Regenerative Ag Stories on the Grazing Grass Podcast

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: So Jason,
we'll get started with the Fast five.

What's your name?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Cal, my name is Jason Schoenfelder.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249:
And Jason, what do you do?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
So I wear a couple of different

hats and, and serve a coup couple
different roles on a day-to-day basis.

I work for a company called
Beef Northwest Feeders.

And I specifically manage a pasture
based cattle finishing operation.

Primarily finishes cattle for country
natural beef, a rancher based cooperative.

In addition to that, my wife and I and
her family also run some cows of our own.

We have a cow calf operation kind
of scattered out over different

parts of northeast Oregon.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And
that answered my next question.

Where are you located?

So northeast Oregon.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah, so northeast Oregon, so, so

kind of the where, where I work
day to day and the winter, winter

grazing operations for our cow herds
kind of is in the Columbia basin.

Between Hermiston and,
and Boardman, Oregon.

And then our summer grazing is in a really
cool spot in northeast Oregon just outside

of, of enterprise on the alt prairie.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, very good.

. And you mentioned beef.

Is that the only livestock
species y'all deal with?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So, so me personally and my day job and
then, then my wife and, and, and, and

our operation is strictly beef cattle.

My brother-in-law is heavily involved
in the sheep industry gras sheep in

quite a few different environments.

But you'd sure want to talk to him
about some of the details there.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

And when did you start grazing Animals?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So,
I, I grew up around at Cal I originally

grew up in southeast Arizona Cochise
County near the, near the Mexican

border and the New Mexico border.

And it probably was about 1989 or 1990,
I would've been leaving junior high and,

and getting into high school, my dad
went to an Allen Savory grazing school

and, and just, just went all in on
the idea of rotational grazing and,

and more intensive grazing management
and, and holistic management.

And you know, it was interesting.

He converted the entire ranch
that we had at that time.

It was, oh, it was about just under 20,000
acres of, of deeded and state leased land.

But he converted that entire ranch.

As soon as he got back from that school,
started making plans, converted the

ranch into the original Allen Savory
design of, of rotational grazing the

cell, grazing the paddock grazing.

And, and so I was pretty young
and have been around that.

That thought process for, for most
of my, my career and my adult life,

Cal: Welcome to the grazing grass podcast.

The podcast dedicated to sharing
the stories of grass-based

livestock producers, exploring
regenerative practices that improve

the land animals and our lives.

I'm your host, Cal Hardage and each
week we'll dive into the journeys,

challenges, and successes of
producers like you, learning from

their experiences, and inspiring
each other to grow, and graze better.

Whether you're a seasoned
grazier or just getting started.

This is the place for you.

Speaker 4: Calling our ranchers.

If you're looking to optimize your
grazing operation and boost your bottom

line, Noble Research Institute can
help the noble approach to education

pairs their own infield research
with the expertise of ranch managers

and advisors to find practical
solutions to your unique challenges.

Now's the time to register for
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Noble will be in Jefferson City for Noble
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Noble Research Institute ensures that
every insight they share has been tested

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solutions that work, not just theories.

Visit noble.org

today to learn more about
these courses or to register.

Speaker: For 10 seconds about the farm,
last week's episode, I was talking

about moving my cows to ultra high
density grazing, and I say moving my

cows, moving my dad's cows to that.

My cows are used to daily moves,
dad's cows, we have permanent

paddocks here on his place, so
they're not used to daily moves.

However, I've got them running
with my cows, doing daily moves and

trying to increase that density.

I'm not near where I want to
be, but the cows are respecting

the electric fence now.

Step one complete, except they
still complain and they walk.

They do not like that confined area.

So we'll see how it goes.

It's been really wet, so I've made
paddocks larger than I'd like because I

don't want 'em plugging it up too much.

I've got one paddock, I made a little
small and um, they plugged it pretty bad,

so it's a journey.

We'll see how it goes and
I'll keep you informed.

Also I'm thinking I'll record
some videos for YouTube if

you wanna see what I'm doing.

Uh, when I do that, I'll let
you know on the podcast for

10 seconds about the podcast.

If you're not a member of the Grazing
Grass Community on Facebook, jump

over Facebook Search for Grazing
Grass Community and request to join.

Now, when you request to join, if you just
click join and don't answer any questions,

it automatically gets deleted or denied.

So make sure you answer those
questions just a little bit.

Um, they're really simple.

Put something in there.

That way I can see it and improve it.

I look forward to talking to you over
there and let's get back to Jason.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: When your
dad came back from that Allen Savory

course conference, did, did that strike
you as odd or were you at the time

thinking, Hey, this kind of makes sense?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
you know, it wasn't something I really

knew a lot about, but just even at,
at a fairly young age, I was pretty

interested in, in cattle and, and
grazing and, and livestock systems.

But the idea of, of supporting
Rangeland Health to better produce

a, a product and, and better manage
the landscape over a, a longer term.

Back then, sustainability wasn't even
really a word, but you were trying

to build a business plan around a,
a grazing operation to, to last year

over year, generation over generation.

So I thought that part was pretty cool.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.

Very good.

Then when you, you got finished with
high school, what'd you decide to go do?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So I went to college at
the University of Arizona.

Like any kid growing up on a ranch,
I think a lot of people can relate.

I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do.

So I bounced around a little bit and it,
it took me a while to, to get through my

college career, but ultimately decided
to just really like the cattle industry.

And, and as an industry as a whole,
I liked the grazing part of it.

I liked the cow calf, I liked
the business side of it.

Was really interested in, in the marketing
and, and really interested just in

the fact that ultimately we're, we're
converting grass into protein that's

in a system that that's healthy and
wholesome, and it's pretty tasty too.

So I just always had that idea
or that goal to somehow I.

Work my career into a place where
I was involved in the industry

from conception to dinner plate
if, if the opportunity ever arose.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yes.

Yeah,

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249:
So you're in Arizona now.

You're in Oregon.

Was that a straight line to get to Oregon?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
No, that was a pretty jagged line.

We bounced around quite a bit.

I was fortunate enough later in my college
career to do an internship at the King

Ranch, and of course that was in the
years before the King Ranch Institute

for Ranch Management was developed.

