Jason Schoenfelder, a passionate advocate for sustainable cattle farming, is our featured guest. Raised on the sun-soaked ranches of Southeast Arizona, Jason's journey took him to the verdant pastures of Northeast Oregon, where he has embraced innovative, pasture-based cattle finishing operations. Influenced by the revolutionary ideas of Allen Savory, Jason is dedicated to enhancing rangeland health and crafting economically sustainable models in the cattle industry. His commitment to high animal welfare standards and innovative grazing techniques makes him a beacon of responsible and eco-friendly ranching.
Topics covered in this episode:
- Jason's upbringing and introduction to rotational grazing in Southeast Arizona
- Transition to pasture-based cattle finishing in Northeast Oregon
- The influence of Allen Savory and holistic management practices
- Challenges and successes in the cattle industry
- Implementation of regenerative agriculture through the Grazewell program
- Pasture management techniques, including strategic crop rotations
- Insights into maintaining soil health and resource management, especially water
- Importance of retaining ownership in cattle breeding for profitability
- Consumer demand for high-quality, sustainably produced beef
- Cooperative models like Country Natural Beef and their impact on sustainable practices
Listeners should tune in to this episode to gain a deeper understanding of sustainable cattle farming practices and the challenges and rewards of pasture-based operations. Jason Schoenfelder's journey offers valuable insights into the intricate balance required in resource management and innovative approaches to cattle feeding. Whether you are a seasoned rancher or an aspiring one, this episode provides practical guidance and inspiration for producing quality beef responsibly. By exploring themes of ecological balance and sustainability, Jason's story encourages listeners to embrace forward-thinking practices that benefit both the land and the beef industry.
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Original Music by Louis Palfrey
Chapters
- (00:00) - Introduction and Fast Five with Jason Schoenfelder
- (01:28) - Jason's Background and Grazing Journey
- (02:34) - Welcome to the Grazing Grass Podcast
- (03:09) - Noble Research Institute Courses
- (04:11) - Cal's Grazing Update
- (05:28) - Join the Grazing Grass Community
- (05:58) - Jason's Early Career and Experiences
- (13:23) - Transition to Beef Northwest Feeders
- (16:10) - Understanding GAP Standards
- (23:02) - Pasture Finishing Program Details
- (29:48) - Country Natural Beef Cooperative
- (35:38) - Ownership and Financial Ramifications for Ranchers
- (36:53) - Grading and Market Value of Cattle
- (40:38) - Introduction to Grazewell Program
- (44:27) - Grazewell Program Details and Implementation
- (49:41) - Country Natural Beef and Market Reach
- (50:44) - Final Thoughts and Advice for Ranchers
- (53:42) - Famous Four Questions
- (01:02:41) - Podcast Goals and Listener Engagement
NOTE This file was generated by Descript
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: So Jason, we'll get started with the Fast five.
00:00:02 --> 00:00:03 What's your name?
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Cal, my name is Jason Schoenfelder.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:08 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And Jason, what do you do?
00:00:09 --> 00:00:10 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So I wear a couple of different
00:00:10 --> 00:00:14 hats and, and serve a coup couple different roles on a day-to-day basis.
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 I work for a company called Beef Northwest Feeders.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:22 And I specifically manage a pasture based cattle finishing operation.
00:00:23 --> 00:00:27 Primarily finishes cattle for country natural beef, a rancher based cooperative.
00:00:28 --> 00:00:33 In addition to that, my wife and I and her family also run some cows of our own.
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 We have a cow calf operation kind of scattered out over different
00:00:36 --> 00:00:37 parts of northeast Oregon.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:40 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And that answered my next question.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:41 Where are you located?
00:00:41 --> 00:00:42 So northeast Oregon.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah, so northeast Oregon, so, so
00:00:45 --> 00:00:49 kind of the where, where I work day to day and the winter, winter
00:00:49 --> 00:00:53 grazing operations for our cow herds kind of is in the Columbia basin.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 Between Hermiston and, and Boardman, Oregon.
00:00:57 --> 00:01:02 And then our summer grazing is in a really cool spot in northeast Oregon just outside
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 of, of enterprise on the alt prairie.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:06 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, very good.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07 . And you mentioned beef.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 Is that the only livestock species y'all deal with?
00:01:10 --> 00:01:10 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:15 So, so me personally and my day job and then, then my wife and, and, and, and
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 our operation is strictly beef cattle.
00:01:18 --> 00:01:22 My brother-in-law is heavily involved in the sheep industry gras sheep in
00:01:22 --> 00:01:23 quite a few different environments.
00:01:23 --> 00:01:27 But you'd sure want to talk to him about some of the details there.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:28 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 And when did you start grazing Animals?
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So, I, I grew up around at Cal I originally
00:01:34 --> 00:01:38 grew up in southeast Arizona Cochise County near the, near the Mexican
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 border and the New Mexico border.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:46 And it probably was about 1989 or 1990, I would've been leaving junior high and,
00:01:46 --> 00:01:51 and getting into high school, my dad went to an Allen Savory grazing school
00:01:52 --> 00:01:59 and, and just, just went all in on the idea of rotational grazing and,
00:01:59 --> 00:02:03 and more intensive grazing management and, and holistic management.
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 And you know, it was interesting.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 He converted the entire ranch that we had at that time.
00:02:07 --> 00:02:14 It was, oh, it was about just under 20 acres of, of deeded and state leased land.
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 But he converted that entire ranch.
00:02:16 --> 00:02:20 As soon as he got back from that school, started making plans, converted the
00:02:20 --> 00:02:24 ranch into the original Allen Savory design of, of rotational grazing the
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 cell, grazing the paddock grazing.
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 And, and so I was pretty young and have been around that.
00:02:30 --> 00:02:34 That thought process for, for most of my, my career and my adult life,
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 Cal: Welcome to the grazing grass podcast.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 The podcast dedicated to sharing the stories of grass-based
00:02:39 --> 00:02:43 livestock producers, exploring regenerative practices that improve
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 the land animals and our lives.
00:02:46 --> 00:02:50 I'm your host, Cal Hardage and each week we'll dive into the journeys,
00:02:50 --> 00:02:55 challenges, and successes of producers like you, learning from
00:02:55 --> 00:03:00 their experiences, and inspiring each other to grow, and graze better.
00:03:01 --> 00:03:05 Whether you're a seasoned grazier or just getting started.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 This is the place for you.
00:03:08 --> 00:03:09 Speaker 4: Calling our ranchers.
00:03:09 --> 00:03:13 If you're looking to optimize your grazing operation and boost your bottom
00:03:13 --> 00:03:18 line, Noble Research Institute can help the noble approach to education
00:03:18 --> 00:03:23 pairs their own infield research with the expertise of ranch managers
00:03:23 --> 00:03:28 and advisors to find practical solutions to your unique challenges.
00:03:29 --> 00:03:33 Now's the time to register for one other June in-person courses.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:40 Noble will be in Jefferson City for Noble Grazing Essentials, June 4th through sixth
00:03:41 --> 00:03:48 in Kansas City for Noble Profitability Essentials, June 11th through 12th, and
00:03:48 --> 00:03:54 in Fredericksburg, Texas for Business of Grazing, June 24th through 26th.
00:03:55 --> 00:04:00 Noble Research Institute ensures that every insight they share has been tested
00:04:00 --> 00:04:05 in real world conditions, giving you solutions that work, not just theories.
00:04:06 --> 00:04:07 Visit noble.org
00:04:07 --> 00:04:11 today to learn more about these courses or to register.
00:04:12 --> 00:04:16 Speaker: For 10 seconds about the farm, last week's episode, I was talking
00:04:16 --> 00:04:22 about moving my cows to ultra high density grazing, and I say moving my
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 cows, moving my dad's cows to that.
00:04:25 --> 00:04:29 My cows are used to daily moves, dad's cows, we have permanent
00:04:29 --> 00:04:32 paddocks here on his place, so they're not used to daily moves.
00:04:33 --> 00:04:38 However, I've got them running with my cows, doing daily moves and
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 trying to increase that density.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:44 I'm not near where I want to be, but the cows are respecting
00:04:44 --> 00:04:45 the electric fence now.
00:04:46 --> 00:04:52 Step one complete, except they still complain and they walk.
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 They do not like that confined area.
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 So we'll see how it goes.
00:04:57 --> 00:05:03 It's been really wet, so I've made paddocks larger than I'd like because I
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 don't want 'em plugging it up too much.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:10 I've got one paddock, I made a little small and um, they plugged it pretty bad,
00:05:12 --> 00:05:13 so it's a journey.
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 We'll see how it goes and I'll keep you informed.
00:05:15 --> 00:05:20 Also I'm thinking I'll record some videos for YouTube if
00:05:20 --> 00:05:21 you wanna see what I'm doing.
00:05:22 --> 00:05:26 Uh, when I do that, I'll let you know on the podcast for
00:05:26 --> 00:05:27 10 seconds about the podcast.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:32 If you're not a member of the Grazing Grass Community on Facebook, jump
00:05:32 --> 00:05:36 over Facebook Search for Grazing Grass Community and request to join.
00:05:36 --> 00:05:41 Now, when you request to join, if you just click join and don't answer any questions,
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 it automatically gets deleted or denied.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 So make sure you answer those questions just a little bit.
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 Um, they're really simple.
00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 Put something in there.
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 That way I can see it and improve it.
00:05:54 --> 00:05:58 I look forward to talking to you over there and let's get back to Jason.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: When your dad came back from that Allen Savory
00:06:02 --> 00:06:08 course conference, did, did that strike you as odd or were you at the time
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 thinking, Hey, this kind of makes sense?
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: you know, it wasn't something I really
00:06:13 --> 00:06:17 knew a lot about, but just even at, at a fairly young age, I was pretty
00:06:17 --> 00:06:22 interested in, in cattle and, and grazing and, and livestock systems.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:29 But the idea of, of supporting Rangeland Health to better produce
00:06:30 --> 00:06:35 a, a product and, and better manage the landscape over a, a longer term.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:39 Back then, sustainability wasn't even really a word, but you were trying
00:06:39 --> 00:06:44 to build a business plan around a, a grazing operation to, to last year
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 over year, generation over generation.
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 So I thought that part was pretty cool.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:49 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:50 Very good.
00:06:50 --> 00:06:54 Then when you, you got finished with high school, what'd you decide to go do?
00:06:54 --> 00:06:54 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 So I went to college at the University of Arizona.
00:06:56 --> 00:07:01 Like any kid growing up on a ranch, I think a lot of people can relate.
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do.
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 So I bounced around a little bit and it, it took me a while to, to get through my
00:07:07 --> 00:07:13 college career, but ultimately decided to just really like the cattle industry.
00:07:13 --> 00:07:17 And, and as an industry as a whole, I liked the grazing part of it.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:21 I liked the cow calf, I liked the business side of it.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:26 Was really interested in, in the marketing and, and really interested just in
00:07:26 --> 00:07:32 the fact that ultimately we're, we're converting grass into protein that's
00:07:32 --> 00:07:36 in a system that that's healthy and wholesome, and it's pretty tasty too.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:41 So I just always had that idea or that goal to somehow I.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:46 Work my career into a place where I was involved in the industry
00:07:46 --> 00:07:52 from conception to dinner plate if, if the opportunity ever arose.
