MEET THE TEAM

  • REX RUTLEDGE

  • SUSAN ELDER

  • PATSY

    TOP HAND

  • THE HERD

    BRUSH MANAGERS

REX

Rex found his way to agriculture through a regenerative ranching apprenticeship program in Montana. With a Biology background, he was attracted to understanding living ecosystems, particularly those influenced by the impact of properly managed ruminants. Rex still calls Florida home and is just as comfortable on Florida beaches as he is on the Kansas prairie. Rex founded Restoration Grazing in 2022 —just 45 does, an old red truck and a trailer. Since then, Rex has been joined in the business by his wife, Susan, their handy border collie Patsy and many many more goats. Rex’s greatest love in the business (besides Susan of course) will always be the animals. He cares deeply for the animals and never gets tired of watching Patsy and the goats do their work. Rex’s greatest hope for Restoration is that this unconventional path will continue to support his family and prove a model to other young people seeking their own future in agriculture.

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SUSAN 

Susan grew up in Kansas and will always feel most at home in her prairie state. Her family owned some land growing up, and she was introduced from a young age to working with livestock and land. Susan began her professional work in agriculture in the same ranching apprenticeship as Rex in Montana where they met. Susan hasn’t let Rex leave her side since, and she tugged him back to Kansas to pursue her dream of working with the land she grew up knowing and loving. After spending two years as production manager on a large scale Flint Hills cattle ranch, she decided to join Rex in building Restoration Grazing. Susan’s passion in the business is seeing the goats work to bring function back to the Kansas grasslands she loves. She hopes that Restoration can both restore balance to the land it impacts and offer sustainable solutions to its customers.

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Patsy is a good ol’ ranch bred border collie. She belongs to working lines—both her parents worked cattle, sheep and goats on Flint Hills ranches. She’s a pretty handy gal to have around and you’ve never seen any employee happier to go to work in the morning.

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PATSY

The Herd

The herd is primarily made up of Spanish goats. This breed’s specialty is brush. They are a thrifty goat that keeps condition even under the pressure of targeted grazing. They are the perfect breed for our work.

While we began our business with owned animals, we are transitioning to working entirely with leased animals as of 2024.

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