Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Within Range coaching podcast. I'm Ranger, a certified
holistic success coach. And in this podcast, I break down the journey entrepreneurs face
as they start their organizations, overcome roadblocks in their way, and create an impact
that lasts. We talk with entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and purpose driven community members
just like you. Together, we learn how to grow our impact and develop ourselves as the people
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jump right in.
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening everybody. And welcome back to another episode
of the within range coaching podcast. Today, we're diving deep into the world of agriculture
with a very special guest, Charity Underwood Salisbury. Charity brings her wealth of knowledge
from the beef industry into our conversation, shedding light on the challenges and triumphs
faced by first generation farmers and ranchers. We chat about the realities of modern farming,
the misconceptions about rural life and the importance of education and community involvement.
Whether you're a seasoned rancher or just curious about the agricultural world, this
episode is packed with insights you won't want to miss. So grab a cup of coffee, sit
back, kick up your feet and let's get started.
All right, everybody. Well, I'd like to welcome today's guest, Charity Salisbury. Charity,
how are you doing today?
I'm good. How are you?
I'm doing well. Thank you for taking the time to join us today. I'm excited for our discussion.
Yes, me too.
Yeah. Well, if you could just go ahead and give us a quick rundown of your background
and what your intention is for today for our listeners who may not know who you are.
Okay. My name is Charity Anne Salisbury. My husband and I are fourth and fifth generation
ranch kids. We both have grown up on ranches in Texas and New Mexico. And we have a commercial
cow calf ranch in or operation in New Mexico right now. We also have a feedlot that's not
operating at the moment, but that's a goal. And I've been a public beef advocate for probably
without saying how old I am. It's been about 24 years that I've been promoting the beef
industry and the truth about how we do things for the public. I don't hand hold it on sugar
coat, but I do inform the public the best I can. So that's my spiel.
So a lifelong farm kid ranch and beef advocate. And you mentioned a little bit about the truth
of what the industry is, and I'm sure we'll get to that in just a moment. And specifically
for this episode, what would you say your intention is for our listeners today?
I would like the public to talk to us, go out and meet their local rancher, farmer,
the guys on the tractors. I promise they're not booger bears like they act. They're not
that bad. We're all pretty friendly as long as someone asks us how we do things. If someone
comes at us and says you're doing it wrong or you're doing this, then we immediately
shut down. So my intention is for to let the public know it's okay to ask us. Google doesn't
know everything about what we do. I promise you can reach the end of the internet and
never find exactly what we're doing out here. You might find versions of it, but you have
to talk to us.
Exactly. And I think that that's really a big thing about a concept that I'm working
on right now as well, where if you want to know about something, you have to ask the
people that are actually out there doing the work, not necessarily the articles that are
written. It's probably a good starting point so that you maybe have some questions to ask,
but it's really about getting in there and asking the actual experts themselves, not
necessarily the first article that you see.
Yes, and that's one of my taglines when I make my educational posts is ask those of
us that have our hands in the dirt, not an apartment lease, because it's two different
things.
Exactly.
And same thing on legislation. Why would you trust someone that that's in a one to six
month apartment lease about agg legislation? They don't really, there's no connect for
them and their credibility isn't all that great.
Yeah, exactly. There's a there was a sign that I was passing when I was walking through
Amarillo, and I misread it. It was a big billboard. And I think it said if you if you want to
know about the feed, ask the cows. I think that's something about what the thing said.
But I read it from far away as if you want to know about the field, ask the cows.
And it would work as both. Exactly. But the way that I kind of thought about when I thought
it said field, which I still kind of run with is like if you want to know about the landscape
of something, if you really want to really know the intricacies, the details, you know,
where are the holes? Where are the good areas? Like, what is it actually like? You need to
ask the people that are in there 24 hours a day that live, breathe, work, sleep the
stuff, right?
Yes. Yes. And that that's a hard thing for us to get across to the public is where even
though we have cows or someone has sheep or someone has a farm and they're they're doing
produce, vegetables, whatever, our bottom or number one goal is to take care of that
dirt. If we don't take care of that dirt, there's no grass. If there's no grass, there's
no cows, there's no sheep, there's no horses, nothing can can live there. Now, when I was
younger, we did have a horse that would live on cactus and rocks, but that's very few and
far between. They have to have grass. We're just glorified grass farmers is what we are.
And the weather dictates a lot of that. It depends on where you are in the country. There's
no cookie cutter. This is how you do it. That will apply in every single state. It's just
not. So when I talk to when I go to Texas cattle groups and I talk to them completely
different conversation, they don't have the water issues that we have in New Mexico. And
their cows are growing up on our beam raised on belly deep grass in some areas. We're here.
