WEBVTT 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:14.039 Creeping across the pasture land. Got dirt on 00:00:14.039 --> 00:00:18.719 the boots and a working hand. From the milk house 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:24.000 home to the auction call. These are the folks 00:00:24.000 --> 00:01:00.119 standing strong and tall. Yeah, this is... Welcome 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:02.659 back to the Bullvine Podcast. Today we are sharing 00:01:02.659 --> 00:01:05.840 a story that, quite honestly, it stopped us in 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:08.620 our tracks. It really did. Usually when we dig 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:10.900 into the dairy industry, we're looking at genomic 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:13.579 charts or we're, you know, analyzing the latest 00:01:13.579 --> 00:01:16.219 volatility in milk futures. We look at the what? 00:01:16.420 --> 00:01:19.459 Right. The data. The data. But today we're looking 00:01:19.459 --> 00:01:22.239 at the who. And I don't mean the glossy profile 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:24.680 version of The Who. I mean the version that exists 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:27.099 at four in the morning when the machinery breaks 00:01:27.099 --> 00:01:29.719 and the lights flicker. That is the only version 00:01:29.719 --> 00:01:32.019 that really matters in the end. It's not a story 00:01:32.019 --> 00:01:35.099 about record -breaking milk prices or, you know, 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:36.879 the latest genetic breakthrough that's going 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:39.180 to change all the index lists. No. It's about 00:01:39.180 --> 00:01:41.920 something much quieter and, frankly, much heavier. 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:45.319 I want you to picture the silence of a barn when 00:01:45.319 --> 00:01:47.769 things go wrong. We all know the sounds of a 00:01:47.769 --> 00:01:50.609 healthy dairy, the vacuum pumps humming, the 00:01:50.609 --> 00:01:53.090 scrapers moving, the rhythm of cattle eating, 00:01:53.349 --> 00:01:55.370 you know, the headlocks clicking. It's a mechanical 00:01:55.370 --> 00:01:57.390 heartbeat. It is. It's a heartbeat. But there 00:01:57.390 --> 00:01:59.629 is a specific kind of silence that happens when 00:01:59.629 --> 00:02:02.670 the luck runs out. And that's the kind of silence 00:02:02.670 --> 00:02:05.569 that rings in your ears a lot longer than the 00:02:05.569 --> 00:02:08.830 noise ever does. Yeah. And honestly, this conversation 00:02:08.830 --> 00:02:10.849 we're about to have. This is the kind of talk 00:02:10.849 --> 00:02:13.169 that reminds you why you got into dairy in the 00:02:13.169 --> 00:02:15.270 first place. Or maybe more importantly, why you 00:02:15.270 --> 00:02:18.110 stay. Exactly. Why you stay. Because we often 00:02:18.110 --> 00:02:20.669 talk about the what of farming. The rations, 00:02:20.750 --> 00:02:23.169 the equipment, the protocols. But today we are 00:02:23.169 --> 00:02:25.870 talking about the people who show up when the 00:02:25.870 --> 00:02:28.569 bottom falls out. So we are diving into a piece 00:02:28.569 --> 00:02:31.569 titled Steady Hands. The people who keep the 00:02:31.569 --> 00:02:35.050 barn lights on. It focuses on the stories of 00:02:35.050 --> 00:02:38.650 four national dairy shrine pioneers, Don Siept, 00:02:38.810 --> 00:02:42.370 Bud Schultz, Bill Hansel, and Peter Vail. And 00:02:42.370 --> 00:02:45.710 right away, that word pioneers, it brings up 00:02:45.710 --> 00:02:47.870 a certain image. It does. Usually when you hear 00:02:47.870 --> 00:02:49.949 pioneers, you think of awards ceremonies, shiny 00:02:49.949 --> 00:02:53.069 plaques, lists of accomplishments. But the mission 00:02:53.069 --> 00:02:55.490 of this deep dive is different. We aren't here 00:02:55.490 --> 00:02:57.949 to list their accolades. Not at all. We're going 00:02:57.949 --> 00:02:59.969 to look at the kitchen table reality of their 00:02:59.969 --> 00:03:01.610 lives. We're talking about how they survived 00:03:01.610 --> 00:03:04.229 droughts that wiped out crops three years in 00:03:04.229 --> 00:03:07.229 a row. Three years. Three years. And dispersals 00:03:07.229 --> 00:03:09.349 where neighbors stood by with their hands in 00:03:09.349 --> 00:03:12.590 their pockets. And personal tragedies that would 00:03:12.590 --> 00:03:15.030 have broken lesser men. And the key theme here 00:03:15.030 --> 00:03:18.090 isn't that these men were supermen. It's that 00:03:18.090 --> 00:03:21.150 they weren't alone. They survived because of 00:03:21.150 --> 00:03:23.909 the steady hands around them. The spouses, the 00:03:23.909 --> 00:03:25.930 neighbors, the community members who refused 00:03:25.930 --> 00:03:28.789 to let them fail in isolation. It's a reminder 00:03:28.789 --> 00:03:30.789 that the barn lights stay on because someone 00:03:30.789 --> 00:03:33.490 else helped keep them on. It's that simple and 00:03:33.490 --> 00:03:35.930 it's that profound. So let's get right into the 00:03:35.930 --> 00:03:37.729 moment that really anchors this whole discussion. 00:03:38.330 --> 00:03:41.530 It's a story from Don Sapet, a name that, I mean, 00:03:41.530 --> 00:03:43.469 it eventually became legendary in the Holstein 00:03:43.469 --> 00:03:46.550 world with Keystone Farm. Oh, absolutely. A household 00:03:46.550 --> 00:03:48.669 name. But before the legend, there was just a 00:03:48.669 --> 00:03:50.610 morning in Pennsylvania. And I really want you 00:03:50.610 --> 00:03:53.430 to visualize this. It's early. There had been 00:03:53.430 --> 00:03:56.370 a storm the night before. Thunder, lightning. 