So I'm pretty fortunate to see
the operations there on a big

historic ranch that was pretty neat.

A different environment
than I'd ever been in.

And, and just see how cattle interacted
with the environment and, and what

it took to manage under those types
of range, range land conditions.

After I got outta college, I went back to
South Texas, right near the King Ranch.

Helped manage a registered beef master
cow herd for the Macallan family.

Again, different environment.

Highly susceptible to drought impacted
by big fluctuations in seasonal rainfall.

Had to figure out how to implement
management systems that that could

best utilize grass during the growing
season and the wet seasons, but then

conserve grazing head days and grazing
availability throughout the year.

So did that for a couple years, had
an opportunity to work with my family.

Fairly large scale cow-calf operation,
some stocker operation that was really

pretty scattered from Central and East
Texas up into Central and Oklahoma.

So,

got got the opportunity to work over
a number of different environments.

Again.

Tried to manage grass to, to
maximize, or I guess really

optimize the production of beef.

So some of those central Texas and, and
Oklahoma properties were super intensive,

utilized commercial fertilizers, lots of
mechanical brush control, lots of chemical

brush control and things like that.

But just gave me a lot of experience.

And then there was a number of
different ways to manage the landscape,

and I always focused and was, was
pulled towards ways that were more

economically beneficial more sustainable
over the long term, especially as it

related to, to the land itself, but
also the economics of the business.

You know, a lot of this stuff we do every
day is a lot of fun and it's, and it's,

you know, we do a lot of things for the
right reason, but there's really, it's

really important to me that we focus
on the economic benefits and that we're

able to build a business out of it.

Maintain some of these
ranches over over generations.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Right.

I, I completely concur you.

There's certain practices that
we don't do, but we used to do.

Um.

But when you really start penciling
them, we were doing them for the

aesthetic aspect of it rather
than the profitability aspect

of it.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
correct.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And it's
so easy to get wrapped into that.

In fact, I've got one lease property,
it, it's a ongoing conversation

because they would like it mowed.

They, they want it to look like manicured.

It's not gonna look that way
when I'm grazing cows on it

unless I overgraze it.

And we don't wanna do that
because that's hurting the land.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: yeah.

Now going through, so, so you mentioned
this a few times, you know, going from

southeast Arizona, south Texas, into
North Central Texas, into Oklahoma, that's

a wide variety In going through that.

What do you take away from that and
those different experiences that now

when you're in Oregon, you're using.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So I think the biggest takeaway for me was
that I, I used to think that, especially

growing up in southeast Arizona, I
used to think that, well, rainfall's

your, your biggest limiting factor.

So if you just go
somewhere where it rained,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh,

yes,

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
be easy, cows would be fat.

And, and I think the biggest takeaway
is that e every environment has

its own management challenges.

More rainfall can also mean
more noxious weeds can be more.

More brush encroachment can mean poor
quality forages forages that have to

be supplemented differently or, or
at least managed differently to take

advantage of, of the nutrition that's
out there on the, on the landscape

available for livestock production.

So, you know what I, I think just learning
to be adaptable to environments, but

then understanding that, that, and, and
I don't wanna oversimplify this and,

and listeners might take this the wrong
way, but at the end of the day, grass is

grass forages, forage cattle or cattle
matching those resources to the livestock

you run on that, or, or vice versa,
matching the cattle to the landscape.

At the end of the day, we're just, we're
just ultimately trying to produce pounds

of protein out of a product that, or out
of a, a feed stuff that humans wouldn't

enjoy eating and, and couldn't really
be very, very effective, consuming.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I am
going to pare down what you said.

You made it pretty short, but to me,
what I hear you saying is we need

to get out of the way of nature.

The cows are made to graze grass.

Grass is out there.

Let's let 'em do

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
that's right, that's right.

Yep.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

Now, you managed different
jobs in these areas after that.

Is that when you headed
towards the northeast?

Sorry, to the

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Northwest.

Yeah.

Yep.

So, you know, being a, being a one
man show and an entrepreneur kind of

mindset kind of operation in 2015,
we all know what the cattle market

went through end of 2014 and 2015.

One thing I'm pretty self-aware
with is the fact that I,

I'm probably not the best.

Best market risk manager.

Financial risk manager as some of those
cattle we were owning in a, in a stocker

operation that I was taking care of at
that time, you know, profitability was

good, but it required more equity in
that 2015 timeframe to replace those

stockers in those background or cattle.

Looked, was, thought it might be
a good idea for me to look for,

quote unquote a, a real job.

Finally I found some, I found an
opportunity up here with Beef Northwest

Feeders up here in northeast Oregon.

Took an opportunity to to submit a resume
and, and came up here, interviewed with

the, with the powers that be and the
folks that run this company day to day.

And, and it was just a good click.

It was a fit right from day one.

Kind of made my mind up that
if I'm gonna transition out of

being my own boss to work in
potentially working in a corporate.

Commercial cattle feeding company
that these were the type of people

I really wanted to be around.

And lucky for me, they, they saw some
potential in me, offered me a job.

And, and fast forward to 2025 here in
August, I'll have been here 10 years.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yes.

Yeah.

When you went up there, was it more
the conventional feedlot at that time?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: No.

So that was one of the really
intriguing factors to me.

Obviously Beef Northwest Feeders is a
large commercial cattle feeding company

very strong you know, very strong in
that, in that piece of the industry.

But one of the things I saw even when I
interviewed is they, at the time, beef

Northwest Feeders had a very strong
relationship with country natural beef

and was finishing cattle for the country
natural beef member ranchers on a, on

this operation that I managed today.

It's called Northwest Pasture Beef.

It was originally started Country
Natural Beef, needed an operation to

meet Gap step level four standards.

I don't know if you're
familiar with GAP at all.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I,
I think we should cover it.

The only I'll, I'll be
completely transparent here.

The only reason I'm familiar with it.

As I listened to a podcast from 2020
that some people from Country Natural

Beef was on, and they were talking
about it, so I had to look it up.

So I suspect most of my listeners are
not familiar with it, or maybe they

are, maybe they're smarter than me.

