CLEAR Conversations at CattleCon: Rancher Steve Wooten on Sustainability and Stewardship

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Wooten’s story begins long before he ever set foot on the ranch. His family’s roots trace back to the late 1800s, when his great-grandfather immigrated from Ireland and settled in New Mexico. An entrepreneur by necessity and by nature, Wooten’s great-grandfather built a mercantile, marketed sheep, goats, and cattle, served as sheriff, and even founded a local bank. When his wife insisted on returning to the mountains she loved, the family eventually settled near the Colorado–New Mexico border in an area defined by volcanic origins and exceptionally rich soil. In 1929, his great-grandfather purchased what would become Beatty Canyon Ranch, land that has now remained in the family for nearly a century.

Wooten moved to the ranch at just 17 years old, but not without encouragement to explore the world beyond it. His family insisted he attend college and return only if ranching was truly the life he wanted. After four and a half years of higher education, Wooten and his wife Joy returned home in 1979, bringing new skills and fresh perspectives. Today, the ranch is home to the fifth and sixth generations of the family, with children and grandchildren actively involved—living proof of the multigenerational legacy so often cited in agriculture.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement. Over time, skepticism within the industry softened as producers saw that sustainability efforts were about strengthening beef’s future, not threatening it.

One of the most significant changes at Beatty Canyon Ranch came in the mid-2000s, when Steve and Joy committed to transitioning from a high-cost operation to a low-cost grazing-focused system. Years of drought had forced hard decisions, and they realized that daily feeding and heavy equipment use were neither economically nor environmentally sustainable. By reducing hay purchases, eliminating daily feeding, and relying more heavily on strategic grazing and minimal supplementation, they dramatically lowered costs and fuel use.

That transition wasn’t easy. Reducing inputs exposed weaknesses in the herd, particularly fertility issues that had previously been masked by supplemental feeding. Over several years, the ranch culled roughly 20% of its cows, ultimately rebuilding a herd that could thrive primarily on grass. Today, the operation boasts breed-up rates near 97%, a testament to the long-term payoff of difficult short-term decisions.

Technology has also played a growing role in their grazing management. Virtual fencing has allowed the ranch to subdivide massive pastures—some spanning thousands of acres—without the expense of traditional fencing. This has improved forage utilization, protected high-quality areas, and created flexibility that simply wasn’t possible before. Wooten sees this technology as a game changer, especially as future developments may integrate health monitoring, movement data, and even reproductive indicators.

Throughout the conversation, Sellers highlighted Wooten’s openness to learning and experimentation. He credited much of that mindset to mentors, including his uncle and influential educators he encountered during college. Exposure to holistic range management concepts early in his career instilled a habit of questioning assumptions and seeking better ways to work with nature rather than against it.

That same commitment to continual learning was evident in 2025, when Wooten joined researchers, industry leaders, and fellow producers at the State of the Science Summit at UC Davis. There, he shared insights from the ranch while engaging in dialogue about the latest grazing systems, and sustainability in animal agriculture—bringing the openness that shape his work at home to another stage.

As the episode wrapped up, Sellers asked Wooten what he would say to producers wary of the term “sustainability.” Sustainability, he explained, is simply stewardship with intention—an effort to improve efficiency, environmental outcomes, and long-term viability without sacrificing productivity. Once producers understand that these initiatives are collaborative, voluntary, and grounded in science, fear tends to fade.

For Wooten, sustainability is both a personal goal and a professional responsibility. He believes the beef industry can improve efficiency, reduce losses, and tell a stronger story about its role in feeding people with largely human-inedible resources. Conversations like the one at CattleCon, he noted, are invigorating—sparking ideas and building connections; showing that progress often comes from open dialogue.