184. Grit, Grazing, and Grass-Fed Dairy with Wyatt Jones
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Well, let's
get started with the fast five.
Our first question, what's your name
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
I'm Wyatt Jones.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: and
Wyatt, Where are you located
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
I am in uh, Pisgah Alabama.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: In Alabama?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
northeast corner right up on Sand
Mountain or the Cumberland Plateau
that goes from Tennessee down into
the northeast corner of Alabama.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh, very good.
And what's your.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
So a little bit of a micro climate.
Yeah.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
Sounds like it would be.
What's your farm's name
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Happy Meadow Farm.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: and
what livestock do you graze?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
So we've got, beef cows.
We've got dairy cows, we've got katahdin
sheep we have pasture raised chickens.
That's, that's it right
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Yeah.
Yeah, right now.
Good.
Yeah.
Good tag on that.
Yeah.
And what year did you
start grazing animals?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
We started in 2021.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh, yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
July, 2021.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: oh, very good.
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.
Are you ready to turn market
data into your competitive edge?
Introducing the newest course from Noble
Research Institute MarketSMART Ranching.
Learn how to evaluate the true
worth of your livestock and assets,
break down costs and time buying
and selling decisions like a pro.
It's all about making smart market
driven moves that put you ahead.
Join Noble for MarketSMART ranching,
October 14th and 15th in McKinney, Texas.
Scholarship and grant opportunities
are available for those who qualify.
Visit noble.org
and select Find a course to learn
more about MarketSMART ranching or
enroll today because smart decisions
can lead to a stronger ranch.
For 10 seconds Today we're not gonna
talk about the farm nor the podcast.
We're gonna talk about a
celebration we had on Saturday.
It was my grandparents' 80th wedding
anniversary, so we had a big celebration
over 200 people came to to celebrate that.
It is an amazing accomplishment.
My grandma turned 97 in July and grandpa
will be 99 in September, so 80 years.
It's just amazing.
If you wanna see my grandpa on my
trailer business Load It Trailers, I
just released a video with him using
the remote dump for my hay trailer.
Um, but I just want to
share that with you.
We'll get back to talking
about the farm and the podcast
next week for the 10 seconds.
And with that being said,
let's get back to Wyatt.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Now
growing up, did you think you
would end up grazing animals?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
No, you know, I, I always had
a love for kind of ranch life.
I didn't grow up on a ranch or
a farm or anything like that.
I had cousins, uncles that would do some
rodeoing I was always jealous of it.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
I thought maybe one day I would be
able to retire and buy a quiet 20 acres
and have a couple horses, you know.
So this, this was something
I didn't see coming,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: So
getting started on your adult
life, what did you start doing?
Did you, at that time, did you already
have the bug to go more into farming or.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: you
know, me and my wife met in the military.
I thought the military would be a career.
It ended up not being we
started having our first child.
I got into working out kind
of bodybuilding type things.
I got further down the
nutrition kind of rabbit hole.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
why, you know, if I'm, if I've got a
bunch of muscle and I can run really
fast, why don't I always feel good?
Why do some foods make me
feel worse than other foods?
And I was about to get outta the military.
And my wife was wondering
what we were gonna do.
I just started watching YouTube
and I found Greg, Judy, Justin
Rhodes, and Joel Southton, and
that's all, all she wrote, you know?
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
I knew I wanted to work
outside and work with my hands.
And then learning about regenerative
agriculture and how you could.
You know, healed land, you could put
healthy food on your table and provide
free community while making a profit.
Seemed like the win-win win everybody,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
talking about.
So we found a regenerative farm not far
from where we were in Florida at the time.
We were right outside Tampa and
there was a small regenerative
farm, and I started buying pasture
raised chickens and grass fed lamb.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: it.
Just loved it.
Then I started looking more into YouTube
and I thought, maybe this is my thing.
And I was, my wife hadn't
got outta the military yet.
I was out.
And so I was staying home
with our, our newborn baby.
And so I just downloaded the Kindle
app and I started reading a bunch of
books on grazing and Joel sale's books.
And it just.
It just took over my life.
It was everything I could think about.
I was dreaming about cows, I was
dreaming about, you know, the land.
Maybe I'll have one day and what
I would do on it, and it, it was
everything, you know, everything
mentally and all I could talk about
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: I'm,
I'm sure your wife at some point
was like, tell someone else.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
y Yeah, well, you know,
she was from the city.
She was,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Ohio, and then she lived in
Tampa, Florida, and that was it.
I said, Hey, I think
we should try farming.
And she was like, ha ha.
No, you've lost your mind.
And you know, about three weeks after
that, when she would come home from
work and me and my daughter would be
watching Greg, Judy on YouTube, she
was like, okay, let's give it a shot.
Yeah.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: So, so when you
finally wore her down and got her to say,
okay, maybe we go, what was that process?
What did you think?
I'm gonna go buy some land?
Or did you think, Hey, my bank
account says I'm not buying land.
Did you look for land to lease?
Did you find a farm to mentor at?
What'd you do?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
You know, we were, we, we knew
we wanted to be close to family.
You know, I'm, my parents are
from Scotsboro, Alabama, which.
15, 20 minutes from Pisca.
We didn't know exactly where we
wanted to buy yet, but we knew we had
a good opportunity right at COVID a
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh,
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: that
I had bought in Florida outside Tampa.
I knew I had a good real estate
opportunity to make more money on this
and that we could put that into land.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
and so it just.
It was just luck of the draw.
You know, we were at that point
where we were willing to move, sell,
and put that into some cheaper,
hopefully cheaper land in Alabama.
And so that's, that's what happened.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Did you,
did it take a while to find the place
in Alabama where you wanted to go?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
You know, it wouldn't have took me.
Long at all because I'm,
I'm all in kind of guy.
You know,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
up my mind, there's no stopping me.
I'm, I'm gonna get it done.
It's all I'm gonna think about.
It's all I'm gonna talk
about until it's done.
And so once she told me, let's give
it a shot there, I was immediately
looking for land, trying to build this
dream, trying to make sure she could.
You know, see what my vision was, you
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
to also sell it to her.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Right.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
and you know, we looked for a while.
We had 60 acres under contract about
a week before we were gonna move.
And that ended up following through.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh no.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
was just, I was hurt at that point
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
like, I'd already gotten on
apps, measured the acreage.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: I imagine so.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
noted for how many fence posts, how much
wire, you know, how I was gonna do my
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: I
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
and it fell through.
I'm like, man, this,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: oh, yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
So we moved up and after we moved up,
my mom said, well, there's an auction
right down the road from that property.
Why don't we go to it?
And I'm like, no way we're
about to buy land in an auction
the day after we move here.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
enough, we go to the auction and I
like it and I'm like, we're buying it.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh, very good.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
it at the auction and it was, it was
a pretty magical moment, you know?
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: So,
so what were you able to buy?
What did it look like?
Did it have prier fence?
Was it s
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
it didn't have perimeter fence.
It was luckily all pa it
was 33 acres of, let's see.
It was about 20 acres on the left side.
That was no trees, just hayfield.
Then you had two two acre
ponds that were just beautiful.
Beau, no, no cattle had been on the,
so it's cattails, crystal clear water,
you know, well-managed property.
And then you had about 10 acres
on the right side with white oak
trees and a little bit of like, I
guess you would call sil pasture.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
well maintained area.
it had a metal barn on it or a metal
shop, and then it had 63 blueberry bushes,
mature and about 500 feet of muscadines.
I don't know if you
know what those are, but
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615:
those are grapes, right?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
they're grapes.
Yeah.
They're like native of
native north American grapes.
They
A different flavor for
sure, but they're grapes.
Yeah.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Well that the
blueberry plants and those that grape
variety, that's like win-win right there.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: was,
yeah, it was, you know, it was a beautiful
place to even just even stumble upon it.
And then, you know,
your whole life changes.
'cause you take the chance,
you buy it and it's like.
This just came outta left field,
you know, and it was like my dream
was starting right then, you know?
It was extremely exciting.
And it was a wonderful starter farm.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: So have
you maintained those fruits?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
So, I watched craft crash course
on how to prune the grape vines,
and there was about 33 vines.
And they were all expanding about
12 to 15 feet in each direction.
They'd been there for 20 years or so.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: so
the fruit were, the grapes were massive.
Unlike grapes, they
don't grow in clusters.
They more grow in like maybe
small clusters of three.
But the
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh, okay.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
they're about golf ball size.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh, okay.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
And you have to cut 'em back
every single year because they
only grow from new growth.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh,
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
when February March comes around, you
gotta get busy cutting before the sap
starts coming outta the ground and back
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
yeah.
