Greg Judy

Excerpt from Program:
"I am convinced that there is no better risk-free way to start a grazing operation than to lease idle land and graze someone else's livestock on it. It takes the banker out of the equation with your fledgling startup operation. There are millions of acres across the United States sitting idle, owned by people that do not know how to manage them. I believe there are huge opportunities out there for anybody that wants to get back on the land and build a grazing operation.

"We have so much to offer absentee, aging, and recreational landowners in the form of our holistic grazing management practices. We have found this to be a very powerful tool in obtaining very economical grazing leases. We have found that a majority of property owners are very emotionally attached to their property. They need us to landscape their property with our animals so that they can enjoy their pretty livestockgroomed pastures. It is a win-win situation for both parties. They get expert caretakers of their once previously idle land and we get to make a living from our management on their land. This could revitalize rural America if these idle farms were being managed by people that were concerned about the stewardship of the land.

"How can we expect young people to come back and toil on the land and give up all their hard earned sweat to the banker each year? What if they could keep most of what they earned at the end of each year? Making a good living, making landowners, cattle owners and yourself happy, it doesn't get much better than that. It is totally amazing how fast you can grow equity when there is no land or livestock interest payment.

"There are people that own livestock and know nothing about grazing, we can fill that niche as well. No matter what livestock prices do, we have income every month from our custom grazing operation. Custom grazing allows you to build your livestock numbers very quickly, simply because you don't have to borrow the money to graze them. We are convinced that one of the strongest earth saving tools is a mob of cows that are strategically moved across the landscape with daily moves. Their mob activity over years turns the soil to gold.

"These grass-based operations are based on free sunlight and good management practices. No fossil fuel or heavy metal dependency is required. Focus on growing grass with no outside inputs and cows feet incorporating their fertilizer into the soil bank. We are in the best industry in the world. We can make a difference, one idle farm at a time, let's put some life back in rural America. Let's Get Back On The Land, Folks! - G.J.

"Greg and Jan Judy of Clark, Missouri, run a custom grazing operation on 1300 acres of leased land that is made up from 10 farms. They went from near bankruptcy in 1999 to paying off a 200 acre farm and house in 3 years with custom grazing on leased land. They have custom grazed cows, cow/calf pairs, bred heifers, horses and stockers. They also own a grass-genetic cow herd, a hair sheep flock, a goat herd, graze Tamworth pigs and have started direct marketing grass-fed beef and lamb.

"Greg wrote a book in 2001, entitled No Risk Ranching: Custom Grazing On Leased Land, which gives a complete breakdown on the methods they used to build their operation from scratch. Greg has given numerous talks at schools all over the United States on the benefits of leasing land and custom grazing. Greg also does consultant work for other people interested in setting up grazing systems."