Casual Cattle Conversations

Today on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast, Shaye talks with veterinarian Dr. Paige Schmidt-Rios about bovine respiratory disease (BRD), its impact across the cattle supply chain, and key prevention strategies for ranchers. Dr. Paige explains BRD (also called pneumonia or shipping fever) as a complex syndrome involving multiple viruses and bacteria, often triggered when stress and environment compromise immunity; she lists common pathogens and notes BRD is a major cause of post-weaning illness.  

They discuss treatment limits, including supportive care for viral cases and five antibiotic classes for bacterial pneumonia, highlighting mycoplasma’s lack of a cell wall and fluoroquinolone restrictions, plus the role and timing of diagnostics and the need for a VCPR. Prevention focuses on colostrum within 12 hours, clean/dry calving environments, proper vaccine handling, and timely boosters, including considerations around preconditioning versus vaccinating at weaning. 

Learn more about Noble here: https://bit.ly/3DD7uG0 

Learn more about Vence here: https://bit.ly/4kfWrCG 

Learn more abou Elanco here: https://farmanimal.elanco.com/us/beef  

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/   

01:16 4-H Memories 
03:09 What BRD Really Is 
06:45 Mycoplasma Spotlight 
08:01 Treatment Options 
11:09 Diagnostics And Timing 
12:59 Vet Partnership And Management 
16:29 Prevention Starts At Birth 
20:00 Vaccines And Boosters 
22:11 Weaning And Preconditioning 
24:32 Prevention Recap And Supply Chain 

 

This week, Shaye Wanner interviews Haley Potter from the Ambrook team about how artificial intelligence can support ranch profitability and long-term continuity when used responsibly. Potter, who has North Dakota ranching roots and splits time between ranches in Dell and Alder, Montana, says AI fits best for producers who need help with information gathering and admin tasks while keeping humans in control of decisions and fact-checking outputs.  

She shares examples such as using Claude to summarize bull sale catalogs based on EPD parameters, building grazing plans, and analyzing financials for expansion scenarios, plus customer examples like an AI-assisted ordering/lead tool for direct-to-consumer beef and a “ranch command center” dashboard. Potter explains Ambrook’s AI-assisted bookkeeping features (tagging, invoice matching, receipt scanning) and emphasizes data quality, transparency, and privacy, including choosing trusted services and requiring approval for data use. 

See what Ambrook can do for your operation here: ambrook.com/casualcattle   

Learn more about Noble here: https://bit.ly/3DD7uG0 

Learn more about Vence here: https://bit.ly/4kfWrCG 

• 00:00 AI and Ranching Today 
• 00:11 Meet Haley Potter 
• 01:30 AI Not Insemination 
• 01:56 Can AI Help Ranchers 
• 02:51 Haley Ranching Roots 
• 04:10 Responsible AI Basics 
• 05:45 Real Ranch AI Examples 
• 09:56 What Ambrook Does 
• 10:39 AI Features in Ambrook 
• 12:54 Time Savings and Better Data 
• 15:25 Data Privacy and Trust 

 

This week on the Casual Cattle Conversations Podcast, Shaye interviews Jay and Cheyenne Smith, cattle producers on Idaho’s eastern edge near the Montana border, about adopting Vence virtual fencing and coordinating with neighboring permittees to make it cost-effective. After the 2022 Moose Fire and grazing restrictions, they partnered with the University of Idaho and worked with BLM and the Forest Service to implement virtual fencing on rugged public-land range; five permittees now use shared base stations while owning separate collars.

 

They discuss early hesitations about data being used against producers, onboarding lessons about placing fences to match natural cattle trails, and management gains including fewer emergency rides, more schedulable work, improved utilization control, and more efficient gathers. Virtual fencing enabled their shift from winter to fall calving by keeping cattle positioned to come home, reducing labor needs, and providing movement data useful for investigating events like wolf predation or other disturbances.

 

Learn more about Vence here: https://bit.ly/4kfWrCG

 

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/ 

 

00:00 Virtual Fence Neighbors

01:08 Meet the Smiths

01:34 Ranch and Grazing Setup

04:05 Fire Sparks Adoption

07:02 Getting Neighbors Onboard

09:32 Workload and Riding Changes

11:43 Sharing Towers and Data

14:14 Training and Fence Design

18:01 Better Utilization and Plans

19:15 Fall Calving Made Possible

22:33 Costs and Quality of Life

25:23 Wolves and Movement Clues

27:35 Next Generation Buy In

 

This week,  Shaye sits down with Chance, a ranch manager at the Noble Research Institute, about extending grazing seasons to cut winter feeding and hay costs. Chance describes Noble’s 5,100-acre native-grass operation running about 200 cows, using intensive rotational grazing (moving daily to every few days) and aiming to remove only the top third to half of forage during the growing season so enough standing grass remains for winter. 