00:07:52 --> 00:07:52 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yes.
00:07:52 --> 00:07:53 Yeah,
00:07:53 --> 00:07:53 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: yeah.
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: So you're in Arizona now.
00:07:57 --> 00:07:58 You're in Oregon.
00:07:58 --> 00:07:59 Was that a straight line to get to Oregon?
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: No, that was a pretty jagged line.
00:08:02 --> 00:08:03 We bounced around quite a bit.
00:08:03 --> 00:08:08 I was fortunate enough later in my college career to do an internship at the King
00:08:08 --> 00:08:12 Ranch, and of course that was in the years before the King Ranch Institute
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 for Ranch Management was developed.
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 So I'm pretty fortunate to see the operations there on a big
00:08:17 --> 00:08:20 historic ranch that was pretty neat.
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 A different environment than I'd ever been in.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:29 And, and just see how cattle interacted with the environment and, and what
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 it took to manage under those types of range, range land conditions.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:37 After I got outta college, I went back to South Texas, right near the King Ranch.
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 Helped manage a registered beef master cow herd for the Macallan family.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 Again, different environment.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:49 Highly susceptible to drought impacted by big fluctuations in seasonal rainfall.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:55 Had to figure out how to implement management systems that that could
00:08:55 --> 00:08:59 best utilize grass during the growing season and the wet seasons, but then
00:08:59 --> 00:09:04 conserve grazing head days and grazing availability throughout the year.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 So did that for a couple years, had an opportunity to work with my family.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:14 Fairly large scale cow-calf operation, some stocker operation that was really
00:09:14 --> 00:09:19 pretty scattered from Central and East Texas up into Central and Oklahoma.
00:09:19 --> 00:09:20 So,
00:09:20 --> 00:09:25 got got the opportunity to work over a number of different environments.
00:09:25 --> 00:09:26 Again.
00:09:26 --> 00:09:30 Tried to manage grass to, to maximize, or I guess really
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 optimize the production of beef.
00:09:33 --> 00:09:39 So some of those central Texas and, and Oklahoma properties were super intensive,
00:09:39 --> 00:09:44 utilized commercial fertilizers, lots of mechanical brush control, lots of chemical
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 brush control and things like that.
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 But just gave me a lot of experience.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 And then there was a number of different ways to manage the landscape,
00:09:53 --> 00:09:59 and I always focused and was, was pulled towards ways that were more
00:09:59 --> 00:10:04 economically beneficial more sustainable over the long term, especially as it
00:10:04 --> 00:10:09 related to, to the land itself, but also the economics of the business.
00:10:09 --> 00:10:14 You know, a lot of this stuff we do every day is a lot of fun and it's, and it's,
00:10:14 --> 00:10:18 you know, we do a lot of things for the right reason, but there's really, it's
00:10:18 --> 00:10:22 really important to me that we focus on the economic benefits and that we're
00:10:22 --> 00:10:23 able to build a business out of it.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 Maintain some of these ranches over over generations.
00:10:28 --> 00:10:29 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Right.
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 I, I completely concur you.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:35 There's certain practices that we don't do, but we used to do.
00:10:36 --> 00:10:36 Um.
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 But when you really start penciling them, we were doing them for the
00:10:40 --> 00:10:44 aesthetic aspect of it rather than the profitability aspect
00:10:44 --> 00:10:44 of it.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:45 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: correct.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And it's so easy to get wrapped into that.
00:10:49 --> 00:10:54 In fact, I've got one lease property, it, it's a ongoing conversation
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 because they would like it mowed.
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 They, they want it to look like manicured.
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 It's not gonna look that way when I'm grazing cows on it
00:11:03 --> 00:11:04 unless I overgraze it.
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 And we don't wanna do that because that's hurting the land.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:07 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:11:08 --> 00:11:08 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: yeah.
00:11:09 --> 00:11:14 Now going through, so, so you mentioned this a few times, you know, going from
00:11:14 --> 00:11:22 southeast Arizona, south Texas, into North Central Texas, into Oklahoma, that's
00:11:22 --> 00:11:26 a wide variety In going through that.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:30 What do you take away from that and those different experiences that now
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 when you're in Oregon, you're using.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:33 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:40 So I think the biggest takeaway for me was that I, I used to think that, especially
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 growing up in southeast Arizona, I used to think that, well, rainfall's
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 your, your biggest limiting factor.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 So if you just go somewhere where it rained,
00:11:48 --> 00:11:49 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh,
00:11:49 --> 00:11:49 yes,
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: be easy, cows would be fat.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:55 And, and I think the biggest takeaway is that e every environment has
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 its own management challenges.
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 More rainfall can also mean more noxious weeds can be more.
00:12:01 --> 00:12:06 More brush encroachment can mean poor quality forages forages that have to
00:12:06 --> 00:12:10 be supplemented differently or, or at least managed differently to take
00:12:10 --> 00:12:15 advantage of, of the nutrition that's out there on the, on the landscape
00:12:15 --> 00:12:16 available for livestock production.
00:12:17 --> 00:12:22 So, you know what I, I think just learning to be adaptable to environments, but
00:12:22 --> 00:12:26 then understanding that, that, and, and I don't wanna oversimplify this and,
00:12:26 --> 00:12:31 and listeners might take this the wrong way, but at the end of the day, grass is
00:12:31 --> 00:12:38 grass forages, forage cattle or cattle matching those resources to the livestock
00:12:38 --> 00:12:42 you run on that, or, or vice versa, matching the cattle to the landscape.
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 At the end of the day, we're just, we're just ultimately trying to produce pounds
00:12:46 --> 00:12:53 of protein out of a product that, or out of a, a feed stuff that humans wouldn't
00:12:53 --> 00:12:57 enjoy eating and, and couldn't really be very, very effective, consuming.
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I am going to pare down what you said.
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 You made it pretty short, but to me, what I hear you saying is we need
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 to get out of the way of nature.
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 The cows are made to graze grass.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:08 Grass is out there.
00:13:08 --> 00:13:08 Let's let 'em do
00:13:09 --> 00:13:10 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: that's right, that's right.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:11 Yep.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:11 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:13:12 --> 00:13:17 Now, you managed different jobs in these areas after that.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 Is that when you headed towards the northeast?
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 Sorry, to the
00:13:21 --> 00:13:22 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Northwest.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:22 Yeah.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:23 Yep.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:29 So, you know, being a, being a one man show and an entrepreneur kind of
00:13:29 --> 00:13:34 mindset kind of operation in 2015, we all know what the cattle market
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 went through end of 2014 and 2015.
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 One thing I'm pretty self-aware with is the fact that I,
00:13:42 --> 00:13:43 I'm probably not the best.
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 Best market risk manager.
00:13:45 --> 00:13:50 Financial risk manager as some of those cattle we were owning in a, in a stocker
00:13:50 --> 00:13:54 operation that I was taking care of at that time, you know, profitability was
00:13:54 --> 00:13:59 good, but it required more equity in that 2015 timeframe to replace those
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 stockers in those background or cattle.
00:14:01 --> 00:14:05 Looked, was, thought it might be a good idea for me to look for,
00:14:06 --> 00:14:07 quote unquote a, a real job.
00:14:07 --> 00:14:12 Finally I found some, I found an opportunity up here with Beef Northwest
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 Feeders up here in northeast Oregon.
00:14:15 --> 00:14:22 Took an opportunity to to submit a resume and, and came up here, interviewed with
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 the, with the powers that be and the folks that run this company day to day.
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 And, and it was just a good click.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 It was a fit right from day one.
00:14:30 --> 00:14:34 Kind of made my mind up that if I'm gonna transition out of
00:14:34 --> 00:14:38 being my own boss to work in potentially working in a corporate.
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 Commercial cattle feeding company that these were the type of people
00:14:42 --> 00:14:43 I really wanted to be around.
00:14:44 --> 00:14:48 And lucky for me, they, they saw some potential in me, offered me a job.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:52 And, and fast forward to 2025 here in August, I'll have been here 10 years.
00:14:53 --> 00:14:54 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yes.
00:14:54 --> 00:14:54 Yeah.
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 When you went up there, was it more the conventional feedlot at that time?
00:14:59 --> 00:15:00 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: No.
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 So that was one of the really intriguing factors to me.
00:15:03 --> 00:15:07 Obviously Beef Northwest Feeders is a large commercial cattle feeding company
00:15:08 --> 00:15:14 very strong you know, very strong in that, in that piece of the industry.
00:15:14 --> 00:15:19 But one of the things I saw even when I interviewed is they, at the time, beef
00:15:19 --> 00:15:23 Northwest Feeders had a very strong relationship with country natural beef
00:15:24 --> 00:15:31 and was finishing cattle for the country natural beef member ranchers on a, on
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 this operation that I managed today.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 It's called Northwest Pasture Beef.
00:15:35 --> 00:15:40 It was originally started Country Natural Beef, needed an operation to
00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 meet Gap step level four standards.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 I don't know if you're familiar with GAP at all.
00:15:45 --> 00:15:47 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I, I think we should cover it.
00:15:47 --> 00:15:51 The only I'll, I'll be completely transparent here.
00:15:51 --> 00:15:52 The only reason I'm familiar with it.
00:15:53 --> 00:15:59 As I listened to a podcast from 2020 that some people from Country Natural
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 Beef was on, and they were talking about it, so I had to look it up.
00:16:02 --> 00:16:06 So I suspect most of my listeners are not familiar with it, or maybe they
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 are, maybe they're smarter than me.
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10 But go ahead and explain what
00:16:10 --> 00:16:10 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:14 So, so Gap, GAP stands for Global Animal Partnership.
00:16:15 --> 00:16:20 And, and that was started originally as an, as an ask or as an as a
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 project by Whole Foods Markets.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:26 If you're familiar with the high, really high end grocery store chain
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 whole Foods customers had a big ask.
00:16:30 --> 00:16:35 For more information on how the animal based proteins that they were offering,
00:16:35 --> 00:16:40 how they were produced, and, and the ask was to build a set of animal welfare
00:16:40 --> 00:16:45 standards that w that could be third party audited and really verified.
00:16:45 --> 00:16:49 And what it boils down to is, is things like conventional feedlots,
00:16:49 --> 00:16:54 things like certain animal handling practices things like adding
00:16:54 --> 00:16:59 implants, different hormones feeding our on forest to cattle, whole foods.
00:16:59 --> 00:17:03 Customers really sent a big, big signal to drive away from those,
00:17:03 --> 00:17:07 some of those technologies that were used widespread in the industry.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:13 So GAP is based on different, they call 'em step level, step levels.
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 And what the gap step level four.
00:17:16 --> 00:17:22 The biggest differentiator there is, is letting cattle live, or,
00:17:23 --> 00:17:27 or b, in a production system.
00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 That is a non-con confinement system.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:35 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And I believe there's five steps, so, so
00:17:35 --> 00:17:40 step four, you're close to all their recommendations, but not quite all the
00:17:41 --> 00:17:42 way
00:17:42 --> 00:17:42 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:17:42 --> 00:17:46 So the, in, on the beef side of it, there's different step levels and there's
00:17:46 --> 00:17:49 different standards for all animal protein
00:17:50 --> 00:17:50 Yeah.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:51 Products.
