Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition names 2026 Master Grazier Award recipients

EFFINGHAM, Ill. — The Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition wrapped up the 2026 Heart of America Grazing Conference by recognizing three Illinois producers with the Master Grazier Award: Rick Adams, Terry Becherer and Perry Hottes.

The two-day conference, hosted by ILGLC at the Effingham Event Center, brought together 150 producers, landowners and industry partners from several states for a full slate of grazing education.

ILGLC’s Master Grazier Award recognizes Illinois producers whose grazing management, willingness to adapt and commitment to helping other graziers reflect what ILGLC works to promote statewide.

Rick Adams

Adams, of Chebanse, has spent a lifetime building and evolving a diversified sheep operation, starting with a flock of Hampshires he purchased during his 4-H years.

He and his wife, Brenda, built a highly competitive Hampshire club lamb program, earning championships throughout the 1980s and 1990s at shows including the Indiana State Fair, the National Western Stock Show and the North American International Livestock Exposition.

After ending their hog enterprise in 2003, the Adamses expanded their commercial flock, added Île-de-France genetics, adopted rotational grazing and grew to 250 ewes — developing a strong direct market for hothouse and roaster lambs along the way.

Starting in 2018, they began transitioning toward hair sheep, adding their first Australian White ram in 2020 and building out the program since with embryo purchases and full-blood genetics prized by their customers for eating quality.

This year brought a new challenge: The couple began solar grazing across four sites, totaling roughly 70 acres.

Adams also shares what he’s learned with sheep and goat producers nationwide through Linessa Farms LLC, a producer-education resource on Facebook.

“I enjoy sharing my experiences with others and helping guide others in the sheep industry,” he said.

Terry Becherer

Becherer has raised sheep since 1987, when he started alongside his father. After relocating to a 40-acre farm in Trenton in 1992, Becherer got serious about grazing and pasture management in 1996, working with researcher Ed Ballard to learn what his pastures were truly capable of producing.

That groundwork shaped an accelerated lambing operation that grew to as many as 400 ewes fed on a mix of annual and perennial forages.

Becherer and his wife have divided the farm between row crops followed by grazed cover crops and dedicated pasture rotated through cool- and warm-season annuals. Today, they run 235 ewes with a goal of building back to 300 or more.

Perry Hottes

Since establishing his Waltonville farm in 2005, Hottes has built a cattle operation grounded in rotational grazing, genetic improvement and conservation.

Working 145 fenced acres with more than 20 miles of high-tensile fence, Hottes keeps his herd intentionally small — fewer than 30 cow-calf pairs — so he can manage grazing resources carefully and invest in the land’s long-term health.

Environmental Quality Incentives Program funding helped Hottes build the fencing and water infrastructure his rotational system depends on, and he’s continued investing in his own education, completing the University of Missouri grazing school in 2005 and the University of Illinois artificial insemination program in 2009.

He now pays that forward, partnering with organizations like ILGLC to host on-farm demonstrations for other producers.

“Rick, Terry and Perry represent what we aim to recognize with this award — producers who find what works for their operations and then take the time to share it with the next person,” said Christian Lovell, executive director of ILGLC.

“The three of them demonstrate decades of learning, adapting and implementing improved grazing management on their farms. That’s the kind of experience that can’t be gained from a textbook, and it’s exactly what we want other Illinois producers learning from.”

Their stories will be featured on the Illinois Grazing and Forage Hub at grazingforage.com in the coming months.