Casual Cattle Conversations is the podcast for beef cattle producers and ranchers to explore new ideas and hear stories that will help them improve their current management practices. Shaye Koester - Wanner connects listeners to other cattle producers and beef industry experts to discover what management practices, industry trends, current events and inspiring stories are impacting today’s beef cattle industry.
This week, Shaye welcomes back Chris Sherman, CEO of Tech Support Farm, to discuss fall cybersecurity and fraud threats facing farms and ranches. Sherman highlights RFID tag swapping in cattle sales, emphasizing vigilance and real-time verification to prevent animals being sold at incorrect values.
He also warns that busy seasons increase bank fraud and vendor-payment scams, advising producers to verify payment changes and urgent requests by phone, watch for spoofed emails, and use simple email folder rules to flag fake invoices. If a bad link is clicked or money is sent, he recommends contacting a cybersecurity provider, reporting significant losses via the FBI’s IC3, and carrying cyber insurance.
He notes commercial accounts often have only 24 hours to dispute fraudulent transactions and suggests tools like Positive Pay, along with MFA/2FA, strong passwords, and paid domain email for better protection.
You can learn more about what Chris offers at https://techsupport.farm/.
Learn more about Performance Livestock Analytics here: https://bit.ly/47PxY3W
Learn more about Ambrook here: ambrook.com/casualcattle
Learn more about Elanco here: https://farmanimal.elanco.com/us/beef
Learn more about Corteva here: RangeAndPasture.com/CattleConversations
00:00 Risk Meets Cybersecurity
01:14 Meet Chris Sherman
02:37 Fall Threats Overview
04:03 RFID Tag Swapping
06:00 Busy Season Bank Fraud
08:22 If You Clicked Or Paid
12:27 Ponzi Schemes Due Diligence
14:15 Harvest Season Digital Hygiene
15:52 Passwords And Paid Email
16:25 Year End Vigilance Wrap Up
Today on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast, Shaye interviews Corteva pasture specialist, Rachel Walker, about prioritizing fall weed control to maximize usable forage and extend grazing days. Walker explains that winter-emerging weeds like plantain, thistles, and poison hemlock should be treated in fall when young, using options such as DuraCor and UltiGraze.
She describes DuraCor’s two-actives approach and notes grazing is allowed, with hay sales restrictions depending on state. They discuss why weed control matters in drought and for preventing livestock losses to toxic plants, and how improved control can reduce hay feeding and enable adding diverse grasses and clover. Walker recommends frequent soil testing and taking advantage of free forage testing, and adds fall brush control timing guidance.
Learn more about Corteva solutions here: RangeAndPasture.com/CattleConversations
Catch more conversations like this one and learn more at https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/
00:00 Fall Weed Control Urgency
01:10 Meet Rachel Walker
02:43 Drought and Hay Outlook
04:07 Grazing Longer Into Winter
06:19 Targeting Winter Weeds
10:21 Why Weed Control Matters
14:09 UltiGraze and Soil Testing
16:39 Forage Testing and Nutrition
18:23 Clover Integration With NovaGraze
20:16 Brush Control Timing
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
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