So it was busy.
It wasn't something I planned
on knowing how to do, but it
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: right.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
We were just starting.
It was like, I'm gonna, you know,
capitalize on anything I can capitalize.
So
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: well.
Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
learned how to do it.
The blueberries were the best
blueberries I've ever had in my time.
I never had farm fresh blueberries.
And
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh,
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
we've got 63 blueberry bushes
of about 10 different varieties.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: oh, yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
I mean, it was, they were
in just, they wonderful.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh, I'm, I'm sure
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
different notes.
Some of 'em were more floral tasting,
some of 'em had a more of a honey flavor.
And you could stand in one spot and pick
a five gallon bucket of blueberries.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah, they were, you know, 10 to 12
feet tall, you know, and large bushes.
And yeah, they were wonderful.
A quick cash crop to just kind of get
us moving, get our name out there.
So it was a
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah,
So that was a great find for your farm.
It sounds like it's fairly close to
your parents, which is really good.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: Yes.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: On the
basis of livestock, what'd you
do to get ready for livestock?
And what livestock did
you go with initially?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: So
you know, I told you, you know, once I get
going, I'm going, so before I even moved,
I had bought my first LA herd of cattle.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh, yes,
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah, I
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: I.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
somebody that was, had some old, they,
well, they were ropers and so they had
their own little roping cattle herd
and they were gonna get rid of them.
And so they were mostly
Longhorns and Corte.
And there was, I believe it
was six pairs and a bull.
And so I had caught 'em.
It was a heck of a deal.
I think they were.
it'd be a heck of a deal back
then, I guess it was going rate,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Right, right.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
it was, it was, it came
out to about $400 a, a cow.
And so I, I seized the opportunity.
I said, can you hold it?
This is when we'll be moving.
They said, yeah.
And so got started with
Longhorns and Corte.
I immediately, when I got there, I started
fencing in the 10 acres with the shade.
And I did four strand high
tinsel with the fiberglass posts.
I originally wanted to go with
timeless, but I had got started
right when Greg Judy had put out the
video about timeless fence posts.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
were on back order for months
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: And
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
not gonna work.
So I ended up going with the
fiberglass and I, I actually
enjoy the fiberglass post.
They worked really well.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Did you,
is there a certain brand you got
or are they just fiberglass posts?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
No, they were, I'm trying to think.
Kin Cove.
Kin Cove is where I had ordered
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
they,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Are they the
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
the line,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Pro?
What's the No, pastor pro.
That's what Powerfleck sells.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah, they were the the painted
ones that Kinko has Sun, sun
Guard or something maybe.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Yeah.
SunGard sounds right.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
And so those were the line posts,
and then I went with I think
inch and a half in the corners.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
and, and they worked.
It worked fine.
I mean, I wasn't pulling a ton
of, it is not like I had six or
eight, you know, strands on there.
And I think at first I only
had three strands for the cows.
I didn't add the fourth
one until I got sheep.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
And about a month or two months
after that, I got 15 sheep.
I, it was quickly tin sheep
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: that will happen.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
it will happen.
Yeah.
Those are one of those moments where
you, you know, looking back now, I
was like, man, I was freaking out.
And
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: you
know, if, if one gets sick, it's just.
You know how it's gonna end.
I'll do my best to intervene
and try to help it out.
But most of the time just
not tough enough to make it.
So,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Yeah,
you've gotta hop in really quick.
And, and to be honest, I saw you that had
a little bottle jaw on her this morning
and I thought, oh, she needs wormed.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: I didn't,
so what I should have done right then
was warmer, but I didn't have time,
so I thought I'll do it later, which.
Y you see one that needs
dewormed, you gotta do it.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
And the thing with the, the, the
bottle jaw is, you know, and this
took me a couple years to figure
out, even if, most of the time,
even if you de-worm 'em, they're
so anemic at that point that you've
actually gotta treat 'em from anemia
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
'cause that will kill 'em.
And we, we, you know, nowadays
if I see one with a bottle jaw.
will de-worm 'em right then, but then
I'll also give 'em an iron shot and then
I'll give them some nutri drench and that
way they can replenish their red blood
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
And
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
time I, well, you can pull 'em out of it
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: yeah,
that's a really good idea.
Yeah.
So you immediately got some cows.
That was great.
You'd had 'em and they were holding
them till you could get up there.
Oh, of course.
I'm sure that caused some pain.
'cause it sounds like you may have
had those before you got the property
because you were buying the other
property and then that fell through.
Did you have the cows bought at
that time and then you were like,
oh no, now I don't have anything.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
yes, that is
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh man.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
So I was still up in Florida, weeks out,
had these cows, told these people, you
know, you know, we were gonna have, and
actually the first property had perimeter.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
had that going for me.
Whereas this new property had had
no fence, you know, they had taken
everything down to hate the fields.
And so yeah, it did put a little stress
on me because these people were being
gracious enough to hold these cows for
several weeks for me to get started.
And I did feel a need to, like, I need
to get this, get this thing going.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
You know, it was a, it was a, a lot
of work and a big learning curve.
I, like I said, I've never built fence
before and I just watched from Greg Judy's
how to tie the, you know, the high tensile
knots and stuff and got, got going on it.
And the cattle were, you know,
for, I was a little worried, but I
figured because they had been roped
and handled a lot, maybe they would
be, you know, a little worn out.
And,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
and use the human presence.
'Cause I heard stories about
Longhorns and Corte and stuff,
but they were cheap cattle.
The idea was to get a South pole bull and
start breeding up immediately right then.
And we just started day one with
rotational grazing, you know,
reels and step in posts, and
we just started from day one.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Did you on those
first cows, did you have any trouble
with them respecting the electric fence?
Were they calm, like you anticipated?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah, for the most part
they were pretty calm.
They did, they did like to push each
other around with the horns, but they
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
not aggressive.
You know, they, they used
it for themselves mostly at
the water trough, you know?
You know, it is funny, I just looked
back at some pictures of the first time
I ever rotated cows not that long ago.
And you, you, it just shows you
how, how well you adapt and how
how much more you can kind of
Maybe this is not the right way to put
it, but just you evolve, you're thinking
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
your relaxation evolves, and, and
so the first move, I probably had a
step in post every five to four feet,
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
you know, and I
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
strands on there, and I had a step
in post every three to four feet.
And I'm like, man, there's
no way I could do that.
I'd have to have so many posts.
And yeah, before long after, I think
after about a week, I kind of took
away that third wire, the bottom one.
which my wife said the other day when
I showed her that, she was like, what
was that bottom strand even doing?
And I'm like, I don't know.
It was keeping them in.
That's what it was doing.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Right,
but, but that speaks to that.
You know, just get out
there and do something.
I know for me, I get hung up on,
well, should the post be 20 feet, 25
feet, how high should that line be?
It really doesn't matter.
And I know when someone's getting started.
That's hard to
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: Mm.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615:
internalize because you're
like, well, I just don't know.
But if you just get it in there
close and then just look at how your
cows, your animals are reacting.
And you start figuring that out, and
it just speaks to that getting started,
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
I, I promise the cows aren't out there
with a tape measure measuring and
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: right?
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
to figure out which post is,
you know, closer or further.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615: and,
you know, one of the best things I ever
read from Joel SI believe it was Joel s.
Said the cows don't care
if the fence is crook.
Just it.
Just get it done
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Yes.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Does it work?
Then let it work.
You know, don't worry about
fixing it or it being perfect.
Get started and find out what works.
Yeah.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: And, and
to be honest, that straightness not
that you, you'd come, if you visited
me, you'd be like, I don't think he
worries about stuff being straight.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
Yeah.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: when I was
putting up fence, you know, I'd try and
get it in a line and then I'd look at
it and I'd be like, why is that crooked?
And I.
I'm not completely there, but
I'm much better about who cares?
I'm just putting it up.
It'll hold cows.
I don't even pull it all that tight.
You know?
It's, it's a learning journey.
squadcaster-5e40_2_07-18-2025_121615:
It is.
It is.
cal_2_07-18-2025_121615: Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: So you get
your cows there, you're rotating them.
You're thinking, Hey, I
don't need that bottom wire.
The top two's working pretty good.
And you decide to bring sheep in.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yes.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: you
immediately make it into a slurred
and start doing more wires, or
how did that go with the sheep?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yes.
So the sheep if I'm remembering this
correctly the sheep, as soon as I got 'em,
went straight in with the with the cows.
