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Neal and Amanda are both 5th generation Ranchers from Wyoming.  Neal's family homesteaded in the Spotted Horse area in the 1880s and they still lease part of the original family homestead.  Amanda grew up in southeast Wyoming on her family's ranch.  Neal and Amanda met in college and after college, with the suggestion from Neal's dad, they bought a pot load of registered Angus cows and from there have grown to 600 momma cows.  They raise Angus cattle focusing on the maternal strengths of their cattle and raise them on the hard grasses of Wyoming where corn does not grow. Check out Powder River Angus' Website and Facebook Follow Let's Talk Beef Podcast on Facebook and Instagram  

Brandon is a 3rd generation rancher at Happy Hollow Beef located in Willis Point, TX.  The ranch was started by Brandon's grandfather Chuck Howley, who started the ranch after his professional football career with the Dallas Cowboys.  Chuck had a big passion for Black Angus cattle and quarter horses and grew his ranch to 50 broodmares and over 1000 cattle.  Due to Chuck's bad health, the ranch struggled for a few years until Brandon, after being honorably discharged, decided to try his hand at keeping his grandfather's legacy going, and boy has he ever. Check Out Happy Hollow Beef and follow them on Instagram  And Check out the Let's Talk Beef Podcast Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube  

Cody Nelson is the owner/operator at Bar N Cattle Company located in Renville, MN.  Cody’s love of beef cattle started like so many others, as a 4H project.  Cody has had many endeavors not only within the beef industry but also in cover crops and his newest one, a tree farm. Cody has begun to take his knowledge from his years in cover crops and is experimenting with ways to graze cattle all winter long in Minnesota, and is finding success in doing it. Connect with Cody on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and at Iverson Tree Farm Let's Talk Beef on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube  

Dr. Trey Patterson grew up in the panhandle of Texas until his high school days when his family moved to Colorado for his father's work as a beef nutritionist.  Seeing his dad working with ranchers is where Trey began to develop his passion for beef cattle.  For College Trey attended Colorado State and the University of Nebraska.  From there Trey moved up to South Dakota State University, where he worked for five years where he worked with many ranchers from across the state through his work with the extension.  After that Trey took his current position as President and CEO of the Padlock Ranch Located in Ranchester, Wyoming.  Padlock Ranch was formed in 1943 by Homer and Mildred Scott.  Padlock began a crossbreeding program the 1950s and have maintained a crossbreeding program since then, with making changes within there program over the years.       I hope you enjoy the Podcast, Thanks for Listening. Check out the Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube    

Wade Shafer grew up in the Detroit Lakes area of Minnesota, on a small beef operation that his father ran.  After high school, Wade attended North Dakota State University for his undergraduate studies.  Wade said he enjoyed math and science in school but never thought that it applied to the cattle that they were raising on their beef operation.  However, during his time at NDSU, he began to think there was, and with that, he headed to Colorado State for graduate school.  After school, Wade did go back home to run the beef herd for some time.  Wade eventually let the beef herd go and ended up getting, what he thought would be a short term job with the Simmental Association.  However, Wade has now been there ever since and is now the Executive Director of the Simmental Association. I hope you enjoy the Podcast, Thanks for Listening. Check out the Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube    

Dr. Bob Sager is a 6th generation cattle producer, who grew up on a ranch near Manhattan, Montana.  Growing up on the ranch Bob developed his passion for beef cattle, especially nutrition, and during high school knew that his home ranch was not big enough for him to come home to the ranch.  Bob studied animal science at Montana State and received his DVM from Colorado State in 1974 and not too long ago got his Ph.D. from Montana State as well.  Bob also spent time in Russia as a Senior Veterinarian supervising over 60 Russian vets take care of over 437,000 beef cattle. Upon completing that Bob now ranches in the White Sulpher Springs area and still practices Vet Medicine.  Bob also enjoys fly fishing and throwing the hammer, which he has competed in 30 US National Championships. I hope you enjoy the Podcast, Thanks for Listening. Check out the Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube     

