Snow storm after snow storm, digging out corrals for the 10th (or more) time, winter feed being stretched to get through the next couple of months, where is spring? Spring is my favorite season. The various baby animals, lilacs, birds and green grass is all so refreshing. It always reminds me that there has to be some storms (no pun intended) before growth can be seen.

I am Sam Vangsness. My husband, Levi and I live on a little patch of heaven west of Mandan with our horses, Cowboy and Dog as well as many chickens. We are working on starting and growing our ranch business. We’ve known the Robison family for a handful of years, and I’m excited to be asked to write for the Dry Creek Ranch blog.

Many are waiting for spring for the sun to show its face and melt the record amount of snow we have, trust me we are too. But spring to us also means being able to see all the work we’ve put into our ranch business come to light. We will kick off our first year of business by grazing yearlings starting in May. Levi and I have put work into this dream for many years. It has been such a ride with many different options, opinions, and opportunities. I could go on about how we arrived at what we did but I want to keep this short and concise by sharing a couple of tips. Three key tips we have kept in mind on this journey are to always keep learning, find a reliable team, and give grace.

I’ve lost count of the number of books and podcast episodes Levi has asked me to listen to throughout this journey. There is so much valuable information at our fingertips nowadays it’s hard not to learn something new or build on what you’ve already learned. Listening to podcasts, reading books, and attending workshops has helped us narrow down what will work for us and our operation right now. Although, it’s been hard to wrap our heads around the fact we can’t be where we want to be right now, but everyone has to start somewhere. We are focused on starting and know we will have the opportunity to grow over time.

I can’t put into words how important it is to have a strong, reliable team to lean towards when you are starting fresh. From family and friends to insurance agents, bankers, CPA’s etc., everyone has a place on our team. We are fortunate to have family and friends with knowledge in the industry to turn to when we have questions or are looking for input. The resources we listen to and read have opened our minds and introduced us to very knowledgeable people in their respective industries such as in finance and insurance. It has been important to us to have professionals on our team who are not only experts in their fields but also share the same passion for agriculture.. “Your network is your net worth” - Unknown

As many know, it’s the hardest to give yourself grace. Production agriculture is such a trial and error industry and that’s okay. We often compare our own operation to others who have been in the business for decades or want a certain grazing system to work on our operation because it works on someone else’s. But in reality that isn’t reality. Weather is never going to be perfect, soil is never going to be perfect, and guess what, neither are you. Give yourself, your spouse and your operation some grace, take a breath, and try again.

Spring will be here before you know it and we can’t wait. If you want to follow Levi and I on this new journey follow me on Instagram, samjvangsness. Below are a few of our favorite podcasts and books that have been helpful to us and we think you’d enjoy them as well.

Podcast- Farming Without the Bank Podcast with Mary Jo Irmen, Working Cows with Clay Conry, Herd Quitter Podcast with Jared Luhman

Books- Knowledge Rich Ranching by Allan Nation, The Turnaround: A Rancher's Story by David Pratt, Becoming Your Own Banker by R. Nelson Nash

Is it Spring yet?