But go ahead and explain what

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So, so Gap, GAP stands for
Global Animal Partnership.

And, and that was started originally
as an, as an ask or as an as a

project by Whole Foods Markets.

If you're familiar with the high,
really high end grocery store chain

whole Foods customers had a big ask.

For more information on how the animal
based proteins that they were offering,

how they were produced, and, and the
ask was to build a set of animal welfare

standards that w that could be third
party audited and really verified.

And what it boils down to is, is
things like conventional feedlots,

things like certain animal handling
practices things like adding

implants, different hormones feeding
our on forest to cattle, whole foods.

Customers really sent a big, big
signal to drive away from those,

some of those technologies that were
used widespread in the industry.

So GAP is based on different, they
call 'em step level, step levels.

And what the gap step level four.

The biggest differentiator there
is, is letting cattle live, or,

or b, in a production system.

That is a non-con confinement system.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And I
believe there's five steps, so, so

step four, you're close to all their
recommendations, but not quite all the

way

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So the, in, on the beef side of it,
there's different step levels and there's

different standards for all animal protein

Yeah.

Products.

But in the beef, in the beef world
there's really only step one.

Then it kind of jumps to step four.

Then you

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, okay.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
and, and five plus.

Step one allows for conventional type
feed yards, but has some stipulations

for space behavioral enhancements,
so things like back scratchers and

things like that within the pens.

Step four brings into the pasture based.

Non confinement system.

And that's a space we operate in today.

Step five accounts for some standards
around not dehorning, cattle, not

physically altering the animals, so
earmarks, ear tags, branding, castration.

And there is a step level five plus.

We don't, we're not part of that,
of the five or the five plus, but I

believe the five plus goes as far to
animals are born, raised and harvested

on the ranch or farm of origin.

So they, they, they, they
never step foot on a truck.

They never move.

Things like that.

Yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

Yeah.

Which step four seems to be a high up
on that because step five that physical

alteration of a animal, that's a,
that's a industry thing that would be

really tough to achieve, I think when
you're working with member ranches, us.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So step, so step four takes into account
both it, it requires a pasture-based

system to meet the animal welfare
standard, but it also takes into

account just about everything that we
could or should be doing as producers.

Yes, we are doing this to meet some
customer demands and some customer

needs, and there is a premium in
the market available for that.

But at the end of the
day it's pretty good.

It's a pretty good feeling to go to
sleep at night that you can operate

within this system and, and you're,
you're, you're not gonna be caught.

You'd never be caught up in a, in any sort
of issue that related to animal welfare.

Yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are there other
feeders that are step four as well?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
So there are a couple

other feeders in the us.

There's a couple other operations
that specifically feed cattle

for country natural beef.

And I work with some of those
producers fairly closely.

And there are, I think there are a
couple other gap four gap step level

four operations around the country.

I believe there's actually one in
the northeast may, maybe up in Maine.

So totally different environment.

Winters get to the point where
it did, it does require housing

and some things like that.

Fortunately we're in a pretty unique
environment where, where I am in

northeast Oregon where we're, we're
fairly arid, don't have to deal with mud.

Winters are typically fairly
moderate and temperate, so it, it's

a pretty good place to raise cattle.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are you on
your pasture in Northeast Oregon?

And, and to be honest, I'm not super
familiar with the Pacific Northwest up

there, but I know when you're talking
about the east half of Oregon and

Washington, very different than the west

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Right, right.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249:
arid, like you said.

. For ranchers I've talked to in
Idaho and in that area, they

use a lot of irrigated ground.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
So, so for this for this

finishing operation, our, our.

We're a hundred percent irrigated
ground center pivot, irrigated.

And we're, we're focused on, on utilizing
a combination of permanent pastures

cover crop and then crop aftermath
to provide the pasture space that we,

that we operate on for this program,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I don't know
that you answered this, and maybe you did.

So when you went there, did they
have this pasture division in and

were they doing that or that was
something created after you got there?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: no.

So it had been developed specifically
for country natural beef several

years prior to, to me coming
to work for Beef Northwest.

I've had the opportunity to
expand the operation a little

bit while I've been here.

And we've also had the opportunity to,
to kind of build, build out the scope of

this, you know, does, you know, we had
a lot of questions, you know, utilizing.

Utilizing irrigation water, utilizing
fairly high value farm ground just to

provide a, a, I shouldn't say it that way,
but in order to provide a, a comfortable

space for cattle to be, be raised in.

One of our questions was, is that
the best use of the resource?

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
So, so out crop rotation programs,

utilizing cover cropping plans rotating
permanent pastures in and out of crop

production at different times with
irrigation has, has allowed us to, maybe,

it's allowed us to utilize the land and
the water res source for a little more

than, than just running cattle on it.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Let, let's dive in deeper into
that pasture finishing program.

You mentioned you're running some crops,
you're rotating some cows on there.

Are you grazing annuals with
all those animals, or do you

have some permanent pasture?

What's your forage

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249:
situation look like?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So it'd be a combination of, of
really all the above cal and, and

with what we want to try to do in
experiment with as we move forward.

The sky's, the sky's the limit.

So today our permanent pasture
would be a, typically a grass mix.

You know, try to find a mixture
of cool season perennial grasses.

Warm season perennial grasses.

Typically, when we replant a pasture, or
we may, we maybe bring a new circle in.

We'll use a, a triticale or, or
a rye grass as almost a nurse

crop as we try to establish those
more permanent perennial grasses.

We use a lot of like, like one of the,
one of the things that we do is we

take a field that's been in alfalfa
hay production for a number of years,

and that stands starting to go out or
starting to wear out just a little bit.

That's an awesome place to start
with in this grazing rotation.

Graze that alfalfa for a little bit.

Come back in with a, with a grass mix
that we can intercede or over seeded redu.

You know, we've got a lot of goals
around reducing tillage, minimizing

tillage reducing fertilizer usage
or, or eliminating fertilizer usage

altogether is the ultimate goal.

Yeah.

We've tried some things in the past.

You know, if you know anything
about farming and, and especially

irrigated farming on high value ground
kosher is kind of a, a bad word.

