Texas Grazing Network Mentor Information

Mentors with demonstrated experience and leadership in regenerative grazing will provide individualized guidance and support to mentees who are interested in adopting or improving regenerative grazing in their operations. They will participate in a mentor training program to receive initial training on mentorship as well as a variety of topics related to running a successful grazing operation, including soil health, adaptive grazing, succession planning, marketing, and business resources. They will be financially compensated for their time and effort (details below).  

Qualifications

  • Those interested in being mentors need to demonstrate experience with regenerative ranching methods.  
  • Beef cattle should be a producer’s primary agricultural enterprise to be a mentor. 
  • Mentors should be located in or near the designated regions for this program. 
  • Mentors must be able to commit at least three years to the TGN. We expect this time commitment to be approximately: 

         – 200 hours in year one;
         – 240 hours in year two; and
         – 50 hours in year three.  

  • The size of a mentor’s operation does not matter.  

Responsibilities 

  • Attend in-person mentor training sessions (December 11-12, 2024, and April 9, 2025) and virtual training sessions (dates & times are TBD for virtual sessions). 
  • Provide mentorship in the form of technical assistance (TA) to other cattle producers on implementing regenerative grazing practices.  
  • Provide mentorship to up to eight mentees throughout the project.   
  • Conduct 50 hours of TA per mentee in the first year of mentorship, followed by 10 hours of TA per mentee in the second year of mentorship. An example of TA includes: 5 visits to a mentee’s ranch (4 visits in year 1, 1 visit in year 2 of a mentorship), hosting mentees at your place of operation (or alternate site if more appropriate) for tour/demonstrations, monthly check-in calls with each mentee, planning and preparation activities, written feedback and recommendations. 
  • TA topics and activities include: completing mentee ranch assessments, establishing goals, regenerative grazing principles and practices, soil health, forage assessments, livestock health, applying conservation practices, technical & financial assistance programs and support organizations/resources, succession planning, financial planning, marketing, and creating a grazing management plan. 
  • Record activities conducted with mentees. 
  • Provide feedback and observations to AFT staff and complete surveys as requested. 

Compensation 

  • Mentors will receive $30 per hour of engagement with mentees (60 total hours per mentee x $30 = $1,800 per completed mentorship).  
  • Mentors will be compensated for travel to mentees’ places of operation at a rate of $0.655 per mile.  
  • Mentors will be compensated for attending all in-person training sessions (approximately 20 hours) and virtual training sessions (approximately 10 hours) at a rate of $30 per hour, and they will be reimbursed for lodging, meals, and mileage to attend in-person training.