farm. We'll learn about all the enterprises they manage and how they are building a direct marketing brand, Horstmann Cattle Company.

Resources Mentioned:

YouTube - Greg Judy & Allen Williams

Soil Health Academy

Working Cows Podcast

Ranching Reboot Podcast

As always, check out the Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Wes ranches in the Chihuahua Desert of Southeast New Mexico. Of all the people I have talked to, his environment might be the toughest to run cattle in. It's dry on an average year, and he's currently in the 3rd year of a drought. Grass is in short supply and his cattle have to travel several miles to water when they aren't out eating brush and cactus to survive. We discuss how he got into ranching, the challenges of his environment, and how PCC bulls are working in it. Despite the many challenges, Wes recognizes that his ranch also offers some unfair advantages, such as cheap lease rates and easy winters. Listen in to hear how he is building a ranching business in some of the toughest country in the United States.

Resources Mentioned:

Stockman Grass Farmer

Holistic Management

Working Cows Podcast

As always, check out the Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Kit and I discuss the role that debt plays in a ranch business. It certainly can have a place to help a business when used wisely. However, Kit believes, and I agree, that it's not a necessity and that freeing yourself from debt can lead to a more enjoyable business with more peace of mind. He talks about what he thinks may be acceptable uses of debt, and what is never ok to borrow to own. 

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Wally joins us for a second week to discuss the Bud Williams sell/buy livestock marketing concept. We discuss how it is applied to stocker enterprises and cow/calf enterprises. We get more in depth on a few of the things we discussed last week like understanding the value of different classes on cattle. This is one you'll want to listen to more than once to fully absorb the information he shares.

Resources mentioned:

Dougs Market Intel - Doug Ferguson

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Wally Olson says the primary thing an individual needs to be concerned with is profit. In this episode, Wally discusses the many things he has found to help ranches increase profitability. He shares how he implemented them in his ranching career both working for and operating his own ranch. 

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching for Profit

How Not to Go Broke Ranching - Walt Davis

Knowledge Rich Ranching - Allan Nation

Chip Hines Books

https://www.ranchrightllc.com/

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Bobby Thomans family got out of the cattle business long before he wanted to bring it back, leaving it to him to research and determine the right course of action for his cattle enterprise. He was intentional about selecting a type of animal that fit his goals for his ranch and worked hard to build both a direct to consumer meat market as well as a seedstock business. He has since become a cooperator for Pharo Cattle Company and breeds genetics that thrive in his environment!

Joshua and Tara never planned on going back to the family ranch. They were told it wasn't a viable option, and Tara wasn't sure that's the life she wanted. But after a number of experiences and connections made them realize that they could make a living on the ranch and they began to understand the connection between food and our human nutrition and mental health, both Tara and Joshua agreed that going back to the ranch was the best decision for their family! Today they operate a holistic management education business providing trainings and consulting to farms and ranches around the country. They also run Seek First Ranch where they raise and direct market meat. We talk about the entire journey from leaving the farm, to realizing it might be a possibility, to making it happen. 

Resources mentioned:

https://www.seekfirstranch.com/

Bible

Ranching for Profit

North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition

Soil Health Academy

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Kit Pharo and I discuss heifer development programs, and how a low cost program can make heifer development a profitable enterprise despite the percent bred. We also discuss how a low cost development program produces heifers that will thrive on the ranch for many years to come and how high input heifer development programs can result in unintended consequences such as early fall out rates, and high input cows that don't fit a real ranch environment.

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Jim Howell is co-founder and CEO of Grasslands LLC. In this podcast we talk to Jim about his family ranch in the mountains of Colorado, his experience traveling the world and the country visiting ranches and how he implemented principles learned on those trips onto his family ranch. We then get into a discussion on his management company managing hundreds of thousands of acres from the south Florida, to western Colorado, up to Montana and even New Zealand. If you want to improve efficiency, productivity, and profitability on your ranch then you need to hear what Jim has to say. 