Kirk Donsbach is a 2nd Generation Rancher who ranches in the Roy, Montana area.  Kirk grew up not on a ranch per se but was around it a lot as his father worked as a hired man for most of his life, but always wanting to ranch himself.  Kirk went to school first to be a pilot, but that quickly changed and Kirk finished school with a business degree.  However, he learned that ranching is what he wanted to do.  So, Kirk ended up working for seven years traveling the country and working to save money to buy a ranch with his dad.  Their dream came true in 2000, but unfortunately, Kirk’s father passed away in 2003 and Kirk has stepped in and has run the ranch since.  He also has become a Commodity Broker to not only help lower risk on his end but to also help others in the same situation. I hope you enjoy the podcast, Thank for listening. Check the Podcast out on Facebook and Instagram. Also, I've been adding more videos to my YouTube channel.        

Jared Murnin grew up on a ranch that his father put together in Miles City, Montana.  Jared’s family ran a commercial cow/calf operation, but getting involved in 4-H is where Jared found a love for the registered cattle, especially the Angus breed.  After attending Casper College and then Colorado State where he competed on the Livestock Judging teams for both schools.  Jared found himself working for the Gelbvieh Association and then the Angus Association, which located him to Texas.  During this time, he met his future wife and after 7 years in Texas, they relocated back to Montana.  Jared recently went to work for the Western Ag Reporter in Billings to serve as the papers, general manager.  He has also begun a Registered Angus and Hereford herd that he runs with his wife, daughter, and son.  

A little bit of a different podcast this week as this podcast is an interview of myself.  I sit down with a high school classmate, Steve Opat, and he turns the table on me and interviews me to help introduce myself to you the listeners.  So hope you enjoy and thanks again for taking the time to listen.

Eldean and Sandy Flynn live near Cartwright, ND on the ranch that Eldean’s grandfather started many years ago.  Eldean has been part of many aspects of the ranch from his early days, from breaking horses to helping work cattle to whatever he needed to do.  However, not until the Eldean’s dad became sick did he take over the cow herd and had to learn how to manage them for himself.  With the help of his wife Sandy they forged ahead and keep the cattle going and made them into an intricate part of their lives. Nevertheless, Eldean and Sandy are strong members of their community and do many things to help as many people as they can, no matter the situation.  So, yes these two are cattle ranchers, but even more importantly they are amazingly generous people as well.   

Mark Messer’s family has been farming and ranching in North Dakota for many years.  Today the farm Messer Beaver Creek Ranch of Richardton, ND, which is run by Mark and 3 of his brothers, has gone through many changes over the years.  Mark and his brother's farm many row crops including corn, wheat, sunflowers to just name a few, they recently sold their dairy cows but still have their beef cow herd which is Mark’s specialty.  Mark said that when he was younger he was the one in charge of taking care of the young calves and always enjoyed that.  So when he got older he transitioned into the Ranch’s beef manger it was a great fit.  Today Mark runs the cows as he sees fit, but has lots of support and help from his family all throughout the year. 

Jim Butcher is a 3rd Generation rancher who along with two of his sons, Logan and Brock, run Gateway Simmentals in Lewistown, MT.  Jim grew up on their ranch in central Montana after his father relocated their ranch there from Winifred, MT.  As many ranchers did in those day, they ran Hereford cows, which in the 70’s the began to breed to Simmental bulls and stuck with trough they many different phases of the Simmental breed.  Through lots of trials and errors and being all in very early on collecting data, Gateway has become one of a big time operation for Simental genetics.  Even developing their own style of Simmental hybrid, the Lucky Cross. 

