Real Wealth Ranching

(Versión en Español a continuación)

Hello there, my friends, I’d like to sit down with you today—cup of coffee in hand—and talk about something that’s been stirring in my mind for years, and maybe in yours too. It’s about cattle, of course, but not only cattle. It’s about grass, soil, and the quiet wealth we walk across every single day without noticing.

You see, ranching often feels like a race. A race against time, weather, droughts, bills, markets, and sometimes against our own doubts. But here’s the thing: while we’re racing around, nature is whispering her steady rhythm underneath it all. The land isn’t in a rush. It’s waiting for us to slow down long enough to pay attention.

That’s the heart of what I want to share today. Not a quick tip, not a trick to squeeze another pound of beef per acre, but a way of observing that can transform how we ranch, how our land responds, and how we feel about it all.

The Season That Opened My Eyes

Back in 2012, we had one of those years y...

(Versión en Español a continuación)

Hello there, my friends, I’d like to sit down with you today—cup of coffee in hand—and talk about something that’s been stirring in my mind for years, and maybe in yours too. It’s about cattle, of course, but not only cattle. It’s about grass, soil, and the quiet wealth we walk across every single day without noticing.

You see, ranching often feels like a race. A race against time, weather, droughts, bills, markets, and sometimes against our own doubts. But here’s the thing: while we’re racing around, nature is whispering her steady rhythm underneath it all. The land isn’t in a rush. It’s waiting for us to slow down long enough to pay attention.

That’s the heart of what I want to share today. Not a quick tip, not a trick to squeeze another pound of beef per acre, but a way of observing that can transform how we ranch, how our land responds, and how we feel about it all.

The Season That Opened My Eyes

Back in 2012, we had one of those years y...

 (Versión en Español a continuación)

Howdy friends, you’ve probably heard me say it before: “Profit follows function.” But let me tell you, I didn’t always believe that.

Like most ranchers, I thought if I bought good-looking cattle, or the latest “hot” breed from the sale barn, or even animals with a stack of EPDs that looked impressive, I’d be on the right track.
However, the truth is that I learned the hard way that not all cattle are created equal... at least, not when it comes to performing in your environment, the quality of your grass, and your profit margins.
And that’s why I want to talk about something that can make or break a ranching business today: adapted genetics and selection.

Because the cows you run aren’t just cows. They’re your employees, your partners in land management, and your ticket to profit. Choose the wrong ones, and you’ll spend your life fighting nature. Choose the right ones, and suddenly, ranching gets simpler, more profitable, and more regenerative.

 (Versión en Español a continuación)

The Hardest Season of the Year, and Why we Finally Got Through It.

Howdy friends,
Every rancher has that one season they dread. For some, it’s the prolonged, hot droughts that seem to stretch forever. For others, it’s the bitter winters when water freezes solid, the wind cuts through every layer of clothing, and hay disappears like smoke in the wind.
For me? I’ve faced both. And I’ll be honest, there were years when I wondered if we were going to make it.
Today, I want to tell you the story of the hardest season we ever went through… and why we finally got through it. Not because we bought more hay. Not because we had a neighbor bail us out. But because we learned how to plan before the hard season hit.
And I want to be honest with you: this story is not about me pretending to be the expert who had it all figured out. This is about me being in the trenches — stressed, tired, broke, and nearly defeated — and what it felt like when I finally found a ...

 (Versión en Español a continuación)

"The Day It Finally Clicked: What Changed Everything About My Grazing"

Howdy, my friends,

There are days in ranching that blur together — the hot ones when you’re fixing fence, the cold ones when you’re breaking ice, the late nights checking calves, the early mornings moving cows. They’re all important, but most of them don’t stand out years later.

And then… There are those rare days that change everything.

For me, one of those days was the moment Total Grazing finally clicked.

That was the day my whole perspective shifted — not just on grass and cows, but on how I thought about grass, land, soil, and even the future of ranching itself.

Today, I want to take you behind the scenes of that moment. Because I think a lot of ranchers are standing right where I was back then: frustrated, running out of grass, feeding too much hay, and secretly wondering if they’ll ever get ahead.

So let me share what it felt like the day the lightbulb finally cam...