00:03:57.080 --> 00:03:59.060 The kind of weather that makes you sleep with 00:03:59.060 --> 00:04:00.780 one eye open. Yeah, the kind that rattles the 00:04:00.780 --> 00:04:03.740 windows. Exactly. Don walks out to the pasture, 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.520 probably expecting a few downed branches or maybe 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:09.939 a muddy lane. The usual cleanup. But he sees 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:13.099 something else entirely. There was a wire fence 00:04:13.099 --> 00:04:15.879 near a stone wall, right where some wild grapes 00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:19.639 were growing. And because of that storm, lightning 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:24.199 had struck that wire. And the result was, it 00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:27.379 was just devastating. Eight cows dead. Just like 00:04:27.379 --> 00:04:29.939 that. And let's be crystal clear for everyone 00:04:29.939 --> 00:04:31.839 listening. These weren't just inventory numbers 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:33.920 on a spreadsheet. No, not at all. These were 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:35.660 personalities. These were animals the family 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:38.079 worked with every single day. One of them. One 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:40.279 of them was a four -year -old cow that had just 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:42.319 been the reserve grand champion at the Harrisburg 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:44.420 show. Okay, let's pause there. For those outside 00:04:44.420 --> 00:04:46.839 the showroom, let me just translate the gravity 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:49.300 of that. Please do. A reserve grand champion 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:51.720 at a show like Harrisburg isn't just a pretty 00:04:51.720 --> 00:04:54.839 cow. That is a foundational animal. That's the 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:56.699 kind of cow you build a herd around for the next 00:04:56.699 --> 00:04:59.079 decade. It's your future. It is your future. 00:04:59.139 --> 00:05:01.300 She represents thousands of hours of breeding 00:05:01.300 --> 00:05:06.540 decisions, care, feed, hope, all of it. To lose 00:05:06.540 --> 00:05:08.600 her is like having a masterpiece you've been 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:11.360 working on for years just wiped out in a split 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:13.449 second. You know, in the interview, Don talks 00:05:13.449 --> 00:05:16.430 about that morning, and he says this line that 00:05:16.430 --> 00:05:18.290 just, it hits you right in the gut. He says, 00:05:18.389 --> 00:05:21.329 that was a sad day when those eight cows didn't 00:05:21.329 --> 00:05:23.290 come in the barn in the morning and you go out 00:05:23.290 --> 00:05:28.230 and... It's that, yeah. It is. That pause, that 00:05:28.230 --> 00:05:30.170 is the farmer translation for heartbreak you 00:05:30.170 --> 00:05:32.290 can't really put into words. It's that feeling 00:05:32.290 --> 00:05:34.689 when you walk out the door and the air just feels 00:05:34.689 --> 00:05:36.709 different, you know? Yeah, you know something's 00:05:36.709 --> 00:05:38.730 wrong. You know something is wrong before you 00:05:38.730 --> 00:05:41.639 even see it. It's a physical blow. You just stand 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:43.420 there and think, I did everything right. And 00:05:43.420 --> 00:05:46.480 nature still, it still took them. It really is. 00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:50.060 And the aftermath of that, it wasn't just the 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:51.819 financial loss, though. I mean, let's be real. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:54.319 Losing eight cows, including a champion, is a 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:57.079 massive financial hit. Oh, huge. Crippling for 00:05:57.079 --> 00:05:59.019 some. But it was the emotional weight of it, 00:05:59.060 --> 00:06:01.120 the empty stalls, the silence we talked about 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:03.350 at the beginning. Yeah. But this is where the 00:06:03.350 --> 00:06:07.209 story pivots from tragedy to what this episode 00:06:07.209 --> 00:06:09.449 is really about. This is the core of it. It's 00:06:09.449 --> 00:06:12.370 about the reaction. Right. Because what happened 00:06:12.370 --> 00:06:15.029 next wasn't a government grant or a bank loan. 00:06:15.189 --> 00:06:19.089 It was the community. The way the neighbors responded 00:06:19.089 --> 00:06:21.569 is exactly what we mean when we talk about rural 00:06:21.569 --> 00:06:24.850 resilience. There were no big speeches. No. Nobody 00:06:24.850 --> 00:06:27.509 came over and gave a lecture on lightning safety 00:06:27.509 --> 00:06:29.709 or, you know, what they should have done. No. 00:06:30.250 --> 00:06:32.629 They just showed up. They showed up. Neighbors 00:06:32.629 --> 00:06:35.930 arrived with casseroles, just walking into the 00:06:35.930 --> 00:06:37.689 kitchen and putting food on the table so the 00:06:37.689 --> 00:06:40.129 family didn't have to think about cooking. Which 00:06:40.129 --> 00:06:42.550 sounds small, but it's not. Yeah. It's taking 00:06:42.550 --> 00:06:44.629 one burden off their plate when they feel like 00:06:44.629 --> 00:06:46.350 they're carrying the weight of the world. A fellow 00:06:46.350 --> 00:06:49.569 breeder called up and offered a heifer to fill 00:06:49.569 --> 00:06:52.550 a row. Just here, take this. We'll figure it 00:06:52.550 --> 00:06:55.529 out later. And that's a massive gesture. A breeder 00:06:55.529 --> 00:06:57.850 giving up a heifer that's giving away genetics. 