June 24, 2025 • 38 mins
What happens when a chef's passion for food quality leads to raising cattle? In this enlightening conversation with the family behind Sile Pastures, we discover how culinary expertise transformed into regenerative ranching in Sile, New Mexico.
Sage Hagan shares his remarkable journey from high-end kitchens working alongside Wolfgang Puck to establishing a diversified farm operation with his wife Andrea and their daughters. Their story illustrates the challenges and rewards of being first-generation ranchers in New Mexico's varied landscape, where water access proves both precious and determining. With incredible candor, they discuss how their operation has evolved from a small market garden to managing 60 head of cattle and 70 sheep while maintaining their commitment to sustainable practices.
The conversation delves into what makes New Mexico ranching unique, from dealing with unexpected May snowstorms to navigating limited land access. You'll hear how their four-year-old daughter already serves as the "farm manager," spotting trailers, sorting cattle, and developing an enviable work ethic that only agricultural life can provide. This family's deep respect for their animals permeates everything they do, from humane handling practices to their innovative "ancestral blend" ground beef that incorporates nutrient-dense organ meats.
Beyond cattle, Andrea explains their latest venture creating tallow-based body products as part of their commitment to using every part of the animal. Their philosophy of connection—to the land, their animals, and their community—offers listeners a thoughtful perspective on modern ranching that honors traditional values while embracing innovation.
Whether you're curious about regenerative agriculture, the realities of starting a ranch from scratch, or simply want to understand the dedication behind locally-raised beef, this episode provides an authentic window into the lives of those who choose to nurture both land and livestock. Listen now to appreciate the people behind your next meal.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carollann Romo (00:04):
Welcome back to another episode of Behind the
Burger, our podcast with the NewMexico Beef Council.
I'm Caroline Romo and I am heretoday with representation from
Sile Pastures.
Now I'm worried.
I asked you your names, but didI say Sile, right?
Sage Hagan (00:18):
You did.
Carollann Romo (00:19):
Okay, All right, that was, thanks, Liz.
So Andrea Sage, Pilar andChamisa are here with us.
Will you guys introduceyourself and tell us a little
bit about yourselves?
Sage Hagan (00:29):
Yeah, my name is Sage Hagen and this is my
beautiful family and we run SilePastures together, which is a
small scale regenerative farmthat seems to be fairly
diversified, in the sense that,you know, we raise beef grass
for grass, finish our lamb, ourpoultry, we were running hogs
for a while, and then, you know,we also have produce, sometimes
(00:51):
mixed in on all that wild crazystuff that we do.
Carollann Romo (00:55):
Perfect.
Do you want to introduceyourself too?
Andrea Romero (00:58):
My name is Andrea Romero and yeah, I'm just part
of the farm on the other ends oftying up loose ends and stuff
like that.
Carollann Romo (01:06):
Perfect, and where are you guys from and
what's kind of your story?
Sage Hagan (01:18):
You guys grew up in Corrales, as you said, but maybe
how did you meet and how didyou guys start this farm?
I mean, we've been together along time, which is kind of cool
, because you know, historyalways has a lot to offer, and I
think for us in ourrelationship to look back at
like where we started, right, Imean to not get into too much
nit and gritty of of mybackground.
Essentially we met inCalifornia when I was coming out
of recovery from, you know,having some partying a little
(01:41):
bit too hard and needed tostraighten my life out.
And so we were.
We met at an AA meeting inCalifornia, of all places.
This is after I knew her, afterI knew her in high school, went
to high school with her and herbrother, and her folks lived
maybe a mile south of my folksthere.
Andrea Romero (01:59):
They still live a mile from each other in
Corrales.
Sage Hagan (02:02):
So you know from being 21 and trying to.
So you know from being 21 andtrying to figure out you know,
life's lessons and where to go.
Here we are.
I'm going to be 40 this year,two beautiful daughters, and you
know to think where I'm at nowor where we're at now, I
wouldn't have guessed it.
When you talk backgrounds, youknow like I think for me,
culinary was my biggestbackground.
(02:24):
I started in kitchens early and, as I progressed through all
the way into culinary school andthen, you know, living in
Europe, working in Paris andreally developing a love for
food, a passion for it.
But really that, that politicalside of where, why, who, how,
what is this type of questioningfrom our food, is what really
(02:48):
kind of pushed me into like theslow food movement farm to table
, farm to fork, ranch to fork,all these different terms but
really it's just about like heywhat are you eating?
Where is it from?
Why are you eating it and is itgood?
Is it good for you, is it goodfor the environment?
Is it good for our community?
All these different things, andit's just, it's a ripple effect
(03:08):
, right, boom.
And so that's sort of mypassion side.
And then, as I got burnt out inkitchens which tends to happen
to chefs because it's just agrind and you're working seven
days a week and you know I'veworked in Beverly Hills and Roy
Yamaguchi and Wolfgang Puck andit was crazy.
But so yeah, that was sort ofmy background and why I had a
(03:32):
passion for food and what sortof led me down this path of
growing vegetables in the backwith some chickens and then, all
of a sudden, you know we've got60 head of cows and 70 sheep
and we do eight markets a monthand really trying to just get
after it.
Carollann Romo (03:49):
Oh, that's so neat and I think knowing where
your food comes from is, youknow, such a special thing and
that's exactly what I guess thegoal of the podcast is right is
knowing where your food comesfrom and talking, you know, we
say behind the burger becauseit's behind the beef, and I
think from the culinary side too, we talk to a lot of culinary
students and we try and inspirethat conversation of knowing
where your food comes from andwhere your ingredients come from
(04:11):
is a really great, great thingand obviously it's grown well
into a business for you guys.
Will you talk about NewMexico's landscapes and climate
and how they shape your ranchingand methods?
Sage Hagan (04:23):
Yeah, I mean New Mexico is so varied right, we
have high alpine beautifulforests.
You know aspen forests and youknow 10,000 foot elevations all
the way down to you know theborder where it's barren and hot
and very in a very desertlandscape.
I mean we're known as NewMexico is like a high desert but
we have beautiful forests andwe do have four seasons right
(04:45):
and forests and we do have fourseasons right and you know one
percent of the land in newmexico has running water through
it.
So water in the desert, waterin the high desert, water here
in new mexico is sacred, youhear all the time water is life
and indeed that it is.
So I think with the landscapeand how it varies so much is is
really like you know the ranchthat we run our cattle under the
summer.
The gentleman that we lease itfrom told me you know this land
(05:07):
bleeds water.
Andrea Romero (05:09):
Yeah.
Sage Hagan (05:10):
What do you mean?
It bleeds water.
Like who says that?
But you know this ranch has 13sprigs, so our carrying capacity
is huge.
We're not hauling water.
That's huge during the summerand I think that you know for
ranchers and producers, the waythat you run your herd is is
going to really dictate or theland's going to dictate your.
You know your workingenvironment, how you manage your
(05:33):
cattle and manage your herd,and you know are you hauling
water, are you hauling out?
You know real max tubs Are you?
You know you know puttingwhatever you need down.
You know how much, how much hayare you having to?
Uh, to invest in and um, itvaries.
You know and everybody's got toreally, you know, figure out
what works best for their herdand go that route Absolutely.
Carollann Romo (05:54):
We talk about it a lot, that that you have to be
stewards of the land in orderto be stewards of the livestock
right.
Sage Hagan (05:59):
Indeed.
Yeah, like you said, yeah, yeah, and it's and it's the same for
for many ranchers.
Carollann Romo (06:05):
Right, everyone's dealing with it.
Everyone has to deal with theland and take care of the land.
What is one of the biggestchallenges you all face in your
operation?
Sage Hagan (06:25):
part of that's part of ranching is being able to
wake up, being excited aboutwhat we're doing and knowing
that, hey, there's these, theseoutcomes that are out of our
control.
We have variables that arealways out of our control.
Um, for instance, you know we'dgotten the cattle up to our
grazing and in this for thesummer quite early, which we
were already sort of in questionof.
You know what's ranch look like, what's the water content going
(06:47):
to be?
We're going to need to cut ournumbers down up there just
because of there was no winter.
We didn't have a winter, so theranch was really dry.
Here comes a May storm and itsnowed two feet at the ranch.
So I'm hauling hay in May inthe little Tacoma, cutting trees
down in two feet of snow justso I can get up to the ranch,
(07:07):
and, yeah, everyone's buried andwe have calves on the ground
and yeah, so now we're managingour herd in two feet of snow in
May, which hasn't happenedbefore.
That was new.
Carollann Romo (07:18):
That was a crazy , crazy New.
Sage Hagan (07:20):
Mexico spring Definitely an anomaly, but those
are some of the things and Ithink you know when we talk,
like you know, operations,animal health is always huge.
Right, we want to make sureanimals are doing great, we want
to make sure our calves aregood, we want to be managing our
herd, we want to be managingour land and when it comes to
(07:40):
it's never our bottom dollar onthe ranch to make money, ever
that if we were in it to makemoney we would not be here at
all.
We do it because we love it andwe love the lifestyle.
We love being able to see everyday our hard work and the
reward that we get from it.
And, with that being said, Ithink one of our biggest deals
(08:01):
right now is just access to landas a small operation.
It requires money to bankrollthe season, it requires money to
grow the herd, it requiresmoney to manage the herd and for
us to look at that, it's likewell you know, we want to grow,
but we are, you know, buttingour heads because of land access
(08:22):
.
growth access, I mean, thedemands are for sure, 100%.
