The Grazier’s Toolbox: Business Decision Making, Practical Tools and Tips for the Custom or Contract Grazier
December 3 @ 9:00 am - 10:30 am
Free
Call for graziers!
Tuesday, Dec. 3, 9 – 10:30 a.m. MST | Tuesday, Dec. 10, 9 -10:30 a.m. MST
In this two-part workshop, founders of the Grazing School of the West will dig into the roots of what makes a grazier’s business different.
In part one we will discuss business planning and decision-making and the distinct things to consider while planning your contract or prescribed grazing business. Part one will be distinctly useful for folks running other livestock operations that are considering moving into grazing as an additional enterprise, or for folks just beginning to ideate contract grazing activities, or simply curious about how it works.
In part two we will review various business tools, templates, and instruments that power operations of grazing businesses and empower their entrepreneurs and employees. Whether new to the sector or in business for years, these tools and templates help graziers analyze the vital heartbeats of their businesses. Tools include: contract job cost / breakeven calculator; herd growth calculator; safety checklists; software apps that aid in mapping and project bidding; design software; hiring guide including job descriptions, and more. We will include time for breakout discussions to encourage networking and peer learning.
The Grazier’s Toolbox is part of Grazing School of the West’s ongoing efforts to create practical and useful tools that every contract grazier can utilize in their day-to-day efforts of land and animal stewardship. These courses are especially meaningful for small ruminant tenders (sheep and goat), but much of the thinking can be applied to cattle as well.
Office Hours, Dec. 17, 9 a.m. MST : As a followup to the workshop, join us for 90 minutes of more in-depth question asking and peer learning. Absorb the elements of the workshop, reflect on the tools presented, and come back to an intimate table for continued conversation and diving deeper. Note that this session will be powered by your questions and thoughts, and educators will not be presenting; come prepared with your thoughts! Spots for five graziers, filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Contact newagrarian@quiviracoalition.org with any questions.
This webinar series is funded by the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s NextGen Ag Leadership Grant. Photo credit: Liam Pickhardt
Speakers:
Brittany Cole Bush, Shepherdess Land and Livestock Co.
Brittany Cole Bush, (Cole), calls herself a modern-day shepherdess shepherding animals, people and projects She is a practitioner, entrepreneur, educator, and consultant in the fields of climate-beneficial agriculture, land stewardship, and prescribed grazing, guided by her drive to do meaningful work on the land and open vocational pathways for non-traditional agrarians. With over a decade of experience, Cole has successfully treating thousands of acres on private and public lands throughout California for ecological enhancement and fire hazard reduction.
Cole is the owner/operator of a commercial-scale prescribed grazing outfit, Shepherdess Land and Livestock Co., providing prescribed grazing services in some of the most densely populated areas in Southern California. She is also the founder/owner of Shepherdess Holistic Hides, purveying tanned sheep and goat hides mindfully sourced from livestock “raised and grazed” in the west, placing an additional value on a normally forgotten waste product.
Through her own journey to create a viable career in agriculture and land management, her mission to open pathways for others has taken flight through her project The Grazing School of the West, a nascent non-profit organization. The School works to answer to the tremendous demand for labor in the reblooming industry of prescribed grazing, developing curriculum to cultivate an expanded grazier workforce and supporting entrepreneurs in food and fiber, and ecological monitoring.
Video: “Stewards of the Land” – American Lamb Board
White Paper: “Prescribed Herbivory for Vegetation Treatment Projects” – California Range Management Advisory Committee
Interview: “Grazing for Good”, Soil Centric
Photo Editorial by Todd Selby
Olivia TIncani, Olivia Tincani & Co.
Olivia Tincani is a food and agriculture business educator and consultant and with over 20 years of experience in the field. Olivia Tincani & Co. provides business, financial and strategic planning and training for small-scale independent food and farm businesses and the institutions that service them. She has specific expertise in entrepreneurial empowerment for farmers and ranchers, program and curriculum design, whole animal supply chains, livestock businesses, and community building. An ambitious spirit infuses her teaching and consulting, inspired by her personal entrepreneurial endeavors. She is currently designing and executing farm business training programming for the The Conservation Fund’s Working Farms Fund, Intertribal Agriculture Council, Fibershed, Chicago Botanic Garden and the Grazing School of the West. Past projects include work with venerated organizations such as Glynwood, Ecotrust, and Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance alongside independent coaching for a roster of small and mid-scale sustainable farms. She served as a Business & Communications Strategist for 8 years for Rancho Llano Seco in Chico, CA. She has deep history in food business operations as the co-founder of landmark joint restaurant/farm enterprises Farm 255 and Farm Burger in the rural southeast, and food service design and management company Just Fare in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is on the Advisory Board of the National Farm Viability Conference and was a founding Board member of Kitchen Table Advisors. Olivia splits time between Sonoma County (CA) and her friend’s organic rice farm in Maremma, (Italy), with her hands in the dirt and her skin in the game.