WRITING

“The word ‘legacy’ resonated immediately. I scribbled it on top of the first outline I made for this, the Montana Farm Bureau Federatio...

From rancher to stocker to feeder, every cattle owner wants the same outcome. “We all want those calves to be as successful as they possi...

Each heifer is unique, but the moment of triumph often sounds about the same. She spins around, nuzzles the wet calf, and lets out a low ...

"So... what’s the trade-off?" I asked. "You give up a widely accepted, profitable practice to do a new thing. There must be sacrifice. Do...

Thank you for coming to my "One-Line Legacies" workshop at the 2019 American Farm Bureau Federation in New Orleans! Here is the one-page ...

“They’re just plain ol’ range cows.” Bob and Frances Dellit shared a good-hearted laugh at the idea of their 'plain ol' range cows' being...

Dave Pratt scribbled rapidly across the giant post-it board. He switched colors with ideas, added seemingly cryptic equations to the mar...

Dave Pratt, an internationally-known grazing and sustainable ranching expert, will present a one-day pasture and ranch business managemen...

They thought they knew everything they needed to know about barley. After all, Mike and Linda O'Brien had grown cereal grains on his fami...

I’ve missed wheat harvest in Nebraska the past few years. Riding along with Herbie Husker on the side of the Case IH red combine. Sinking...

Sorting a livestock class is easy. Just put the good ones up, the bad ones down. Then, be ready to back it up; talk tough. But sorting ki...

F.S. Cooley's writing is full paternal wisdom. “Uncle Sam” Hampton’s words progress with a contagious enthusiasm. Even business letters p...

"I hope they slow down every once in a while," Chuck Hahn said, nodding at the steady line of boaters, anglers and campers streaming nort...

(Originally published Jan. 10, 2015) It's January at the Castle Mountain Ranch, and the wind whistles through the veil of snow that has c...

Used cars. Potential dates. Bred heifers. A prudent shopper for any of the above is wise to wonder: How well were they cared for before I...

He's keeping pace beside me. My childhood playmate's dad; our middle school track coach. He's in wind pants instead of his traditional wr...

In a state of 10,000 lakes, water law rules the land. At Stoney Creek Farm, near Redwood, Minnesota, Grant Breitkreutz knows conservation...

In the Highwood Mountains, quality-driven cows are at the top of a supply chain that can quickly snowball. "It can be tough on the ranche...

Harvest season always seems to start in the same frantic, frustrating way. Two months before the combines roll, Megan Hedges recounts, he...

Compared to a mechanized harvesting machine, they're not super efficient. "If your combine was throwing 80 percent of what it took in bac...