Ruminating with RealAg

"You're growing soil, that's your crop, and your plants and animals are tools to do that." In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, Dr. Kris Nichols, founder and principal scientist of KRIS Systems, joins host Amber Bell to discuss the world beneath our boots. While the two discuss a lot of the finer details of... Read More

In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, host Amber Bell sits down with Jaime (Jim) Elizondo of Real Wealth Ranching to unpack the principles of “total grazing.” With decades of experience in dairy nutrition, agronomy, and accounting, Elizondo shares his global perspective on livestock productivity, soil regeneration, and adapting grazing systems to work with—not against—nature.... Read More

It's pretty safe to say that the evolution of electric fencing has been a game changer when it comes to giving farmers and ranchers cost-effective, flexible solutions for rotational grazing, riparian protection, and keeping wildlife out of bale yards. While putting up an electric fence sounds like a straightforward process, there are a lot of... Read More

Anyone who’s worked with livestock knows just how many threats exist—diseases, toxic plants, and parasites can all put animal health at risk. It’s up to ranchers and feedlot operators to do everything they can to protect the animals in their care. One threat that had been nearly forgotten, until recently, is the New World Screwworm,... Read More

Legumes are often a welcome addition to pastures. They fix nitrogen, improve forage quality with higher protein and digestibility, and can extend the grazing season. Deep-rooted species such as alfalfa also help maintain productivity during dry spells. The balance, of course, is the risk and fear of bloat. In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg,... Read More

Producers are usually looking for an economical way to put weight on their animals, usually in the source of high protein supplements. To this end, distillers' grains (DDGs) seem to be an ideal fit. This byproduct of grain based ethanol production is high in crude protein, a moderate source of both fiber and oil, and... Read More

In the next decade, thousands of farms and farm businesses will transition in ownership from one generation to the next. How that hand-off happens is far from simple. Farm transitions involve not just assets and operations, but also families, livelihoods, and legacies. In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, Annessa Good-Hassard of Peak Heritage Consulting... Read More

Spring is an exciting — and busy — time of year. For some ranchers calving is just coming to a close; for others it may be just starting. There are fences to fix, water systems to install and repair, grazing plans to finalize and cattle to run through the squeeze. Often in the hectic pace... Read More

There is nothing quite like having the exact right tool at the exact right time to get a job done. Many ranchers out on pasture have experienced the importance of that moment when they are looking for their favourite hammer or nut driver, only to realize that it's missing from the toolbox, lost to the... Read More

There have been many memes created around the adventure that working cattle with family members can hold. Whether that's husband and wife, or kids with their parents, the things said while working cattle are often things that cannot be spoken outside of the corral. This was Dylan Biggs' experience growing up working cattle with his... Read More

The day-to-day on a family ranch often means juggling many pieces in order to get the job done and raise the chances of making a profit. The Luthi Ranch, a 6th-generation family enterprise in western Wyoming, is no exception. On this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, Bryan Luthi joins host Amber Bell to discuss the... Read More

Access to high quality feed and water make for a good ranching location. They allow producers to raise productive livestock, setting up the ranch to turn a profit. Those same things are attractive to wildlife as well, and whether it is an ungulate, such as a deer or moose, or the predators that follow them,... Read More

Manure has been used as fertilizer for a very long time; however, with the advent of fewer mixed farms and access to commercial fertilizer, which is easier to transport and often easier to apply, nearly all farmers have moved away from using manure as the primary source of fertilizer on their operations. That being said,... Read More

How often is it said that farming is a lifestyle? Sometimes it is a hard one, it's sometimes frustrating, but often also rewarding in more ways than just money. While it is a lifestyle, farms and ranches are also businesses with high-stakes financial decisions required on a regular basis. With cattle prices hitting record highs,... Read More

Cover crops are all the not-quite-so-new rage and the process of integrating them into current agricultural systems has been gaining ground (pun intended). Seeding multiple species in a field can do some fantastic things for the land, such as enhance water holding capacity, improve soil biodiversity, provide added resistance to pests and disease, and improve... Read More

Although ranching comes with a whole host of risks, vaccinations have the potential to lower that risk substantially. While vaccines may not save every cow in a herd from disease, it does give producers the chance to protect the majority of the herd from several diseases that cause sickness and even death. In this Ruminating... Read More

Words such as planned, rotational, management intensive and adaptive multi-paddock have all been used to describe grazing methods that mimic the movement of wildlife that would have grazed the Prairies many years ago. Some of these are also words that Kelly Sidoryk uses to describe her family's grazing strategies. Sidoryk and her family had initially... Read More

With many cattle producers trying to cut costs, increase the productivity of their land, and have a tiny bit of a personal life, the idea of "out-wintering" has become a little more attractive in comparison to chilly daily feedings of corralled animals. While ranchers have looked at options such as bale grazing, swath grazing, or... Read More

There are many things that are outside of a producer's control when raising cattle. Rain, or lack of it, market prices, and predators can make farming livestock a risky business. Then there is the risk of having cows that do not birth easily, have low immunity, or do not process feed efficiently. While the first... Read More