00:06:58.110 --> 00:07:01.209 It's giving away potential income. But it's that 00:07:01.209 --> 00:07:03.810 unstoken code. People at the local diner were 00:07:03.810 --> 00:07:06.329 passing a hat around the coffee corner to help 00:07:06.329 --> 00:07:09.050 with the feed bill. Little things, big things. 00:07:09.550 --> 00:07:13.009 All of it. And that's the key insight here. When 00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:15.769 you look back at that tragedy, the memory isn't 00:07:15.769 --> 00:07:18.389 just about the dead cows. The enduring memory 00:07:18.389 --> 00:07:22.170 is the quiet way people showed up. The barn lights 00:07:22.170 --> 00:07:25.129 at Keystone stayed on because the community acted 00:07:25.129 --> 00:07:27.230 as a buffer against the disaster. They became 00:07:27.230 --> 00:07:29.430 the shock absorbers. That's a great way to put 00:07:29.430 --> 00:07:32.100 it. It's that unspoken rule of the dairy fraternity. 00:07:32.420 --> 00:07:35.259 When one guy is down, the rest of us brace him 00:07:35.259 --> 00:07:38.019 up. It's incredible, and it really sets the stage 00:07:38.019 --> 00:07:40.319 for understanding who these men really were. 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:42.480 Because when we look at National Dairy Shrine 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:44.759 pioneers, we tend to view them through the lens 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:47.860 of their success. We see the after picture, the 00:07:47.860 --> 00:07:51.079 awards, the legacy. But the source material, 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:54.740 it forces us to rewind. We need to see them as 00:07:54.740 --> 00:07:58.019 they started, as uncertain kids, not... not these 00:07:58.019 --> 00:08:00.699 untouchable icons. That is so, so important. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:03.160 We suffer from survivor bias when we look at 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:04.860 history. We think these guys were destined for 00:08:04.860 --> 00:08:07.100 greatness. Right, that it was inevitable. Yeah, 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:09.339 but look at Don Sipes' start. He wasn't born 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:11.800 a legend. He was a farm kid in the late 1940s. 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:13.480 There's this great story about him at the Waterloo 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:16.180 Fairgrounds. I love this story. He's just judged 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:19.339 with his team. They place fourth, which is respectable, 00:08:19.480 --> 00:08:21.779 but not, you know, winning. He's ready to get 00:08:21.779 --> 00:08:24.769 on the bus and go home to chores. He still smells 00:08:24.769 --> 00:08:27.449 like the barn. I love that detail. He smells 00:08:27.449 --> 00:08:29.370 like the barn. He's probably tired, just wanting 00:08:29.370 --> 00:08:32.429 to get back to his comfort zone. But his coach, 00:08:32.610 --> 00:08:35.649 a guy named Max Dowdy, does something that changes 00:08:35.649 --> 00:08:38.289 the trajectory of his life. He sees the bigger 00:08:38.289 --> 00:08:40.269 picture. He does. He doesn't just put them on 00:08:40.269 --> 00:08:42.710 the bus. He says, come along with me, and takes 00:08:42.710 --> 00:08:44.669 them to an old farmhouse on the edge of the grounds. 00:08:44.929 --> 00:08:48.009 And inside that farmhouse is the absolute royalty 00:08:48.009 --> 00:08:50.399 of the dairy industry at the time. I mean, we're 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:53.700 talking Dean Kildee, Gene Myers, Bill Knox. These 00:08:53.700 --> 00:08:55.759 are the guys whose names Don had only seen in 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:58.159 print in the Holstein World magazine. Did you 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:00.399 imagine? You can just feel the imposter syndrome 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:03.460 kicking in there. You're a kid. Your boots are 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:05.759 probably dusty. And suddenly you're shaking hands 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:07.679 with the giants of your world. But that's the 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:09.940 lesson, isn't it? It is. Mac's daddy made that 00:09:09.940 --> 00:09:11.940 introduction. He built a bridge. He didn't have 00:09:11.940 --> 00:09:13.519 to. It would have been easier to just go home. 00:09:13.860 --> 00:09:16.940 But he took the time. And Don said it was a big 00:09:16.940 --> 00:09:19.240 deal for a kid from Pennsylvania. It made the 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:22.320 industry feel smaller, more accessible. It planted 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:24.559 a seed that he, you know, that he belonged in 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:27.059 that room. Exactly. And then you contrast Don's 00:09:27.059 --> 00:09:29.460 story with Bill Hansel's origin. I mean, if Don 00:09:29.460 --> 00:09:31.820 had a foot in the door, Bill was starting from 00:09:31.820 --> 00:09:34.039 absolute scratch. Not even on the same planet. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.059 We are talking about milking 10 cows by hand. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.039 By hand. Walking two miles to school. This is 00:09:40.039 --> 00:09:42.480 the definition of humble beginnings. And then 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.700 the hardship hits him hard. The Depression, and 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:47.740 then brucellosis wipes out his father's herd. 00:09:47.960 --> 00:09:51.080 That is just a devastating one -two punch. Economic 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:54.419 depression plus a disease outbreak. That's enough 00:09:54.419 --> 00:09:57.080 to make anyone quit agriculture forever. It is. 00:09:57.240 --> 00:09:59.299 And let's pause on brucellosis for a second. 00:09:59.379 --> 00:10:01.059 For our listeners who didn't live through that 00:10:01.059 --> 00:10:03.659 era, can you just explain the magnitude of that 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:06.919 disease? Yeah, sure. Brucellosis, or Bang's disease 00:10:06.919 --> 00:10:09.539 as they call it, causes contagious abortion in 00:10:09.539 --> 00:10:12.159 cattle. So you feed a cow all year, you get her 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:14.259 bread, you're counting on that calf and that 00:10:14.259 --> 00:10:16.519 new lactation, and then she loses the calf. So 00:10:16.519 --> 00:10:20.000 no calf means no fresh milk cycle. Exactly. It 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.620 literally stops the production line. For Bill's 00:10:22.620 --> 00:10:25.399 father, losing the herd meant losing the entire 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:28.320 livelihood. It wasn't a setback. It was a catastrophe. 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:31.799 It is. But look at the ripple effect. Bill Hansel 00:10:31.799 --> 00:10:33.679 went from that heartbreak. From sitting on a 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:36.100 bucket milking 10 cows by hand to becoming a 00:10:36.100 --> 00:10:38.440 scientist whose research on estrous synchronization 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:41.259 is used on 4000 cow dairies today. And we need 00:10:41.259 --> 00:10:43.200 to really appreciate the technical leap here. 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:48.080 I mean, the sheer scale of that jump. Before 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:50.460 Hansel, getting a cow pregnant was a waiting 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:52.789 game. You were on the cow's schedule. You were 00:10:52.789 --> 00:10:54.730 completely on her schedule. You had to watch 00:10:54.730 --> 00:10:56.629 for standing heat. Yeah. You had to physically 00:10:56.629 --> 00:10:59.450 stand there and observe the cows for signs of 00:10:59.450 --> 00:11:01.850 estrus. Yeah. If you missed it, if you blinked, 00:11:01.850 --> 00:11:04.750 you lost 21 days. Which is a lot of lost production. 00:11:05.169 --> 00:11:07.649 Hugely inefficient and relied entirely on human 00:11:07.649 --> 00:11:09.830 vigilance. It was the bottleneck of every dairy. 00:11:10.029 --> 00:11:11.750 And Bill changed that. He changed the entire 00:11:11.750 --> 00:11:14.230 paradigm. He developed the science that lets 00:11:14.230 --> 00:11:17.090 us synchronize the cow's cycles. So instead of 00:11:17.090 --> 00:11:19.509 waiting for the cow to tell us she's ready. We 00:11:19.509 --> 00:11:21.929 can use hormones to reset the cycle and breed 00:11:21.929 --> 00:11:24.350 entire groups of cows on our schedule. It's about 00:11:24.350 --> 00:11:27.870 control and efficiency. It's everything. Every 00:11:27.870 --> 00:11:30.710 time a modern dairy farmer sets up an OMSINCH 00:11:30.710 --> 00:11:34.289 protocol or any timed AI protocol, they're benefiting 00:11:34.289 --> 00:11:37.730 from the curiosity of a kid who watched his dad's 00:11:37.730 --> 00:11:40.450 herd get wiped out and wondered, there has to 00:11:40.450 --> 00:11:43.409 be a better way. It's a powerful reminder that 00:11:43.409 --> 00:11:45.690 every breakthrough, every big innovation, it 00:11:45.690 --> 00:11:48.250 starts with a real world problem that needs solving. 00:11:49.070 --> 00:11:51.250 Now, I want to move to a story that I think is 00:11:51.250 --> 00:11:53.110 going to resonate deeply with anyone who has 00:11:53.110 --> 00:11:55.389 ever stared at a weather forecast and just prayed 00:11:55.389 --> 00:11:58.009 for rain. We need to talk about Peter Vail. Oh, 00:11:58.070 --> 00:12:00.649 man. Peter's story is the classic sink or swim 00:12:00.649 --> 00:12:03.230 moment. His dad tells him, go make your own way. 00:12:03.389 --> 00:12:05.509 That's some tough love right there. It is. So 00:12:05.509 --> 00:12:07.649 Peter goes north, buys a farm and does it with 00:12:07.649 --> 00:12:10.629 100 percent borrowed money. He is leveraged to 00:12:10.629 --> 00:12:14.200 the hilt. All in. No safety net. No safety net 00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:17.220 whatsoever. And then the 1960s drought hits. 00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:19.240 And this is the crucial part. And not just a 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:22.019 dry summer. Three consecutive years of drought. 00:12:22.259 --> 00:12:24.159 Let me put my farmer translator hat on for a 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:26.360 second here. Because drought can sound like an 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:28.759 abstract word. Please break it down. Three years 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:31.179 of drought isn't just about bad crops. It's a 00:12:31.179 --> 00:12:33.539 feeling. It's watching the corn roll up tight 00:12:33.539 --> 00:12:35.840 like onion spikes by 10 in the morning. A sign 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:38.480 of extreme stress. Extreme stress. It's walking 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:40.740 out into a field that should be lush and green 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:43.159 and hearing it crunch under your boots in July. 00:12:43.419 --> 00:12:46.019 It's counting every single bale of hay in the 00:12:46.019 --> 00:12:48.820 mow in August and knowing it's not enough to 00:12:48.820 --> 00:12:51.830 get to May. let alone next year. The math doesn't 00:12:51.830 --> 00:12:53.909 work. The math doesn't work. It's the sleepless 00:12:53.909 --> 00:12:55.909 nights doing that math on the back of an envelope. 