Young rancher lives, breathes agriculture

Like every other little boy growing up, Lee Wasland dreamed of being a firefighter and a cowboy. As time progressed, Wasland set his whimsical fantasies aside to realize that his dream was to work outside with his hands when he grew up. After graduating high school in 2005, Wasland headed to South Dakota State University (SDSU) to pursue a career in agriculture.

Wasland's life has been dedicated to production agriculture since day one. He can still remember driving a tractor solo for the first time when he was seven years old. On the ranch are Lee's parents, Larry and Lorene, and he is the youngest to older sister, Lindsey. Wasland's family owns Grazing Acres, a ranching outfit near Wallace, SD consisting of 1,000 acres of farmland and 200 stock cows. Dairy cows were also a part of the operation until 1997, when they sold out after 30 years to concentrate on the beef cattle. Today, the Waslands run 170 commercial cows and 25 Registered Angus females and farm corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa.

“Now that I'm back home at the ranch, I would like to place my emphasis on the livestock side of the operation,” said Wasland, who will be the fourth generation rancher on the home place. “I'm hoping to expand the registered herd and to work on being more efficient. As far as production goes, we are nearly at our maximum, and now we can work on being more efficient and better marketing our products.”

Investing in education

Wasland's time at SDSU was a strong investment for his future in production agriculture. In his first semester, he started out as a General Agriculture major, but he quickly found his niche in Animal Science and Agronomy. During the next four, Lee was actively involved in Block and Bridle, the Livestock Judging Team and the Meat and Animal Evaluation Team. He also assisted novice showmen during the annual Little International event at the university. Of his time at SDSU, Wasland says he learned some valuable lessons.

“The judging experience was a really great opportunity to learn more about production agriculture, while having the chance to tour different operations and learn from the state's livestock producers,” said Wasland. “And, the classes offered were great, too. I think Marketing and Evaluation along with Grain and Livestock Marketing were both great classes to teach us how to evaluate our animals value, read the market charts and speculate to where we think the market may be going.”

During the school year, Wasland worked at the SDSU Cow-Calf Unit and the Animal Science Arena. In addition, he also gained great experience throughout his college career through summer internships. He worked at Lone Creek Cattle Company in the Sandhills of Nebraska. He also helped out at his uncle's operation, RBM Livestock, LLC. Both of these ranches gave Wasland an opportunity to be around a lot of cattle.

“Both of these jobs were really good experiences with their set of challenges,” said Wasland. “At Lone Creek, I worked at the heifer development ranch, heat detecting, artificial inseminating, and working to best utilize the grass. At RBM, I help clip and burn bulls before the production sale in March. RBM also has a feedlot that I assisted on, as well.”

Follow your dreams

Of course, being back on the ranch doesn't come without its fair share of challenges to overcome. For many multi-generational operations, the biggest challenge is new ideas challenging old traditions.

“It's the old adage that you can't teach and old dog new tricks,” said Wasland. “Sometimes it's hard to realize and implement new ideas when some things have been done for ages. I try to be a good student to new ideas, and I hope that someday I will manage the place. So, I would like to start being involved in the decision making process. However, I love working with my dad everyday. It's great to be able to work alongside him, and I couldn't ask for a better teacher.”

Wasland admits that while the basic day-to-day operations of a ranch haven't changed much, today's generation would face new challenges that the previous generations didn't have to worry about. Lee admitted that it could be difficult for young people to get involved in production agriculture. Competing with outside interests for land can be a nearly impossible task. Trying to expand to fit another person can also be difficult, and Wasland encourages young people to find supplemental income near the operation to give support during the beginning years.

“My advice to others is to find something you are interested in and follow your dreams,” said Wasland. “If you are passionate and work hard, the money will follow. Ranching often means long, hard hours, but it's great to be able to enjoy setting your own schedule and working outside.”

Wasland realizes that for every consumer dollar spent at the grocery store, the farmer only receives about $0.18. Yet, he doesn't let that figure get him down; he is convinced that he has a future in production agriculture, despite the depressing figures. He is dedicated to his career in beef cattle production, and regardless of the obstacles he faces, Tri-State Livestock News is confident that he will find great success down the road.