Grazing Grass Podcast : Sharing Stories of Regenerative Ag

Join us as we welcome Tyler and Justin to the Grazing Grass Podcast, where we explore the multi-generational farming legacy of their family in Yakima Valley, Washington. We kick off by discussing how their father began the family farm in the early 1990s and how Tyler and Justin now manage the operation, with Tyler overseeing livestock and Justin focusing on farming. The conversation touches on the integration of the third and fourth generations into the family business and shares historical anecdotes about the challenges their grandfather faced. With Yakima Valley's unique climate and irrigation systems, we also learn about the region's resilience through tough times like the Depression and Dust Bowl.

As we navigate through their journey, the focus shifts to family farming expansion and diversification. Tyler and Justin share personal stories of growing up on a farm and the varied paths their family members have taken. They highlight the humorous challenges of raising pasture pigs and the essential skills like welding that have supported their farming endeavors. The discussion is rich with insights into integrating children into farm life and managing livestock with distinct personalities, offering a unique charm to the farming experience.

Our engaging dialogue continues as we explore livestock expansion, modern challenges, and the intricacies of livestock management and adaptation. Listen in as we discuss the transition from traditional farming practices, the strategic breeding of sheep for hardiness, and innovative grazing techniques. Tyler and Justin share their experiences with irrigation systems and the complexities of rotational grazing. For those interested in starting a farming venture, we provide practical advice and emphasize the importance of hands-on experience. Don't miss this insightful episode, filled with valuable lessons and a deep appreciation for the rich farming history of Yakima Valley.

Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Cascade Sheep and Cattle Company

Visit our Sponsors:
Noble Research Institute
Redmond
Kencove Farm Fence

What is Grazing Grass Podcast : Sharing Stories of Regenerative Ag?

The Grazing Grass Podcast features insights and stories of regenerative farming, specifically emphasizing grass-based livestock management. Our mission is to foster a community where grass farmers can share knowledge and experiences with one another. We delve into their transition to these practices, explore the ins and outs of their operations, and then move into the "Over Grazing" segment, which addresses specific challenges and learning opportunities. The episode rounds off with the "Famous Four" questions, designed to extract valuable wisdom and advice. Join us to gain practical tips and inspiration from the pioneers of regenerative grass farming.

This is the podcast for you if you are trying to answer: What are regenerative farm practices? How to be grassfed? How do I graze other species of livestock? What's are ways to improve pasture and lower costs? What to sell direct to the consumer?

Welcome to the grazing grass podcast.

Episode 137.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
I would tell them to go work for

somebody for a year doing what exactly
what they think they want to do

Cal: You're listening to the
grazing grass, podcast, sharing

information and stories of
grass-based livestock production

utilizing regenerative practices.

I'm your host, Cal Hardage.

You're growing more than grass.

You're growing a healthier
ecosystem to help your cattle

thrive in their environment.

You're growing your livelihood by
increasing your carrying capacity

and reducing your operating costs.

You're growing stronger communities
and a legacy to last generations.

The grazing management
decisions you make today.

impact everything from the soil beneath
your feet to the community all around you.

That's why the Noble Research
Institute created their Essentials

of Regenerative Grazing course to
teach ranchers like you easy to follow

techniques to quickly assess your forage
production and infrastructure capacity.

In order to begin
grazing more efficiently.

Together, they can help you grow
not only a healthier operation,

but a legacy that lasts.

Learn more on their website at noble.

org slash grazing.

It's n o b l e dot org
forward slash grazing.

On today's show.

We have Tyler and Justin
Waitington from cascade, sheep

and cattle company in Washington.

We share about their journey.

Actually, we reminisce about days gone by.

Then we talked about their
operation, what they're doing now.

We get into the overgrazing section and we
talk about grazing and irrigated pastures.

And how's that working.

Then we wrap up with the
famous four questions.

It's really good episode.

I think you'll enjoy it.

For 10 seconds about the farm.

I don't really have anything to update.

And I really don't want to
complain about the lack of rain.

So we're just going to move on.

10 seconds about the podcast.

For those people who purchased shirts.

Thank you.

Um, I do realize, you know,
with shipping and everything, no

shirts costs get high quickly.

Uh, so I was thinking about it.

If you like the artwork on those
shirts, I added that to the Etsy store.

You can download just the digital file.

And take it to a local print shop.

Um, I do support local.

That's one reason we have a
local homestead printing out

our shirts for us right now.

Um, But if you would rather not spend
that money for a shirt and you would

just want to buy the the artwork.

Take it in and get it printed.

I have that up on the Merch store as well.

So you can just go grazing grass,
click on Merch and be able to do that.

I got to join Jared last week on ag
Steward's profitable mindset series.

I think I got that.

All right.

Uh, really good.

Enjoyed it.

I say really good.

I did a speaking, so
maybe, maybe not so good.

I enjoyed it.

I thought it, it went over good.

Um, that should be out in the
near future on his channel.

So podcasts.

So you have to check that out.

Also one more thing about the podcast.

It's really about grazing grass insiders.

We will be announcing the
date for the October Grazing

Grass Insider zoom meeting.

Uh, soon.

Probably next week right
here on this podcast.

So that's coming up and we're going
to get those zoom we need started.

Like I've been planning for way too long.

Anyway.

Enough about that.

Let's talk to Tyler and Justin.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Tyler
and Justin, we want to welcome

you to the Grazing Grass Podcast.

We're excited you're here today.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Thanks for having us.

I'm glad we could glad we could do this.

Yeah.

I put it off a little bit.

We got really busy and glad we were
finally able to pull this together.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: have farming,
cattle, livestock, it's like that.

At times you can't catch your
tail and other times you may

have a little bit more time.

I find a lot of times I'm too busy
and I don't get to everything.

That's me.

To get started, can you tell us a little
bit about yourselves and your operation?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Go ahead first.

Well, we're basically second generation.

Our dad started it back
in the early nineties he's

pretty much semi retired now.

Tyler and I run the stuff.

It's a pretty even split somewhat.

I run the farming end of things
mostly and Tyler oversees more

of the livestock side of things.

We come together and help on quite a
bit of stuff though, of course, and

discuss and talk about how we can make
both of these things really integrate

real well, but that's the day to day
stuff I run the farming side of it and

Tyler runs the livestock side of it.

Yeah, and so my second oldest son
came back to the farm last spring.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
third generation's on the farm and

then just had a little baby boy.

So now the fourth
generation's on the farm.

our grandfather started farming in
this, in the valley here, but he never

was able to get a go of it on his own.

He,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: out.

On his own and natural disasters wiped
him out, which is funny because the one

crop he lost was to a hailstorm, and
that's the only time we've had a hailstorm

that came in at that time of the year
and wiped crops out in this valley.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, wow.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
He tried it, but he just ended up

being a farm waiver his whole life.

And then my dad able to get going on it.

Wow.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Very good.

Not that this is about me, but I was
talking to my dad the other day about My

great great grandfather and he went into
the depression and the dustbowl years with

40 sections of land out in West Texas.

And he had a lot of stock in the market
and he finished it with 10 sections.

And so he took a major hit and then
he passed away and he had 10 kids.

So everything gets divided up.

You know how it works, but

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: yeah, those

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
75 percent of the family farm.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: Wow.

interesting.

You bring that up an old, the farmer
that my grandpa ended up working

for the most time of the years.

I remember visiting with him a
couple of years ago when he was

really young during the depression,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
he said that this valley was never

hurting because the irrigation never
stopped and they grew a lot of spuds

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: They
ship spuds actually all over the world.

He said they were shipping spuds
into France, helping to support the

French resistance, they sent back
a special boxcar that was dedicated

to the farmers of the valley
that used to be on display here.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
But he said it was Because of

the irrigation, he said, he said
the valley never stopped ticking.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, interesting,
and that brings up a great question.

Where are you all located?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Yakima Valley.

We're central Washington, Yakima Valley.

Yeah.

South Central.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: South Central.

Okay.

Well, I was about to ask.

I'm not familiar with Washington.

I was going to say, is that East or West?

But I know West is rough land over there.

Not too much farming going
on over there is my belief.

Now, I'm very, I have not
been to Washington, so.

Oh,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
So, Cascade, the Cascade

Mountains split the state in half.

So you got the west side, which
is evergreens and lots of rain

Seattle and the west side is more of
the coastal and then you have us on the

east side, which is more of a desert.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: We
have an annual rainfall of about seven

inches, seven and a half inches right in

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
the irrigation project this

valley would dry up and blow away.

There, there wouldn't be anything.

should clarify that there it's
actually annual precipitation,

not just the rainfall.

Right, annual precipitation.

Accumulation of snow and rain.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
And so it is funny because you, we

can drive about an hour and a half and
they'll get 40 inches of rain over there.

In Seattle there's one area
that is actually what they

call a protected rainforest.

They just get

there.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Peninsula.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155:
That's very interesting.

So you all mentioned your dad
got started in the early 90s.

Was he focused on the farming side?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: Yes.

Yeah.

He was we started with 18
acres of an old alfalfa field

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
We picked up a PTO pump and was

that an H, an old H tractor that
had a hand crank on the front?

An old

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
And and hand line out there.

And my brother and I, we
were out there changing this.

It's just one 32 joint, three
inch aluminum hand lines.

And that's the first summer.

That's what we started with.

And my grandpa, and that
tractor was dual purpose.

So it ran the pump and then we would
unhook from it and hook up to the pipe

trailer and then pick up the hand line.

Take it back to the beginning of the
field and lay it out and my grandpa would

drive that tractor while Justin and I
loaded it and unloaded it, laid it out

irrigated across and so yeah, that's what
we first started with that first summer.

I didn't have a driver's license yet.

I'm the older brother.

I'm two and a half years older than Tyler.

So grandpa, So would would drive us out to
the field and we'd change the hand line.

And then my dad also picked up
some custom work, a little bit of,

We just had a, an old swather,
a baler and a harrow bed.

And that's what he started with.

And yeah, I don't, be possible today.

There's no way you would start
anywhere farming like that now, but.

40 years ago, almost 40
years ago, you could do that.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155:
Yeah, that's crazy.

When you it's crazy.

When you start figuring how many
years ago that was now One thing

that I think is interesting.

So you both were back there
working on your dad's farm

helping him I grew up on a dairy.

I have two siblings and as soon as
they could get away from the dairy

They took off running and I don't
think they've looked back yet.

I left and came back.

So I wasn't the smartest
one or I don't know.

You can decide that.

Why are you all there now?

Did you all stay the whole time?

Did you always know
you wanted to be there?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
no, we didn't.

Justin left.

I was still, the summer I was 15,
he left and he worked some other

places and then I left right, a
couple months before I turned 18.

I left and He came back, he was just
gone two winters, two different winters.

years.

Yeah, and so I didn't come back until
I was and then left again when I

was 29, to work on some other ranches
in Montana for a couple years too.

So yeah, we've had
stints outside the farm,

Not really much outside
of agriculture though.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Well,
that was my next question.

Justin, was it all in ag?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Now, I spent a few years off and on

in welding shops, fabricating shops,
machine shops, some manual lathes,

manual mills for a couple of years.

and then when I was in Montana,
In Miles City, Montana, I worked a

winter there in a farm weld shop, too.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
I've done a lot of welding,

fabricating, stuff like that.

Yeah, but it ends up correlating

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Justin,
good job on getting Tyler

get that welding experience.

That means he does the
welding to fix stuff.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Absolutely.

Yeah, I can make two pieces of
metal stick together, but that's

about as far as I could call it.

Yeah,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: ability.

I can stick them together
and I guarantee it.

When it breaks, I'll weld it again.

So when did y'all were farming, y'all came
home had the farm expanded at that time?

So there was room for you all?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
think it was in the process of expanding.

yeah, it was by the
Harry's place was first.

I wasn't here.