00:17:51 --> 00:17:56 But in the beef, in the beef world there's really only step one.
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 Then it kind of jumps to step four.
00:17:58 --> 00:17:58 Then you
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, okay.
00:18:00 --> 00:18:01 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: and, and five plus.
00:18:01 --> 00:18:07 Step one allows for conventional type feed yards, but has some stipulations
00:18:07 --> 00:18:11 for space behavioral enhancements, so things like back scratchers and
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 things like that within the pens.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 Step four brings into the pasture based.
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 Non confinement system.
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 And that's a space we operate in today.
00:18:20 --> 00:18:27 Step five accounts for some standards around not dehorning, cattle, not
00:18:27 --> 00:18:33 physically altering the animals, so earmarks, ear tags, branding, castration.
00:18:34 --> 00:18:35 And there is a step level five plus.
00:18:35 --> 00:18:39 We don't, we're not part of that, of the five or the five plus, but I
00:18:39 --> 00:18:45 believe the five plus goes as far to animals are born, raised and harvested
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47 on the ranch or farm of origin.
00:18:47 --> 00:18:50 So they, they, they, they never step foot on a truck.
00:18:50 --> 00:18:51 They never move.
00:18:51 --> 00:18:52 Things like that.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:52 Yeah.
00:18:53 --> 00:18:53 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:18:53 --> 00:18:54 Yeah.
00:18:54 --> 00:19:00 Which step four seems to be a high up on that because step five that physical
00:19:00 --> 00:19:05 alteration of a animal, that's a, that's a industry thing that would be
00:19:05 --> 00:19:10 really tough to achieve, I think when you're working with member ranches, us.
00:19:11 --> 00:19:11 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:19:11 --> 00:19:19 So step, so step four takes into account both it, it requires a pasture-based
00:19:19 --> 00:19:23 system to meet the animal welfare standard, but it also takes into
00:19:23 --> 00:19:28 account just about everything that we could or should be doing as producers.
00:19:28 --> 00:19:32 Yes, we are doing this to meet some customer demands and some customer
00:19:32 --> 00:19:36 needs, and there is a premium in the market available for that.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:39 But at the end of the day it's pretty good.
00:19:39 --> 00:19:43 It's a pretty good feeling to go to sleep at night that you can operate
00:19:43 --> 00:19:47 within this system and, and you're, you're, you're not gonna be caught.
00:19:48 --> 00:19:52 You'd never be caught up in a, in any sort of issue that related to animal welfare.
00:19:52 --> 00:19:52 Yeah.
00:19:53 --> 00:19:57 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are there other feeders that are step four as well?
00:19:57 --> 00:19:58 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So there are a couple
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 other feeders in the us.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:04 There's a couple other operations that specifically feed cattle
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 for country natural beef.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 And I work with some of those producers fairly closely.
00:20:09 --> 00:20:13 And there are, I think there are a couple other gap four gap step level
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 four operations around the country.
00:20:15 --> 00:20:20 I believe there's actually one in the northeast may, maybe up in Maine.
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 So totally different environment.
00:20:22 --> 00:20:25 Winters get to the point where it did, it does require housing
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 and some things like that.
00:20:27 --> 00:20:31 Fortunately we're in a pretty unique environment where, where I am in
00:20:31 --> 00:20:36 northeast Oregon where we're, we're fairly arid, don't have to deal with mud.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:41 Winters are typically fairly moderate and temperate, so it, it's
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 a pretty good place to raise cattle.
00:20:44 --> 00:20:47 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are you on your pasture in Northeast Oregon?
00:20:48 --> 00:20:52 And, and to be honest, I'm not super familiar with the Pacific Northwest up
00:20:52 --> 00:20:56 there, but I know when you're talking about the east half of Oregon and
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58 Washington, very different than the west
00:20:58 --> 00:20:59 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Right, right.
00:21:00 --> 00:21:01 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: arid, like you said.
00:21:03 --> 00:21:07 . For ranchers I've talked to in Idaho and in that area, they
00:21:07 --> 00:21:08 use a lot of irrigated ground.
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So, so for this for this
00:21:11 --> 00:21:14 finishing operation, our, our.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:18 We're a hundred percent irrigated ground center pivot, irrigated.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:24 And we're, we're focused on, on utilizing a combination of permanent pastures
00:21:24 --> 00:21:30 cover crop and then crop aftermath to provide the pasture space that we,
00:21:30 --> 00:21:31 that we operate on for this program,
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I don't know that you answered this, and maybe you did.
00:21:35 --> 00:21:39 So when you went there, did they have this pasture division in and
00:21:39 --> 00:21:42 were they doing that or that was something created after you got there?
00:21:42 --> 00:21:42 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: no.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:47 So it had been developed specifically for country natural beef several
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50 years prior to, to me coming to work for Beef Northwest.
00:21:50 --> 00:21:53 I've had the opportunity to expand the operation a little
00:21:53 --> 00:21:54 bit while I've been here.
00:21:54 --> 00:22:00 And we've also had the opportunity to, to kind of build, build out the scope of
00:22:00 --> 00:22:05 this, you know, does, you know, we had a lot of questions, you know, utilizing.
00:22:06 --> 00:22:13 Utilizing irrigation water, utilizing fairly high value farm ground just to
00:22:13 --> 00:22:20 provide a, a, I shouldn't say it that way, but in order to provide a, a comfortable
00:22:20 --> 00:22:23 space for cattle to be, be raised in.
00:22:23 --> 00:22:28 One of our questions was, is that the best use of the resource?
00:22:29 --> 00:22:29 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh
00:22:29 --> 00:22:34 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So, so out crop rotation programs,
00:22:35 --> 00:22:41 utilizing cover cropping plans rotating permanent pastures in and out of crop
00:22:41 --> 00:22:47 production at different times with irrigation has, has allowed us to, maybe,
00:22:49 --> 00:22:56 it's allowed us to utilize the land and the water res source for a little more
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58 than, than just running cattle on it.
00:23:00 --> 00:23:00 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.
00:23:01 --> 00:23:01 Yeah.
00:23:02 --> 00:23:06 Let, let's dive in deeper into that pasture finishing program.
00:23:08 --> 00:23:11 You mentioned you're running some crops, you're rotating some cows on there.
00:23:12 --> 00:23:17 Are you grazing annuals with all those animals, or do you
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 have some permanent pasture?
00:23:19 --> 00:23:20 What's your forage
00:23:21 --> 00:23:21 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:22 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: situation look like?
00:23:22 --> 00:23:22 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:23:22 --> 00:23:27 So it'd be a combination of, of really all the above cal and, and
00:23:27 --> 00:23:31 with what we want to try to do in experiment with as we move forward.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 The sky's, the sky's the limit.
00:23:33 --> 00:23:39 So today our permanent pasture would be a, typically a grass mix.
00:23:39 --> 00:23:44 You know, try to find a mixture of cool season perennial grasses.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:46 Warm season perennial grasses.
00:23:46 --> 00:23:51 Typically, when we replant a pasture, or we may, we maybe bring a new circle in.
00:23:52 --> 00:23:56 We'll use a, a triticale or, or a rye grass as almost a nurse
00:23:56 --> 00:24:00 crop as we try to establish those more permanent perennial grasses.
00:24:01 --> 00:24:06 We use a lot of like, like one of the, one of the things that we do is we
00:24:06 --> 00:24:09 take a field that's been in alfalfa hay production for a number of years,
00:24:10 --> 00:24:14 and that stands starting to go out or starting to wear out just a little bit.
00:24:14 --> 00:24:18 That's an awesome place to start with in this grazing rotation.
00:24:19 --> 00:24:20 Graze that alfalfa for a little bit.
00:24:20 --> 00:24:26 Come back in with a, with a grass mix that we can intercede or over seeded redu.
00:24:26 --> 00:24:30 You know, we've got a lot of goals around reducing tillage, minimizing
00:24:30 --> 00:24:34 tillage reducing fertilizer usage or, or eliminating fertilizer usage
00:24:34 --> 00:24:35 altogether is the ultimate goal.
00:24:36 --> 00:24:36 Yeah.
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39 We've tried some things in the past.
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 You know, if you know anything about farming and, and especially
00:24:42 --> 00:24:48 irrigated farming on high value ground kosher is kind of a, a bad word.
00:24:49 --> 00:24:52 We planted several years ago, we actually planted some forage,
00:24:52 --> 00:24:56 kosher and I, I think some of the farmers were looked at as side eyed.
00:24:56 --> 00:25:01 But it's fast growing, kept the ground together, kept the ground covered.
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 Cattle did well on it.
00:25:03 --> 00:25:03 Yep.
00:25:03 --> 00:25:03 Yeah,
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:07 Very good.
00:25:07 --> 00:25:12 Now when, when I think about a feedlot, and then when I, I take a step further
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 and I think about a pasture base finishing
00:25:14 --> 00:25:14 program
00:25:15 --> 00:25:15 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: yeah.
00:25:16 --> 00:25:20 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: in my mind, we have some, some farms around here and
00:25:20 --> 00:25:27 they take five acres about, and they put a feed bunk in there, a shade cloth,
00:25:27 --> 00:25:28 and those cows are just put in that five
00:25:28 --> 00:25:29 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Mm-hmm.
00:25:30 --> 00:25:33 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: and while that gets 'em on pasture and they may be
00:25:33 --> 00:25:38 able to claim its pasture base, to me that seems like they're not doing quite
00:25:38 --> 00:25:40 enough to really take care of the land.
00:25:40 --> 00:25:41 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:25:41 --> 00:25:42 Yeah.
00:25:42 --> 00:25:43 So,
00:25:43 --> 00:25:46 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: are you all managing your cattle in that system?
00:25:47 --> 00:25:49 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: yeah, so today it is a
00:25:49 --> 00:25:50 really unique system.
00:25:50 --> 00:25:54 We are feeding these cattle fairly high energy diet.
00:25:54 --> 00:25:59 It's all natural, no hormones, no ion fours, no other, no implants in the
00:25:59 --> 00:26:00 cattle and no other feed additives.
00:26:01 --> 00:26:08 You know, our, our customer e essentially demands a very, very high
00:26:08 --> 00:26:10 quality beef product at the end of the
00:26:10 --> 00:26:10 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.
00:26:10 --> 00:26:13 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So we are, the product we
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15 sell is choice or better.
00:26:15 --> 00:26:16 And that's.
00:26:17 --> 00:26:21 We, we have to produce that day in or week in, week out for our customers.
00:26:22 --> 00:26:24 So we're feeding a fairly high energy diet.
00:26:24 --> 00:26:28 As a feed yard manager, I know those cattle are eating some of
00:26:28 --> 00:26:32 the forage and consuming some of the grasses out on the pasture.
00:26:32 --> 00:26:33 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Right.
00:26:33 --> 00:26:34 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: really account for that
00:26:34 --> 00:26:36 as part of the diet very
00:26:36 --> 00:26:36 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: okay.
00:26:37 --> 00:26:38 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: We can't, we can see differences
00:26:38 --> 00:26:42 in intakes as far as the amount of feed per head per day that cattle
00:26:42 --> 00:26:44 consume out of the feed bunk.
