This week, Shaye Wanner interviews Shane Maddock of Mattock Ranches about holistic/regenerative management, shaped by his father’s practices since 1992. Shane describes their North Dakota commercial cow-calf operation with backgrounding, yearlings, heifer development, and some row crops and small grains near Maddock. He explains rebuilding degraded soils by reducing reliance on outside inputs through frequent moves, adequate rest and full grass recovery, and adaptive grazing based on pasture conditions.
Shane shares unconventional infrastructure like permanent fencing and water tanks placed in the middle of cropland to enable winter grazing, bale grazing, and flexible feeding. After initially seeding diverse cover crops, he shifted to perennials and now plans a sod-based crop rotation with renewed cover cropping. He is composting feedlot manure and experimenting with compost tea to boost soil biology. Key challenges include labor, infrastructure setup, and profitability, and he urges ranchers to question tradition and find mentors.
Learn more about Performance Livestock Analytics here: https://bit.ly/47PxY3W
Learn more about Ambrook here: ambrook.com/casualcattle
Learn more about Elanco here: https://farmanimal.elanco.com/us/beef
Learn more about Corteva here: RangeAndPasture.com/CattleConversations
00:47 Meet Shane Maddock
01:22 Why Regenerative Matters
02:28 Operation Overview
04:10 Growing Up Holistic
05:21 Grazing Principles Basics
06:25 Cover Crops to Perennials
08:02 Neighbors Think You're Crazy
09:05 Adaptive Grazing Decisions
10:30 Rest and Recovery Cues
11:07 Water Tanks in Cropland
13:58 Winter Grazing Setup
15:04 Virtual Fencing Curiosity
16:18 Compost and Tea Trials
19:00 Learning Resources and Soil
21:06 Challenges and Profitability