We planted several years ago,
we actually planted some forage,

kosher and I, I think some of the
farmers were looked at as side eyed.

But it's fast growing, kept the ground
together, kept the ground covered.

Cattle did well on it.

Yep.

Yeah,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

Very good.

Now when, when I think about a feedlot,
and then when I, I take a step further

and I think about a pasture base finishing

program

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: in my mind, we
have some, some farms around here and

they take five acres about, and they
put a feed bunk in there, a shade cloth,

and those cows are just put in that five

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Mm-hmm.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: and while that
gets 'em on pasture and they may be

able to claim its pasture base, to me
that seems like they're not doing quite

enough to really take care of the land.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

Yeah.

So,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: are you all
managing your cattle in that system?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
yeah, so today it is a

really unique system.

We are feeding these cattle
fairly high energy diet.

It's all natural, no hormones, no ion
fours, no other, no implants in the

cattle and no other feed additives.

You know, our, our customer e
essentially demands a very, very high

quality beef product at the end of the

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
So we are, the product we

sell is choice or better.

And that's.

We, we have to produce that day in or
week in, week out for our customers.

So we're feeding a
fairly high energy diet.

As a feed yard manager, I know
those cattle are eating some of

the forage and consuming some of
the grasses out on the pasture.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Right.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
really account for that

as part of the diet very

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: okay.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
We can't, we can see differences

in intakes as far as the amount of
feed per head per day that cattle

consume out of the feed bunk.

There there is a, there is an
interaction that happens there

that, that we really watch closely
from a management standpoint.

But, but at the end of the day, what we're
trying to do is maintain that stand of

forage that's out there in the pasture.

We wanna minimize bare
ground every chance we can.

We want to increase living
roots out there on the.

Out there on the landscape.

We'd like to diversify species
of, of, of, of vegetative

ground cover that's out there.

And so what we're doing is we're
rotating these cattle relatively quickly.

Today it's on about a five to seven
a five, a five to 10 day rotation.

Our goal is to let, our goal is to
let every paddock or pasture rest

a minimum of 21 days during the
growing season throughout the year.

So if you think about hay production,
you know, we're trying to make sure

we, we let that grass have a chance
to grow, continue to put those roots

down below the soil surface fill in
any areas where we have high cattle

traffic impact and go from there.

Yep.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are you all
able to have feed bunks in every rotation

you're going through, or do you have
some kind of portable system for that?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: So
we use, we use a, a couple of different

styles of feed bunks, but we've got
enough feed bunks to where we have a

rotation plan and we're essentially
leapfrogging feed bunks and, and water

infrastructure ahead of the cattle.

Yep.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: yeah, yeah.

Water's always a limping factor.

Of course.

When you have irrigated water, that
kind of negates some of that, I would

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Right, right.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

And then the feed bunks with the,
them getting the feed on their grain.

Finish 'em for a high end
product going to Whole Foods or

wherever it's going with that.

Are you finding customers are saying
they're good with grain finish that way?

Or are you getting some pushback
saying they want grass finished or does

it matter to the high-end customer?

Are they just worried about that?

Piece of meat being a quality product?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So I, I think it does
matter to the consumer.

Ultimately, ultimately, the consumer
wants to feel good about the product

they're purchasing and how it was raised.

But the customer today wants a really,
wants a really good eating experience.

You know, I've been on, on the edges
of different grass fed markets and

I'm gonna be the last guy to tell
you one's better than the other.

I'm, I'm gonna tell you, do what
works best for your operation that

keeps you economically relevant,
that helps you leave your land, your

land, your ranch to your children
or the, or future generations.

What, whatever works.

The cool thing about country
natural beef and the fact that

it's a, it, it's a big co-op.

Of a bunch of different ranchers.

I probably have right at 40 different
cattle feeding customers here at

Beef, at Northwest Pasture Beef today
that are all CNB member ranches.

There's about a hundred members
in the country Natural Beef

Cooperative as it stands today.

There's about 61 or 2000 head of cattle
projected to go through the program this,

this fiscal year for the cooperative.

So it's a big scope, right?

And, and, and the cool thing about
it is this allows ranchers to do what

they do best at home, focus on their
landscape, focus on their livestock,

focus on their family, but it also, this,
this program here and this facility.

Allows the co-op to produce a very
consistent product that's extremely

high quality week in, week out
throughout the year, that that allows

the, the cooperative to attract a
very special customer that's very

appreciative of the product we produce.

I,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I,
I think you, you hit on a few

points there, that's so important.

Consistency.

The consumer wants to know that
when they buy that product, they

want it to be like last week's

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: yes.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: or
a month ago, six months ago.

They want that consistency.

The other thing you mentioned,
grass fed, grain finish, whatever

it is, whatever's working for you.

Whatever you've developed
your market for, have at

it.

This is where we're excelling.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So when you let's, let's change
the focus just a little bit.

We still wanna talk about that, but
when you're talking about you're

bringing those animals in from
member ranches, are you requesting

member ranches to use certain breeds?

Are you requesting certain
certain practices in place for

those animals to come to you?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah, so, so Country Natural Beef

tries to outline some, some standard
expectations of cattle that are

coming into the finishing facility.

There's nothing, there's
nothing breeds breed specific.

I mean, ultimately we want these ranches
to be in business for generations.

I mean, country natural beef
members cover Oregon, Washington,

Idaho, Nevada, Colorado.

There's several in Montana.

I don't know if I mentioned
Colorado, but there's several

in Colorado, several in Arizona.

Covered, I think it's just over 1.5,

1.6

million acres of landscape
scattered across Rockies through the

Intermountain West, the Great Basin,
all the way to the Pacific Coast.

So when it comes to breed specificity,
we're not, there's, there's no ask there.

We do need cattle that have the genetic
potential to grade USDA choice or better,

and, and we can manage some of that with
days on feed in the finishing process.

But ultimately, I think country natural
beef really leans hard back to the rancher

saying, if you wanna be a part of this
co-op at the very, at the very least,

run a cow that fits your environment
and can help your ranch be profitable

and efficient on the cow calf side.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Do you
provide data back to the rancher

on how their calves performed and
dressed out so that they can make

management decisions on their end?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah, so there's a big, there's a, a

big data set that's been collected for
going on 25, maybe close to 30 years.

