Working Cows - Regenerative Ranching to Maximize Profitability and Soil Health
Business & Economics Podcasts
What is the key to becoming a more regenerative ranch? How do we increase the effectiveness of our management of the Land, Animals, Money, and People that have been entrusted to us? The Working Cows podcast exists to glorify God by providing farmers...
Location:
Mud Butte, SD
Description:
What is the key to becoming a more regenerative ranch? How do we increase the effectiveness of our management of the Land, Animals, Money, and People that have been entrusted to us? The Working Cows podcast exists to glorify God by providing farmers and ranchers a platform to discuss and share best practices for increasing soil health, profitability, stockmanship and leadership ability. Each week host, Clay Conry, will talk to leaders in the industry who have made the regenerative shift in their business so that their ranches are more profitable from an economic and ecologic perspective. They will discuss grazing, Holistic Management, herd health, low-stress stockmanship, leadership, and of course putting your cows to work for you.
Twitter:
@YPClayConry
Language:
English
Contact:
6055495401
Website:
https://workingcows.net/
Email:
clay@clcsd.org
Episodes
Making a Waste Product into an Easily Absorbed Feed Source (WCP 510)
5/1/2026
Marc Walther joined me to discuss several of the products his company produces. Trey Schmidt has been testing these products on his ranch for some time, and he was able to offer his perspective on the effectiveness of the products.
Relevant Link:
Impact Fusion Brands
Duration:00:52:41
Morgan Mickel on the Logistics of a Profitable Western Sheep Ranch (WCP 509)
4/27/2026
Morgan Mickel has been sharing his ranching story on YouTube for about four years. He joins me to discuss the logistics of running a large-scale western sheep operation. We discuss working with herders, lambing, using guardian dogs, and marketing.
Sponsors:
South Dakota Grassland Coalition
Ranch Right
Sunshine Bible Academy
Indreland Ranch
Relevant Links:
Morgan Mickel on YouTube
Duration:01:09:14
Kip Fladland on Getting the Most Out of Your Ranch Horse (WCP 508)
4/24/2026
Kip Fladland has been helping people get the most out of their ranch horse for decades. Today we are going to talk about the process of developing a connection with your horse and how to take your horse to the next stage of their training.
Sponsors:
Indreland Ranch
Create Coaches
Graze Magazine
South Dakota Grassland Coalition
Relevant Link:
Kip Fladland Horsemanship
Duration:01:01:37
Joel Salatin Reads a Chapter of His Forthcoming Book (WCP 507)
4/14/2026
Joel Salatin gave a great talk about how to undo the consolidation in our nation's food system. As part of that talk he read a chapter of his unreleased book "Food Emancipation." He also discussed at length the circumstances that led us to where we are with regard to food in this country and how we can chart a better path forward.
Sponsor:
Remedi Animal Solutions
Relevant Links:
Rogue Food Conference at Polyface (Code: Cows30 for $30 off)
The Lunatic Farmer Blog
Working Cows on Patreon
Duration:00:48:37
Finding Your Way in Regenerative Agriculture Through Unconventional Mentorships (WCP 506)
4/7/2026
Tom Shea has found that unconventional mentorships are key to finding your way in Regenerative Agriculture. His relationships have continued to shape his path forward in finding a way to be profitable. This has led him to take unconventional approaches like grazing solar farms and using technology to increase his effectiveness.
Sponsors:
Create Coaches
Ranch Right
Graze Magazine
Sunshine Bible Academy
Relevant Links:
National Grazing Lands Coalition Bus Tour
National Grazing Land Coalition
Duration:00:55:34
Answering Steve Kenyon's Questions about Hearing from God (WCP 505)
4/3/2026
How do we hear from God? The Bible is the Word of God. The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament are where we can hear from God. But what about other channels? What about coincidences? What about other voices that claim to be from God? How do we test those? Steve Kenyon of Greener Pastures Ranching has some questions as a result of some classes he has been taking at church. I try to answer those questions today.