Yeah, it was working here and Uncle Ben.

We had two uncles working here and
well, it's hard to nail all that

down because my dad is a visionary.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

Oh yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
whether it's plausible or not at times.

We've passed up on some deals that
we probably shouldn't have took

some deals that we shouldn't have.

Maybe, I don't know, we're still floating.

Thanks be to the Lord.

But so there's always been
different types of expansions.

Like we just expanded the sheet block.

so we're up to 800 ewes right now.

So there's always some form
of expanding, whether it's.

Looking into different crops, different
rotations livestock endeavors.

We did some of those wonderful
pastured hogs one summer.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: I
thought I would listen to the advice of

all these great regenerative guys that are
Die hard no Boy, we don't till that soil.

Anybody who does is, they're a
demon and, but they run pigs.

So that shouldn't be a big deal, right?

They run a bunch of pasture pigs.

Well, Man, oh man, they could
till up faster than a big

John Deere tractor and a plow.

smokes.

was crazy.

eating, but

that might not be the
expansion we want right now.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Right.

Yeah.

I've said this for years on the podcast.

I keep thinking I'm going to get a few
hogs just to play with it, see how it is.

But

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Just keep thinking that, just keep

thinking that, and keep it there.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
funny though?

My kids all of my kids have been heavily
integrated whether they wanted to or not.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: yeah.

Right.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: all
the animals we've had miniature goats,

and sheep, and chickens, and guineas, and
ducks, and swans, whatever, and they come

and go, the pigs have been their favorite.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
funny.

They have such a cute little personality.

I hate saying that, but they
do, they love to be scratched.

They'll

used to, they come running over
and they're like in your business.

They are they have a very interesting
character about those pigs, man.

They are a hoot.

And then they start running your
guard dogs off from their dog

food, and you hear this squalling

out there, and they figure out where the
dog food is, it's, they are entertaining.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: oh yeah.

Yeah.

Well, for me, the goats, I love the
personality of goats and having them.

I've just got a handful because
I need to figure out how to

make more money with them.

But yeah, I love the goats personality.

Yeah.

When did you all, or when did your
dad add livestock to the operation?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
That's a good question.

I remember the cows we, he bought those
cows from was it from Dale Meschke?

Dale Meschke, yep.

So one of the, Yeah, one of the
farms, it's actually where we

first started farming, where we
expanded our first expansion.

I was 6, 17 when we started
on the yellow house.

That was the first farm that
we actually, 200 some acres, an

older gentleman was retiring.

when we started farming his
ground, I think he kept the cows

for maybe another year or two.

And then we bought his cows.

It was, 40, 40 cows or something,
back in the day up here in our

valley, All the farmers had cows.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
If you farmed, you had cattle.

If you drive around this valley,
everywhere you see old little feedlots,

old corrals, and I mean they're everywhere
you find yeah little feedlots of cow.

Guy would have 40, 50 cows, 100 cows,
150, and they'd have a little silage,

and they'd put up hay, and that was
just the thing, harvest the corn, put

the cows on the corn stalks but yeah
time went on, I think, I don't know the

different types of farming that kind
of went by the wayside, but we didn't

have as much residue left over the
sugar beets were huge in this valley.

And so

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
They, at one time there was over

10, 000, was it 10 to 14, 000
sheep wintered in this valley too.

Superior Farms had a big kill plant
right here, miles from our house,

and then north of us, they had
one about 40 miles north of us.

Up around Ellsberg, yeah.

But the beets and our
winters are generally, mild

it to all around us.

You can winter out pretty carefully.

We could graze, hands down,
without a doubt, year round in this

valley, through the snow, whatever.

Every now and then
you'll run into a hiccup.

The problem is, when you're dealing
with irrigated ground, it's expensive,

and you're trying to pull a cash
crop and a cash value out of it

while still, grazing it some, and
so you're constantly, you know, just

running into that whole dynamic, yeah,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Yeah.

And we're going to just as a precursor
for our listeners, we're going to dive

more into that grazing and irrigation.

I can't think of the right word,
but that balance there more in the

overgrazing section just a little bit.

So your dad had, or actually
the whole area really had

more livestock long time ago.

You all kept up with the cattle.

What are you all running now for cattle?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
well, we should actually probably go back

a little bit because when dad bought those

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, okay.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
then.

He started spending more
time down at the sale yard.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
My dad has a serious bug for auctions.

Oh man, he

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155:
Does he love bargains?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
What he thinks are bargains,

let's clarify what a bargain is.

There's times he gets bargains and
other times he brings home a bargain.

Yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Someone
that may be similar to him.

We sold out the dairy and dad loves
auctions and the stuff he would bring

in and he'd be like, well, in fact,
It's still, a few years ago, we did

stalkers, just a handful, we'd never
done stalkers before, so we were going

to do it, and of course, dad wants to
buy them, so he goes up there and he

says, he buys this calf, it's black with
a little white on it, so it's crossed

up a little bit, but it had no ears,
and he paid, I don't know, 20 cents for

it we put it out there, and it actually
does pretty good, and we bought heifers,

because we, We hadn't done stockers
before and we wanted a second out.

We could breed them and sell them as bred.

And we got to the point, we
decided it was time to sell those.

Well, we didn't want to sell her with
the group because we thought they'd

just pull her off and knock her so hard.

So we kept her.

And then along that time, of course, she
got bred and I was expanding my herd.

So dad convinced me a buyer and,
As I think back, I didn't get much

of a break on that heifer's price.

I still have her in my herd, and actually
she does a great job, but that bargain

actually worked out, but we've got
plenty of other stories that they didn't.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Those are the ones they always

remember to, but my dad, he did.

So one of his deals were when
we were putting up a lot of hay.

So, we're stacking, hey,
bottom bales, top bales.

then we would cover the top stacks
with little two string straw bales.

So you have all this straw bale that we
would throw off, and then if it damaged

the top layer and the bottom layer of the
little bales, the dairy didn't want it.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Right.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
he would buy these broken mouth cows.

and feed up this hay.