He stresses producers often plan too late, and recommends measuring pasture forage monthly to guide stocking decisions, destocking, or hay purchasing. Winter management includes protein supplementation (cubes/cake) for four to five months and occasional hay during heavy snow. They discuss other options such as cover crops (noting weather risk), rye winter pasture, crop residue grazing, and bale grazing/unrolling or pre-unwrapped bales to improve soil and return nutrients.

Learn more about resources from the Noble Research Institute here: http://noble.org/find-a-course 

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com 

00:00 Cutting Input Costs
00:10 Meet Shay and Chance
01:31 Why Extend Grazing
02:05 Noble Ranch System
02:37 Summer Grazing Plan
04:51 Rotation and Calving Setup
06:42 When to Move Cattle
08:43 Stocking and Weather Limits
10:23 Cover Crops and Rye
12:14 Bale Grazing Methods
14:53 Put Nutrients Back

This week, Shaye Wanner welcomes Chris Rawley of Harvest Returns to discuss what makes ranches “investable” and why it matters for operators seeking outside investors or bank financing to expand herds, land, or infrastructure. Raleigh explains Harvest Returns’ model of pooling investor capital and investing as a single partner via loans, notes, or equity, and says investable operations have a solid plan, clear financial statements, defined marketing/sales strategy, and a realistic path to investor returns. 

He outlines that key first steps include transparency and documentation across complex land and entity structures, accurate balance sheets reflecting assets and debts, and building a team for missing functions like finance, bookkeeping, accounting, and sales. Common mistakes include poor herd tracking/accountability (amid “phantom cattle” scams) and attempting to raise public capital without proper SEC-compliant legal help. Raleigh emphasizes getting herd and financial numbers in order, including hiring professionals. 

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/

00:00 Is Your Ranch Investible 
01:24 Meet Chris Rawley 
01:33 Why Investability Matters 
02:38 What Harvest Returns Does 
04:56 Investible Ranch Checklist 
07:50 First Steps to Improve 
09:30 Building the Right Team 
11:09 Common Mistakes to Avoid 
13:20 Raising Capital Legally

This week, Shaye Wanner interviews NDSU livestock development specialist Jon Biermacher about the economics of buying weaned/backgrounded heifers in spring, breeding them, and selling them about a year later as long-bred heifers or as pairs, using an Excel-based enterprise budget tool developed from a student producer’s plan.  

The model includes key costs (heifer purchase, pasture/feed/hay/mineral, health, breeding, transport, interest, marketing) and compares AI plus cleanup bulls versus natural service, finding about a $55/head advantage to not using AI (not counting added labor) and little observed revenue premium for AI’d breds. In their projections, pairs returned about $100/head more than bred heifers. Results show costs are dominated by heifer purchase and feed, with profit highly sensitive to purchase price; a ~$0.20/lb increase can erase roughly $200/head projected net return. This conversation is helpful for anyone looking to create projections on their operation with resources from the NDSU team.  

Join Rising Ranchers Here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/risingranchers 

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/  

 

01:31 Meet John Biermacher 

04:54 Defining the Enterprise 

06:08 Building the Budget Tool 

13:03 Markets and Assumptions 

15:04 AI Versus Bulls 

19:48 Where the Costs Sit 

22:26 Breds Versus Pairs 

25:35 Break Evens and Risk 

31:47 Tools Beyond Spreadsheets 

 

In a solo episode of the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast, host Shaye Wanner shares her background growing up on a ranch that evolved into a registered Red Angus seedstock operation and now living on her husband’s centennial family farm, to frame three key transition planning tips.  

First, she urges producers to honestly ask whether they truly want to be on the family farm or would rather farm/ranch independently while staying close to family, noting legacy isn’t limited to land ownership and that not all family members work well together. Second, she advises financially planning for the unknown by saving and working with bankers and financial professionals even without a clear transition timeline, since taking over must still be a sound business decision. Third, she emphasizes, “You don’t get to change what’s not yours,” encouraging respect for older generations and clarity about one’s current role. 

