Some would say lack of available rented pastureland makes Donnie Conway of Monroe County think outside the box in his cow/calf operation.

“You’ll have about as much luck finding a unicorn,” Conway says about finding pasture today.

Some would say it’s his age, or the cash flow challenges of a young farmer.

But those who know him well will likely tell you that’s just who he is.

At 25, Conway is living his dream by making it work, even when that means stepping outside the norm.

“It’s all I ever really cared about,” says Conway. As a kid, he relished spending time with his grandfather caring for cow/calf pairs and studying his uncle’s feedlot. He bought his first cows while in high school, the same time he was serving as president of the local FFA chapter.

After earning his...