How do we grow our operation?
That's one of our biggestthings right now for us.
Carollann Romo (08:31):
I think access to land is crazy.
And then a lot of there's somany operations too that are
generational.
So there's, you know, theirland is going to stay in the
family and so, as afirst-generation rancher, that's
a unique challenge that youguys are faced with, and
everyone needs more land to grow, even if they're generational.
(08:53):
They're trying to look for moreland or find a new lease and
hope that it's a good lease,hope that it's a long-term lease
and that your landlord's goodand all of that Land is
important.
And then, of course, you guysaren't too far from the urban
sprawl right lease and that allthat your landlord's good and
and all of that land is land isimportant.
Sage Hagan (09:04):
And then, and then, of course, you guys aren't too
far from the urban sprawl rightyeah, I mean we're, we're really
conveniently located prettymuch smack dab between santa fe
and albuquerque, which gives usaccess to clientele, people that
are, you know, um, and into themarkets.
You know my commutes to themarkets aren't bad at all.
We do go to taos as well.
(09:25):
I mean, I think Santa Fe we sayCorrales is our home market,
but just cause you know we hadspent so much time there, but I
mean really Santa Fe is is acloser drive from, from Sealy,
it's just up and out, and thenyou're up La Bajada and there
you are in Santa Fe.
So, um, you know, I was on thedrive here.
I was thinking you know how muchrespect and admiration I do
(09:46):
have for thesemulti-generational ranches.
I mean the history there.
I mean you have brands that areover a hundred years old.
I mean there's legacy there and, if my hats are off to those
outfits for sure, a lot ofrespect and admiration.
And you know they've shaped.
They've shaped the cattleindustry here in New Mexico,
shaped the cattle industry herein New Mexico.
And, um, and it's fun too,because when you talk about,
(10:07):
like gatekeepers or code keepersof, you know, cowboying or or
or ranch, you know, being afirst generation rancher has its
, its downfalls, but it also has, you know it's, it's, it's very
uplifting, you know I it's.
We take a lot of pride in whatwe do and, um, you know
(10:50):
no-transcript than I was at 25,to be quite honest, and that is
incredible.
That's, I mean bottom line.
That's why else are we doingthis Is to develop not only the
passion for food or the passionfor cattle, but, you know,
(11:10):
develop humans.
Develop, I mean them, you know,to develop her on a ranch in
the situations that she gets toexperience.
I mean I wouldn't trade it forthe world.
Carollann Romo (11:21):
We talk about it a lot too.
I think the the family aspectof ranching, that there's no
better place to have kids raisedand get to learn the work ethic
Even even I grew up prettyag-adjacent, right, so we we
showed livestock and we hadhorses, but we weren't I wasn't
a part of commercial agricultureuntil my career but just even
(11:42):
the work ethic or theunderstanding the cycle, the
circle of life, andunderstanding that you know we
don't get our animals forever,and just having respect for them
while they're here, and just somany things that I think that
growing up in agriculture taughtme and I hope I can also teach
my daughter my daughter right,and obviously you guys are doing
that with your daughters.
It's really special.
Yeah, do you want to add tothat at all?
Andrea Romero (12:04):
that's kind of what it is for me to see.
It's about connection, you know, and connection to something
that's real and you know it'snature, it's the animals, like
you said, the cycle of life,like she knows about birth you
know we were talking about whenwe were going to give birth to
Chamisa and she knew all aboutit from the animals and that was
like my reminder in my headabout the natural part of
(12:26):
everything you know.
And then she sees the chickenscome in and and the calves being
born and and and then daddyprocesses chickens and then it's
just, yeah, connection and and,yeah, seeing it all happen.
It's beautiful.
Carollann Romo (12:41):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, we had a baby horse bornat our house and that was that
was fun to explain that.
You know, yeah, the horse is inin Betty's belly and then she
came out and she got to name herher.
All right, we do have a horsenamed Banana, and that was.
It was our fault for allowingthat, that's a great horse name,
yeah it was right after thebaby was born, right after the
Savannah Bananas were in townlast year.
(13:02):
Banana, banana yeah, she's areally pretty horse too.
She's a sorrel with the flaxenmane and tail, so she's got like
a blonde mane.
It's very beautiful, it's fun.
Sage Hagan (13:15):
I would love to go to Savannah Bananas.
Carollann Romo (13:19):
Oh yeah, it is.
Yeah, it's fun.
I would love to go to savannahbanana.
Oh yeah, it's a.
It is.
Yeah, that's a.
That's a sidetrack, but gosh,that's a fun.
It is a fun experience theyhave.
We went to the one recently andit was there's a lot of cowboys
on the team now.
There's like cowboy hats, likeyou see, real cowboy hats, and
some of the some of the teams.
It's fun.
And then all the people, a lotof the people going.
We saw tons of people inagriculture at the Savannah
Bananas.
(13:40):
It was a whole thing.
It's a great, I think, becauseit's such great family, such a
great family atmosphere and sucha, you know, wholesome
entertainment that I think a lotof families that we get along
with were at the Bananas game,or I think it was the party
animals.
Anyways, what's one thing mostpeople don't know about?
Raising beef in New Mexico, oreven just your operation?
Sage Hagan (14:07):
I would kind of go back to just.
You know that it's not just adesert.
You know, for us our pasturesare irrigated.
We've got really really, reallynice diversified pastures that
we graze.
You know we're really fortunatefor the ranch that we do lease
the 13 springs help, but it alsohas a carrying capacity more
(14:29):
than 300 acres, which is apretty small ranch in terms of
grazing, but its carryingcapacity is is double that, just
because of what it's able togrow.
So I think one of the thingstoo is just like you know yeah,
it's, it's the the train's very,very different in a lot, of, a
lot of areas of the state we dohave, like the deserts and the
very arid parts, but there'salso some very lush areas that,
(14:51):
uh, you know, cattle are raisedin and um, cattle live a really
great life, you know, andthere's a lot of people that are
very skilled at what they doand have some very fantastic
operations in this state.
Okay, my horse is named SpotsSpots.
Does Spots have spots?
Yeah?
(15:12):
He rolls and bucks on me,though.
Carollann Romo (15:14):
Oh, he does.
Is he an Appaloosa?
Yeah, we love Appaloosa.
Yeah, we love Appaloosas.
Sage Hagan (15:21):
He's cool.
He's a little Appaloosa.
Shetland Gets a little.
Carollann Romo (15:25):
Perfect.
They get a little snarkysometimes, really.
Yeah, that's what makes toughgal girls right.
Yes, yes, perfect.
I was going to ask too.
I feel like some of thequestions would be repetitive.
We've already talked about them.
But what is something exciting?
Oh, no, we were talking aboutsorry, I got excited about the
horse.
You're talking about thediversity of landscape and the
(15:48):
grass, and I know I had aconversation with the rancher
and I told him that anotherrancher had to reschedule a
branding because of the rain,and it's so different because
the northern part of our stategot a ton of rain and that snow
in May and all of that, and soit looks pretty green up here,
(16:16):
but the southern part of thestate they've rain in the last
365 days or something crazy.
And that's not science, so Icould be wrong, but that was the
conversation and I just thinkit's yeah, it's incredibly
diverse.
And then even our state is sobig.
I think Of course we hope NewMexicans are listening to the
podcast, but if they're not, ourstate is so big and so spread
(16:39):
out.
We have two million people inour state and I think a million
and a half of them are justAlbuquerque and Santa Fe.
Well, that's half a millionpeople spread out through what
are we?
The largest public land statein the nation.
We have tons of public land andthen, you know, ranches spread
out on those.
So, anyways, it's just.
New Mexico is incrediblydiverse and incredibly
(17:02):
complicated.
Sage Hagan (17:04):
And I, yeah, I think I had heard somewhere and I
mean I don't think that it'strue, but they said that there
were more cattle in the statethan there were humans.
Carollann Romo (17:12):
Oh, and there were for a long time.
Yeah, it just changed.
It just changed Is what.
We've kind of done the math andtalked to some ranchers is it
used to be?
For a long time there were morecattle than people, but now we
say there's about a million anda half cattle, 1.4.
Sage Hagan (17:26):
1.4,.
Yeah, because I was looking atsome of the numbers and I was
like yeah, I don't think thatwas right.
Carollann Romo (17:30):
Yeah, it was for a long, long time.
And then, even when I moved toNew Mexico 10 years ago, there
was 1.7 million people.
Well, now there's 2.1 million.
I don't know.
That seems like fast growth,but maybe it's not that fast
when you look at other states,you know, I know Texas and Idaho
and other states are dealingwith population growth Rapidly,
yeah, very rapidly.
(17:50):
It feels rapid, though, to justin my time here that it's grown
so much and reached over 2million.
But yeah, we used to be morecows than people.
Now we're catching up.
Not enough grass and rain, orwe'd have more cattle.
What's kind of your favoritepart about the beef industry?
And then, yeah, I want both ofyou to answer this Just your
(18:12):
favorite part kind of of whatyou do.