Join Rising Ranchers Here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/risingranchers

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/  

00:08 Welcome and Ways to Connect 

01:45 My Ranching Background 

05:20 Three Tips Overview 

05:41 Family Farm or Nearby 

10:01 Plan for the Unknown 

13:27 You Cant Change It 

 

Today on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast, Shaye Wanner talks with ag tech consultants Chelsea Good (Good & Associates) and Jared Wareham (Horizon Venture Management) about how cow-calf producers can decide which technologies are worth adopting. They stress that many tools enter agriculture from outside the industry and may be “solutions looking for a problem,” so ranchers should evaluate technology like a toolbox and demand ROI, especially in an asset-rich, cash-poor business. 

Examples include mismatched expensive tags for sale barns versus value-based traceability programs, strategic uses of GPS and estrus-detection tags (often for herd bulls or specific heifer programs), virtual fencing’s geography-dependent economics, and emerging biometrics, camera applications, and gene-edited pest control. They also discuss digital recordkeeping and payment systems as adoption challenges without policy drivers, and encourage producers to share pain points and explore tech that supports long-term generational sustainability.

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/ 

Learn more about Chelsea and Good & Associates here: https://www.goodandassoc.com/ 

Learn more about Jared and Horizon Venture Management here: https://www.horizonventuremanagement.com/  

00:00 Tech That Pays Off
01:09 Meet Chelsea and Jared
04:40 Picking Tech by ROI
09:50 AI Is Not Magic
11:50 Genomics Fit and Value
14:39 Virtual Fencing Reality
17:09 Smart Tags and GPS
28:14 Cameras and Computer Vision
37:40 Gene Editing and Pests
43:17 Digital Records and Payments

 

Today, Shaye Wanner interviews Jamie Courter, a University of Missouri assistant professor and genetics extension specialist, about research and producer use of cattle hair shedding scores. Corder explains hair shedding’s link to heat stress—especially in the Southeast with endophyte-infected fescue—and summarizes findings that earlier-shedding cows wean heavier calves, including Simmental data showing hair shed score 1 cows weaned calves 45 pounds heavier than score 5 cows.  

She describes the 1–5 scoring system, typical shedding pattern, and recommends scoring the whole herd on the same day when variation is greatest, noting bulls shed earlier and younger cows score higher than mature cows within a year. She discusses recent genomic work suggesting shedding relates more to changing daylight than temperature, notes variation exists within all breeds, and points listeners to University of Missouri Extension publications for scoring guidance and research details. 

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/ 

Learn more about hair shedding research at https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g2049 

Sign up for the upcoming RancherMind with Jasper here: https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/ranchermind-events  

00:51 Jamie’s background 
01:37 Why hair shedding matters 
03:39 Research results and economics 
05:02 Daylight vs temperature genetics 
08:37 Scoring timing and method 
11:39 Bulls calves and age effects 
16:47 Consistent scoring observers 
17:48 Across breeds and selection 
21:49 Culling signals and resources 

 

Today on Casual Cattle Conversations, Shaye interviews Devlon Ford, a regenerative ranching advisor at the Noble Research Institute, about managing drought in cattle operations. Ford explains drought-stress indicators producers should watch for, including forage color and condition, lack of rainfall, and cattle manure consistency as a signal of declining forage protein.  

Reactive options discussed include early weaning, strategic destocking (culling old, open, ornery, and poor performers while considering market profitability), and carefully analyzing the costs of purchasing hay or supplements. He also suggests subdividing pastures to increase stock density, improve grazing uniformity, and extend recovery time. Proactively, Ford emphasizes calculating carrying capacity and setting stocking rate below it, using rainfall trigger dates for destocking decisions, avoiding overgrazing to protect soil cover and biology, and using flexible enterprises like stockers/custom grazing during high-forage years. 

Learn about carrying capacity and stocking rate with Devlon: https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/casual-cattle-conversations-podcast-shownotes/devlon-ford  

Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/  

• 00:00 Drought Reality Check 
• 01:54 Meet Devlon Ford 
• 02:36 Spotting Drought Stress 
• 04:24 Early Weaning and Selling 
• 05:24 Destocking for Profit 
• 06:09 Feeding and Hay Economics 
• 10:11 Grazing Tactics in Drought 
• 13:10 Plan Ahead for Drought 
• 13:37 Carrying Capacity Basics 
• 17:43 Overgrazing Costs 
• 20:21 Flexible Enterprises and Emotions 
• 24:40 Cull Lists and Records 
• 27:26 Final Field Reminders