WEBVTT 00:00:14.189 --> 00:00:20.969 Creeping over fields of green Remembering the 00:00:20.969 --> 00:00:27.269 faces The moments unseen The hands that built 00:00:27.269 --> 00:00:33.590 a dynasty The vision in their eyes Echoes in 00:00:33.590 --> 00:00:38.810 the auction bar Beneath an endless sky This is 00:00:38.810 --> 00:01:03.929 the bull buy Turn the bar Welcome to the Bullvine 00:01:03.929 --> 00:01:06.870 Podcast. Today's feature is written by Andrew 00:01:06.870 --> 00:01:09.609 Hunt, founder of the Bullvine, sharing a powerful 00:01:09.609 --> 00:01:12.790 story about youth development in dairy that will 00:01:12.790 --> 00:01:14.810 change how you think about the future of the 00:01:14.810 --> 00:01:18.930 industry. Half of today's dairy farms won't exist 00:01:18.930 --> 00:01:22.150 in 20 years. That's not fear -mongering, that's 00:01:22.150 --> 00:01:25.969 math. But watch these kids at 5 .47 a .m. in 00:01:25.969 --> 00:01:28.629 a wash rack. and you'll understand why they're 00:01:28.629 --> 00:01:31.609 going to thrive anyway. Because what Andrew learned 00:01:31.609 --> 00:01:34.549 standing in those wash racks, it was never about 00:01:34.549 --> 00:01:38.189 the cattle. In Andrew's own words, picture this. 00:01:38.409 --> 00:01:42.310 It's 5 .47 in the morning. I'm 14 years old, 00:01:42.450 --> 00:01:44.709 third year competing at what was then called 00:01:44.709 --> 00:01:48.349 the Scotiabank Haze Classic. I'm exhausted, covered 00:01:48.349 --> 00:01:50.969 in soap, trying to get my calf ready for a show 00:01:50.969 --> 00:01:53.689 that starts in two hours. And that's when it 00:01:53.689 --> 00:01:56.250 hit me. this truth that would shape my entire 00:01:56.250 --> 00:01:59.209 life. This was never about the cattle. It was 00:01:59.209 --> 00:02:02.590 about who we become when nobody's watching. Andrew 00:02:02.590 --> 00:02:05.150 had just placed third in intermediate showmanship 00:02:05.150 --> 00:02:08.969 the day before. Respectable, not remarkable, 00:02:09.189 --> 00:02:12.409 but what moved him most wasn't the ribbon. It 00:02:12.409 --> 00:02:14.729 was what happened in those quiet hours before 00:02:14.729 --> 00:02:17.250 the crowds arrived, before the judges appeared, 00:02:17.509 --> 00:02:20.900 before anything counted. Younger members from 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:23.139 another county team started seeking Andrew out 00:02:23.139 --> 00:02:25.780 during those early morning wash sessions. Not 00:02:25.780 --> 00:02:28.219 because anyone told them to, but because in those 00:02:28.219 --> 00:02:30.840 cold morning wash racks, everyone learned the 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:33.819 same truth. You survive this together or you 00:02:33.819 --> 00:02:37.360 don't survive it at all. They'd ask, can you 00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:39.819 help me? How do you stay calm when everything 00:02:39.819 --> 00:02:42.659 goes wrong? And that's when the weight of responsibility 00:02:42.659 --> 00:02:47.199 landed. The kind that changes you. Andrew wasn't 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:49.680 just competing anymore. He was becoming someone 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:51.800 others looked to when the pressure got real. 00:02:52.219 --> 00:02:55.539 Fast forward to Andrew's late 20s. He had everything 00:02:55.539 --> 00:02:58.199 society says matters. Six -figure consulting 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:01.360 salary, professional prestige, a clear path forward. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:04.340 Three generations of the Hunt family had built 00:03:04.340 --> 00:03:06.800 a master breeder operation in southern Ontario. 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:10.699 Andrew's father spent nearly three decades revolutionizing 00:03:10.699 --> 00:03:12.939 Holstein Canada's genetic evaluation system. 00:03:13.419 --> 00:03:16.060 His philosophy wasn't just words on his office 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:19.840 wall. