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Western Ag Reporter Podcast

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4:59

Break the Late-Calving Cycle: Maximize Heifer...

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

A heifer that calves late in her first breeding season is already behind – and likely to stay that way. “It starts a vicious cycle,” Jordan Thomas, Ph.D., University of Missouri, said. “Where she calves late, breeds late the next year, and eventually falls out of the herd.” Whether producers are raising or buying their replacement heifers, focusing on strong herd management, disease prevention, and parasite control is the foundation of a successful breeding herd and long-term profitability. I...

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2:21

New "Meat Matters" Guide highlights nutrition...

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

The Animal Agriculture Alliance has published a new “Meat Matters” Guide. The guide is a science-based resource highlighting why meat, dairy, poultry, eggs, and seafood are essential to a balanced diet and sustainable food system. The report covers the nutritional benefits of these foods and addresses common misconceptions. “As Americans are putting a greater emphasis on hitting protein goals, animal protein is here to deliver with nutrient-dense food choices,” said Emily Ellis, director, com...

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3:07

MFBF Convention Registration Closes Soon

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

The Montana Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) is set to host its 106th Annual Convention from November 17-20, 2025, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula. This year's convention offers Montana's farmers and ranchers a critical opportunity to reconnect, gain market-leading insights, and shape the grassroots policy that guides the organization and influences state and national agriculture. Key highlights of the 2025 program include high-impact keynote speakers who will address the most pressing issu...

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3:20

Comments From the Publisher: Kurt Kangus Breaks Down...

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

I am throwing a lot of information at all of you this week, so please take your time while digesting all of these graphs. Before we dive into all of this, I need to give Kurt Kangas, regional manager for the American Angus Association, full credit for compiling all of this data. Kurt spent countless hours crunching all the numbers and designing all of these graphs. He presented this information to students at Montana State University as he has been very involved in Montana State University An...

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0:15

Agri-Kid of the Week - Riggin Finn

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

Agri-kid, Riggin Finn, watching daddy train colts this fall and learning how to ride her own ranch pony. Photo submitted by Darian Finn. Submit YOUR agri-kid to editor2@westernagreporter.com. Article Link

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3:55

Reality Check - Israel

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

The nation of Israel is a beautiful yet perplexing land, a land of biblical history where Jesus walked. It is the epicenter of the Jewish faith and a land that also holds great importance to Islam and the Druze faith. Fascinatingly, it is also on the cutting edge of technology, with the most start-ups per capita of any place on the globe. I recently had the opportunity to visit Israel once again, this time in an official capacity. For nearly 80 years, Israel has been America’s closest securit...

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4:47

Cooking - Max

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

Every year when we wrapped up the season and turned the “dude” horses out to pasture, I marveled at how they were the key to the success of our operation. Those old ranch horses endure a lot of greenhorn mistakes, but they bring their riders safely back to the corral every single trip. Sure, they get pretty smart about tricking their riders into letting them drop their heads for some bites of grass now and then or brush a little too close to some overhanging tree branches, but for the most pa...

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4:33

Billings Livestock Commission Sells 200,000th Horse

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

On September 28, the Billings Livestock Commission (BLS) Horse Sale sold its 200,000th horse. BLS is known for their catalog sales and for having the number one loose horse market in the United States. When asked about this milestone, Jann Parker, who has been the manager at the BLS horse sale for 27 years, simply said, “That’s what we do. We sell horses. All kinds, all classes, all the time.” “We’ve worked hard to be a good place to market your horse over the years, and continue to be the cu...

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6:15

Contingency Planning: Your Grazing Insurance Plan

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

The sheer number of variables that are at play on a daily basis for the ranching industry require a person to be adaptable, flexible, and creative. However, when it comes to grazing management, constant reflection and contingency planning are integral to the success of both the land and the livestock and ecosystems it sustains. During a recent NCBA Cattlemen’s Webinar Series episode, Chad Ellis, with the Texas Agricultural Land Trust, and Robbie LeValley, of LeValley Ranch in Colorado, provid...

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8:18

Breast Cancer Survivor Shares Her Story of Hope

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

Kay Koch lives in Salem, South Dakota. She is a wife, mother of three, and a Farmers Union Insurance Agent. She is also a two-time cancer survivor eager to share her story in the hopes that what she learned from her journey helps others. “I want to share the message of hope. Cancer does not have to be the end of your story. There is hope,” Koch said. “And you have to advocate for yourself.” Early in her cancer journey, Kay learned if she was going to survive, she had to advocate for herself. ...

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4:16

Editor's Perspective - Breast Cancer Awareness - a...