Sage Hagan (18:15):
I think for me, just being a part of such a
historical industry, there's alot of pride in it and we get to
meet individuals who do what wedo, and that's regardless if
they're, you know, a cow-calfoperation running you know 600
(18:35):
moms, whatever Major right,there's a respect there because
they know that be we're outthere doing, we're doing the
work, we're taking care of ouranimals, and so just being a
part of that industry, being apart of the whole, and uh, I
really you take a lot of pridein that.
And then just getting to meet alot of different folks, um, you
know, for us going to differentranches and meeting different
(18:57):
people, they're family-based, werelate to them a lot.
Um, that's been, that's beenreally fun for us.
And you know the the big thingtoo is that we eat a lot of beef
.
We eat beef on a daily basis ustoo yeah, guilty yeah, it's my
job yeah, that also having beeffrom our fields come into our
(19:22):
freezers and our fridges.
Carollann Romo (19:24):
Yeah.
Sage Hagan (19:25):
That's fun, that's awesome, I mean, because that's
what I always tell folks at themarket.
It's like, hey, my family eatsfrom the farm.
First, we stand behind ourproducts because this is what
I'm feeding my four-year-old,this is what I'm feeding my
four-year-old, this is what I'mfeeding my six-month-old, this
is what I'm feeding my wife,this is what I eat myself.
So those are really fun and Ithink for us it's just yeah,
that we're part of a communitythat has history, that has a
(19:48):
future, that we are stayingpresent because we have to with
our animals, with our land, andthat we get to benefit directly
in sharing our food, sharing themeat, sharing the beef.
And, yeah, we eat like kingsand queens.
Carollann Romo (20:00):
Like broiled.
Yeah, that's really special.
And you even talked about theindustry as a whole being kind,
you kind of mentioned thegatekeeper and all that.
I have a friend, her name isMarkie Hageman-Jones, and she's
a public speaker and she has apresentation about being a
gate-getter in the industry andit's just a really special thing
and she's always trying toinspire.
(20:20):
You know whether it's.
You know she talks to FFAstudents and women and just in
cattlemen's organizations andhow being a gate getter is so
important, no matter what roleyou are in the industry, of just
helping people and showing themand and for the most part, it
feels like I've interacted witha lot of really wonderful gate
getters, especially in my careerhere and then and then in
(20:41):
general.
But it's just a good reminderof always trying to be trying to
not that we ever want to beriding passenger side and
actually be the person to getthe gates, but you know, but
metaphorically I love that, thatpresentation that she talks
about.
Sage Hagan (20:54):
But yeah, I mean, we wouldn't be where we're at if
it weren't for mentors whenwe're older gentlemen that you
know, basically like man, youwork your butt off.
Like how can I help you?
We'd love to help.
You know one of the you knowthe guy with Lisa Ranch.
From those, he's like man, whydo you work so hard?
This is what we want to do andhe's been a huge help, and a lot
of the old timers that we'vecome across have been nothing
(21:16):
but helpful and bless theirhearts for that, because they
came from a different time wherethat information and knowledge
that they learned is hard earned.
You know that's not justGoogled and YouTube.
They're out there doing it whenthere wasn't that sort of
information available.
So for them to come up andadmire and respect and that's
what I'm talking about is like,yeah, they're sharing it with us
(21:38):
and wanting us and welcoming us, so we feel welcomed.
Carollann Romo (21:42):
That's special and that's the hope.
Right, I hope everyone feelsthat.
Yeah, what about?
Do you want to add to that thatyour favorite part, or?
Andrea Romero (21:50):
Let's see.
So I would say we love cows.
You know we have lots ofdifferent animals on the farm
and it's grown to be one of ourfavorite animals.
I think all of us.
You know branding, we brandtogether.
She helps him tag justrelationships with the cows and
we eat a lot of meat.
It's been really special withChamisa.
You know we've done bone marrow, we're eating whole animal, you
(22:13):
know with them and having themexperience that, and then you
know we're using the suet now tomake our tallow products.
So it's just so connected tothat animal in so many ways.
And you know we sell quartershares and it was really cool to
hear a sage talk about you knowthat particular steer or you
(22:35):
know being that connected.
You know he can talk about itlike that and that's really
special.
Sage Hagan (22:38):
Yeah, we love cows.
Carollann Romo (22:39):
That's awesome.
We also love cows and weappreciate the work you guys do.
It's such an important part ofour industry.
So we have I know Liz and Janeand Kate and I all work in the
office and the Beef Councilrepresenting you all but we just
appreciate what ranchers aredoing every day.
When we get to be the nine tofive, you know sitting there
(23:00):
conditioning Thanks for comingto the air conditioning for us
but yeah, we have so muchrespect and admiration for what
everyone's doing.
I was going to say what'ssomething exciting you're
working on right now, or maybesomething you're proud of
recently.
Maybe it's a chance to talkabout the farmer's markets or
yeah, but what's kind ofexciting.
Sage Hagan (23:19):
Jay, do you want to go first?
Andrea Romero (23:20):
Well, we got into Santa Fe market.
That's very exciting.
It's our first year showing upat that market and, like he said
, you know it's closer thanCorrales to us and last weekend
was our first weekend and it wasvery exciting.
Lots of people going there.
What else Just it was?
He did the market.
Sage Hagan (23:39):
Yeah, I mean, santa Fe is a great market.
It's very professional, I mean,it's geared for the producer,
and so you know, we've beengoing back and forth and finally
got all the things that weneeded in line and Phil
accomplished this to be there.
But, yeah, it's great to bethere.
So you can find us at the SantaFe Market now on a biweekly
basis.
We're in Towson those otherSaturdays, but yeah, so that's
(24:02):
been exciting, got a new bull.
Yeah, you know, we had a reallynice San Gertrudis bull that we
were breeding with and then,unfortunately, within him being
a couple weeks at the ranch, hefound himself being you know
hurt and couldn't use himselfthe way that he would like to.
Yeah, poor guy.
So we ended up picking up avery nice, yearling about 16,
(24:27):
18-month black Angus registeredbull that came from Amhat down
in Berlin, south of Berlin.
Couldn't be happier with himand we look forward to seeing
what he can bring our herd andthe genetics and the calves that
we'll be dropping Cause it'skind of funny how we you know we
we keep cow calf but we're also, you know we've got, you know
we we produce our cows for beef,you know.
Carollann Romo (24:49):
Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, they all have.
They all are a little bitmulti-purpose.
Yeah, absolutely.
Sage Hagan (24:55):
And I'm sure Andrea can get kind of giddy now
because she gets to talk abouther project, which has been our
tallow.
Andrea Romero (25:02):
Oh, yeah, please do so.
We've.
You know we were thinking weneed some value-added products,
you know, for our farm, and sowe used our SUA.
You know I researched so muchand just creating a really good
quality, natural, simple productis what I wanted, you know.
So I learned how to rendertraditional methods, so the
(25:22):
least amount of rendering tokeep all of the nutrients in the
tallow, and we whipped up somebody butter and some lip balms
and it's all we use on us, andit's been a labor of love.
You know she helps with therendering of the tallow and it's
been really, really wellreceived at the markets.
I can't keep up, so is anybodywho wants to help me?
Yeah, um yeah, it's a greatproblem.
(25:45):
Yes, it's great, but, um, yeah,so it's.
We love it.
You don't smell like beef, itsmells like herbs.
So, yeah, or butter no, it's,it's.
Carollann Romo (25:56):
It's very popular and very great product.
And then it even brings me backto the thought that we like to
talk about the beef industrybeing really efficient and
really respectful of the animal,to use everything right, like
you guys are doing.
I think that's a reallyimportant part that people
should know that the byproductsand the other things that can
come from meat production yes,yep, okay.
(26:18):
And the other things that cancome from meat production yes,
yep, okay.
What about the?
I guess we kind of alreadyasked this again, because when
you're talking about what you do, obviously the passion comes
out.
But why do you do what you doand why do you keep going?
Sage Hagan (26:34):
Yeah, I want to jump back to the other one and the
other thing that I wanted totalk about, which is our
ancestral blend, which is ourground beef that has heart and
liver incorporated in it.
Oh.
Great product.
Okay.
And nose to tail right,Utilizing the most
nutrient-dense part of the cows.
And not everybody's just readyto gobble up liver.
Right, but if it's in the blend, yeah it's in the blend, and
(27:02):
it's in the blend, and it's, youknow, organ.
organ consumption is gained inpopularity, thank god thank god
and yeah, so being able to grindit in and have it package one
pound package ancestral blend.
Andrea Romero (27:07):
It's phenomenal, especially for kids.
You cook the taco meat, yeah no, there's no heart.
Sage Hagan (27:09):
No, liverless, it's brown beef, but yeah, so that's
exciting too, something else.
But why do we do what we do andand what makes us not want to
want to stop?
I mean, there's definitely daysthat'll kick your butt, but
that just comes with theterritory, and part of having
those hard days is also thereare some tremendous days that
(27:29):
will put chills on your spine,bring tears to your eyes, and
seeing my family committed tothis life is tremendous.
As a father, right, you makethese decisions and you make
these sacrifices, and sometimesthey may not play out the way
that you would like.
But the most important part isthat for us, you know this is
(27:51):
what we do as a family, and theexperiences that we get to have
together are.
You know how many people areproducers?
How many people get toexperience what we get to
experience on a daily basis?
Not very many, and that luckyfew get to really live a special
life.
So for us, it's like I saidregardless, it's not, it's not
(28:14):
the money why we're doing it.
