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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 144.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
whether you think you can or you
think you can't, you're right.
And it just comes down to
mindset.
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 episode, we have Taylor Moyer
the name may sound familiar to you.
Because he's been on a few
other podcasts and he was on
episode 58 of the grazing grass.
And we talked about his journey
into regenerative farming
while working, in NASCAR.
He joined us again today to catch up
what's happened in the last 18 months.
He's retired from NASCAR.
And he's also taken on a new
position with land trust.
So we're going to talk about
that a little bit today.
And just as a teaser, we have Nick,
the CEO from land trust on, on Friday.
How that can work with your farm
to provide another revenue stream.
If that works for you.
Um, but we talked Taylor today.
We talked about what
he's doing on his farm.
Then we get into land trust
and what he's doing there now.
For 10 seconds about the farm.
Not too long ago.
I was complaining about the drought.
And the rain started.
And since the rain has started
here in Northeast, Oklahoma, we've
received over 12 inches of rain.
So it is the wetness November.
On record.
I'm always glad to have.
Some water.
So I've will not complain about that.
For 10 seconds about the podcast.
First, I want to thank
Lynn for reaching out.
Thank you for listening.
Appreciate it.
And secondly, on the podcast, we are
getting ready to do a podcast refresh.
We're going to change
things up just a little bit.
He'll still be the great content you
expect from grazing grass, but we're going
to change the format just a little bit.
And that'll be coming to
you in three or four weeks.
You'll know, so I'm sure because the
show will start a little bit different.
But what I'm.
Just be on the lookout for it.
And I'd love to get your feedback
whenever we do make that change.
What you like, what you don't like, how
we can make the grazing grass podcast.
Better for you.
And with that.
Let's talk to Taylor.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Taylor,
we want to welcome you back
to the Grazing Grass Podcast.
We're excited you're here today.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Thanks for having me, Cal.
I'm excited to be back.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: So
Taylor, you were on the podcast
about 18 months ago on episode 58.
So for our listeners, can you just
give us a little background and tell
us where you are then before we start
talking about your journey since then?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Sure.
So where I was then I believe the
episode title even had something to
do with my career at the time, which
was, was In NASCAR.
Yup.
I've since retired from that career.
When the checkered flag flew at Phoenix
last year, that was my last race in
NASCAR, and I walked all the way from
the sport, which had always been my goal.
And my farm had been my transition plan.
Any, anybody that knows the,
has followed the cattle markets
knows that it's probably a
terrible time to try to scale up.
And it, you know, if you were sitting
in my shoes last summer, it, it
looked more favorable than the fall.
But so 18 months ago, I was still
working full time at NASCAR.
We were growing our farm.
We were really getting our legs underneath
us as far as understanding the amount of
cattle our land can support, the seasons
on which it could support it through.
Trying to find the right context
for myself and my wife and our
family as far as what, what
type of cattle raisers we were.
We, we definitely lean much
more towards the grazing side.
We've known for a while that our
competitive advantage in the Southeast
is if you manage your grass correctly,
you can almost grow grass year round.
Or you can grow some type of forage
year round in which you can graze.
We were up against and, and still are,
and are still always going to be the,
probably the disadvantage of the East.
That's also an advantage is you're, you're
not very far from population centers.
So we
were trying to, trying to model our
business, use that to our advantage,
to model our business around that.
With that, you know, land
prices are always high.
So trying to figure all that
out, that's where we were.
And we are far from having it figured
out, but we have been operating under
a, I would say an adaptive business
plan since then, since November,
since I stepped away from racing.
So we are almost back around a one
full year of me full time on the farm.
It has been.
It's been everything you
would expect it to be.
It's been exciting.
It's been rewarding.
It's been terrifying.
It's been frustrating.
I don't think anything in life comes
without a tuition of some sort.
And I
could go to as many classes and read
as many books, but at some point,
if you're going to do it, do it.
And you might as well do it while
you're still young enough to bend and
break and, you know, give yourself
some time to To figure it all out.
So that's where we kind of are now.
And there's some very specifics
that go along with that, but
we can get into that later.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
Let's jump back to that.
six months after you were on
the episode till you retired,
or however many months it was.
I don't recall you ever mentioning
at the time in the podcast, hey,
this is my last year in NASCAR.
Had you already started thinking about
that, or did that come around later on?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Let's see if I was on 18 months
ago, it would have been 2022.
Correct.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
it was April of 23.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Okay.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: So
it's like 15, 16 months.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
sure.
Yeah.
The
even, even at the position I was in
within NASCAR and I use the word retired
because when you get done playing
football, you retire from football.
I'm not retired.
Like I have some big bank account and I
play golf every day.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Don't we
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
mean.
stepped away from the sport.
I owe everything.
I owe a lot of my life to what NASCAR
has provided and the great people along
the way that have given me jobs and
been mentors and, and helped me through.
I, it was a, 15 year professional career.
It's all I've done since I was 18.
I'm 36 now with that NASCAR.
It was the, it is the longest
series in professional sports.
Valentine's day to Thanksgiving.
And it's a sport that you, you have
to give your whole life to pretty much
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
and be invested in to continue
to rise and shine and the sports.
contracting in the amount of
employees within the sport as
the business model changes.
So the one, the people that are
willing to give it, you better
be 100 percent passionate at all
times about it to make it through.
And I just knew that there would come
a stage in my life when I didn't have
That drive and desire and passion to go
get on an airplane every single Thursday
and get home every single Sunday.
Again, it's just a lot of time
gone and I did it for travel on
the road full time for 10 years.
The last five years I was in a crew chief
position, which is the you know, basically
the CEO or the head coach position.
It's, it's, it's.
It was very rewarding.
It was very fun.
I won races.
We sat on polls.
I had a bunch of great times.
I was able to lead a bunch
of good men and women.
But I knew it had a shelf life.
And I also knew the longer I did only
stayed in racing, the longer, the harder
it might be to try to get out of it.
And make a transition within my life.
So
it was just kind of a natural
fit of all things came together.
The way it all worked out, it was
a good time for me to make an exit.
And it was funny because as I was
exiting, people were still calling me.
You know,
come crew chief this race car
a week before the Daytona 500.
I got a call to go crew chief and try
to get a car into the Daytona 500.
Like there's a need for
good people in the sport.
It was just not.
The light had gone out a bit for me.
I think if you're going to lead
people, you can't fake passion.
My guys knew that if they walk up
to me, I'd be much more enjoyable.
If they wanted to talk about cows,
I talked their ears off race cars.
I was just burned
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yes.
Yeah,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
To be, to be quite honest.
So it was just kind of time.
And I had, I had, maybe it happened
to you earlier than I thought
it would, but you can't always
choose the timing of life either.
You know, I just try to worry about
what I can control, not what I can't,
and it was, seemed to work out that way.
So here we are,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: So, how's
that transition gone for you?
Going back onto the farm or being
at the farm every weekend now?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
I'm here full time.
And, you know, this is the,
we, we live here full time.
We sold our other place, which
was closer to the race shop,
man.
