Grazing Grass Podcast sharing Regenerative Ag Stories

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: We will
get started with the fast five.

What's your name

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
My name is Marquee Renshaw, and

my husband's name is Ryan Renshaw,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
and what's your farm's name

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Peace in the Valley Farms.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
and where are you located?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
We are located in West Plains, Missouri.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: When
Ryan had messaged me and y'all

were located in West Plains.

There's a South Poll breeder
there name escapes me, but I've

thought I'd like to go West Plains

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: look it up
on a map because it's in Missouri.

Not far.

I'm like an hour from Missouri,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Okay.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: when
I look where West Plains is,

it's clear across the state.

It's a long ways over there.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

Yep.

It's a jog across there for sure.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yes.

And what livestock species do you graze?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we're basically sheep, but we

also have a few Jersey cows in there.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
but most of the time the horses

are penned up just because they
like to run through sheep and knock

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: and

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
so, yep.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
That, that's so true.

I have a donkey runs with my
sheep, but sometimes he earns

his other name, you know?

We'll, we'll go with that.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
donkeys, lots of donkeys.

We know that name.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right, right.

And what year did y'all
start grazing animals?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we have had animals.

I mean, my whole life and what
I thought was rotational grazing

and what really is rotational
grazing was completely different.

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.

Ranchers, farmers and landowners,
if you're looking to optimize your

grazing operation and boost your bottom
line, Noble Research Institute can

help the noble approach to education
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And in Pendleton, Oregon, July
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The expansion doesn't stop there.

Later this year, they'll be
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And right now, each of these two day
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For 10 seconds about the farm.

Not much change for us this week is
a little drier than it's been and

ground's drying out a little bit on top.

So I expect to see some hay being baled in
our area for 10 seconds about the podcast.

We launched the Grazing Grass Resources
as well as the grass-based genetics.

The Grazing Grass Resources strives
to be a listing of those resources

that'd be beneficial to a grass farmer.

I encourage you to go take a look at it.

I also encourage you to
make a listing there.

If you've got a farm
list, your farm there.

If you're a mentor listed, if
you're a consultant listed, if

you've got a business that caters
to ative ranchers, ative farmers.

It should be listed there.

I do know when you sign up to
verify your email, that email is

going to spam, so still working on
some hiccups, but if you have any

trouble, you just reach out to me.

If you don't want to create a account
to get a listing there, or you want to

suggest a listing another business that's
been instrumental in your journey, you

can do that without creating an account.

There's a form there.

And then we have the grass-based Genetics.

That's a directory of operations
that breed livestock, that

excel, that thrive on grass.

So I suggest you go over there and
look, if you're in the market for

livestock, that's the perfect place
for you to go find breeders that will

have animals that will excel on grass.

If you're a breeder of those
animals and you're not listed

there, I encourage you to go over
there and get your listing added.

If you have any trouble, reach
out to me cal@grazinggrass.com.

And with that being said,
let's get get back to Marque.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So I would say that this is our

first year of actual grazing
every single day doing it right?

Because

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: our
rotational grazing, when I was growing

up, my family said they rotationally
grazed, but it was really, there's a

hole in the fence and the cattle just
moved themselves across property there.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
There was no rotation about it as

far as what we were managing at all.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
this has been our first actual year,

but we kind of have a unique story
where the, we had a house fire and a

lot of things happened and we got moved.

To this property and the farm that we
bought has been rotationally grazed,

and I could be lying and I can't
remember which year number it was,

but it was either 25 or 32 years.

They've been rotationally grazing here.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
when we moved here and we come and

looked at this property, it was in
December and I walked out there and

grass is over my knee, you know,
it was dead and dormant, but I

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
there's no way.

I said, how long is

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
farm set for?

the cows were in the back field.

I thought, there's no way.

How is there

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So unlike anything I'd ever seen.

And so I was sold out on it completely.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Was that
your, your first time to really

consider the potential of daily
grade daily rotations, or had you

all talked about that in the past?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
No, we so.

When me and my husband got together,
we did cow calf operation and stalkers

before we had the house fire and
all the things perspective kind of

got what we wanted to do together.

with that being said, I would say we
more set stocked, but it was rotational

grazing is what we thought it was.

So we would just eat everything to
the ground and then move to the next.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Kind of that rotational overgrazing
that a lot of people do,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that that's

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: and
I've been guilty of that too,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

So I, I thought that that's
what rotational grazing was.

So, I I, in my head, we were already doing
it until I came here, but it's kind of

funny, I, I, we had talked earlier, I was
gonna, this is all the wrong things to do

in farming, is what our story has been.

When we moved here, it was kind of, we'd
been in a situation with a house fire.

We've been in a camper for six months.

A few houses fell through, so when we got
here, we had never seen hot wire before.

All of our

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh, yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
hard wire.

We bring all of our sheep,
all of our horses, all of

our donkeys, all of our cows.

We just wanted to get into a
home and we brought them here.

And one strand of high tensile fence,
you can only imagine how terrible that,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yes.

Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I, so I was sold out on it.

I thought, this is amazing, the grass.

But at that time, really not under
understanding what rotational grazing was.

As I watched every horse, every cow,
every sheep we had run through this

high tensile tear everything down.

I told my husband,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
want to see this stuff again.

It's awful.

Well, with that being said.

As the year went on and you know, you,
you have a farm that has been rotationally

grazed religiously for 25 or 32 years.

Again, I don't know which number it
was, but then you, then you bring

us in with all of our critters
and set stock that farm for a

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And I said, Ryan, something,

I'm marquee Ryan's my husband.

And I said, Ryan, something's,
this isn't producing like it was.

What's being done differently?

we're set stock in it.

We didn't do the rotational grazes.

And so our ultimate goal was to make
the sheep part of our industry work.

I went on an education
binge for three years and,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
educated myself on all how

to do farming the right way.

And so here we are.

So I had never thought about the right way
to do it 'cause I didn't know what it was.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah, yeah.

To, to go back even before you,
you got into rotational grazing and

doing that, what led you to sheep?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So it's kind of a funny story.

It's kind of a sad story that
my family was like that, but we

are generational women farmers.

It's kind of a cool story.

I've got aunts that just packed up one
day and said audios to the kids and

the husband, and went to the hills to
shepherd sheep and never came back.

And specifically, my great grandmama,
I should say, she bought several

farms down here in Oregon and
how, or not how, but Shannon and.

I can't think of where Van
Buren is at, but several

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
she paid for those with sheep, so

it's just been generationally down.

Well, when I was farming and watching
my family at the generation that

I watched before me do it, I was
like, I don't like this at all.

Like it's not a good situation.

The sheep were just kind of do
or die, take care of yourself.

It was a wool industry back

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Uh

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
very, very

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
in that.

But I always had kept
around a, a small flock.

Me and my husband did because
he was heavily into the stockers

and like the cow calf operation.

We had a sawmill.

I was heavy into the horse industry
running two totally different

directions, but every night we'd
come home and we had about 30 s.

We could just sit on a
hill and it was our piece.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yes, yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
fire perspective and priorities got put

in place and I said, why are we running
so hard in so many different directions?

We have a passion for the sheep.

We know we can farm.

Let's go hard for this,
for this industry together.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that's kind of how we got into sheep.

They've always been in the background, I
mean, all the way through our whole lives.

There's the thing behind me
actually, where my grandma herself,

one farmer of the year at Sedalia
stuff because of the sheep,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
they've always been a part of our life.

Just

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
heavy my adult life as

what they are right now.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

And when did y'all make that change?

To really focus on the sheep?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
About three years ago.

This is what the what
not to dos and farming.

So when we had first got married, we went
pretty heavily into just the feed thought

situation with the sheep and goats.

We'd

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
'em up, get rid of 'em, you know,

buy 'em when the market was low.

it's someone that was hot.

So then the horse industry in
my aspect really took off and

we kind of got out of that.

So for the next seven years, I
went heavy into the horse industry.

And then when, so I said we had
our small flock, but when we moved

here I said, let's go all in.

We sold the stocker cattles,
we sold our cattle farm.

We sold everything except for them.

And I called my husband and I said,
tell your friend and his name's Ter

and he kind of lives down here and he
owns a sale barn in Salem, Arkansas.

And we said, bring as many as you can.

Wrong thing to do.

We, so we ended up from the sale
barn and from our own journey of

just finding a mountain in 300
head of Es from all walks of life,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh boy.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I learned, I think everything that

there was to learn about a sheep
and then some with, with that.

So about three years ago, we went
all in with, with all the girls and.

You know, it's, it's been a ride.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Well, just, just
the aspect, you know, if you want some

experience by you, some cell barn animals.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

And

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: They, they,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
at the same time was, yeah, that

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Don't

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: do.

Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: So what
was your biggest takeaway from

those, that initial flock in getting
started on those huge numbers?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So when they all came, it was the

fall and the sheep themselves, I
will say as a whole, were great.