And within not even 24
hours, I had a sheep go down.
And, you know, and, and the breeder, you
know, his concern was maybe a cow had.
Hit her with a horn or
something like that.
And, you know, maybe, possibly they
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Uh oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
But what I I came to find
out is stress breaks a, an
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
down so quick, so quick.
And, know, people, I guess when you're
raising animals, you can quickly
see how quickly some outside stress,
environmental stress, or just change
can affect your immune system that
we don't think about in humans.
But you see it firsthand when it comes
to sheep or cows or something like that.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
And so, you know, it, it might've
been the traveling that day and
then thrown in with new animals and
then new forage and then her immune
system goes down, and then maybe some
parasites that she had that wasn't
affecting or was now affecting her or
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Right.
And goats and sheep both really handle,
are really stressed by moves and,
yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: And
and so that one, you know, I was going,
oh, well maybe, hopefully that's just a
fluke, you know, hopeful thinking at that.
And then I think about within maybe
two more weeks, I lost another sheep.
And this time
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh no.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
know what was going on.
So I took it to Boaz, which
is about an hour from us.
They have an Auburn
autopsy there for animals.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
had ' em autopsy and, and
they said that it was copper.
And so I'm like, well, that's weird.
I don't, I mean, I knew CO or
she needed less copper than cows,
so I had already bought mineral
that could was for all classes.
And she said, well, she didn't
have copper in her stomach or
any, it's not like she chewed on
copper wire or anything like that.
And so, I had reached out and so the
breeder had ended up using copper bolus.
So, I don't know if you'd heard of, you
could use like a copper boluses with
little pieces of copper and somehow
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: R
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
D worms.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: right.
For deworming.
Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
exactly how it works if it's, it
just makes the the environment a
little toxic for the parasites or
what, but that's what it happened.
And so we'd lost a few sheep and
then after we lost those, we were
kind of really alert, like, we've got
to pay attention to these animals.
But it was a little disheartening because
we knew if we lost anymore, there wasn't
really anything you can do about it
because it, copper toxicity there, I mean
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
it's just a done deal, you know?
But after that, everything
kind of went smooth sailing.
I guess the most trouble I had
out of anything was guard dog.
You know, just, running all over the
place and but as far as the livestock,
everything went pretty smooth.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
in hindsight, but I'm pretty sure it
probably didn't feel that way back
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: it
didn't feel that way at the
time.
Right,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: But
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: right.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: it
all worked out, you know, and it was a
hundred percent worth it, you know, so.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: When, when you
got all that, you, you had the farm,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Mm-hmm.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: you
got the farm, you've already got
these blueberries and grapes.
And you mentioned that was a good way to
introduce yourself to the, the community.
Did you sell blueberries that first season
and, Did you take it at farmer's market or
you, were you just selling from the house?
How were you marketing and did then
the question I wanna parlay on top
of that, were you telling people,
Hey, I'm gonna have some grass fed
beef, I'm gonna have some grass
fed lamb in a year, three years,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
Yes, yes.
So, you know, immediate, so we
had bought the property in June,
closed July, and then of course
June July's blueberry season here.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
You
got right in there.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: was
perfect timing and I was super excited.
You know, that first year, let's pick
blueberries in the middle of July.
It's great, you know, you can snack
all you want, you get to pick.
And yeah, so we just started
selling 'em by the gallon.
There was a few festivals here
and there on the square and stuff
at our small town in Scottsboro.
So, I would send the wife and
the kids there to sell 'em.
We had bought about 50 laying
hens as well, and so we
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
eggs, blueberries, and eggs.
And yeah, I built a Facebook page
started posting on there, this
is what we'll have, this is what
we're about, this is what we do.
And at that time, not many
people had heard anything
about regenerative agriculture.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
kind of like just talking
about why we're different.
We move our animals every day.
No chemical fertilizers or, or
pesticides and all that kind of stuff.
And and you know, luckily I'm from
Scottsboro, so I had a, a community
that knew me and kind of welcomed me.
You
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
They, you know, most people knew I
was gone in the military and they
were happy I was back with a family.
And so, I mean, I had a really
good community that were
just happy to support us.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
couldn't have done it without 'em,
still can't do it without 'em, you know,
they're the whole reason we're here.
Okay.
yeah, we just got started with that,
started educating about having pasture
chickens and we're gonna have real
chickens, not chicken house chickens.
And people were kind of intrigued by
that, you know, what does that mean?
And, you know, we would post
pictures of our first whole chicken
and the skins all golden brown and
crispy, and people were excited.
They wanted to try that out
and So we just kind of played
the blueberry and egg game.
It, which was a great way to get started.
And then we kind of
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
this is what to come, you know, grass
fed beef and why grass fed beef has
got more nutrients and pasture raised
chickens and the lifestyle they're living.
And you can feel good about it,
you can feel good eating it and
you can support your local farm.
Yeah,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
Blueberries and eggs.
Eggs are easy to get,
and I say that you, they weren't
this past year because finding
some chickens was really difficult.
But you can buy chicks and
grow 'em out in six months.
You've got layers,
or you can buy some layers and
have it in production sooner,
and then your blueberries just
really help with some cash flow
initially on the farm.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I, I mean, we were, we probably were
made about four to 500 bucks, you
know, that first blueberry season.
And, you know, and I was happy with
that because you know what I mean?
That's,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: That that's for
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
other than just pick, you know,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, and then it, it gives you
a easy way to get your name
out in the community and, and people
will, will know and they're looking
forward to your other project or
other things coming in the future.
Other products.
When you first got out there and talking
to people, what was their, their reaction?
I know it sounded like they were very
receptive and close knit community you had
came from there, so it made a difference.
But were they really interested
in the poultry and your
lamb to come and your beef?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
You know, yeah, I, I think so.
I think a lot of people were, you know,
I think the most people that were not
impressed with anything were most of
the farmers that were already there.
You know,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
you know, they were most
people are row crop farmers.
You know, full-time
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
be planting corn, cotton
soybeans, things like that.
There's not many full-time cattle
farmers or anything in my area.
And, and everybody's doing
everything conventionally.
I think there's a couple other farms
that have been around a little longer.
see, towards Chattanooga.
There's Seche Cove.
They're not far from us.
And, but anyway, for, for the
most part, people were at least
wanting to know more about it.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and they
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
were excited.
I kept hearing all the time
about the chicken, oh, this is
the chicken my grandmother had.
You know, or my
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
would always say that.
And so they were excited, you
know, it was nostalgic to them.
They were excited to buy, they
were excited to support us.
So yeah, I think people, for the
most part, were genuinely kind of
excited to have this food that they
feel like they kind of grew up on.
And that's kind of been phased out.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
When we, when we think about your herd and
your progression since then, that was 21.
Here we are four years later, and
I know we're going get to grass
fed or we're gonna get to dairy
cattle, and just a little bit.
But with your beef cattle and your
sheep, have you brought in more animals?
Have you just continued to grow your
herd from the animals you raise?
How is that going?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
So yeah, the, the Corte went,
they, they went bye bye.
So,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Well,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
know,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: why was that?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
well, their jumpers,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
you know, they were great up until
those first calves hit the ground or
the second they came with the calves.
They were
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
those weaned and their
new calves hit the ground.
And then for whatever reason, by that
point I was only doing one strand
on a top of the, the step in post
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
the calves would go under the
wire and go lay somewhere.
But mama wasn't happy
not being right over her
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
She would jump and go find her calf
and she would be out grazing somewhere.
And, you know, you yell for about a
year straight, and it's about time to.
Get rid of the cows and find something
that wants to stay in one wire.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
I, I know with the Corte I
purchased, I've had to cull 'em based
upon if they jump, if I get one that's
gonna be a jumper, I have never reformed
her.
She and the quicker I
sell her, the better off I
am because if you hold her too long,
um, she's gonna teach others to
do it.
So knowing that, you know, and for the
most part I say for the most part my
orientees I have now, they don't jump.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: But I know
when I bought bought 'em, I had a
couple in there that wanted to jump
and I reacted fairly quick on those.
But then I had another set I brought in.
I didn't react as quickly
and I had to sell more of
those just so they're not jumpers.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and that might have been a different
story if I wasn't, but you know, you get
started and these are your first cows.
They're sentimental,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: They are
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
your, your first cows.
You know, this is what you're
gonna build your herd from.
It was really hard to let go.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Is.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
did let go of a few that were just,
were even for Corte, just didn't seem
like they could get in better condition.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and so I did let a few of those go.
I did end up with about three that
for the most part were pretty good.
And they were fat orientate.