00:12:56.250 --> 00:12:58.909 Feed bills versus milk checks. And the numbers 00:12:58.909 --> 00:13:01.009 just don't add up no matter how you look at them. 00:13:01.350 --> 00:13:04.090 It is a slow motion car crash that lasts for 00:13:04.090 --> 00:13:07.750 36 months. That is an incredibly vivid and painful 00:13:07.750 --> 00:13:10.169 picture. And it leads to the inevitable. February 00:13:10.169 --> 00:13:13.850 1964. Peter has to hold a dispersal sale. The 00:13:13.850 --> 00:13:15.830 end of the line. The imagery here is heartbreaking. 00:13:16.129 --> 00:13:18.909 It's bitter cold. There are snow banks piled 00:13:18.909 --> 00:13:20.929 up against the fence lines. And the neighbors 00:13:20.929 --> 00:13:25.230 are driving in. That scene. The neighbors. Some 00:13:25.230 --> 00:13:27.590 are there to buy. Sure, they need cows. But some 00:13:27.590 --> 00:13:29.110 are just there standing with their hands in their 00:13:29.110 --> 00:13:31.720 pockets. Why? What are they doing? They are bearing 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:34.600 witness. It's a funeral for a dream. It's a sign 00:13:34.600 --> 00:13:37.580 of respect. They're there to say, we see you. 00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:40.440 We see what this costs you. It's a quiet, rural 00:13:40.440 --> 00:13:43.919 way of showing support. And the kicker, the absolute 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:47.279 gut punch. After selling everything, the cows, 00:13:47.500 --> 00:13:50.019 the machinery, the buckets, every last thing, 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:53.000 Peter was still short on the bank loan. So he 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:55.570 didn't even break even. He walked away with less 00:13:55.570 --> 00:13:57.629 than nothing. He walked away with debt. Wow. 00:13:57.809 --> 00:14:00.409 But this is where Peter's character and the theme 00:14:00.409 --> 00:14:02.669 of this whole deep dive really shines through. 00:14:02.789 --> 00:14:04.929 Instead of bitterness, instead of blaming the 00:14:04.929 --> 00:14:07.090 world or the weather, he said, I thought that 00:14:07.090 --> 00:14:08.970 was really good for that time of year. He laughed 00:14:08.970 --> 00:14:10.490 about it. He actually laughed about it later. 00:14:10.529 --> 00:14:13.830 He refused to be broken by it. It was this incredible 00:14:13.830 --> 00:14:18.590 display of just pure resilience. That is a mindset 00:14:18.590 --> 00:14:20.909 that is hard to comprehend. But again, and this 00:14:20.909 --> 00:14:23.470 is so important. He didn't do it alone. He didn't 00:14:23.470 --> 00:14:25.730 get through that in a vacuum. And this brings 00:14:25.730 --> 00:14:28.549 us to the silent partners. Yes. We cannot tell 00:14:28.549 --> 00:14:30.070 these stories without talking about the spouses, 00:14:30.149 --> 00:14:32.149 the women who often get left out of the official 00:14:32.149 --> 00:14:35.149 bios, but who are the absolute backbone of the 00:14:35.149 --> 00:14:38.070 entire operation. Absolutely. Let's talk about 00:14:38.070 --> 00:14:41.309 Jerry Seept. In the history books, you know, 00:14:41.309 --> 00:14:44.629 she might just be listed as Don's wife, but on 00:14:44.629 --> 00:14:48.700 the farm. She was the anchor. The center of gravity. 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:52.240 Totally. She started feeding calves at four years 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:54.919 old. This wasn't a job she took on. It was part 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:57.200 of her DNA. She wasn't just helping out. She 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:00.179 was the calf lady, the record keeper, the nurse. 00:15:00.500 --> 00:15:03.759 And the detail about the DHIA tester. really 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:06.279 stood out to me me too the tester comes late 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:08.639 at night slipping and sliding on the winter roads 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:11.860 and jerry is the one who knows the book she knows 00:15:11.860 --> 00:15:14.259 the service hires the calving dates the intricate 00:15:14.259 --> 00:15:17.360 web of the herd's genetics coal better than anyone 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:20.820 better than anyone and when mastitis flared up 00:15:20.820 --> 00:15:23.519 in a prize cow she was the one stripping out 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:26.419 the quarter patiently repeatedly doing the unglamorous 00:15:26.419 --> 00:15:28.720 work that saves a cow the argument the source 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:31.440 makes is so compelling Don could go to board 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:33.200 meetings. He could become a leader in the Holstein 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:36.000 Association only because Jerry was in the lane 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.279 every single day. She bought him the time. She 00:15:38.279 --> 00:15:40.159 bought him the time to be a leader. She was running 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.159 the home front so he could go out and build the 00:15:42.159 --> 00:15:44.600 legacy. It's the same with Myra Schultz. Bud 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:46.799 Schultz was an academic moving from Wisconsin 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:49.240 to Minnesota to Cornell and back. I mean, that's 00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:51.700 a nomadic life. It is. And it's disruptive. It's 00:15:51.700 --> 00:15:54.700 incredibly disruptive. Myra was the root system. 