The Coalition is built on the foundation of real experience, scientific research, and commitment to our common goals of rangeland conservation and ranching viability. The stories below are about the ranchers, the agency representatives, and others who have made a commitment to the mission of the Coalition into action. See also Grazing for Change I and II. More videos are hosted by California Cattlemen’s Association.
Report from Ranching for Profit Workshop
A One day workshop with Dave Voth in Jackson, CA
A couple weeks ago I attended a free one day workshop version of the Ranching for Profit School taught by Dave Voth. The workshop was hosted by Amador County RCD and sponsored by Halter. I was very grateful for the fact that the whole workshop was free and even included lunch. Without funding, it would have likely cost around $250 per person. Which, although it would have still been money well spent, would have likely reduced attendance and therefore we would have missed out on some of the great conversations that make these workshops so valuable. I was glad to see so many producers in the room, including multiple generations of a few operations, as well as a few husband and wife and sibling operations as well.
The day started out with a letter written by a rancher to Dave Pratt, RFP founder and presenter. The rancher runs around 300 cows with his family and is struggling to make ends meet, and “get ahead”. We analyzed the letter a little bit to start and gather what we actually know from the letter. What are the facts? Things like, they have 300 cows, and that him and his son do not always agree. His son is suggesting selling the cows and running stockers instead. After some discussion, many folks in the room can relate. Next we get a look at some numbers, the input costs, and sales. This drives a conversation on what this family could cut out to make their numbers look better. There are a lot of ideas in the room, but also a lot of questions as this spreadsheet certainly doesn’t paint the whole picture. After some good conversation, Dave explained the difference between “overhead costs” and “direct costs,” and as a group we started debating what goes in what category. The takeaway was that direct costs are something that go up with units of production, and overhead costs do not. However, at the end of the day, if you can’t figure out where it goes, put it in direct, because it doesn’t really matter too much. Little tips like this are helpful in keeping things simple. Dave explained that he has the “5 second rule.” If you can’t figure out which category it goes in within 5 seconds put it in direct.
Dave discussed some other key topics from RFP, like “working in the business” vs. “working on the business”, or WITB vs. WOTB. Both require different pay rates to yourself, What are you spending your time doing? Do you have a job or a business? These are the types of questions RFP forces you to ask yourself. There is no one-size-fits-all business model for every ranch, but I guarantee after taking a RFP course, whether it is just one day or the full week, you will look at your operation differently, and hopefully for the better.
Taking a one week course and trying to fit an overview into one day is tough. This was really just a taste, but it left me with a lot more questions than answers. Ecology and grazing management was only briefly touched on at the end of the workshop. Grazing management and ecology play a major role in the economics and profit of a livestock business. We operate biological systems, with live animals, live soil, live forage and are very weather dependent. We are limited by land access, rainfall, and growth rates of animals to name a few things.
Amador County RCD is planning to put on another RFP workshop in January, potentially for two days this time, with one full day dedicated to grazing and ecology specific to California rangelands. I am looking forward to attending and hope to see you there!
For more Ranching for Profit learning opportunities: https://ranchingforprofit.com/rfp-school/
Amador RCD Event Page: https://www.amadorrcd.org/events-news
2025 SUMMIT AGENDA
Tuesday, March 4th
The Art and Science of Rangeland Management
Is there one way, a perfect way to manage rangelands? Of course not. Ranchers and other managers rely on science and technology, on their network of advisors and on their experience observing the land to cultivate and apply the art of decision-making for their own needs. There will be a little science, some technology, and some art, too at the Summit. Join us!