So

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
it was just the learning experience.

We were not rotationally
grazing at that time.

So they come here in the winter.

We bought 'em in the fall.

We did not breed any of
those sheep for winter lambs.

But it just so happens it was
the coldest snap in, I think

in the United States history.

It really wasn't, but in that
time it felt like it was.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
We were sleeping in the barn.

There was use that were, people
said, well, how'd you end up

with so many bottle babies?

A first timer can, you can give
her time to bond with her baby

when it's negative 14 windshield.

I mean, and we were in a barn,
but they didn't even have time

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
up and take care of 'em.

Like if they weren't taking care
of 'em in that moment, like you

had to just take 'em because there
was no, there was no heating lamps.

We had that many, we didn't
know when they were bred.

I think that was the hardest part
for us was the not knowing fighting

all winter when you used, were
having babies when they weren't.

So I'm not saying the sale barns are, of
people is like, if they're the plague,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Well,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
you buy at certain times, you better

be ready to manage them in the winter,
not knowing what you're getting.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right.

And you can just make that assumption.

Whatever we.

On our first flock we bought, we
bought like 35 ues and it had came

with some lambs and they'd been
running with a ram and he's like,

they're bred to lamb in November.

Well, November came
and went with no lambs,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Oh, no.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: you
know, so, so we, we, we got some

winter lambs later on that year.

But yeah, whatever you buy anticipating,
anticipate something else happening

too, because you just never know.

I know with our flock, we purchased
it with the understanding the

guy had bred them, raised them
there, very naive about sheep.

I'd seen sheep or wool sheep in ag when
I went through FFA and thought never

because I had dairy cows and they were
so much easier than the, the sheep they.

They boxed those sheep and
sheared them and trimmed them.

It was like every day
they were giving haircuts.

It's like, whoa.

Too much work.

And then I go to OSU and I needed a
elective class to graduate and I took

sheep science and the professor there
was like, you know, a quarter of land,

160 acres, you can pay for a sheep.

Now that was long ago when
we had the wool incentive.

So, so it's always stuck in the back of
my mind, Hey, that's kinda interesting.

And Hare Sheep started getting popular
and I, I went up to Lincoln University

in Missouri to a small ruminants deal and
came home saying, we gotta buy some sheep.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: So we, we found
this flock in bottom and the guy says he,

he raised them, they're good registered
ka and ram on 'em, get 'em home.

They don't lamb on time.

And with hindsight, I can look
at you, look at 'em and say,

yeah, those were put together.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Some
had ducktails, some didn't.

You start looking at scrappy tags.

They have different states of origin.

I'm like, how obvious does
it have to be for me to miss

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
were put together?

Because at the time, I guess I was
just so eager to get some, but that's

gonna be some of the same issues.

You go through a cell barn, you
can get some, some decent animals

there, but you can also get some
animals that have some problems.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
there for a reason?

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I do say that to people.

We kinda have a unique situation with the
operation we have going as far as buying

use out of the sale barn and things.

But I tell people all the time, and I
guess this is coming from the really

the horse industry of maybe from
driving hundreds of miles to look at a

horse that somebody lied to me about.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
You can get it at a someone's house just

as bad as you can get it at a sale barn.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
Well, and that's true.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: And
because when they run those flocks through

and that a lot of people think, oh.

know, homegrown or home rays,
typically they're not, they're

put together a lot of them.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
you run them in as a bunch,

you're not going in and checking
every mouth, every foot, every

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And so people really, every eye

people get hung up on the sale barns.

And I'm not an advocate.

Not everybody should go out and do
'em, but if you do have experience,

get ripped off in someone's farm just
the same as you can a sale barn, except

for you have 6,000 chances pick from
versus somebody's 20 that you have to

Because

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: 'em.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right, right.

And and the other thing about hair sheep,
and you all, you had been exposed to

sheep more than I had, but the learning
curve for sheep was much steeper

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I
thought it thought it would be.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yep.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I got 'em.

I thought they were miniature cattle.

I thought I can just work
'em through my cattle pans.

No,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: No.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
that did not work.

Does not work.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
no, it does not.

And I tell people all the time, the
Lord put that sheep needed a shepherd so

many times in the Bible because that is
exactly what they need When you get sheep,

it, it is not just throw 'em out there.

We feel like when we added the numbers,
now, this was pre this heightened, you

know, with the cattle market right now,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
crunch the numbers and you can make

more money per acre with sheep.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

I have to agree.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: work
for every penny that you get from them.

You really do.

You, they're not something that when
we had our small flock of 30 on a big

acreage, I think that it was great.

We'd go out there in the evenings.

There was days where we
didn't see 'em, you know, and

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
But if you're gonna start doing

the ro, the intense rotational
grades with high numbers.

You have to check your stock.

You've got to shepherd them because
they were truly not meant to be

in condensed areas like they are.

You know, they were in the hills and
happy and going from ground to ground.

I

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
the fields, they're scurrying

everywhere and they would never stop.

But

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
'em in these small areas, we make 'em eat

the same grass you have to shepherd 'em.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

And getting to that new farm,
you've got this flock that you've

already had some experience with.

I assume at that point you've got 'em
straightened out, doing them better, and

you go to this new farm with high tinsel.

And what's your process there?

Because like you mentioned, the sheep
didn't know it, so they didn't respect it.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Oh, it was a free for all.

I'm

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I,
I, I could only imagine it.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we have, you have to keep in

mind, I'm coming heavy from the
horse industry at this time.

I have 70 head of horses that we brought

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh wow.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that time, we only had 30 head of

sheep, maybe 50 their lambs and things.

So the

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
the issue.

It was the horses tore down all the high

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, I imagine so.

I,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that the people that owned it before us

didn't even have it hooked up, right?

So you can only imagine.

They just took everything.

So by choice, we really went back
to just set stalking the whole farm

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh yes.

Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
it was

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: I
looked at my husband and I said, I will

never, ever use hot hotwire ever again.

And now here we are with Hotwire
everywhere, but you, you know, when

people are not educated and that's why we
strive so hard on our page to mentor and

like just tell people the transparency
truth of what we went through.

If you're not educated, you can
get yourself in some real miserable

pickles with farming all the way

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And, and so that was a whole

learning curve with that high tinsel.

Everything came down.

We set stocked, it was a train wreck
and then we, then we brought the sale

barn use and that was a train wreck.

So for the first two years of our
intense farming with these sheep has

been quite the ride, to say the least.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: So how did you,
you go from that to starting to rotate

'em and manage the pastors better?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So the moment when you're living it,

it's, you don't really see why you're
going through what you're going through.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
as I was crying it in a bucket in my

garage with 52 bottle lambs that winter,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh man.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Tom Perkins and Cameron Meley

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Sheet

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Sheep podcast.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
and I listened to one of their

episodes and I got hungry for it.

And I.

Just kept educating and kept
educating and maybe to the point

where I drove myself crazy.

But you almost have to, if you're gonna
make it in this industry at high numbers,

you gotta know what you're doing.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

So that's how we got introduced into
the grazing was through, through

Tom and Cam kind of sitting there
and explaining what they were doing.

And I thought, well that's
nothing like, that's nothing.

I've never heard of this before.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Mm-hmm.

So that was an experience.

And then we signed up for, my dad had
actually got into farming and he had

not been in farming since I was a kid.

Him and mom got divorced and the family
farm and things got sold and had gone

into this rotational grazing and he
bought a farm that was completely wrecked.

The guy had not done anything to it.

Ran horses on it, you know, horses
set stocking are just rough on

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
like 25 years.

And he went to this grazing
school and he keeps coming back

and talking about all this stuff,
and I don't wanna hear nothing.

He's gotta say, he's my dad.

I'm like, you don't even know,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: And

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I have kids.

I understand.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Well, he,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
And I have parents.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
there you go.

Well, I started seeing the
changes that was on his property,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
about the time where like, I found

those podcasts and I started diving into
it, and then I went to grazing school.

But to see the changes that was made on
his farm with his cattle and what they

had going on was just unbelievable.

So I

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
all had.

I didn't wanna live this life anymore.

I,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
yeah,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
school did you go to?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
it was through the state.

It was just here in how county,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, okay.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
we were gonna do the fencing

projects and things like that, but.

impatient.

We didn't have time.

We didn't have

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yeah.

Wait on like the E quip.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: yes,
it's an amazing program and I encourage

anybody if you don't know to go to grazing
school 'cause that's gonna start making

your brain work and ask those questions
and what's available to me and things.

We didn't wait for it and it was only
because sheep our, I knew that we had

made it to where we were by the good
graces of God and our sheep could not

handle another year like what we'd
been doing the last two years and we

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
you know?

It

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: So

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: So
grazing school was a big influence.

Your dad was a influence.

However much you, you
didn't want that influence.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: well, how
else did you, you use the Grazing

Sheet podcast to educate you.

How else did you gain
more knowledge about it?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So, well, when I would

listen to them talk and.

