The beef industry is staring down a generational bottleneck. Land values are soaring, interest rates and replacement costs remain steep, and many farm children are choosing town jobs over late-night calvings. With 61% of ranchers anticipating a new business partner within five years, according to the 2026 State of the Beef Industry Report, traditional parent-to-child succession is no longer the only game in town.
According to the report, the share of those incoming partners who are not family members has ranged from 5% in 2024 and 2026 to as high as 17% in 2025. That shift signals a quiet revolution across cow country: From Wisconsin’s pastures to the plains of South Dakota, veteran cattlemen are crafting innovative equity-building partnerships with first-generation ranchers to secure the future of production agriculture.
From Hired Hand to Managing Partner
Jerry Huth of Oakfield, Wis., started Huth Polled Herefords when he was 12 years old as a 4-H project. When he graduated from college in 1973, he bought the farm from his dad and ran registered Herefords. He knew his sons weren’t interested in continuing the cow herd as they both pursued other careers. However, they were interested in continuing management of the farmland, which also includes recreational land used for hunting.
“I sort of saw this coming many years ago that the boys didn’t have that interest in the cattle operation, and I think that I am not alone out there,” Huth says. “I think there’s a lot of these guys that are getting up close to retirement age that may not have someone right behind them coming into the operation.”
Josh Scharf, a peer to Huth’s sons in high school, was interested in the cattle and built a relationship with Huth.
“Josh has worked with me for a long time,” Huth explains. “The boys have other interests on the farm than the cattle, and Josh liked the cows. Once an opportunity arose here to be a manager, he took it.”
Huth began selling Scharf registered cattle from his operation that didn’t make the cut to continue in the registered herd. Scharf had no interest in maintaining a registered herd but wanted to build a commercial cow-calf operation. This partnership was a way for Scharf to build equity and get started in the industry. What began as a small herd about 10 years ago now consists of 150 females.
“About a year and a half ago as Josh was developing the commercial herd along with managing my registered herd, we dispersed the registered herd and now he’s expanded his to be full capacity for the cattle operation,” Huth says.
For Huth, this opportunity allowed a young person to build equity over time by working for him, providing reassurance the land and resources would continue in production agriculture.
“That’s the most inhibitive thing on some of these young people — they just don’t have the cash to get things going,” he says.
As they continued to build Scharf’s role into the operation, Huth also turned over hay ground to him and let him assume rental agreements on public land they utilized with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“It’s a very gradual thing and the bottom line is I’m 75 years old,” Huth says. “Sooner or later, the good Lord’s going to take me home and we can’t take this stuff with us.”
Trading Labor for Livestock
Across state lines in Draper, located in south-central South Dakota, Paul Patterson has about 250 commercial cows and 2,500 acres of diversified crops. When no one in the family wanted to continue the operation, Paul and his wife, Katherine, decided they would like to try to help somebody else establish a farm and ranch operation.
They came across a friend who mentioned Kurt Vander Schaaf’s name. Paul and Kurt met to talk and began a partnership.
“He worked for us for a wage one year, and then we started trying to do something for him to build some equity,” Paul explains. “Basically, when my cows are culled out, he can replace them with his cows.”
Kurt also continues to work for an hourly wage on the farming side of the operation and pays rent for pasture as he builds his cow herd.
“There’s people out there that are certainly capable, but the capital needs for production agriculture are just so steep that it’s pretty hard for them to build all that without some help, and I guess that’s what we’re trying to do,” Paul says.
They go year by year, and Paul, Katherine, Kurt and his wife, Hannah, generally sit down in January and talk about what they would like to see done the next year.
“It’s really hard to put down on paper. Looking down the road four and five years, it’s hard to do and that’s where you got to have a little faith in each other,” Paul says.
Paul notes Kurt’s work ethic and Christian lifestyle stood out to him when looking for a successor. Kurt needed land, facilities and stability to continue building his herd.
“It was kind of a leap of faith on his part when he came to work for us that first year, and since then we’ve built on it every year,” Paul explains. “Presently, he owns about half of the cows.”
When Kurt and Hannah got married, Paul deeded 10 acres of land to them and they have opportunities over time to purchase more, as well as an estate plan in place to take care of them.
“I think there are two things to remember. First, somebody helped you get started, whether it was a family member or someone else,” Paul summarizes. “If you want to do this, you got to help them to get started. The other thing would be that you got to give them some way to build some equity, and I guess through the cows is kind of what we decided to do.”
Paul says persistence is key because this process is not done overnight. Finding the right person for this kind of succession plan takes time and he wants to see them succeed, knowing he helped them get started.
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