We're running 80. I think where we're at right now, it's one cow per 88 acres. And that's
because of the water. And we're regulated to that. We can't have more than that. We
cannot because we have the horse permits and we have the state leases and we are regulated
on those to how many we can have. That means a scientist or a specialist comes out, looks
at the country, looks at the grass, looks at the dirt, looks at the water situation
and tells us how many we can run in this area. Texas doesn't have that. Now your extension
agents in Texas, they'll tell you, okay, they'll come out and they'll say, well, looking at
your grass and how it's been grazed and in the past, this is probably what you what you
can run here. That's a suggestion here. If we go over those numbers, we could possibly
lose our lease or our permits. But in Texas, because it's all private, you can't tell somebody
they can't overgraze. I mean, you can drive by it and see it and like, oh man, they really
need to get them cows off of there. There's nothing but dirt, but nothing can be done
about it. But here we are regulated to rotate. So my grandfather was sick good low in New
Mexico is one of the world's top soil conservationists, environmental guru guys when it pertains
to range management and livestock. So he was an expert in the area. He followed Alan Sabri
and out and Aldo Gosh, can you say his name Aldo Leopold on their practices on grazing.
He didn't follow it to the letter that that's the thing that some new producers like, I
need to follow it to the letter. No, you don't have to you need to learn what your area will
sustain what you can personally manage and stick to that. Like I said, there's no cookie
cutter way to do this. You follow the guidelines, you follow the regulations, you stay within
those and you'll be fine. Exactly. Yeah. And it sounds like after time you figure out what
it really is. And again, it's it sounds like there's a lot of work in tandem that you have
to do with the state agencies or these researchers to figure things out because at the end of
the day, like their intention, it sounds like is sustainability. Yes, it sounds like there's
also that aspect of you guys also know exactly what's going on out there. Yes, yes. And sustainability
and regenerative. Those are new buzzwords that are getting floated around. But they're
just new words for old practices. That doesn't mean we weren't doing it. It just means somebody
came up with a new word for it. And so when you're talking when you're talking to these
fourth and fifth generation people, they must have done some they must have been using those
practices common sense will tell you they were or else farming and renting would be
a nomadic lifestyle. We chew up a piece of ground and have to move on to the next one.
And it's not like that. If we've been on the same chunk of dirt for 100 years, that
means we're doing the regenerative and sustainable. Yeah, then you're doing something correct.
Yes, yes. And and we hear that a lot. Well, you know, I've got pictures and videos from
some. Oh, what are those groups called? They come out with the razors and the side by sides
and they go on these trips through the mountains. And man, they tear stuff up, go off road,
put in new make new roads. And they think it's no big deal. But because they say it's
public land. But in states where there are there is public land and a rancher has a permit
or a lease. That means that grass that's getting driven all over and wiped out. That's our
grass. It belongs to us. Someone has to fix that. And what the public doesn't understand
is, yes, the public owns that what the public actually owns is just the access to that means
they can go to it doesn't mean they can go driving off all over the grass or cutting
trees. The trees actually belong to Forest Service and the water and the grazing belong
to the rancher that owns that lease or permit. And so the roads, that's basically what the
public has access to is just the established roads. So the rest is up to us to take care
of it's not some government agency out here, fixing fences, fixing water lines and water
drinkers for the wildlife. That's us. There's no agent coming out here or they don't have
some maintenance crew that comes out and fixes all that. That's us. So we pay for these leases
and permits. Plus, we pay to maintain those properties. And I just took a picture this
morning. I know you saw it when you came in, the BLM was right in front of us. And then
there's us right there at a cattle guard. And just in the last week, you can tell the
difference between the BLM managed and our managed and our managed is green and looks
like a park. And right across the fence, it's all grown up dead grass, dead weeds, dead
trees. It just, it looks crappy. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lie, it looks kind of crappy,
it looks tragic, but whatever. They don't have anybody that takes care of that stuff.
Yeah, no, that's interesting that I feel like a lot of people there, you know, they think
BLM land, they think, you know, free space to hang out or to do whatever or tear it up.
But it's managed by someone still. And I think that they would typically think that it would
be managed by the federal government or the state government. And that's what I thought
was kind of interesting as well, that it's the individual ranchers and the, I guess you
guys act as the land stewards in that situation. Not so much. Yes. Okay, perfect.
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And then if we can actually take a second to take a step back. You said that you've
been doing advocacy for about 24 years now. So you've been living and breathing and speaking
to this for so long. What got you into the actual advocacy side of things as opposed
to staying in the ranching side necessarily? Like how did that, how'd you start getting
to the public eye?