Resources Mentioned: For the Love of Land - Jim Howell Savory Institute Holistic Management International

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Logan Pribbeno, manager of the Wine Glass Ranch in Southwest Nebraska, along with his family have developed a business around forage harvesting where the primary method of forage harvesting is not done with choppers, balers, haybines, and mergers but rather with livestock. He discusses how they keep their business adaptable, where the dominant class of livestock varies based on the current market conditions. We also discuss how to be a successful manager and create buy in from your team members. 

 Resources Mentioned:

Anything by Alan Nation

Ranching for Profit School

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business.

Jenny Drake and her husband Darrin have built a diverse pasture based ranch business in Tennessee. Faced with challenges from shortages of labor, to steep slopes, endophyte infected fescue and extreme summer heats, it's fascinating to hear how they have developed genetics that thrive in their environment and a successful direct market business. She also discusses their unique internship program that helps address the labor shortage issue. 

Resources Mentioned:

Stockman Grass Farmer

Pennsylvania Area Sustainable Agriculture Conference

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Dallas Mount is the owner of Ranch Management Consultants and their popular Ranching for Profit School. He travels the country teaching ranchers how to be better managers of their ranching business. 

Resources Mentioned:

Critical Conversations

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

On today's episode we talk to Kit Pharo about how to value a bull. This process involves deciding first of all what your goals for your herd are and selecting a seedstock producer who's production model compliments your goals. We also discuss how number of calves sired impacts bull value and how many probably are over paying for the bulls they buy!

This episode is being released on the first of PCC's spring 2021 bull sales. If you are interested in bulls that will sire calves cheaper than any other program out there, and will move your herd in the right direction check out www.pharocattle.com to get more information on those sales.

Don't forget to follow us on facebook and instagram at Herd Quitter Podcast or at Herdquitterpodcast.com

Jerry and his family have built an extremely diverse and profitable ranch with enterprises ranging from cow/calf and bison production to hunting, agritourism and even a brewery. Hear how this diversification as well as holistically managing his ranch has created a profitable, enjoyable and resilient ranch business.

Resources mentioned:

- Holistic Management Class - https://holisticmanagement.org/

- North Dakota Grazing Lands Coalition

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In this episode I have a conversation with Kit Pharo about what is really necessary to run a profitable ranch. What he says may surprise you! It doesn't have to be as expensive or as complicated as you think. 

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Sean and his wife Kat have been building a ranch from scratch. Hear how they have done this with a focus on minimal inputs, minimal investment in equipment and with having the right genetics for their environment.

Resource Mentioned:

Your local or state grasslands coalition

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

Blake was struggling to make a profit with cow/calf on his ranch. He decided to make a shift out of the cow business and into the stocker business, focusing on minimal inputs and capturing seasonal market premiums. 

Resources Mentioned:

OnPasture - https://onpasture.com/

No Risk Ranching - Greg Judy

Thoughts and Advice from an Old Cattleman - Gordon Hazard

Any book by Allan Nation

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In today's episode we talk to Clay Conry, and hear how he took what he learned hosting the Working Cows Podcast and applied it to his own ranch that he and his family started recently!

Resources Mentioned:

Ranching for Profit - https://ranchmanagement.com/

Soil Health Academy - https://soilhealthacademy.org/

Herd Quitter Blog - https://www.pharocattle.com/blog

As always, check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. You can also check out Pharocattle.com for more information on how to put more fun and profit back into your ranching business!

In todays conversation, we talk with Kit Pharo of Pharo Cattle Company. He shares his history and why he started Pharo Cattle Company as well as how he came up with the Herd Quitter concept.

Resources Mentioned:

Allan Savory - Holistic Management

Stockman Grass Farmer

Pharocattle.com

Check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com.

Today's episode is shorter than most. I introduce myself and my farm and background and share with you what the Herd Quitter Podcast is all about! New podcast episodes will be released later in February and will be released weekly after that! I can't wait to share these conversations with you!

Check us out at Herd Quitter Podcast on Facebook and Instagram as well as at Herdquitterpodcast.com. 

Check out Pharo Cattle Company at Pharocattle.com