Luke and Katy Keller have a strong bond with Luke’s home ranch in central North Dakota, not only because Luke’s grandfather established their ranch here in 1978, but because it was the backdrop of their wedding just a few years ago.  Luke grew up on this ranch that consisted of both beef and dairy herds, but eventually, the dairy cows left and the beef herd has continued to expand in both numbers and genetics.  Luke has been a big part of growing the herd genetically and he credits his time working for the American Simmental Association as an incredible learning experience.  Luke has a big passion for the beef industry and he shows no signs of slowing that passion down as he continues to work with Katy and the rest of Luke’s family to continue to improve not only their herd but the land as well.

Gary Jacobson’s dream has always been to be a cowboy, and he worked his way to making that dream come true.  Gary has been around beef cattle his whole life starting at 6 years old when he would get rides from local truck drivers to the local sales barn to watch the cattle sell, he even gave up high school football to spend time buying claves every fall during high school.  Since that time Gary and his wife Val, who Gary calls the hardest working woman he knows, together have raised three boys, and in 1998 started working towards Gary’s dream as they put together a registered Red Angus herd.  Gary’s passion for cows comes out naturally when you spend any amount of time with him, as most days Gary is studying his cows from horseback with Val at his side.

Eric Blythe grew up on a cattle ranch just outside of the small town of White City, Kansas, but he now resides in Wooster, Ohio where he works for Certified Angus Beef.  Eric attended Kansas State University and upon graduation, he sent an email to Certified Angus Beef basically say he’d like to work for them and within a few weeks, he had interviewed and set out to start working for CAB three days after graduating.  Certified Angus Beef was founded in 1978 as a program to create a standard beef to sell to consumers.  Eric and I discuss how Certified Angus Beef got its start and how it has evolved over the years and where they hope to go in the future.

George Lake is a 3rd Generation farmer, also a retired Marine and Pilot, who has been raising grass-fed beef for over a quarter of a century and has always had a passion for farming and beef cattle.  More so a passion for soil health and producing a great beef product and he has done that by taking the farm that his grandfather purchased and has turned it into a soil health hub for people to come see for themselves and learn from what George has been working on for years.  George, who is in his 70’s, to me shows no signs of slowing any time soon as he loves working with his soil, cows and dogs to much and is always looking to learn more.

Karen Schaefer is the current Executive Director of the Minnesota Beef Council and runs a cattle operation with her husband and three children.  Karin grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota and was the Princess Kay of the Milky way runner up, (a very big deal in Minnesota).  After attended college in North Dakota, Karin took a job with the Minnesota Farm Bureau where the experiences she gained from there allowed her to get her current position with the beef council.  Karin is very positive about the future of the beef industry but knows it has its challenges, but believe me, Karin is up for the challenge as she truly loves to promote not on the beef industry locally but nationwide as well.

Amanda Radke is a 3rd generation beef producer from Mitchell, South Dakota were she ranches with her husband Tyler and her parents.  However, Amanda is much more than just a beef producer, she’s a mother, blogger, writer, public speaker and also a beef agriculture advocate.  Amanda has been advocating for beef since her high school days and has not taken a break as she recently tried to get on the Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about beef with Television host.  Even though Hollywood did not call her, she got her story out to many people around the country and is helping to show the beef industry in the positive light it deserves to be shown in.

White Oak Pastures is a multi-generation farm located in Bluffton, GA that has seen many changes throughout those generations.  Will Harris is the 4th generation in charge and he has taken what was once a conventional operation into a holistic grass-fed vertically integrated operation that utilizes 10 different species to form a full symbiotic.  They are calling it Radically Traditional Farming and not only is he using animals to rejuvenate the land, but he is also bringing new life into a small rural community. 

Joel McCafferty is a 3rd generation rancher, but he did not start ranching when he would have liked to. Joel took a different path getting back to the ranch which included a career in the medical field for a number of years. However, once his opportunity presented itself he jumped all in with his wife Cindy and their two daughters. Joel has been running a very successful cow/calf operation now since the early 2000s, but now he wants to add a new aspect to his operation....hydroponics!