00:15:55.019 --> 00:15:56.740 Every time they moved, she had to find the new 00:15:56.740 --> 00:15:58.919 church, the new school, make the new friends, 00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:01.559 set up the new household. She reset the social 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:04.659 fabric of the family over and over again so Bud 00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:06.840 could focus on his research. It's the role of 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:09.159 the trailing spouse, which is such an inadequate 00:16:09.159 --> 00:16:11.980 term. It implies they are behind, but in reality, 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:14.120 they're often carrying the heaviest load to keep 00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:17.559 the family unit functional. 100%. Without Myra 00:16:17.559 --> 00:16:21.279 and Jerry, those men don't become pioneers. They 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:23.879 just become guys who couldn't balance work and 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:26.740 life. The whole structure depends on those steady 00:16:26.740 --> 00:16:29.580 hands at home. I want to fast forward a bit in 00:16:29.580 --> 00:16:32.019 Peter Vail's life because we talked about his 00:16:32.019 --> 00:16:34.700 failure, the dispersal. But his success later 00:16:34.700 --> 00:16:36.919 in life is defined by a moment of incredible 00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:39.759 integrity. This is such a powerful story. He's 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:41.340 working in the corporate world now, in the ag 00:16:41.340 --> 00:16:44.740 sector, dealing with fertilizer and feed. And 00:16:44.740 --> 00:16:47.220 the corporate office decides to close his regional 00:16:47.220 --> 00:16:50.600 branch. This is a test of character. It's easy 00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:53.840 to be a good leader. when milk is $25 a hundredweight, 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:57.519 or when sales are up. It is incredibly hard to 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:00.139 be a good leader when the ship is sinking. Incredibly 00:17:00.139 --> 00:17:03.159 hard. And what does he do? Peter calls his 13 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:05.759 employees in. He doesn't hide it. He doesn't 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:07.900 sugarcoat it. He tells them the truth immediately. 00:17:08.259 --> 00:17:10.380 He respects them enough to give them the hard 00:17:10.380 --> 00:17:13.079 news straight. And then he makes a promise. A 00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:16.609 promise that just... It's amazing. He says, I'm 00:17:16.609 --> 00:17:18.730 not going until you all have jobs. That gives 00:17:18.730 --> 00:17:21.210 me chills just hearing it. Me too. I'm not going 00:17:21.210 --> 00:17:24.109 until you all have jobs. And he did it. He worked 00:17:24.109 --> 00:17:26.150 the phones. He used his connections. He called 00:17:26.150 --> 00:17:28.589 in favors. He placed them at farm credit, at 00:17:28.589 --> 00:17:31.009 co -ops, wherever he could. He ensured their 00:17:31.009 --> 00:17:33.410 livelihoods were secure before he even thought 00:17:33.410 --> 00:17:36.109 about his own next step. That is the definition 00:17:36.109 --> 00:17:39.009 of leadership. It's stewardship. He treated his 00:17:39.009 --> 00:17:42.180 employees like his herd. You don't leave until 00:17:42.180 --> 00:17:44.440 everyone is taken care of. That's a great connection. 00:17:44.660 --> 00:17:48.420 And that moment, to me, defines Peter's legacy 00:17:48.420 --> 00:17:52.220 more than any cow he ever bred or bought. It 00:17:52.220 --> 00:17:54.579 shows that he learned from his own dispersal. 00:17:55.059 --> 00:17:57.839 He knew what it felt like to have the rug pulled 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:00.140 out from under you, and he refused to let that 00:18:00.140 --> 00:18:02.569 happen to his people. And we see a similar kind 00:18:02.569 --> 00:18:05.529 of resilience of turning grief into action with 00:18:05.529 --> 00:18:08.769 Bill Hansel. Another incredible pivot. In 1997, 00:18:09.170 --> 00:18:11.589 Bill's wife passed away from ovarian cancer. 00:18:11.750 --> 00:18:14.150 He was late in his career. He could have retired. 00:18:14.309 --> 00:18:15.890 He could have just, you know, sat on the porch 00:18:15.890 --> 00:18:17.890 and grieved. He'd earned it. Most people would 00:18:17.890 --> 00:18:20.930 have. But instead, he went back to the lab. He 00:18:20.930 --> 00:18:23.329 went back to the lab. He looked at his lifetime 00:18:23.329 --> 00:18:25.349 of knowledge about reproductive hormones, knowledge 00:18:25.349 --> 00:18:27.390 he built for the dairy industry. And he said, 00:18:27.490 --> 00:18:31.269 how can I apply this to fighting cancer? He repurposed 00:18:31.269 --> 00:18:33.569 his entire life's work. Exactly. He started working 00:18:33.569 --> 00:18:35.769 on something called wheelitic peptides. People 00:18:35.769 --> 00:18:37.630 told him it wouldn't work. They said, you're 00:18:37.630 --> 00:18:39.509 a cow guy. What do you know about cancer? He 00:18:39.509 --> 00:18:41.750 must have faced so much skepticism. So much. 00:18:42.029 --> 00:18:45.049 But he persisted. The article quotes him saying, 00:18:45.170 --> 00:18:48.049 everybody said it wouldn't work. We persisted. 