8:00 REGISTRATION & coffee
Posters, photo displays and booths open. Photo slideshow on screen
8:30 Welcome – CRCC Anniversary Notes – Tim Koopmann
Point Reyes National Seashore, TNC staff
Ranching on the Zumwalt Prairie, Country Natural Beef’s Grazewell Program, Dan Probert
Indian Nations Conservation Alliance, Delane Atcitty
Science behind Climate Smart Ag on Rangelands, Toby O’Geen, UC Davis
The Art of Climate Smart Ag on Rangelands
Targeted Grazing and Wildfires, Brian Shobe, Stephanie Larson
Recognition of Conservation awards for Rangelands
************
Lunch MidValley Cowbelles
Posters, photo displays and booths open. Photo slideshow on screen
***************
Photo Contest Winners Announced, Point Blue
Living through wildfire season, Leslie Roche, UC Davis
Rancher Comments on post -fire aid –
Science on Virtual Fencing in California, Brian Allen, UC Cooperative Extension
Art of using Virtual Fencing, a Rancher’s perspective
NRCS Update on virtual fencing as a practice, Alan Bower, NRCS
How Art and Science Work Together for Rangeland Health
3:15 Closing
SUMMIT REGISTRATION & SPONSORSHIP
Tuesday MARCH 4, 2025 8:30am – 3:30pm
Robert Cabral Ag Center, 2101 E Earhart Ave, Stockton, CA
No refunds after February 25, 2025
The California Rangeland Conservation Coalition is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. #82-1588684
Online Payment: https://2025-rangeland-summit.cheddarup.com
DONATIONS ARE WELCOME IN ANY AMOUNT, especially if you’re unable to attend. A fee will be assessed by Cheddar Up.
| Registration Fee | Name | Number Registrations | Registration + Cheddar Up Fee |
| $30 | Student | 1 | $31.14 |
| $80 | Regular | 1 | $83.00 |
| $140 | Bring A First Time Person! | 2 | $145.24 |
| $150 | Individual Sponsorship | 1 | $155.61 |
| $260 | Ranch Sponsorship | 2 | $269.70 |
| $260 | Small Business Sponsorship | 2 | $269.70 |
| $300 | Booth Registration Instructions | 1 | $311.19 |
| $360 | Booth Registration | 2 | $373.43 |
| $600 | Sponsor 2 | 2 | $622.36 |
| $1000 | Sponsor 3 | 3 | $1037.26 |
| $1500 | Sponsor 4 | 4 | $1555.88 |
| $2000 | Sponsor 5 | 5 | $2074.50 |
Booth Exhibitors and Sponsors will be recognized as soon as payment is received in Field Notes, on www.carangeland.org and in the Summit Program.
If you prefer to sponsor at a higher level please contact Karen Sweet at ksweet@cattlemen.net.
Inquire with Karen Sweet if an invoice for payment is required or if a check payment is preferred.
We’ll see you soon!
2024 CRCC SIGNATORIES
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
Alameda County Resource Conservation District
Blue Ridge Berryessa Partnership
Burrowing Owl Preservation Society
California Association of Family Farmers
California Association of RCDs
California Board of Forestry
California Cattlemen’s Association
California Cattlewomen’s Association
Ca Chap Int’l Soil &Water Conservation Society
California Climate and Agriculture Network
California Council of Land Trusts
California Department of Conservation
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
California Department of Food and Agriculture
California Dept of Forestry & Fire Protection
California Farm Bureau Federation
California Grazing Lands Coalition
California Invasive Plant Council
California Native Grasslands Association
California Native Plant Society
California Range Management Advisory Cmtee
California Wildlife Foundation/California Oaks
California Wool Growers Association
Cal-Pac Section Society For Range Management
Center for Natural Lands Management
Center for Re-connecting with Nature
Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford
Central Coast Rangeland Coalition
Central Sierra Region of Resource Conservation Districts
Cobblestone Ranch
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors
East Bay Regional Park District
Humboldt State University Rangeland Resources
Institute for Ecological Health
Kingsley Farms
Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo
Land Trust for Santa Barbara County
Napa County Board of Supervisors
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Region Protected Resource Division
National Wild Turkey Federation
Nevada County Board of Supervisors
Northern California Regional Land Trust
Planning and Conservation League
Point Blue Conservation Science
Rancho Ventura Conservation Trust
Rangeland Management Advisory Committee, CA Board of Forestry
Sacramento River Watershed Program
San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors
Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau
Sierra Foothills Audubon Society
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
State Water Resources Control Board
Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust
Sweet Ranch
TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation
UC California Rangeland Research and Information Center
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
U S Bureau of Land Management
Xerces Soc for Invertebrate Conservation
Bre Owens, Chair, CRCC
Bre lives in Los Molinos, CA where she runs a small cattle operation utilizing mostly leased private and public lands. Bre grew up in Northern CA on a cow-calf ranch, attended Chico State and Colorado State University, Fort Collins, focusing her studies on rangeland ecology and livestock production. Beyond CA, she has worked on cattle ranches in OR, NV, WY, and HI.