00:26:44 --> 00:26:47 There there is a, there is an interaction that happens there
00:26:47 --> 00:26:50 that, that we really watch closely from a management standpoint.
00:26:50 --> 00:26:57 But, but at the end of the day, what we're trying to do is maintain that stand of
00:26:57 --> 00:26:58 forage that's out there in the pasture.
00:26:59 --> 00:27:03 We wanna minimize bare ground every chance we can.
00:27:03 --> 00:27:06 We want to increase living roots out there on the.
00:27:07 --> 00:27:08 Out there on the landscape.
00:27:09 --> 00:27:15 We'd like to diversify species of, of, of, of vegetative
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 ground cover that's out there.
00:27:17 --> 00:27:22 And so what we're doing is we're rotating these cattle relatively quickly.
00:27:22 --> 00:27:28 Today it's on about a five to seven a five, a five to 10 day rotation.
00:27:28 --> 00:27:32 Our goal is to let, our goal is to let every paddock or pasture rest
00:27:33 --> 00:27:37 a minimum of 21 days during the growing season throughout the year.
00:27:37 --> 00:27:42 So if you think about hay production, you know, we're trying to make sure
00:27:42 --> 00:27:48 we, we let that grass have a chance to grow, continue to put those roots
00:27:48 --> 00:27:53 down below the soil surface fill in any areas where we have high cattle
00:27:53 --> 00:27:55 traffic impact and go from there.
00:27:56 --> 00:27:56 Yep.
00:27:57 --> 00:28:01 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are you all able to have feed bunks in every rotation
00:28:01 --> 00:28:05 you're going through, or do you have some kind of portable system for that?
00:28:05 --> 00:28:07 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So we use, we use a, a couple of different
00:28:07 --> 00:28:10 styles of feed bunks, but we've got enough feed bunks to where we have a
00:28:10 --> 00:28:15 rotation plan and we're essentially leapfrogging feed bunks and, and water
00:28:15 --> 00:28:17 infrastructure ahead of the cattle.
00:28:17 --> 00:28:17 Yep.
00:28:18 --> 00:28:19 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: yeah, yeah.
00:28:20 --> 00:28:22 Water's always a limping factor.
00:28:22 --> 00:28:23 Of course.
00:28:23 --> 00:28:27 When you have irrigated water, that kind of negates some of that, I would
00:28:27 --> 00:28:28 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Right, right.
00:28:28 --> 00:28:29 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:28:29 --> 00:28:36 And then the feed bunks with the, them getting the feed on their grain.
00:28:36 --> 00:28:40 Finish 'em for a high end product going to Whole Foods or
00:28:40 --> 00:28:42 wherever it's going with that.
00:28:42 --> 00:28:47 Are you finding customers are saying they're good with grain finish that way?
00:28:48 --> 00:28:52 Or are you getting some pushback saying they want grass finished or does
00:28:52 --> 00:28:54 it matter to the high-end customer?
00:28:54 --> 00:28:55 Are they just worried about that?
00:28:56 --> 00:28:58 Piece of meat being a quality product?
00:28:59 --> 00:28:59 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:28:59 --> 00:29:02 So I, I think it does matter to the consumer.
00:29:03 --> 00:29:08 Ultimately, ultimately, the consumer wants to feel good about the product
00:29:08 --> 00:29:10 they're purchasing and how it was raised.
00:29:11 --> 00:29:16 But the customer today wants a really, wants a really good eating experience.
00:29:17 --> 00:29:21 You know, I've been on, on the edges of different grass fed markets and
00:29:21 --> 00:29:24 I'm gonna be the last guy to tell you one's better than the other.
00:29:25 --> 00:29:30 I'm, I'm gonna tell you, do what works best for your operation that
00:29:30 --> 00:29:35 keeps you economically relevant, that helps you leave your land, your
00:29:35 --> 00:29:39 land, your ranch to your children or the, or future generations.
00:29:39 --> 00:29:40 What, whatever works.
00:29:41 --> 00:29:44 The cool thing about country natural beef and the fact that
00:29:44 --> 00:29:47 it's a, it, it's a big co-op.
00:29:48 --> 00:29:50 Of a bunch of different ranchers.
00:29:50 --> 00:29:55 I probably have right at 40 different cattle feeding customers here at
00:29:55 --> 00:30:00 Beef, at Northwest Pasture Beef today that are all CNB member ranches.
00:30:00 --> 00:30:03 There's about a hundred members in the country Natural Beef
00:30:03 --> 00:30:05 Cooperative as it stands today.
00:30:06 --> 00:30:11 There's about 61 or 2000 head of cattle projected to go through the program this,
00:30:12 --> 00:30:14 this fiscal year for the cooperative.
00:30:15 --> 00:30:17 So it's a big scope, right?
00:30:17 --> 00:30:24 And, and, and the cool thing about it is this allows ranchers to do what
00:30:24 --> 00:30:28 they do best at home, focus on their landscape, focus on their livestock,
00:30:28 --> 00:30:35 focus on their family, but it also, this, this program here and this facility.
00:30:35 --> 00:30:41 Allows the co-op to produce a very consistent product that's extremely
00:30:41 --> 00:30:45 high quality week in, week out throughout the year, that that allows
00:30:45 --> 00:30:50 the, the cooperative to attract a very special customer that's very
00:30:50 --> 00:30:51 appreciative of the product we produce.
00:30:51 --> 00:30:52 I,
00:30:53 --> 00:30:55 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I, I think you, you hit on a few
00:30:55 --> 00:30:56 points there, that's so important.
00:30:57 --> 00:30:58 Consistency.
00:30:58 --> 00:31:01 The consumer wants to know that when they buy that product, they
00:31:01 --> 00:31:03 want it to be like last week's
00:31:03 --> 00:31:03 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: yes.
00:31:04 --> 00:31:06 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: or a month ago, six months ago.
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07 They want that consistency.
00:31:08 --> 00:31:12 The other thing you mentioned, grass fed, grain finish, whatever
00:31:12 --> 00:31:14 it is, whatever's working for you.
00:31:14 --> 00:31:17 Whatever you've developed your market for, have at
00:31:17 --> 00:31:17 it.
00:31:17 --> 00:31:19 This is where we're excelling.
00:31:20 --> 00:31:20 Yeah.
00:31:21 --> 00:31:21 Yeah.
00:31:21 --> 00:31:25 So when you let's, let's change the focus just a little bit.
00:31:25 --> 00:31:27 We still wanna talk about that, but when you're talking about you're
00:31:27 --> 00:31:32 bringing those animals in from member ranches, are you requesting
00:31:32 --> 00:31:34 member ranches to use certain breeds?
00:31:34 --> 00:31:39 Are you requesting certain certain practices in place for
00:31:39 --> 00:31:40 those animals to come to you?
00:31:41 --> 00:31:44 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah, so, so Country Natural Beef
00:31:44 --> 00:31:48 tries to outline some, some standard expectations of cattle that are
00:31:48 --> 00:31:50 coming into the finishing facility.
00:31:51 --> 00:31:54 There's nothing, there's nothing breeds breed specific.
00:31:54 --> 00:31:58 I mean, ultimately we want these ranches to be in business for generations.
00:31:59 --> 00:32:05 I mean, country natural beef members cover Oregon, Washington,
00:32:05 --> 00:32:07 Idaho, Nevada, Colorado.
00:32:07 --> 00:32:08 There's several in Montana.
00:32:09 --> 00:32:11 I don't know if I mentioned Colorado, but there's several
00:32:11 --> 00:32:13 in Colorado, several in Arizona.
00:32:13 --> 00:32:16 Covered, I think it's just over 1.5,
00:32:16 --> 00:32:17 1.6
00:32:17 --> 00:32:24 million acres of landscape scattered across Rockies through the
00:32:24 --> 00:32:27 Intermountain West, the Great Basin, all the way to the Pacific Coast.
00:32:28 --> 00:32:33 So when it comes to breed specificity, we're not, there's, there's no ask there.
00:32:33 --> 00:32:38 We do need cattle that have the genetic potential to grade USDA choice or better,
00:32:38 --> 00:32:43 and, and we can manage some of that with days on feed in the finishing process.
00:32:43 --> 00:32:49 But ultimately, I think country natural beef really leans hard back to the rancher
00:32:49 --> 00:32:54 saying, if you wanna be a part of this co-op at the very, at the very least,
00:32:55 --> 00:32:59 run a cow that fits your environment and can help your ranch be profitable
00:32:59 --> 00:33:00 and efficient on the cow calf side.
00:33:02 --> 00:33:04 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Do you provide data back to the rancher
00:33:04 --> 00:33:09 on how their calves performed and dressed out so that they can make
00:33:09 --> 00:33:10 management decisions on their end?
00:33:11 --> 00:33:13 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah, so there's a big, there's a, a
00:33:13 --> 00:33:20 big data set that's been collected for going on 25, maybe close to 30 years.
00:33:20 --> 00:33:24 But ultimately if a rancher, if a member rancher sends cattle here
00:33:24 --> 00:33:29 to Northwest Pasture beef they'll get the feedlot performance.
00:33:29 --> 00:33:34 So average daily gain, dry matter feed conversion, the cost of
00:33:34 --> 00:33:37 gain any health outcomes as it
00:33:37 --> 00:33:40 relates to, to performance of the cattle in the feed yard.
00:33:40 --> 00:33:46 And then through the co-op ranchers also get all the carcass data back.
00:33:46 --> 00:33:52 So USDA quality grade yield, grades, back fat thickness, ribeye areas
00:33:52 --> 00:33:54 yield and dressing percentages.
00:33:55 --> 00:33:56 They get all of that back.
00:33:56 --> 00:34:02 So if a rancher has the, the, the data management systems at home, and
00:34:03 --> 00:34:09 I mean, ultimately a, a rancher could, could tailor design a cow herd that was
00:34:09 --> 00:34:14 effective on the landscape, efficient on their ranch, reproductively efficient,
00:34:15 --> 00:34:19 feed efficient, and have really good carcass quality for the consumer.
00:34:22 --> 00:34:25 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are you seeing what the ranches you all work with?
00:34:25 --> 00:34:27 Are they long term agreements?
00:34:27 --> 00:34:31 They, for as long as you've been doing it, do you have some ranches that's
00:34:31 --> 00:34:33 still, that's been in it the whole time?
00:34:33 --> 00:34:34 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:34:34 --> 00:34:34 Yeah.
00:34:34 --> 00:34:38 So I I, it, I get to feed cattle for the entire spectrum.
00:34:38 --> 00:34:39 Right?
00:34:39 --> 00:34:43 There's, I get to feed cattle for some of the founding member
00:34:43 --> 00:34:44 ranchers of country natural
00:34:44 --> 00:34:45 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, yes.
00:34:45 --> 00:34:48 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: all the way down to, to somebody
00:34:48 --> 00:34:52 that has, you know, 30 head of cows on a smaller operation.
00:34:53 --> 00:34:58 And they, they love the idea of getting involved with this and being able to,
00:34:58 --> 00:35:03 to manage their ranch and take out some of the marketing headaches and then
00:35:03 --> 00:35:04 generate a premium for their cattle.