Sponsor:
Sunshine Bible Academy
Relevant Links:
Greener Pastures Ranching on Facebook
Duration:00:58:28
How to Let Your Environment Shape Your Cattle (WCP 504)
3/30/2026
Jimmy Stewart and his wife have been on a journey to find cattle that can graze year-round, calve on their own, and raise a calf on the range. They are continuing to push the envelope to find consistent and even cattle that can provide a heterosis bump for the customers purchasing their bulls.
Sponsors:
Ranch Right
Graze Magazine (Code: WORKINGCOWS)
Sunshine Bible Academy
Relevant Links:
Big Country Genetics
Duration:00:54:32
How to Prepare for the End of this Cattle Cycle (WCP 503)
3/27/2026
Dan Glenn of Deep Grass Graziers has been thinking deeply about what it means to be profitable in the ranching business. He has come up with a plan that could help more people be profitable when this current cattle cycle comes to an end. We discuss this plan as well as his upcoming innaugural bull sale where you can get your hands on his forage developed bulls and females.
Sponsor:
Ambrook
Relevant Links:
Deep Grass Graziers
Duration:00:52:17
How Ranch Profits Can be Used to Grow a Real Estate Portfolio (WCP 502)
3/25/2026
When times are good in any sector of the economy it presents an opportunity to grow the business or diversify by investing outside of the sector in which we are most heavily invested. Chris Wiley has been a successful real estate investor for many years. He has done this while also holding down other positions sometimes across the continent from his properties. We discuss the how, when, and why of real estate investing with him today. We also discuss how to take a risk and some of the practical considerations to being a landlord.
Sponsors:
Ranch Right
Sunshine Bible Academy
Relevant Links:
One of My Favorite Episodes of the Theology Pugcast
Another of My Favorite Theology Pugcast Episodes
And Another
Duration:00:48:44
How Soil Health and Diversity Affect Nutrient Density (WCP 501)
3/23/2026
There is a day coming when food buyers will be able to scan an individual food item, not a barcode, and determine its nutrient density. Dan Kittredge is a part of the team working to develop this technology. Karl Palmberg is a farmer excited about the prospect of the technology and working to retool his farm to take advantage of it by growing the most nutrient dense beef possible.
Sponsor:
Remedi Animal Solutions
Relevant Links:
The BioNutrient Institute
Sunlight and Rain Grass-Fed Beef
Duration:01:09:46
How Teddy Gentry of Alabama Developed and Protected the South Poll Grass Cattle Breed (WCP 500)
3/16/2026
Teddy Gentry of the band Alabama was self-educated in the back of a tour bus about what it takes to make money in the cattle business. He learned about soil health, grazing, and genetics. This led to his development of the South Poll Grass Cattle breed. We discuss the breeds that make up this hearty and profitable composite as well as the process and the unique restrictions they have placed on the breed to protect its long-term success.
Sponsor:
Ambrook
Relevant Links:
South Poll Grass Cattle Association
Duration:00:40:20
How Grazing Collars are Changing the Livestock Integration Game (WCP 499)
3/9/2026
Jay Young of Young Red Angus is a big picture thinker. He has been experimenting with grazing collars for a while now and he is excited about the potential they have to revolutionize his business. He is talking about being more profitable running on fewer acres with better soil health and less time invested. That hits every facet of ranching. We discuss his vision for what the future could look like on this episode.
Sponsor:
Remedi Animal Solutions
Relevant Links:
Young Red Angus
5th Annual Bull Sale
Young Red Angus on YouTube
Jay's Previous Episode:
Ep. 287 Jay Young – Using Compost Extracts
Duration:01:00:30
Paving the Way for Thomas Massie's PRIME Act (WCP 498)
3/7/2026
South Dakota Representative John Shubeck is on a mission to help South Dakota be ready when Thomas Massie's PRIME Act passes. He joins me to discuss his bill as well as what other states and residents in other states can do to help with Thomas Massie's PRIME Act.
Sponsor:
Get Rogue Food Conference Recordings
Relevant Links:
John Shubeck Legislative Page
Bill Page (Already Signed :facepalm: Congrats Rep. Shubeck!)