It is, it has been.
It's been really rewarding
in a lot of ways.
Lifestyle, it's exactly, I'm not somebody
who buys into the farming is a lifestyle.
Farming is a lifestyle, but you
need to make sure it's not a
hobby that costs you money, Right.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Right.
You've got to make money.
The lifestyle is a bonus,
but it doesn't pay any bills.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
correct.
But I enjoy the lifestyle of
living out here in the country at
our farm, where similar setting
to where I was born and raised.
So that's been great.
The amount of extra time in our
lives to focus on the things that
are important to us is also, is
also really been really rewarding.
And the other big part of it, that's
maybe more of a personal thing is
just being able to be involved back
in my community, which I was always
so busy.
I had no time.
I was gone on the weekends.
Your friends normally
have Monday to Friday job.
I didn't really have.
Much of a social life.
And that's always been important to me.
You know, whether it's community
organizations or just having
friends and family or being able
to help your neighbor with stuff.
I didn't have any time for that anymore.
So that was a big part and focus to me.
It was just maybe a little
bit better quality of life.
And so far, all that's been great.
And the farming and
ranching has been great too.
It's been a good year, you know, ups
and downs, but headed the right way.
So that's, that's the positive side of it.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
Has, has your farm evolved
differently than maybe you
anticipated during this time?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Maybe we actually, we pumped the brake.
I had, I had some pretty big
plans to scale pretty quickly.
But then when you still really factor
in, you know, the price of some cattle
and, and the price to scale and the
fact that, you know, depreciation
might eat you up if the market falls.
tomorrow, whatever, you know, I, I
have always been slightly risk adverse.
I'm not a huge gambler.
So we've been scaling up tactfully, let's
say we've been turning a lot of cattle.
We kind of have, what I like to say
is we have multiple complimentary,
complimentary enterprises here.
We kind of do the opposite here of
what everybody else around us does.
And that's where the mark that's where
our biggest margins are for us to be
able to grow you know, economically
as a business it doesn't make it easy.
It's hard.
It's
it's socially, it's not too hard
because I'm kind of a weirdo anyway.
So I'm the guy that left
NASCAR to farm, right?
So I'm, everyone already thinks I'm crazy.
But things like I'm, as far
as I know, I'm one of the only
spring calving herds around.
So even finding advice from old
farmers, like, Hey, How do you
improve your breed up in the spring?
You know, what, what mineral
do you feed in the spring to
help improve your breed up?
Most guys say, Oh, well, we, we
breed in the fall and you're like,
Oh, well, crap, you know, so some, some of
the resource stuff specific to this region
specifically has been a little harder.
But the business, the business has
definitely evolved the right direction.
And I've been working really
hard with the team of.
You know, I put together a business team.
You know, we have people here on
the farm, both like some part time
employees, myself, my wife and some
other people around us that are our
business team, as well as, you know,
we use John Haskell and Ranch Right LLC
out in Wyoming as our business team.
Business coaches and mentors and
education centers still, still very
involved with ranging for profit.
But been using every resource we can find
to try to grow in a smart way and give
ourselves a little breathing
room and chance chance to make it
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Just just
on that breed up or breed back
That puts you breeding breeding
during the heat of summer.
Has that how has that been going for you?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
mixed results.
We, we have it slid back a little bit.
So we're not into the
meat, meat heat of summer.
So
usually when the heat gets here bad, it's
about the third, third heat cycle anyway,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: okay.
So
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yeah, we've been trying to be more
selective with, in a perfect world,
if I had a huge herd of cows, I'd run
a really tight breeding window and I
would use all conditional pressure.
But what do they, like, I can't go
broke along the way of getting there.
So a lot of times a late live calf is
still worth more to me than a cull cow.
So we, you know, we,
went like 75 days last year.
I think we were at 80 days this year.
And sometimes it just, it just comes
down to where we are in our big rotation.
And can I easily just get
the bull out of the herd
to be quite honest?
It hasn't gone terrible.
We're also a pretty low, we're
economically minded input herd.
I don't, I don't like, love the low input
tag because it's not like I'm so cheap.
I won't go buy stuff if
it would help, but if
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yeah,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
if it doesn't return on my
investment, I try not to go just pump.
You know, licked hubs out there
all the time for no reason.
So the system we have, we've been,
we've been, we've been pretty good.
We've been above like the 80 percent
mark, which is okay for our inputs.
I mean,
I think there's a lot of studies out
there that like, say, moving from
like 90 to 95, you know, it, the
juice might not be worth the squeeze.
What we've tried to do though,
and I mentioned this is We can try
to find, we try to find cows in
the market that are undervalued.
So maybe they're late fall calvers
or a winter calver, honestly,
more, more so around here.
We can buy those at a discount
generally because they're very far
back in a fall calvers calving window.
Whether they come with a calf or we
calve them out the next time, you know,
they might get, maybe they're skinny.
Maybe that's why they're nutritionally
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
We generally are pretty good at
putting on weight, putting weight
on cattle, especially cows here.
And so they can get a
chance in our spring herd.
So that's kind of how we can
buy in for cheap when the,
when the opportunities become
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
And then in the same sense, anything
that falls out of my, it doesn't
breed rather than just take it to the
sale barn, I know my lowest costs.
To keep a cow per day is through the
summer here and the spring in the summer
so I can get those cows pretty darn fat
and black and they kind of then turn into
a and then I can read them for the fall
and then they turn into a premium product.
So at least you're I've done the math
the last two years and both years it was.
There was a better chance that I would get
a lot higher return running those cows for
cheap through the summer and getting them
bred and selling them as a fall bred cow
than just taking them as an
open spring cow into our market.
Cause from my research around here and
all the people I know, like 90 percent of
the guys are fall bred herds around here.
So you end up creating something that
looks like it's really well conditioned.
And it looks like the top of the
pile in a, in a fall bred herd.
And you never know those cows might.
They might shine in a fall bread
herd and that's just what they want.
So,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: right, and
sometimes, you know, a cow doesn't
breed back for that first time.
We're of the philosophy that, well,
she, she goes, figures it out, and
someone else has herd she didn't
work for our management system.
However, I have to say,
I've purchased two cows.
I guess a few years ago, two cows
that were, were fat and great shape
to calve in my right window, but
they'd missed that guy's window.
And I wanted the cows.
I thought they fit my, my program.
So I purchased them.
They have not missed a beat since I've
gotten into my herd.
And you know, that first breed back,
especially on a two year old heifer, try
and raise the calf and get bred back.
We're not.
We're not ones to give much grace on that.
They don't get calve back, they get to
go sell barn, but I don't necessarily
think it's a bad purchase either.
In fact, talking about undervalued
cows, it makes me think sometimes
buying those two year old open heifers.
That's kind of thin going through
a cell barn because it's obviously
just had a calf pulled off of them.
Might not be a bad move.
Now, to be honest, and this is important,
I have not put my pencil to it or tried
it, but At a 20, 000 feet elevation
or height looking down, it looks
like there may be a potential there.