00:35:05 --> 00:35:06 So it's, it's everything in between.
00:35:07 --> 00:35:12 We've got three, 3000 plus head producers down to 30 head producers.
00:35:13 --> 00:35:15 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are y'all maintaining your numbers
00:35:15 --> 00:35:18 or are y'all looking to grow and maybe increase number wrenches?
00:35:18 --> 00:35:19 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:35:19 --> 00:35:20 So we'd love to grow.
00:35:20 --> 00:35:22 We'd love to increase the number of ranches.
00:35:23 --> 00:35:26 There's, there is a very big demand for the end product.
00:35:26 --> 00:35:29 There's a huge demand for the end product today.
00:35:29 --> 00:35:35 Obviously it's not just a, a turnkey, it's not a turnkey project, you know, because
00:35:35 --> 00:35:37 ranchers participate through the co-op.
00:35:38 --> 00:35:40 Retain ownership through the feeding phase.
00:35:40 --> 00:35:45 And, and they're selling, essentially they're selling hot carcass weight on
00:35:45 --> 00:35:47 the rail at the packing plant to the meat
00:35:47 --> 00:35:48 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, okay.
00:35:48 --> 00:35:51 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: And then they have an equity stake
00:35:51 --> 00:35:57 in the meat company and get paid dividends on country natural beefs,
00:35:57 --> 00:35:59 profit and losses as a meat company.
00:36:00 --> 00:36:04 So for a rancher to get involved, there are some financial ramifications
00:36:04 --> 00:36:05 and cashflow ramifications.
00:36:05 --> 00:36:11 If you're historically a calf seller or you, you wean calves
00:36:11 --> 00:36:14 and background calves at home and, and keep them to their yearlings.
00:36:15 --> 00:36:20 There's some things to, to think about as you go into becoming a retained
00:36:20 --> 00:36:22 ownership, finished feeder seller.
00:36:23 --> 00:36:23 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh
00:36:23 --> 00:36:24 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: But there's lots of resources
00:36:24 --> 00:36:25 out there to help with that.
00:36:26 --> 00:36:29 The co-op I know has worked with different financial institutions to
00:36:29 --> 00:36:31 try to figure out how to do that.
00:36:31 --> 00:36:34 We can jump into this graze well topic, but there's some.
00:36:35 --> 00:36:40 There's some funding through gray's well that could potentially help ranchers do
00:36:40 --> 00:36:44 some projects at the ranch that would help offset some things in order to,
00:36:44 --> 00:36:46 in order to participate in the system.
00:36:47 --> 00:36:47 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.
00:36:48 --> 00:36:48 Yeah.
00:36:48 --> 00:36:51 One last question before we kind of jump into
00:36:51 --> 00:36:52 Grays Whale and find out more about that.
00:36:53 --> 00:36:59 Someone sends you u calves and you, you're finishing them out.
00:36:59 --> 00:37:03 What happens to the ones who don't grade grade as high as you need them to?
00:37:04 --> 00:37:04 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:37:04 --> 00:37:10 So something that grades less than A-U-S-D-A choice that carcass would be,
00:37:10 --> 00:37:14 would be sold to, to the packing plant.
00:37:14 --> 00:37:18 We, we work with a couple of large commercial packing plants on, essentially,
00:37:19 --> 00:37:24 it's essentially a large scale agreement, just like you would do with your
00:37:24 --> 00:37:26 local packing house down the road.
00:37:27 --> 00:37:30 You know, they, they harvest the animal, they process it.
00:37:31 --> 00:37:35 Country Natural Beef's inventory and marketing team submits an order for
00:37:35 --> 00:37:39 how that carcass needs to be broke down into what cuts, how it needs to be
00:37:39 --> 00:37:41 boxed, and how it needs to be shipped.
00:37:41 --> 00:37:45 So something that was outta spec the rancher is still gonna get
00:37:46 --> 00:37:50 the market price for that week for whatever that that grade or that
00:37:50 --> 00:37:51 class of, of Carcass would be.
00:37:52 --> 00:37:52 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Right.
00:37:52 --> 00:37:54 It, it's not the premium for the premium
00:37:54 --> 00:37:57 product, but they're getting market value for that.
00:37:57 --> 00:37:57 Yeah.
00:38:00 --> 00:38:02 Yeah, I, I think that's very interesting.
00:38:02 --> 00:38:10 I know for a number of years we sold to a, a label that wanted certain breeding
00:38:10 --> 00:38:15 and they ended up, they were coming quite a ways for three of us grouped
00:38:15 --> 00:38:17 together, so we would have a load of
00:38:17 --> 00:38:18 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Right?
00:38:18 --> 00:38:22 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: and they decided it was too far to come just for us three.
00:38:22 --> 00:38:23 So,
00:38:23 --> 00:38:23 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yep.
00:38:24 --> 00:38:25 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: but, but we enjoyed that.
00:38:25 --> 00:38:28 But one thing that was very different about that program was
00:38:28 --> 00:38:30 we were selling the calves to them.
00:38:30 --> 00:38:32 They, we weren't retaining ownership.
00:38:32 --> 00:38:33 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: yep.
00:38:33 --> 00:38:34 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:38:34 --> 00:38:39 Which I can see a lot of, a lot of value to that retain ownership because
00:38:39 --> 00:38:45 that, that really means how those calves perform affects the rancher's pocketbook,
00:38:46 --> 00:38:49 and it makes them really conscious of those carcass traits and what they're
00:38:49 --> 00:38:52 wanting or, or to provide that premium
00:38:52 --> 00:38:53 product to You
00:38:53 --> 00:38:57 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: You know, and it's, it's as close to
00:38:57 --> 00:39:01 a vertically integrated program as I think we have in the beef industry.
00:39:01 --> 00:39:07 So if I just put my rancher hat on and I've worked my tail off on building a, a
00:39:07 --> 00:39:14 maternal reproductive efficient cow that produces heavy weaning weight calves that
00:39:14 --> 00:39:21 are gonna perform well and stay healthy in the feedlot, and then pro produce a
00:39:21 --> 00:39:23 high quality carcass for the consumer.
00:39:24 --> 00:39:31 I can capitalize on all that investment I put into building that calf
00:39:31 --> 00:39:32 through every segment of the chain.
00:39:33 --> 00:39:36 I, I think that's, I think there's opportunity there.
00:39:37 --> 00:39:38 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yes, I think so too.
00:39:38 --> 00:39:39 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:39:40 --> 00:39:43 Speaker 2: At Redmond, we know that you thrive when your animals do.
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00:40:06 --> 00:40:08 to help that your animals prefer.
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00:40:20 --> 00:40:25 but will also help you naturally build soil fertility so you can grow more
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00:40:33 --> 00:40:35 Learn more at redmondagriculture.
00:40:36 --> 00:40:37 com
00:40:38 --> 00:40:40 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Something you mentioned earlier, Jason,
00:40:40 --> 00:40:41 was the Grazewell Program,
00:40:42 --> 00:40:43 and I'll be honest, till I.
00:40:44 --> 00:40:47 Started researching for this episode.
00:40:47 --> 00:40:52 I wasn't familiar with Grazewells at all, so I'm gonna assume a fair
00:40:52 --> 00:40:55 number of my listeners aren't either.
00:40:55 --> 00:40:57 So what is the Grazewell Program?
00:40:57 --> 00:40:57 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:40:57 --> 00:41:01 So it's a brand, it's a brand new program, and I'll give you just a little
00:41:01 --> 00:41:03 bit of the origin story behind it.
00:41:03 --> 00:41:03 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh,
00:41:03 --> 00:41:06 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So, so go back to, go back
00:41:06 --> 00:41:07 to the Whole Foods model.
00:41:07 --> 00:41:11 Years and years ago, whole Foods customers said, Hey, we wanna know a
00:41:11 --> 00:41:15 little bit about how the animals that are going into these protein products,
00:41:15 --> 00:41:16 how they're raised and cared for.
00:41:17 --> 00:41:21 Throughout the production cycle the consumer has since expanded
00:41:21 --> 00:41:26 that question to how do these production systems affect the land?
00:41:26 --> 00:41:28 How do they affect water resources?
00:41:28 --> 00:41:29 How do they affect air quality?
00:41:30 --> 00:41:34 How do they relate to different sustainability practices?
00:41:35 --> 00:41:39 And, and then the, the new, the, the new jargon is regenerative agriculture.
00:41:39 --> 00:41:40 Right?
00:41:40 --> 00:41:40 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: yes.
00:41:41 --> 00:41:44 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So Gray's, well essentially is is a
00:41:44 --> 00:41:50 program that takes into account how we utilize regenerative ag practices
00:41:50 --> 00:41:57 across ranches, across landscape, and in the finishing system to offer
00:41:58 --> 00:42:00 a premium product to consumers.
00:42:00 --> 00:42:05 And, and Country Natural Beef is working on getting this to be an
00:42:05 --> 00:42:10 accredited third party audited set of standards for ranchers.
00:42:11 --> 00:42:12 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, okay.
00:42:12 --> 00:42:13 So,
00:42:14 --> 00:42:19 Did Grace, well, it, who is, who developed Graves?
00:42:19 --> 00:42:22 Well, I mean, and is that Northwest Feeders?
00:42:22 --> 00:42:24 Is it a outside entity?
00:42:24 --> 00:42:27 How, or is it a combination thereof.
00:42:27 --> 00:42:28 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: No.
00:42:28 --> 00:42:33 So, country natural Beef develop, the GRA is, is developing the grazes well
00:42:33 --> 00:42:33 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, okay.
00:42:33 --> 00:42:34 It's country
00:42:34 --> 00:42:35 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: of coined,
00:42:35 --> 00:42:35 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:42:35 --> 00:42:37 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: coined the, the term graze.
00:42:37 --> 00:42:42 Well, there are several outside technical service providers
00:42:42 --> 00:42:44 have helped generate data.
00:42:44 --> 00:42:50 What practices can be implemented on the landscape that are truly regenerative
00:42:50 --> 00:42:53 type practices that can have an impact on the landscape and the soil and the air
00:42:53 --> 00:42:55 and the water and those kind of things.
00:42:55 --> 00:43:00 The next step to this is, is have one of those technical service providers
00:43:00 --> 00:43:04 provide an accreditation and then use.
00:43:04 --> 00:43:12 And, and then bring in a third party auditing body that would then provide
00:43:12 --> 00:43:19 some outside hard concrete verification that yes, ranchers are ranchers in,
00:43:19 --> 00:43:23 in this program are implementing these practices on the landscape.
00:43:24 --> 00:43:28 We're, we're not trying to make this outcome based that nobody's saying As a
00:43:28 --> 00:43:36 rancher, thou shalt move soil carbon from point or soil organic matter from 0.8%
00:43:36 --> 00:43:39 to 2% or anything like that, trying to change soil.
00:43:39 --> 00:43:43 Organic matter is gonna be a lifetime process.
00:43:43 --> 00:43:46 And if you move it a very, very small increment, that'd
00:43:46 --> 00:43:48 be a huge win for anybody.
00:43:48 --> 00:43:48 Right?
