Hayden and Taylor Sievers of Sievers Blumen Farm in the Brussels, Illinois area share how their farm has evolved from a cut-flower business into a growing grazing-focused cattle operation, alongside grain and hogs, while keeping an eye on family, profitability, and building a system that works on limited acres.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• How Sievers Blumen Farm got its name and the cut-flower beginnings behind the brand
• Farming in Calhoun County between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, and what that landscape means for grazing
• Converting a heavily tilled, flood-prone 80 acres into pasture over time while still cash cropping part of it
• Challenges of establishing pasture on heavy “black stick” clay and lessons learned with broadcast seeding and needing timely rain
• Using wheat followed by cover crops and pasture as a transition plan away from cash cropping
• Infrastructure choices including high-tensile perimeter fence, step-ins, reels, and thoughts on central alley layouts
• Moving from Dexters to South Pole-influenced cattle and what they noticed with fly pressure, forage efficiency, and easy-keeping traits
• Using cow-calf as a base herd while considering stockers and sell-buy marketing to capture excess forage
• Takeaways from stockmanship training, including receiving calves and getting them grazing quickly by focusing on mental and emotional state
• Raising meat chickens (including Red Rangers) and layers, plus building and using a chickshaw-style coop
• Taylor’s path into indie publishing, what she writes, and the discipline of finishing books while raising a family

Why This Episode Matters
If you are trying to make grazing work on limited acres or on land that is less-than-ideal, this conversation is a practical look at how a young family is building infrastructure, improving soil over time, selecting cattle that fit their system, and staying focused on profitability and quality of life instead of chasing too many enterprises at once.

Resources Mentioned

• Joel Salatin (Joe Rogan Podcast)
• Greg Judy (grazing and fencing approach)
• Jim Elizondo and total grazing concepts
• Hand ’n Hand sell-buy marketing class (Tina and Richard)
• Stockman Grass Farmer
• Working Cows podcast
• Ranching Returns podcast (formerly Herd Quitter podcast)
• Bud Williams stockmanship (referenced through stockmanship training)
• Dirt to Soil
• Braiding Sweetgrass
• For the Love of Soil
• The Creative Penn podcast (Joanna Penn)
• Wish I’d Known Then podcast
• The Two Authors podcast
• Justin Rhodes Chickshaw (mobile coop design)
• O’Brien step-in posts
• Taragate reels
• Meyer Hatchery
• McMurray Hatchery
• August Horstmann's Ranch (Missouri)

Find Out More

• Website | https://sieversblumenfarm.com
• Instagram | https://instagram.com/sieversblumenfarm
• Facebook | https://facebook.com/sieversblumenfarm
• YouTube | https://youtube.com/@sieversblumenfarm

Here is a discount code for our farm shop (https://sieversblumenfarm.com/shop) that listeners can use for 10% off. The code expires in July. GRAZINGGRASS26

Looking for grass-based breeders?
Explore the Grass Based Genetics directory.

Upcoming Grazing Events

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Grazing Grass Links
Website
Community (on Facebook)

Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Jonathan Kilpatrick of Red Lantern Ranch and Kilpatrick Land & Livestock joins Cal to share what changed since he first appeared back on episode 2, including moving from Oklahoma to west central Minnesota (Alexandria area) and rebuilding a grazing operation from the ground up with sheep, goats, and pastured poultry.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• What prompted Jonathan and his family to move from Oklahoma to Minnesota and restart their operation
• Lessons Jonathan took from the Ranching for Profit School and how they shaped his decision-making
• Starting a grazing operation with a clean slate and building genetics that match the environment
• Grazing sheep and goats together and using goats as part of a buckthorn control strategy
• Outwintering sheep and goats with minimal infrastructure and what that requires
• Using adaptive grazing decisions that fit real life, time constraints, and family priorities
• Expanding from a 45-acre grazing lease by adding tillable acres and converting some to perennials
• Partnering with a regenerative crop farmer for strip-till or no-till, cover crops, and added grazing opportunities
• Mobile range coop pastured poultry production, daily moves, and labor efficiency
• Processing options, state-inspected processing, and why time is often the limiting resource
• Marketing channels including direct-to-consumer, wholesale, and opportunities in ethnic markets

Why This Episode Matters

If you are building or rebuilding a grazing business, Jonathan lays out a realistic path that balances production, business management, and family life. This conversation is a good reminder that experience matters, time is a real constraint, and matching livestock, grazing, and marketing to your context is what keeps the whole system working.

Resources Mentioned

• Ranching for Profit School
• Executive Link program (Ranching for Profit)
• Google Sheets
• Excel
• ChatGPT
• Gemini
• P.L. 90-492 (Poultry Products Inspection Act exemption referenced in the discussion)

Find Out More

• Red Lantern Ranch website | https://redlanternranch.com
• Kilpatrick Land & Livestock website | https://www.kilpatricklandandlivestock.com
• Sustainable Farming Association (SFA) | https://sfa-mn.org

Looking for grass-based breeders?
Explore the Grass Based Genetics directory.

Upcoming Grazing Events

Visit our Sponsors:
Noble Research Institute

Redmond Agriculture

Grazing Grass Links
Website
Community (on Facebook)

Original Music by Louis Palfrey

Zach (first-generation) and Kacie (fifth-generation) Scherler-Abney are ranchers operating Re:Farm and Re:Supply in Cotton and Tillman Counties in southwest Oklahoma, running a cow-calf herd with some stockers while also managing land for others and operating retail stores in Norman, Oklahoma and Wichita Falls, Texas.

In This Episode, We Explore:

- How a personal health scare led them back to the family place and into raising their own food

- Using an autoimmune protocol diet as a catalyst to question food labels and sourcing

- Learning regenerative grazing through books, YouTube, and early hands-on trial and error

- Grazing in a more brittle, variable rainfall environment in southwest Oklahoma and north Texas

- Ultra high-density, non-selective grazing and why recovery time is the key variable for them

- What polywire taught them, and why quality of life and labor forced a change

- Building water systems with HDPE poly pipe, quick couplers, and central lanes for flexibility

- Leasing strategies including Oklahoma state school land (CLO) and BIA tribal land leases

- Transitioning to Halter virtual fencing and what changed in daily management and stress

- How their cattle buying philosophy shifted to phenotype, productivity, and pounds per acre

- Marketing reality checks: balancing direct-to-consumer beef with current sale barn economics

- Why they built brick-and-mortar stores and how non-perishables help stabilize cash flow

- Community-building through retail and sourcing other local products beyond their own beef

Why This Episode Matters

This conversation is a practical look at matching grazing goals to real life, especially when labor, family time, leases, and cash flow are all limiting factors. Zach and Kacie share what worked, what wore them out, what they changed, and how they think about staying flexible without abandoning the core principles that keep land and livestock improving.

Resources Mentioned

- Halter virtual fencing system

- Passon quick couplers

- Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office (CLO) grazing leases

- Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) grazing leases

Find Out More

- Instagram | re:farm

- Website | Re:Farm Market

- Facebook | Re:Farm

Looking for grass-based breeders?
Explore the Grass Based Genetics directory.

Upcoming Grazing Events

Visit our Sponsors:
Noble Research Institute

Redmond Agriculture

Grazing Grass Links
Website
Community (on Facebook)

Original Music by Louis Palfrey