I know this sounds crazy,
but we didn't sleep.

It was insane when those yous were having
babies and you know, we moved here and

we, we put all of our eggs in one basket,
which is probably not the smart thing to

do either, but, we had to make it work.

So I would just listen to 'em all day long
and if they said something on the podcast

that I didn't know what it was, I would
Google it or type it into podcasts and

I'd start listening to another podcast

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
in depth what that was.

And then, I mean, it got to a point
where I just messaged him and we'd be

like, Hey, what do you think about this?

And what, you know, we

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
and that really helped out a lot.

But not furthering your education,
because I'm gonna tell funny

about a sale barn owner.

He had said that his sheep weren't doing
very good and he's bringing 'em to a sale.

He owns a very large sale.

my husband was like, Hey,
you need to check their frea.

What is that?

We have people in the industry.

Who are just the uneducated into what
it really takes to manage and things.

So if you don't act on what you hear
somebody say and truly be hungry

for it, further information, or
just say, Hey, I'm here to learn.

What did you mean by that?

Even if it makes you look silly,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that's how we learn and contacting

other producers and just sound
boarding off of each other.

Just like we're talking.

you said something, I'd be like,
well, what do you mean by that?

And you just learn.

And learn and learn.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

That, that network you
build can be so valuable

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: yes.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: and.

I have to admit, I'm not great at that.

I'm not great about reaching out.

I'm not great about meeting
people and doing that.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
yeah,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
kind of drug me into it.

So I, I talk to people all the time, all
over the place and have their numbers, and

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: it's a really
nice benefit of the Grazing Grass podcast

that I have all these opportunities that
if I have a question or something, I can

contact them and they, and we've had a
dialogue, so they're like, yeah, but a

lot of people's out there willing to help.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

And

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: gotta reach out.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
yeah, in your Facebook page that you've

created with all the graziers that can
talk and ask questions, and it's so

hard to ask any type of information
this day and age in a safe place.

And I, that because somebody will
post something on the internet.

'cause I want to know
what other people think.

So I do that a lot and I get a lot
of, well, why don't you ask your vet?

Why don't you do, you just get tore down?

And so for people who are

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: You do.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
shut down instantly.

So for what you guys have going on, I
think that's beautiful just make those

connections and talk to people who are
gonna be transparent about what they have.

And, and so that's what, that's
why we got so passionate about our

page and helping people is because.

The industry's going down.

The decline of farmers that
are coming up is not there.

So if we don't educate people,
we're basically saving ourselves by

educating them to get into the industry

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
not gonna be here.

What are we gonna do?

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

Yeah.

And, and I wanna speak to
that about the Grazing Grass

community, just for a moment.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Mm-hmm.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: know, I, I'm
part of so many groups on Facebook and

it, the groups, you know, some of the
groups, you post something and people,

rather than having a nice discussion,
they tell you how dumb you are

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
and what are you thinking?

And there's no, you know, criticism can
be constructive or it can be destroying.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Absolutely.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: just destroying.

And that's what I want in
the Grazing Grass community.

I want people to be able to ask
those questions that someone else

may say is stupid, but I don't
want anyone to say they're stupid.

I want us to support each other.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: And

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: We're
all in this journey together.

And just because you think a
question is stupid at your journey

point in your journey doesn't
mean it was at the point they are.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: no,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: and you
know, if I'm not very smart, it

takes me a long time to learn stuff.

So,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
here.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: you know,
having those discussions and, and I'm

really, I actually had a listener reach
out to me and say, how do you have

the, the community support each other?

So, well, I said, I don't know.

It's just a expectation

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: that I put out
there that, that we're helping each other.

We're not coming across that anything
stupid if someone ask a question,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: yes,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: if you
don't have something productive or.

To improve the conversation,
then don't post it.

You can go somewhere
else and post that stuff.

But not in the grazing grass.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So when I came from the horse

industry, we had a page and it's called
Restless Ranch, and we still do it.

I think it's great.

It's just slowed down with
the sheep, getting them off.

And that is one thing with the gr
like yours, the grazing community

page, we didn't tolerate it.

If you were

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
second, you just got, there

was no argument back and forth.

You were just

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right, right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
these people are here to learn.

We really cater to the beginners and
we've seen the need for it in that

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
just the same as this.

so there is no dumb question.

I mean, if, if I would've gone
online and said, Hey, I just bought

if sale barn news, what do I do?

Can you imagine the backlash that I

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, man.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Wow.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

Which, which would that backlash,
any of it helped you out?

No, I.

You are there.

You're not changing what's been done.

You just need a path forward.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
information to go forward.

Yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yep.

And I

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
strong people to come alongside me.

I needed a great vet and I needed to be
myself hungry to make sure that what I

was doing, if you tell me to do something,
this is one thing I, I do find upsetting

in this industry is if you, if somebody
tells you to do something, need to

research to make sure that that is right.

Don't just go home and do it to
your flock, because you'll find

yourself in quite the pickle and,
and say, well, so and so told

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Wow.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
for instance, we got in on that.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Wow.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
be transparent.

We lost a lot of stock over this.

I did not research it.

I'd always heard, Hey,
don't feed silage if you do.

You know, there's, there's
stuff that could go wrong.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
know.

We took the word off of a guy
who bales hay for a living,

does silage, different kinds.

I mean phenomenal people,
but they didn't know sheep.

But in my head, the hay guy's telling
me this, I'm just gonna do it.

we had all of these views and they
were fixing to have babies, and

we've been feeding silage and I'm
not, they looked so stinking good.

Me and

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
like high fiving, like, wow,

our flock looks amazing.

And then I went out there one
day and I noticed that there

was like three on their way out.

And I thought, well, what
in the world is going on?

We lost, I would say, almost
20 s, and I call my vet and

thank the Lord we had found her.

And she's just such an
asset to our operation.

But I'm bringing a load of ones
that were trying to do C-sections.

It was just an awful situation.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
come to find out, they had bailed up a

dead animal and our sheep got botulism.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: did

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: no.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: I

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, oh.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
was a hard hit.

And so now when somebody says something
to me, I'm like, Hey, this could

potentially kill a lot of stuff.

So I'm gonna make sure that what
they're saying aligns with what

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
maybe they don't know sheep, or maybe

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
maybe they

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Or

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
sheep.

You

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
things for different people.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: And, and
their context is so important.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: you know,
we have a 150 UES out here, but

if I'm running them on 500 acres,
that's different than running them

on a much small, smaller acreage.

So

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
a a lot of stuff there.

Yeah.

You've mentioned your vet a couple times.

How did you go about finding a vet
to use and build that relationship?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So first off, I see so many people

online and I would ask a question
and they'd say, well, ask your vet.

So I'd ask my vet and they would say.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
know.

Or give them, was my favorite.

Give them some safeguard.

Well, no, that's not so they were so
surface level we had had some issues

where that spring of our first lambing,
we had pneumonia come in our herd

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I didn't know what to do.

We had never had that in our other herd.

Well, again, when we had a small
flock of 30, everything was groovy.

It was great.

We didn't have any issues.

so when that happened, I really
started seeking information.

And I talk about the sale barn owner
Salem a lot, but he really saved us

in that, of where he got ahold of a
guy from Oklahoma and he sent us and,

and saved us from that train wreck.

Well then I started thinking about
how there was no one in our area that

would really help you with the sheep.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Up.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
kind of funny.

We had this girl move in and she took
our horse industry in this area by storm.

She is the most thorough, go to the ends
of the earth to find out like she will

truly, truly work endlessly for you.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
talking about sheep and she, she's

been my vet for like years and
years and she said, I love sheep.

I said, you work on sheep?

She goes, oh yeah.

I wrote all kinds of papers
about 'em in high school and

everything else life changed.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Caitlyn, her name's Caitlyn.

She's down at Gainesville, Missouri.

And.

will do anything that she has to do.

When we had those botulism, she had
no idea what was going on, and we've

went through so many different things
with all those views of different,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
just different things you

didn't even know existed.

But she would get to the bottom
of every single one of them.

It wasn't a surface level thing.

She's like, Marqui, we're
going to figure this out.

It got to where we were working on
such a consistent basis and I don't

want people to think that, oh, she
just runs the vet for everything,

but when you don't have a mentor, you
don't have anybody else to help you.

There's no other outlets to turn.

The internet's the worst place to go.

Sometimes

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
sometimes you gotta pay for it.

And that's

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
We had to make that relationship.

We had to pay to get those
animals autopsies done.

We had to pay to get them in.

We had to pay for everything.

the money that we spent, we, we do
get a lot of kickback because we were

at the vet so much, but the money
that we spent now, we don't do that.

We are not at the vet every
day, but for that year.

We saved thousands and thousands
of lives on our farm from those

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And she, she got to the point where she's

like, Hey, like on a Sunday, she's like,
come down here, you got anything going on?

And I said, no.