Yeah.

And so you're feeding them all
this, borderline moldy hay.

And I look back now and I just
remember running around all, and

you'd start calving in January.

So it's a mud

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
And I'm looking around, I'm thinking

back like, it was just a norm.

I just accept it as a fact, like,
hey, calving time, scouring time.

Yeah.

Hey, doesn't everybody have
an old cow that prolapses

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
this is, a normal thing, it's what I

grew up with and when I left and worked
on some other ranches and I realized,

no, there's a word called culling
they cull and sell them at the sale

yard and guys like my dad buy them.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Yeah.

Yeah.

So they can find out what problems there.

Yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Maybe

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: like a grab bag.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
It worked in a way though.

I can't complain.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Well

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
what else are you going to do when

you're 16, 17, 18 year old kid?

Keeping busy, Fine.

Actually also, I just remembered that we
really started in the cattle business.

Day old Holstein bull calves.

Oh we raised a bunch of them.

Weren't huge in it, we had
probably 40 or 50 at a time

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: that's enough.

Keep you busy.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Yeah, that's true.

I forgot about that.

Getting all those from wheelers.

my mom, man, my mom, she
was a workhorse, man.

a North Dakota farm girl.

She grew up.

You just did it.

Whatever it was, you
just went out and did it.

Yep.

Absolutely.

Know, Cal, you're gonna get
a lot more reminiscing here

than actually what we're doing

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155:
But I think it's great.

Just as I think about, we had a
dairy, so we always had calves and

then I bottle fed calves, but hosting
steers, that's what I grew up on.

That's what we ate all the time.

And, those bargain cows.

I remember I'd come in from work.

I was working off the farm at the time.

I'd come into the corral, see
what dad bought that day, so,

because I needed to earnotch them
and tag them and get them ready.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: Yep.

Yep.

Yeah, we did bummer lambs at one point
too when we were way back when 12 13.

Yeah,

lambs.

Yeah bottle fed lambs and raised them
up, too Got that one big suffolk lamb.

he was mean.

Yeah, man Turn an eye away from him.

Oh, he whooped you.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Have
you always ran multiple species

or dabbled in different species?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
really.

No, sheep and cattle pretty much
it, but we haven't definitely

have not run them at the same time

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Just here recently that we've, been

doing it quite a bit because we were
into the sheep, I tell you about raising

the bummer lambs didn't last very long.

two, like two summers.

About an old neighbor fella that was.

He still had a small band of sheep
and we'd help him and run our

sheep with him through the winter.

And then he passed away and that
I think that kind of ended, I

think that at that point is when
we started raising bottle calves

the cow thing.

Yeah.

So we, and we didn't start doing sheep
again until when did you buy sheep?

When did you start that?

Seven years ago?

No, it was 10, 10 years ago.

I went down while I bought.

About three, a set of
triplets black Katahdin lambs,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

Yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: Only
one ended up surviving out of the deal

and I'm not sure why that didn't give
me a warning but from there, then I

started building it, I don't know, I
got up to about 540 ewes then it peaked,

the prices, and it's like, you know
what, I could cull way down to about

230, 250, and pay off all the notes.

So I culled sold them all
and put them in chunks.

And ewes were hot, that was October,
November, December in those area,

really, it's did it paid them all off.

They were free and clear.

then, I was doing that on
the side ish everything.

We just got to talk and all of us, you
can't do stuff on the side anymore, in a

way, if you want your business to flourish
and to really come together, right.

And you've got to bring everything
under the same umbrella.

And so I integrated my sheep into
the farm and we just went through

and started integrating things and
figure, you know what, if we're

going to make it float, we're going
to make it float together or not.

And so now we're actually
running the sheep.

And cattle together in different settings,
like replacement heifers with the sheep,

and next year, I believe, where we're
set up, we're probably going to run

all the mother cows and all the main
flock together, and then run replacement

ewes and replacement heifers together
is what I think we might end up doing.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
so we're sitting at about 330 mother

cows, 800 ewes, and then farming.

Corn, wheat, barley, like, not
soybeans, but like black beans, edibles

You can't grow soybeans in our country.

The weather is not conducive for it.

They've tried several times, but
soybeans just, they don't grow up here.

Yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155:
Do you know why that is?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
I don't know if it's the humidity.

What they, we don't have the humidity
that they like in the Midwest.

Colder nights generally too.

Yep.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
we had a neighbor just try it again

here, I think last year, a little
five acre spot and it just and I don't

know if they could possibly develop
bean for this area, but there's

not enough interest and not enough,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
yeah.

And then where do you have to go with it?

That's the one thing that
we've been struggling with.

That part of it is
trying to get cover crop.

We played around a lot with no
tilling and things like that, and then

finding crops that we can actually.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yeah,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
canola, peas, any of these other things

to get out of some of the rotations we're
in, then you don't, where do you take it?

And the, we don't have the
locations to the markets and

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: right.

You've got to have a market for it.

Yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
They're too far away.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Yeah.

With the cattle and the sheep, I got
this generic question I love to ask.

You mentioned Katahdins a while ago.

Is that the breed you're
continuing with sheep?

Or what are you doing there?

What are you doing with cattle?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Both of them we have been

working on composites.

Katahdin, no I don't care for
the Katahdin as much, in a way.

There is some influence.

So are going to have actually a bit of.

Texel and Cheviot in their background

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, okay.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
because being irrigated.

So, so you're playing around
with these false environments.

And you go from, we'll dry out really
fast and then we can be really wet and

trying not to graze when it's too wet.

There's not, you can't get
around it half the time,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
feet are always an issue.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: so
Texel and Shevet have exceptional feet.

Really good feet.

Shevet, hands down, probably the best
feet I have ever seen in any flock.

I had a foot rock, brought it in
from a sale yard purchase, I bought

a bunch of ewes from a guy that
wanted to disperse through a sale

yard, so I had to buy them that way.

Well, I brought in a foot rock,
and I probably ended up, I've

never dealt with it like that.

