Why Cheap Doesn't Mean Profitable: Lessons on Endurance from a 140-Year-Old Ranch | #39 | THAT RANCHING PODCAST

Receiving high-risk calves is hard enough without pulling the same ones over and over, watching them go off feed, and wondering how many you’ll lose.In this episode of That Ranching Podcast, we review Turboboost field comparisons and producer reports from stocker, backgrounding, and receiving operations. The focus is what matters in the pens: treatment rates, retreats, death loss, and average daily gain.We explain the paste-and-tub receiving program, walk through the roughly $40-per-calf cost presented in the recording, and discuss what would need to improve for it to pencil on your operation. You’ll also hear where the program fits alongside an existing ration and where it may not be needed.Results include side-by-side comparisons, previous-year comparisons, and early producer observations. We discuss those differences and why measuring against a comparable group matters.

Today we’re joined again by Travis Maddock in North Dakota for an overtime episode on ranch profitability, regenerative agriculture, and why bigger weaning weights don’t necessarily mean a better business. Travis explains his focus on input costs, soil health, and long-term efficiency, shares what being broke taught him, and offers practical advice for young people getting into the cattle business.

Hay production during drought puts every acre, cutting, and inch of rain under a little more scrutiny. Today we’re talking about what growers across the U.S. and Canada are reporting with Rhyzogreen, from pasture regrowth and alfalfa yields to soil health and water infiltration. This episode brings together 2026 grower feedback, field comparisons, and third-party trial results. We look at a Wyoming producer working with limited irrigation, a Nebraska grower whose second cutting produced more bales than his first, and forage comparisons that measured both tonnage and feed quality. We also discuss how Rhyzogreen works with native soil microbes, why results can take time, and why growing more hay still has to pencil out. Extra bales are useful. Knowing what they're worth belongs in the conversation, too.

Today we're joined by fifth-generation Nebraska rancher Shane Keller to talk cattle ranching, ranch profitability, and building something worth passing on. His family has run cattle near Valentine since 1884, and the conversation moves from cattle nutrition and soil health to raising responsible kids, buying cheap versus buying value, and why a short memory might help you stay in the business. There’s also a disagreement over popcorn that explains more about ranch economics than you’d expect.

Today we're joined by Shane and Lindsay Maddock, North Dakota ranchers, to discuss regenerative agriculture, soil health, and why a ranch has to pay if it's going to be handed down. Shane says he wouldn't call himself a manure nerd, then explains in some detail how fast a pat breaks down. He's a good kind of nerd.

Today we're joined by Travis Maddock of Maddock Ranch in Maddock, North Dakota, to discuss feeding rumen microbes, what manure and hay use tell him about his cows, and how Riomax pencils out on his place.

Today we're joined by Caleb Widener, cattle manager at Adelante Farms in Roswell, New Mexico, to discuss starting calves, respiratory disease in receiving cattle, and an early look at a Turboboost side-by-side trial on program calves. Caleb also talks treat rates, death loss, and why feedyard efficiency matters when you're buying cattle with no margin in them.

Today we're joined by Brad Harris, a fifth and sixth generation rancher from Tatum, New Mexico, running a registered Angus seed stock operation, for a truly special episode at the kitchen table. We talk about bringing the next generation back into ranching, giving family operations a real vision, faithfulness in marriages, and connecting people back to their creator, God. Along the way, we get into beef grading, nutrient density, and where Brad sees the beef industry heading.

Today we're joined by Dr. Ryan Rathmann, beef cattle professor and reproductive physiologist at Texas Tech, to discuss how a cow's body decides where her energy goes, and what that means for cow condition, calf health, and the risk of running calves through the feedlot in today's cattle market.

On this episode of That Ranching Podcast, Twain and Trevor officially launch the TurboBoost Program — an all-natural immune activation program built for high-risk, incoming calves. The program is simple: a dose of TurboBoost Paste on arrival (like an on-ramp getting them up to speed fast) + the TurboBoost Tub for the next 60 days (like setting the cruise control for the next 100 miles). Early data has shown gains as high as a .32 to .5 lb increase in average daily gain across the 60-day program. With calves worth over $2,500 and the program costing around $40/head — can you afford to risk it? Is this program a fit for you? Bringing in commingled or un-weaned calves with an unknown mineral/immune status? Not sure where those calves came from or how they were shipped? Want fewer treats, fewer retreats, less death loss, more gain? If any of that sounds like your situation, this program was built for you. Already running Riomax year-round on calves that have been on program since before they hit the ground? You likely don't need it — this is a receiving tool, on top of what you're already doing, not a replacement. We're talking: What's actually in the tub: Riomune yeast, bumper mineral levels, and Turbomune immune activation Real trial numbers: treat rates, death loss, and weight gain out of Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and East Texas The one trial that didn't move the needle — and what that tells you about fit The science of "energy redirection" — why a healthier calf gains and marbles better How to set up a fair, staggered test on your own place this fall Tub placement tips to get skittish calves on program fast Learn more: https://riomax.net/products/turboboost-tub/ RSVP for our TurboBoost product launch webinar: https://riomax.net/events/