She is motivated by a love for working landscapes – for the people, land and livestock that are a part of them. She believes that agriculture at its best is conservation at its best. Bre’s role at NatGLC is designed to bring western graziers needs and solutions into the organization’s programs, policy and communications efforts while sharing resources and facilitating partnerships across NatGLC’s western network. In this capacity, she works with livestock producers in all western states. She maintains a comprehensive understanding of current challenges and emerging opportunities relevant to grazing lands stewardship through these interactions and by running her own beef cattle operation.
Additionally, she serves as the board chair of the CA Rangeland Conservation Coalition, board chair for Holistic Management International, President of the Cal-Pac Section of Society for Range Management, and is a CA Certified Rangeland Manager (CRM #97). She supports various working lands collaborative projects across the west in an advisory capacity. In her spare time, she prepares grazing management plans for ranching operations in CA.
Text: NatGLC
John Austel, CalGLC Rancher Panelist and California Cattlemen’s Association 2nd Vice-President
“Originally published in the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Directions magazine.” Photo, CCA.
In the last 50 years the volume of beef produced in the U.S. has grown by 25% while the number of cattle has decreased by 6%. With increased efficiency in mind, technology is what makes the U.S. the global leader in high-quality, sustainable beef.
Out West, the Austel family also adopts technologies to solve problems and set them up for a successful future. John Austel, owner of 4J Horse and Livestock Co. and a first-generation rancher, has grazed cattle in Southern California with his family for 10 years, working hand in hand with the local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to return fallow acres to grazing land for cattle production. They run a Natural Angus operation on an Old Spanish Land Grant which used to be agricultural land but sat unused for more than 20 years. It is now a CDFW Ecological Reserve and Wildlife Area.
Along with raising cattle, the ranch focuses on preserving land, water and ecosystems unique to their region. To manage these different factors and stay in business, the Austels had to look for technologies and practices that would also reduce labor and cost while contributing to conservation. “Striving for win-win solutions has always been our mindset and has served us well so far. We are currently working with entities onsite to help increase our knowledge of range monitoring, wildlife habitat improvement and maintenance, soil health, wildfire fuel management and more,” Austel explained.
One of the first things they decided to tackle was water. After two major wildfires burned the land in 2003 and 2007, water infrastructure was one of the first things needing replacement. John and his eldest son, Jake, saw an opportunity to do something different. With support from the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) they converted previously drilled wells from electric to solar. NRCS conducted site inspections and engineered designs, and the Austels installed the solar-powered technology using EQIP funding.
The solar-powered wells transform sunlight to energy to pump water into holding tanks. As cattle drink from nearby troughs or the water evaporates, the float in the trough signals to the holding tank it needs to be refilled. The holding tank’s elevation is above that of the trough, so gravity is optimized to refill the trough. Each well location is required by NRCS to have two 5,000 gallon holding tanks to store water for up to three days in case of an emergency. In addition, each tank has a quick connection for the fire department to be able to get a one-time shot of 10,000 gallons of water if needed. 4J Horse and Livestock has seven solar water pumps on the ranch, with plans to establish an eighth. “The largest benefit is there’s no power bill. That’s the first benefit — a financial benefit. The second benefit is they are very low maintenance. Those two things make me feel they are very reliable, and they are beneficial to invest in,” John said.