It's doing it because we loveit, and we get to see our
daughters experience thesethings, and some of my best
memories are just watching.
You know, p the shoots with mecutting out cows and sorting
them.
And you know she's gonna befive and she, she knows how to
be around cows, she knows how tobe.
I mean she I'm like, okay, wegotta hook up the gooseneck so
(28:35):
she's out on behind the trailer.
I can see in the mirror andshe's spotting me, puts the fist
up, stops me perfectly.
We rack the trailer down.
I'm like, okay, we need to.
We need to open up this gateand have it right on these
panels.
She stops me perfectly.
We then get into the chutes andcut out the, the, the two cows
that we needed to cut out twogirls.
Nope, that's right into thechutes.
(28:56):
We walk them in, load them up.
I mean it was like I had aseasoned hand with me.
Incredible, for I mean you knowbranding, and she's butchered
animals with me.
We've done sheep, we've donecows, we've done the chickens.
So her skill set, like I saidbefore, I mean you know she's 15
.
She's wherever she wants to goin life and it's because of her
foundation on the farm and theranch.
Andrea Romero (29:17):
We forget she's from.
Sage Hagan (29:20):
You should be so proud, I'd like to tell you this
Two, you should be so proud.
I have to tell you this Twoyears bloated, oh no.
Carollann Romo (29:27):
It's in memory too.
Sage Hagan (29:28):
Good herd management right there A cow bloated and
me and Dad cutted it.
Andrea Romero (29:36):
You processed it.
See what happened?
Huh, it's kind of like ahomeschool activity.
Sage Hagan (29:43):
Yeah, hard days, you know it's just part of it.
Hey, what's that up there, mycow Chocolate cow.
Andrea Romero (29:52):
Chocolate cow, yeah, where I'm always waiting
to see when they come in thedoor.
You know it's like whathappened now.
She's always so excited to tellme about what happened, what's
going on on the farm, and I justcall her farm manager and I
grated my finger and cut mythumb on the trailer.
Oh, yeah, that's what it's allabout, you know, yeah.
Carollann Romo (30:11):
Oh, it's so special and so so wonderful to
see your little ranch managergrowing up and we talked a
little bit about food politics.
Oh yeah.
Sage Hagan (30:21):
I mean, that was it.
It was like sometimes I have,you know, like you go into a
grocery store and like where'sall this coming from, but to
really have that oversight ofeverything that we're doing and
knowing that the animals areliving the best possible life
that they possibly can.
And you know, we say they haveone bad day.
I know that's a term we getthrown away around, but it
really is like we mitigate whenwe take them, our animals, to
(30:42):
process.
We take the steers in.
You know, we try to load themup the night before so they're
settled, you know, giving them alittle bit of water and just
making sure that, hey, liketalking to them in quiet voices
and there's a lot of respectthere.
It's something that doesn't getbeyond us, doesn't go beyond us
, is that this is life and andand you know, for us it, we, we
(31:04):
honor those lives, but we'retaking those lives as well and
there's a cycle there and it'sfull circle, right.
And yeah, I mean those.
I remember eating an apple inParis.
I was busy on the line.
I'm like the chef comes in andhe's like, here, you want an
apple.
I'm like I'll take an apple, Iate it and I'll never this.
And that was the trajectorythat, like you know, sent us
into.
I mean, we got our start in amarket garden.
(31:33):
That's like how ag was for uswas like we are doing a market
garden.
That's, we were on it threequarters of an acre and we just
started crushing out produce,having CSAs and, and slowly but
surely, we just started addingon, adding on, adding TSAs and
slowly but surely, we juststarted adding on, adding on,
adding on, adding on to where weare at now.
Andrea Romero (31:47):
Love where we are .
This is it, yeah.
Sage Hagan (31:49):
And it's kind of funny, like we started from, you
know, growing lettuce andtomatoes, and I remember my dad
was like what are you going todo?
You know, sell tomatoes at thegrower's market for the rest of
your life.
And we have another horse namedPistol.
Carollann Romo (32:01):
Oh, that's so perfect.
That's a good horse name.
Sage Hagan (32:04):
But yeah, I feel like we've reached that apex,
and it's funny because for usthat apex is beef cows cattle.
Carollann Romo (32:12):
Yeah, you found the right niche.
That's perfect, Not to go backtoo much.
But you said CSA and I think Iknow what that is.
But just in case someonedoesn't, what is a CSA?
Sage Hagan (32:21):
Community Supported Agriculture.
Okay case someone doesn't, whatis the csa community supported
agriculture.
Okay, yeah, very cool, so likein that aspect, and we've talked
about doing it with meat too,but you know people are paying
what are unicorn names?
sparkles paying into the farm inthe beginning of the season.
So you have quite a big chunkof money to operate off of and
then you're delivering on aweekly, bi-weekly basis.
(32:41):
Uh, whatever the contract youknow we'd sign contracts and
it's hard to be contracted toproduce food, but it really
showed that the communitysupported us.
I mean, and you know that waswe started pre-COVID and then
during COVID, which was whichwas wild.
But yeah, I mean, the peopleshowed up and supported.
So it's huge Community withoutcommunity there wouldn't be.
(33:02):
You know, for us there wouldn'tbe really an option to do what
we do.
Carollann Romo (33:08):
No doubt.
So, speaking of that, andcommunity, where can people
follow you and find you?
What's the plug for?
You guys said the markets rightand you guys have a website and
social media right.
Andrea Romero (33:22):
Yes, we are SealyPasturescom, and then
follow us on Instagram at SealyPastures and then you can find
us at every week Sundays atCorrales Market.
We call it the home market.
We're both from Corrales, sothat's our home market.
Santa Fe every other weekend onSaturdays, and then Paus other,
but weekly right.
Sage Hagan (33:42):
Yeah, and that's S-I-L-E Sile.
Yes.
Carollann Romo (33:46):
Perfect, there you go.
Well, we'll make sure and tagyou and all of that.
And then the last question, andpossibly the most important
question what's your favoriteway to eat beef, or favorite
recipe?
Andrea Romero (33:59):
We were talking about that way over.
What's your favorite way to eatthe beef?
Sage Hagan (34:04):
On the bone, on the bone, on the bone.
Carollann Romo (34:07):
The bone like a steak on the bone.
Sage Hagan (34:09):
One day I cleaned the bone up.
Carollann Romo (34:11):
Oh yeah, oh yeah , just all just cleaned it
completely.
Sage Hagan (34:14):
That's the truth either, and cleaned it better
than a dog, right.
Carollann Romo (34:21):
There you go.
You've got to get every ounceof that steak.
Sage Hagan (34:25):
She liked the bone and ribeye and then we had
gotten her porterhouse cut andshe's I want my own porterhouse,
daddy.
Yeah, the porterhouse is good.
Steaks are always a fanfavorite.
Um, we were having thisconversation, but I think for us
right now it's just beenexciting.
Andrea Romero (34:40):
Yeah, ancestral blend's really cool, and then
we've been eating a lot of bonemarrow and trying different
things with her know, likesaying the nutrients are in the
bone marrow.
We whipped up and all kind ofate it.
They had on crackers.
She loved it.
Sage Hagan (34:54):
And we always stash 50 pounds of ground every time
we process.
That goes into our freezer.
We fill up our freezer.
So we eat a lot of ground beefand we do that in you know
different ways too.
I mean, um, burgers, of course,is always the classic.
We do like a ground beef bowlwith, you know, avocado and,
yeah, some rice stuff like that.
(35:15):
But you know, if I was tochoose, it would be a bone-in
ribeye as well that's a, that'sa daddy's daddy's girl right
there yeah.
Andrea Romero (35:23):
Yeah, I know, I told him what are you going to
do when we go to the restaurant?
You have to order four ribeyes,right?
Carollann Romo (35:29):
Sell more beef.
Andrea Romero (35:30):
Yes.
Carollann Romo (35:31):
Get more deals at restaurants or something, and
would you claim those asfavorites as well?
Andrea Romero (35:38):
Yeah, lots of ground beef.
What else I mean?
Sage Hagan (35:41):
We're getting into the tongue.
Andrea Romero (35:42):
We're going to try the tongue.
You know I'm reading this bookabout babies and their first
foods and it's all you know fatsand protein.
So we've tried so manydifferent things.
And next is the beef tongue,slow cooked, and, yeah, I've
given her the tallow that Irender.
So, yeah, yeah, really niceGround beef Can't go wrong with
ground beef for a ribeye.
Carollann Romo (36:03):
Oh, yeah, works and works and everything I know
I did.
I did Our kids' first food wasbeef.
I did actually make sure thatit was.
It was just the little Gerber,you know mush or whatever, but I
did, I did get beef in therebecause I was, I was determined.
And then she, she is like Pilar, she loves a steak.
Loves a steak.
That's fun.
Sage Hagan (36:23):
And then I also.
Carollann Romo (36:24):
My other favorite thing is we have a.
I just ordered this for afriend who has, is, has a baby.
Are coming and it says when Iget teeth, feed me beef.
But you don't even have to haveteeth, you can do it before,
but I've been slicing it and sheslaps her face with this.
Andrea Romero (36:39):
We give her strips of steak and she sucks
everything out of it.
Oh yeah, but they have prettystrong gums absolutely,
absolutely well.