But ultimately if a rancher, if a
member rancher sends cattle here

to Northwest Pasture beef they'll
get the feedlot performance.

So average daily gain, dry matter
feed conversion, the cost of

gain any health outcomes as it

relates to, to performance of
the cattle in the feed yard.

And then through the co-op ranchers
also get all the carcass data back.

So USDA quality grade yield, grades,
back fat thickness, ribeye areas

yield and dressing percentages.

They get all of that back.

So if a rancher has the, the, the
data management systems at home, and

I mean, ultimately a, a rancher could,
could tailor design a cow herd that was

effective on the landscape, efficient on
their ranch, reproductively efficient,

feed efficient, and have really good
carcass quality for the consumer.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are you seeing
what the ranches you all work with?

Are they long term agreements?

They, for as long as you've been doing
it, do you have some ranches that's

still, that's been in it the whole time?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

Yeah.

So I I, it, I get to feed
cattle for the entire spectrum.

Right?

There's, I get to feed cattle
for some of the founding member

ranchers of country natural

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
all the way down to, to somebody

that has, you know, 30 head of
cows on a smaller operation.

And they, they love the idea of getting
involved with this and being able to,

to manage their ranch and take out some
of the marketing headaches and then

generate a premium for their cattle.

So it's, it's everything in between.

We've got three, 3000 plus head
producers down to 30 head producers.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are
y'all maintaining your numbers

or are y'all looking to grow and
maybe increase number wrenches?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So we'd love to grow.

We'd love to increase
the number of ranches.

There's, there is a very big
demand for the end product.

There's a huge demand for
the end product today.

Obviously it's not just a, a turnkey, it's
not a turnkey project, you know, because

ranchers participate through the co-op.

Retain ownership through
the feeding phase.

And, and they're selling, essentially
they're selling hot carcass weight on

the rail at the packing plant to the meat

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, okay.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
And then they have an equity stake

in the meat company and get paid
dividends on country natural beefs,

profit and losses as a meat company.

So for a rancher to get involved,
there are some financial ramifications

and cashflow ramifications.

If you're historically a calf
seller or you, you wean calves

and background calves at home and,
and keep them to their yearlings.

There's some things to, to think about
as you go into becoming a retained

ownership, finished feeder seller.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
But there's lots of resources

out there to help with that.

The co-op I know has worked with
different financial institutions to

try to figure out how to do that.

We can jump into this graze
well topic, but there's some.

There's some funding through gray's well
that could potentially help ranchers do

some projects at the ranch that would
help offset some things in order to,

in order to participate in the system.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

One last question before
we kind of jump into

Grays Whale and find out more about that.

Someone sends you u calves and
you, you're finishing them out.

What happens to the ones who don't
grade grade as high as you need them to?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So something that grades less than
A-U-S-D-A choice that carcass would be,

would be sold to, to the packing plant.

We, we work with a couple of large
commercial packing plants on, essentially,

it's essentially a large scale agreement,
just like you would do with your

local packing house down the road.

You know, they, they harvest
the animal, they process it.

Country Natural Beef's inventory and
marketing team submits an order for

how that carcass needs to be broke
down into what cuts, how it needs to be

boxed, and how it needs to be shipped.

So something that was outta spec
the rancher is still gonna get

the market price for that week for
whatever that that grade or that

class of, of Carcass would be.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Right.

It, it's not the premium for the premium

product, but they're getting
market value for that.

Yeah.

Yeah, I, I think that's very interesting.

I know for a number of years we sold to
a, a label that wanted certain breeding

and they ended up, they were coming
quite a ways for three of us grouped

together, so we would have a load of

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Right?

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: and they decided
it was too far to come just for us three.

So,

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: Yep.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249:
but, but we enjoyed that.

But one thing that was very
different about that program was

we were selling the calves to them.

They, we weren't retaining ownership.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: yep.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

Which I can see a lot of, a lot of
value to that retain ownership because

that, that really means how those calves
perform affects the rancher's pocketbook,

and it makes them really conscious of
those carcass traits and what they're

wanting or, or to provide that premium

product to You

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
You know, and it's, it's as close to

a vertically integrated program as I
think we have in the beef industry.

So if I just put my rancher hat on and
I've worked my tail off on building a, a

maternal reproductive efficient cow that
produces heavy weaning weight calves that

are gonna perform well and stay healthy
in the feedlot, and then pro produce a

high quality carcass for the consumer.

I can capitalize on all that investment
I put into building that calf

through every segment of the chain.

I, I think that's, I think
there's opportunity there.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249:
Yes, I think so too.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
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cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Something
you mentioned earlier, Jason,

was the Grazewell Program,

and I'll be honest, till I.

Started researching for this episode.

I wasn't familiar with Grazewells
at all, so I'm gonna assume a fair

number of my listeners aren't either.

So what is the Grazewell Program?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So it's a brand, it's a brand new
program, and I'll give you just a little

bit of the origin story behind it.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh,

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
So, so go back to, go back

to the Whole Foods model.

Years and years ago, whole Foods
customers said, Hey, we wanna know a

little bit about how the animals that
are going into these protein products,

how they're raised and cared for.

Throughout the production cycle
the consumer has since expanded

that question to how do these
production systems affect the land?

How do they affect water resources?

How do they affect air quality?

How do they relate to different
sustainability practices?

And, and then the, the new, the, the
new jargon is regenerative agriculture.

Right?

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: yes.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
So Gray's, well essentially is is a

program that takes into account how
we utilize regenerative ag practices

across ranches, across landscape,
and in the finishing system to offer

a premium product to consumers.

And, and Country Natural Beef is
working on getting this to be an

accredited third party audited
set of standards for ranchers.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, okay.

So,

Did Grace, well, it, who
is, who developed Graves?

Well, I mean, and is
that Northwest Feeders?

Is it a outside entity?

How, or is it a combination thereof.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: No.

So, country natural Beef develop, the
GRA is, is developing the grazes well

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, okay.

