This is Your Sign to Leave the Ranch

Leaving the ranch isn’t easy but it’s worth it, especially to tour agriculture globally. Jaclyn Wilson is a Nebraska rancher who uses her travel bug to improve their operation and reciprocate the favor with agriculturists from abroad.  

Her travel experiences started at a young age thanks to her parents.  

“Growing up, my parents would always take a week or two off and travel usually to the western part of the United States,” says Wilson. “We'd sometimes visit a ranch but for the most part we did the touristy things.” 

Her desire to travel only increased and the Nebraska LEAD program was her first experience overseas. Today, she continues to travel internationally three to four weeks each year.  

“As I've traveled more, we've seen these experiences fall back on the ranch. They’ve changed a lot of our perception on things in general,” shares Wilson. “I've discovered a lot of neat things overseas that we've incorporated into our operation.” 

Traveling to New Zeeland, brought about a seemingly simple change that has a great impact to the efficiency of her ranch.  

“We have four whiteboards and a Skylight calendar in our shop office that have priorities for the week, ranch projects, schedules and everything along those lines,” says Wilson. “If I'm not here in the shop, my team can look and they can see other things that are going on too...They can take the initiative and go out and do it without me telling them to.” 

Genetic investments have also changed due to her international travels.  

Wilson says, “I started a new business in 2024 and invested in some cattle down in Uruguay because I was seeing genetics overseas, especially Red Angus, that could benefit the genetics that I have currently on the ranch and other genetics in the US.” 

Travel opportunities for Wilson come in a variety of forms, but her most recent trip was through the Nuffield Scholars program.  

“In the 1940s in the UK, there was a gentleman by the name of Lord Nuffield who realized that there seemed to be an educational gap in young adults that were already established in their career,” shares Wilson. “So he established an endowment and a scholarship program.” 

Wilson was one of five recipients selected in the United States in 2024; and 19 countries participate in the program which consists of a contemporary scholars conference, four to seven weeks of independent travel for a research project and a five-week global focus program.  

“I had to be in Japan on March 14th, and I met up with 10 other scholars from 8 different countries,” says Wilson. “We all had different backgrounds whether it be agriculture production or industry…We had a wide array of people.” 

Wilson saw first-hand how different countries experience different challenges, but one common theme was water.  

“Over 50 % of the Netherlands is under sea level,” explains Wilson. “Water is a massive issue…When you have water and you have cattle, there always seems to be a nitrate topic that follows.” 

On the other hand, Kenya needs access to more water.  

“In Kenya, it can take four to eight hours in a day for them to walk to get water to just do basic things like cleaning dishes or washing clothes,” says Wilson.  

The water theme connected back to the United States portion of the tour too.  

“West Texas shares the same aquifer that we do here in Nebraska,” says Wilson. “And there's people down there that say there won't be water by 2040, but yet you've got these massive dairies and data centers that have moved into West Texas.” 

The perception foreigners have of the United States beef industry was another key takeaway for Wilson.  

“The perception overseas of US beef still is not necessarily a positive one,” explains Wilson. “Your countries like South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia feel that the US beef industry is unsanitary, disease-like, there's no traceability, they're all in confinement in factory farms and they're being force-fed antibiotics and growth promotants.” 

This perception largely goes back to the rhetoric they’ve been told for years, but it’s still a perception that needs to be addressed. 

“I cannot tell you how pleased I've been with the interaction that I've had specifically with the US Meat Export Federation,” says Wilson. “I think that they've done a stellar job trying to get that messaging across about what the beef industry really is like in the US, but I still think we have a lot of work to do.” 

While traveling is necessary and enjoyable, one of the best parts is always coming home and applying what you’ve learned. 

Wilson says, “There are so many great things to get home to and to realize you can make your own decisions. You can run your own business.” 

Listen to the full conversation on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast.