Cattleman sets goal to give young producer opportunities

MACOMB, Ill. — Moving cattle through the managed intensive grazing system and monitoring the forage growth at River Oak Ranch will be the responsibility of Carson Welsh this year.

The operation, owned by Trevor and Jane Toland, includes 250 grazing acres, 50 paddocks and nine ponds. The process to transfer the management of the system was started by the Tolands in February 2019.

“The main thing was for me to get out of the responsibility,” said Trevor Toland, who recently turned 76.

While on vacation, the couple started by using t-charts that included a plan with advantages, disadvantages and costs.

“We did about six charts, and we started seeing the light for what we thought would be best which was a full lease,” Toland said.

“I wanted to help someone get started, and I didn’t just want to think about profit,” he said. “I wanted to find a middle ground between making some money and being able to replace some of the equipment, but I didn’t want it to be difficult for the lessee.”

This was a challenging process, Toland said, because there were not many guidelines to follow.

“I wanted it to feel like a good opportunity for a young person,” he said. “Trying to find a per acre grazing rental cost is almost impossible because the range is huge.”

“I looked online for ideas on how to write a lease, and I found some suggestions and forms,” Jane Toland said. “We had a lot of things to think about.”

As the couple started to put together some numbers, they contacted Travis Meteer, University of Illinois Extension commercial educator, and Nic Anderson, business developer for the Illinois Livestock Development Group.

“We talked for two to three hours, and they helped with suggestions,” Trevor Toland said. “They were really important in getting this done by telling us what they thought would work well and some things that weren’t going to work, as well.”

As a result, the Tolands decided to offer a lease agreement that included all the buildings, working facilities, pasture and equipment they own to run an operation such as tractors, manure spreader, bale hauler, hay racks, ATV, Kubota and so forth.

“We included a sheet that lists the operations and responsibilities for both the lessee and the lessor,” Toland said. “For example, the fence repair and all gates and buildings are my responsibility, and if the lessee wants to put in temporary fencing to split a paddock, that’s his responsibility.”

The lease includes a map of the entire farm and areas that are available for grazing.

“I’m sure as the year goes along, we’ll probably find things we didn’t get in the lease,” Toland said. “So, we have a big blank area, and at the end of the year, we’ll see what worked and what didn’t.”

The Tolands offered the lease to Welsh after interviewing five candidates interested in the opportunity.

“One of the first qualities we wanted was somebody who knows how to work and knew cattle,” Trevor Toland said. “Carson knows how to work, and that was the first thing that impressed us.”

“The second most impressive thing about Carson is he’s a verbal learner, so if I tell him something, he knows it and that’s going to be important going forward as he learns how to handle these pastures and the situations here,” Toland said. “I’m confident he’s going to do a really good job.”

The east fork of the LaMoine River runs through the farm which was purchased by Toland’s parents in 1951.

“We’ve lived here since 1972, and we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for my parents,” he said. “Before them, this place had never been paid for by anyone because they all went broke.”

Toland has managed his pastures with rotational grazing for many years.

“The high intensity started in 2001 when I retired from teaching,” he said. “In 2006, we used the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to put ramps in the ponds, build exterior fences, add interior fencing and we drilled a new well.”

For too long, Toland said, cattlemen have been focused on making money per animal.

“Cattlemen have been focused on weaning weights and yearling weights instead of focusing on what we can make per acre grazing and how to do it,” he said. “That’s why we’ve been so slow adopting managed intensive grazing systems.”

“This farm is what a lot of guys would call junk land with the flood plain and white timber soils,” he said. “So, if you can make $100 to $200 per acre on this ground, that’s pretty amazing.”

For the past 11 years, Toland has had a custom grazing agreement with Black Gold Ranch and Feedlot.

“There were years they brought 120 head of cattle here in April and never saw the cattle again until they picked them up at the end of December,” he said. “That was really appreciated by me that someone trusted me that much.”

Welsh’s family operates Welsh Cattle Co. near Blandinsville.

“We have a 500-cow herd that includes purebred Angus, purebred Simmental and cows that are Simmental or Angus-based,” said Welsh, 21. “We have an annual bred heifer sale, and we also sell and lease bulls privately.”

The young cattleman already has started to learn about managed intensive grazing with a group of 69 heifers he has winter grazing on the leased pasture.

“You can tell just having heifers here for a month the big difference there is by rotating them,” Welsh said.

“I’ve always run my cows with dad’s herd, so I applied for this lease because I saw it as a very good learning opportunity to have my own deal,” said Welsh, who signed a five-year lease for the operation.

“An intensive managed grazing system needs cattle, but at other times you don’t need as many cattle, so you need quite a few head of cattle, so you can make adjustments,” Toland said. “The clincher for us choosing Carson is we were really impressed with his background, family, their size of operation and the flexibility to make adjustments.”

“I could see Carson being here for a long time as an operator and maybe eventually as an owner,” he said.

While serving as the president of the Illinois Beef Association, Toland said he met a lot of cattlemen who were getting ready to retire.

“They didn’t have a clue about what to do, except sell out and quit,” he said. “I think it’s important for guys like us to figure out a way to make transition happen.”