So I, I like the idea of buying cows
that's calving outside of the window for
your area being a little bit lower cost.
And then if you have a cow that
doesn't breed, hey, if you can get
her bred and then sell her as a bred
cow, it'll help your pocketbook.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now what I would say is you
definitely want to put a pencil to it.
Cause if it's a cow that was the miss,
it was like a fall cow that was to miss.
And then it's going to needs to eat.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Exactly.
That's.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Three months,
you're probably better off
to ship her down the road.
Save that hate for something
that's making you money.
I will say the caveat to
that and you know, I've been
through some marketing schools.
I'm the follower of Wally Olson,
Doug Ferguson, Bud Williams.
I try to not get preconceived
notions and not get recipes in my
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Because there has been I
did good on I've done good.
I've done well on some opportunities
this year by just looking at what the
market port report says today and where
things are valued against each other.
There's definitely and you have
to go look at your local markets.
You know, it's good to know what's
going on nationally, but there's,
there's always some regional stuff
that you might not even understand.
But you, you need to understand that
and understand where the opportunities
are within your own community, because
you might end up being the niche guy.
For example, I, with cows being so
expensive and I was like, man, I got to.
I really need to scale up.
You know, just for revenue
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
what I did this year was I
ended up LRPing all my calves.
So I had some, you know, guaranteed
value at the end of the year.
And I LRP more than I knew I was
even going to have in my herd.
But that let me know that if I had the
calf alive on the date that it needed
to be quantified by, in my case, my
banker, that I would get that return.
So then I went and bought
what I call skinny pairs.
I went and
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
cows with calves at their side.
All the cows I bought were skin and bones.
They look like older cows.
Obviously, they look like good sound
cows, they just needed some groceries.
And we,
we grow grass.
And I, I, my LRP contract was on
steers, so I only bought cows with
bulls or steers at their side.
And I was buying them at the value
of what the calf is worth in October.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
of episode.
Of everything.
I'm and then so then when I split the
pairs when I weaned, which we just
weaned three weeks ago when I split
the pairs, the cows are 300 bigger
and I turn right back around and
sold those cows as bread spring cows.
I sold them private treaty.
I found somebody that's I didn't, you
know, I was very honest with what they
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
and this this person is over the
moon to have some good solid talk.
They're way taller than
I like, but you know,
He'll never have to worry about
pulling a calf out of these big old
girls.
Just good, solid, solid cows.
And I guess what I was looking at, you
know, at that time, I think I bought
them in March, maybe, maybe April,
but the grass was greening up and you
know, nobody was, nobody was darting
their eyes at them just cause they look
so pulled down from their calves,
but the calf is already alive.
The calf is on the ground.
The calf is healthy.
And these girls just needed some
groceries and that was what I
probably did the best as far as how
my dollars were spent this year on.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: You
raise a, a important point there.
Regional differences in prices.
You gotta be careful, I think you
gotta be careful about cell barn.
You go to number of years ago.
I started going to a different sale barn
just to observe and I started buying
lightweight calves there because I thought
they were Undervalued at this one market
you could buy a lightweight calves cheaper
than I could buy them at other markets
All in the same area and I don't I don't
know why that was it's interesting.
You just got to pay attention and look you
mentioned Wally Olson and Doug Ferguson
Have you been to either of their schools?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
I've been to Wally's school and then I
read, I read Doug's article every week
that he puts out.
Wally's tied in through
Rancherite LLC and Ranching.
FYI, which I'm members of.
So I, I interact with Wally a lot.
And yeah, I think they're both great.
They're both a little, have a little
bit different philosophies on sell buy,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: right.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
that's, that's very much sell buy.
The sell buy philosophy is very
much what's in the back of my head
at all times, whenever I'm buying.
And in fact, The more I do
it, the more it makes sense.
It's one of
those things at the beginning
that's like, ah, you know, it's
that It's so counterintuitive.
Maybe counterintuitive to most people.
Maybe it's counterintuitive
to most people.
Maybe it's counterintuitive to
you 'cause your grandpa, your
dad has done it differently.
I actually envision, envision
it much more in my head.
You know, you see people do it
with automobiles all the time,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
you know, but in cows, it's
not as traditional, right?
And I think, I think the reason
they do it in automobiles is because
automobiles depreciate so fast.
So people understand that
very much in automobiles.
Rarely do they appreciate.
So the whole, the whole, you
would call it flipping vehicles
is a very similar concept.
But yeah, everything we
sell, we try to replace back.
You know, within a two week window
and then it's the difference between
there is the profit we've made.
So we're,
you, you make your profit, especially
once you've comprehend that you
make your profit on the buy and on
the sell, you're just cash flowing.
It gets pretty clear in your head how
this thing goes and it makes it makes
in seeing good deals a little easier So
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: One, one thing
that Doug said that, excuse me, one
thing that Doug said, and I'm going
to paraphrase this incorrectly, but
if you sell animals, And it's not a
calf that was raised out of a cow.
So you're not producing that animal.
You're, you're selling that cow.
If you're not replacing her, and I'm using
a cow as an example, we're replacing that
animal in two weeks on that same market.
That's not a sell buy.
You just terminated that.
And that's a liquidation.
And that's always in my
head when I think about it.
If I'm not.
And you can't liquidate your whole
farm or you got nothing left.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
yeah, no, I don't disagree especially
because the market can move right
essentially What you're doing is a
liquidation and then you're doing another
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: A rebuy, yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
yeah.
I'm guilty of both I mean, I'm pretty
good at buying back right away, but I'm
also guilty of Like right now, while
feed resources are a little scarce
with no rain, I've definitely got some
of that sitting in some bank accounts
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
as cash.
But I also know my market
regionally pretty well.
And again, this is speculating and
this would, this would go against
what Doug says, and I, I very much
think that that guy's way wiser than I
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, he is.
Both of us.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
I, you know, trying to match my
context, my feed resource, and also
my time, you know, we're going into
Thanksgiving, Christmas, I still
have these big, beautiful families.
I know I'm going to do some traveling.
I don't need a bunch of
high risk calves right
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
so I know it's risky, the market can
move, but regionally, traditionally,
calves are pretty cheap here.
From the prices stay depressed
between Thanksgiving to New Year's.
And then generally from New Year's till
Greengrass, they're on a rising plane.
So I feel like if there was a time, a time
of year to sit out and I'm not talking
about all my capital sitting out, just
some of it, if there was a time of year
to sit on my hands a little bit now
is now is when I'm choosing to do it.
Right, wrong, or indifferent.
That, that, that is, as far as, as
far as strict sell buy marketing,
that, that does go against it.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Yeah,
and everything's in your context
and it's a balancing act.
So yeah, you have to do
what you think's best.
But I do think Doug's statement
about that's very interesting.
I have that in the back of my head.
Now, like you mentioned it's,
it's kind of a bad time to try and
expand with current cattle prices.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259: Yep.
Yeah, buy high, sell low has never worked.
Ask Warren Buffett.
He'll correct you immediately.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Yeah.
Yeah.