I noticed that there was a huge disconnect between, so we'll back up right now. Technically
we are three to four generations removed from the family farm now. So I remember my grandparents,
both sets and my great grandparents picked cotton in the South. They picked cotton and
they had horses and they had cows, all of them. They were, so I have those stories to
remember. But if you think about it, people in inner cities or really large urban areas,
let's say Detroit, kids my age, even at 50 something, they don't have those core memories
or stories from their grandparents about growing up that way because they didn't, they grew
up in cities. Now, could you put them out here and them get by? No, but we could make
it there. We would be miserable, but we could make it, we could manage. So being that far
removed from those stories and that knowledge base about where your food comes from, that
is a huge disconnect. And I still see it. I've started posting when I find comments where
people are completely just bashing farmers and ranchers, I'll post them. I screenshot
them and I post them and I'm like, this is what we're dealing with. This isn't just ignorance.
And by, let's back up, ignorance means uninformed or uneducated on a certain subject. It doesn't
mean stupid. That's a whole nother word, but they don't have that information to draw on.
They don't even have those memories. Their family didn't do anything like that. So they
don't have any concept of how food is made, where it comes from, who makes it. And even
so far as, and I know everybody jokes about it, but there's a large portion of the population
that thinks that chocolate milk comes from a brown cow. How the misinformation travels
so fast. And those are the kinds of things that get spread like wildfire across the internet
or a shearing sheep. You have to kill them to shear them. It's a haircut and trying to
get the general public to understand it's just a haircut, just like you take your dog
into the groomer. It's the same exact thing. The only difference is we can sell the wool,
whereas you can't really sell dog hair. I mean, I guess you could.
There's a buyer for everything for some weird reason probably. But no, I hear what you're
saying is that there are these things that, and of course I was in the ag industry, I'm
FFA alumni, all that kind of stuff. So it's like, you see those videos and it's like,
well, yeah, if you take it from that angle and you put in extra distress sounds of the
animals from other, you know what I mean? It's so easy to make these clickbaity negative
videos. Very staged.
Yes. And that's the other thing. We are constantly on guard. We have biosecurity measures at
most farms and ranches where we don't like cross contamination. Whether it's bull gets
on us from the neighbors, we have to go and immediately have them trick tested for people
that don't know what trick is. That's basically an STD for bulls and it will spread like crazy.
So if someone's bull gets on us, we got to grab that sucker by any means necessary as
quickly as possible before he can contaminate our herd, get him hauled to the vet, get him
hauled. But we've already talked to the neighbor or whoever it came from out here with so much
public traffic. It's very hard to maintain your biosecurity and protect your herds. Even
our dogs, we don't want people coming through and their dogs are possibly carrying parvo
because then we got to deal with that with our dogs. And with the dogs we have now that
you saw, that's not a cheap loss if we lose one of those. That's a pretty big loss and
we need those dogs. So just trying to protect things from the public, from the public's
ignorance, from what they don't know. And I saw that I saw an article a gal wrote about
packers, packing houses. And she said, the public doesn't know what they don't know.
And they have no way of knowing what it is they don't know. Same thing with new producers.
They get into this industry and they're like, well, I don't understand why I'm not making
any money. Well, honey, you got five and you only sell a calf when your when mama needs
her hair done. It's not gonna that doesn't not management. There's management and there's
owning. So when people when the public sees shows like Yellowstone, they just latch onto
that. That must be how it is. No, no parts. There are parts and and I do watch Yellowstone
so that I can make an educational post the next day. Say this is what they got right.
This is what they got horribly wrong. So trying to get the public to talk to us instead of
relying on Hollywood and anti ag propaganda. Sometimes it's very frustrating because you
want to say, really? You bought that but you're not you won't. But you call us a liar. It's
very hard when it comes to that kind of stuff. And historically, the ag industry has kept
their mouth shut too long. And now we're trying to play catch up. And the anti ag crowd has
been at this propaganda game for decades at this point. So now we're trying to go back
and say, Whoa, that wasn't right. That wasn't right. That wasn't right. Here. Here's the
here's the real truth. So when we were spouting the real truth right now, nobody believes us.
Because the other side has done such a great job of just what's the word? It's bombing
of a certain information bombing, but it's incorrect information. It's not correct. It
has an agenda and the agenda is to get rid of agriculture. And if I can jump in there
with the the playing catch up with the the statement of like keeping your mouth your
guys's mouth closed for too long. Like what? Why do you think that is? Because I know I'm
sure that there's been negative things said about farming an ag for for years and years
and years and years. But like, why is there such a now sudden a because it sounds like
you got into advocacy as like, you're you're working against this, the misinformation.