Carollann Romo (36:46):
I just thank you guys so much for coming on the
podcast, sharing your familywith us and sharing a little bit
about your story, and justreally appreciate it and wish
you guys all the best yeah,thanks for having us.
Sage Hagan (36:59):
It was an honor to be here, you know, to talk about
what we do, and thank you somuch to the New Mexico Beef
Council for the time and effortand energy in supporting
producers and ranchers.
It's much appreciated.
Carollann Romo (37:11):
Absolutely Well.
Thank you for what you do.
Yeah, behind the Burger is apodcast produced by the New
Mexico Beef Council with thegoal of telling the stories of
the cattlemen and cattlewomen ofthe New Mexico beef industry.
Thank you for joining us fortoday's episode.
If you'd like more information,please visit nmbeefcom.
Whether it be a burger, a steakor another beef dish, we hope
(37:32):
you're enjoying beef at yournext meal.
Welcome back to another episode of Behind the
Burger, our podcast with the NewMexico Beef Council.
I'm Caroline Romo and I am heretoday with representation from
Sile Pastures.
Now I'm worried.
I asked you your names, but didI say Sile, right?
Sage Hagan (00:18):
You did.
Carollann Romo (00:19):
Okay, All right, that was, thanks, Liz.
So Andrea Sage, Pilar andChamisa are here with us.
Will you guys introduceyourself and tell us a little
bit about yourselves?
Sage Hagan (00:29):
Yeah, my name is Sage Hagen and this is my
beautiful family and we run SilePastures together, which is a
small scale regenerative farmthat seems to be fairly
diversified, in the sense that,you know, we raise beef grass
for grass, finish our lamb, ourpoultry, we were running hogs
for a while, and then, you know,we also have produce, sometimes
(00:51):
mixed in on all that wild crazystuff that we do.
Carollann Romo (00:55):
Perfect.
Do you want to introduceyourself too?
Andrea Romero (00:58):
My name is Andrea Romero and yeah, I'm just part
of the farm on the other ends oftying up loose ends and stuff
like that.
Carollann Romo (01:06):
Perfect, and where are you guys from and
what's kind of your story?
Sage Hagan (01:18):
You guys grew up in Corrales, as you said, but maybe
how did you meet and how didyou guys start this farm?
I mean, we've been together along time, which is kind of cool
, because you know, historyalways has a lot to offer, and I
think for us in ourrelationship to look back at
like where we started, right, Imean to not get into too much
nit and gritty of of mybackground.
Essentially we met inCalifornia when I was coming out
of recovery from, you know,having some partying a little
(01:41):
bit too hard and needed tostraighten my life out.
And so we were.
We met at an AA meeting inCalifornia, of all places.
This is after I knew her, afterI knew her in high school, went
to high school with her and herbrother, and her folks lived
maybe a mile south of my folksthere.
Andrea Romero (01:59):
They still live a mile from each other in
Corrales.
Sage Hagan (02:02):
So you know from being 21 and trying to.
So you know from being 21 andtrying to figure out you know,
life's lessons and where to go.
Here we are.
I'm going to be 40 this year,two beautiful daughters, and you
know to think where I'm at nowor where we're at now, I
wouldn't have guessed it.
When you talk backgrounds, youknow like I think for me,
culinary was my biggestbackground.
(02:24):
I started in kitchens early and, as I progressed through all
the way into culinary school andthen, you know, living in
Europe, working in Paris andreally developing a love for
food, a passion for it.
But really that, that politicalside of where, why, who, how,
what is this type of questioningfrom our food, is what really
(02:48):
kind of pushed me into like theslow food movement farm to table
, farm to fork, ranch to fork,all these different terms but
really it's just about like heywhat are you eating?
Where is it from?
Why are you eating it and is itgood?
Is it good for you, is it goodfor the environment?
Is it good for our community?
All these different things, andit's just, it's a ripple effect
(03:08):
, right, boom.
And so that's sort of mypassion side.
And then, as I got burnt out inkitchens which tends to happen
to chefs because it's just agrind and you're working seven
days a week and you know I'veworked in Beverly Hills and Roy
Yamaguchi and Wolfgang Puck andit was crazy.
But so yeah, that was sort ofmy background and why I had a
(03:32):
passion for food and what sortof led me down this path of
growing vegetables in the backwith some chickens and then, all
of a sudden, you know we've got60 head of cows and 70 sheep
and we do eight markets a monthand really trying to just get
after it.
Carollann Romo (03:49):
Oh, that's so neat and I think knowing where
your food comes from is, youknow, such a special thing and
that's exactly what I guess thegoal of the podcast is right is
knowing where your food comesfrom and talking, you know, we
say behind the burger becauseit's behind the beef, and I
think from the culinary side too, we talk to a lot of culinary
students and we try and inspirethat conversation of knowing
where your food comes from andwhere your ingredients come from
(04:11):
is a really great, great thingand obviously it's grown well
into a business for you guys.
Will you talk about NewMexico's landscapes and climate
and how they shape your ranchingand methods?
Sage Hagan (04:23):
Yeah, I mean New Mexico is so varied right, we
have high alpine beautifulforests.
You know aspen forests and youknow 10,000 foot elevations all
the way down to you know theborder where it's barren and hot
and very in a very desertlandscape.
I mean we're known as NewMexico is like a high desert but
we have beautiful forests andwe do have four seasons right
(04:45):
and forests and we do have fourseasons right and you know one
percent of the land in newmexico has running water through
it.
So water in the desert, waterin the high desert, water here
in new mexico is sacred, youhear all the time water is life
and indeed that it is.
So I think with the landscapeand how it varies so much is is
really like you know the ranchthat we run our cattle under the
summer.
The gentleman that we lease itfrom told me you know this land
(05:07):
bleeds water.
Andrea Romero (05:09):
Yeah.
Sage Hagan (05:10):
What do you mean?
It bleeds water.
Like who says that?
But you know this ranch has 13sprigs, so our carrying capacity
is huge.
We're not hauling water.
That's huge during the summerand I think that you know for
ranchers and producers, the waythat you run your herd is is
going to really dictate or theland's going to dictate your.
You know your workingenvironment, how you manage your
(05:33):
cattle and manage your herd,and you know are you hauling
water, are you hauling out?
You know real max tubs Are you?
You know you know puttingwhatever you need down.
You know how much, how much hayare you having to?
Uh, to invest in and um, itvaries.
You know and everybody's got toreally, you know, figure out
what works best for their herdand go that route Absolutely.
Carollann Romo (05:54):
We talk about it a lot, that that you have to be
stewards of the land in orderto be stewards of the livestock
right.
Sage Hagan (05:59):
Indeed.
Yeah, like you said, yeah, yeah, and it's and it's the same for
for many ranchers.
Carollann Romo (06:05):
Right, everyone's dealing with it.
Everyone has to deal with theland and take care of the land.
What is one of the biggestchallenges you all face in your
operation?
Sage Hagan (06:25):
part of that's part of ranching is being able to
wake up, being excited aboutwhat we're doing and knowing
that, hey, there's these, theseoutcomes that are out of our
control.
We have variables that arealways out of our control.
Um, for instance, you know we'dgotten the cattle up to our
grazing and in this for thesummer quite early, which we
were already sort of in questionof.
You know what's ranch look like, what's the water content going
(06:47):
to be?
We're going to need to cut ournumbers down up there just
because of there was no winter.
We didn't have a winter, so theranch was really dry.
Here comes a May storm and itsnowed two feet at the ranch.
So I'm hauling hay in May inthe little Tacoma, cutting trees
down in two feet of snow justso I can get up to the ranch,
(07:07):
and, yeah, everyone's buried andwe have calves on the ground
and yeah, so now we're managingour herd in two feet of snow in
May, which hasn't happenedbefore.
That was new.
Carollann Romo (07:18):
That was a crazy , crazy New.
Sage Hagan (07:20):
Mexico spring Definitely an anomaly, but those
are some of the things and Ithink you know when we talk,
like you know, operations,animal health is always huge.
Right, we want to make sureanimals are doing great, we want
to make sure our calves aregood, we want to be managing our
herd, we want to be managingour land and when it comes to
(07:40):
it's never our bottom dollar onthe ranch to make money, ever
that if we were in it to makemoney we would not be here at
all.
We do it because we love it andwe love the lifestyle.
We love being able to see everyday our hard work and the
reward that we get from it.
And, with that being said, Ithink one of our biggest deals
(08:01):
right now is just access to landas a small operation.
It requires money to bankrollthe season, it requires money to
grow the herd, it requiresmoney to manage the herd and for
us to look at that, it's likewell you know, we want to grow,
but we are, you know, buttingour heads because of land access
(08:22):
.
growth access, I mean, thedemands are for sure, 100%.
How do we grow our operation?
That's one of our biggestthings right now for us.
Carollann Romo (08:31):
I think access to land is crazy.
And then a lot of there's somany operations too that are
generational.
So there's, you know, theirland is going to stay in the
family and so, as afirst-generation rancher, that's
a unique challenge that youguys are faced with, and
everyone needs more land to grow, even if they're generational.
(08:53):
They're trying to look for moreland or find a new lease and
hope that it's a good lease,hope that it's a long-term lease
and that your landlord's goodand all of that Land is
important.
And then, of course, you guysaren't too far from the urban
sprawl right lease and that allthat your landlord's good and
and all of that land is land isimportant.
