Most ranch families know they need to have financial conversations. Far fewer actually sit down and have them. In the Season 3 finale of the Ranch Stewards Podcast, host Haylie Shipp sits down with financial advisor Ty McDonald for an honest discussion about the topics many agricultural families tend to put off: paying kids through the ranch operation, retirement planning, succession conversations, and preparing both the ranch and the people behind it for the future. Together, Haylie and Ty d...

Looking for practical conversations about the future of agriculture, ranch labor, and the people who keep working lands working? The Ranch Workforce Project Podcast Series brings together ranch managers, educators, consultants, and agricultural leaders to tackle real-world workforce challenges facing the industry today. Created through a collaboration between the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance and the Dan Scott Ranch Management Program, this limited series explored hiring, onboarding, mentorsh...

What can the beef industry learn from the rise and decline of the sheep industry? In this final episode of the Rural Resilience webinar series, we are bringing you a replay of a live conversation with Brent Roeder, Montana State University Extension sheep specialist. Brent has spent his career in the sheep business, and in this talk he shares hard-earned lessons from decades of change, including global competition, shifting consumer demand, labor challenges, technology, and industry structure...

⚠️ Heads up: this is a dense, information-rich episode pulled directly from a live webinar. If able, you will want to watch the full video replay on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gzL3MsevnOY?si=nPpL5mv1pDfQAfkm If audio is what you’ve got capacity for, you’re in the right place. This session explores Ranch Water: Low-Tech, High-Impact Restoration with Paul Jones of Tomichi Creek Ecosystem Services. Low-Tech Process-Based Restoration (LTPBR) is a hands-on approach to rebuilding natural water syste...

Not long ago, virtual fencing felt like a “maybe someday” idea. Today, ranchers are using it in some of the toughest country out there. Virtual fencing isn’t exactly a new conversation anymore, but how and where it’s being used continues to evolve. In this episode, we head off the prairie and into a forest allotment in western Montana. With rugged terrain, wildlife pressure, and little to no traditional fence, this is a real-world look at how the technology performs when things get complicate...

What should ranch workers really be paid, and why is nobody talking about it? Wages in agriculture can feel like a taboo subject, but avoiding the conversation is not helping anyone. In this episode of the Ranch Workforce Project, host Haylie Shipp sits down with Dr. Rachel Frost and McKenzie Rojas of Arrow M Cattle Company to break down what compensation actually looks like in today’s ranching world. McKenzie has built a strong following by saying the quiet part out loud. She tackles tough t...

If you’ve ever helped work cattle and thought, “I hope I’m doing this right,” this episode is for you. This episode is an audio replay of a recorded webinar from the Rural Resilience series. As you listen, you may hear references to visual demonstrations and slides. If you’d like to follow along or watch the full webinar, you can view the video replay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEVQMhK5448&list=PL4o5WDFewKec-Wb2Wq09nTgdeTwf4vUV-&index=3 Healthy herds are the foundat...

Burnout in agriculture is often overlooked, but it carries real consequences for people, productivity, and profitability. In this episode of the Ranch Workforce Project, host Haylie Shipp and co-host Dr. Rachel Frost (Dan Scott Ranch Management Program at Montana State University) sit down with JD Hill of Padlock Ranch and Caroline Wild of Wild Ranch Solutions to explore burnout through both employer and employee lenses. From missed details and rising costs to turnover and safety risks, burno...

You hired well. You trained well. Everything seemed right. Then they left. If that sounds familiar, you are not alone. Employee turnover is one of the biggest challenges in agriculture today, and every time someone leaves, it costs time, energy, and momentum. In this episode of The Ranch Workforce Project, Haylie Shipp and Rachel Frost (Dan Scott Ranch Management Program at Montana State University) are joined by Chris Redman, former Turner Ranches manager, to break down what actually keeps e...

What happens when ranchers, conservation partners, and local communities all pull in the same direction? In this episode of the Ranch Stewards Podcast, we pull back the curtain on the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance’s Conservation Committee. Host Haylie Shipp is joined by Martin Townsend, Conservation Director for the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance, and Leo Barthelmess, rancher and RSA Board Member currently serving as Co-Treasurer, for a conversation about how this committee came together, wh...