So, foot baths and all of
this, and I'm just doctoring.

I probably doctored close to 70
percent of the sheep that fall.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
And I was sitting at about 320 ewes.

I had 45 Cheviot and I only doctored
one out of all of them, only

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
borderline.

so, they're just, they're really
hardy, they have really good parasite

resistance, texels are similar.

And so we, I've used
that as some of our base.

But yeah, they have a nice, thick,
compact, and we sell into that.

They're a smaller, moderate frame sheep,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, okay.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
into the ethnic markets really well.

So, crossing those with Dorpers.

Have a little bit of
white royal influence.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
little white Dorper influence.

Through that.

Oh, one of our really nice crosses.

I ran a a Barbados ram on some
of my Texel influenced ewes.

And I got a really nice set
of ewe lambs out of that.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

Yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: a
ram lamb out of him, a couple ram lambs.

So right now we've got a, we're
going to be set up this winter with

our replacement new flock for rams.

Really?

That's the one mostly.

And then we'll have our commercial,
more or less our commercial ones,

but really trying to hone in feet
to me, feet is one of the biggest

and of course parasite resistant,
but that's not that hard to

develop in our, in a flock,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: yeah, with,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
then with the cows too, we've

done a composite with our cattle,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: but
before we jump to cattle let's talk

just a little bit more about your
sheep, you're crossing Texel in

there and I know you just said it,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
cheviot yes, cheviot

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: So, are you
getting ewes that carry much wool,

or are you able to breed that out?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
You can read that out pretty

easily, especially depending
on on how woolly they are.

Some of them are really
strong, bear pointed

Some of them, and that made a difference.

I've run a group of some different ram
lams multiple times in the beginning, and

so even the half bloods, I made a huge
mistake and a really nice white doper ewe.

That had a set of twins and one was
a ram lamb that was half shevet.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: oh yeah,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
barely had a nap of maybe a half inch

wool across the back and that was it.

I only ran in two years.

I should have kept that guy till he died.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: oh yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
he was an exceptional ram.

He was everything you wanted.

Really good ewe.

But it just varies.

I've got a couple half blood shevet
ewes out there that are six years old.

I sheared them once when we were back
shearing and I haven't sheared them since.

They'll have about two inch nap

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
and that's it.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
so they're going to go into the

replacement flock this year and I'm
hoping to have probably about 60 80 ewes.

strictly for replacement rams.

If it goes you goes well, yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: So you mentioned
replacement flock and your other

flock, so you're using your replacement
flock to raise your next generation,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: Yes.

And the rams are the things that is most
important to me, way I look at making sure

you have a good ram, those things, oh man
you miss cut in one of those ram lambs.

By the time they're three months
old, they've bred 70 years.

It's, well, not I'm exaggerating,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: But not by much.

I had accidental lambing this year.

I had 50 head of ewes lamb
because I missed a ram lamb.

And yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
crazy how fast and how, and I don't

think we've had a spring yet that we
haven't had something pop up, laminate

in January, laminate in December.

going on out of that one?

Oh, we missed that one guy.

It's crazy how prolific those little

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, they are.

I try and run them through the alley
multiple times and I've got spray paint.

I'm marking them.

Yeah it's harder than
you think it would be.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Yeah.

It's crazy.

It is.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155:
I pulled in driveway.

We kept five ram lambs.

I pulled in driveway.

I don't know, just a couple of days
ago and there's only four out there.

I called dad.

I'm like, Hey, we're missing a ram lamb.

Well, we found him.

He'd found the ewes.

Yeah.

It's a pretty good fence.

I still don't know where he got out and
got out there, but we got him back where

he's supposed to be, but it was on us.

We're in a little bit of a drought
right now and our water sources

we're watering out of ponds.

We have some troughs set up to water
that's feeding out of a pond, but they've

actually quit feeding because the pond's
gotten so low and so we can only water

in a few certain ponds So I have way too
many gates open and animals going too

far You know, I like to keep them in one
pasture and let pasture rest right now.

I'm not doing a great job So
no one come visit my farm right

now But those ewes Got across.

They didn't get across.

I opened the gate and let
him across from the Rams.

That's my fault I should never
let them across one fence.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
yeah.

The drought, that's on
one of those topics.

We went through one this summer.

They put us on, we were
put on a 30 percent cut.

You're on

rotation.

And.

Six days on, three days off.

Yeah.

So 65%.

Yeah.

So it was it was a little challenging.

It worked out, pretty good.

We have good neighbors

deal with.

And yeah, but yeah, that's something
that you can't get around even

with irrigation sometimes, yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Yeah just one of
those things Mother Nature likes to throw

at us, see if we can make it through.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: So
let's jump back to your cattle.

What are you running with cattle
and how are you doing that?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Well, here we go.

Here we go.

Yeah.

When I left the farm, we were
running about 300 cows, 330

cows, 300 cows when I left them.

I was 29.

I moved out to Montana and Justin
was really dealing with a lot of that

buying bulls and we were buying, we
had actually a tad bit of the SimAngus.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
didn't down in where we were, the

irrigated ground, subby ground,
a lot of flood irrigation in some

of the areas too, their feet,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
So, but, most of our cows,

like we were saying, my dad
would buy and sell and trade.

And so core of our herd
comes from sale barn.

It's a

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
so we didn't keep heifers.

No, didn't keep heifers.

Bought replacements from wherever.

The year or two I came back, I
was 31, 32, something like that.

It's 15 years ago.

And they had started retaining heifers.

And So, then we built up, at one
point we were at, we had about 540

cows we built up really quick to.

I came back and you were talking
about expanding, my dad saw, oh, this

is right, we gotta have enough cows.

Now and so there's another guy working
full time with the cattle bin too.

And so, it was predominantly Angus,
we were running some corn grower.

My dad loved the Charlay bulls.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
And I don't want to on anybody

at all, but where we're at, just
with what we're doing, pink eye,

we're always dealing with eyes,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
any of those crosses, man, or you

always knew you were going to have
one, cow killer that came out, big

calf, and it just, but what we were
doing we ended up going all back to

just straight, straight Angus bulls.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
And then my brother has been really

kind to allow my mind to always wander.