Sage Hagan (09:04):
And then, and then, of course, you guys aren't too
far from the urban sprawl rightyeah, I mean we're, we're really
conveniently located prettymuch smack dab between santa fe
and albuquerque, which gives usaccess to clientele, people that
are, you know, um, and into themarkets.
You know my commutes to themarkets aren't bad at all.
We do go to taos as well.
(09:25):
I mean, I think Santa Fe we sayCorrales is our home market,
but just cause you know we hadspent so much time there, but I
mean really Santa Fe is is acloser drive from, from Sealy,
it's just up and out, and thenyou're up La Bajada and there
you are in Santa Fe.
So, um, you know, I was on thedrive here.
I was thinking you know how muchrespect and admiration I do
(09:46):
have for thesemulti-generational ranches.
I mean the history there.
I mean you have brands that areover a hundred years old.
I mean there's legacy there and, if my hats are off to those
outfits for sure, a lot ofrespect and admiration.
And you know they've shaped.
They've shaped the cattleindustry here in New Mexico,
shaped the cattle industry herein New Mexico.
And, um, and it's fun too,because when you talk about,
(10:07):
like gatekeepers or code keepersof, you know, cowboying or or
or ranch, you know, being afirst generation rancher has its
, its downfalls, but it also has, you know it's, it's, it's very
uplifting, you know I it's.
We take a lot of pride in whatwe do and, um, you know
(10:50):
no-transcript than I was at 25,to be quite honest, and that is
incredible.
That's, I mean bottom line.
That's why else are we doingthis Is to develop not only the
passion for food or the passionfor cattle, but, you know,
(11:10):
develop humans.
Develop, I mean them, you know,to develop her on a ranch in
the situations that she gets toexperience.
I mean I wouldn't trade it forthe world.
Carollann Romo (11:21):
We talk about it a lot too.
I think the the family aspectof ranching, that there's no
better place to have kids raisedand get to learn the work ethic
Even even I grew up prettyag-adjacent, right, so we we
showed livestock and we hadhorses, but we weren't I wasn't
a part of commercial agricultureuntil my career but just even
(11:42):
the work ethic or theunderstanding the cycle, the
circle of life, andunderstanding that you know we
don't get our animals forever,and just having respect for them
while they're here, and just somany things that I think that
growing up in agriculture taughtme and I hope I can also teach
my daughter my daughter right,and obviously you guys are doing
that with your daughters.
It's really special.
Yeah, do you want to add tothat at all?
Andrea Romero (12:04):
that's kind of what it is for me to see.
It's about connection, you know, and connection to something
that's real and you know it'snature, it's the animals, like
you said, the cycle of life,like she knows about birth you
know we were talking about whenwe were going to give birth to
Chamisa and she knew all aboutit from the animals and that was
like my reminder in my headabout the natural part of
(12:26):
everything you know.
And then she sees the chickenscome in and and the calves being
born and and and then daddyprocesses chickens and then it's
just, yeah, connection and and,yeah, seeing it all happen.
It's beautiful.
Carollann Romo (12:41):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, we had a baby horse bornat our house and that was that
was fun to explain that.
You know, yeah, the horse is inin Betty's belly and then she
came out and she got to name herher.
All right, we do have a horsenamed Banana, and that was.
It was our fault for allowingthat, that's a great horse name,
yeah it was right after thebaby was born, right after the
Savannah Bananas were in townlast year.
(13:02):
Banana, banana yeah, she's areally pretty horse too.
She's a sorrel with the flaxenmane and tail, so she's got like
a blonde mane.
It's very beautiful, it's fun.
Sage Hagan (13:15):
I would love to go to Savannah Bananas.
Carollann Romo (13:19):
Oh yeah, it is.
Yeah, it's fun.
I would love to go to savannahbanana.
Oh yeah, it's a.
It is.
Yeah, that's a.
That's a sidetrack, but gosh,that's a fun.
It is a fun experience theyhave.
We went to the one recently andit was there's a lot of cowboys
on the team now.
There's like cowboy hats, likeyou see, real cowboy hats, and
some of the some of the teams.
It's fun.
And then all the people, a lotof the people going.
We saw tons of people inagriculture at the Savannah
Bananas.
(13:40):
It was a whole thing.
It's a great, I think, becauseit's such great family, such a
great family atmosphere and sucha, you know, wholesome
entertainment that I think a lotof families that we get along
with were at the Bananas game,or I think it was the party
animals.
Anyways, what's one thing mostpeople don't know about?
Raising beef in New Mexico, oreven just your operation?
Sage Hagan (14:07):
I would kind of go back to just.
You know that it's not just adesert.
You know, for us our pasturesare irrigated.
We've got really really, reallynice diversified pastures that
we graze.
You know we're really fortunatefor the ranch that we do lease
the 13 springs help, but it alsohas a carrying capacity more
(14:29):
than 300 acres, which is apretty small ranch in terms of
grazing, but its carryingcapacity is is double that, just
because of what it's able togrow.
So I think one of the thingstoo is just like you know yeah,
it's, it's the the train's very,very different in a lot, of, a
lot of areas of the state we dohave, like the deserts and the
very arid parts, but there'salso some very lush areas that,
(14:51):
uh, you know, cattle are raisedin and um, cattle live a really
great life, you know, andthere's a lot of people that are
very skilled at what they doand have some very fantastic
operations in this state.
Okay, my horse is named SpotsSpots.
Does Spots have spots?
Yeah?
(15:12):
He rolls and bucks on me,though.
Carollann Romo (15:14):
Oh, he does.
Is he an Appaloosa?
Yeah, we love Appaloosa.
Yeah, we love Appaloosas.
Sage Hagan (15:21):
He's cool.
He's a little Appaloosa.
Shetland Gets a little.
Carollann Romo (15:25):
Perfect.
They get a little snarkysometimes, really.
Yeah, that's what makes toughgal girls right.
Yes, yes, perfect.
I was going to ask too.
I feel like some of thequestions would be repetitive.
We've already talked about them.
But what is something exciting?
Oh, no, we were talking aboutsorry, I got excited about the
horse.
You're talking about thediversity of landscape and the
(15:48):
grass, and I know I had aconversation with the rancher
and I told him that anotherrancher had to reschedule a
branding because of the rain,and it's so different because
the northern part of our stategot a ton of rain and that snow
in May and all of that, and soit looks pretty green up here,
(16:16):
but the southern part of thestate they've rain in the last
365 days or something crazy.
And that's not science, so Icould be wrong, but that was the
conversation and I just thinkit's yeah, it's incredibly
diverse.
And then even our state is sobig.
I think Of course we hope NewMexicans are listening to the
podcast, but if they're not, ourstate is so big and so spread
(16:39):
out.
We have two million people inour state and I think a million
and a half of them are justAlbuquerque and Santa Fe.
Well, that's half a millionpeople spread out through what
are we?
The largest public land statein the nation.
We have tons of public land andthen, you know, ranches spread
out on those.
So, anyways, it's just.
New Mexico is incrediblydiverse and incredibly
(17:02):
complicated.
Sage Hagan (17:04):
And I, yeah, I think I had heard somewhere and I
mean I don't think that it'strue, but they said that there
were more cattle in the statethan there were humans.
Carollann Romo (17:12):
Oh, and there were for a long time.
Yeah, it just changed.
It just changed Is what.
We've kind of done the math andtalked to some ranchers is it
used to be?
For a long time there were morecattle than people, but now we
say there's about a million anda half cattle, 1.4.
Sage Hagan (17:26):
1.4,.
Yeah, because I was looking atsome of the numbers and I was
like yeah, I don't think thatwas right.
Carollann Romo (17:30):
Yeah, it was for a long, long time.
And then, even when I moved toNew Mexico 10 years ago, there
was 1.7 million people.
Well, now there's 2.1 million.
I don't know.
That seems like fast growth,but maybe it's not that fast
when you look at other states,you know, I know Texas and Idaho
and other states are dealingwith population growth Rapidly,
yeah, very rapidly.
(17:50):
It feels rapid, though, to justin my time here that it's grown
so much and reached over 2million.
But yeah, we used to be morecows than people.
Now we're catching up.
Not enough grass and rain, orwe'd have more cattle.
What's kind of your favoritepart about the beef industry?
And then, yeah, I want both ofyou to answer this Just your
(18:12):
favorite part kind of of whatyou do.
Sage Hagan (18:15):
I think for me, just being a part of such a
historical industry, there's alot of pride in it and we get to
meet individuals who do what wedo, and that's regardless if
they're, you know, a cow-calfoperation running you know 600
(18:35):
moms, whatever Major right,there's a respect there because
they know that be we're outthere doing, we're doing the
work, we're taking care of ouranimals, and so just being a
part of that industry, being apart of the whole, and uh, I
really you take a lot of pridein that.
And then just getting to meet alot of different folks, um, you
know, for us going to differentranches and meeting different
(18:57):
people, they're family-based, werelate to them a lot.
Um, that's been, that's beenreally fun for us.
And you know the the big thingtoo is that we eat a lot of beef
.
We eat beef on a daily basis ustoo yeah, guilty yeah, it's my
job yeah, that also having beeffrom our fields come into our
(19:22):
freezers and our fridges.
Carollann Romo (19:24):
Yeah.
Sage Hagan (19:25):
That's fun, that's awesome, I mean, because that's
what I always tell folks at themarket.