She's like, bring a lamb and we're gonna
practice doing all this stuff on it that

you need to know how to do, how to vein

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
and I thought in that moment, what

vet will work for you like that?

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah, yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
truly, truly, she's an asset.

She knows what she's talking
about, the sheep industry.

I cannot speak for other vets
in our area or, you know, I

just don't know a lot of 'em.

But the

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right.

I.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
used, I will say that she,

she's it, she's got it going on.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh,
well, very good that a vet can

be a tremendous resource and,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: is.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: and wherever
you are, you need to find a vet that,

that understands what you are doing.

That works with you.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
if she doesn't

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
she's not too proud to say when

the botulism thing's going, mark,
she's like, Marqui, I don't know

what we're dealing with here.

It could be so many things, but I'm gonna
reach out to all these different people

and we're gonna get to the bottom of it.

And

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
reassuring to know that you had

somebody who was just like, Hey

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: On your side.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
we'll figure this out together.

I don't know, but I'm gonna find the

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So I really like

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
as well.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right.

Very good.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Back
to your sheep and, and your farm

and high tensile fence, what
do you all use for fencing now?

I.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we went ahead and did just polywire.

We have five strands up and those are set.

So we have those set right now.

Might be something where
we switch in the future.

We're going, I want everybody to know we
are going to hardwire because feelings

about Hotwire have never changed.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
what we had to do in the moment.

So works well.

It keeps them in.

I really don't have complaints about it.

It's just for us, the upkeep of it,
because where we have to keep those

so low on the ground, you either

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
mow weed, eat,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
not want to spray.

And so I have weed eat my life away.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
so, but that's what we have

right now is just the poly wire.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

Do you, when you replace that
with a permanent fence, are you

gonna go with woven wire or.

You have a different plan

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
so I call our farm the code of many

colors because we have, so when we
started on our perimeter, we just

added barb wire because we needed
something to go up quickly and there was

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
strands and we,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
coming from the situation that we were

in, just wanted to get into a home.

It was

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
to have a house fire and,

and not have a place, you

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: so
we just put up barb wire on the outside

parameters, which we are gonna go around
and put up woven wire because the breed

of sheep that we're gonna be running and
raising here, we can't take a chance.

And then on the outside we're gonna be
doing woven wire and high tensile three

strands just to make sure nothing comes in

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
on the inside.

We have been using, so.

At the 24 inch mark we've been using
woven, but it's only 24 inches tall.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
we use that on the bottom.

But where they can get up and scrape,
we've been putting Barb because

what we have, they wreck the woven.

And so

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
enough.

It stays below their like shoulder line
and they don't wanna rub on the barb.

And so it kind of works out.

'cause when we places, when we had
our other farm, we had woven, they

had it leaned, I mean brand new

They just rub and rub and rub.

And so we have found that the
24 inch barb wire on top is

kind of what we wanna go with.

But on the outside perimeter, we will
be doing the tall, we won't do the

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: And, and
we've got some barb wire fences.

We've added, you know, is five wire and

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: it's seven or
eight because we've added more wire.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Of course,
if there's a dip in the, in the ground

there, you gotta be aware of that.

Or the sheep will find it.

And once they find it, it's all over.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
tell all their friends.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: They do.

And then you've got a hundred
head of sheep going through

a hole made for one lamb

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yep.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: and it.

And they remember it, you know, you can,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
they do.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: they're, you
know, they're interesting and they're

not the smartest animals a lot of people
would say, but they know exactly where

they've gotten out in the past, and
they will go straight to that spot.

It doesn't matter how many other pastors
there are, they know exactly where to go.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Oh, for sure.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: And so
we also have some woven wire.

We've got some with four by four,
and we've also got some goat,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Mm-hmm.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: goat woven wire.

So the stays are, I don't know,
12 inches, 15 inches apart.

And like you said, we ran a hot
wire on the inside of some of that

to keep 'em from rubbing on it.

But we haven't done it all.

And I have the hot wire on
this place down right now.

But yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: cattle, sheep,
they are all so rough on woven wire

because they just want to rub on it.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

Yep.

It is, it is disheartening when you put
up brand new wove wire and look out there

and they have a big old Waller spot in it.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yes, yes, yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: So

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: So
with your, your rotations today,

you're doing daily rotations, you

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

So we do daily rotations.

Right now we have them on, I would
say an acre to acre and a half.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I was actually listening to the podcast

with Ricky not too long ago, and she
was talking about insurance fields.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, I love
the concept of insurance fields.

I said it on the podcast.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So that's kind of what we had going on.

We've only used, would say, a
fourth, maybe half of our farm and

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
have been doing it.

We, we really do have a grass
farm, and that contributes back to

the how long that this place has
been rotationally, grazed, and.

now they're on an acre,
an acre and a half.

But when we get our hard wire
up, we're gonna break that down

again with Polywire because

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
so, so much, and I know we want to

leave behind a, a, an immense amount,
but it was just over abundance and our

whole farm was getting away from us.

And so, and we also want, you
know, with the sheep, as long as

you can draw it out, the better.

So we don't want them

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
We want as many paddocks

as we can on this farm.

But if I told

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
right now, honey, you gotta build another

set of breakups with the hot wire.

I might not be here.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Does, does Ryan help a lot on the
farm or is it mainly you doing that?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: so.

It has been basically me and
I've got three girls down here.

My son, we, we do a lot of it, but he
does work off farm, so he's gone a few

days, but we just, he recently changed
jobs because it just got too much for us.

Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
With the numbers that we have now, we,

we've increased since those 300 cell
barn news that we've had, and it's just

gotten too much for just me and the kids.

So

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
is here and yeah, we're able

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Well, very good.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
a lot more now.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

Which can be great or cannot be great.

Just depends on,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
together.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: you
all's relationship goes with that.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
We, we, even when we had the stalkers

and the horses and stuff, we were
together quite a bit working in that.

We might not have been together, but,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
worked well, so we already knew that

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Well, good, good.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Thank the Lord.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: With
your lambing, what time of

year are you laming your sheep?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So that has been drastically changed.

Obviously everybody would like
to have those lambs ready to go

right in the middle of winter.

I don't know how it is other places,
but our sweet spot, the consistency

and the highest points is the dead of
winter here because nobody can get their

animals to breed in the summertime.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
ideal for us, and I think

that's gonna be an option.

I'm super excited, which we'll talk
about the breed of sheep that we

have going on here in a little bit.

But

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: with
them, you know, you're getting a weaning

lamb that is of market weight around here
is about 60 pounds is your sweet spot.

Those lambs are here
and gone in eight weeks.

So that has changed
everything for us because

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
we were just sitting there and

raising these things for four and five
months, waiting on the market, you

know, and, and basing it around that.

And so, you know.

I'm hoping that from here on out we'll
be breeding this time of year, lambing

late fall and having those babies ready
to go right in that perfect market.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

So yeah, naming Mean Late Fault,
and you're selling lambs in that

early spring or late winter window.

That's really nice.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
would be perfect to

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Mm-hmm.

In our area.

I don't know what other, you know, areas
around, but that's our good spot for that.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Very good.

And and what size lamb are you
shooting for at that point,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So at that point, if they weighed

anywhere from 60 to 65 pounds, you
really start to lose money on them.

You're just kind of feeding
them for free past that.

And in our

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right?

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
directly to the dinner table,

basically, you know, they want
those, and I tell people, think

of it as like Thanksgiving dinner.

They want a Turkey, they can eat.

You don't want a Turkey, your family's
gonna have to eat on for five weeks.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
You, right, right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
it for that dinner.

And that's kinda our
market is in this area.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

With, are you all marking them through a
sale barn or you doing direct to consumer?

Obviously with your numbers, that'd
be a lot of direct to consumer.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we have always marketed to the sale

barn now with what we have going on.

I've got a good friend down in
Mississippi, his name's Russell Schmidt.

He is the lead on our meat deal of what
we've got going on with the Australians

and with their, I don't wanna talk too
much about them because I know we're gonna

go into a segment, but their meat quality
is so much different than any other lamb.

So we will be doing quite a bit.

Our regular cross breed that we
are phasing out of those will be

go to just the meat market, but
this higher end quality, those

will be going direct to consumers.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah, let's
go ahead and switch to the overgrazing

section and the overgrazing section,

we take a deeper dive in some
aspect of your operation.

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cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: For the
overgrazing section, we're gonna focus

on the breed of sheep you're grazing.

So why don't you introduce us, introduce
our audience to the breed you're using.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we have always ran katahdin

and dorper crosses and.

When this switch from, and
I, I'm a wool girl at heart.

That's what I grew up with.

So I always got some of them in there.

You know,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
is not happy about it,

comes sharing time, but I

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I'm sure.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
It's where your roots were.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
anyway, we've always had a little

bit of wool in there somewhere.

But we've always done
tau and doper crosses.

So that was our base herd
of the 30 to 50 that we had.