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. But 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:22.759 there Andrew was, following, following someone 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:26.259 else's dream while his own withered. The courage 00:03:26.259 --> 00:03:29.139 it took to walk away from that security still 00:03:29.139 --> 00:03:32.639 catches his breath when he thinks about it. Andrew's 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:35.919 wife's faith saved him. When he told her he couldn't 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.460 do it anymore, couldn't keep trading his soul 00:03:38.460 --> 00:03:41.099 for a paycheck, she didn't panic about the money 00:03:41.099 --> 00:03:43.680 they'd lose. She believed they'd figure it out 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:47.280 together. So Andrew came home, and started building 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:50.280 from nothing, a marketing agency from their kitchen 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:53.699 table. Within five years, they'd grown to serve 00:03:53.699 --> 00:03:57.139 four Fortune 500 companies. But even that success 00:03:57.139 --> 00:04:00.639 felt hollow. The pullback to dairy, to the industry 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:04.400 that raised him, was too strong to ignore. Now 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.819 here's where the story gets interesting. Let's 00:04:06.819 --> 00:04:08.860 look at some numbers that shouldn't make sense, 00:04:08.860 --> 00:04:12.439 but do. Canada has roughly 9 ,000 dairy farms, 00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:15.080 according to Agriculture Canada's latest count. 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:19.259 The United States? Over 30 ,000. Canada has 1 00:04:19.259 --> 00:04:23.040 .4 million dairy cattle. They have 9 .4 million. 00:04:23.300 --> 00:04:25.899 By every logical measure, Canada should be irrelevant. 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:29.480 A footnote in global dairy genetics. Instead, 00:04:29.819 --> 00:04:33.600 and this is amazing, Canada exports between $155 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:37.459 and $178 million in dairy genetics annually. 00:04:37.980 --> 00:04:40.839 Canadian Holstein genetics consistently rank 00:04:40.839 --> 00:04:44.110 in the top three globally. Canada achieves the 00:04:44.110 --> 00:04:47.810 world's best carbon efficiency at 48 % below 00:04:47.810 --> 00:04:50.689 global averages. How does a country a fraction 00:04:50.689 --> 00:04:53.949 of the size punch so far above its weight? Look 00:04:53.949 --> 00:04:56.629 at who's leading Canadian dairy. The vast majority 00:04:56.629 --> 00:04:59.050 came through 4 -H programs like the Classic. 00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:03.389 That's not a coincidence. That's what happens 00:05:03.389 --> 00:05:05.889 when you systematically build leaders from age 00:05:05.889 --> 00:05:09.970 12 up. Take Curtis McNeil. Won the Classic Grand 00:05:09.970 --> 00:05:14.089 Championship in 2005. The same week, he captured 00:05:14.089 --> 00:05:17.089 Holstein Canada's President's Cup. First person 00:05:17.089 --> 00:05:20.629 ever to claim both. Today, he's earned three 00:05:20.629 --> 00:05:23.790 Master Breeder Shields, serves on Cemex Alliance's 00:05:23.790 --> 00:05:26.769 executive board. When he returned to judge the 00:05:26.769 --> 00:05:30.529 2024 Classic Showmanship, watching 300 teenagers 00:05:30.529 --> 00:05:33.910 compete, he called it the best showmanship class 00:05:33.910 --> 00:05:38.009 I have ever seen in my life. Tyler Canning, 2022 00:05:38.009 --> 00:05:42.350 Grand Champion. Nadia Ur. 2024 champion after 00:05:42.350 --> 00:05:44.990 five years of competing. The pattern repeats 00:05:44.990 --> 00:05:47.529 across hundreds of classic alumni now leading 00:05:47.529 --> 00:05:50.829 every major dairy organization in Canada. But 00:05:50.829 --> 00:05:53.129 here's the hard truth these kids deserve to hear, 00:05:53.290 --> 00:05:56.269 even though it hurts to say it. Based on current 00:05:56.269 --> 00:05:58.870 consolidation trends, industry analysts project 00:05:58.870 --> 00:06:01.709 that approximately half the dairy farms operating 00:06:01.709 --> 00:06:05.149 today won't exist when these teenagers are 35. 