It's like, hey, my family eatsfrom the farm.
First, we stand behind ourproducts because this is what
I'm feeding my four-year-old,this is what I'm feeding my
four-year-old, this is what I'mfeeding my six-month-old, this
is what I'm feeding my wife,this is what I eat myself.
So those are really fun and Ithink for us it's just yeah,
that we're part of a communitythat has history, that has a
(19:48):
future, that we are stayingpresent because we have to with
our animals, with our land, andthat we get to benefit directly
in sharing our food, sharing themeat, sharing the beef.
And, yeah, we eat like kingsand queens.
Carollann Romo (20:00):
Like broiled.
Yeah, that's really special.
And you even talked about theindustry as a whole being kind,
you kind of mentioned thegatekeeper and all that.
I have a friend, her name isMarkie Hageman-Jones, and she's
a public speaker and she has apresentation about being a
gate-getter in the industry andit's just a really special thing
and she's always trying toinspire.
(20:20):
You know whether it's.
You know she talks to FFAstudents and women and just in
cattlemen's organizations andhow being a gate getter is so
important, no matter what roleyou are in the industry, of just
helping people and showing themand and for the most part, it
feels like I've interacted witha lot of really wonderful gate
getters, especially in my careerhere and then and then in
(20:41):
general.
But it's just a good reminderof always trying to be trying to
not that we ever want to beriding passenger side and
actually be the person to getthe gates, but you know, but
metaphorically I love that, thatpresentation that she talks
about.
Sage Hagan (20:54):
But yeah, I mean, we wouldn't be where we're at if
it weren't for mentors whenwe're older gentlemen that you
know, basically like man, youwork your butt off.
Like how can I help you?
We'd love to help.
You know one of the you knowthe guy with Lisa Ranch.
From those, he's like man, whydo you work so hard?
This is what we want to do andhe's been a huge help, and a lot
of the old timers that we'vecome across have been nothing
(21:16):
but helpful and bless theirhearts for that, because they
came from a different time wherethat information and knowledge
that they learned is hard earned.
You know that's not justGoogled and YouTube.
They're out there doing it whenthere wasn't that sort of
information available.
So for them to come up andadmire and respect and that's
what I'm talking about is like,yeah, they're sharing it with us
(21:38):
and wanting us and welcoming us, so we feel welcomed.
Carollann Romo (21:42):
That's special and that's the hope.
Right, I hope everyone feelsthat.
Yeah, what about?
Do you want to add to that thatyour favorite part, or?
Andrea Romero (21:50):
Let's see.
So I would say we love cows.
You know we have lots ofdifferent animals on the farm
and it's grown to be one of ourfavorite animals.
I think all of us.
You know branding, we brandtogether.
She helps him tag justrelationships with the cows and
we eat a lot of meat.
It's been really special withChamisa.
You know we've done bone marrow, we're eating whole animal, you
(22:13):
know with them and having themexperience that, and then you
know we're using the suet now tomake our tallow products.
So it's just so connected tothat animal in so many ways.
And you know we sell quartershares and it was really cool to
hear a sage talk about you knowthat particular steer or you
(22:35):
know being that connected.
You know he can talk about itlike that and that's really
special.
Sage Hagan (22:38):
Yeah, we love cows.
Carollann Romo (22:39):
That's awesome.
We also love cows and weappreciate the work you guys do.
It's such an important part ofour industry.
So we have I know Liz and Janeand Kate and I all work in the
office and the Beef Councilrepresenting you all but we just
appreciate what ranchers aredoing every day.
When we get to be the nine tofive, you know sitting there
(23:00):
conditioning Thanks for comingto the air conditioning for us
but yeah, we have so muchrespect and admiration for what
everyone's doing.
I was going to say what'ssomething exciting you're
working on right now, or maybesomething you're proud of
recently.
Maybe it's a chance to talkabout the farmer's markets or
yeah, but what's kind ofexciting.
Sage Hagan (23:19):
Jay, do you want to go first?
Andrea Romero (23:20):
Well, we got into Santa Fe market.
That's very exciting.
It's our first year showing upat that market and, like he said
, you know it's closer thanCorrales to us and last weekend
was our first weekend and it wasvery exciting.
Lots of people going there.
What else Just it was?
He did the market.
Sage Hagan (23:39):
Yeah, I mean, santa Fe is a great market.
It's very professional, I mean,it's geared for the producer,
and so you know, we've beengoing back and forth and finally
got all the things that weneeded in line and Phil
accomplished this to be there.
But, yeah, it's great to bethere.
So you can find us at the SantaFe Market now on a biweekly
basis.
We're in Towson those otherSaturdays, but yeah, so that's
(24:02):
been exciting, got a new bull.
Yeah, you know, we had a reallynice San Gertrudis bull that we
were breeding with and then,unfortunately, within him being
a couple weeks at the ranch, hefound himself being you know
hurt and couldn't use himselfthe way that he would like to.
Yeah, poor guy.
So we ended up picking up avery nice, yearling about 16,
(24:27):
18-month black Angus registeredbull that came from Amhat down
in Berlin, south of Berlin.
Couldn't be happier with himand we look forward to seeing
what he can bring our herd andthe genetics and the calves that
we'll be dropping Cause it'skind of funny how we you know we
we keep cow calf but we're also, you know we've got, you know
we we produce our cows for beef,you know.
Carollann Romo (24:49):
Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely, they all have.
They all are a little bitmulti-purpose.
Yeah, absolutely.
Sage Hagan (24:55):
And I'm sure Andrea can get kind of giddy now
because she gets to talk abouther project, which has been our
tallow.
Andrea Romero (25:02):
Oh, yeah, please do so.
We've.
You know we were thinking weneed some value-added products,
you know, for our farm, and sowe used our SUA.
You know I researched so muchand just creating a really good
quality, natural, simple productis what I wanted, you know.
So I learned how to rendertraditional methods, so the
(25:22):
least amount of rendering tokeep all of the nutrients in the
tallow, and we whipped up somebody butter and some lip balms
and it's all we use on us, andit's been a labor of love.
You know she helps with therendering of the tallow and it's
been really, really wellreceived at the markets.
I can't keep up, so is anybodywho wants to help me?
Yeah, um yeah, it's a greatproblem.
(25:45):
Yes, it's great, but, um, yeah,so it's.
We love it.
You don't smell like beef, itsmells like herbs.
So, yeah, or butter no, it's,it's.
Carollann Romo (25:56):
It's very popular and very great product.
And then it even brings me backto the thought that we like to
talk about the beef industrybeing really efficient and
really respectful of the animal,to use everything right, like
you guys are doing.
I think that's a reallyimportant part that people
should know that the byproductsand the other things that can
come from meat production yes,yep, okay.
(26:18):
And the other things that cancome from meat production yes,
yep, okay.
What about the?
I guess we kind of alreadyasked this again, because when
you're talking about what you do, obviously the passion comes
out.
But why do you do what you doand why do you keep going?
Sage Hagan (26:34):
Yeah, I want to jump back to the other one and the
other thing that I wanted totalk about, which is our
ancestral blend, which is ourground beef that has heart and
liver incorporated in it.
Oh.
Great product.
Okay.
And nose to tail right,Utilizing the most
nutrient-dense part of the cows.
And not everybody's just readyto gobble up liver.
Right, but if it's in the blend, yeah it's in the blend, and
(27:02):
it's in the blend, and it's, youknow, organ.
organ consumption is gained inpopularity, thank god thank god
and yeah, so being able to grindit in and have it package one
pound package ancestral blend.
Andrea Romero (27:07):
It's phenomenal, especially for kids.
You cook the taco meat, yeah no, there's no heart.
Sage Hagan (27:09):
No, liverless, it's brown beef, but yeah, so that's
exciting too, something else.
But why do we do what we do andand what makes us not want to
want to stop?
I mean, there's definitely daysthat'll kick your butt, but
that just comes with theterritory, and part of having
those hard days is also thereare some tremendous days that
(27:29):
will put chills on your spine,bring tears to your eyes, and
seeing my family committed tothis life is tremendous.
As a father, right, you makethese decisions and you make
these sacrifices, and sometimesthey may not play out the way
that you would like.
But the most important part isthat for us, you know this is
(27:51):
what we do as a family, and theexperiences that we get to have
together are.
You know how many people areproducers?
How many people get toexperience what we get to
experience on a daily basis?
Not very many, and that luckyfew get to really live a special
life.
So for us, it's like I saidregardless, it's not, it's not
(28:14):
the money why we're doing it.
It's doing it because we loveit, and we get to see our
daughters experience thesethings, and some of my best
memories are just watching.
You know, p the shoots with mecutting out cows and sorting
them.
And you know she's gonna befive and she, she knows how to
be around cows, she knows how tobe.
I mean she I'm like, okay, wegotta hook up the gooseneck so
(28:35):
she's out on behind the trailer.
I can see in the mirror andshe's spotting me, puts the fist
up, stops me perfectly.
We rack the trailer down.
I'm like, okay, we need to.
We need to open up this gateand have it right on these
panels.
She stops me perfectly.
We then get into the chutes andcut out the, the, the two cows
that we needed to cut out twogirls.
Nope, that's right into thechutes.
(28:56):
We walk them in, load them up.
I mean it was like I had aseasoned hand with me.
Incredible, for I mean you knowbranding, and she's butchered
animals with me.
