Luke Perman - Living his values socially, economically & ecologically

Luke Perman is a thoughtful steward of his land, the cattle, and the wildlife at Rock Hills Ranch in South Dakota. A fifth-generation rancher, Luke is focused on long-term sustainability and you can tell his values are reflected in the business. Beyond his holistic philosophy on range management, Luke actively engages with the public to help spread the word that raising high quality beef is not only compatible, it can actually enhance the quality of grasslands in the Great Plains.

During our conversation, Luke and I talk about how he maintains flexibility to match the grass available with the animals on his ranch, the dangers when optimizing for just one metric, and the importance in applying principles from other industries to his family business. We talk about soil carbon and carbon markets, challenges accessing markets from the Northern Great Plains, difficulties in raising antibiotic free meat, and so much more. I hope you enjoy!

--- FULL EPISODE NOTES WITH LINKS @ https://truestewards.com/luke-perman ---

--- TOPICS DISCUSSED ---

1:42 – An introduction to Rock Hills Ranch

4:29 – The importance of diversifying your operation to match forage supply with animal demand

7:34 – Influencing rate of cattle growth

9:37 – Grassland carbon, the voluntary carbon market, and accurately quantifying the amount of carbon sequestered

13:42 – Beware of the silver bullet and focusing on only one metric

15:30 – Influences outside of agriculture, learning how to think, and the power of observation

19:17 – One of the biggest challenges to producers in the Northern Great Plains is access to markets

22:18 – Drought resilient strategies, the power of observation, and trigger dates

25:30 – Grass fed vs grain fed, the effect of starch on the bovine rumen

29:52 – Difficulties when raising antibiotic-free meat and the value of traceability in the beef supply chain

34:04 – Restoring the Great Plains, CRP, and issues bringing the bison back

38:46 – Finding Luke and Rock Hills Ranch on social media