I was really, and they were
pretty to look at and I was
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
was very happy with them.
But what happened, I'm trying
to think what happened.
What with the, the, the
final straw on those were?
I think it was just well here's one
thing I noticed is in my experience,
there's just always a crazy cow.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Right.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
it doesn't matter if you get crazy
or get crazy outta there, there's a
new crazy that steps in her place.
And that's what kind of happened
with the Corte I would get rid of.
We had this one cow named Karen, and
you know, she would jump all up all
the time and we get rid of her and then
we'd have another one that would bully
everybody around and she would jump and
it just, eventually I had none left.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: and
after that I ended up with South Polls.
I had bought three South Polls and a
South Pole, a full blood South Pole bull,
and we just started building from there,
so.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I, you know,
anytime we look at a herd or a group,
there's always, you got your tamest one.
You've got your wildest
one, and if you sell the wildest one,
someone else is gonna be the wildest,
wildest one, but you're gonna have one.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah, you're gonna have one.
Yeah.
And I think to get back to your
question now we, we, so we bought
those three or four south Polls.
And then since then, well, lots changed.
We, we sold that farm and we
bought a larger farm last year.
So, so market was good.
Still with the land actually,
it was just going skyrocket.
And I thought again, well,
here's an opportunity.
know, we've been doing this for
a couple years and we were, do
we want to keep doing this and
grow this and make a living?
Or do we just want to be homesteaders and
kind of, you know, do it for ourselves.
And I just, I felt like this was
my calling and my wife was all in,
you know, her heart had changed.
She loved it.
She loved this life.
I thought, well, this is a good
opportunity for us again to capitalize
on real estate and go bigger.
So we did that.
We sold the 33 acres and bought 80 acres.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Very
nice.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
And then we had bought 23
pairs from white Oak pastures
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
And they didn't or they didn't
come from white oak pastures.
Dan Glenn, I know you've
had him on before.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yes, I
have.
Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
graziers.
So I, he ended up having an opportunity
to buy, I think it was like, a
hundred pairs from white oak pastures.
And I had already been talking to
Dan about buying some of his stock.
And when we got there, we were looking
around and I was trying to find,
figure out my biggest bang for my buck.
And he had already had, you know,
white oak pasture cattle with
four month old calves on 'em.
And I'm like, well, that's
a good quick turnaround.
And the market's good.
So.
could go ahead and buy these pairs,
turn around and hit a good, a good
market with these first calves.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and so that's what we ended up doing.
Since then, we just went back to Dan
about a month ago and bought 17 more head.
So we're, you know, around
40, 45 or so, 47 beef cows.
So the sheep loaf has
stayed, stayed the same.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah, yeah.
Well, I'm, I'm just sitting
here thinking what a tremendous
foundation set going to Dan with
Deep South Graziers to get animals.
That is a great foundation for your
herd.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
Every time, you know, we've been there
twice, you know, and I keep, I call
Dan up probably every couple months
just because he's, when you buy cows
for me, like I'm a lifelong mentor.
He is just a great guy.
You got
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
You can run it by him.
And yeah, so his cows and the
pressure he puts under 'em and
seeing how they perform, no one
can go wrong with cows from them.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
Yeah.
But the on the sheet flock, you've grown
it from the flock you started with.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Well, I mean, I'd say they, they've cycled
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
so, you know, you'll, you'll I
guess I haven't got to the point
where I love 'em enough to grow 'em.
You know,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
have, I still have those
same u that made it.
And I've kept one or two u lambs a year.
So I, I really only have about 15 u's.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
keep my favorite u which always
comes from this one particular u just
spitting image over every single time.
If she, I mean, as soon as
the lamb hits the ground, I'm,
that's the one that's the keeper.
She's just great use.
I typically keep one from her.
I sell the rest.
so yeah, we're running about 15, 15 use.
I just now started keeping
my own rams because
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
happy for a long time with
anything I was getting.
And so everything would either
just go to the sale barn or go
to the butcher as grass fed lamb.
And then last year I had this
50% doper U who had only given
me singles up to this point.
And they were massive singles.
But one thing I hated was
sheep was trimming feet.
I'm not gonna
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: So
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I agree.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: win
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: agree.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
feet weren't.
Perfect and already just shaved down.
They were going to the cell barn
if they had any kind of sores,
they were going to the cell barn,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
And so up to that point, she had
always had a big, mean, massive
ram, pushing a hundred pounds at
weaning and just great, great ram.
But he always needed trimming.
And I, so I'd send him, well it was
last year, she had triplets outta
nowhere and she had three rams.
And I was extreme, I mean, for
triplets, they grew out, they
kept up with any of the twins
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and their feet were perfect all white.
And I said, okay, well I guess I'll sell
two of these and I'll keep, keep one.
And so he's been the first Ram
home, raised ram that I've kept
back and gonna let him breathe.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: You,
you mentioned there, when you're
marking your lambs, they're either
going through a cell barn or you're
marked them as grass fed lamb.
Are you having a good demand for
grass fed lamb?
Is it growing?
Yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
No, not at all.
You
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
we, we've been fortunate enough to make
friends in the community with some people.
I have stores, so we put freezers in
there and so we have beef, grass fed, lamb
pasture raised chicken at these stores.
And the lamb is more of a filler,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: oh,
yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
honest.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
something in, just to make sure that
there's something in the store that
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Always something there.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
The lamb is a good filler.
Yeah.
And it's
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
You know, I, I talk about all the
time, you know, do I really wanna
put up that second wire every day?
Do I really want, do I really wanna do it?
And, you know, it's a small payday
and you know, their needs are small.
It's just a little labor and
you're out there anyway, so I, I
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: it.
Yeah,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Well, I, I
personally am in of the belief that even
if you're not marketing any of the degra,
grass fed lamb, there's so much benefit
of running a few sheep or a few goats
if you can deal with the headaches of
goats.
And I hate to say that about goats.
I, I love goats, but fencing does require
be a little bit more intensive for goats.
Some people have managed to do
it with just a couple wires,
and I'm glad they've been able
to, I would like to get there,
but they eat enough of a
different variety of plants.
It's beneficial for you, especially if
you're not doing, if you're not really
pushing them for more of the total grazing
program.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah, yeah,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah.
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cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: at
some point, Wyatt, you decide
to, to get some dairy cows.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I did.
Yeah, so back at our first farm let's
see, let's see how this started.
We, we had a customer, a meat customer
who was I believe she's a nutritionist.
She's more of a holistic nutritionist.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
she asked us, she'd been buying she
had bought some beef from us and some
chicken from us and she and eggs.
And she had asked, have you
ever thought about raw milk?
And I said, you know, we've
thought about a family cow for us.
But you know, there's
other things on the list.
I don't know if that's quite gonna
be something we get to recent future.
she said, well, if you ever get
to it, let me know because I
would love some for my family.
And I have a lot of people
that'd be interested.
And I was like, well, when she says
a lot of people interested, what,
what do you, what do you mean?
You know?
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Your ears
perked up.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
what, what do you mean?
I mean, I can push this to the
front of the list, you know?
' cause
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: right.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
it's another cow I get to take.
I love cows, you know?
It's another cow I get to take care of.
It's another, it's another thing
I get to learn about because
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
love learning about this whole complex
system and every little intricate part
that goes in together, I just, I love it.
so she said, well, you know, pretty
much everybody that comes to my
clinic could benefit from this.
And, and I was like, so I sat down
that night and I thought, how much
do I have to charge for this to
be worth no vacations anymore?
You know, waking up, no
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Right.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
in, it doesn't matter if it's tornadoes,
whatever you get nothing milk to count.
And so I kind of based it off that,
you know, because there's a lot
of sacrifice and that goes into
a family cow that I don't think a
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I, oh, there is,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
understand.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: and
so I, I mentioned to her what it would
cost, which we still have the same price.
It's, it's it, comes out if you
do a farm pickup, $10 a gallon.
And she said, well, I have people
that are driving two hours and
for a gallon of milk each week.
I think everybody would love
to, you know, pay that price.
And I said, well, can you
get me a list of names?
Because I wanna, before I go and get this
cow, I would just want to see if these
people are actually committed, you know?
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Right.
If they're really gonna put their money
where their mouth is and make sure, yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
So, and plus I had to sell it to my wife,
you know, because I, I, you know, I was,
I was full-time at the fire department.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
every third day I was gone for 24
hours and she had to move the cows.
She had
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
everybody.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243:
a little bit tougher Sell.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
Yeah,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I
mean, I'm, I'm thinking about my
wife.