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/10/16

October has been recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States since 1985 by the American Cancer Society and Imperial Chemical Industries. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is intended to promote screening, raise awareness, and in turn, reduce the risk of the disease that affects 2.3 million women worldwide, according to breastcancer.org. The National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. reports that one in eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer. “In 2025, an es...

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6:49

Cooking - Hunting Season

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/09/26

When early season rifle opens on September 15, the bull elk start to bugle. There is a chill in the morning air, which makes me homesick for the smell of wood smoke coming from the cook tent. I spent most of two decades cooking in a hunting camp in the Scapegoat Wilderness for the Todd’s K Lazy 3, and I have hundreds of great memories of those years. I retired from 25 years of teaching junior high English in the spring of 2006, and I did not start my County Superintendent of Schools position ...

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0:14

Agri-Kid of the Week - Dean Stephens

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/09/26

Agri-kid of the week, Dean Stephens, is three years old and keeping notes during pre-conditioning. Photo courtesy of Allison Wittkopp. Submit your agri-kid to editor2@westernagreporter.com Article Link

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2:44

Montana Stockgrowers Foundation Accepting Donations...

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/09/26

The Montana Stockgrowers Foundation (MSF) is now accepting donations for its 2025 Cattle Drive program, which allows donations to gain in value to contribute an even larger impact to the future of the agricultural industry. Donations can be made until December 15, 2025, and animal pick up will be coordinated beginning in mid-October. To donate, contact MSF at foundation@mtbeef.org or (406) 461-0642. The Cattle Drive program, Montana’s largest steer feedout contest, allows ranchers and ...

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2:23

Shafer Honored with 2025 RAAA Industry Service Award

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/09/26

Wade Shafer was recognized with the Red Angus Association of America’s 2025 Industry Service Award during the 72nd Annual National Red Angus Convention in Loveland, Colorado. The award honors individuals, companies and organizations whose efforts have significantly advanced the Red Angus breed and the beef industry. Shafer’s first exposure to Red Angus came as a graduate student in animal breeding at Colorado State University in the mid-80s, when RAAA's genetic evaluation program was centered...

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0:03

Ride Easy Pard - Trouble With a Beaver Dam

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/09/25

It had been a very dry summer, and we cut hay everywhere we could. Some of the hay near the edge of the Smith River hadn’t been cut in years, if ever. We were searching for every blade of grass we could feed the sheep with during the winter. The last place we cut and raked hay was an island. We had been using it to park the sheep wagon during the winter. It was nearly surrounded by willows with only a small opening, with a six- or seven-foot culvert laid in the narrow rivulet from the Smith R...

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3:32

Reality Check - Irreplaceable: Honoring the Faith and...

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/09/25

I am at a loss, and as I write this, I struggle to put the proverbial pen to paper, unsure of what to say after the horrific murder – the political assassination – of Charlie Kirk, carried out in front of a crowd of nearly 3,000 people. They had gathered to hear Charlie and a few willing, ideologically opposed, students of Utah Valley University hash it out and debate in a battle of ideas. Charlie was a 31-year-old Christ-follower, a devoted husband, and the father of two. He was a lover of a...

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3:20

A Look Into the Markets - Grain Spreads: Phone in Demand

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/09/25

Throughout today’s session in beans, the market retreated back to where it came from, the 50-week moving average at 10.25. Praying and hoping are not trading strategies one should rely on albeit the market does overreact in multiple instances to rumors. But for now, in my view funds will return to sell the rumor and buy the fact in beans. While I don’t believe the national bean yield is at 53.3 BPA, (all-time record yield), given number one bean producer Illinois is at a lackluster 50 percent...

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6:32

NCBA Members Participate in Regional Fly-In

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/09/25

On September 16, California ranchers and NCBA members Kevin Kester, Tony Toso, Eythan Blair, and Mike Williams stood alongside Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (LA), House Majority Leader, Steve Scalise (LA), House Majority Whip, Tom Emmer (MN), and Congressman Tony Wied (WI) during the weekly House Republicans Leadership Stakeout in Washington, D.C. Kester, an NCBA past president, took to the podium to praise the passage of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” on July 4, notin...

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4:46

Rural Veterinarian Action Plan Addresses Rural Vet...

Western Ag Reporter Podcast ·

2025/09/25

Amidst a growing shortage of rural veterinarians, Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins announced her “Rural Veterinarian Action Plan,” which aims to increase the number of veterinarians both in rural sectors as well as those employed by USDA. “Rural veterinarians are vital for the agricultural economy in the United States. Our farmers and ranchers rely on these critical services to prevent the transmission of animal disease, protect our food supply, and support America’s rural economy. As...

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