Did you do land trust before working
for them or did you just, you
started working for them first?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Kind of all happened simultaneously, but
I literally just heard Nic on Working Cows
podcast, and cold called the CEO and said,
You need a farmer and rancher with some
business experience to be on your team.
And he said, I agree.
Let's try it out.
So I worked.
I, I was looking for that
service for this place as an
enterprise to stack on my acres.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
And then I started to work for
them, just some contract labor
stuff to see what skills I had.
And then it turned into
a full time position.
So
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Were
you utilizing when all that went
through, did you decide, hey, maybe
we can do some stuff with land
trust on the land as a landowner?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
yes, yeah, that's exactly it.
So we knew we're only an hour
from Charlotte, North Carolina.
We have people wanting to
come out here all the time.
We have a pretty website.
Decent social media.
And it is part of my mission and
vision to reconnect people to the land.
You know, this isn't
some closed door place.
You want to come see cows, come
see cows with me in a controlled
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
So we needed to, we needed some type
of tool to facilitate that, to cover
ourselves liability wise and make it
as low lift on ourselves as we can.
So when I found, when I heard about
land trust and working cows podcast, I
was like, this is exactly what we need.
This is.
This is Airbnb for outdoor recreation.
This, this doesn't require
any overheads from me.
I don't, I don't even have to build
any extra webpage on my website.
I don't have to deal with bookings.
None of that stuff.
They do all of that and I just have to
own the land and do what I'm good at.
So I thought it was brilliant.
So we immediately enrolled our place in
it and we don't do any hunting or fishing.
We just do photography and farm tours.
So
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, okay.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
yeah, we, we already had some
photography going on here, but I was
only allowing, Photographers that
I know and trusted to come out with
their clients when I wasn't around.
So as that expanded, you know, how
can we, we were trying to figure out
how we could mitigate the liability
for other, other photographers
that we weren't as familiar with.
So that's, that's how we,
that's how we utilize it here.
Yeah,
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cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: where we
take a deeper dive into something
about you or your operation.
And land trust is what we're
going to talk about today.
So let's continue the
conversation about land trust.
And you said, so you're utilizing You saw,
or you listened to Nick on Working Cows,
and just as a teaser, Nick's going to
be on our podcast in just a couple days.
And you decide to sign up as a
landowner, but you're only offering
photography and farm tours.
How's that going for you?
Has that met your expectations?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
absolutely.
As far as being a landowner through
land trust and in utilizing the
tool, it's completely seamless.
It's, it's an ironed out, flawless
facilitation tool to bring, to
bring people on your land you
maintain all control, but, and
you don't give up any rights.
But no extra overheads
or lift for you, right?
There's no, that's, that's the best thing.
It's an, it's, it's a new revenue
stream for any farmer ranch
that's not tied to politics,
commodities, markets, or weather.
In fact, sometimes it does
better when one of those is down.
Cause people wanna, people wanna
come back to the land, right?
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah, they do,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
So it's all that during COVID.
So it's just a tool.
It's a free tool to landowners
that you can use to, to do that.
And when I say bring people back to
the land that can be in hunting and
fishing and full disclosure, that's
very much how land trust started.
But LandTrust has, LandTrust
has moved into what we call the
farm experience model, which is
stuff like photography and tours.
We have some archaeological type
listings, you know, birding type
listings, all these things that
it's not just hunting and fishing.
And what somebody was, what
somebody lists is completely up
to the landowner, which is neat.
So it's.
All at their discretion,
whatever they want to list.
And we're just a tool in which you
are able to have all that done where,
you know, a turnkey package to get
people, agritourism folks on your,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Now, have
you, have you had photographers come
out since you've listed it there?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
yeah, yep.
We've had, I'm not sure
how many we've had plenty.
We we have we have photographers that use
this regularly, and then we've had some
randoms that, you know, we do a little
marketing ourselves, land trust us to
marketing, but we've had photographers
find our listing and bring clients.
We've also had clients reach out
to us that we try to connect with a
photographer, and we just make a booking
for that party and then they come out.
And we have a photographer
across the street who we, who
comes when we're not here.
She has a, she has a vehicle to get
people around, and she knows the
best spots, and just happens without
us even knowing if it needs to.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: So are they,
what are photographers looking for?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
In general, I've, I've known, I
don't, I'm a photography amateur,
but I've noticed they're generally
looking for light and contrast.
So, being tall grass graziers as we
are, we have long wispy grass a lot,
maybe some weeds, and we have You
know, our place is rolling hills,
beautiful oak trees and creek bottoms.
So we have some very picturesque type
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
scenes.
I have learned the hard way that
depending on editing style, they're
looking for different different regions
of the farm where there's either a
lot of light or not a lot of light.
The other cool thing we
did this summer was we.
We had some ground that we had to till up.
We had two acres that was, had some
percols dug in it with, for, for another
reason, these were big, dangerous
holes that were never filled in.
It would swallow you up on a four wheeler.
We just tilled the ground.
And rather than plant most of our
grasses are cool season forage.
So rather than plant fescue in the
spring, which wouldn't do very well,
we planted some summer annuals.
So we did sunflowers and millet.
And then as you can imagine,
sunflowers are beautiful to shoot.
Photography in front of all summary up.
And if, in fact, I learned a
valuable lesson next year, I will
definitely plant those probably
in stages to prolong sunflower
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah.
So they're not all riped at once or all in
bloom at one time.
Oh
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259: was
really pretty and then it was really dead.
And I had to, we actually had
to postpone some bookings.
A photographer had, she wanted
a later booking than we had live
flowers for, but we monetize.
You know, we were able to pay for
all of the disking and the planting
of all that with just photography.
And then we did dove hunting
over top of it all fall.
Now we didn't monetize the dove hunting.
We, we kept that for friends, family.
And then as you listened to on district
conservation podcast, we had some
different journalists and, you know,
personalities come in to hunt with me,
to experience a land trust type model.
We just never opened it
up to the public, but
that's a really good example
of how a thousand bucks and two
acres could be your cash register.
All summer and all through dove season.
I guess you could honestly replant it
and move right onto like, like a cool
season, annual type forage for wildlife
too, if you want to hunt over it.
But there's a proof of concept and it
was very, I will, I know how to make
it even more lucrative next summer.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
Oh, well, very good.
Now one thing immediately, you know,
coming from the regenerative realm,
I'm like, how can I get sunflowers
in without disturbing my soul?
I don't know if you can
broadcast sunflower seeds.
If they would get enough ground contact,
or you've got to do at least some
light disking to get them in or not.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
I know you can know till him.
I know a lot of
those like high, high diversity mixes.
Know, I, I don't want to name any name
brands, but I know a couple of them
that have, you know, different types of,
you know, they'll have some brassicas
and they'll have some flat Forbes and
flowers and, and all types of stuff.
And those become, you know,
it's not a model culture.
They might have 15 species in
them and they become really
pretty in the summer.
There's, there's, you know, flowers
that are just as pretty as sunflowers
and they create a lot of contrast
for those photographers as well.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
I know a lot of those flower type
stuff are in those summer annual mixes.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah.