I'm don't wanna make assumptions
about other people, but
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
You'd
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243:
for my wife, it'd be a
tougher sell.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
be correct.
I mean, at the time we had our,
our a 2-year-old daughter, and then
we had a, a newborn, newborn son.
And so when I was gone, she was gonna have
to take them out there and milk this cow.
And so anyway, I had
reached out to these people.
They were committed all in and you
know, I showed my wife and she said,
okay, you know, let's give it a shot.
And so we ended up going to
Missouri to hilltop jerseys.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah.
And so I was, I was keen on going to
them because, you know, I, they did
feed grain at milking, but they were
rotating their cows, you know, they were
planting cover crops and things like that.
It was a more, they had a bunch of
kids, kid environment and I thought,
well, this would be a good, a good cow.
They put their cows through.
Some they're already milk
trained and et cetera.
So
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and, you know, I'm thinking, let
me get a, decent producer because
it's not gonna be for just us,
it's gonna be for somebody else.
So we end up getting a cow that was
milking about four to four and a half
gallons a day, like once a day milking.
And we bring her home.
Well, the next day I've gotta
go to the fire and it's gonna
be the first time milking.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
no.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
wife is already, you know,
like, this is poorly planned.
You know, it's poorly planned.
This is all gonna fall on me.
And I'm like, no, I'm gonna wake up early.
I'm gonna go out there.
I didn't even have a
head catch at that point.
I didn't have a stand.
And I'm gonna go out there and I'm
just gonna milk her out before work.
so I get up about an
hour and a half early.
go out there.
I squeezer between two cattle panels.
With a bucket, and I'm trying to
milk her out, but she's, she's,
you know, it's a new place.
You just got off a
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
night, you know, and so she's antsy.
And so I call the fire department guys
and I'm like, Hey, you know, you're
never gonna believe this, but I need, I
can y'all cover me for a couple hours?
And they're just like, no.
And I'm like, well, come on, please.
And they're like, what's going
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Right.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
they're like, well, I have a cow.
I have to milk and if I don't milk
her, you know, she's gonna get sick.
And then they're like, sorry, you
can't have time off for a sick cow.
And I look at my wife
and I'm like, I'm sorry.
And she's like, get outta here.
I already knew this was gonna happen.
So, you know, I leave.
And you know, not even 30 minutes
after I get there, she's calling me.
She's upset.
The cow's kicking the bucket
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh no,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
a disaster, you know.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: it
is.
Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
disaster and it's stressful for everybody.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
am so thankful for her sticking it
out, working so hard always being
there for the catch up, you know?
'cause I'm the dreamer,
you know, I'm always
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
envision it.
And she is, you know, she
picks up my slack when I bite
off more than I can chew.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I'm just glad
she was home when you came home that day.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know, I know it.
I know it.
so, yeah, that's how we got started.
And, you know, we milked for about a week
by hand, but milking four gallons by hand
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
awful.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
was awful.
It didn't take, it took us about
a week and I, and she said,
okay, we, let's get a milker.
So we found a low cost
easy, easy animal products.
We have a, basically a small
portable vacuum pump on a, we got
a five gallon stainless pale and.
It actually can run off a DeWalt battery.
So they sell an inverter
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and you can put your DeWalt battery
on and now you can milk cows anywhere.
You are
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Okay.
We, we have to dive just a
little bit more a DeWalt battery.
So Will, I don't have any of my
DeWalts, I'm looking around because
sometimes I have them in here.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
DeWalt battery.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: A
five hour, is that what you
said?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Five hour.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Okay.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Interesting.
I did not know
that.
My wife will be so thrilled to hear that.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah.
So, you know, we get this jersey
just a sweet, a very sweet cow.
And we're milk.
We finally get our milk machine and
how we were milking is I had this
portable shade cloth contraption
that had a big shade cloth on top and
it was basically an old hay wagon.
And we would, since, on our 20 acres over
there, we didn't have any shade trees.
I rotated that around with the cows.
And so in the morning we would just
bring her in there and I'd makeshift
a head catch on the side of that and
we'd milk her under the shake cloth.
And that's how it started.
You know, since then it was, I
don't even know what it addictive.
I don't know.
It was just,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
find a love for farming and
you love everything, and
then you get another thing.
And it's like having kids, you
know, you don't know that you
can love even more and more.
And and so dairy farming was one of
those things that was like, wow, I did
not know I was gonna this, but there's
something intimate about it, you know?
And what, what made us have that
realization was I had bought as
my first horses, wild mustangs.
I didn't
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
horses, I figured the best way to know
something about horses would get a
horse with no human contact so I could
learn their instinctual behavior.
And kind of get a bond with them.
well, long story short, it was wintertime.
I was tired of taking hay
to three different stalls.
And so I said, let me put hay out
here in the barnyard, let them share.
I let them out.
Everything seemed fine.
I sat out there for about an hour and
a half, and I thought to myself, I know
everything's gonna be fine, but please
don't let these horses kill this cow.
I go to sleep, I come
back out, she's dead.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh no.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
that was kind of, it was a weird feeling
because you, we didn't realize how
like, I guess emotionally attached,
we had gotten to this animal that
we were meeting with every day, you
know, at five 30 in the morning,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
was gone.
And so our whole routine was thrown off.
We didn't, we couldn't believe it.
And I had to go to the fire
department that morning.
I'm sitting there like.
In denial.
And then I'm like, grieving, and
I'm like, I'm going through these
stages of grief and like, what?
That there's no way.
Like, that's strange for an animal.
You know,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I'd had dogs, pets and stuff die and
sheep and I'd never felt like this.
And my wife was feeling the same way.
And we kind of, it wasn't even
three months later, we were like,
we've gotta get another dairy cow.
Like we, we just got to.
And and me being me, I said,
well, we gotta get two then.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Right, right.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: So,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: So, did
you go back to hilltop jerseys to
get two more?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I didn't not any reason other
than I think the price of dairy
cows were starting to go up.
And
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I found another place in Arkansas
that was about three hours closer.
Okay.
And they were a little cheaper.
And they had an A two cow, a two, a
two cow that was in our price range.
And then they had one that wasn't
a two that was even cheaper.
And so we just were like, you
know, we'll just, we'll get those.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and yeah, they were gentle.
Not, I would say not as high quality cows.
They needed some conditioning
when it got there.
we got 'em home and they came a long
way, we have one steel, but she's
actually probably gonna sell her.
We're just getting outta jerseys.
They're just, they're
not the right fit for us.
I've, been fascinated since I started
getting dairy is grazing dairy.
And is it, is it possible do
a hundred forage percent, a
hundred percent forage dairy?
Is that possible?
And I started reading a book.
It was dairy Farm in the Beautiful
Way by, c clause let me think.
Adam Claws.
And he paints a beautiful picture
of a system where you have a low
put, holistically managed dairy
cow and how that can be possible.
And it might be possible, it may not
be possible, but, you know, I wanna try
my best to, to see, you know, so, you
know, we're, we get those two jerseys
and then right after that we go up to
Iowa as soon as I get off work from fire
department and I go and get a short horn.
And
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and she's a beautiful
black and white roan cow.
Bigger than the jerseys.
But she's steady, she's strong,
she's milking real good.
She's a two, A two, and I just fall
in love with this just stronger, a
stronger, she's just a stronger cow.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
And, I got to thinking about
these more dual purpose breeds.
Is that the way to go?
If you wanna do a hundred percent grass
fed, dual purpose breed just makes sense.
You know, they're, they're bread, they've
got meat lines and they've got milk lines.
So then I believe after
that I get a brown Swiss.
And I wanna say after that,
we get in touch with a guy up
in Wisconsin that has a fleck.
And actually we got, we got his number
from Matt God GoIT, what's his name?
Kenzie.
Michael Kenzie.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, Michael
McKenzie.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Kenzie had been looking
into fleck for a while.
I think he had a meat line, a beef fleck.
And knew that there was a dairy line and
we had contacted each other a few times
and he told me, check out the dairy fleck.
I think you're gonna be very impressed.
And so I looked into these
dairy fleck and he was right.
I mean, here's this big bodied, nice
rump, beautiful tight utter who
looks like, I mean, she could give
you some heck of some rib ribeyes.
And he gave me a contact to the guy
in Wisconsin we got our first fleck.
And I mean, she stepped off
the trailer and I'm like, wow.
Like this is, is a cow that, you
know, I can meat and get milk from
and I don't have to worry about
falling apart out on the pasture.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
Yeah.
so we, the fleck v Fleck they have
fascinated me for a long time.
