Practically Ranching

Send us Fan Mail Joe Morgan is CEO of Poky Feeders, a custom cattle feeder in Scott County, KS.  He began feeding cattle after his graduation from Iowa State University in 1973. He began at Poky in 1985, and has grown the yard from a 17,000 head capacity to 103,000 one-time capacity today. Joe serves as Vice-Chair of US Premium Beef and is a long time member of the Kansas Livestock Association and...

Send us Fan Mail Derrell Peel holds the Charles Breedlove Professorship of Agribusiness in the Department of Agricultural Economics. He has served as the Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist since 1989. His work focuses on livestock market situation and outlook and marketing/risk management education for producers. Dr. Peel works in all areas of livestock production economics and marketing for...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Kailey Fitzmorris is founding owner of Flyin 3 Vet Service, Eureka, KS. With additional locations in Moline and Cedar Vale, she has 4 additional veterinarians working with her in the practice. Our Locations | Flyin’ 3 Veterinary Service in Kansas Past podcast mentioned: Dr. Miles Theurer https://www.buzzsprout.com/1995747/episodes/14655607

Send us Fan Mail Dr. G. Cliff Lamb currently serves as the Director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Texas’ premier research agency in agriculture, natural resources and life sciences featuring 13 centers and faculty in 20 academic departments, a portfolio of more than 500 faculty programs and >$300 million in annual research expenditures. He received his B.S. (1992) from Middle Tennessee St...

Send us Fan Mail Mark Gardiner is CEO of Gardiner Angus Ranch, Ashland, KS. In this episode, we talk about the many challenges that wildfires have brought to Mark's region. Mark shares ways that they have overcome these challenges and grown stronger as a result.

Send us Fan Mail Kendal Kay is CEO of Stockgrowers State Bank, Ashland, KS, where he has worked for 30 years. He is the former mayor of Ashland and played a key role in the donation and recovery efforts of the Starbuck Fire of 2017, one of the state's largest wildfires in recent history. I caught up with Kendal while he was en route to visit victims of the yesterday's Ranger Road wildfir...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Tom Carr is Professor Emeritus of the University of Illinois. After Serving on the faculty for 36 years as a Meat Scientist and Professor, he and his wife now make their home in his hometown of Medicine Lodge, KS. Other podcast episodes referenced: #22 - Diana Clark

Send us Fan Mail Chandler Keys grew up on a family farm in Maryland. In addition to helping his family raise purebred Angus cattle and grow various grain crops, he was active in 4-H and other agriculture clubs. After earning his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, Chandler held an entry level position with National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA). Over the next two decades,...

Send us Fan Mail Carolyn Perrier is a ranch wife, mother of three and grandmother of nine. She is a servant in her community, a leader for countless organizations through the years, and most importantly... my mom.  On this episode, we talk about her journey from city to country life and the countless challenges and blessings along the way. Past episode mentions: Tom Perrier https://www.buzzsprout....

Send us Fan Mail Justin McKee is a professional rodeo announcer, a cattleman, a communicator and a leader.  Raised in southeast Kansas, he now has a ranch near Hico, TX, and is a commentator on the Cowboy Channel, as well as announcing numerous rodeos across the nation. In addition, he puts on broadcasting clinics and leadership seminars to help others bring out their best. https://www.justinmckee...

Send us Fan Mail Matt will go over the high-use sires in the Dalebanks 2025 sale offering, plus give an overview of the Perrier family's breeding program and genetic selection philosophies. Don't miss the 2025 Sale, Saturday, November 22, at the ranch NW of Eureka, KS

Send us Fan Mail Don Close is a senior animal protein analyst for Terrain Ag. He’s enjoying serving in leadership roles in the cattle industry and conducting research on a wide range of topics after overseeing the establishment of Terrain as the team’s first leader. Don’s prior experience includes his work as a senior animal protein analyst at Rabobank, and as a market director for the Texas Cattl...

Send us Fan Mail Rich Blair is a beef producer from Sturgis, SD. The Blair family has grown a cowherd over the last 25 years that is focused on meeting demands for their own ranching operation, their genetics customers, the feeding industry and the beef consumer. In addition to the cowherd, Rich also has a commodity brokerage business, where he provides risk management tools for northern plains pr...