One of these days I'm gonna have a no
tail drill, but I don't have one yet.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
I hear you.
I want the same thing.
It'd probably be a bad, it'd be like a
gateway drug to me planning way too much.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
oh, I, I would agree.
Yeah.
I could fully see that being a problem,
but one of these days, now you mentioned
photography, you mentioned farm tours,
and then you mentioned hunting and
fishing were how it really got started.
Is that, The realm of uses that it
imagines and just in transparency,
when I talked to you about this, about
land trust, I wasn't familiar with
land trust, but I assumed it was more
like hip camp or one of those sites
where people come camp on your land.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yeah.
I mean, we have lodging
and camping within them.
The site experience, like going
on the website, landtrust.
com is similar to going
on Airbnb or hip camp
in the way the user experience of, of
how you would locate whatever you're
looking, whatever type of experience
you're looking for, if you are.
You know, going to be, if you're somebody
that's going to go do the experience, the.
Experiences range from all types
of hunting and fishing to anything
a landowner wants to list.
I, you
know, we have a ton of
types of experiences.
So anytime a landowner wants to
list something new, we're all for
it, you know, within reason, within
our, within insurance policies, right?
You can only do so much, but yeah, we
have, we have lodging, camping, fishing,
we have hunting experiences with lodging.
A lot of the things are add on too,
like there's some experiences you
can book, and then if you would
like lodging, you can add that on.
And it might
be a tent.
It might be a full cabin they have.
It might be just RV hookups they have.
That's very dependent on what the
landowner offers, but we have,
we've been real active with hunting.
That's how the company started out
West as we're moving East, which
we're picking up steam pretty quick.
We're adding a lot of things.
You know, birding, ranch tours,
farm tours, photography trying to
think of all the different things.
We have a lot of different things.
We have, you know, some cool
coastal fishing now in Florida.
We have some gator hunts in Louisiana.
Some, like, trophy gator
hunts at a very cool historical place.
But as far as if you're a landowner
and you have something to offer, It
can be whatever, you know, and like I
said, we're just the facilitation tool.
We, we literally a team of real
people build you a listing to showcase
whatever you have on your farm or ranch.
And we work with you to set the prices
accordingly to what, how much you want
to earn and how much business you want.
And we go from there, it's a free market.
We don't tell you what you should charge.
We can advise you if you'd like that, but.
If you have more listings than you
want, maybe raise your prices a little
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
not getting as many, maybe
bring them back down.
What's really neat about us is we
have, we, if you list your land
with us, you get comp, you get a
layer of complimentary insurance.
So we handle all the insurance.
You don't have, you do not
have to go get other layers.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
your land, if you list your
land with us, Well, back up.
So, it's a two sided marketplace.
So, all of our users, they have
to book your, they would have to
book your land through land trust.
So, when they're signing up for
their profile, they're, they're
agreeing to terms of service.
And within that, they're indemnifying
the landowners 100 percent non liable.
Now, this is America.
Anybody can sue anybody for anything.
So, we have multiple layers of insurance
that come with you're listing, you know,
we have a liability policy, we have
property damage policy as well as we can
advise you on your state regulations.
A lot of states have agritourism I
don't know, clauses within their state
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
And everything that we do falls
under an agritourism title, so we
are truly an agritourism company.
So if you our CEO likes to say, and
I'm sure he will say it, and I use
the line all the time, like, if you've
had anybody on your land that's not in
your immediate family, you're actually
more exposed than if you were to have
a land trust listing and just make
them sign up to come on your, on your
land, you know, through that listing.
So you're covered, covered for that
time, but the nice thing about it too, is
it's, it's, there's, there's no contract
to the landowner and it's free to try.
It's, it's truly a revenue share.
I knew we're going to get to the
money part of this eventually.
So let's just jump in.
It's a revenue share.
It's 80 20.
So if you have a thousand dollar
listing, you're going to get 800.
We're going to get paid 200.
It's a
revenue share.
When people sign up to use
the service, it's set to come
book something at your farm.
They are ID verified through a
third party verification service
Stripe through our website.
So we have, they have to be a real person.
They have to have a U S driver's license.
And then we also have
their credit card on file.
So as soon as they book,
the money sits in escrow.
So the money is credited to you.
You know, how much is, you know, how
much money you have coming your way.
The morning of the event, or booking
when they, you know, eight o'clock when
they step foot on your property, that
money drops from the escrow account
into your, your accounts and the
money's transferred.
So it's left in escrow.
So if there was a cancellation or
a refund, you know, we don't have
to get it back out of
your accounts, right?
So
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: now with that
are all the things and this really speaks
to a little bit earlier conversation are
you mentioned on the photography you have
someone guide them or take them around
on all these things are are you the
farmer functioning as the guide for them?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
no, you don't have to be,
it says all decisions
are up to the landowner.
We have some landowners that want to
be very, very hands on and involved
and that's their prerogative.
And as long as we explain
that in the listing and you're
not misrepresenting yourself.
That's fine.
The, every listing comes with
a, like, listing instructions.
So, when somebody was to book
your property, they're gonna
get a text and an email with the
instructions for their listing.
So, on some of our stuff that's
more remote, or some of our stuff
where our landowner does not
choose to be involved at all,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
that person doing recreation's gonna
get a GPS pin of where to park.
They're gonna get instructions on, you
know, walk through this gate, please
close all gates, check in here, whatever.
You build.
You build all that completely
customized with our onboarding
specialists and our customer service
team to, so it's, so it's handled
exactly the way you want it handled.
You know, we have some
landowners, we have over 1.
25 million acres
in our network now.
So we have some of those acreages
that the landowner would never want
to drive all the way out there to the
backside of his property just to check
in with a pheasant hunter, right?
You know, he knows as long as that
guy shuts the gate, it's good.
The other thing to mention
is the way we keep.
The way we keep good people within
our network is similar to Uber.
Every time an experience is done,
both the landowner rates, the
sportsman or the recreationalist,
and they rate the landowner.
So we were able to weed out bad eggs.
We're able to personally call and handle.
Non satisfied parties.
We're very, very, we're a team of real
people that are very hands on and I guess
I should mention because I keep saying
we that I work for the company now.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: I
guess we didn't cover that.
I
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
no, we never really covered
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
into it, but yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
But yeah, we I was looking for this
product exactly for my, my farm.
We found it.
I heard the CEO, Nick on,
on working cows podcast.
I have some business experience
with cows being so expensive.
I knew I probably wasn't going to
scale my farm this year to be at
the revenue, the revenue needed,
and we're still in a growth stage.
So I had, and I had some extra time.
And as you know, I spend a lot of
time in my office working on my
business, or working on the business
as much as I work in the business.
So it was kind of a natural fit.
I enjoy business.
I really enjoy agriculture
and I called Nick and I was
like, man, I have some skills.
I, you know, I'm fresh off a racing
career, but I have some technical
skills that maybe I could help out.
So we started with like a contract labor
basis to see what I could help with and it
kind of blossomed to there and It turned
into me working for the company full time.
