Dahl is a proud, seventh-generation American cattleman. He was born into the ranching lifestyle; “My dad did turn-around business for ranching and developed a three-year, three-phase program to accomplish that. As a result, my childhood and teenage years were spent in various parts of Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Utah and Oregon.” From a young age he was exposed to different operation styles across the cattle industry. “I really loved the big country that I experienced during this time as well as the traditions that I got to learn,” expressed Dahl. One of his favorite learning experiences was growing and managing his personal cattle herd from a single bred heifer purchased at the age of nine to a 75-pair operation by the time he graduated college.
Dahl attended a semester at Colorado State University studying animal science before serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Romania. Upon his return he was working for a ranch in Southern Idaho that was part of a vertically-integrated branded beef program. When COVID-19 hit he began noticing a serious shortage at the meat counter as well as inflated prices. “The shortage didn’t make sense because we had the supply,” states Dahl. He and his brothers decided to form ILS Meats as a solution to sell and distribute beef at a fair price throughout the community. “These opportunities and experiences have taught me a lot, chiefly honesty and integrity,” reflects Dahl. With a newfound interest in strategic management and real-world experience, he returned to college in 2020 at Brigham Young University, graduating from their Marriott School of Business’ Strategic Management program in 2023. Upon graduation, Dahl began working at a startup packing plant, Intermountain Packing LLC, as the Business Operations Manager.
While Dahl enjoyed the projects and consulting experiences he had in business school, he longed to focus on the agriculture and beef industry as opposed to tech and finance. “While working at a summer internship with alumnus Jason Van Tassel [’12], I realized that I could marry those two loves at the King Ranch® Institute for Ranch Management.” He has since relocated to Kingsville, TX with his wife Sierra and over the next two years he hopes to apply the strategic management and business practices he has already learned to ranch management. “I have seen a lot of the industry, but want to go deeper and understand the implications of structured problem solving and how it applies to each segment of the industry,” states Dahl. His long-term goal is to manage large ranches while helping develop cattle and equine programs to diversify and increase profits with hopes of eventually consulting for other ranches as well.
Dahl holds the Clement Family Endowed Fellowship as a graduate student at KRIRM.