In fact, I think Tom asked me on a recent
episode about dairy industry, what I would
do, and I didn't even think about fleck.
I told my wife that if I could find some
Fleck Fleck, v heifers, I'd buy ' em.
Lec V is semial.
Basically the US imported all
these red and whites mainly on
the meat side and called 'em ols.
Within OLS you can have a hundred
percent Fleck v in the semial breed,
so it's, it's just swallowed it
up.
But in France and in Europe,
deflect VI is really popular
and they're coming over here.
I know for dairy industry, I
know they've started using them.
Their feet and legs are really
good structurally, they're really
sound and they help a hosting
handle confinement in dairy.
But when I look at 'em, I see a animal
that's a little bit bigger than a
jersey that can do your grass fed.
And I love the idea of it.
So getting ready for this episode, I'm
like, I can't wait to talk about fleck
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, they, they are remarkable.
We've got eight eight fleck now, and
you know, it, and there's, there's
a big range, you know, there's a big
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
in their, their body
stature and stuff like that.
Just like, you know, just as much
variance as there is in breeds.
There is within the breed.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: If you,
you're in a confinement situation,
you're introducing some fleck into it,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: are
wanting those, those bigger Fleck
V
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: You
want the Holstein look and fleck is what
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: You do
and, and like all breeds or all
dairy breeds, the higher producing
ones probably had red hosting bread
into 'em.
You get that with Milking Shore horn.
You get that with Air Shire,
with all these breeds.
So you gotta be careful.
Stay away from that
red hosting influence.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah, so we, we have about
three that are bigger.
Bigger bodied, you know, they've
got the big dairy head that look
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
Hol steamy built.
And then we've got about four
that are smaller stature.
You know, they've got just, I don't know
how to, they just look like beef cow.
They look like Herefords
almost, but with a
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
on 'em.
And they're just, they're beautiful.
They're, they're sturdy and they go
out there and they eat everything.
Things my jerseys won't touch.
They don't have a problem touching.
Like I can't, for whatever reason,
my jerseys won't eat any Bermuda.
But my flags don't have a problem with any
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
So yeah, from the moment they stepped
off the trailer, I thought to myself,
this, this could be the ticket, you
know, to really be some somebody.
And there's, there's
definitely dairies in our area.
Growing and becoming more prevalent
with raw, you know, grass fed.
Most of 'em are still
supplementing grain at milking.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Right.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
We do for our jerseys now.
We are
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
the jerseys and they're the only
ones that need to grain our milk and
shorthorn our brown Swiss, and then all
our fleck are doing fine with alfalfa.
And then in the wintertime they'll
get some molasses, dried molasses on
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: oh, okay.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: So,
so in your alfalfa, are you gi,
are you giving organic alfalfa
or special alfalfa in anyway?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
So it's, it is organic alfalfa.
We just order it through tractor supply.
That's
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
that's easiest for us to get it here.
And yeah, so we'll, we'll do that.
They get about seven to eight pounds
of alfalfa a day at milking, and
then everything else is on pasture.
But yeah, the, the fleck is.
They're, they're, they are standout.
And the calves, oh my gosh.
The,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, I imagine so.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
the calves are, we've got about full
milking fleck calves on the ground.
And then I also have four south
poll dairy calves on the ground.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh,
yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
do not compare.
not
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
We have a shorthorn South Pole bull.
We have a brown Smith South Pole, and
then we have a Jersey South Pole calf,
and they're all about the same age.
And then the fleck are all the same age.
And I would say about two months between
the Fleck and the South Pole cross calves.
you would, you would look at the
south Polls compared to them and
think they were newborn calves.
The, the, the
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
fleck are four months old and they
have to be pushing 400 pounds.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
And there.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: About what
mature size are those flat cows?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
So, like I said, I have some variances.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
that I would say are probably
closer to 50, 1200 pounds.
And then I have the rest of them that are
smaller stature, probably more around 950
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: nine
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
thousand.
Yeah,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Were they,
did they all come from the same farm
or you're still going up north?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yep.
They are coming from Wisconsin.
We're just, me and him are kind of dialing
in what I'm looking for and it, it kind
of works out because I'm looking for
exactly what they're not looking for.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yes.
Yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
they want the bigger producers for
their commercial organic dairy.
And I need things that are going to
lower to the ground that aren't produ.
I mean, two gallons, if I get two
gallons, two and a half gallons a
day off a cow, that's perfect for me.
I, I don't need any more than that.
Because I can make up for that
with a meaty calf, you know what I
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
can go into grass fed, finished
beef, and I make up for that
loss of milk, but I have a
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Hmm.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: cow.
And and so yeah, it's, we're kind
of really getting dialed down.
What he knows exactly what I want.
Now, the, the last two cows,
which we just got two more about
a month ago, they stepped off the,
I was, he rung me with the bail.
I was like, it doesn't get
better than what those were.
So
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: got,
I've got with him because I've not, I've
got three cows that are in the 200 name
or in the ear tags, and he said, every 200
ear tag at their dairy looks like that.
I said, well, figure out what
bull that was in the mamas.
And if you get a bull out of those.
Send them my way so I can breed my own.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yes.
Yeah.
With your, your fleck and, and you've got
brown, Swiss, and shore horn, and then the
original jerseys with the jerseys, you're
dealing with a high butter, fat, high
protein.
How do the others compare and do you
get, is there any concern from your
consumers that it's not Jersey Milk?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
no, people that are buying from us
just want, they just want raw milk.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Mm-hmm.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
have tummy aches or bloat or something
like that when they drink milk or, you
know, if they wanna make their sour
cream or ranch or whatever like that, you
know, they just wanna live a, a pretty
normal life and not have to miss out
on certain foods like everybody else.
And so most people are just
getting the milk to consume.
I'm trying to think.
A lot of people are still pull, pour, or
pulling the cream off the top of the milk.
No complaints.
The milk isn't as yellow as Jersey milk.
Jersey
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
for whatever reason, has a, a
brighter yellow tinge to it.
Whereas the fleck is more of a
white, creamy looking off white look.
But so is the brown Swiss
so is the shorthorn.
will say the shorthorn that we have has
the sweetest milk out of the whole lot.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
yes.
Interesting.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
does.
We have customers that ask
us specifically, oh, do
you have cookies, milk?
Because they like it, you know, they,
they just like the sweeter milk.
So, but it was nice to see all those
different variances in the breeds and
the different milk and cream consistency
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
because they do have some variances.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Now you
mentioned there about some consumers
want that from the shore horn.
Do you, when you sell milk,
is the milk from one cow her
cust, or let's go the other way.
Is a customer buying milk
from only one cow, or
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: No,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: it just
vary?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
just varies.
It just
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
We do like, so for the jerseys that
are gonna have grain, we will keep that
milk separate just because we don't
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
with the grassed.
customers don't care if a cow has grain.
And so they'll, they'll get some
milk from them if the milk is a two.
So if we put all the, a two cows milked
together off for obvious reasons.
And so then everything else kind
of goes in the same buckets.
I've got a, it's a portable elasti
twin eight gallon bucket milker.
And so we can hold 16 gallons at a time,
which is of everything, but we split
it up into three different sections.
Or
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, okay.
Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
one bucket will have the grain
that'll do all the grain milk.
Then one bucket will do most of
the A two we'll filter that and
then a two and then non A two.
So,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: And
are most of your LEC VA two?
A two
or do you have s
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
know.
That's
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: okay.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
we do want to start doing.
Me and my wife are talking about
just start doing a couple tests a
month, sending it off and seeing,
I know Flick as a whole breed has
a pretty high percentage of a two.
I think it's
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: It does.
Yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
65% a two.
So,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: understanding as
well.
yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
So that's something we're gonna
do in the near future just so we
can, it's better for marketing.
I, you
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: it is.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
have, I have customers that want a
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
don't really have a reason.
They want it.
They just, they just want.
I have very few customers
that actually need a two.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
people come to us thinking they want
a two, and the first thing I say is,
have you ever just tried raw milk?
Well, no, I haven't.
Let me give you a half a gallon
of just normal raw milk and let me
give you a half a gallon of a two.
Let me know if there's
any kind of difference.
Most of the time, there's no difference.
They just
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: do,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
they just need raw milk.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: oh
Yeah,
Do you, do you price the A
two milk differently than the.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I do not,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Uh,
they're all raw, raw milk,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I, I, you know, I feel weird for
people that actually need it.
I, it doesn't, you know, it
doesn't seem right to me, so, no, I
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: right?
yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Are
you milking one time a day?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
We're milking one time a day.