But what happened was we lost a
bunch of acreage, leased acreage.

three months, we had about 900 acres.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
acres and it was just chunk after

chunk within like a three month
period right before calving.

we ended up calving out like 500 cows.

and 80 acres and then pairing them out
trying to find pasture we had to figure

do something different.

That's when we started
converting our farm ground.

Well, when you go into these areas that
you no longer have big bodies of water,

big old shade trees, old barns, old lean
to's for them to get in there in the heat.

And we've hit triple digits
for 14, 15 days in a row.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
unheard of for us here.

Yeah.

Now that is a little extreme,
but our summers are at least

upper nineties, mid to upper

you start moving these cows
into this irrigated ground

where no shade whatsoever.

you start seeing that Angus are
not conducive to your region at

or how you're able to run them.

So that's when I started, man,
I was in Barzones South Poll.

I started doing all this research,
trying to find how something that.

going to be more heat tolerant, Brahma.

No, thank you.

And that's when I came
across Jaime Elizondo.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
I'd tell you, if you ever have a chance

that he is one of the most enjoyable,
nice, kind, humble guys I have ever

had the pleasure of learning from,
getting to know, spend time with.

Great guy.

But the mishonas, so the original guy
that had them in New Mexico, Weaver I

got to visiting with him, missed the
sale of those cows by like a few months.

we ended up bringing up a mishona
bull after I went down to Katy, Texas.

brought one up from
Oklahoma Hopping Brothers.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh,
yeah down the road from me.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Oh yeah, yep, stale yard

guys right there, right?

sale going, yeah.

I actually, I got a ramlam
from them too at the same time.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: So
that's where we started our influence,

and at first we thought we just wanted
a quarter blood, and we chased that

around a little bit, and looking back,
we should have gone a little more

aggressive to a higher percentage

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: yes,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Or more.

Trying to find the animal that
hides that influence enough,

still is very marketable,
and that's the trouble.

Yeah, in the northwest, especially
up here, that, anything with a little

bit of ear or slickness or anything
like that gets beat up really badly.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
you get down in the southern area,

that's pretty much of a norm.

Well, I think part of that too is now, the
more I think about it is, automatically

assume it has a Holstein Jersey
influence because it is so Prevalent

up here to have that kind of a cross.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
it's got some or anything with horns

Automatically has coriander because

rope and steers and you know
a lot of the Mexicans up here

There's the Hispanic people.

There's a lot of coriander

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
up in the, up here, you're gonna see

those are what people will assume.

It is, yeah.

Yeah.

But we have turned the corner
quite nicely, I think, finally.

We've held some half blood
bulls, quarter blood bulls.

We have a lot of influence.

We've rotated a few.

We have one full blood
Michona bull left right now.

That is really exceptional.

Really nice bull.

Our heifers.

We didn't breed very many because we
brought in some, we incorporated the

rest of my dad's cows, so we're like,
we don't really need to breed heifers.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
really the heart of them, 15 left,

and so it's like, let's throw
them out in the bowl for 33 days,

and we had 95 percent breed up.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, very good.

Yeah

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
And all of those are, all of

those are a percentage Michona.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
definitely, the heat,

they handle the heat.

above and beyond.

It is pretty impressive,
even a quarter blood.

Their body condition they've done well.

And then we sell, we've been
selling direct now and expanding

our, that's our website is
Cascade Sheep and Cattle Company.

And so we are selling
direct sheep lamb and beef.

Yep, lamb and beef.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: You find those
Michonas dress out pretty good Tender.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
They are tender, they have good

marbling, they have a nice dark meat.

We just butchered out three animals and
they had them cut, hung up and those guys.

There's a lot of grass fed people that are
doing all sorts of different things around

here and he's made the comment more than
once that ours, ours are finished, they're

are finished

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
that's the hard thing to do is to get a

good marbling and getting that good fat
pocket on those tail heads and to notice

that and see that and no, they marvel
out good and they do, they taste good.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh Very good.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: man.

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Now, you
mentioned the marbling on the, or the

fat on the tail head and stuff on a calf.

How do you know your lambs are ready?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
That's, that's

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: It's
something I struggle with,

so I hope you have an answer.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
It's a little difficult on some of them

that have a little bit more of a wool nap

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
And I think a lot of that is I've been

doing it long enough to where now I just
wait for them to just get know, enough,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
they're just a size, and I know hit

six to eight months old, anywhere in
there, seven, eight months old they're

pretty good because of also the breed in
there, I know they're not too tall, so

they're already stopped growing, and
they're just filling, and on some

of those, like if they don't have a
lot of wool on them and they got a

nice shorter hair, you can see that
when they walk, you can see the sides

of them back to their loin area.

It starts to jiggle and move.

And I know they're
getting a nice layer on,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

I have the same problem when I look
at myself in the mirror, so we'll just

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: Ha.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Well, I hope
I'm not finished yet, it's been great

talking to you all, but we better go
ahead and move on to the overgrazing

section sponsored by Redmond,

for the overgrazing section.

Let's dive a little bit more into grazing.

and irrigated property.

So how are you all handling
that first on your irrigation?

You, we talked a little bit about it,
but what's your irrigation look like now?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Well, most all of our irrigation

is, In some way, sprinklers,

hand line, lines, or actually
any more, the vast majority of

our irrigation is under pivot,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
pivot irrigation.

We still have a little bit of flood
irrigation, a couple of pastures that

we've got gated pipe or dams and open
ditches, that kind of thing but mostly

the irrigation is done with pumps
and pivots to wheel line type thing.

Yeah,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: What does, how
does that well, maybe before I ask that

question, Let's just talk about what
grazing looks like on your irrigated

land because you're also farming too.

So you're not grazing everything.

There's certain times stuff's farmed.

So let's just talk about how that
looks for grazing and for your farming.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155: so
some of that, well, one thing also so none

of ours is none of our irrigation as well.