And we always just ran for fun.

And then when we started diving
into this, I needed the numbers.

We needed this to work.

Everything else is off the table.

So we have to have the biggest and the
baddest meat market lamb in the country.

So what does

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
They want something that's here

and gone the fastest they can.

'cause animals, lambs die.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right, right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
least amount of input and they want

a healthy, all well-rounded lamb
that you don't have to just put

so much time and investment into.

So we started with the Dorper Cains.

We just had typically ter bias, the best
rams that came through the sale barn.

And that's just kind of all what we used.

And

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: I
got listening to Tom and Cam about NSIP,

and then I think it was I can't think
of the guy they always have on there,

but he started talking about whenever he
had bought a ram that was NSIP and just

using just commercial rams and it added
seven pounds because he had the numbers.

It added seven pounds of lamb

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh wow.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
every lamby raise.

And I added that up and I was like.

We're losing thousands and thousands
and thousands of dollars, truly

just by not investing in a good ram.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that phase gone.

So then we take the next step up and we
go get those registered animals and the

ones that had numbers and all the things.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: And you,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
tried it all.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh yeah.

And you'd mentioned Sedalia earlier.

Did, did you go that auction there?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
we went to the, I just like to

know what's in the industry.

My husband was like, why are
we gonna the Midwest RAM sale?

I said, 'cause I wanna
know what's going on.

I wanna know.

You have to know if you're in it.

I'll watch sales all the time
because I wanna be able to know

for a fact when I'm talking to
somebody, what I'm talking about.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: I
think it's so important for us to do our

research and to be able to know, 'cause
I got told a lot of bad misinformation.

I don't wanna do that to someone else.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So, anyway, with that being said, we had

went up and we bought, what I thought
was these are the, these are the guys

we're fixing to socket to these lambs.

you see all these things online and I,
I do understand that a lot of people

are running wool up north and stuff.

And so you gotta take
that in consideration.

But I wanted the wool numbers and
growth, but I want it in a hair sheet.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
find that?

I don't know.

So we went on the hunt for it when
we were in the middle of this.

So this is our first lamb crop with all
of our good rams, and we got textiles in

there and it's fixing to happen for us.

then I had been tracking the
Australian whites for three years and

just couldn't get my hands on them.

And.

Whenever a guy that I know locally,
he literally is in the town

that I grew up in, posted that
he had Australian white youth.

I thought, there's no way.

And so

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
had researched them so much that if

they, it was one I could see and know.

So I told my husband, I said, we have got
to go over there and see what's going on.

to find out, he had bought two rams off
of the first batch that came over here

whenever they first came back years ago.

And he had kept those rams and he had
been breeding and breeding and breeding.

And when I seen those ewes,
my heart started thumping.

I thought, there's no way.

There's no way that this is the real deal.

Well, it was

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
the first batch we brought

back was 60 of them, and we
brought them back with the ram.

He didn't wanna sell 'em all.

And it almost made me sick to
my stomach because before that

he had sold, I think 150 or 200.

I didn't know that they were
really that, so I just kind of

brushed 'em off and he took them to

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
barn.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh, oh.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
uses got sent to okay.

anyway, so we brought it home to 60 and
they were due the same week as ours.

So I was like, this is perfect those use.

So that winter that we went through
with them, and these are all just

percentage use, these are not full bloods.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
these percentage use

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
through, I noticed that we were

having to feed and feed and keep
these other ones up and going when

these Australians just, they'd get
over there and eat junk like a goat.

And they were three times as,
I mean they were just massive.

And I was like,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
so that's the first thing

I noticed about 'em.

The second thing was when our youth
started laying down and have babies,

we can't take a chance on, we have
done pasture lambing before and we

still do, but we also bring them up
in a jug for two to three days just

to get those lambs up and going.

That way they're healthy

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
don't wanna lose anything.

Those Australians would hit the
ground I, I go through and tip and

or tip nip and dip everybody, give
them their shot and make sure ear

tags, all of the things are good.

I was physically running as fast as I
could, and I know this sounds terrible,

but it's the only way I could catch 'em.

I'd have to kick their back feet out
from underneath them as newborns.

One of them had seriously
had afterbirth on it.

I'm like, this has

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: And
had 0% death loss on those percentage used

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yes,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: And
I thought that is in incredible, insane,

like to fathom a sheep that is pasture
birthing will get up and run, like to

the point where an adult has to chase
them and and not have any death loss.

Okay.

So that was the first 60 and I
thought, this is kind of crazy.

I didn't, I didn't get out
there and weigh any of 'em.

We have a newborn and a toddler
and so that was a whole experience

doing all that by myself with

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we didn't weigh any of them when

they were born, but in eight weeks,
higher percentage lambs, we had an

oopsie, we missed a ram lamb that had
bred some Es and they had lambs back in.

December, January, we had pulled
them off when these lambs started

being born and put them on full feed.

Those lambs that were born, the day
that those, so they were four or

five months old, those Australian
whites were here in gone weigh and

55 to 67 pounds and went on the same
trailer and never had a bite of grain

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: They
were out there fighting with 600 other

animals on the same acreage bite for bite.

I was just blown away.

And those are, those were our textile
ram, you know, influence lambs.

Those were the door, those were
Cains, those were everybody

and those Australian whites.

And I told my husband, I said,
lambs were eight weeks old,

never had a bite of grain.

We didn't even vaccinate 'em yet.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
milk and grass.

Just left here in eight weeks.

And for a farmer, and that's
one thing when people, I talk

to people, they're like, you're
just trying to sell something.

We don't have anything to sell.

We're running our numbers up to.

Sky's the limit on how
many thousands we will run.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
so excited for the commercial

farmer that we're finally gonna
get a product that's gonna work

for us and we're gonna make money.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

What, what kinda laing percentage did
you have with those Australian whites?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So a lot of people say that they're

only singles and we have to think
about where they're coming from.

And I have not myself heard
anybody say this, so this is just

strictly what Marquee has observed

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, okay.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: You
have to think about the large numbers.

They're running thousands of sheep.

These are not just little.

They think we're just small timers.

If you have 2000 sheep, you know,
here want a lamb that will get up

and go to work and stay with the mom
and that they don't have to babysit.

And so why they are more apt to do
the singles, but we also have to

think if that lamb, if we have twins
that are, we weaning off at 30 to

40 pounds and then we're having to
feed 'em for months If we have an

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
here and gone.

My purebred Australian that is coming up
here, he, he's one that we bought and I

bought all the other ones at adult age.

So for instance, he was born
and I know he's on a grass fed.

I bought him from Russell down there and
he does all grass, no grain, everything.

At eight weeks old, he weighed
81 pounds at nine weeks and two

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
weighed 87 pounds.

if we have a single that is going to
make weight of two twins and we have

to think about their fertility rate,
these are animals that will lay down

and have a baby every eight months.

these rams will get out here and work.

And when you would ask about my breeding
dates, out here working the herd.

It's July.

There's just no quit in 'em

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
in that environment of the heat.

They don't have a problem
with it like our animals do.

So what we've seen in them was
now the higher percentage used.

We did start seeing a few more singles,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
have to tell you that the, the animals

that we bought, they'd used the same
two rams on this flock for five years.

So

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
maybe we seen some inbreeding that

a little bit too much inbreeding.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: maybe so.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we can't really, I

can't really speak to that

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
as many they're having in things.

But we, we will know next year for sure
because we are going to be lambing out.

We, we have stumbled into a deal
where we are gonna have a large

number of embryos that will be born
here, and then we're gonna have

purebreds that'll be having babies.

So I'll be able to next year
give people a better idea of

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
out of that.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: we started
with mainly kain base U flock.

There was some black bellies in
there some mix, but mainly kain.

We've, we've kept it as Cains till last
year and we put a dopa ram on them.

And the dopa ram was nothing special.

I was watching Craigslist, looking
for a dopa ram, and finally found

one over in the edge of Arkansas.

And I drove over there and
I get over there and I was

disappointed looking at him,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Mm.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
but I thought, I want.

I, I want one.

So I bought him and used them.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Right.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Super impressed
with those doper kain cross limbs for us.

In fact, I went and I found another
dopa ram that is built really nice.

So he's a step up from that
dopa ram got last year.

So I'm really looking forward to that.

But it sounds like to me from you
that your Australian shepherds are

putting a doper, kaan crosses to shame,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

And so I want people to know,
again, we don't have a dog in this

fight as far as selling anything.

We don't

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
to sell.

Now, I can point you to producers that
do, and ones that do have quality.

I'm just saying that we have tried
the dopers, we've tried the textiles,

we've tried the Cains, we've
tried, I got into a whole ramen off

thing just for multiple numbers.

That was a nightmare.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I mean, we, we've done the wool.

We've just done a variety of
breeds that matter to people.

And what we have seen is less issues and
better lambs than what we could have ever.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Had with the other ones.