00:43:50 --> 00:43:55 But are we implementing the practices that have shown to
00:43:55 --> 00:44:01 improve soil, increase soil organic matter, improve water infiltration?
00:44:02 --> 00:44:08 Reduce bare ground cover maintain more living root mass,
00:44:08 --> 00:44:10 be below the soil surface.
00:44:10 --> 00:44:17 Are we keeping more vegetative organic matter on the soil surface, whether that
00:44:17 --> 00:44:25 be dormant, dormant feed, growing, ground cover litter, things like that, that, that
00:44:25 --> 00:44:27 eventually become soil organic matter?
00:44:28 --> 00:44:31 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: With the, the Grays Whale accreditation,
00:44:31 --> 00:44:36 is that something that each member ranch selling into country
00:44:36 --> 00:44:38 natural beef is expected to have?
00:44:38 --> 00:44:39 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:44:39 --> 00:44:41 Yeah, that, that's, that's correct.
00:44:41 --> 00:44:43 Every member ranch would have that.
00:44:43 --> 00:44:48 And then any ranch that, that, that sells cattle into the program, whether
00:44:48 --> 00:44:54 it's to a member ranch, would, would have to verify that they participate
00:44:54 --> 00:44:55 this through an affidavit process.
00:44:56 --> 00:45:01 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: so it's, so Grazewell, is available for everyone.
00:45:01 --> 00:45:01 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: it is.
00:45:01 --> 00:45:02 It really
00:45:02 --> 00:45:02 Yeah.
00:45:02 --> 00:45:05 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: and it, it's something that Country Natural Beef
00:45:05 --> 00:45:08 is utilizing for their member ranches, but it's out there for other people
00:45:08 --> 00:45:09 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: That's correct.
00:45:09 --> 00:45:09 Yep.
00:45:10 --> 00:45:10 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:45:11 --> 00:45:18 And when we look at this, is it just pasture land or do you get
00:45:18 --> 00:45:20 into crop rotations as well?
00:45:21 --> 00:45:23 How's Grayville set up?
00:45:23 --> 00:45:23 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:45:23 --> 00:45:24 So all of the above.
00:45:24 --> 00:45:29 So take, take our, our little ranch on the Zoom, Walt Prairie.
00:45:30 --> 00:45:32 We pick some monitoring sites.
00:45:32 --> 00:45:38 We're measuring measuring soil carbon content.
00:45:38 --> 00:45:42 We're measuring water infiltration, we're measuring bare ground cover.
00:45:42 --> 00:45:47 We're, we're doing some transects and counting the species.
00:45:47 --> 00:45:52 Within each monitoring site we're setting some long-term goals, so goals that we
00:45:52 --> 00:45:56 would measure in five-year increments to see how our grazing management
00:45:56 --> 00:45:59 practices may influence change over time.
00:45:59 --> 00:46:03 So you take a model like that back to the finishing area.
00:46:03 --> 00:46:07 You know, the, the finishing facility, again, we're looking at soil, you
00:46:07 --> 00:46:12 know, soil microbial activity, looking at water infiltration, looking at
00:46:12 --> 00:46:14 diversity of species of vegetation.
00:46:14 --> 00:46:18 I've got some elk and some deer and some waterfowl that live here at the feed yard.
00:46:19 --> 00:46:22 Or use the feed yard from time to time.
00:46:22 --> 00:46:23 We call it a feed yard.
00:46:23 --> 00:46:26 It's, it, it looks like a big irrigated farm that you, you'd
00:46:26 --> 00:46:27 have a bunch of cattle on.
00:46:28 --> 00:46:28 But
00:46:29 --> 00:46:33 what, you know, we're, we're really close to, we're really close to the Columbia
00:46:33 --> 00:46:38 River here, where, where the finishing facility I manage is what, what are we
00:46:38 --> 00:46:40 doing with soil nutrient loads, I mean.
00:46:41 --> 00:46:46 We really wanna look at some things like we, we cattle on a
00:46:46 --> 00:46:49 certain certain area of land.
00:46:49 --> 00:46:54 Can we plant a, a feed or a forage or a grain crop in behind those cattle?
00:46:55 --> 00:46:59 Can we harvest that, put that back into the rations in finished cattle?
00:46:59 --> 00:47:04 Some of those longer term, more closed loop type systems really play well
00:47:04 --> 00:47:07 into things we're trying to do and things we're trying to investigate.
00:47:09 --> 00:47:12 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are there similar programs out there, like GRA Grays?
00:47:12 --> 00:47:12 Well,
00:47:14 --> 00:47:16 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: I don't think there is anything
00:47:16 --> 00:47:17 quite like Grazewell out there.
00:47:18 --> 00:47:22 There, there's some, there's some different regenerative ag label claims
00:47:22 --> 00:47:26 that are, you know, that are, that are accredited and, and audited.
00:47:26 --> 00:47:26 And measured.
00:47:27 --> 00:47:31 But the thing about Grazewell is, is it's designed to meet ranchers
00:47:31 --> 00:47:36 and producers where they are in their journey to produce a product.
00:47:37 --> 00:47:39 Utilizing some regenerative PR practices,
00:47:40 --> 00:47:43 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: so if someone's interested in the Grazewell program, what?
00:47:43 --> 00:47:44 What should they do?
00:47:45 --> 00:47:47 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: you know, contact Country natural beef.
00:47:47 --> 00:47:52 First and foremost you can find Country Natural Beef online, Google it.
00:47:52 --> 00:47:53 We have some compli.
00:47:53 --> 00:47:56 We have a compliance coordinator that would be extremely knowledgeable.
00:47:56 --> 00:48:01 There's a, there's a woman named Valerie Rasmussen that is really
00:48:01 --> 00:48:07 focused on helping develop the, the gras well label and the label claim.
00:48:07 --> 00:48:13 Arvid Carlson would be the the production manager for the live cattle supply.
00:48:13 --> 00:48:17 So he works closely with ranchers on helping them get the different
00:48:17 --> 00:48:20 certifications and accreditations they need to have their cattle
00:48:20 --> 00:48:22 qualify for the program.
00:48:22 --> 00:48:25 Yeah, if folks reached out to me, I could help them get into contact
00:48:25 --> 00:48:27 with, with the people they need to.
00:48:28 --> 00:48:29 They need to talk to.
00:48:29 --> 00:48:29 Yep.
00:48:30 --> 00:48:31 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: oh, very good.
00:48:31 --> 00:48:35 And and I may ask that question a little prematurely on Grazewell.
00:48:36 --> 00:48:40 You mentioned that's a newer program, but I assume that's similar to the
00:48:40 --> 00:48:44 management practices you all have had your ranches do for a while.
00:48:45 --> 00:48:47 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah, so that's the, that's
00:48:47 --> 00:48:48 the beauty of this whole thing.
00:48:48 --> 00:48:54 Cal, you know, a lot of ranches it were implementing different holistic
00:48:54 --> 00:48:59 management practices, different grazing management practices that just, if you
00:48:59 --> 00:49:05 looked at what some of the regenerative claims required, well, most of us were
00:49:05 --> 00:49:07 already doing it out of the ranches.
00:49:08 --> 00:49:11 We needed to figure out how to apply it to a finishing space,
00:49:12 --> 00:49:13 but we were already doing it.
00:49:14 --> 00:49:16 There was consumer demand.
00:49:16 --> 00:49:20 As a producer, how can we, how can we capitalize on that?
00:49:20 --> 00:49:25 How could we achieve or, or realize a market premium?
00:49:26 --> 00:49:26 I.
00:49:26 --> 00:49:27 For that product.
00:49:29 --> 00:49:29 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: All right.
00:49:30 --> 00:49:33 And gives a way to give that confidence to the consumer.
00:49:34 --> 00:49:36 That's going through this program.
00:49:36 --> 00:49:37 Some assurance
00:49:37 --> 00:49:38 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: That's right.
00:49:38 --> 00:49:38 That's right.
00:49:38 --> 00:49:39 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:49:40 --> 00:49:40 Yeah.
00:49:41 --> 00:49:45 Now, and we've mentioned throughout this country, natural beef and
00:49:45 --> 00:49:46 we've mentioned Whole Foods.
00:49:46 --> 00:49:49 Is that the only place we're finding country natural beef?
00:49:50 --> 00:49:52 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: No I mean, whole, whole Foods would be the
00:49:52 --> 00:49:55 largest customer of Country Natural Beef.
00:49:55 --> 00:49:59 But there's a number of different regional grocery stores, especially
00:49:59 --> 00:50:04 in the Pacific Northwest town and Country Market, PCC Food Co-Ops.
00:50:04 --> 00:50:10 Chipotle ends up with, with, I don't believe We're Country Natural Beef is
00:50:10 --> 00:50:15 an exclusive provider, but Chipotle buys a lot of product work with a company
00:50:15 --> 00:50:20 that's part of the, like the Cisco Food Service division called Fulton's.
00:50:20 --> 00:50:24 In the Portland area you know, working more in the food service side of
00:50:25 --> 00:50:25 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.
00:50:26 --> 00:50:28 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: You know, it's, it, it, I I guess Country
00:50:28 --> 00:50:33 Natural Beef would be a fairly regional label just because most of the feeding,
00:50:33 --> 00:50:37 well, all of the feeding and packing space is, is up here in the Pacific
00:50:37 --> 00:50:41 Northwest, but it's fairly widespread.
00:50:41 --> 00:50:41 Yep.
00:50:42 --> 00:50:42 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.
00:50:42 --> 00:50:43 Very good.
00:50:44 --> 00:50:45 Now, Jason, we ran through a lot.
00:50:46 --> 00:50:47 We, we talked about your journey.
00:50:48 --> 00:50:50 we we hit on country natural beef.
00:50:50 --> 00:50:54 We hit on grays, we hit on northwest feeders.
00:50:55 --> 00:50:57 I know I didn't cover everything, but is there some things
00:50:57 --> 00:50:59 you'd like to, to bring up?
00:50:59 --> 00:51:01 You're like, I wish he'd asked me about this.
00:51:02 --> 00:51:05 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: You know, I think the only thing I'd say is
00:51:05 --> 00:51:05 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I
00:51:06 --> 00:51:08 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: when it comes to some, a system like Gray's,
00:51:08 --> 00:51:13 well, or it comes to managing your ranch, you know, most people are out there are.
00:51:14 --> 00:51:18 Implementing these practices and doing things just because
00:51:18 --> 00:51:19 it's the right thing to do.
00:51:19 --> 00:51:23 The cool thing about Country Natural Beef is
00:51:25 --> 00:51:31 it allows ranchers a, a space to do what they think's right for their landscape.
00:51:31 --> 00:51:31 Right.
00:51:31 --> 00:51:32 For their ranch at home.
00:51:32 --> 00:51:32 Right.
00:51:32 --> 00:51:33 For their cow herd.
00:51:34 --> 00:51:34 Right.
00:51:34 --> 00:51:37 For the future of their businesses and their families.
00:51:37 --> 00:51:42 But it, but Country Natural Beef offers a space for those individual
00:51:42 --> 00:51:47 ranchers to generate a premium for the product that they're gonna sell.
00:51:47 --> 00:51:47 Anyway, I,
00:51:49 --> 00:51:49 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:51:50 --> 00:51:50 Yeah.