Duration:00:23:46
Using Wool as a Carbon Rich Soil Amendment (WCP 497)
3/2/2026
One of the sweet spots in any system is when you can turn a "waste" product into a beneficial output. Wool, unfortunately, has become one such product. It isn't as high quality in wetter environments and certain breeds also struggle to produce high quality wool. Add to that the difficulty of those who know how to or want to shear sheep and you can see how this has led to a drying up of the wool market in many places. Israel Vasek has found a way to take these undervalued wool fleeces and turn them into a powerful, carbon rich, soil amendment. We are going to discuss that process with him today as well as the results of some of the studies using wool pellets as a soil amendment.
Sponsors:
Kaizen Solutions
Sunshine Bible Academy
Relevant Links:
Wooly Naturals
Duration:00:44:33
Malcolm MacLean of Ranch Hacks Discusses His Grazing and Genetics Management (WCP 496)
2/23/2026
Whenever I hear the "Welcome Back to Ranch Hacks" opener I am immediately intrigued to see what Malcolm MacLean has done to repurpose something to optimize his effectiveness on the ranch. While we do discuss some of his Ranch Hacks today we actually spend a fair bit of our time discussing his Total Grazing program and the cowherd he has been developing to fit that system.
Sponsors:
Kaizen Solutions
Sunshine Bible Academy
Relevant Links:
Ranch Hack on Facebook
Ranch Hacks on YouTube
Ranch Hacks on Instagram
Duration:00:49:30
Keeping the Craft of Rawhide Braiding Alive (WCP 495)
2/16/2026
It takes a unique mindset to continue to stay in touch with the traditional way of doing things. Scott Gore has been on this journey from a young age. His focus has been on rawhide braiding. We discuss how he got started, lessons he has learned, as well as how he would recommend getting started today. We also discuss what he is doing to help others develop a similar passion to what he has for rawhide braiding.
Relevant LInks:
Scott Gore Rawhide
Duration:00:48:06
The Importance of Good Financials for Regenerating Land (WCP 494)
2/13/2026
How do you regenerate a landscape that your family hasn't managed for decades? This has been the journey that Jim Eitel has been on. We discuss his strategy and the usefulness of the good financial information provided by Ambrook in deciding what to do next.
Sponsor:
Ambrook
Relevant Links:
Eitel Valley Farms
Duration:00:50:47
The Integral Role of Regenerative Agriculture in Revitalizing Rural Communities (WCP 493)
2/9/2026
Many are familiar with the three-legged stool of Holistic Management made up of Economic, Social, and Environmental legs. While conventional agriculture by and large does a great job of focusing on the environmental and economic legs we can tend to neglect the social leg. Even if we focus on caring for our people it is easy to neglect our community. Today we are joined by Desi King and Bill Milton of Winnett ACES an organization focused on revitalizing rural Montana through facilitating education in regenerative agriculture and making improvements to rural social and cultural infrastructure.
Sponsors:
Wineglass Ranch
Relevant Links:
WinnettAces.org
South Dakota Grasslands Initiative Summit
Duration:00:48:48
How to Find and Hire Good Employees (WCP 492)
2/2/2026
Have you ever heard anyone say, "Noone wants to work these days?" Dallas Mount joins me to discuss how to find, hire, and keep good employees. We discuss when to hire and what to pay those people we do hire.
Sponsors:
Wineglass Ranch
Arrow L Ranch Composite Bull Sale
Relevant Links:
RanchingforProfit.com
Duration:00:44:16
Creating a Land of Milk and Honey (WCP 491)
1/26/2026
We hear many references to a "land of milk and honey." What is that? Why is it desirable? How can we make it a reality on our ranch? We answer these questions and more with Alejandro Carrillo on this episode. Alejandro Carrillo is an accomplished grazier and ranch manager who has had much success in creating a thriving and diverse ecosystem.
Sponsors:
Wineglass Ranch
Arrow L Ranch Composite Bull Sale
Take the Survey:
Working Cows 2026 Listener Survey
Relevant Links:
Desert Grasslands
Duration:00:47:51