The Regenaissance Podcast Why Most Farmers Don't Make It Full-Time - August Hortsmann | #92
August Hortsmann is a first-generation Missouri cattleman and founder of Hortsmann Cattle Company, a regenerative ranch built on his family’s land near St. Louis.
What began as a childhood passion grew into a full-time operation which, over the past eight years, has integrated adaptive grazing, direct-to-consumer beef sales, and long-term soil-focused practices. His education was established through years of study, observation, and trial. August spent countless seasons working ranch jobs integrating regenerative practices, allowing him studying grazing systems and testing various methods.
Augusts story shares undertones of the uncertain, long road taken for each farmer to reach their dream of working full-time. For August, as you'll hear, he made it happen, but for 84% of farmers in America, they work other jobs. August shares his shift from conventional, university-trained agriculture to regenerative practice, the economic realities of running a small meat business, and his philosophy on scale, sustainability, and soil health.
Key Topics
- Early life and the arduous path to founding Hortsmann Cattle Co
- Transition from conventional to regenerative grazing
- Why multi-species farming can break a business
- What adaptive grazing actually looks like on the ground
- 'Breaking even' and the economic realities of cattle farming
- Scaling regenerative agriculture for the future
Why You Should Listen
- What the path to full-time farming really looks like
- How farmers survive years before breaking even
- Building a regenerative cattle business from nothing
- Lessons from eight years of adaptive grazing
- The hard economics of small-scale beef
Connect with August
Timestamps
00:00:00 – Childhood roots and first memories on the family farm
00:03:00 – Starting Hortsmann Cattle Co in college
00:06:00 – University teachings vs. real-world economics
00:10:00 – Working off-farm while building a cattle business
00:13:00 – Discovering regenerative agriculture through Soil & Water
00:19:00 – Adding multi-species and the “death by diversity” lesson
00:29:00 – Burnout and the decision to simplify operations
00:31:00 – Quitting full-time work and going all-in on the farm
00:36:00 – Adaptive grazing and learning from nature’s rhythms
00:43:00 – Shifting from farmers’ markets to online direct sales
00:53:00 – Educating consumers on bulk buying and real costs
00:57:00 – Why small meat businesses struggle with margins
01:03:00 – Processing, scale, and the bottlenecks of small producers
01:09:00 – Is regenerative agriculture scalable?
01:13:00 – Advice for aspiring ranchers
01:17:00 – Social media, misinformation, and consumer trust
01:20:00 – Building a ranch that can sustain future generations