00:51:50 --> 00:51:51 And I really like that.
00:51:51 --> 00:51:54 You know, a lot of times on, on our podcast we're talking
00:51:54 --> 00:51:56 about direct to consumer,
00:51:56 --> 00:51:57 it gets brought up a lot.
00:51:58 --> 00:52:01 But not everyone wants to do direct to consumer.
00:52:01 --> 00:52:02 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:52:02 --> 00:52:05 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I, I don't think that's really my strengths.
00:52:05 --> 00:52:06 We just sell through the.
00:52:07 --> 00:52:09 The sale barn, for the most part.
00:52:09 --> 00:52:10 We do a little bit of direct
00:52:10 --> 00:52:12 consumer and we're gonna try and grow that.
00:52:12 --> 00:52:17 But when I think about my skillset, that's not where I think my skillset excels.
00:52:18 --> 00:52:22 So having a program like Country Natural Beef, I think would
00:52:22 --> 00:52:24 be really nice for my area.
00:52:24 --> 00:52:25 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: yeah.
00:52:25 --> 00:52:28 And you touched on something there, Cal that I think is really important.
00:52:28 --> 00:52:33 You know, most of us as, as ranchers or, or just as people, there's one or
00:52:33 --> 00:52:40 two areas that we can be really, that we can really excel in, we can be good at.
00:52:40 --> 00:52:44 And if I think about the country natural beef, you know, the makeup of
00:52:44 --> 00:52:45 the membership of country natural beef.
00:52:46 --> 00:52:49 There, there are ranchers that are really good range managers.
00:52:50 --> 00:52:54 There are ranchers that are really good at managing the genetics of
00:52:54 --> 00:52:58 their cow herd and building a cow that fits their environment, that produces
00:52:58 --> 00:53:02 a calf that's really successful in the feeding in the feeding space.
00:53:03 --> 00:53:05 Produces a carcass really demanded by consumers.
00:53:06 --> 00:53:09 There's ranchers that have mastered succession planning and have kept
00:53:11 --> 00:53:16 highly valuable landscapes within the family for multiple generations.
00:53:16 --> 00:53:19 There's ranchers that are good at market risk management.
00:53:19 --> 00:53:24 There's good ranchers that are good at at drought mitigation plans, but very
00:53:24 --> 00:53:27 few of us are good at all of that.
00:53:27 --> 00:53:32 And then good at marketing direct to consumer managing inventory and all the
00:53:32 --> 00:53:34 things that have to go along with that.
00:53:35 --> 00:53:35 I,
00:53:36 --> 00:53:38 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah, I I can look in the mirror and see that.
00:53:38 --> 00:53:39 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: yeah, yeah.
00:53:40 --> 00:53:40 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
00:53:42 --> 00:53:45 Well, Jason, it is time for our famous four questions.
00:53:45 --> 00:53:48 Same four questions we ask of all of our guests.
00:53:48 --> 00:53:54 Our first question, what is your favorite grazing grass related book or resource?
00:53:55 --> 00:53:55 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Okay.
00:53:55 --> 00:53:58 I'm gonna go off the rails with, with this, I'm gonna
00:53:58 --> 00:54:00 give you two different books.
00:54:01 --> 00:54:06 And I don't know that they directly relate to grazing grass or, or managing
00:54:06 --> 00:54:11 landscapes but there's a book called Cattle Kingdom by Chris Nolton that
00:54:11 --> 00:54:19 talks about the, essentially the rise and fall of United States cattle
00:54:19 --> 00:54:26 industry from about about 18, mid 1860s, up through about, well, what
00:54:26 --> 00:54:30 they called the big freeze, or the big die off in the, in the late 1870s.
00:54:30 --> 00:54:35 But it takes into account and, and I think it's a pretty good a pretty good
00:54:35 --> 00:54:40 story and I think it's fairly accurate what it talks about how we remove buffalo
00:54:40 --> 00:54:42 from the Western landscape in the us.
00:54:42 --> 00:54:45 We overgraze some ground in that timeframe.
00:54:45 --> 00:54:47 We expanded the cattle industry.
00:54:47 --> 00:54:50 We put up barbed wire fences.
00:54:50 --> 00:54:55 We, IM, we impacted the landscape of the Western United States in that era, and
00:54:55 --> 00:55:01 I think it's just a good reminder that we can always learn how to do better,
00:55:01 --> 00:55:04 and when we know better, we do better.
00:55:04 --> 00:55:09 The other book is called Cadillac Desert, that talks about the era of the Bureau
00:55:09 --> 00:55:14 of Recla Reclamation developing water resources in the Western United States.
00:55:14 --> 00:55:20 And I think that applies somewhat for, for a guy that is grown up in agriculture,
00:55:21 --> 00:55:28 loves the land, focused on doing better, better when it comes to conserving
00:55:28 --> 00:55:31 and managing resources down the road.
00:55:31 --> 00:55:35 I think that just that Cadillac Desert Book gives a lot of insight about
00:55:35 --> 00:55:40 how water resources were developed in the West, how they were managed, and
00:55:40 --> 00:55:43 how we're gonna have to think about managing water resources going forward.
00:55:43 --> 00:55:44 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.
00:55:44 --> 00:55:46 It's just gonna become more and more
00:55:46 --> 00:55:46 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
00:55:47 --> 00:55:47 Yep.
00:55:48 --> 00:55:48 Yep.
00:55:49 --> 00:55:51 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I'm gonna tell you right now, Jason, my wife's not
00:55:51 --> 00:55:55 gonna be real happy with you because you just introduced me to two books that
00:55:55 --> 00:55:57 I'm thinking I need to get and read.
00:55:57 --> 00:56:00 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: That Cadillac Desert is about a 20 hour
00:56:00 --> 00:56:02 read if you listen to it on Audible.
00:56:02 --> 00:56:02 So
00:56:03 --> 00:56:04 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, yes.
00:56:04 --> 00:56:04 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: you go.
00:56:04 --> 00:56:05 It's pretty in depth.
00:56:07 --> 00:56:10 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I, I, have been listening to more books on audio.
00:56:11 --> 00:56:14 It, it's a tough call for me because I like reading, but
00:56:14 --> 00:56:16 just having the time to do it
00:56:16 --> 00:56:16 all.
00:56:16 --> 00:56:19 Having audio books have been really nice.
00:56:20 --> 00:56:24 And then of course everyone should be listening to this podcast, so you know,
00:56:24 --> 00:56:25 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: You know, I'd say this podcast
00:56:25 --> 00:56:31 probably goes in that resource of, of read or listen to grazing resources.
00:56:31 --> 00:56:31 Right.
00:56:31 --> 00:56:31 Cal
00:56:32 --> 00:56:33 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Right, exactly.
00:56:33 --> 00:56:37 I assume when I ask that question, that's everyone's first
00:56:37 --> 00:56:39 choice, but they just really
00:56:39 --> 00:56:40 hate to plug the podcast
00:56:40 --> 00:56:42 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: well have me have me back in six months
00:56:42 --> 00:56:43 or a year, and I'll do that for you.
00:56:44 --> 00:56:45 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, okay.
00:56:45 --> 00:56:45 There we go.
00:56:47 --> 00:56:48 Our second question.
00:56:48 --> 00:56:50 What's your favorite tool for the ranch?
00:56:51 --> 00:56:54 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: You know, again, not a conventional
00:56:54 --> 00:56:57 tool and not something thinks some, something that someone thinks about,
00:56:58 --> 00:57:05 but your notebook, keeping track of what you're doing and when making notes,
00:57:05 --> 00:57:10 making observations, all at the end of the day, we can make all kinds of plans.
00:57:10 --> 00:57:14 We can build grazing plans that are as simple or as elaborate as possible
00:57:14 --> 00:57:17 as, as a guy can possibly dream of.
00:57:17 --> 00:57:21 We can talk about all these different management practices we want to
00:57:21 --> 00:57:26 use to influence the landscape or try to improve our, our, our plan.
00:57:26 --> 00:57:31 But if you don't have a way of tracking that and, and monitoring that you're
00:57:31 --> 00:57:33 just not gonna know where progress is.
00:57:33 --> 00:57:34 The ranch.
00:57:34 --> 00:57:37 The ranch, my family, my wife, my wife and her family operate.
00:57:38 --> 00:57:40 From the day they took over.
00:57:40 --> 00:57:47 I've got a bookshelf in a closet in my house that has probably 33 inch
00:57:47 --> 00:57:54 three ring binders of, of rangeland monitoring and grazing utilization
00:57:54 --> 00:58:00 repairing improvement projects, fencing projects water improvement projects
00:58:00 --> 00:58:06 reseeding of native grounds spraying and management of invasive annual grasses.
00:58:06 --> 00:58:11 But that's been going on for about 16 years and, and we've just got volumes and
00:58:11 --> 00:58:14 volumes and volumes of history and data.
00:58:14 --> 00:58:16 I, I don't know how we're going to use it.
00:58:16 --> 00:58:20 I don't know how we're gonna implement that someday, but I just think having
00:58:20 --> 00:58:21 that data is extremely valuable.
00:58:22 --> 00:58:23 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I, I completely agree.
00:58:23 --> 00:58:30 And I, I'm gonna be, that's, that's an area I need to do a better job on, so
00:58:30 --> 00:58:32 yeah, that's a really important area.
00:58:33 --> 00:58:35 Our third question, what would you tell someone?
00:58:35 --> 00:58:36 Just getting started?
00:58:36 --> 00:58:36 I.
00:58:38 --> 00:58:39 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: You know, somebody that's just getting
00:58:39 --> 00:58:44 started in, in grazing or, or maybe trying to, to really improve, you know?
00:58:44 --> 00:58:47 No, I, I think you need to know where your baseline is.
00:58:47 --> 00:58:50 Where are you starting and what are your goals?
00:58:50 --> 00:58:54 You know, I, and I think we need to think about those goals longer term.
00:58:54 --> 00:58:57 Most of us, most of us.
00:58:57 --> 00:59:00 Whether it's, and you say getting started, whether we're just getting
00:59:00 --> 00:59:04 in the industry, whether we just leased a new ranch whether we
00:59:04 --> 00:59:06 started a new project somewhere.
00:59:07 --> 00:59:13 It's really easy to get that first, that first grazing rotation figured out.
00:59:13 --> 00:59:17 It's really easy to get that first season or that first year figured out.
00:59:17 --> 00:59:19 But what do we wanna do long term?
00:59:19 --> 00:59:21 You know, big, big picture.
00:59:22 --> 00:59:24 How are we gonna relate to this landscape?
00:59:25 --> 00:59:29 What are we going to, what inputs can we afford to put into it?
00:59:30 --> 00:59:34 how does that affect what the, what that landscape offers back to
00:59:34 --> 00:59:40 us and, and is it repeatable year over year, season over season?
00:59:41 --> 00:59:44 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And I think that's excellent advice.
00:59:44 --> 00:59:50 And so great because when we get started, that motivation is at the highest
00:59:50 --> 00:59:53 point and you're just gung-ho ready to go.
00:59:53 --> 00:59:58 But there becomes days in there and maybe longer than days, but we'll
00:59:58 --> 01:00:02 call it days for right now, that that motivation's not gonna get you through.
