Ranching from Scratch: Toll Ranch Cattle Co ☀️
About this Event
AT A GLANCE
- 🐄 See a Belted Galloway × Aberdeen Angus herd managed entirely on pasture with zero synthetic inputs
- 🌿 Explore adaptive grazing, soil fertility and direct drill reseeding in practice
- 🌳 Walk an agroforestry project including an upcoming gastronomic mushroom trial
- 🐎 Discover how Western horsemanship is being introduced into a British cattle system
- 🌾 See heritage grain and flour milling and on-farm composting in action
- 🤝 Share experiences with fellow PfL members building pasture-fed systems across Scotland
MAIN DESCRIPTION
Toll Ranch Cattle Co. is one of Scotland's most compelling new agricultural enterprises. Founded by the Sheane family — who relocated to Fife from Canada in 2023 — Toll Ranch is a 100-acre lowland pasture operation on the outskirts of St Andrews with an ambitious and distinctive vision: to build the UK's first fully regenerative, all-natural cattle ranch, from the ground up.
Pasture for Life is delighted to invite members to spend a Friday afternoon at Toll Ranch, exploring the breadth of what the Sheane family are building and the thinking behind it. This is a farm that doesn't fit neatly into any single category — part ranch, part agroforestry project, part grain mill, part composting system — and that breadth makes it a dynamic and thought-provoking operation worth exploring.
WHAT WE'LL COVER
🌱 Grass management and Adaptive grazing
Toll Ranch runs a 100% grass-fed system on lowland Fife pasture with zero synthetic inputs. We'll explore the current approach to pasture composition, soil health, and the principles guiding grazing decisions.
🐄 Belted Galloway × Aberdeen Angus Breeding and Finishing
The Toll Ranch herd is a Belted Galloway × Aberdeen Angus cross — a pairing chosen for its suitability to a 100% grass-fed, low-input breeding and finishing system. We'll discuss the genetics, the performance on pasture, and the beef produced and sold under the PfL and Soil Association marks.
🐎 Western horsemanship and low-stress cattle handling
Perhaps the most distinctive element of Toll Ranch is the ambition to reintroduce working cattle on horseback into a British farming context. We'll discuss the philosophy of low-stress livestock handling, the practical advantages of the horseback approach, and how the cattle handling facilities at Toll Ranch are designed around animal welfare.
🌳 Agroforestry and the gastronomic mushroom trial
Toll Ranch has an active agroforestry project underway. We'll walk this and hear about an exciting upcoming trial growing gastronomic mushrooms — an innovative diversification with real potential for pasture-based farms.
♻️ Composting
On-farm composting is central to the Toll Ranch fertility system. We'll look at the setup, the inputs, and how compost fits into the broader soil health strategy.
🌾 Heritage grain and flour milling
One of the more unexpected aspects of the operation — Toll Ranch is working with heritage grain and on-farm flour milling. We'll hear how this fits into the wider vision for the ranch.
WHO IS THIS FOR?
PfL members and prospective members across Scotland with an interest in pasture-fed cattle systems, regenerative land management, agroforestry, and low-input farming. Whether you're an established producer looking for fresh thinking or someone earlier in the journey of building a pasture-based system, Toll Ranch offers an honest and inspiring case study in what's possible when you start from first principles.
The session is also relevant to advisors, consultants and land managers working with beef enterprises in Scotland.
Children are welcome, but must be supervised by a parent at all times.
FORMAT
Afternoon in-person farm walk with facilitated discussion. Arrival at 1pm, with the session closing at 4pm. Refreshments provided.
ABOUT THE HOSTS
Toll Ranch is a family enterprise, with different members of the Sheane family bringing distinct expertise to different aspects of the operation. The cattle enterprise and Western horsemanship programme sit alongside an arable operation, direct drill reseeding, heritage grain and flour milling, on-farm composting, and an agroforestry project — each managed with the same guiding principle at its core: that nature is something to align with rather than overcome.
Having relocated to Scotland from Canada in 2023, the Sheane family are building something genuinely ambitious on 100 acres of lowland Fife pasture — a farm that draws on deep practical experience across horses, cattle and arable systems, and that refuses to be defined by any single enterprise.
"Quality of life in land and livestock."
TICKETS
- Pasture for Life Members — FREE
- Non-members — £15.00
WANT TO ATTEND FOR FREE? BECOME A PfL MEMBER
This event is free for Pasture for Life members from acrosss the UK. Membership costs £10 a month (billed annually at £120 plus VAT) and gives you access to a farming and food community built around pasture-based systems — with events, resources and peer support that many members describe as the best investment they make each year.
As a member you'll get:
- 🗓️ At least 6 events per year in your region — farm walks, guest speakers and topics chosen by members, each supported by your Regional/National Development Manager
- 💬 WhatsApp groups and an online forum — ask questions, share experiences and tap into the collective knowledge of farmers running pasture-based systems across the UK
- 📚 200+ resources, webinars and research articles — curated and kept up to date in your personal dashboard, covering everything from grazing management to business planning
- 🌍 Member-only study tours — opportunities to learn from pasture-based systems across the UK and beyond
- 🤝 A dedicated Regional/National Development Manager — connecting you to other members and hosting events on the topics that matter to you
👉 Sign up for membership .
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 15.00