Yes. So I guess like, why wasn't why didn't all of it happen sooner? Or like, what? What
led to that? Like, was it just like an ignore until they stopped talking? Or what? You know,
I think it's just like that question when that that we know, we're not supposed to ask
when when someone says, Well, how many cows you got? What's in your bank account? That's
that's the equivalent. We're really private about what we have. And what we're not necessarily
what we're doing. But that's like asking somebody what's in their bank account or how much how
much land you got. We know amongst ourselves that that's a rude question to ask. But at
some point, we have to start explaining these things. And I'll tell you exactly what changed
the internet. And that and that's where the anti ag groups have established a unfortunately,
they've established a really good base. And they're allowed, even though they're the minority,
they're allowed. And they they are really great at this social media stuff. And I've
been trying to push agriculture to get into this social media since 2010, when I had my
radio show, and I was telling them, you're letting other people tell your story. Why
are you doing that? They're getting it wrong. If you don't like the way you're being portrayed
in social media or on TV, or wherever. Correct them. Show them how it's show them how it's
actually done. Tell them how it's actually done. Instead of letting someone else tell
their story and getting mad because they got it wrong. It's up to us to fix that. And a
lot of us. You met Chad, my husband, they don't talk. They don't want to talk. They
don't want to be around people. They don't they'd rather hang out with their cows and
they don't care what people think. And so now even in politics, they'll say things like,
well, I don't have time to vote. Well, you better start making time. The cows can wait.
They can wait long enough for you to get down there to the polling place and vote. So that's
been our our biggest problem in agriculture is we are not good at embracing change and
technology unless it's, you know, a combine that's got all the bells and whistles. And
then we're like, oh, yeah, that's cool. And a lot of technical logical advances for equipment
and vehicles comes from agriculture. So we have to do a better job of speaking up and
correcting what's out there that's incorrect. Just like that sheep shearing thing. That's
the silliest thing I've ever seen. I can't even wrap my mind around people being mad
that a sheep gets a haircut. I just can't because that doesn't make any sense to me.
But if you if you explain it to them in a way, compare it to having their taking their
dog to the groomer, then they're like, oh, you don't have to kill. No, they won't grow
more wool to sell if you kill them. So that, you know, we need to do a better job of straightening
things out like that. I've seen a video floating around where a dairy calf is having to be
pulled by chains. He got stuck. There. The comments were in the posts were, this is what
they do. They rip them out and kill them. No, honey. Yeah. It's just like a breach baby
for a human. You have to straighten it out and you have to pull them or else both die.
It's an animal basic animal husbandry thing. And we have to do that more than more than
people would ever imagine. It just happens. And they need help. And we have to help them.
But those kind of videos get twisted and turned and turned into something that's just not
even close to reality. So that's, that's been my goal is is to explain to the public. Elsie
on the board and milk. I actually got asked by someone in high that I went to high school
with. He said, Hey, my son is asking, how come Elsie has a girl name but she has horns?
And I had to explain, you know, horns aren't gender specific in cattle, like they are elk
or deer or whatever. They're not gender specific. So but I was glad he asked me somebody asked
and then I'll have I've had several people I went to high school with asked me, Hey,
what about this or what about that? What about this organic label and this label? And, you
know, then I have to explain all that. And that's like going down a rabbit hole. Yeah,
no, it definitely sounds like there's a few was like the main things are just like, you
know, traditionally, like you were kind of saying, like farmers and ranchers, like they're
more quiet, more reserved, because they're so focused, there's so many things going on
on the farm that they need to deal with. I feel like it's very easy to get overwhelmed
and lost in that sea of well, I have to do this, this, this, this, this, this, and this,
I'm only one person, you know, so it sounds like it's kind of like, I'm so focused on
what's going on in front of me. And that's the immediate thing I can see. But there's
other issues that are popping up adjacent to what's going on. Yes. And animal health
is always going to be our number one priority. So like the last couple of days, we've been
working on water lines. Again, if we don't have water, we don't have grass, if we don't
have water, we don't have cows at all. So water is way at the top is right up there
at the top of the list, got to have water. And I know people think that farmers and ranchers
are a bunch of illiterate hillbillies out here. But I know a bunch of them that have
degrees in all sorts of things. And they decided, you know, that that life's not for me, I'm
going home. It's quiet, it's peaceful. And so if we were to match a rancher skill set
and try to hire them based on their skill set in the corporate sector, corporate couldn't
afford them, their welders, their plumbers, their construction, their vets, veterinarians,
their nutritionists, their environmentalists, their conservationists, they run heavy equipment,
they work on heavy equipment. They do all of those things. And just wrapped up in this
one tired body.