01:00:02 --> 01:00:06 You've gotta have this vision, your goals for what you're doing long term, for you
01:00:06 --> 01:00:08 to go out there every day and do that.
01:00:08 --> 01:00:08 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
01:00:09 --> 01:00:11 And I think, I think it's important to just get a little
01:00:11 --> 01:00:14 bit excited for the failures.
01:00:15 --> 01:00:15 You know?
01:00:15 --> 01:00:18 I mean, hopefully the failures aren't detrimental to the landscape
01:00:18 --> 01:00:22 long term, but they're, we're gonna do things that aren't gonna work.
01:00:23 --> 01:00:27 Mother nature's not always gonna cooperate when it comes to rainfall, but.
01:00:28 --> 01:00:33 And, and that's maybe almost a, it may be some sort of disorder that I
01:00:33 --> 01:00:38 have, but it's almost as exciting to, to fail just a little bit as it is to,
01:00:38 --> 01:00:40 to do something extremely successful.
01:00:41 --> 01:00:44 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Well, you, you know, whenever you are successful
01:00:44 --> 01:00:50 versus the time you're, you're failing or, or those projects you were
01:00:50 --> 01:00:54 successful in versus those projects you failed in, when you look back at
01:00:54 --> 01:00:57 'em, what times did you learn the most?
01:00:57 --> 01:01:00 And it, and I would have to say it's your, your failures.
01:01:00 --> 01:01:01 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: those are the ones you remember?
01:01:02 --> 01:01:03 Those are the ones you remember?
01:01:03 --> 01:01:03 For sure.
01:01:04 --> 01:01:06 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Your successes, you're just going
01:01:06 --> 01:01:07 on and it's looking good.
01:01:08 --> 01:01:12 Like, I like to say, everyone's a good grass manager and maid in my
01:01:12 --> 01:01:13 area, so you know,
01:01:13 --> 01:01:14 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: sure.
01:01:14 --> 01:01:17 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: it, it's when you start hitting those speed bumps and things
01:01:17 --> 01:01:22 aren't going as good as you planned, that you really learn and become better.
01:01:22 --> 01:01:22 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
01:01:23 --> 01:01:24 Yep.
01:01:25 --> 01:01:28 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And Jason to wrap up our famous four where
01:01:28 --> 01:01:29 can others find out more about you?
01:01:29 --> 01:01:34 More about Country Natural beef and more about Beef Northwest Feeders.
01:01:35 --> 01:01:37 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah, so, beef Northwest
01:01:37 --> 01:01:41 Feeders, Northwest Pasture Beef has a website beef nw.com.
01:01:41 --> 01:01:43 You can find out more about the company there.
01:01:44 --> 01:01:47 Country Natural Beef, I believe it's Country natural beef.com
01:01:47 --> 01:01:48 has a website.
01:01:49 --> 01:01:53 There's contact links there to get ahold of, of Country Natural Beef Management.
01:01:53 --> 01:01:57 You know, there's some social media channels relating to country
01:01:57 --> 01:01:59 Natural Beef and Beef Northwest.
01:01:59 --> 01:02:03 There's usually some pretty cool things there, there that get shared.
01:02:03 --> 01:02:08 You know, I'm, I'm not the marketing guy for, for any of those entities
01:02:08 --> 01:02:12 or the, or the PR guy, so I, I don't have all that memorized, but
01:02:12 --> 01:02:14 yeah, Google Country Natural Beef.
01:02:15 --> 01:02:18 Plug Beef Northwest Feeders into a search engine.
01:02:18 --> 01:02:22 I guess, I guess if you Googled me and wanted to try to find me, I
01:02:22 --> 01:02:25 don't know what I'd help you with, but, but feel free to reach out.
01:02:25 --> 01:02:26 Yeah.
01:02:27 --> 01:02:29 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And, and we'll, I'll do some of that Googling
01:02:29 --> 01:02:33 for the listeners and put it in our show notes to make it easy for them
01:02:34 --> 01:02:35 if they're wanting more information.
01:02:35 --> 01:02:36 Yeah.
01:02:37 --> 01:02:40 And to wrap up for today, Jason, do you have a question for me?
01:02:42 --> 01:02:43 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: You know, I think the only question
01:02:43 --> 01:02:50 I'd have for you is, you know, what, where do you see this podcast going?
01:02:50 --> 01:02:53 Where do you see the impact in the environment?
01:02:53 --> 01:02:57 And, and, and, and maybe tell us just a little bit about your
01:02:57 --> 01:02:59 passion for why you're doing this.
01:03:01 --> 01:03:04 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: You know when, when I think about this podcast and where
01:03:04 --> 01:03:06 I want it to go and why we're doing this.
01:03:08 --> 01:03:09 It's to help the younger me.
01:03:10 --> 01:03:15 When I was trying to figure this out, when I first started trying to do rotational
01:03:15 --> 01:03:19 grazing, electric fencing, it was awful.
01:03:20 --> 01:03:23 In fact, we put that stuff up and didn't come back to it for a number of
01:03:23 --> 01:03:28 years because the electric fence just did not work and we couldn't contain animals.
01:03:28 --> 01:03:31 And that's really just a nuts and bolts portion of it.
01:03:31 --> 01:03:37 But just overall doing a better job, I wanna do a better job, but I needed you.
01:03:38 --> 01:03:43 There's not a recipe out there that works for us, but sometimes we need
01:03:43 --> 01:03:45 a recipe to kind of get started.
01:03:45 --> 01:03:51 And what I envision the podcast is that we're sharing these journeys
01:03:51 --> 01:03:55 and people relate to 'em here and then they're like, oh, I can do that.
01:03:55 --> 01:03:58 And sometimes we almost share recipes.
01:03:58 --> 01:04:02 There's sometimes on the episode we talk about how high.
01:04:03 --> 01:04:07 The poly wire is, or what you're shooting for, how far between posts
01:04:08 --> 01:04:12 how far posts are apart, you know, some of those real basic stuff that
01:04:12 --> 01:04:14 really in the end it just depends.
01:04:14 --> 01:04:17 But to get started, sometimes that's a holdup for
01:04:17 --> 01:04:17 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Right,
01:04:18 --> 01:04:20 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: and, and we just want them to take that next step.
01:04:20 --> 01:04:25 So we're hoping by sharing these stories, they cause the listener to
01:04:25 --> 01:04:27 take their next step for their journey.
01:04:27 --> 01:04:33 And the goal with the podcast is that we share stories from all genres,
01:04:33 --> 01:04:36 from all sizes, from all places.
01:04:36 --> 01:04:39 Because wherever you are, you can do something.
01:04:39 --> 01:04:44 In fact there's an episode coming out pretty soon and the person got started
01:04:44 --> 01:04:50 in downtown or in a rather large city and they were able to do some pasture poultry.
01:04:50 --> 01:04:52 They're getting started where they are.
01:04:52 --> 01:04:54 Some of us go grow up on.
01:04:55 --> 01:04:59 Large ranches, we can start there, but some of us don't have that.
01:04:59 --> 01:05:03 Some of us have medium size or smaller sizes like we do here.
01:05:03 --> 01:05:04 We can do it here.
01:05:05 --> 01:05:09 And I just want it to, to show that it's, it's possible where you are
01:05:10 --> 01:05:15 and I just, as we continue forth, I just feel like we're not getting
01:05:15 --> 01:05:18 the word out enough and hopefully this podcast is getting out there.
01:05:18 --> 01:05:22 I received an email just the other day from an individual that just
01:05:22 --> 01:05:27 stumbled onto podcast and TI podcast and we were honored that he found our
01:05:27 --> 01:05:34 podcast, but more and more people's finding this avenue, and it's really
01:05:34 --> 01:05:37 nice because it's a passive avenue.
01:05:37 --> 01:05:38 Reading's active.
01:05:38 --> 01:05:44 It, it takes all your focus and I love reading the audio book.
01:05:44 --> 01:05:48 I can put a book in my ear, a podcast in my ear while I'm out
01:05:48 --> 01:05:50 moving cattle, doing whatever.
01:05:51 --> 01:05:56 Now I do caution people always take those out and just enjoy your time out there
01:05:56 --> 01:05:57 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
01:05:57 --> 01:05:57 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: too.
01:05:57 --> 01:05:57 But
01:05:57 --> 01:06:03 there's lots of times I have something going in my ear and it's a opportunity
01:06:03 --> 01:06:07 to, to gather more information than I could get if I was just reading
01:06:07 --> 01:06:08 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Right,
01:06:08 --> 01:06:10 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: so and so.
01:06:10 --> 01:06:13 I just hope we continue to grow, continue to help people take their
01:06:13 --> 01:06:15 next step, whatever that step is.
01:06:15 --> 01:06:15 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yeah.
01:06:16 --> 01:06:19 No, and I think what you're doing is important from the standpoint
01:06:19 --> 01:06:21 of you know, two, two things.
01:06:23 --> 01:06:27 We all learn from our mistakes or our failures better, and if it's cheaper, if
01:06:27 --> 01:06:30 we can learn from others and failures.
01:06:30 --> 01:06:34 And then just, just your, your philosophy on, you know, showing
01:06:34 --> 01:06:37 people they can just start wherever they're at and, and get moving.
01:06:37 --> 01:06:39 I think that's a cool, cool approach.
01:06:39 --> 01:06:39 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.
01:06:40 --> 01:06:43 Well Jason, we really appreciate you coming on today.
01:06:44 --> 01:06:44 squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Thanks Cal.
01:06:44 --> 01:06:47 Appreciate the time and, and if I can be of help anywhere Sure.
01:06:47 --> 01:06:48 Reach out to us.
01:06:49 --> 01:06:49 cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Thank you.
01:06:49 --> 01:06:52 Cal: Thank you for listening to this episode of the grazing grass podcast,
01:06:53 --> 01:06:57 where we bring you stories and insights into grass-based livestock production.
01:06:57 --> 01:07:00 If you're new here, we've got something just for you.
01:07:00 --> 01:07:02 Our new listener resource guide.
01:07:02 --> 01:07:06 Is packed with everything you need to get started on your listening
01:07:06 --> 01:07:09 journey with a grazing grass podcast.
01:07:09 --> 01:07:12 It gives you more information about the podcast about myself.
01:07:13 --> 01:07:14 And next steps.
01:07:15 --> 01:07:18 You can grab your free copy at grazinggrass.com
01:07:18 --> 01:07:19 slash guide.
01:07:20 --> 01:07:21 Don't miss out.
01:07:22 --> 01:07:24 And Hey, do you have a grazing story to share?
01:07:25 --> 01:07:29 We're always looking for passionate producers to feature on the show,
01:07:29 --> 01:07:34 whether you're just starting out or have years of experience your story matters.
01:07:34 --> 01:07:36 Head over to grazing grass.
01:07:36 --> 01:07:38 Dot com slash guest.
01:07:38 --> 01:07:40 To learn more and apply to be a guest.
01:07:41 --> 01:07:45 We'd love to share your journey with our growing community of grazers.
01:07:46 --> 01:07:47 Until next time.
01:07:48 --> 01:07:49 Keep on grazing grass.
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