Saving money is always important to a business, and not repairing wells often saves labor and allows John and Jake to focus their attention on other things, like herd genetics and other infrastructure maintenance. Looking ahead, John is excited to see solar water technology advance. “These pumps we are putting in, we will be able to add more solar panels to a low-flow well to increase the gallons per minute. With these pumps, they can increase from 10 to 12 gallons a minute up to 25 gallons a minute if you add more panels,” John explained. “You increase your flow just by increasing the number of panels and without replacing the pump.”
There are other emerging technologies John is keeping an eye on to improve his water management and adaptive grazing plans. He is excited to watch tools progress and determine if they will fit into 4J Horse and Livestock’s plans.
The Path Forward: Technology Transforms Cattle Production Efficiency
“Originally published in the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Directions magazine.”
In the last 50 years, the volume of beef produced in the U.S. has grown by 25% while the number of cattle has decreased by 6%. With increased efficiency in mind, technology is what makes the U.S. the global leader in high-quality, sustainable beef.
Out West, the Austel family also adopts technologies to solve problems and set them up for a successful future. John Austel, owner of 4J Horse and Livestock Co. and a first-generation rancher, has grazed cattle in Southern California with his family for 10 years, working hand in hand with the local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to return fallow acres to grazing land for cattle production. They run a Natural Angus operation on an Old Spanish Land Grant which used to be agricultural land but sat unused for more than 20 years. It is now a CDFW Ecological Reserve and Wildlife Area.
Along with raising cattle, the ranch focuses on preserving land, water and ecosystems unique to their region. To manage these different factors and stay in business, the Austels had to look for technologies and practices that would also reduce labor and cost while contributing to conservation. “Striving for win-win solutions has always been our mindset and has served us well so far. We are currently working with entities onsite to help increase our knowledge of range monitoring, wildlife habitat improvement and maintenance, soil health, wildfire fuel management and more,” Austel explained.
One of the first things they decided to tackle was water. After two major wildfires burned the land in 2003 and 2007, water infrastructure was one of the first things needing replacement. John and his eldest son, Jake, saw an opportunity to do something different. With support from the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) they converted previously drilled wells from electric to solar. NRCS conducted site inspections and engineered designs, and the Austels installed the solar-powered technology using EQIP funding.
The solar-powered wells transform sunlight to energy to pump water into holding tanks. As cattle drink from nearby troughs or the water evaporates, the float in the trough signals to the holding tank it needs to be refilled. The holding tank’s elevation is above that of the trough, so gravity is optimized to refill the trough. Each well location is required by NRCS to have two 5,000 gallon holding tanks to store water for up to three days in case of an emergency. In addition, each tank has a quick connection for the fire department to be able to get a one-time shot of 10,000 gallons of water if needed. 4J Horse and Livestock has seven solar water pumps on the ranch, with plans to establish an eighth. “The largest benefit is there’s no power bill. That’s the first benefit — a financial benefit. The second benefit is they are very low maintenance. Those two things make me feel they are very reliable, and they are beneficial to invest in,” John said.
Saving money is always important to a business, and not repairing wells often saves labor and allows John and Jake to focus their attention on other things, like herd genetics and other infrastructure maintenance. Looking ahead, John is excited to see solar water technology advance. “These pumps we are putting in, we will be able to add more solar panels to a low-flow well to increase the gallons per minute. With these pumps, they can increase from 10 to 12 gallons a minute up to 25 gallons a minute if you add more panels,” John explained. “You increase your flow just by increasing the number of panels and without replacing the pump.”
There are other emerging technologies John is keeping an eye on to improve his water management and adaptive grazing plans. He is excited to watch tools progress and determine if they will fit into 4J Horse and Livestock’s plans.
RANGELAND-RELATED JOB BOARD
BOOKMARK THESE JOB BOARDS
See also recent Field Notes for current opportunities.
CA Association of Conservation Districts
Center for Collaborative Conservation
Intermountain West Joint Venture
Soil & Water Conservation Society
University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources
Intermountain West Joint Venture.
(Submit others to ksweet@cattlemen.net)