11/13/2025
Attended the school in 2021, Bart and Charlie are top end grazers
Episode 21: Grazing School with Charlie Totton, Courtney Tyrrell & Bart Carmichael
Think you know what your cattle will eat? Watch that certainty crumble when ten heifers meet a “weedy” paddock and turn it into beef and soil armor.
We sit down with Charlie Totton and Courtney Tyrrell, along with educator and rancher Bart Carmichael, to unpack the South Dakota Grassland Coalition 2025 Grazing School, a producer-led, hands-on training where ranchers measure forage, set residue goals, build 24-hour paddocks, and come back later to see if the math holds.
The conversation digs into the details: how to size paddocks based on measured forage, why leaving 1,000 to 2,500 pounds of residue builds soil structure, and how palatability shifts with growth stage and density. We even test water through rainfall simulators and infiltration rings that make it clear organic matter isn’t a buzzword, it’s a water strategy.
Then we get real about labor, genetics, and drought. Cattle are the tool, trampling, cycling nutrients, and extending grazing when managed with purpose. The Totton's share how focusing on 10 percent of their ranch during peak growth lets the other 90 percent recover, stretching grazing well into winter and cutting both feed and labor costs.
If this one hits home, share it with someone who’s ready to look a little closer at their own country. The land’s not broken, it’s just waiting on better stockmen.
🎧 Listen now to Episode 21 of Sustainable Stock. https://youtu.be/6LhnfbmmROg