We typically start about six 30 in the
morning and it takes us about an hour.
If me and my wife are both in there,
I'm on milking and she's filtering.
It takes us about an hour and a half.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: And do you
have like a, a shed built or a milk
barn built that you
bring the animals into?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yes sir.
So we've got we've got a, a, a barn.
It was just, it is basically just,
we needed to get some structure
when we bought this new farm.
'cause there was nothing out there.
It was just raw
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Uh
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
utilities or anything.
And so we got a structure
up, structure up.
put a stall in, we built a barnyard.
Then I built a, a makeshift milk room,
you know, with a concrete floor, a sink
in there, and some cabinets right next
to the milk stand just for convenience.
And so that's how we kind of get started.
We, we bring everybody in.
I have a real small narrow pin right in
front of the, the gate inside of the barn.
So everybody sits in there, one at
a time, comes in, and then they go
out back to the barnyard so they
can't come back in or, or try to get
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
or something like that.
That
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
because we, we cap separate.
So we, we share milk with the mama cows.
Or calf share.
So at night we bring the
calves up to the barn yard.
separate 'em in that little
pen, put 'em in the barn.
And then in the morning we
actually have an old fleck.
She's 13, 14 years old, three
teeter that he had brought.
'Cause she needed a little
bit better conditioning.
And so we let her, she actually
loves calves, so she's actually
been acting as a nurse cow.
When the calves come out of the
barn in the morning, they don't
even run to their mama anymore.
They just run straight to her
and she'll, she'll nurse ' em.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
So,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: those,
oh, dairy cows are great for nurse
cows.
They will adopt anything.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
she was doing, I mean,
she was still doing great.
We milked her for a few weeks
and out of three teat she was
given around three gallons.
And yeah, she was doing great,
but she just took a liking to it.
She needed grain.
Just 'cause of her age, I think.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
And so we were just like, well, you
know, nobody really, most people
don't want the grain milk, so just
push any kind of production on her.
Just let her graze and raise
some calves if she wants to.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
How, how, you mentioned
the market a a few times.
Are you able to sell all the milk you
produced?
Do you have a waiting
list?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I can't get enough.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
That's why we're, we're constantly
bringing in new cows about every
couple months we're getting a new cow.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
Yeah.
Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
You know, don't know what the limit is.
I know, I think I know what my limit is.
Right now.
We have about 80, 80 herd share members.
I think we'll be at a hundred
before the end of the year.
And I think 120 will probably be my max.
I think
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
that's plenty of people.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: So to,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
up and take over, you know, of the
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: right.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: So for you
all to market your milk as raw milk
there, you're doing herd shares.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yes sir.
We're doing herd shares.
So the, you know, you have to either
do, get a commercial feed license
and do it do a pet consumption only I
didn't like the idea of government kind
of changing their rules on what you
might need on your label, or there's
always this little rumor of we're gonna
start asking people to put dye the pet
consumption milk to deter humans from
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: I
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
you know, I just didn't.
Care to deal or worry about any of that.
So I figured the best way is just to have
a contract between us and the customer.
It gives us more power in it dealing
with who we're dealing with anyway.
We know who's coming to our farm.
We, you know, we get a personal
relationship with them.
And it makes it more pleasant because
you kind of get to pick your customers.
You know, if,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh
yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
we don't like somebody or they're just
too particular or, you know, they're
just, it's just not working out.
You know, it's, I'm sorry, this, but this
isn't working out, you know, and that,
that's kind of the end of it, you know?
So
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
been fortunate and we've,
everybody that has came on board
has been super understanding.
They, they wanna make it easy on you.
They're just grateful that someone in
the area is giving them a chance or
opportunity to buy a food like this.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah.
Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
The best, we have the best customers.
It has not been a headache at all.
It's been a, it's been great.
It's been great.
It's been the reason I, I'm no
longer at the fire department.
Me and my wife
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Well, that was my next
question.
Are you still working off the farm?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I'm not, me and my wife as
of two months ago, I'm home
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
We're both on the farm making a living.
And man, there's nothing better.
it's,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
to think we just
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
this four years ago is mind
boggling to me, you know?
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: oh yeah.
Well, very good.
Very interesting.
Wyatt.
Wyatt, before we move to the famous
four questions, anything else you
would like to add that I didn't ask
or maybe I even asked but we moved
on to it from from it too fast?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah.
So want people to understand
we're not just throwing our dairy
cows out on just normal pasture.
If they're not just out there eating fes.
In Bermuda or whatever, we do take
the time to learn about their needs
and forage what they can offer.
We plant cover crops in the wintertime.
We plant summer annuals in the
summertime that way they've always
got a good forage and at the
right productivity level for them.
In the wintertime we plant tri kale.
That's worked really
well, really well for us.
Last year we got four, four
grazings out of out of our crop.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
we started grazing.
Then again, March 1st, started grazing
tree to kale completely off pay.
And then we razed tree to kale until,
I guess about April 15th or so.
So that, that was really good for us.
Now we're, we've done a big mix of
summer annuals, which is cow peas,
sorghum sedan, pearl millet, radish
for forage, brassicas and sunflowers.
And I planted that stuff.
Well, I know for a fact, 40
days after I drilled it in it
was about 40 inches tall and
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: wow.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and now it's seven to eight feet tall.
It's I have, I love it because it's
just cool to watch these cows go in
there into the stuff that's way over
their heads and, you know, they're
picking sunflowers off and they're just
eating all kinds of stuff co They're
eating greens and it's just cool peas.
is hard to get hot wires
through there, though, you know?
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yeah, yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I mean, it's really hard to
get hot wire through there.
And the other day they had pushed
the sunflowers down over the
line and jumped over the line.
I'm out there trying to get these
dairy cows in and I can't see anybody.
It feels like I'm in Jurassic Park
because you see the grass over here
shaking, and then the grass over
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
And it, it was chaos.
But, you know, I know they're
getting what they need from it.
It makes for some awesome videos to
show the community that, you know, we're
putting a lot into this milk for them.
It's not just something that we're
just squeezing, you know, we're just
squeezing the, the money out of it.
It's something that we're
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and we, you know, we really wanna
bring best, the best product forward.
And so yeah.
Yeah, just you know, I think
there's, there is a big I guess
dogma about grass fed milk.
And not every cow can be a hundred
percent grass fed, and not every
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Right.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
or land can handle a cow with its grass.
It's something that.
Takes a lot of work, studying,
learning, watching the animal, watching
the land, and you're gonna have to
put something into it, you know?
There, there has to be work to be done
in order to carry that cow that way, and
then the genetics have to be in place.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah, exactly.
True.
You know, I, I think I've said
this on, on the podcast before,
but beef, cattle, hair, sheep,
they're like grazing freshman.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Uh, grazing dairy cows.
That's like senior level
class.
You, you gotta, you gotta work up to it
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: or be
ready to dive in and learn a lot.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah, definitely, definitely.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
Well, why it is time for us to transition
to our famous four questions, same four
questions we ask of all of our guests.
Our first question, what is your favorite
grazing grass related book or resource?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Okay.
I've got a few of 'em.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Wonderful.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
So the first one that I read that
for whatever reason, just has stuck.
It's one of my favorite
books of all times.
But it's For The Love of
Soil by Nicole Masters.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yes.
And there's
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
when,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: audio version
of that.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
whenever I read that book, it
kind of opened a whole world that
I had never even thought about.
You know, when this lady's telling
you there's 26 trillion different
organisms in like a handful of soil,
you're like, what does that even mean?
You know, like,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: right.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and we, we only know 5%.
And I'm like, about as much of
this as we know of the ocean.
You know, it's like, it's
just, it's mind boggling.
And so from that point on, it
was everything I did it, it
had to start with the soil, you
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
If, you know, I, you know, I, when I
mess up, if I feel like I've messed
up a paddock or didn't give it the,
the right opportunity to be grazed or
whatever, look at that, that's a, that
hits me about as hard as losing a sheep.
You know, like, I
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
that much about the, about the
land and the soil, and I want
it to, I want it to do well.
I want under my care.
I want it to get better.
And that book really gave me a perspective
I, I'd never even had before Andrew or,
and Andre Voisin Grass Productivity.
It's
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yes,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
like scientific level though, and
it's, it's dry and hard to read, but
a lot of good information in there.
And then I mentioned dairy Farm
in the Beautiful Way by Adam
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: yes.
I,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
that was that really got me
thinking about, is this the dual
purpose breeds or even crosses,
you know, is that the way forward?