It's country

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
of coined,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
coined the, the term graze.

Well, there are several outside
technical service providers

have helped generate data.

What practices can be implemented on the
landscape that are truly regenerative

type practices that can have an impact
on the landscape and the soil and the air

and the water and those kind of things.

The next step to this is, is have one
of those technical service providers

provide an accreditation and then use.

And, and then bring in a third party
auditing body that would then provide

some outside hard concrete verification
that yes, ranchers are ranchers in,

in this program are implementing
these practices on the landscape.

We're, we're not trying to make this
outcome based that nobody's saying As a

rancher, thou shalt move soil carbon from
point or soil organic matter from 0.8%

to 2% or anything like
that, trying to change soil.

Organic matter is gonna
be a lifetime process.

And if you move it a very,
very small increment, that'd

be a huge win for anybody.

Right?

But are we implementing the
practices that have shown to

improve soil, increase soil organic
matter, improve water infiltration?

Reduce bare ground cover
maintain more living root mass,

be below the soil surface.

Are we keeping more vegetative organic
matter on the soil surface, whether that

be dormant, dormant feed, growing, ground
cover litter, things like that, that, that

eventually become soil organic matter?

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: With the,
the Grays Whale accreditation,

is that something that each
member ranch selling into country

natural beef is expected to have?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

Yeah, that, that's, that's correct.

Every member ranch would have that.

And then any ranch that, that, that
sells cattle into the program, whether

it's to a member ranch, would, would
have to verify that they participate

this through an affidavit process.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: so it's, so
Grazewell, is available for everyone.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
it is.

It really

Yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: and it, it's
something that Country Natural Beef

is utilizing for their member ranches,
but it's out there for other people

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
That's correct.

Yep.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

And when we look at this, is it
just pasture land or do you get

into crop rotations as well?

How's Grayville set up?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

So all of the above.

So take, take our, our little
ranch on the Zoom, Walt Prairie.

We pick some monitoring sites.

We're measuring measuring
soil carbon content.

We're measuring water infiltration,
we're measuring bare ground cover.

We're, we're doing some transects
and counting the species.

Within each monitoring site we're setting
some long-term goals, so goals that we

would measure in five-year increments
to see how our grazing management

practices may influence change over time.

So you take a model like that
back to the finishing area.

You know, the, the finishing facility,
again, we're looking at soil, you

know, soil microbial activity, looking
at water infiltration, looking at

diversity of species of vegetation.

I've got some elk and some deer and some
waterfowl that live here at the feed yard.

Or use the feed yard from time to time.

We call it a feed yard.

It's, it, it looks like a big
irrigated farm that you, you'd

have a bunch of cattle on.

But

what, you know, we're, we're really close
to, we're really close to the Columbia

River here, where, where the finishing
facility I manage is what, what are we

doing with soil nutrient loads, I mean.

We really wanna look at some
things like we, we cattle on a

certain certain area of land.

Can we plant a, a feed or a forage or
a grain crop in behind those cattle?

Can we harvest that, put that back
into the rations in finished cattle?

Some of those longer term, more closed
loop type systems really play well

into things we're trying to do and
things we're trying to investigate.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Are there similar
programs out there, like GRA Grays?

Well,

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
I don't think there is anything

quite like Grazewell out there.

There, there's some, there's some
different regenerative ag label claims

that are, you know, that are, that
are accredited and, and audited.

And measured.

But the thing about Grazewell is,
is it's designed to meet ranchers

and producers where they are in
their journey to produce a product.

Utilizing some regenerative PR practices,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: so if someone's
interested in the Grazewell program, what?

What should they do?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
you know, contact Country natural beef.

First and foremost you can find
Country Natural Beef online, Google it.

We have some compli.

We have a compliance coordinator that
would be extremely knowledgeable.

There's a, there's a woman named
Valerie Rasmussen that is really

focused on helping develop the, the
gras well label and the label claim.

Arvid Carlson would be the the production
manager for the live cattle supply.

So he works closely with ranchers
on helping them get the different

certifications and accreditations
they need to have their cattle

qualify for the program.

Yeah, if folks reached out to me,
I could help them get into contact

with, with the people they need to.

They need to talk to.

Yep.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: oh, very good.

And and I may ask that question a
little prematurely on Grazewell.

You mentioned that's a newer program,
but I assume that's similar to the

management practices you all have
had your ranches do for a while.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah, so that's the, that's

the beauty of this whole thing.

Cal, you know, a lot of ranches it
were implementing different holistic

management practices, different grazing
management practices that just, if you

looked at what some of the regenerative
claims required, well, most of us were

already doing it out of the ranches.

We needed to figure out how to
apply it to a finishing space,

but we were already doing it.

There was consumer demand.

As a producer, how can we,
how can we capitalize on that?

How could we achieve or, or
realize a market premium?

I.

For that product.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: All right.

And gives a way to give that
confidence to the consumer.

That's going through this program.

Some assurance

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
That's right.

That's right.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

Yeah.

Now, and we've mentioned throughout
this country, natural beef and

we've mentioned Whole Foods.

Is that the only place we're
finding country natural beef?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: No
I mean, whole, whole Foods would be the

largest customer of Country Natural Beef.

But there's a number of different
regional grocery stores, especially

in the Pacific Northwest town and
Country Market, PCC Food Co-Ops.

Chipotle ends up with, with, I don't
believe We're Country Natural Beef is

an exclusive provider, but Chipotle buys
a lot of product work with a company

that's part of the, like the Cisco
Food Service division called Fulton's.

In the Portland area you know, working
more in the food service side of

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
You know, it's, it, it, I I guess Country

Natural Beef would be a fairly regional
label just because most of the feeding,

well, all of the feeding and packing
space is, is up here in the Pacific

Northwest, but it's fairly widespread.

Yep.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.

Very good.

Now, Jason, we ran through a lot.

We, we talked about your journey.

we we hit on country natural beef.

We hit on grays, we hit
on northwest feeders.

I know I didn't cover everything,
but is there some things

you'd like to, to bring up?

