3-Part Series, Spring 2026

Virtual Ranch Management

Mach 24th • March 31st • April 7th

12PM-1:30PM MST

Platform: Zoom

Register now

Forage Forward: Exploring How Grazing Can Grow Your Operation and Finances 

Join WIR as we partner with Noble Research Institute and Wild Ranch Solutions for our spring Virtual Ranch Management series! We are excited to offer a grazing-focused, three-part virtual series this March/April. This offering includes a fundamentals of grazing session focused on small ruminants, an investment in grazing infrastructure session, and a session weighing the finances of raising your own hay versus buying it!

As the grass gets green join us to learn about new ways to apply grazing principles to your operation! We’ve designed each session to stand on its own — join one, or catch all three!

All sessions will include an hour-long presentation followed by a Q & A with presenters.

What To Expect

  • Session 1

    Fundamentals of Grazing with a Focus on Small Ruminants With Josie Morris of Noble Research Institute

    Josie Morris will offer different grazing strategies that ranchers can engage in, discuss the benefits of adaptive grazing for pasture rest and recovery, and demystify important grazing terms such as carrying capacity and stocking rate. Josie ranches in southern Oklahoma and runs 700 hair sheep and 500 goats and will focus this session on small ruminant grazing!

  • Session 2

    The Business Case for Better Grazing with Caitlin Word of Noble Research Institute

    Caitlin Word explores what it means to strategically implement more intensive grazing systems. In this session, learn how to view added time, labor, or infrastructure costs as an investment and forecast a return on those investments to keep your business, your livestock, and your forage all working for you. If you are intimidated by added time or costs associated with more strategic grazing, join us to gain confidence in grazing decisions that support your bottom line!

  • Session 3

    The Financials of Hay: Raising vs. Buying with Caroline Wild of Wild Ranch Solutions

    Caroline Wild will analyze the financial trade-offs of growing and harvesting your own hay versus purchasing harvested forage instead. Using accrual enterprise analysis we will break down the costs associated with putting up your own hay so that you can make informed decisions about how to feed your livestock when grazing isn’t available. 

These sessions are most appropriate for active farmers and ranchers, but beginning farmers and ranchers, along with curious community members, are also welcome.

Register Here

Get to Know Your Facilitators, Speakers, and Presenters

Caitlin serves as a regenerative ranching consultant at Noble Research Institute where she is passionate about helping producers thrive through profitable business practices and regenerative management—for the benefit of people, land and livestock. With 9 years of industry experience she is focused on helping producers build profitable, regenerative businesses by increasing forage utilization, managing ranch costs and grounding decisions in practical business principles.

Caitlin Word

Josie serves as a regenerative ranching advisor at Noble Research Institute and previously served as a ranch assistant at Noble’s Pasture Demonstration Facility (PDF), where she focused on small ruminants. After graduating from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor's degree in animal science, Josie moved back to Oklahoma, where she is now a co-operator of a 2,000+ head small ruminant enterprise consisting of both sheep and goats, utilizing leased land and solar fields, as well as a stocker operation. Josie has a desire to share her love for connecting proper nutrition, soil health and animal welfare.

Josie Morris

Caroline brings years of experience facilitating Women in Ranching’s Virtual Ranch Management series. Through that work, as well as her personal business: Wild Ranch Solutions, Caroline has developed a deep, hands-on understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing women in ranching. She brings a thoughtful, grounded approach to helping individuals clarify their vision, commit to meaningful goals, and move toward them with purpose and support. Caroline Wild will be leading this Virtual Ranch Management series.

Caroline Wild

Registration & Ticketing

Women in Ranching is committed to making a portion of our programming accessible to all. However, hosting and facilitating our programs requires significant resources, and while we strive to keep financial barriers low, some events still come with notable costs. To ensure accessibility for everyone, while also ensuring we cover our true costs and ensure the sustainability of our organization, we offer a tiered payment option for this program. Please take a moment to read through each tier and consider what is feasible for you at this time.

  • VRM Season Pass

    $125

    Choose this tier if you, like us, love our Virtual Ranch Management series so much that you want to register for spring and pre-register for our fall series. If you aren’t ready to commit, choose an option below and you’ll be able to register for our fall series soon.

  • Community Champion

    $75

    Choose this tier if your business is well established and you have stable access to land, financial resources, and food security. Your contribution at this level helps sponsor lower-tier tickets and offsets operational costs, allowing more women ranchers to join who might otherwise be unable to afford a ticket.

    By selecting this tier, you are empowering a more diverse and inclusive gathering by ensuring that people with varied economic backgrounds can attend.

  • Steward of the Land

    $50

    Choose this tier if you are building your business, lease land without full stability, and/or are in the early years of paying for your land, but you have a sound bank relationship and are food secure. By selecting this tier, you are demonstrating a commitment to paying our leaders and speakers their full value as presenters.

  • Emerging Rancher

    $25

    Choose this tier if you are a beginning but active rancher or farmer (defined by USDA as 10 years or less of management experience) and have limited financial resources but still wish to actively support the event and our community’s mission. This tier covers the cost of your attendance and helps keep the event sustainable. By selecting this tier, you’re demonstrating a commitment to our shared community values and supporting accessible, impactful programming.

  • Scholarship

    We offer a limited number of community-supported tickets to make this accessible to all.  These tickets reflect our belief that everyone has something valuable to contribute, and that cost should not be a barrier to connection, learning or leadership. Apply for a scholarship today.

Register Here

Meet our Sponsors & Collaborators

The spring Virtual Ranch Management series is made possible through the generous support of Mars Petcare, ButcherBox, and the Plank Stewardship Initiative.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The Virtual Ranch Management Series is a 3-part workshop hosted on Zoom designed to enhance technical knowledge and skills related to ranching in a community supported environment.

  • These sessions are most appropriate for active farmers and ranchers, but beginning farmers and ranchers, along with curious community members are also welcome.

  • Women in Ranching is committed to making a portion of our programming accessible to all. However, hosting and facilitating our programs requires significant resources, and while we strive to keep financial barriers low, some events still come with notable costs. To ensure accessibility for everyone while covering our true costs and ensuring the sustainability of our organization, we offer a tiered payment option for this program.

  • All sessions will be conducted virtually via Zoom. You will receive access to all recordings and pdf’s after the series concludes.

  • The information collected during registration and in the post-event survey helps us enhance your event experience, improve future events, and secure proper funding. We use this data for event logistics, tailoring content to meet your needs, gathering feedback for continuous improvement, and fulfilling grant reporting requirements. Rest assured, your privacy is important to us, and all information is handled with confidentiality.