And it's not that we could have,
we're just saying that no, we've

lived that in a high number

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
of animals.

That's what we're seeing has
worked the best for for us.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: and, and I know
getting ready for this episode, I did a

little bit of research on the Australian
austral, Australian whites, get that

spit out on Australian whites, and I was
very impressed by the pictures I seen.

They look like they have really
good carcasses and, and better

size than what we're seeing with
a lot of the other hare sheep,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And that is one thing that I do

like about them from what I'm
seeing as a producer standpoint.

We all want that 900 pound cow that
raises a calf bigger than her, you know?

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right?

If she'll wean a thousand
pound calf, I'd be happy.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And so, exactly.

So that's what we're seeing with
these Australians, is that they're

not these big old monster sheep.

They are just little workers
and they wanna do a job.

When people come out here, they're
like, that's how big as the Rams are.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
but hey, they explode to 80 pounds

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
it's just pretty incredible all the

way around and the meat qualities,
and that's something that's

really gonna change the industry.

In our last meeting they announced
that the Australian whites will be

the first Aus or first sheep that is
certified like Black Angus and Wagyu and

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that's incredible.

There's gonna be a huge demand for them.

And that is something that when
they were doing the design of

the breed, they didn't plan for.

And so all the numbers, all the data,
everything out of these sheep is not

just something that Graham is saying.

So Graham and he's the
original founder at Tady Cal.

He has actually taken them to the
universities, put them out, took the

meat off of them, tested everything,
and the Wagyu is I think a 32 or

something that Australians are, have
a lower melting point than them.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: the
same omegas and aminos and things as fish.

Think about all the people
that have high cholesterol.

They're gonna be able
to eat a burger again.

I mean, it's incredible what they're

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
and they don't have, I personally

am not a Lamb fan because I don't
like the Wang on the end of it.

It's kind of just a different taste.

They do not have that, so

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

Wow.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
crosses that stout lamb

taste is dissolving away.

And so I've not ate a pure bread
yet because they're too expensive,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right, right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: I'm
hoping to get ahold of some of that soon.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Now Australian whites breed
developed in Australia.

Whereabouts in Australia?

Because you've got a, a huge
environmental difference.

Were they in the drier area?

Were they in the more tropical areas?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So I do not know

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, okay.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
but I do know that they have been

all over the world, and Graham talks
about that in so many different

things about how they had to perform
in all these different environments.

So wherever they are,
they have been thriving.

So,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: So
how's parasites with them?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
so far, the parasites, we

have not had an issue with.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
The group that we brought, it's

because we went back and got
150 of those used just recently.

And I will say that when we
brought them here, a lot of people

say, don't worm 'em anything.

went ahead and worm anything that
comes on our property because we

don't wanna deal with anything,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: far
as what they're bringing in and whatnot.

Their eyes were cherry red, and so far out
here, I was worried about it because you

take use that have ran, they were running
over hundreds of acres and then bring

'em here and put 'em on a condensed area.

But the lambs, everybody's been
good, so we haven't had any

issues out of 'em and the babies

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
anything like that.

They've done really, really well for us.

So term, I'll let you guys know
if we run into any issues, but

so far they've been really well,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, very good.

You mentioned a little bit
ago about the mature size.

What is the mature
weight on a u and a lamb?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: so

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: and a ram.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So the U'S are 150 to 170, but I have

not seen any of ours that are that big.

They,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
to be around the 120 to 150.

I mean, she'd have to be a
whopper, but I think where the

weight comes from is the meat.

So

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
but they're really, really thick.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I've heard they get up to 250, but

like I said, ours are not that big.

I need to

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
weigh them.

They just don't, you know, you
see some of those guitar ends

that they get so tall and,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
but they kind of remind me, which

they are kind of made up of textile,
but they kinda remind me of textile.

Just like they're just real
bulldog and just really

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
but you don't have to worry

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
the broad shoulders and things

when they're lambing because
they come out like little bricks.

They are so thick all the way through,
you know, and the textiles, they have

the head and they have the big shoulders.

And that's where gotten into some
trouble on those when we lay those out.

But the Australians, they just, no
matter how big they are, they just

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that on the commercial side of it, where

you don't have to babysit them even
though they're having big, healthy lambs.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
and they, their lambs have

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Than
what any of our other ones have been, but

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
the color difference.

'cause

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
because they're just

uniformed all the way down.

Mm-hmm.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: when
you're talking Australian white,

you're talking a, a white sheep.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: When
you talk dopers, you know

they've got the black head dirt.

There's white dopers as
well, but outside the color.

If you're looking at a doper and
you're looking at an Australian

white, how would you tell 'em apart?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
You're gonna, I'm sure if you've

looked them up online, you're gonna
really see those facial features.

They have black points,
black eyes black noses.

They almost look, if you look at a
sheep and it looks like a brar cow.

You know, it's Australian.

They just have that really
nice, unique look about 'em.

Their ears kind of

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
and they always have, it seems like

those black marks under their eyes.

They just really, that's the
way I've been telling people.

They just look like a little brain cow.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

And so that is something that glad
we kind of went into because people

really need to be careful out there.

And when the breed got brought
over the first time and.

So this is the second outcoming I
would say of the Australians when

the breed got brought over the first
time there was a lot of scamming.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
breed over a white U, so if you got

an Australian and bred over a kain,
those F ones come out and you're like,

holy cow, it looks like an Australian.

They stamp their babies so strongly

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
people see that look that you see online

of, you know, the real brainy look and
the black points and they think, oh,

that's an Australian no, you, you really
DNA is gonna be the way to go in this.

And right now it's not so heavy, but
the breeders that are gonna stay long

term are gonna be already started this.

We actually took our rams and have
DNA verified everything but people.

Cannot go out and pay a lot of money
for an F1 thinking it's a purebred.

So you say you spend $2,500 and
you bought a F1, you breed it

back to your use, you're getting
au and there's no growth rate.

All you're seeing is that
stamp look on 'em, it's a

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And you think, I just

spent $2,500 for nothing.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
got scammed.

So that is gonna be a
huge, huge, huge thing.

And I, I cannot bring enough awareness
to people that you have got to know

true breeders, who they are and, and
DNA, you might not get as many breeders

again right now that have been DNA
verifying because we're just starting

to do this in the United States.

But it's too much money to waste
for us commercial breeders if it's

not gonna perform like one should.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And the percentage ones.

You also have to think, I would never,
I know that people are gonna have to

because they're just so expensive and
there's not very many of 'em, just to

get those front genetics in before the,
the abundance of the rams come over.

But you have got to make sure
they're higher percentages, otherwise

they're just, the performance
is not gonna be there for you.

But on those higher performance,
one, just like our percentage

use eight weeks and you got a
lamb that's here and gone, that's

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
a F1 or F two, you're really backing

them back down into more of a kain or
do, or whatever they're crossed with.

And you're not gonna
see those numbers go up.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah, I know.

Just talking about that timeframe.

The last two years, we've lambed out a
portion of our flock in February with

the remainder lambing in May, but those
February ones, if the weather coal

operates on lambing, it is so nice because
I'm selling them straight off to you in

May, and I don't have that extended time.

It's before hot weather gets here.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: yes,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: not worried
about parasites as bad with them because

they're, they're here and they're gone.

So there's lots of appeal to me
for that added weight in that short

period of time to get 'em, get
'em on the ground and get 'em out.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

And so what we'll see with those and this
is not just something that I am taking

for word over here in the United States.

I'm a get it from the source
of the mouth county girls.

So I've been talking to people in
Australia, they're leaving, they're, which

they don't wean as early as what we do.

They're, they're more international.

But 55 pounds, they hit that in six weeks.

So you're gonna lamb in February,
and those lambs are gonna be gone 1st

of April, mid-February, whichever.

And those are not even lambs
that are performing on grain,

that is grass-based only.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: So

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
and truly, if you start putting a

little grain out there to them, are
you gonna see a lamb for a producer

that could be gone in a month?

Now it's

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
time to get to these purebred numbers

of what we need to in the United States.

in the end of this game, when the, the
news wore off, every producer, I believe,

will have to move to an Australian
white because they cannot afford not to.

How do you put a number down on
missing two to three months that

you didn't have that animal here?

No vaccinations, no grain, no

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
It's not just the fact that they're

finishing sooner, but it's what they
don't have to have in comparison to other

breeds and how fast they're leaving.

is the

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: And

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
in our commercial.

We can't afford anything else.

And that's I came home, I
actually got in the car.

I was like, I wanna see firsthand
people who are breeding these.

So I took three, that's
how determined I was.

I took three little girls and went on a
three day round trip and toured farms.

And when we left there, I called
my husband and I said, load every

single ram that we have up in that
trailer, I've seen it, I believe it.

'cause I'm looking around these
farms, looking for the creek feeders.

Where are they at?

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
what's

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And there's none.

their, their farms were flat.