00:06:05.910 --> 00:06:09.019 Not because farmers failed, because the economics 00:06:09.019 --> 00:06:12.639 became impossible for mid -size operations. In 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:15.480 the United States, megadairies with 2 ,500 -plus 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:18.680 cows now produce 46 % of milk while representing 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:22.899 just 3 % of operations. Technology isn't optional 00:06:22.899 --> 00:06:26.220 anymore. Robotic milking, AI monitoring, and 00:06:26.220 --> 00:06:28.899 precision agriculture demand millions in investment 00:06:28.899 --> 00:06:32.819 that most farms simply can't afford. The world 00:06:32.819 --> 00:06:35.519 these kids are entering is exponentially harder 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:38.790 than what Andrew faced. So what does Andrew tell 00:06:38.790 --> 00:06:42.189 those 300 teenagers preparing for the 2025 Classic, 00:06:42.509 --> 00:06:45.949 knowing what's ahead? Don't be afraid to change 00:06:45.949 --> 00:06:49.209 the world. Use what you're learning here to take 00:06:49.209 --> 00:06:51.870 on the world. And remember, the bend in the road 00:06:51.870 --> 00:06:54.250 is not the end of the road unless you fail to 00:06:54.250 --> 00:06:57.290 make the turn. Some will leave dairy. That's 00:06:57.290 --> 00:06:59.810 not giving up. It's using the judgment skills 00:06:59.810 --> 00:07:03.149 learned right here. Sometimes the bravest decision 00:07:03.149 --> 00:07:06.279 is recognizing when to pivot. toward where your 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:10.240 skills create more impact. Let's paint a picture 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:14.240 of what really happens at 5 .47 a .m. Standing 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:17.240 at the Royal Winter Fair last November, watching 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:20.819 the 41st annual TD Canadian 4 -H Dairy Classic, 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:23.779 Andrew saw himself and every teenager preparing 00:07:23.779 --> 00:07:27.339 their calf in those pre -dawn hours. The wash 00:07:27.339 --> 00:07:30.779 racks at dawn tell the real story. 300 teenagers 00:07:30.779 --> 00:07:33.810 from counties across Canada all preparing for 00:07:33.810 --> 00:07:37.069 classes that start in two hours. Premier County 00:07:37.069 --> 00:07:40.009 Championships hang on every point. The competition 00:07:40.009 --> 00:07:43.629 is fierce, but watch what actually happens. Competitors 00:07:43.629 --> 00:07:46.050 from rival counties stop their own preparations 00:07:46.050 --> 00:07:48.629 to help someone who is struggling. They share 00:07:48.629 --> 00:07:51.449 equipment without being asked. They teach techniques 00:07:51.449 --> 00:07:53.949 to direct competitors. They offer encouragement 00:07:53.949 --> 00:07:57.310 when frustration peaks. Nobody mandates this. 00:07:57.529 --> 00:08:01.029 No rules require it. This is simply who they 00:08:01.029 --> 00:08:04.420 are. who they've always been. Those people beside 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:07.699 you at 5 .47 AM become your professional network 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:10.540 for the next 40 years. When you need someone 00:08:10.540 --> 00:08:13.279 who understands the weight of impossible decisions, 00:08:13.540 --> 00:08:16.420 when you need truth without judgment, you call 00:08:16.420 --> 00:08:19.699 someone you showed against decades ago. That 00:08:19.699 --> 00:08:22.459 trust, you can't manufacture it in boardrooms 00:08:22.459 --> 00:08:25.600 or build it through LinkedIn. It's forged when 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:28.079 you're all exhausted, scared, and determined 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:31.670 not to let each other fail. The moment that changed 00:08:31.670 --> 00:08:35.450 everything for Andrew came when he was 35. February 00:08:35.450 --> 00:08:39.289 2012. Two weeks from initial idea to launching 00:08:39.289 --> 00:08:42.269 the Bullvines' first article. For that entire 00:08:42.269 --> 00:08:44.870 first year, Andrew did not seek advertisers. 00:08:45.450 --> 00:08:48.210 Complete editorial freedom mattered more than 00:08:48.210 --> 00:08:50.850 financial security. People thought he'd lost 00:08:50.850 --> 00:08:54.470 his mind. Looking back, maybe he had. But every 00:08:54.470 --> 00:08:57.129 skill Andrew needed to make it work came from 00:08:57.129 --> 00:08:59.379 those years competing at the Classic. making 00:08:59.379 --> 00:09:01.460 split -second decisions when your calf won't 00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:04.200 cooperate and 500 people are watching, getting 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:06.720 up the next morning after not doing as well as 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:09.639 you had hoped, walking back into that ring knowing 00:09:09.639 --> 00:09:12.240 you might fail again. That's the real training. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:16.840 Not for showing cattle. For life. Today, the 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:19.960 bullvine reaches over 400 ,000 monthly readers. 00:09:20.179 --> 00:09:23.220 It's become dairy's most essential, most provocative 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:26.820 platform. But what matters more is what it represents. 00:09:27.850 --> 00:09:30.710 Proof that skills learned at 15 in a show ring 00:09:30.710 --> 00:09:34.049 can build something at 35 that changes an entire 00:09:34.049 --> 00:09:37.230 industry's conversation. What happens at the 00:09:37.230 --> 00:09:40.029 Classic doesn't stay at the Classic. It builds 00:09:40.029 --> 00:09:42.070 the collaborative tissue that makes Canadian 00:09:42.070 --> 00:09:45.190 dairy globally competitive despite its size. 00:09:45.590 --> 00:09:48.710 When Canadian dairy organizations pioneered genomic 00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:52.190 selection, doubling genetic progress rates, it 00:09:52.190 --> 00:09:54.809 succeeded because people who'd competed as teenagers 00:09:54.809 --> 00:09:58.789 trusted each other as adults. Research institutions, 00:09:59.250 --> 00:10:02.850 AI organizations, breed associations, and progressive 00:10:02.850 --> 00:10:05.049 breeders all collaborating across traditional 00:10:05.049 --> 00:10:09.350 boundaries. That web of trust, built at 5 .47am 00:10:09.350 --> 00:10:12.269 in wash racks over shared exhaustion and determination, 00:10:12.629 --> 00:10:16.490 drives Canada's outsized global impact. You can 00:10:16.490 --> 00:10:18.649 trace nearly every major innovation in Canadian 00:10:18.649 --> 00:10:22.509 dairy back to relationships formed in 4 -H. Parents 00:10:22.509 --> 00:10:24.970 watching their children compete face an impossible 00:10:24.970 --> 00:10:27.929 question. How do you prepare kids for an industry 00:10:27.929 --> 00:10:30.570 that might not exist when they're ready to take 00:10:30.570 --> 00:10:33.350 over? Here's what Andrew's journey taught him. 00:10:33.870 --> 00:10:36.049 You're not preparing them for dairy farming. 00:10:36.350 --> 00:10:38.590 You're preparing them to navigate complexity 00:10:38.590 --> 00:10:41.970 and uncertainty with grace. Whether they lead 00:10:41.970 --> 00:10:44.830 dairy operations, genetics companies, technology 00:10:44.830 --> 00:10:48.009 startups, or ventures we can't yet imagine, they're 00:10:48.009 --> 00:10:50.870 learning to drive change rather than be consumed 00:10:50.870 --> 00:10:54.440 by it. For 10 years competing, Andrew thought 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:57.139 he was learning to show cattle. He was actually 00:10:57.139 --> 00:10:59.620 learning to make impossible decisions with incomplete 00:10:59.620 --> 00:11:02.980 information. To find hope when logic says quit. 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:05.440 To lift others when you're barely standing yourself. 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:08.779 To persist when persistence seems pointless. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.759 These aren't cattle skills. They're survival 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:16.080 skills. The same ones that let you leave a secure 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:19.899 job with young kids depending on you. Launch 00:11:19.899 --> 00:11:22.340 a media platform that everyone says will fail. 00:11:22.909 --> 00:11:25.750 Tell uncomfortable truths that an industry needs 00:11:25.750 --> 00:11:28.929 to hear and somehow find a way to make it all 00:11:28.929 --> 00:11:33.269 work. Andrew's parents always said 4 -H was their 00:11:33.269 --> 00:11:36.289 stepping stone for learning. From projects that 00:11:36.289 --> 00:11:39.049 taught responsibility to giving reasons that 00:11:39.049 --> 00:11:41.269 built confidence and public speaking skills, 00:11:41.549 --> 00:11:43.889 4 -H became the cornerstone of everything that 00:11:43.889 --> 00:11:46.590 came after. Let's share one more scene from that 00:11:46.590 --> 00:11:52.740 morning at the Royal last November. from across 00:11:52.740 --> 00:11:55.919 Canada. Premier County Championships hang on 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:59.519 every point. The competition is fierce, but watch 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:02.960 what actually happens. Andrew witnessed a young 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:05.879 woman from Western Ontario helping a first -timer 00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:08.059 from the Maritimes who couldn't get all the soap 00:12:08.059 --> 00:12:11.120 out of her calf. He saw a senior competitor from 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:13.399 Ontario lend clipping equipment to someone from 00:12:13.399 --> 00:12:16.299 Alberta whose clippers failed. Nobody mandates 00:12:16.299 --> 00:12:19.460 this. No rules require it. No one is keeping 00:12:19.460 --> 00:12:23.649 score. This is simply who they are. 300 teenagers. 