I hear it all the time.

“Jim, I’d love to graze the way you do, but I don’t have the infrastructure.”

And by infrastructure, they usually mean: miles of cross-fencing, permanent water lines, moveable water troughs in every single paddock, big fancy corrals, and a setup that looks like a feedlot engineer designed it.

It’s almost like ranchers believe success in regenerative grazing is reserved for the folks who can write a six-figure check to the fencing company.

I get it. We’ve all been told: “If you want to graze right, you’ve got to invest in infrastructure.”

But here’s the myth I want to bust wide open today: You don’t need a complex setup to succeed in Total Grazing.

In fact, the more complicated you make it, the less likely you are to stick with it. And when you strip it down to the essentials, that’s when grazing starts working — for your livestock, your land, and your wallet.

The Trap of Complexity

When I first started down this path, I thought I needed the works: mil...

Hello, I am Jim Elizondo, and I would like to share my story from my early years, when I sought to make my farm profitable.
Maybe you can relate to my story; I bought my 300-acre farm and immediately learned I wasn’t profitable.
I read an excellent book, "From Grass to Milk," written by McKeenan in New Zealand, in which he stated that the stocking rate determined profits more than any other factor.

I knew that I needed to maintain more productive units to dilute my yearly costs. But most of the grazing advice out there says not to increase your stocking rate immediately, and most grazing gurus, if not all, recommend de-stocking whenever the grass grows more slowly during the year. I could not reconcile these two very different recommendations. I did my calculations, and leaving more residual when the grass grew slower would mean I would be back on the first paddock sooner. During a slower growth period, this would result in overgrazed, unrecovered grass, which in turn overgrazes and shor...

(Versión en Español a continuación)

“Why We Teach This: It’s About More Than Cows & Grass”

Hello there, my friends — welcome back to another episode of the Fat Wallets Podcast. I’m Jim Elizondo from Real Wealth Ranching, and today’s episode is something a little different. Something a little closer to the heart.
I'd like to discuss with you why we do this. Why do we teach? Why do we pour time, effort, and energy into helping ranchers and farmers around the world change the way they manage their land, their herds, and their futures?
Because it’s not just about grazing techniques or growing more grass. It’s not just about increasing stocking rates to increase profits or building soil organic matter, even though those are real and powerful outcomes.
No, today I want to talk about the deeper “why.”

The real reason behind the Total Grazing Academy, behind these podcasts, behind every onsite course, every coaching call, every email, and lesson we put out there.
For us, this has never been ...

(Versión en Español a continuación)

Our online Total Grazing Academy Students around the world. Why does it work in different environments?

Hello, my friends — welcome back to the Fat Wallets Podcast. I’m Jaime Elizondo from Real Wealth Ranching, and today we’re going to talk about something that still amazes me every single time I log in to one of our coaching calls.
Today, I want to share with you the results being achieved on ranches and farms around the world. No theory, no random ideas - just the results we're getting.

There are ranchers and graziers from all around the world — from Texas to Tasmania, from Colombia to Alberta — showing up, learning, applying, and transforming their land through the Total Grazing Academy.
And not only that… It’s working.
In dry climates, wet climates, cold climates, and tropical ones. It’s working on Bahia grass and Bermuda grass, as well as fescue and native prairie mixes, on Brachiaria grass in South America and veld grass in Africa.
Today, I w...

(Versión en Español a continuación)

Hello, my friends! Welcome back to another episode of the Fat Wallets Podcast. I’m Jim Elizondo from Real Wealth Ranching, and today I want to take you across the ocean, to the green, rugged hills of northern Spain, where I recently had the privilege of teaching a course in the Basque Country.

Now, I’ve taught in many places, from South Texas to Argentina, Europe, the Tropics of South America, and the mountains of Mexico - but what I experienced on this trip left a lasting impression on me. I'd like to share that with you.

Because, as much as I came there to teach, I ended up witnessing something just as powerful.

Something I have been studying for a long time.

Something we may have forgotten here in the U.S. — or maybe never fully understood.

And that’s the role of hindgut fermenters like the horse — not as a pet, not as a symbol, but as a working grazer, a functional piece of the ecosystem, and a partner in restoring the land.

This is how...