With dairy farming, you know,
in a grass-based system.
So, and, and that, and that book,
dairy Farming, the Beautiful Way
is really an instruction guide on
everything from to head catches to
how you filter the milk, or what
temperature the milk has to be at, and
how quickly bacteria re I mean, it goes
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: oh, yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
everything about what you would need to do
to take care of a family cow and process
the milk on a homestead or a small dairy.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: This, it's
a book that I am not familiar with.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: Hmm.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: So,
um, in fact in fact, Wyatt, I've
already got it in my Amazon cart.
My wife's gonna be so impressed,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: the
excellent resources, and I'm excited
to get this dairy farming the
beautiful way and, and, read it.
See what it
has.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Cool.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Our
second question, what's your
favorite tool for the farm?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Well, I don't know if my wife
would like being called a tool,
but she's, she's pretty great.
Definitely couldn't do it without her.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: good
one is we do have a, a herding dog, Joe.
And, know, I, we didn't get 'em
until about a year and a half
ago, and I, after I got him, I
said, I don't know how I did this
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
so long without one, you know?
We've never had sheep handling equipment.
It was just always me
getting 'em in a corner and
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: and wrestling
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
you know, and that gets old quick.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
And so, after we got Joe, you know,
all of a sudden their laser focus
on him, they're my best friend.
They do not wanna be anywhere near him.
They
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
protect me, protect me, and I can
check everybody's fas look at their
feet and it's no hassle, you know?
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
He helps us bring up all the dairy.
Since the dairy cows are out in
the pasture, sometimes we have,
you know, 900 foot lanes, you
know, going around the pasture.
And so I can send him out in the morning
and he can bring 'em up and it saves us
from getting out in the rain or having
to walk so far in the rain or something
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
he's been, he's been awesome.
Awesome.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, excellent.
Excellent.
Our third question, what
would you tell someone?
Just getting started?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
I think about this a lot.
I guess, and I never really know
what to say, but I would say.
To make a living on the
land and get started.
It almost seems like this day
that's like you're telling
somebody you wanna be an astronaut.
You know, it is
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh, yeah,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
people, when you tell people you want
to make a living off the land and farm,
it's, people don't think it's possible.
They don't think there's any money in
it, they don't think it's worth it.
They think you're gonna have to
do that work and get another job.
And who wants to do that?
I would say don't listen to 'em.
You know, if you want it
bad enough, you'll get it.
But you have to have a lot of
grit and try in my experience, you
have to just jump in and do it.
And sometimes you bite off more than
you can chew, but you'll figure it out.
Never hesitate to call somebody and talk
to 'em about your, your struggles or any
ideas or anything you might have going on.
There's a lot of people in the community
that want to help the next generation.
A lot of people have helped me.
So, you're not alone, but you do
have to have some grit and you do
have to learn how to problem solve.
'cause that's farming.
Farming is, I always
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Chinese puzzle.
It's like, it just blows your mind with
how in the world am I supposed to fix
this right now in these conditions?
I, I mean, I don't, I don't know.
Get used to being with, you
know, whatever it may be.
You know, the heat, the,
the work financial stress,
because you put a lot into it.
You, I mean, you put a lot of
finances into it to get it going,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
you put in all the work and you
don't always get the reward.
So just hang in there and make it happen.
Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
Excellent advice.
And lastly, Wyatt, where can
others find out more about you?
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: Our
best place would be our Facebook page.
Happy Meadow Farm.
We post videos.
I try to post videos at least
once or twice a week of what
we're doing and we're grazing.
I know there's another
Happy Meadow Farm on there.
I'm trying to think how to even,
got a tan logo with a cow in the
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
And your cover photo is of
some dairy cows too.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah, there's two fleck and a
brown Swiss on there with some
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
and yeah, so I, I, I'm on there.
I'm always kind of talking about
what we're doing and while we're
doing it and it's, you know, I
hope it can help some people.
I, I hope to one day get a little bit
more in depth about what we're doing
and it can be a resource as well.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: And
before we wrap up for today, Wyatt,
do you have a question for me?
I,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: When
are you gonna get your next dairy cow?
When are you gonna get
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
when?
are you gonna get your first
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh man,
you have me so tempted right now.
I, you know, I debate this and I've
got a couple ideas around it, and it
is so tempting and it's probably good.
I don't have any extra money in the bank
right now, or I'd probably go buy one.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Ah, they're low maintenance?
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah, I don't know.
It's very tempting.
I, I think there's a market out
there and the growing up Simmental
was always my favorite breed.
They, they aren't now because I've
really, you know, I'm more in tune
with regenerative ag and the cow size.
We should
have, and I don't like the
way the OLS have been turned
into red and black animals
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: they
should be that yellow or orange
spotted animal.
Of course, the fleckvieh have
never been that spotting.
They, they're more of a solid
color with the white head and,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
With the
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: white stockings.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: and
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
Yeah.
And and even then they're,
they're mainly red and white now,
and they used to have a
little bit more yellow in
there, that diluter gene in there.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
But,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243: So
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: so
it's always been a favorite.
So I'm really you have done
nothing but convince me even more.
I need
fleck.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Well, I think you should, because
you know they're not massive
producers and they could just
raise a calf from you for you, you
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
Well, a few years ago when I, this was
prior to the podcast because milking
shorthorn milking shorthorn, sorry.
Milking simmental has
always fascinated me.
And then in the teens, there was
a company out in California that
started importing some flecky semen to
be used on conventional dairies.
And you started seeing that come in
and, there's a, I follow a LEC v Dairy
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Wisconsin
that, that they're conventional,
but they have a lot of fleck
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Okay.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: The
milking shorn has, or milking shorn.
I don't know why I can't even talk.
The milking semial
has always fascinated me, and I don't
even know where I was going with that.
I jumped back there,
but I've looked into it.
Oh, I know what it was.
I looked into it and there was a,
a beef farm not too far from me,
about an hour that we're selling
some a hundred percent fleck,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Okay.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243:
but, but they were beef
version, so, and I, I thought at
the time, maybe I should get that
and can get some of the dairy
fleck semen to breed 'em
to,
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Well,
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: I didn't.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
will say this.
the beef fleck have a
heck of a bag on them.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: They do,
they they, they're the milkier
type of, any type of ctol.
Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
well, we have a, we have a fleck beef
bull now that we cover all our cows with.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh,
yes.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
didn't even mention that.
So, and I know we've gotta go, but,
you know, I've got plans for, you
know, trying to one day have a fleck
herd where I just pull out the cows,
I need to milk and milk 'em and let
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
of them raise a beef, a beef
fleck over a milking fleck cow.
And
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
carcass my grassfed beef.
But I'm still getting the, the,
the milk daily out of the mamas.
And this way we're like, right now I have
two herds going, circling around the farm.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Oh yeah.
So then you could combine
them.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
can combine 'em.
Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
So.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243: Yeah.
I, I love that idea.
And going down that path and
seeing how that goes for you.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Yeah.
cal_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Well, that is exciting.
Why I'm, I'm thrilled to have you
on today, and thank you for sharing.
squadcaster-5e40_3_07-18-2025_124243:
Thank you, Cal.
I love how Wyatt and his
wife just went for it.
They, they had a goal in
mind and they just started.
Also, the other thing that I
really love about their journey
is the Fleckvieh cattle.
You all could probably tell
that from our conversation.
I have not, I hadn't heard of anyone
doing grass-based with Fleckvieh till.
I was introduced to Wyatt, so I was so
excited to get on to share about that.
I have seen a few Fleckvieh in more
traditional settings, and I think
that's an exciting development.
I love seeing these lesser known breeds
get some traction.
Grand Fleckvieh is well known
outside the US just now coming in.
Okay.
But I really enjoyed the story.
Uh, next week we're going to talk
with a producer with virtual fencing.
So you only catch that episode
I love how Wyatt and his
wife just went for it.
They, they had a goal in
mind and they just started.
Also, the other thing that I
really love about their journey
is the Fleckvieh cattle.
You all could probably tell
that from our conversation.
I have not, I hadn't heard of anyone
doing grass-based with Fleckvieh till.
I was introduced to Wyatt, so I was so
excited to get on to share about that.
I have seen a few Fleckvieh in more
traditional settings, and I think
that's an exciting development.
I love seeing these lesser known breeds
get some traction.
Grand Fleckvieh is well known
outside the US just now coming in.
Okay.
But I really enjoyed the story.
Uh, next week we're going to talk
with a producer with virtual fencing.
So you only catch that episode.
Cal: Thank you for listening to this
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where we bring you stories and insights
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