00:18:48.150 --> 00:18:51.390 And it did work. He turned his deepest personal 00:18:51.390 --> 00:18:54.730 loss into a potential cure for others. That is 00:18:54.730 --> 00:18:57.349 the highest form of keeping the barn lights on. 00:18:57.759 --> 00:18:59.380 He tried to keep the lights on for everyone. 00:18:59.619 --> 00:19:02.380 It really is. It's about taking your pain and 00:19:02.380 --> 00:19:05.240 using it to fuel something good, something bigger 00:19:05.240 --> 00:19:07.259 than yourself. So we've talked about these big, 00:19:07.259 --> 00:19:09.660 dramatic crises, the droughts, the lightning, 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:12.740 the deaths. But the source material also highlights 00:19:12.740 --> 00:19:15.400 the small habits, the ripple effects of tiny, 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:18.039 consistent gestures. And this might be the most 00:19:18.039 --> 00:19:20.380 applicable part for all of us. I think so, too. 00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:22.700 I love the story of Bud Schultz's Christmas cards. 00:19:22.900 --> 00:19:26.549 50 cards. 50 cards every December. For 40 years. 00:19:26.630 --> 00:19:28.829 40 years. Think about that consistency. He sent 00:19:28.829 --> 00:19:30.930 them to his former grad students. This wasn't 00:19:30.930 --> 00:19:32.890 networking. This wasn't a LinkedIn update. This 00:19:32.890 --> 00:19:35.950 was checking in. And in today's world where we 00:19:35.950 --> 00:19:38.069 are so digitally connected, yet so many people 00:19:38.069 --> 00:19:41.390 feel so isolated, that hits home. It really does. 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:44.470 We don't send cards much anymore, but we have 00:19:44.470 --> 00:19:47.670 texts. We have DMs. And the lesson from Bud is 00:19:47.670 --> 00:19:51.019 the power of the UOK. Text. Yeah. You know, it's 00:19:51.019 --> 00:19:53.140 Sunday night. You know, your neighbor has been 00:19:53.140 --> 00:19:55.240 struggling with a frozen water line or a sick 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:58.460 herd or just the milk price. Sending that text 00:19:58.460 --> 00:20:01.920 just, how's it going? It combats the isolation 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:04.339 of the barn. It tells them they aren't invisible. 00:20:04.619 --> 00:20:06.900 That someone is thinking of them. Right. Bud 00:20:06.900 --> 00:20:08.980 knew that his students, scattered all over the 00:20:08.980 --> 00:20:11.240 country, maybe feeling loft in a new job or a 00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:13.819 new city, they needed to know their old mentor 00:20:13.819 --> 00:20:16.299 still cared. It was an anchor for them. And then 00:20:16.299 --> 00:20:18.559 there's Peter Vail again, paying it forward with 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:21.900 cattle. This story is just pure generosity. It's 00:20:21.900 --> 00:20:23.660 fantastic. He's recovering from heart surgery, 00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:27.960 of all things, lying in bed, and he buys a top 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:30.769 -tier Jersey cow over the phone. Laughing? I 00:20:30.769 --> 00:20:33.269 mean, buying cattle while you're on post -surgery 00:20:33.269 --> 00:20:35.950 medication is a dangerous game. Laughs it is. 00:20:35.990 --> 00:20:39.369 A very dangerous game. But his instinct wasn't 00:20:39.369 --> 00:20:41.710 to keep her. It wasn't to add another banner 00:20:41.710 --> 00:20:43.690 to his wall. No. His first thought was someone 00:20:43.690 --> 00:20:46.769 else. His first thought was a young couple, Budgen 00:20:46.769 --> 00:20:49.430 Farms, who were just getting started. He knew 00:20:49.430 --> 00:20:51.230 they had the talent, but they didn't have the 00:20:51.230 --> 00:20:54.369 capital to buy a cow like this. Right. They were 00:20:54.369 --> 00:20:56.670 long on skill, but short on cash, like so many 00:20:56.670 --> 00:20:59.460 young farmers. So what does he do? He sends the 00:20:59.460 --> 00:21:02.819 cow to them, just gives them a leg up. And that 00:21:02.819 --> 00:21:05.779 cow, she became a foundation for their success. 00:21:06.180 --> 00:21:09.259 It teaches us that true success isn't hoarding 00:21:09.259 --> 00:21:12.400 the best stock for yourself. It's realizing that 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:15.640 you have enough and using your resources to help 00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:18.039 the next generation get a start. It's planting 00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:20.559 a tree you might never sit under. That's beautifully 00:21:20.559 --> 00:21:22.900 put. It's about building the community, not just 00:21:22.900 --> 00:21:26.140 your own herd. So we've heard these incredible 00:21:26.140 --> 00:21:28.920 stories. We've unpacked the history, the highs, 00:21:28.980 --> 00:21:31.380 the lows. But let's bring it down to the ground 00:21:31.380 --> 00:21:33.359 level. Let's make it real. For the guy in the 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:35.220 tractor right now listening to this while he's 00:21:35.220 --> 00:21:37.480 chopping corn or scraping the barn, what does 00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:39.839 he do with this? How does he apply this idea 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:42.700 of steady hands to his life tomorrow? Okay, I 00:21:42.700 --> 00:21:44.319 think it comes down to four practical habits 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:46.140 we can pull straight from these pioneers. Yeah, 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:49.670 let's hear them. First, make introductions. Be 00:21:49.670 --> 00:21:52.190 like Max Dowdy. It's that simple. If you see 00:21:52.190 --> 00:21:54.170 a young kid at a co -op meeting who looks a little 00:21:54.170 --> 00:21:56.990 lost or intimidated, walk over. Introduce them 00:21:56.990 --> 00:21:59.009 to the veteran, the board member. Bridge that 00:21:59.009 --> 00:22:01.930 gap. You have no idea what that handshake might 00:22:01.930 --> 00:22:04.210 start. And it costs you nothing. It costs you 00:22:04.210 --> 00:22:07.289 nothing but 10 seconds of courage. But we all 00:22:07.289 --> 00:22:10.250 huddle with the people we know. We have to break 00:22:10.250 --> 00:22:12.769 that habit. I love that. It's so simple, but 00:22:12.769 --> 00:22:14.730 we often forget to do it. Okay, what's number 00:22:14.730 --> 00:22:17.809 two? Exactly. Second is the check -in routine. 