The company is based
out of Bozeman, Montana.
So there's a time difference which
works out well in my
case.
I can get a couple hours in on the farm
before I go to work for land trust.
I know my schedule is very lined out for
land trust and very lined up for the farm.
I'm pretty type A.
And I run a pretty tight schedule anyway,
so I kind of work for both companies
cohesively and they both certainly
complimentary compliment each other.
If I'm calling a landowner in South
Dakota, I can start the conversation by
talking about the cattle market if I need
to.
You know, but I think it probably
holds some weight that the
companies run by people who are
within the industry itself and not.
You know, we're not, we, the company is
tech, I go, we'd be considered a tech
agritourism company, but we're not all
from Berkeley, California behind computers
and don't have a clue what farm farmers
and ranchers go through on the day to
day.
So I think that helps
with our success for sure.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
Yeah, I'm sure it does.
As you mentioned earlier It's
free for landowners to sign up.
You get some insurance to go with that.
Is there, as you think about landowners
and who can sign up, do you all
have like a minimum size of acreage?
You're thinking you got to be at least
this many acreage before you can sign up?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
I, I, yes, but I hesitate
to put a size value on that.
Meaning you could have a nice.
I know I only have a 60 acre property
here and that's more than enough to
accomplish the photography and the
ranch tour thing that we do.
You're probably not going to find a, a
very successful 20 acre elk property.
It may be, maybe you have a really
good four acre bass pond that's
just loaded and you sit on 20 acres
that might be very successful.
So we handle on a case, case by case
basis, but yes, we do have, we know
if it's not going to fit our model.
And we'll be very honest with
you about that because it.
Even though it's free, we're going
to have time invested in you by
the time we get everything built out.
And we don't want to waste your time.
We don't want to waste our time.
But there's no, there's no
exact minimum size acreage.
It's more as.
Does the experience fit the acreage?
Are we offering a good experience?
We want everybody.
We're an experiences company,
both landowner and sportsman side.
And what we've found is not intentionally,
but very much so we have, we hear
so often from our landowners, how
much they actually enjoy having
these strangers come to their farm.
I
think if you really, if you really thought
about like some old farmers and ranchers,
you know, most people just want to share
their story at some point and they want.
people to have an appreciation
of their life's work.
So this is sometimes their channel to be
able to tell somebody and show somebody
that's genuinely interested their, their
life's work, which they, they might not,
not otherwise have a chance to do that.
That's been like a very fulfilling
part of this job for me.
That was, Not something I planned on, on
being, but I'll write some blogs about
some of these farmers and ranchers or
we'll hear the reviews and it's like,
I enjoyed so much showing, you know,
Roger and his family around all day.
You know, they're welcome back anytime
and you can just hear the joy in their
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: oh yeah,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
that's awesome.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: very good.
You know, I think about as you
say that my grandpa would love
nothing more than someone to come
up there and him show them around
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yeah.
I,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: may need.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
I, my grandpa my, my grandpa that
passed away last year, that was nothing.
He enjoyed more at the end of
his life than just throwing
somebody in the farm truck.
And four hours later, you'd be
pulling back in a dairy farm and
he's showed you every corner of every
field and told you every story that's
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
Oh yes, yeah, yeah,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
We don't have a grandpa.
We don't have a grandpa tour listing,
but somebody is going to have a
grandpa tour listing and make a lot of
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
yes, exactly, yeah.
Now, one thing we mentioned
throughout is landowners.
Is this a possible revenue avenue
for someone who leased properties
from an absentee landowner?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yes, and we do have, we have plenty of
cases of that, especially, you know,
out West, that's a big business model.
It's not uncommon to find ranches that
are owned by an absentee landowner.
They might have an operating
company that's an LLC.
That's one set of people and you
might, and they might operate off of
leased cows that somebody else owns.
Right?
So,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Right.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yes, that's allowed.
We put it upon, we put it upon the
landowner and the, the absentee
landowner and the operator to
figure out how the revenue is
distributed and, and figure that
out amongst themselves.
You know, we advise, we don't want any, we
want it to work as smoothly as possible.
So
we, we can help advise that relationship.
I think a lot of those things, I hope
a lot of those things are spoken about
when people lease land, you know,
I think it's very common, probably
where there's things like oil and gas,
that would be called surface rights.
But hunting lease rights.
Our, our thing of real value
nowadays, and those are generally
discussed within within contracts.
So
we try to help people work through that
and, and, and try to help them reach
a resolution that helps all because on
their end, maybe it's included in the
lease, you know, maybe the leases, I don't
know, it could be a revenue share model.
It could be, it could be
whatever satisfies that party,
but we will help with it.
We don't facilitate it between the
two parties, but we'll certainly
steer you the right direction.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: When I
think about the properties I have
leased part of them, I have hunting
rights on them that I lease out.
And that was the agreement.
And then part of it, we don't have any
hunting rights because they were concerned
about the liability on it and everything
about just really concerned but they
might be interested in something else.
So, so that's an interesting potential
revenue or avenue of revenue that,
that might work for somebody.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yeah, absolutely.
Like, you know, I'm a, I'm a hunter.
I hunt a lot of different
species and, and I'm about to
be a dad actually in February.
And, and I think one of the, this
kind of goes back to racing, but
one of the things I realized was
that you can't buy more time.
That's for
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Right, yeah.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
And it's not always easy to just
schedule a week long hunting trip.
In advance here, especially if you run
a farm and ranch and weather's change,
you know, you have to be flexible.
So this, this model allows the sportsman
to really have some flexibility.
Hey, I have three days.
Let's let me look at the map.
Like I'm in North Carolina.
Maybe I want to go hunt
whitetails, whitetails in Kentucky.
Look at the map, find a
property that suits me, send the
landowner or request to hunt.
He or she accepts it or denies it.
I'm jumping the truck and I go.
That's much different than having to.
Pay for and maintain a yearly
lease and keep a property up.
And I think it's actually really
good value now that you've, now
that I know what some hunting
leases cost throughout America.
Sure, but but there's also a case for the
times when you can take a week's trip to
Wyoming or whatever, and you
want to go with an outfitter.
This is just a different tier.
It's between, it's between
going to public land and between
going to pay an outfitter.
We kind of call it like, It's
like DIY private hunting.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
to do it yourself.
You reserve the right
for the whole property.
So you don't have to worry
about bumping into other people.
You know, you mentioned you listened
to the district conservation
podcast with Gabriella Hoffman.
I never thought about this, but
she was a first time dove hunter.
And it was just him, it was
just her and I in the field.
And I don't know if you've ever dove
hunted, but like a big dove hunt can
be extremely intimidating for somebody.
Lots of hunters in the field,
lots of shooting, it can be
hard to get your bearings.
And I, you know, she was with me, she
shot her first dove, it was awesome.
She had some misses, she
realized, oh wow, these things
fly fast and they're erratically.
But it was like a really good
controlled environment to introduce
somebody to hunting and, and have them
have a good positive experience the
first time.