Send us Fan Mail Jason Kraft is the Founder and CEO of Compass Ag Solutions, a Risk Management firm based in his hometown of Ft. Collins, CO. In addition, his family owns and operates Hilltop Hay and Livestock, a diversified family operation that offers high quality hay, cattle and beef to customers in Colorado’s Front Range.  We talk market risk, leverage, fed cattle price discovery and asset pro...

Send us Fan Mail Links: National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Beef Quality Assurance - BQA Masters of Beef Advocacy Environmental Stewardship Award Program Stockmanship & Stewardship Cattlemen’s College Rancher’s Resilience Grant U S Roundtable for Sustainable Beef Josh White serves as the Sr. Executive Director - Producer Education & Sustainability for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Associ...

Send us Fan Mail Marci Penner has served as executive director of Kansas Sampler Foundation since the formation of the 501c3. She has a unique perspective of Kansas having been to every one of the 627 incorporated cities several times for guidebook research.  Having a reason to observe, have conversations, and note common issues and differences led to the PowerUp Movement (empowerment of those 21-...

Send us Fan Mail Logan Thompson is an Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist of Sustainable Livestock Feeding at Kansas State University. He grew up on a registered Hereford ranch in central Texas which instilled a passion to improve the sustainability of beef production by developing practical solutions for producers. Logan started his bachelor's degree at Sam Houston State University...

Send us Fan Mail Rich Porter owns and operates Porter Cattle Company, a grazing and backgrounding operation, located north of Emporia, Kansas. He receives around 7,000 head of three-weight, high-risk calves from the southeast annually and grows them to roughly 800 pounds. Rich holds degrees in chemical engineering, business and law, but for the last five decades, he has been a student of agricultu...

Send us Fan Mail Ed Greiman is General Manager of Upper Iowa Beef, a mid-sized beef processing plant located in Lime Springs, Iowa. He was born and raised as a typical farm kid in rural Iowa, went to college at Iowa State University, and has had significant experience in nearly all segments of the beef industry supply chain. NOTE: This episode was recorded in early February 2025, so some of the re...

Send us Fan Mail Bill Rishel and his wife, Barb, live near North Platte, Nebraska. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, he has always had a passion for Angus cattle and beef cattle improvement.  Bill will be honored in November with induction into the Saddle & Sirloin Portrait Gallery, and an in-depth synopsis of Bill's industry accomplishments may be found in this article: Bill Rishel To Be...

Send us Fan Mail Don Schiefelbein is President of Schiefelbein Farms, a large seedstock operation near Kimball, MN. He is the past-president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the American Angus Association. In this episode, Don outlines his family's business structure and efforts to sustain their family business for generations. He also shares his hopes and vision for the...

Send us Fan Mail Dale Brisby is the self-proclaimed greatest bull rider who ever lived. You may know him from the popular Dale Brisby YouTube channel, the Rodeo Time YouTube channel, and other social media platforms. He also has a Netflix original series How to Be a Cowboy. In addition to his rodeo apparel line, he’s a bona fide rancher, cowboy, and rodeo rider who proudly lives the life 24/7. Fol...

Send us Fan Mail Bill Bowman works with Method Genetics, LLC, in St. Joseph, MO. Through the years, Bill has worked in a variety of roles within the Angus breed, from the production to association levels. In this episode, we talk about the early days of multi-trait indexes, the move to genomic-enhanced EPDs, how commercial producers can benefit from the use of indexes; and finally, a few trends th...

Send us Fan Mail Sam Hands and his family own and operate Triangle H, a diversified cow-calf, farming and feeding operation near Garden City, KS. Sam and daughter, Marisa Kleysteuber, provide the management and leadership for this progressive, quality-focused beef operation. In this episode, Sam shares some of his outlooks on employee management, working with the younger generation; plus the lesso...

Send us Fan Mail Amy Perrier is a Christian, Physical Therapist, Mother to five children...and a ranch wife.  In this episode, she discusses the challenges, rewards and learnings that she has gathered over the past two+ decades of trying to balance all of these duties. We talk spousal communication, generational transitions, Retirement (or lack thereof) and community leadership.  Like the one I di...