When Jerry Huth was 11 years old, his father bought him a couple of Black Angus heifers to show at a 4-H fair. Those cows sparked what would become a lifelong family business. Three years later in 1965, his father bought a farm outside Oakfield, Wisconsin and took up ranching full-time. Over 60 years, that small operation has grown into Huth Polled Herefords and S&H Livestock Enterprises, a cutting-edge, award-winning ranch with over 400 acres and 150 cows. Almost 60 years later, Jerry is now looking to pass on the business to the next generation.
Growing up, Josh Scharf was friends with Jerry’s two sons and would play at the Huth family’s ranch. In eighth grade, Scharf started helping out a little, working for Huth in the summers through high school. But after graduating college, he took a completely different career path – spending five years as a claims adjuster for an auto company, where he worked long hours.
“My wife and I had two daughters, and one day we just said, ‘What are we doing? We’re spending a fortune on day care. We’re not getting to see our kids.’ So, I quit my job, and I went back to Jerry to see if he needed some help,” Scharf says.
What started as a part-time gig quickly grew, as Huth saw the young man had a knack for the work. “Josh is extremely talented,” Huth says. He brought Scharf on full-time, and then partnered with him to buy a new herd of beef cows.
The ranchers operate a cow-calf operation, which means that every year they breed their cows. Then, the newborn calves graze throughout the warm months, before being sold to different cattle operations around the country where they continue to grow.
Over the years, Huth has been at the forefront of sustainable ranching practices, like rotational grazing. His cows are rotated to different paddocks of grass every day. After they chew the grass down to a healthy length, they’re moved again to allow the grass to grow over time. Through this process, cattle grazing helps to restore nutrients in the soil. Since the grass is constantly growing across his land, it pulls in more carbon from the air. This system of grazing and rest is much like the patterns of other herd animals, like bison and deer, that have been on the land for centuries.
Sustainability isn’t new to cattle producers across the U.S. They have seen these benefits for generations. “It’s good for the soil, good for the cattle, and great for the environment,” Scharf says. “With our model, cattle production is almost carbon neutral. We’re converting a non-edible product, grass, into a healthy, high-protein product with almost no carbon footprint.”
Their work hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2022, Huth Polled Herefords and S&H Livestock Enterprises received an environmental sustainability award recognizing their efforts. The award also honored their efforts to keep the nearby Horicon Marsh clean and prevent land erosion. “The environmental aspect of our work is very important to me,” Scharf says.
As of 2017, the ranchers have also been grazing on public land rented from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The land was initially heavily overgrown with invasive woody vegetation that the DNR was burning or attempting to control with herbicides. But when Huth and Scharf began grazing there, within just the first year, they already saw the overgrown vegetation heavily reduced and replaced by the natural prairie grass that the land used to be. Partnerships like this take place across the country, and cattle producers of all kinds have seen similar benefits.
Now, Huth is looking to retire in the next few years and spend the winters somewhere warm, while Scharf is ready to step up, grow his herd, and lead the next generation of grazing at this local ranch.
“I think sustainable grazing is the future of farming,” Scharf says. “There are so many benefits environmentally. It’s a great way to feed the world.”
Sponsored by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, and Wisconsin Beef Council.