I mean, it sounds like it. So it sounds like there's, and I guess I kind of want to move
into when it comes to this advocacy, it sounds like the individual has a hard time doing
it themselves, or, you know, responding to comments or this or that or being an advocate
on their own. So it sounds like these advocacy groups, like the ones that you're involved
with, or you were involved with, are critical to supporting the mission of American agriculture.
Yes, I have noticed that some of them will not wait off in the trenches. I will, just
because I'm old and I'm spiteful that way. But if I see an awful comment, I'm like, wait
a minute, you don't get to say that you don't get to say that we're murdering animals out
here. And that's been, you know, some of the that's actually why I started being so vocal
about it is because we're being accused of being rapists and murderers. And I'm like,
are you sure we're talking about cows and horses because this murder doesn't apply to
livestock. It applies to humans. That's the that's the only thing in the in the dictionary
that it applies to. But the whole thing about, well, you have to kill them to eat them. Well,
yeah, honey, have you tried to eat one live? That gets awkward in a hurry. I mean, that's
an end well for anyone. They don't like to be chewed on alive. I mean, I wouldn't think
I haven't tried it, but I don't know. Not sure where that group gets their information
trying to bridge that gap when they're already so. Engrained in that in that truth that they've
decided that's the truth, that's it. And that's not the group that I try to speak to, because
they get a little I like to compare it to Alice in Wonderland. Because you have the
movable middle where you can talk to these people and you can educate them and you can
get them to understand, oh, yeah, that wasn't correct. What I was told this is how it's
actually done. And then you have the Mad Hatters, and they are set. You're not going to change
their mind. They're bordering on lunacy sometimes, and wanting farmers and ranchers to die. And
they accuse us of trying to kill them. And my response to that is always well, dead people
don't eat. So yeah, that's what business model works where you kill your customers off. Oh,
oh, morticians. That's it. That's the one that yeah. What is it? The big thing is if
you want to make money in the world, get into weddings and death. Yes. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, no. And I always think that's so interesting is that people are very much even just going
to college or talking to different people that I've known. It's you know, the evil
farmer that this or that and it's like, why? One, where did that come from? And also, why
would they purposefully? Why would people purposefully do something to hurt other people
in such a large and organized fashion like that? When they're selling a product that
needs you to be healthy, happy and alive? Like, I don't I've never understood that that
sentiment. And I don't know where that came from. I'm assuming it came from the vegan
bunch. But but when we're talking about vegans, we have to be very clear because someone may
say I'm a vegan. But what they actually are is they just don't eat meat. For whatever
reason. It's not that they're vegan, because if they were true vegan, a true vegan in 2024,
will have to live off grid under a rock, no power, no phone, no laptop, nothing. And they'll
be gatherers. They'll be eating fruits and nuts and berries off of what they can pick
up. That's a true vegan in 2024. Because every single product they put their hand on in any
given day has animal byproducts, whether they know it or not. It's in there. So that's a
lack of education on their part. And they don't want to acknowledge that. I mean, even
the sidewalks, their their the asphalt they drive on the components in their cell phones
or their laptops, the all the way down to the marshmallows they want to put in their
hot chocolate. It's all I was gonna say. I was gonna say about the marshmallows, like
even marshmallows have like it's it's crazy how I mean, that's something that we learned
in our like our very first ad class that I took in high school was there's there's animal
products in pretty much every single thing that you use. Yeah, even medical products.
There's a beef byproduct that's used to treat preemie babies. I have three preemie babies.
I appreciate that. I appreciate that we have that. Also with Audrey B and burn, she has
those skin grafts. And this time they were done with beef skin cells. So there are medical
things that the world can't do without. And I know this new push to rewild everything.
It's not okay, they want to talk about sustainable and regenerative. That's not sustainable. It's
not. I mean, we even have to manage deer. You know, that's why we have hunting seasons.
And sometimes they'll have an open season, it's to control the disease and the deformities
that come from inbreeding in certain groups of animals. But, you know, the all the way
down to the squeeze shoots that we use to work our cows in the other group, the other
side has been calling those rape racks. What on the world are you talking about? And it
gets so silly that you want to laugh. But then there are people that are that they're
held on, they've grabbed a hold of that and that is it. That's their truth. And they're
not you're not going to move them off of that. I don't know where those groups come from.