And I never thought about that.
And then I was like, man, this is the
perfect way to get people into hunting
until they're really comfortable
to maybe go on some of these
bigger or other types of hunts.
So,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yeah.
We, I've never done dove hunting.
I've only limited experiences with hunting
and it's just not a priority in my life.
But we had a local gentleman who fishes
and does some other hunting on us.
He did some dove hunting this year on us.
So interesting.
I'd never been around it.
So that was the closest I've been
around dove hunting, but it sounds like
she enjoyed the trip on her podcast.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
she's hooked.
I
think she's hooked for sure.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: One thing you
mentioned a little bit ago, and I just
want to make sure I heard it correctly.
So someone says, Hey, let's
see if something's available.
And they get on the website and
they look and they find, Oh, here's,
here's the activity I want to take.
It goes to the farm or landowner.
Right.
To approve or disapprove that kind
of like Airbnb, you make a request
for a house, but the, the owner
could deny it or allow it either way.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yeah, that's exactly how it works.
That's, you know, you asked about
how involved a landowner has to be.
And the minimum effort involved is you
have to have a cell phone to accept
or deny the bookings that come in.
That's
it.
That's the minimum.
We.
We take a lot of pride in
that this model leaves all the
control in the landowner's hands.
So they actually have, the
landowners have a backend to the
website, a landowner portal where
people can send them messages.
You can talk directly to the
landowner before you go get
tips, get, you know, you can converse
and you can converse securely
through our website, which is nice.
You don't have to worry about some
random person having your phone number
if you're not comfortable with that.
But the landowner can also manage
the dates that it's available.
Just like Airbnb, you know, if,
if he brings in, he or she brings in
their family for Thanksgiving and they
always do a family deer hunt, they can
block off a week before Thanksgiving, the
week of Thanksgiving and the week after
if they'd like, and nobody can book it.
Conversely, Every booking
request has to be approved.
So if you forgot to block something
off and somebody makes a request
and you're like, I just don't, I
can't have people here that day.
No big deal.
You can deny it, or you can propose a new
time, or you can speak directly to the.
You know, the people,
but yeah, everything's
approved the landowner.
You stay in complete
control the whole time.
I think landowners, I don't know
many landowners that have ever
had a bad experience with us.
It's, it's very, it's very, now the
control is all with the landowner.
So you have to be a little bit actively
engaged that that's, that is what's
different than just a lease model where
somebody leases your back a hundred
acres and you don't know who's coming
or going, but if if you're a landowner
that's in the You know, having control
and to your rights on your property.
This is the way to go.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: And you mentioned
on there it comes with, you know, some
layers of security for your insurance.
So what happens a hunter shows
up and they shoot a cow because
sadly, You know, that happens.
We, we've had it happen.
Of course, it's never a hunter.
We told them they could be there,
but what, what happens in that case?
Or if you get a guest on and
they destroy some property,
what happens?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
mean, we have, we have all that in
place to deal with it insurance wise.
In the case of, and we take pride
in settling those issues, you
know, we, we were, we will call
the parties and settle the issues.
Luckily we've never had that
happen, nor do I ever want it to
happen, but it's a, it's a real concern.
In some cases on the property damage
side, we carry an insurance policy
for that, but in some cases it might
just be cheaper for us to reimburse.
You know, if it's a tore up gate,
are we going to file a
claim for a 200 gate?
No, we're probably going to send you a
check and ask if you can drive to Southern
States or the farm store, you know, and
reimburse you for your time.
Sure.
You know, we do get that concern a lot.
We have big insurance policies in
place to cover incidents like that.
So
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
Very good, Taylor.
Very informative about land trust.
Like we said earlier,
Nick is going to come on.
And so on Friday, we're going to
release an episode with Nick on
it and talk about his journey,
why he just started land trust.
And, a little bit more about land trust
and how it's going from his point of view.
Taylor, really appreciate you sharing
about it today and it is time for
us to do our famous four questions
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cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: and I'm
excited Taylor because you've already
answered them before but we're
going to do them again and we're
going to see if those answers have
changed, if they stayed the same.
No, no peeking over trying to
figure out your last answers.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
yeah,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
Okay, our first question.
What is your favorite grazing
grass related book or resource?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
I believe I split this into a
couple of categories last time.
But I think to know where
you're going, you have to know.
Where you came from, for sure.
So in the cattle industry, I think
knowing the history of how the
cattle industry evolved in the U
S is, is a good, good foundation.
So you can help think about
where it might be going.
So I, one of my favorite books is
called cattle kingdom, and it's
very much on the history of the
cattle industry in the U S and.
And you know, if you like old
cowboy books, it's real good too.
I've read all of the grass
management books but I really
like Dale Strickler books.
There's managing, there's
managing, there's managing
pasture, restoring your soil.
I think there's one about
managing in a drought.
But those books are
really good because they're
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
drought resistant.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yep, that's it.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: I'm looking
around because I have it on my shelf.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yeah, I like the
illustrations in that book.
I like that it's almost coffee table
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Well, the managing pastures
is kind of that way too.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yep, absolutely.
I think a really good one
before you get in the business
of farming is understanding.
I know this wasn't on my list before,
but this has been a favorite and a big
change in my life years and years ago
was Robert Kiyosaki's rich dad, poor
dad, and
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: yeah,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
understanding what's an
asset, what's a liability.
What's, what's costing you money and
what's making you money is a really
good place to start in farming and
ranching because it's really easy to
look like the fanciest farmer ranch
on the block and realize you might
have a lot of things costing you money
and not many things making you money.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: right.
Yeah.
Excellent resources there, Taylor.
You did mention Dell Strickler books
before but Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I don't
think you mentioned that, but someone else
has mentioned that on the podcast before.
And that's a really good book.
Cat, Cattle Kingdom.
I don't know that book, so
I'll have to look that up.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
It's a good one.
I get, people know, I'm a reader and I
just get stacks of books for Christmas
and I plow through them and I, I think
I cattle kingdom might've been between,
I might've read them between podcasts.
So,
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh yeah.
Well, very good.
Our second question.
What is your favorite tool for the farm?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
I'm going to split this one as well.
We we live and die by a soil
temperature thermometer.
I have a little 15 Taylor.
No, no pun intended.
It's just who it's named by soil
temperature probe that I keep on the
four wheeler that really dictates
a lot of answers about when we
move cows, how much grass we take.
I feel like if you boil grass management
down and you just want to keep growing
forage, a big part of that is keeping
your soil at the right temperature,
especially where I live, where it'll be.
110 in the shade some days in the summer.
So that's also dictates when I, I employ
different types of grazing methods.
You
know, there's all these
names now for different
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yeah,
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259: In
the spring and the fall, when the ambient
temperature is not going to get above 75,
I will take a lot more grass and put a lot
more herd impact in sometimes, especially
in the spring when I'm maybe trying to.
Stomp some seed heads in or something
else, but I'm, because I know that
if I take too much, I'm not going to
nuke my soil, you know, with the sun
can't do that.
I can't do that in July and August here.