I mean there was barns of what we
was in 'em, they just weren't there.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
like, how do you, it's unbelievable

until you experience it and we've
experienced it and we sold everything

else and went all out into it.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, very good.

For, for Australian whites,
is there a breed association?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

So.

There is two breed associations in the
United States and the A-A-W-S-B-A is the

only association that is backed by Graham
Gilmore himself in Tady, Kel in Australia.

He sends us embryos over, he gets on Zoom
meetings, which is so nice that we can

actually sit there and have a conversation
with him about our questions and, and

not just getting it from anybody else.

So if you're not a member, even if you
do not have Australian whites, I think it

would be wise for you to just go ahead,
I think it's $35 to become a member.

Get on those Zoom calls, start
listening to what's going on.

only that, but how cool is it that these
are gonna be the top producing sheep

in the United States in the industry?

There's no doubt about it,
but that you could be on the

forefront of something so cool.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: I
mean, sometimes whenever we get on the

Zoom calls, there's like 10, 20 people
to log in, so there's just not that many

in the United States, but you get to be
a part of something that's gonna work.

There's, everything's already
established in the world.

This is something

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
exciting and it's, it's just something

that's gonna change the industry.

So why not get on there and just
listen to those Zoom meetings,

talk to other producers and see
what could be available to you.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

And and you mentioned there's
Zoom meetings available

through the association.

Does the association sponsor any sales or
field days, or is this too early for that?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Not it right now.

I know that the other
association does, but

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I think that as we get going, we will.

I know we will.

I've already

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Several people.

We got some barns going up.

It's an exciting time around here.

Feeding barns, stud barns, all the things.

So next year when we have our
farm completely ready to go.

We want people to come here, see 'em.

We already have people that come and I'm
just like, we had a tornado come through.

Don't mind the mess.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
we really wanna open our doors

and say, Hey, come and see.

And not just for the farmer that's
got five and what's registered stock.

I'm talking to the big producers, come and

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
really going on here.

Come and see what, what
we have Bite for bite.

And that's the thing when you have
animals competing, bite for bite.

Sometimes some fall out,
sometimes this and that.

But I have two pins out

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
bottom end of the Australian

wines and my bottom end of
the door perca that we raise.

And I set them side by side so people
can see this is the bottom end.

And they're like, oh my goodness.

So to see it truly and know what you're
looking at, there's no hiding it.

Our whole farm's open, you
can see everything is, is

gonna be a huge game changer.

So I hope that they start doing those
field days, but if not, we will.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Very good.

Before we move off of the Australian
whites, is there anything else you

wanna add about the breed specifically
before we talk about y'alls future?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

I just think that way around,
we don't have the feed issues.

The breeding every eight months.

The fact that these guys are gonna
get up and go to work for us in the

summertime is gonna be a game changer.

The meat industry, when they start
rolling out these higher end meat

qualities and things like that, it's
gonna give the producer another outlet.

It's gonna open up the
door to more customers.

We're just gonna have
more options as we go.

And the fact that they're shedding.

The black feet that they've
put on and they stand up.

They're, they're just an all around, all
around animal with less production cost.

I just do not see the downside
of them in what we have going on.

And I think that

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: to

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
and start researching and really see

the, the only downside, and this is
something I would like to bring to

light, the only downside, and don't
get discard in this because I know

that I have chased them for so long and
wasn't able to get my hands on them.

Everybody is trying so hard to get
them into the industry and to make more

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
us, they have to understand that

these embryos that are coming
embryo work is hard enough.

And so a lot of times it doesn't work.

So you're looking at 50
50 best chance they're

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
their herds.

And with that being said, I think
people are getting frustrated

because they're not available.

It's coming.

This next year is gonna be the
best year for anybody to get.

with that being said, don't lose hope.

There's embryo routes.

I know people are gonna
start doing stud fees.

gonna be so many different
options available to get

ahold of them and be like us.

I should have jumped on
this gravy train three years

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: so
much time I wish I would've done it then.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

Kind of like South Poles are pretty
popular in the cattle world right now.

And I had looked at some, I don't
want, I don't know, 20 10, 20 11.

Early on I'd found some, I looked at
'em and I decided, I just don't know.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Had I

had the foresight, I would've
changed that decision and we'd

be in different place, you know?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
like me.

You always get in on the
tail end of everything.

People

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
don't you get in the Highlanders?

I was like, 'cause as soon as
we do, they tank everything

we've ever done is that way.

But so I say to you, this is the
first time where we can actually

be in the forefront of something.

And

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Very good.

You, you mentioned a couple
times, eight month lambing.

Are you all doing accelerated lambing?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
We will be doing accelerated lambing.

When you have an

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that keeps the body condition, and I,

I, I share a lot on our page, like these
views out here, these percentage ones.

We actually last Sunday sold our last
of the katata and doper crosses and

we just said we're taking a chance
and we're only going to percentage,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So they're out here having these babies

right now twins and look just as big
and beautiful like they never had.

And I know that a lot of people
will say, well, my, my cat

and my door could do this.

I do believe that there are animals
out there that look as good, can

maybe compete in the same aspect,
but they're not commercial farmers

out here with 600 head fighting.

You know what I'm

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
These

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that in such a big scale.

Where they really are having
to perform at their top.

We just have not found at a consistent
basis of every single one of those.

UES is exactly the same.

The inconsistency with the doper, kato
and crosses is all over the place.

The

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: so

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
say we didn't have just a few that

perform like this because we do
have a kain that lays down and

has a baby every eight months.

She's amazing.

But that's one in all of
the time I've known them,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
assistance or cedars

or anything like that.

So with that being said, these
es when they're weaning off these

lambs, it's six and eight weeks,
their body condition is peak.

you take that lamb off of 'em, let 'em go,
they're breeding right back and you got

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
on the ground.

And even if, and this kind of goes back
to that single we had talked about, 'cause

I, lot of people do say the Australians,
but if she raises you every eight months

and 81 pounder in six to eight weeks.

I don't know what a cat, Todd
and Dopa that can raise twins

that will do that for you,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
'cause most of the time

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
to rear 'em, you have to wean 'em,

you gotta feed 'em all the things.

I'm not saying there's not animals
out there that will perform great,

us, this is just our experience.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: It's
working really well for you.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah it

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: And, and
that leads us into our next question.

Where's, what's the
future hold for Y's farm?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we have a lot of big

things going on right now.

I'm so excited.

We have the last of our Es.

We had an opportunity with the
solar farms down in Texas called and

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Hey, what do you got?

And I told my husband, I
said, this is our opportunity.

Let 'em go at one whack.

Everything we've got that we don't want.

If it looks at us sideways,
crossways didn't perform, it's gone.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
we got rid of those.

And it's kind of crazy.

I always talk about how in the moment
you don't really know what that, what's

coming, but God has a plan all the way.

Because as soon as we got those out,
we got a call and now we have, two

different flocks coming that are
gonna be carrying purebred embryos.

We're gonna be lambing these out
for another operation and growing

our own, and with the fire that
we had, we're not obligated to

anything ground's ground to us.

And we're not stuck here.

We're gonna use this farm to
the best of our ability and

we're just gonna keep going.

We love

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: you
know, we're gonna have a, we're gonna,

after we get this set down because you
know, sheep needs shepherd, then we're

gonna get back into the cattle industry.

But this is our baby.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yeah, yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
really don't have a number.

I mean, I do 20,000, but I know
he'll shut me down at some point.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: You right.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
you know, you gotta have,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
gotta have both sides.

and take.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: you do.

If I did everything I wanted to
do I wouldn't be good at anything.

And maybe I'm not, but my wife,
my wife really helps me focus on

what I should be doing as opposed
to just, oh, let's try this.

What about this?

Hey, that's a good idea, you know?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: I've
had to really focus myself down when we

started this, because I was that person.

I was all

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
doing the sheep.

Doing the cattle, and that's why whenever
the fire we're like, Nope, we're gonna

put all of our energy into this one thing.

So

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
years, I've not got out of the box.

I'm

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
Oh, very good job.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
got in.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

Well, Marque, let's move to
the famous four questions.

Same four questions we
ask of all of our guests.

For today's sponsor, we wanna talk
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I look forward to seeing you
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to seeing your listing there.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Our first
question, what's your favorite grazing

grass related book or resource?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So I listened to you ask this question

on, on all the podcasts, and I always
feel a little, oh, because books I love

to read and I have sat down and read
several, like Greg, Judy and stuff.

I really do like his books and whatnot,
and he's local to us, so it, it kinda

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
off, but I never stop moving.

And so to actually read a book is hard.

I listen to podcasts galore.

I listen

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh, yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
some mornings where I'll wake up

and just type in sheep and just
whatever pops up, I'm just listening.

Some things I learned
that I love some things.

I'm like that never in a
million years would do that.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
that we chase and do, as long as it's

educational, doesn't matter to me.

If it's a book, if it's a podcast.