I don't know who what schools they went to. Obviously, there wasn't agricultural FFA or
4-H. Maybe it was available and they just didn't want to do it. I don't know. I'm so
far in this that I don't know how the other side gets educated or where they get their
information. So because I'm in here in it and my hands are in it and my family's in
it. And so it was just always common knowledge to us how these things are done. So I don't
know. I don't know. I don't know how that happens. I really don't. Because at some point,
an adult has cognitive reasoning skills. And they can kind of common sense their way through
some of these topics. Because some of them you would like, think that doesn't sound right.
Maybe I should ask. That's not happening. They're not asking. Then they're not even
saying you know, that doesn't sound right. It's like people kind of make up their own
minds and I mean, that's another thing is that echo chambers on the internet are such
a terrible thing. Because you know, people just get into this room. And if you get into
a room or a chat room, right, with 20 other people that agree with you, and that's all
you share, and that's all you see all day, you're not going to question it. You're not
going to ask questions. You're just going to take that as truth. But it's when you get
out of those chambers and again, ask the people that are in the field, what's actually going
on. I think that that is like the most valuable part of that.
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Thank you so much. Now back to the show.
To scoot back to the advocacy groups and your clothing brand. With the advocacy groups,
what would you say is the biggest good that these groups do when you guys come together?
It sounds like there's sometimes, some people might be more reserved even in those groups,
not as so far into the trenches. What is the benefit of bringing all those different personality
types together for that common?
Dreading this question. I know, but.
I was dreading it. Best thing I can say for people is join a group. If you don't like
it, find another one. You don't, you're not bound to one group or another. If you don't
feel like there's a good fit there for you and your operation, get another one. Keep
joining until you find one where you feel like you fit in. And I can tell you, I don't
fit in a lot because I'm pretty vocal and I want action. I do. I don't want this sitting
around and drinking coffee, having pie and gossiping about everybody's kids. I want to
go to an organization where we're going to do things and we're going to affect legislation.
And I'm a boat rocker. So I want that boat rocked. I don't want to leisurely cruise.
I want stuff done. So I have a little bit of trouble with groups. So right now I'm kind
of on a break from groups because I don't know, I don't know which ones are really proactive
and actually pushing for things the way they could be. I'm not saying they're not doing
things. There are some that are, and I know they can get in a rut. They've been doing
things a certain way for so long. And that, and so membership in these groups, the same
is in the industry as a whole is dropping. And that's because we're aging out and we're
dying. We're not, we don't last forever. You can only beat your body up like this for so
long and farmers and renters don't retire. Most people don't know that we don't retire.
There's no retirement. There's no 401k. There's no health insurance. None of that. We don't
get any of that. So we work until we absolutely die until we drop. And people say, well, why
do you do that? Cause you won't. Cause nobody else will. And so in 2020 we were a 1.87%
of the population and the population in the U S is 333 million plus in 2024 we are 0.67%
of the population. We've lost two thirds in the last four years. And when people say,
well, why do you bring politics in? I said, I didn't bring politics in it. Your food is
100% tied up in politics, whether you like it or not. It just is. And it always has been.
And I know this is a pretty harsh thing to say, but, uh, control the food, control the
people. That's, that's, uh, something people need to really wrap their head around. Cause
for us to be less than 1% of the population, um, that's less than 5 million and we're feeding
everybody and we're freaking tired. We're tired. We, most of us live below poverty level.
Yes, we have land and we have equipment and we have cows, but all that stuff has to be
there to support those, that livestock to support that food. And so my biggest push
has been you see cows. I see hamburgers and steaks. You see a rich rancher. I see some
broke guy just trying to get by, uh, so that you have food on your table. And I don't think
the public is going to snap to how dire this situation is at this point until it turns
into a toilet paper situation where, um, what you need to survive is gone and it's, it's
scarce and it's hard to come by. And at this rate, that's coming. And I saw what people
did over toilet paper. So imagine what it's going to be like when there's no food. It's
going to get pretty bad. Yeah, no, I mean, it definitely is a, like it's, it's, it's
a very serious thing, right? Like this isn't just, this is like the bare bone necessity
basics of sustaining life and everything. And, um, to kind of touch on the group thing,
I also don't want to make it sound like every group is great and everything's magical and
wonderful. Right? Like there are issues even in the groups that are advocates or in a thousand.