You're like, I wish he'd
asked me about this.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: You
know, I think the only thing I'd say is

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249: when
it comes to some, a system like Gray's,

well, or it comes to managing your ranch,
you know, most people are out there are.

Implementing these practices
and doing things just because

it's the right thing to do.

The cool thing about
Country Natural Beef is

it allows ranchers a, a space to do what
they think's right for their landscape.

Right.

For their ranch at home.

Right.

For their cow herd.

Right.

For the future of their
businesses and their families.

But it, but Country Natural Beef
offers a space for those individual

ranchers to generate a premium for
the product that they're gonna sell.

Anyway, I,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

Yeah.

And I really like that.

You know, a lot of times on,
on our podcast we're talking

about direct to consumer,

it gets brought up a lot.

But not everyone wants
to do direct to consumer.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I, I don't
think that's really my strengths.

We just sell through the.

The sale barn, for the most part.

We do a little bit of direct

consumer and we're
gonna try and grow that.

But when I think about my skillset, that's
not where I think my skillset excels.

So having a program like Country
Natural Beef, I think would

be really nice for my area.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
yeah.

And you touched on something there,
Cal that I think is really important.

You know, most of us as, as ranchers
or, or just as people, there's one or

two areas that we can be really, that we
can really excel in, we can be good at.

And if I think about the country
natural beef, you know, the makeup of

the membership of country natural beef.

There, there are ranchers that
are really good range managers.

There are ranchers that are really
good at managing the genetics of

their cow herd and building a cow that
fits their environment, that produces

a calf that's really successful in
the feeding in the feeding space.

Produces a carcass really
demanded by consumers.

There's ranchers that have mastered
succession planning and have kept

highly valuable landscapes within
the family for multiple generations.

There's ranchers that are good
at market risk management.

There's good ranchers that are good at
at drought mitigation plans, but very

few of us are good at all of that.

And then good at marketing direct to
consumer managing inventory and all the

things that have to go along with that.

I,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah, I I
can look in the mirror and see that.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
yeah, yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

Well, Jason, it is time for
our famous four questions.

Same four questions we
ask of all of our guests.

Our first question, what is your favorite
grazing grass related book or resource?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Okay.

I'm gonna go off the rails
with, with this, I'm gonna

give you two different books.

And I don't know that they directly
relate to grazing grass or, or managing

landscapes but there's a book called
Cattle Kingdom by Chris Nolton that

talks about the, essentially the
rise and fall of United States cattle

industry from about about 18, mid
1860s, up through about, well, what

they called the big freeze, or the
big die off in the, in the late 1870s.

But it takes into account and, and I
think it's a pretty good a pretty good

story and I think it's fairly accurate
what it talks about how we remove buffalo

from the Western landscape in the us.

We overgraze some ground
in that timeframe.

We expanded the cattle industry.

We put up barbed wire fences.

We, IM, we impacted the landscape of the
Western United States in that era, and

I think it's just a good reminder that
we can always learn how to do better,

and when we know better, we do better.

The other book is called Cadillac Desert,
that talks about the era of the Bureau

of Recla Reclamation developing water
resources in the Western United States.

And I think that applies somewhat for,
for a guy that is grown up in agriculture,

loves the land, focused on doing better,
better when it comes to conserving

and managing resources down the road.

I think that just that Cadillac Desert
Book gives a lot of insight about

how water resources were developed in
the West, how they were managed, and

how we're gonna have to think about
managing water resources going forward.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh yeah.

It's just gonna become more and more

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

Yep.

Yep.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I'm gonna tell
you right now, Jason, my wife's not

gonna be real happy with you because
you just introduced me to two books that

I'm thinking I need to get and read.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
That Cadillac Desert is about a 20 hour

read if you listen to it on Audible.

So

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
you go.

It's pretty in depth.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: I, I, have
been listening to more books on audio.

It, it's a tough call for me
because I like reading, but

just having the time to do it

all.

Having audio books have been really nice.

And then of course everyone should be
listening to this podcast, so you know,

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
You know, I'd say this podcast

probably goes in that resource of, of
read or listen to grazing resources.

Right.

Cal

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Right, exactly.

I assume when I ask that
question, that's everyone's first

choice, but they just really

hate to plug the podcast

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
well have me have me back in six months

or a year, and I'll do that for you.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Oh, okay.

There we go.

Our second question.

What's your favorite tool for the ranch?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
You know, again, not a conventional

tool and not something thinks some,
something that someone thinks about,

but your notebook, keeping track of
what you're doing and when making notes,

making observations, all at the end of
the day, we can make all kinds of plans.

We can build grazing plans that are
as simple or as elaborate as possible

as, as a guy can possibly dream of.

We can talk about all these different
management practices we want to

use to influence the landscape or
try to improve our, our, our plan.

But if you don't have a way of tracking
that and, and monitoring that you're

just not gonna know where progress is.

The ranch.

The ranch, my family, my wife,
my wife and her family operate.

From the day they took over.

I've got a bookshelf in a closet in
my house that has probably 33 inch

three ring binders of, of rangeland
monitoring and grazing utilization

repairing improvement projects, fencing
projects water improvement projects

reseeding of native grounds spraying and
management of invasive annual grasses.

But that's been going on for about 16
years and, and we've just got volumes and

volumes and volumes of history and data.

I, I don't know how we're going to use it.

I don't know how we're gonna implement
that someday, but I just think having

that data is extremely valuable.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249:
I, I completely agree.

And I, I'm gonna be, that's, that's an
area I need to do a better job on, so

yeah, that's a really important area.

Our third question, what
would you tell someone?

Just getting started?

I.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
You know, somebody that's just getting

started in, in grazing or, or maybe
trying to, to really improve, you know?

No, I, I think you need to
know where your baseline is.

Where are you starting
and what are your goals?

You know, I, and I think we need to
think about those goals longer term.

Most of us, most of us.

Whether it's, and you say getting
started, whether we're just getting

in the industry, whether we just
leased a new ranch whether we

started a new project somewhere.

It's really easy to get that first,
that first grazing rotation figured out.

It's really easy to get that first
season or that first year figured out.

But what do we wanna do long term?

You know, big, big picture.