If it's calling another producer
and say, Hey, what do you

got going on your farm today?

Just to call and hear some
sort of, something about

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
is just great.

And following people online maybe,
and reading their articles and

stuff about what they have going on.

So I don't really read a lot
of books, like I said, because

we're always moving, but I've

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right, right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
on, always got on the phone always.

Something like that.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

Excellent Resources podcast out there.

Of course, I say that with a podcast,
but I do think I love having a podcast

in my ear when I'm out doing stuff.

Now I do caution.

Sometimes just take the podcast out
so you can just enjoy the moment.

But it,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I, I need to start doing that maybe.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah,
yeah, sometimes I get out there

and I'm like, I'm not listening.

I'm just gonna enjoy the
moment and be more present.

But a lot of times I have a
podcast in my ear or a audio book.

So those are really nice.

That network's so important.

And you mentioned Greg, Judy actually
the first person who comments in the

Grazing Grass Community about Greg Judy.

When this drops, I've got
a free book for them on,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Very cool.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah, I
can't even think of the title now.

It's the, it's his third book.

I've got one.

So if someone comments in
the Grazing Grass Community,

I'll get that book to you.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
That's

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941:
But excellent resources.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yes.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: question,
what's your favorite tool for the farm?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: So
my favorite tool is the sprayer, and it

goes back to that hot wire I have weeded.

I told my husband, I was like, I don't
wanna use sprays, I just don't like 'em.

I don't wanna breathe.

You know, all the things that go

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

All the reasons.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And so for this whole season, I

have got out there and moved the
fence over, Mo move the fence over.

I'll never know.

Sprayer's my friend, I'm done with it.

I spent a month worth of hours weed
eating and mowing around places,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh.

Yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I'm just like, I sprayed my first

pad on and three days later I come
back and I was like, wow, that

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So I'm not gonna go without it ever

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah, yeah.

You know, we, we mention this a lot
of times in the end point or our

end goal, we may be wanting to be
there, no chemicals, no whatever.

But on our journey, sometimes we need
to use some of those crutches or, or

resources, depending on how you wanna
frame it to get to that end point.

So, yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Well, people don't take enough.

And again, no, I don't wanna spray.

But if you don't do these little
things that help yourself out along the

way, your burnout's gonna be so real.

You're never gonna make it there anyway.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right,
because your farm has to be

financially stay sustainable.

But not only that, it's gotta be
sustainable for you to do the work

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: And

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: and continue on

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: and enjoy it.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
exactly, we're raising a family.

We got the farm going on, we got all

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
if I'm mowing and we eating for

10 hours a week just for just
for one paddock, ' cause you

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
under every single fence.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I'm willing to give up for this year.

Next year we'll probably have hard fence
and I'll never have to do it again.

But

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: be
ashamed for having to do something for a

short amount of time to get to your goal.

To never have to do it again.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: right.

I completely agree.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yep.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Our third
question, what would you tell

someone just getting started?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I would tell them to start small.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: I.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
educate,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Not
by 300 views at the cell barn.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: no.

So it was, it was God's gift to
us that we did go through that.

Because now look at all
the people we can help.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: in

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: yeah.

Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
was not funny.

It was not funny that we were
crying and like, why did we

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And there's no way out and you know,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

But you learned a lot.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Did we ever.

So I'm grateful for that.

But I would tell them, start small.

Don't be afraid to

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Mm-hmm.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: and

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Good advice.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
hungry for it.

And approach people, like some
people are gonna shoot you

down and they're just rude.

But truly somebody who understands
and where you've been and where

you're from is gonna break it
down to you in a way that you can

understand and meet you where you are.

And that's where I think that we have a
cool advantage in the way the Lord set it

up for us is we did start as those small
producers and we did go all the way up.

Now we did towards the
end, jump into it big time.

But we can say, Hey, but you
have to educate yourself.

You have to hear something and
say, I don't know what that is.

I'm gonna look it up.

You have to put down the

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
be on Facebook and listen to a podcast.

You know, because you, you have to make

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Wow.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
It's not gonna work for you.

You have to work.

You have to work for your farm.

not something you have to do forever,
but it is growing pains and you really,

really do have to invest yourself
in education as far as farming goes.

You're never gonna make it.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

Excellent advice.

Our fourth question, where can
others find out more about you?

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
So we have a page, it's called

Peace in the Valley Farms, and you
guys can always call us, email us.

We're always available.

I love to talk to people about sheep.

My husband loves for me to talk to
anybody about sheep besides him.

So it works out.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Right.

So if you can talk to someone else
about sheep, he doesn't have to

hear as much about 'em that day.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
And you'd think I'd run out, but I don't.

I've always got something
to say about him to him or

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: exactly.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
else gave me that day to present to

him, and he's always grateful for that.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

I I feel you.

My wife sometimes is like, I don't need to
talk about how you're going to rotate the

cows or what you're going to try or this.

Yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: yep.

That's exactly us.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Before we wrap
up today, do you have a question for me?

I.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
I do.

I have, I might have convinced
you to look a little harder

about the Australian white.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: You
know, looking, you didn't have

to try very hard because I'm
already trying to, to figure out.

I think we need something more.

We've been keeping our own and
Rams and, and I just felt like we

needed more meat on those lambs.

So we went with DOPA last year and
then got two DOPA Rams out there.

Right now.

The, the difference in those
crossbred lambs versus the lambs we

were producing are night and day.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
yeah.

Oh,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: it's amazing.

So when I look at the, the photos
of the Australian whites online

and to hear you talk about it, I'm
like, whoa, if, if that's really the

case, I need a Australian white Ram.

I need to, to try this and see.

And I don't doubt what you're saying,
but you know, everyone's got their own

context and how it works for 'em, so,
but yeah, it definitely makes me think,

man, that's something I need to watch
out for, that I need to find a ram or

even a few F ones or something just to,
to try and see how they work for me.

I am concerned for the dopers on, I don't
wanna lose the parasite resistance I

had with my flock, so, that's something
that I'm trying to monitor and,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Mm-hmm.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: we'll,
we'll see how it goes, but I'm really

liking these, these lambs and we're
gonna keep a few of them as ewes.

So I'll see how they are
on the maternal side.

But yeah, you have me fully interested
in Australian whites and I saw there's

a deal in Missouri in Mount Vernon.

July 31st, I believe.

And I think someone's gonna
be there with Australian.

Talk about Australian whites.

At least in, yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
We'll be there.

And,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: you,

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
yeah, we're gonna go up Doug Edge,

who's the president of the A-W-S-B-A.

He'll be bringing a, I think a
couple use and maybe his Ram down.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950: Yep.

I think he's gonna bring those.

And then that way we'll be speaking
at, and this is something I wanted to

shed some light on before we actually
got off of here, but the Missouri

Sheep Producers Association, I think is
something that doesn't get enough light.

We are actually gonna
start being a rep for them

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yes.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
We will be hosting and talking about

the Australian White as well at
their annual meeting in the fall.

But if you are in Missouri and would
like to know the goings on and ins

and outs of the sheep world and the
sheep industry, a very simple signup

and you get a newsletter every month.

And I think we just need to
really push for more people to

know about that association.

That way we can get more people
involved in what's going on in

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
them.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Yeah.

Very good.

Well, I saw that for July 31st, and
I thought I need to check my schedule

and see what I have going on that day.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
It will be great.

You should come over.

And Doug is a wealth of information and
he actually owns RSG out in Indiana, which

is fertility specialist for sheep and

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
We're actually becoming a

rep for his company as far as
minerals and things like that go.

We went up and lot of the reason
why we went to the Missouri Stud Ram

sale was to just sit there and have
a conversation and, and what do you,

what do you see with Australian whites?

What are you guys seeing?

What,

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
and the goals and things like that.

So I think the more people that you
could talk to about them and just see

what their production looks like and
what their goals are with them is,

it'd be really cool just to go up there
and just have a conversation with him.

cal_1_07-08-2025_100941: Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Well, Marque really enjoyed you
coming on and sharing today.

squadcaster-2af7_1_07-08-2025_100950:
Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks for having us.

on in this episode, Marque mentioned
that this was all about everything

not to do on the farm, and I value her
honesty, her transparency with their farm.

I think so often in this age of
social media, we look at Instagram

posts and reels, we look at the
Facebook post and we see everyone's

doing so great, but not us because
we see the whole picture in our mind,

while Instagram and Facebook
are showing the highlights.

I think it's important we share our
failures are trying times, things

we wish we'd done better, as well as
those other times that we've succeeded,

because all those times are
important for your journey.

You learn a lot more when there's
failures, when things don't work

out as you planned versus when
things just go perfectly planned.

So Marque, thank you for being honest,
thank you for being transparent and

sharing your struggles as well as
your tri triumphs, and for you the

listener, remember Instagram, Facebook
are highlight reels and you're seeing

the whole picture in your operation.

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.

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Until next time.

Keep on grazing grass.