I think that I was, I want to say I was trying to get across, but I think your reaction,
I think people can also tell, like I noticed that, that, I mean, I've been in groups where
I thought it was one thing and it ended up being another. And then I get frustrated by
the inaction or the, um, I guess lack of action in areas that I can see are a bigger problem
or maybe I don't understand what's going on, you know? So I think that that, what you said
right there is get in, like at the end of the day, it's about getting involved. And
if you see a problem work to be the solution, not just kind of sit on the back burner and
wait for somebody else to, cause it sounds like, uh, what is it? The bystander effect
is something that's been kind of prevalent as, Oh, well, I don't have time. Somebody
else will take care of it. Or, you know, somebody else will help or say something. I don't have
to, but then nothing happens. That is agriculture in a nutshell right there when it comes to
legislation and, um, advocacy, it's always, well, so-and-so will do it. And a lot of these
groups, what happens is, I'm not going to name which one I know about, but there were
600 members in a given year, 10 to 15, we're doing all the promotions, we're doing all
the posting, we're doing all the activities and events. And then you have a hierarchy,
you know, you have officers, you have local officers, and then you have state officers.
And you just, as an officer, you get run ragged. You just get, you cannot please everybody.
And then sometimes in some groups, you feel like you're dragging a cruise ship behind
you, and it's just you, and it's not moving. It's dead in the water. And you try and you
try and you try and pull them along. And you just can't, they've done things a certain
way for so long, they're not going to change until there is a major change in membership.
And that is coming because the members are getting older, just like the rest of us. They're
aging out and that's kind of a double situation there. It's a double-edged sword. You want
to recruit new members, you want the younger crowd to come in and you try, but you have
the old guard that doesn't want to change a thing. They don't want to hear anything
that the new recruits have to say, even if they're right. But then on the other side
of that sword, you have the new people that want to jump in and they're so enthusiastic
and they want to do this and that and this and that and this and that. And they're wrong.
Not wrong, but they don't have all the information that they need in order to accomplish what
they want to accomplish. So that goes to first generation farmers and ranchers. They're so
enthusiastic and they want to get in and they want to do it and they don't understand what
happens when it goes south and they don't make it. And their first inclination is to
blame the generational families for that. They want to say that we ran them out. No,
you didn't grow. You didn't try to grow. You were happy with your little five acres and
your five cows and you thought you were going to get rich. That's a lack of education on
their part. It used to be like before World War II, if you had 20 cows, you were in high
cotton. You were doing pretty well. 20 cows will no longer pay for your funeral. It just
doesn't. And so even having 100, that only supports one generation of a ranch family
on that farmer ranch at a time. And I know that the public says, oh my God, you have
cows, you're rolling. Oh, if you saw our feed bill, that's scary to know how little we get
one paycheck a year. One, if things are managed correctly. Like I said, there are some operations
where they're pulling cows in because they need tires on the truck. So they'll sell three
or four calves, buy tires or whatever, go get mom's hair fixed. I don't know. But 100
does not provide what the gross profit would be less than a administrative assistant in
town would make. So we're trying to support an entire family and feed all those on secretary
pay. That's very hard. It's not as glamorous as people would like to think it is. And that's
the thing that I think in groups, they need to be a little bit better about accepting
new people, new recruits, and then the recruits, what they really need to do is simmer down
on some of that. You're doing it wrong. You're old, you're doing it wrong because they're
bad about that. They need to go in and with their ears open and their mouth shut and learn
stick with it for a year. See what you pick up that you don't have to just jump right
in and change everything in one year. If you're in your early twenties, get in a group. If
you like that group, hang out for a while, move in the work on the different committee.
See, that's what I thought. I think that when someone joins a cattle association or some
kind of advocacy group, get on a committee. And I think that should be mandatory. As soon
as you pay your membership, you can choose a committee to be on or you get put in a committee.
And I think that every member should serve on a committee at least one year so that they
learn how the organization works, what their goals are, that sort of thing. And it also
teaches them the industry. So just like beef, owning cattle and managing cattle are two
different things. And having five does not, it's not the same business as someone with
a hundred. It's not even the same customers. And so when we hear that, what do they say?
Oh, well, the larger family place, the larger businesses are running us out. No, we're still
doing business the way we were. Nothing changed. You moved in. That's the only difference.
And you could be a hundred or you could be 200. You could be 500 by the time you're our
age. But you have to learn from somebody. There's a huge learning curve in agriculture,
especially if you didn't grow up in it. And I know everybody in the world today, they
want to move out. They want to move out of the cities and go homestead. I'm sure people
have watched that Homestead Rescue Show. It's not exactly as simple as just going off grid
in an RV or having a cabin and some chickens. It's a little harder than that.