Well, we have a little tiny bit, but

is an open ditch and it's runoff, snow
runoff from the mountains, the Cascade

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
comes out of there, runs down through

the river, diversion, big reservoirs.

Yep.

And then big reservoirs that
they'll open up halfway through

the year at different stages.

So, so we're not pumping out of.

of agriculture wells.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
which, I don't know if it really

matters, I just thought I'd throw
that out there for anyone listening.

So, does change it, because with
an irrigation well you, you,

you're on your own schedule.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: right.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
water comes in, and then goes

out, and your window of irrigation
with the system we're on.

And then as for grazing practice When
we moved into this, I had already

gotten what's funny is, we were doing a
rotational grazing originally, with our

main herd of cows, which is just about
300, and we had a big flat, big giant

flat, and I started cutting it up with
electric fence, we move in, almost all

of it was flood irrigated down there,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
irrigate it, You would shut it off

got to where we figured you need
about five, seven days for, you

want about that much to dry up.

Make sure you dry it pretty good.

You didn't want them in your
irrigation ditches because

300 cows will destroy a wet

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, I imagine so.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
so, we started cutting it up and figuring

if I could have those cows in there
five to eight ish days, nine days, Get

it as much of it grazed as possible and
then move them on to the next one then

fire up the irrigation So that was the
rotation we were doing and at that time

I didn't realize And it was working well.

the last summer we had all of that
guy There was three of us They were

incorporating it with other stuff,
but two of us really handling it,

most of it, the grass was really good.

And what I realized I was doing at the
time, not until years later, was really

a very strong, a total grazing principle.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: non selective.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
and non selected.

And so the regrowth that we'd always
come back into was extremely even,

extreme high leaf to stem ratio, lush
grass, boom, you hit it and you move on.

And then when we had to go in and convert
our farm ground, pivots and all of that, I

thought, hey, I need to treat this better.

And that's when we started getting
into our rotational of like Be

careful, take half, leave half.

It did not work.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
work.

what you end up having was more and
more was, like, our plant spacings

started getting a little bit bigger.

Your residue starts
covering up growing points.

And the cows are eating more leaf,
so you end up with a little bit,

you end up with more stem left over.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
grass.

and if you don't or legumes Yeah the cl.

So you're not really generating as much
photosynthesis as you'd like because

you know you have a lot of stem.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
trying to figure out what's

that happy and that good, happy
medium, you get a good graze, get

a good return, get a proper rest.

And that's when we started
realizing we needed to incorporate.

At least some time in the year,
a very total grazing, everything

that we could, everything back out,
clear it up, and expose anything

we needed to growing points.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

So,

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
and so, that was one of the

biggest shifts and changes.

We'd hit it, we'd plateaued really
on what we were able to run per

acre, pairs per acre on our irrigated
ground, and diminished a little bit.

Until we we got into that,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: so would
you say you do non selective or

total grazing 75 percent of the
time, 60 percent of the time?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
yeah, I would say 60 to 70, 60 to

70, depending on the year, there's
quite a bit of our farm ground that

we don't during the growing season.

We'll graze it.

With crop residue or stockpile something

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
rules will stockpile some of that

or the last two years we have gone
in and got some winter triticale,

winter rye like that planted in the
fall and up to where we were able to

do some grazing on it in the spring.

then the cash crop into that.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: So, does
it end up that you're grazing every

acre and farming some of it, or is
there still some that's just farmed?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
still some that is just

farmed in a in a way.

It's like trying to get
something incorporated into

it over a couple year period.

Some of 'em are more conducive
because of the location to water

can actually use it in a growing season.

there's a couple of our pieces that,
that's where we're, we are doing the.

We'll be planting hopefully some
more winter triticale and winter rye

soon here where then we can graze
through that And then we'll end up

disking that regrowth in and probably
planting corn or something like that

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
I don't think there's any acreage

that we farm doesn't at some
point have cattle across it.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, okay.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
In a one year, even in the year.

At least every other year, at

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, every other.

Yeah, at least.

Yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
because like you say, either

some crop residue or a cover crop
type setting that we'll graze

on in the fall or early spring.

But yeah there's pretty much at one
point about the only thing that we don't

graze hard on or at least every year
would be Like a permanent alfalfa field.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, okay.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Everything else we have is either going

to be a residue that we can graze on
or we'll plant something at some point

that it'll probably get grazed through.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: So, Justin, I
think you mentioned earlier that a lot

of the farms, they mentioned earlier
that, or at least somewhat, and now

they're um, and you guys are diversified.

If you think about a farmer that's out
there just growing crops, how would you

approach them about introducing livestock
or should they introduce livestock?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Yeah, I think everybody

should introduce livestock.

I think it's going to
improve your soil health.

It's going to, it's another avenue.

For an income stream, whether as
a farmer you own the cattle or you

have somebody bring their cattle in
and you grazer your residues or you

plant something or allow them to plant
something to graze in the spring.

Lot of it is logistics.

A big huge thing is water.

It's access to water.

That, that is big because
the fencing deal is easy.

Putting up a temporary fence
and we see it, we do it here in

the valley and we see it a lot.

You see it around a lot that
people put up temp fences all over.

There's a lot of corn
stalks get grazed in this

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
That is a pretty standard thing.

Some farmers don't care for it because
they talk about either compaction is

a big thing and that is somewhat of an
issue in our country, just because of

the winters that we have, if they're
wet and mild, you're going to have a

lot of pocking, a lot of and I guess
when I say pocking, it's hugging

they're, yeah.

So that that's, That is definitely
just something that you deal with.

Other thing is, if you have enough
cattle at certain places, then,

a farmer says, hey, you can have
this piece, but you've got 45 days.

I need them out by, 1st of December
or whatever, you get your cattle

in, get it grazed and get it off.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
but yeah I guess that's what I would

say is that you can generally find
somebody who's looking for some grazing.

So even if you don't want to own the
cattle, can make money of renting your

residue or whatever off to somebody.