00:22:18.250 --> 00:22:19.890 Be like Bud Schultz. Pick one person a week. 00:22:20.210 --> 00:22:22.509 Just one. It doesn't have to be 50. Text them. 00:22:22.589 --> 00:22:25.109 Call them. How's the corn looking? Saw you were 00:22:25.109 --> 00:22:27.269 combining late. How are the calves? It breaks 00:22:27.269 --> 00:22:29.410 the silence. It pierces that bubble of isolation. 00:22:29.910 --> 00:22:32.470 It does. If we all did that, if every person 00:22:32.470 --> 00:22:34.869 listening picked one person a week, the rural 00:22:34.869 --> 00:22:36.650 mental health crisis would look a lot different. 00:22:36.769 --> 00:22:38.769 That's so actionable. One person a week. I can 00:22:38.769 --> 00:22:42.190 do that. Anyone can. Third, share what you spare. 00:22:42.390 --> 00:22:45.400 Be like Peter Vail. You might not have a grand 00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:47.839 champion jersey to give away. Perhaps. Probably 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:50.460 not. Probably not. But maybe you have an empty 00:22:50.460 --> 00:22:52.680 seat in the truck going to the fair. Maybe you 00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:54.900 have a spare hour to help a neighbor fix a fence 00:22:54.900 --> 00:22:57.819 or pull a calf. Generosity isn't always money. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.799 Sometimes it's capacity. It's realizing when 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:02.480 your hands are steady enough to help someone 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:04.700 whose hands are shaking. Share what you spare. 00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:07.660 I like that. And the fourth one. The fourth one 00:23:07.660 --> 00:23:11.160 is maybe the hardest for a lot of farmers. Succession 00:23:11.160 --> 00:23:14.220 is trust. There was a tiny moment in the Don 00:23:14.220 --> 00:23:17.460 Siebe story where the AI tech comes to the farm 00:23:17.460 --> 00:23:20.480 and Don is leaving for the day. He says to the 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:23.339 son, you're one short today. Meaning you're missing 00:23:23.339 --> 00:23:27.099 a worker. Right. And the son says, no, when dad's 00:23:27.099 --> 00:23:30.799 here, we have one extra. Wow. That is the goal. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:33.140 recognizing when it's time to shift from being 00:23:33.140 --> 00:23:35.940 the boss to being extra hands, trusting the next 00:23:35.940 --> 00:23:37.779 generation to hold the reins while you support 00:23:37.779 --> 00:23:40.160 them rather than micromanaging them from the 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:42.619 side. That is how a farm survives to the next 00:23:42.619 --> 00:23:44.579 generation. When dad's here, we have one extra. 00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:48.000 That is such a profound shift in mindset. It's 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.559 not about losing control. Not at all. It changes 00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:53.259 succession from a battle for control to a partnership, 00:23:53.460 --> 00:23:56.519 to a support system. It really does. It allows 00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:59.500 the older generation to be the steady hands without 00:23:59.500 --> 00:24:01.750 having to be the steering hands. It's a gift, 00:24:01.769 --> 00:24:05.069 really. A gift of trust. As we wrap up this deep 00:24:05.069 --> 00:24:07.349 dive, these stories, I mean, they are heavy, 00:24:07.390 --> 00:24:10.569 but they are incredibly hopeful. They are. Look, 00:24:10.710 --> 00:24:12.910 we can't fix the weather. We saw that with Peter's 00:24:12.910 --> 00:24:15.349 drought. We can't fix the markets. We live with 00:24:15.349 --> 00:24:18.589 that every day. We can't. But we can be the reason 00:24:18.589 --> 00:24:21.670 a neighbor keeps going. Luck brings the drought. 00:24:21.869 --> 00:24:24.890 People keep the lights on. That is the fundamental 00:24:24.890 --> 00:24:27.069 truth of this industry. And I want to remind 00:24:27.069 --> 00:24:29.170 everyone that these stories came from the National 00:24:29.170 --> 00:24:31.769 Dairy Shrine Pioneers. It's so important to honor 00:24:31.769 --> 00:24:34.109 that history and the people who collect it. Absolutely. 00:24:34.210 --> 00:24:37.710 If these stories touched you, go to www .thebullvine 00:24:37.710 --> 00:24:40.549 .com. Read more of them. We've got more content 00:24:40.549 --> 00:24:43.190 there. And more importantly, ask yourself, who 00:24:43.190 --> 00:24:45.730 is the person who kept your lights on? That's 00:24:45.730 --> 00:24:47.609 a great question to end on. Who showed up for 00:24:47.609 --> 00:24:51.410 you with a casserole or a heifer or just a quiet 00:24:51.410 --> 00:24:53.730 word when you needed it? Send us that story. 00:24:53.809 --> 00:24:55.940 We want to hear it. Thank you for listening to 00:24:55.940 --> 00:24:57.759 the Bullvine Podcast. See you next time.