How are we gonna relate to this landscape?

What are we going to, what inputs
can we afford to put into it?

how does that affect what the,
what that landscape offers back to

us and, and is it repeatable year
over year, season over season?

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And I
think that's excellent advice.

And so great because when we get started,
that motivation is at the highest

point and you're just gung-ho ready to go.

But there becomes days in there and
maybe longer than days, but we'll

call it days for right now, that that
motivation's not gonna get you through.

You've gotta have this vision, your goals
for what you're doing long term, for you

to go out there every day and do that.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

And I think, I think it's
important to just get a little

bit excited for the failures.

You know?

I mean, hopefully the failures
aren't detrimental to the landscape

long term, but they're, we're gonna
do things that aren't gonna work.

Mother nature's not always gonna
cooperate when it comes to rainfall, but.

And, and that's maybe almost a, it
may be some sort of disorder that I

have, but it's almost as exciting to,
to fail just a little bit as it is to,

to do something extremely successful.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Well, you,
you know, whenever you are successful

versus the time you're, you're
failing or, or those projects you were

successful in versus those projects
you failed in, when you look back at

'em, what times did you learn the most?

And it, and I would have to
say it's your, your failures.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
those are the ones you remember?

Those are the ones you remember?

For sure.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Your
successes, you're just going

on and it's looking good.

Like, I like to say, everyone's a
good grass manager and maid in my

area, so you know,

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
sure.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: it, it's when you
start hitting those speed bumps and things

aren't going as good as you planned,
that you really learn and become better.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

Yep.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And Jason
to wrap up our famous four where

can others find out more about you?

More about Country Natural beef and
more about Beef Northwest Feeders.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah, so, beef Northwest

Feeders, Northwest Pasture
Beef has a website beef nw.com.

You can find out more
about the company there.

Country Natural Beef, I believe
it's Country natural beef.com

has a website.

There's contact links there to get ahold
of, of Country Natural Beef Management.

You know, there's some social
media channels relating to country

Natural Beef and Beef Northwest.

There's usually some pretty cool
things there, there that get shared.

You know, I'm, I'm not the marketing
guy for, for any of those entities

or the, or the PR guy, so I, I
don't have all that memorized, but

yeah, Google Country Natural Beef.

Plug Beef Northwest Feeders
into a search engine.

I guess, I guess if you Googled
me and wanted to try to find me, I

don't know what I'd help you with,
but, but feel free to reach out.

Yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: And, and
we'll, I'll do some of that Googling

for the listeners and put it in our
show notes to make it easy for them

if they're wanting more information.

Yeah.

And to wrap up for today, Jason,
do you have a question for me?

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
You know, I think the only question

I'd have for you is, you know, what,
where do you see this podcast going?

Where do you see the
impact in the environment?

And, and, and, and maybe tell
us just a little bit about your

passion for why you're doing this.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: You know when,
when I think about this podcast and where

I want it to go and why we're doing this.

It's to help the younger me.

When I was trying to figure this out, when
I first started trying to do rotational

grazing, electric fencing, it was awful.

In fact, we put that stuff up and
didn't come back to it for a number of

years because the electric fence just did
not work and we couldn't contain animals.

And that's really just a
nuts and bolts portion of it.

But just overall doing a better job, I
wanna do a better job, but I needed you.

There's not a recipe out there that
works for us, but sometimes we need

a recipe to kind of get started.

And what I envision the podcast is
that we're sharing these journeys

and people relate to 'em here and
then they're like, oh, I can do that.

And sometimes we almost share recipes.

There's sometimes on the
episode we talk about how high.

The poly wire is, or what you're
shooting for, how far between posts

how far posts are apart, you know,
some of those real basic stuff that

really in the end it just depends.

But to get started,
sometimes that's a holdup for

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Right,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: and, and we
just want them to take that next step.

So we're hoping by sharing these
stories, they cause the listener to

take their next step for their journey.

And the goal with the podcast is that
we share stories from all genres,

from all sizes, from all places.

Because wherever you are,
you can do something.

In fact there's an episode coming out
pretty soon and the person got started

in downtown or in a rather large city and
they were able to do some pasture poultry.

They're getting started where they are.

Some of us go grow up on.

Large ranches, we can start there,
but some of us don't have that.

Some of us have medium size or
smaller sizes like we do here.

We can do it here.

And I just want it to, to show that
it's, it's possible where you are

and I just, as we continue forth,
I just feel like we're not getting

the word out enough and hopefully
this podcast is getting out there.

I received an email just the other
day from an individual that just

stumbled onto podcast and TI podcast
and we were honored that he found our

podcast, but more and more people's
finding this avenue, and it's really

nice because it's a passive avenue.

Reading's active.

It, it takes all your focus and
I love reading the audio book.

I can put a book in my ear, a
podcast in my ear while I'm out

moving cattle, doing whatever.

Now I do caution people always take those
out and just enjoy your time out there

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: too.

But

there's lots of times I have something
going in my ear and it's a opportunity

to, to gather more information than
I could get if I was just reading

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Right,

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: so and so.

I just hope we continue to grow,
continue to help people take their

next step, whatever that step is.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Yeah.

No, and I think what you're doing
is important from the standpoint

of you know, two, two things.

We all learn from our mistakes or our
failures better, and if it's cheaper, if

we can learn from others and failures.

And then just, just your, your
philosophy on, you know, showing

people they can just start wherever
they're at and, and get moving.

I think that's a cool, cool approach.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Yeah.

Well Jason, we really
appreciate you coming on today.

squadcaster-b227_1_04-17-2025_153249:
Thanks Cal.

Appreciate the time and, and if
I can be of help anywhere Sure.

Reach out to us.

cal_1_04-17-2025_173249: Thank you.

Cal: Thank you for listening to this
episode of the grazing grass podcast,

where we bring you stories and insights
into grass-based livestock production.

If you're new here, we've
got something just for you.

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Is packed with everything you need
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It gives you more information
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You can grab your free
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Don't miss out.

And Hey, do you have a
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We're always looking for passionate
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whether you're just starting out or have
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We'd love to share your journey with
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Until next time.

Keep on grazing grass.