I gotta be pretty forgiving
to try to keep that soil and
that optimum range for growth.
So that's probably my most useful
tool as far as managing my cattle.
Secondarily, that, that goes right
along with the grazing chart, but
then I would be remiss to say that
an Excel spreadsheet, or in my case,
Google sheets is something I use.
Every single day multiple hours a day.
It's such a powerful tool.
It's a calculator That's
on your phone that
links to your computer
that links to other people.
I use it daily multiple times
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258:
Excellent resource there.
I use, I love Google Sheets.
I love a good spreadsheet.
Soil temperature probe.
I really hadn't thought about that,
but I think you bring up a valid
point there about soil temperature.
You know, if you go in in the spring
or fall and do non selective grazing
You, you're reducing that soil cover
down greatly, but if your temperature
is not going to, to affect that soil
temperature negatively like it would
during the heat of summer, then then
it might not be as bad as if you
do it during the heat of summer.
So during heat of summer to keep that
from happening, modify your grazing just
a little bit to leave more residue there.
You know, all, all All these grazing
methods we hear about sometimes we
hear and people just do it this way.
I, they're all tools.
They're
all tools for us that we, we can pick
out and use when we need to use it.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259: Yep.
You hit the nail on the head with tools.
I feel like whether it's Finances or
grazing or cattle you just need to
put different tools in your toolbox
Understand how to use them and when to use
them and I very much agree I see
a lot of arguments over different
grazing methods And it's a, it's, it's
the argument is one level too high.
You need to go to the root of the
argument, which is grow maximum
amount of, if your goal is grow
maximum amount of grass, or you
need to know what your goal is.
First of all, is it cattle health?
Is it soil health?
Is it grow grass?
Is it a year that you cattle
prices are high and you're going
to take some grass out of that?
Let's call it a savings
account of your farm.
And.
You know, you're going to
trade some of that grass value
for some more economic value.
That might be a year.
But you gotta, you gotta get down
one more layer in the context of
what does it take to grow grass
and that's water, soil temperature.
That's pretty much all
that grass cares about.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: And just
just speaking a little bit more about
that, my goal for a paddock, I give
cattle may change day to day, depending
upon where that paddock is on my
land and what I'm trying to do there.
So it, it could change.
Well, it could change for
the paddock they're in today.
I want, I want to make sure I
leave more residue in the paddock.
I put them in tomorrow, have some
briars and I want them stumped out,
you know, it's going to fluctuate
pretty rapidly or could, you know.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yeah.
And it's your, I mean, all of your
land is going to be an evolution.
It's going to change year to
year.
It's, it's either going, it's either
getting better, getting worse and.
Sometimes there's, sometimes it's okay
and necessary to make a pasture worse.
Maybe it's a set, like I have a
sacrifice pasture right now for the
betterment of the rest of the land.
I think as long as you have a plan and
you know where you're going, it's okay.
You know, that's, that's okay.
Just know, have a plan and figure it out.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Well, I,
I know I'm going to do a little bit
more non selective next year, at
least in the springtime, because
it was a little too selective.
My paddocks were too big.
And my sericea lespedeza had
a great year, and the cattle
only like it when it's small.
So, you know, I would have to
say my land went backwards this
year, but we're going to use it
as a stepping stone for next year.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Funny enough with, we had historic summer
rains and I thought I had the bees knees.
We grew a lot of grass, but I think
I brought my land backwards as well.
We, when they're calling for an
inch of rain and then we get six,
it's really hard to not damage
a pasture when there's cows out
there.
And that happened twice this summer.
And you know, you beat up my cows
aren't huge or anything, but when it's
that wet, they're going to plug it up
and I definitely have to do a
little damage repair this this fall.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: yeah.
Well, that was a, we kind of got
off on a tangent there about grazing
methods on the favorite tools.
That wasn't your tool of choice.
If someone skipped over that, you
probably want to go back and listen.
Our third question, what would you
tell someone just getting started?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Okay, so my favorite advice to somebody
getting started now is the, I didn't
make this up, this isn't a Taylor
Moyer made up, but somebody said
to me, whether you think you can or
you think you can't, you're right.
And it just comes down to
mindset.
And I'm
not, I'm not like, talking
about hippie dippy shit.
I just mean, you set out to be a
farmer or a rancher, and your mind.
And you have it in your mind that
you're going to go do it, go do it.
Don't let anybody tell you, you can't
take that from experience with me.
And that also goes for little
things within farming and ranching.
If you know, if you, if you don't
think you can do something and you
try it anyway, it's probably not
going to work because you're not
putting your best effort forward.
And if you do think you, Can do
something and you set out to do it,
you're probably going to find a way
to make it work, or you might learn
lessons along the way, but get there.
So, I think a lot of that goes to
mindset and I think mindset's super
important within anything you do, but
certainly in farming and ranching.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Oh, yeah.
I, I completely agree.
I think that quotes
attributed to Henry Ford.
I'm not sure
if that's who, who really said it,
you know, you start digging into
quotes and sometimes they have
interesting histories on their own.
I do think that mindset is so important.
Just to continue on that, you know,
your mindset determines before
you even begin, whether you're
going to be successful or not.
Yeah.
And lastly, Taylor, where can others find
out more about you as well as Land Trust?
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Sure.
Well, first and foremost, they can
find more about LandTrust at LandTrust.
com.
That's our website and you can even talk
to a real person on there, chat with us.
However you want to communicate
with us and land trust is also
on all our all social media.
So land trust underscore hunt
land trust underscore landowners.
We have a couple different instagram
accounts But yeah, just please if you
have any questions come ask us there's
we're real people you'll talk to a human
being You're not talking to a chat bot.
It'll be it'll be josh or colin or
myself if you call the landowner
side So we'd love to chat
Answer any questions you have.
Me personally, you can
also hit me up personally.
That's fine.
We have a farm website
ridgeviewlandandcattle.
com.
Instagram is ridgeviewlandandcattle,
or you can find me on any of the
other things at taylorcmoyer,
whether that's X or Instagram.
But I love to talk about this stuff.
I love to work with people.
If anybody, you know, just
wants to bounce ideas or chat.
I, I run a pretty broad network of folks.
And if I can't find the answers,
I don't, I have no shame
asking other people for help.
If, if I, if you, if there's a question
you have that I can't answer, but.
I love to help folks and I
love to talk about this stuff.
So please reach out to
me and let's have a chat.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Well,
Taylor, really enjoyed getting
on here and catching up with you.
It'll probably be a little
while before we catch up again
with a baby on the way for you.
That'll keep you
busy for a while.
But really appreciate
coming on and sharing today.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Yeah.
I appreciate it.
And I, last thing I want to say
is Nick is much better at talking
about land trust than I am.
So if you, if this is halfway
interesting, please listen to the next
episode and hear from our CEO.
cal_1_10-30-2024_123258: Very good.
Thank you, Taylor.
squadcaster-9436_1_10-30-2024_133259:
Thanks, Cal.
Cal: I really hope you
enjoyed today's conversation.
I know I did.
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