00:12:23.929 --> 00:12:27.309 One cold November morning. The future of an industry 00:12:27.309 --> 00:12:30.149 that statistics say shouldn't survive. But they 00:12:30.149 --> 00:12:33.009 will. They always have. Not through miracles 00:12:33.009 --> 00:12:35.730 or magical market corrections. Through each other. 00:12:36.009 --> 00:12:38.690 That's the harvest that matters most. Not in 00:12:38.690 --> 00:12:40.870 the field or barn, but in the people we become 00:12:40.870 --> 00:12:44.049 together. The road will bend. It always does. 00:12:44.690 --> 00:12:47.450 But if you use what you learn here, really use 00:12:47.450 --> 00:12:50.570 it, you'll make the turn. Andrew has made that 00:12:50.570 --> 00:12:53.190 turn several times now. and each time he's drawn 00:12:53.190 --> 00:12:55.669 on skills learned standing exactly where these 00:12:55.669 --> 00:12:59.690 kids stand today. In a world that often forgets, 00:12:59.690 --> 00:13:02.049 this is what's really being taught in those wash 00:13:02.049 --> 00:13:05.009 racks at dawn. How to be the person someone else 00:13:05.009 --> 00:13:08.830 needs when everything feels impossible. The cattle 00:13:08.830 --> 00:13:10.990 were always just the excuse to bring us together. 00:13:11.210 --> 00:13:13.409 The humans we become in those moments before 00:13:13.409 --> 00:13:17.330 dawn. That's the real legacy. Here are the key 00:13:17.330 --> 00:13:20.799 takeaways from Andrew Hunt's story. Your competition 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:24.240 at 5 .47 a .m. becomes your career safety net 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:27.879 at 35. The teenager you help in the wash rack 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:30.879 today calls you with the opportunity that saves 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.019 your farm in 2040. Canada's secret weapon costs 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:38.299 nothing. We export $178 million in genetics with 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:41.379 one -third the farms because rivals helping rivals 00:13:41.379 --> 00:13:44.539 at dawn creates trust that boardrooms can't buy. 00:13:45.259 --> 00:13:48.549 The skills that matter aren't about cattle. walking 00:13:48.549 --> 00:13:51.309 into the ring after public failure, making decisions 00:13:51.309 --> 00:13:54.269 while 500 watch, lifting others when you're drowning, 00:13:54.509 --> 00:13:57.830 that's the real curriculum. The bend in the road 00:13:57.830 --> 00:14:01.029 is not the end. When half of dairy farms vanish, 00:14:01.309 --> 00:14:04.590 classic alumni thrive because at 14, they learned 00:14:04.590 --> 00:14:06.769 the difference between quitting and pivoting. 00:14:06.990 --> 00:14:10.049 And finally, the cattle were always just the 00:14:10.049 --> 00:14:13.210 excuse. Building humans who understand collective 00:14:13.210 --> 00:14:16.659 success beats individual achievement. That's 00:14:16.659 --> 00:14:20.159 why 4 -H kids run Canadian Dairy. Thanks for 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:22.740 listening to the Bullvine Podcast. This has been 00:14:22.740 --> 00:14:25.100 Andrew Hunt's story about what really happens 00:14:25.100 --> 00:14:28.919 at 5 .47 a .m. and how it shapes everything that 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:31.759 comes after. For more content like this, visit 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:48.379 thebullvine .com. never will die from the show 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:52.100 ring thunder to the quiet strength they knew 00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:58.320 hear that story's now coming right on through 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:05.860 oh tell the tale tell the tale the bovine legends 00:15:05.860 --> 00:15:07.000 live here