February 08, 2025

Monroe farmer Jake Wheeler hosts ‘Farminar’

Monroe farmer Jake Wheeler of Good Shepherd Grass Farms led a recent webinar

By Ty Rushing
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Jake Wheeler, a farmer from Monroe, runs Good Shepherd Grass Farms with his wife Amber and four children. Last week, Wheeler hosted a 'farminar,' a web-based seminar, where he talked about raising cattle and poultry naturally. (Submitted photo)

Seven years ago, Jake Wheeler bought 160 acres to start a farm near Monroe despite having no experience in farming whatsoever.

These days, that former rookie is a bona-fide farmer and shared his expertise about his time runing Good Sheperd Grass Farms through a “Farminar” last Tuesday as a part of his membership with Practical Farmers of Iowa.

“They put on seminars that are online through their website for members to learn from, listen to and discuss with each other,” Wheeler said. “So basically, we’ll be putting on a short discussion about what we do, how we farm and there will be interactive questions throughout that.”

Jake and his wife, Amber, have participated in Farminars in the past and found them helpful.

“Actually, yes we have,” Wheeler said of his participation. “My wife has done a few more of them than I have, and they put out some good information. It’s good to collaborate with people that are doing things similar and are like-minded.”

PFA’s online Farminars are a bit non-traditional, which suits most of the farmers who participate in them. They are 90 minutes long, totally free of charge and held online every Tuesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

“Mostly what these allow you to do is share information, and learn from each other” Wheeler said. “It’s a little bit out of the mainstream. It’s not straightforward production agriculture, it’s a little bit different information than you would receive from Iowa State or from your local elevator or fertilizer dealer or seedcorn dealer or something like that.”

And as a non-traditional farmer, Wheeler has definitely taken on a new approach with his farm. The Good Shepherd Grass Farms website, goodshepherdgrass.com explains a bit more about their process:

“Here at Good Shepherd Grass Farms, we raise Angus cattle...our broilers are a Cornish-Rock cross.All of our livestock are raised without any growth hormones or antibiotics. All of them are raised outside in the sunshine.”

“Our cattle are moved daily to new pastures ensuring the highest quality forage possible and allowing manure and parasites to be left behind. Our poultry follow the cattle similar to flocks of birds following the herds of buffalo on the American Prairie.”

“This process mimics nature by recycling nutrients naturally and allows different species to benefit from each other. By managing the ground this way there is no need for any chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides to be used.”

Wheeler doesn’t know how many members took place in that discussion last Tuesday, but he qualified it as a success.

“It went real, real good,” Wheeler said. “There were quite a few good questions. They asked a lot of practical things, the size of our pasture, how often we’re moving cattle, what time of the year do we have our calves, what kind of cows work best in this management system?”

“It was all online, so I’m not really sure how many people watched,” Wheeler continued. “But a lot of people got involved with it. The questions were good and there were a lot of comments at the end. They (the participants) said, ‘It was pretty good and one of the better ones they’d been involved with.’ I thought it was pretty good. Every time we get a chance to bounce ideas off each other and kind of learn what other guys are doing and what’s working for him and what’s working for another guy, it works out great.”

Staff Writer Ty Rushing (641)-792-3121 Ext. 426 or trushing@newtondailynews.com