And still get the benefits of having
an animal come across your ground

and still have a revenue stream.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Yeah.

Excellent there.

I'm not familiar with irrigated ground.

We just don't have it in our area, but
I think it's akin to sheep because I see

all these beef cattle running here and I'm
like, everyone that's running beef cattle

ought to have some sheep in there too.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Yeah, actually, I agree.

Yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: And

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
if you have any issues with compaction,

get sheep, because then you won't.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
actually, if you have

issues with water, too.

Yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
you could probably water 15 or 20

ewes to one cow during the winter.

It's crazy.

I've had them.

When we have decent snow on the
ground or whatever, I've had them

not come into a water tank for
three and four days and I started

getting worried and yeah different.

But to each his own, every little thing
has its, it's up and down, grazing

and irrigated ground can, there's so
many different challenges with it.

And.

a couple of them that you run into
is fencing, you're rolling your fence

over your fence, or you're rolling
your wheel line or your irrigation

over a fence and putting it back up.

There's so many different
things out there.

We have drive over fences for our
pivots that have springs in them.

we actually put the first one of Gallagher
brought into the United States and we

got the first one in as a trial basis
for their show that was coming up.

And I was really good friends
with their rep in the Northwest.

And so we put it in.

He's like, okay, it looks like it works.

And he went to the show to sell it, we put
a few of those in they work really nice.

The biggest challenge

I see with irrigated ground is the
irrigated ground is very similar to

the really high quality Midwestern
ground you have good enough rainfall,

everybody can grow really exceptional
crop and they just pay more for it.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
In that situation here, dry land

out around us is almost worthless.

It's

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
touches it.

It's nothing.

You're gonna pay Quadruple the price
for irrigated ground here in lease.

Then you have your pump.

I don't know I think for the other day we
were figuring there's what two hundred and

eighty dollars an acre fixed cost Well,
depending on yeah between 280 to 350, yeah

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, wow.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
costs per acre.

So, so when you start looking at that
and you start figuring that's one of the

reasons too We expanded the sheep per
acre if you're willing to do the work

you can gross a lot of money per acre

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
and We bought some sheep

that didn't lamb out, right?

So we turned out rams and we changed them
to fall winter So now, when we have the

escaped ram, we don't really feel that
bad because we can say we planned it,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
it hitting some of those specific

light lambs in that specific
market, in the Ramadan, the Easter,

the Passover, the two Easter's.

That's the big money one right

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
So, the what we have been, well,

it's a thought I, my brother,
let me toy with my thoughts.

The thought that I've had for
the last few years is, how can we

take, we ran stalkers one summer
that actually it worked out well.

We just didn't expect the
wheat to be what it is, but

they grazed well, and we saw the regrowth
on our pasture the next spring was very

different because we had hayed a lot.

So,

take stockers and lambs?

and make them a crop rotation.

So where we're at with irrigated
ground, we don't have much of a market

for legumes, except for alfalfa,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, okay.

Yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
not a true legume.

But it is, but you're out five years.

Yeah.

But you're not really doing
your soil all that much.

You're not breaking this cycle, dependent
on, you're talking like the nematodes.

or the wireworm, right?

That would break that
cycle of our wireworm.

So, we can't, peas beans, we're
got back into them a little bit,

we don't have canola either,
corn, wheat, rotation, or alfalfa?

You're stuck in these three things.

Well, if we can grow a very high
clover, vetch pea mix with some

grasses rye, you graze that for
a whole summer with some stockers

and your sheep or your whole sheep.

A cash crop that breaks your cycle,
puts a ton of nutrients back in,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Or we grazed sorgham, sundans

and then we've also incorporated
season perennials into some of

our pieces that they take hold.

But we're dealing with kind
of a false environment.

Those, we dry up and burn
up pretty much by May.

June 1st, this valley looks yellow
cheap grass just burned up, and so when

you add irrigation and our heat, we
should be growing season perennials,

they're not really native here.

So you're always playing around
with this false environment.

It's like, what do we do?

How do we incorporate this?

How do we utilize all of this
growing season that we can't graze?

but it's expensive ground.

You don't want to just dump a bunch
of cows on it and still utilize a

cash crop that, isn't livestock.

So it's this constant kind of a moving
picture sometimes trying to figure it out.

Yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155:
back to logistics.

Just the amount of what
crop you're growing.

When does it go in?

When does it come off on pasture?

Now, that brings me to the
opposite of the question or the

converse of what I'd asked earlier.

I said, are you all grazing?

Every acre, even the acres you
farm, are you farming every acre or

do you have some that's just into
put, put into permanent pasture?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Yeah.

There's absolutely permanent pasture.

We've got at least two,
at least 300 acres,

of this permanent pasture that
there is no crop taking off of it.

It's cattle 100 percent or sheep.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
Yeah,

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155:
Gentlemen, it's getting close.

We need to move to a famous four, but
before we move there, is there anything

that we didn't cover today that you're
like, Hey, I would like to have said

that, but Cal just didn't ask it.

So.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
man, actually, there's so many things

that we've chased down over the years.

I don't know if I could
hit on all of them.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Yeah.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
soil amendments we've played around

with on pasture and farm ground biochar.

We use a lot of

now in a mix a sea salt biochar with a
little soy meal and cracked corn, but

I'm going to go to a crushed barley and
you have enough salt in there to where

they're just costly and getting a nice.

bit of that diet winter and it really
has made a huge difference for our cats.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
yeah, and the sheep actually been

running on the sheep and then
we're going to probably put a 50 50

blend out for the cows this winter.

Heavier on the salt to make
sure they're backed off enough.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: And the
biochar, where are you getting that?

squadcaster-j79h_1_10-02-2024_080155:
So I get that through Char, Phil Blom.

He's actually down in
your neck of the woods.

I think he's in Missouri,

has He has co ops all over the place.

So down

has a place that produces the
biochar for him and we've got

it up and tote sacks from him.

Yeah.

cal_1_10-02-2024_100155: Well, let's
transition to our famous four questions

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