And if I can jump in there. It sounds like a lot of it really just boils down to listening
intentionally. Join the groups, listen, learn. And at the same time, there's that aspect
of don't try to jump in and change everything right away. But also don't get so set in your
ways that you're blind to what's actually going on in the world. And it really just
sounds like it boils down to find a group, see if you drive with it. If you don't find
another one. But at the end of the day, no matter where you go, you are the one, you're
the common denominator. You need to also be that present, curious, I guess, advocating
passion itself that is willing to do the work. And I feel like you and I could sit down for
a whole other hour long episode and talk about what is like the Pareto principle, you know,
20% of the people in the organization do the work, the other 80% kind of just have opinions.
I'm gonna go five and 95. Yeah. Yeah. The joke I've always had was it's always the people
that do the least that say the most. It's like, okay, well, that's that's a good opinion.
That's like, I didn't I didn't like I'm glad to I'm glad to know that there's something
going on during that meeting. Why aren't you doing anything about it? But yeah, no, I feel
like we could go a whole other hour on this. But it really just boils down to if you're
curious, if you have questions, ask them, find actual people that are in the field doing
the work and ask. And if you're in the field, be askable, like be willing to answer the
questions, be willing to do this thing. I think it's very easy for us to find ways to
like island date ourselves. Yeah, I'm gonna stay in my like, again, like the echo chambers,
like that's that's human nature. We like to be with groups that we find that we drive
with. Yeah. Yeah, no, I know that that. Oh, we're gonna say go ahead. And we do kind of
self isolate. Just because when we do go to town, and we see what's going on in towns
and big cities, we're like, What the heck are y'all doing? Real crazy. This is not.
It just gets rid. We have a hard time understanding that lifestyle. But I'm sure they they have
the same hard time understanding hours. They do that. They have no clue. So and we feel
the same way about them. We don't understand how they function on a daily basis with with
the things that go on in the world. And we just stay away from it. And that's that's
our biggest problem is we tend to stay out of it. And stay away from things. But we have
to start getting involved and showing up showing up. That's my big. That's another one of my
biggies. Just show up. Just show up. Yeah, if somebody's got an anti ag rally, it's going
to be miserable. If you go, it is you're going to be attacked, you're going to be called
all kinds of names. But if we don't show up, that's acceptance. Silence is acceptance.
And that's that we've we've done that for way too long, way too long. Well, charity,
if people want to follow you on social media or learn more about you, where are you showing
up in terms of your advocacy or where people can learn more about you or the industry as
a whole? I'm online. I am on Facebook under my my personal page, Charity Underwood, Salisbury,
or I did start my clothing brand and Home Goods brand brand because everything out there
had dairy cows. And I love my dairy ladies. I do. I support the dairy industry, too, even
though I'm in beef. I support the dairy industry. I support poultry. I support pork, all of
it. So I think on Instagram, I'm under you spur clothing. And then on Facebook, it's
either my personal page or my store page use the letter you spur. And so I try to, you
know, educate on their like I said, I watch Yellowstone just so I can debunk a lot of
it. And anytime I see something, I post it and I'm like, OK, see, here's where this went
right. And here's where it went way off the rails. And it's mostly common sense that if
you break it down real simple, just like that, the sheep get sheep getting a haircut. You
break it down that simple for people, then they're like, oh, oh, well, nobody told me
that. OK, well, we're telling you now. It's just a haircut. So it's just a haircut. Yeah,
I think that's going to be my new bumper sticker. I'm going to have a sheep on it and say it's
just a haircut. Perfect. Perfect. Well, when you have that linked up, let me know and I'll
post it on the page. But all of your pages, all your everything will be down in the show
notes below. Charity, I appreciate you taking the time to chit or chat for a little bit
and share some of your knowledge and. Yeah, I'll bend anybody's ear. I don't care. Perfect.
I love it. I don't have you on when I get mine going. I'll get my podcast going. We
love to see it. That was a fantastic conversation with charity. We covered so much ground today
from the importance of education for new farmers to the harsh realities of managing a modern
ranch. We also touch on the misconceptions about rural life and the critical role of
involvement of advocacy groups. Remember, if you're curious about the fields, ask the cows.
Reach out to those that are boots on the ground doing the work, not just social media echo
chambers or your aunt Phyllis, who never stepped ground on a farm in her life, because only
then when you reach out to those that know what's truly going on, will you learn the
reality of the situation. And as charity said, sometimes it's just as simple as showing up.
Thank you all for taking the time to listen to today's episode. If you found it valuable,
please share it with a friend or two or three. Every time you share the podcast, you can
help us fulfill our mission of helping more people help more people. As always, have fun,
stay safe and be yourself. I'll catch you all in the next one. Bye.