We've done sheep, we've donecows, we've done the chickens.
So her skill set, like I saidbefore, I mean you know she's 15
.
She's wherever she wants to goin life and it's because of her
foundation on the farm and theranch.
Andrea Romero (29:17):
We forget she's from.
Sage Hagan (29:20):
You should be so proud, I'd like to tell you this
Two, you should be so proud.
I have to tell you this Twoyears bloated, oh no.
Carollann Romo (29:27):
It's in memory too.
Sage Hagan (29:28):
Good herd management right there A cow bloated and
me and Dad cutted it.
Andrea Romero (29:36):
You processed it.
See what happened?
Huh, it's kind of like ahomeschool activity.
Sage Hagan (29:43):
Yeah, hard days, you know it's just part of it.
Hey, what's that up there, mycow Chocolate cow.
Andrea Romero (29:52):
Chocolate cow, yeah, where I'm always waiting
to see when they come in thedoor.
You know it's like whathappened now.
She's always so excited to tellme about what happened, what's
going on on the farm, and I justcall her farm manager and I
grated my finger and cut mythumb on the trailer.
Oh, yeah, that's what it's allabout, you know, yeah.
Carollann Romo (30:11):
Oh, it's so special and so so wonderful to
see your little ranch managergrowing up and we talked a
little bit about food politics.
Oh yeah.
Sage Hagan (30:21):
I mean, that was it.
It was like sometimes I have,you know, like you go into a
grocery store and like where'sall this coming from, but to
really have that oversight ofeverything that we're doing and
knowing that the animals areliving the best possible life
that they possibly can.
And you know, we say they haveone bad day.
I know that's a term we getthrown away around, but it
really is like we mitigate whenwe take them, our animals, to
(30:42):
process.
We take the steers in.
You know, we try to load themup the night before so they're
settled, you know, giving them alittle bit of water and just
making sure that, hey, liketalking to them in quiet voices
and there's a lot of respectthere.
It's something that doesn't getbeyond us, doesn't go beyond us
, is that this is life and andand you know, for us it, we, we
(31:04):
honor those lives, but we'retaking those lives as well and
there's a cycle there and it'sfull circle, right.
And yeah, I mean those.
I remember eating an apple inParis.
I was busy on the line.
I'm like the chef comes in andhe's like, here, you want an
apple.
I'm like I'll take an apple, Iate it and I'll never this.
And that was the trajectorythat, like you know, sent us
into.
I mean, we got our start in amarket garden.
(31:33):
That's like how ag was for uswas like we are doing a market
garden.
That's, we were on it threequarters of an acre and we just
started crushing out produce,having CSAs and, and slowly but
surely, we just started addingon, adding on, adding TSAs and
slowly but surely, we juststarted adding on, adding on,
adding on, adding on to where weare at now.
Andrea Romero (31:47):
Love where we are .
This is it, yeah.
Sage Hagan (31:49):
And it's kind of funny, like we started from, you
know, growing lettuce andtomatoes, and I remember my dad
was like what are you going todo?
You know, sell tomatoes at thegrower's market for the rest of
your life.
And we have another horse namedPistol.
Carollann Romo (32:01):
Oh, that's so perfect.
That's a good horse name.
Sage Hagan (32:04):
But yeah, I feel like we've reached that apex,
and it's funny because for usthat apex is beef cows cattle.
Carollann Romo (32:12):
Yeah, you found the right niche.
That's perfect, Not to go backtoo much.
But you said CSA and I think Iknow what that is.
But just in case someonedoesn't, what is a CSA?
Sage Hagan (32:21):
Community Supported Agriculture.
Okay case someone doesn't, whatis the csa community supported
agriculture.
Okay, yeah, very cool, so likein that aspect, and we've talked
about doing it with meat too,but you know people are paying
what are unicorn names?
sparkles paying into the farm inthe beginning of the season.
So you have quite a big chunkof money to operate off of and
then you're delivering on aweekly, bi-weekly basis.
(32:41):
Uh, whatever the contract youknow we'd sign contracts and
it's hard to be contracted toproduce food, but it really
showed that the communitysupported us.
I mean, and you know that waswe started pre-COVID and then
during COVID, which was whichwas wild.
But yeah, I mean, the peopleshowed up and supported.
So it's huge Community withoutcommunity there wouldn't be.
(33:02):
You know, for us there wouldn'tbe really an option to do what
we do.
Carollann Romo (33:08):
No doubt.
So, speaking of that, andcommunity, where can people
follow you and find you?
What's the plug for?
You guys said the markets rightand you guys have a website and
social media right.
Andrea Romero (33:22):
Yes, we are SealyPasturescom, and then
follow us on Instagram at SealyPastures and then you can find
us at every week Sundays atCorrales Market.
We call it the home market.
We're both from Corrales, sothat's our home market.
Santa Fe every other weekend onSaturdays, and then Paus other,
but weekly right.
Sage Hagan (33:42):
Yeah, and that's S-I-L-E Sile.
Yes.
Carollann Romo (33:46):
Perfect, there you go.
Well, we'll make sure and tagyou and all of that.
And then the last question, andpossibly the most important
question what's your favoriteway to eat beef, or favorite
recipe?
Andrea Romero (33:59):
We were talking about that way over.
What's your favorite way to eatthe beef?
Sage Hagan (34:04):
On the bone, on the bone, on the bone.
Carollann Romo (34:07):
The bone like a steak on the bone.
Sage Hagan (34:09):
One day I cleaned the bone up.
Carollann Romo (34:11):
Oh yeah, oh yeah , just all just cleaned it
completely.
Sage Hagan (34:14):
That's the truth either, and cleaned it better
than a dog, right.
Carollann Romo (34:21):
There you go.
You've got to get every ounceof that steak.
Sage Hagan (34:25):
She liked the bone and ribeye and then we had
gotten her porterhouse cut andshe's I want my own porterhouse,
daddy.
Yeah, the porterhouse is good.
Steaks are always a fanfavorite.
Um, we were having thisconversation, but I think for us
right now it's just beenexciting.
Andrea Romero (34:40):
Yeah, ancestral blend's really cool, and then
we've been eating a lot of bonemarrow and trying different
things with her know, likesaying the nutrients are in the
bone marrow.
We whipped up and all kind ofate it.
They had on crackers.
She loved it.
Sage Hagan (34:54):
And we always stash 50 pounds of ground every time
we process.
That goes into our freezer.
We fill up our freezer.
So we eat a lot of ground beefand we do that in you know
different ways too.
I mean, um, burgers, of course,is always the classic.
We do like a ground beef bowlwith, you know, avocado and,
yeah, some rice stuff like that.
(35:15):
But you know, if I was tochoose, it would be a bone-in
ribeye as well that's a, that'sa daddy's daddy's girl right
there yeah.
Andrea Romero (35:23):
Yeah, I know, I told him what are you going to
do when we go to the restaurant?
You have to order four ribeyes,right?
Carollann Romo (35:29):
Sell more beef.
Andrea Romero (35:30):
Yes.
Carollann Romo (35:31):
Get more deals at restaurants or something, and
would you claim those asfavorites as well?
Andrea Romero (35:38):
Yeah, lots of ground beef.
What else I mean?
Sage Hagan (35:41):
We're getting into the tongue.
Andrea Romero (35:42):
We're going to try the tongue.
You know I'm reading this bookabout babies and their first
foods and it's all you know fatsand protein.
So we've tried so manydifferent things.
And next is the beef tongue,slow cooked, and, yeah, I've
given her the tallow that Irender.
So, yeah, yeah, really niceGround beef Can't go wrong with
ground beef for a ribeye.
Carollann Romo (36:03):
Oh, yeah, works and works and everything I know
I did.
I did Our kids' first food wasbeef.
I did actually make sure thatit was.
It was just the little Gerber,you know mush or whatever, but I
did, I did get beef in therebecause I was, I was determined.
And then she, she is like Pilar, she loves a steak.
Loves a steak.
That's fun.
Sage Hagan (36:23):
And then I also.
Carollann Romo (36:24):
My other favorite thing is we have a.
I just ordered this for afriend who has, is, has a baby.
Are coming and it says when Iget teeth, feed me beef.
But you don't even have to haveteeth, you can do it before,
but I've been slicing it and sheslaps her face with this.
Andrea Romero (36:39):
We give her strips of steak and she sucks
everything out of it.
Oh yeah, but they have prettystrong gums absolutely,
absolutely well.
Carollann Romo (36:46):
I just thank you guys so much for coming on the
podcast, sharing your familywith us and sharing a little bit
about your story, and justreally appreciate it and wish
you guys all the best yeah,thanks for having us.
Sage Hagan (36:59):
It was an honor to be here, you know, to talk about
what we do, and thank you somuch to the New Mexico Beef
Council for the time and effortand energy in supporting
producers and ranchers.
It's much appreciated.
Carollann Romo (37:11):
Absolutely Well.
Thank you for what you do.
Yeah, behind the Burger is apodcast produced by the New
Mexico Beef Council with thegoal of telling the stories of
the cattlemen and cattlewomen ofthe New Mexico beef industry.
Thank you for joining us fortoday's episode.
If you'd like more information,please visit nmbeefcom.
Whether it be a burger, a steakor another beef dish, we hope
(37:32):
you're enjoying beef at yournext meal.
Host
Carollann Romo
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