Creeping across the pasture land. Got dirt on
the boots and a working hand. From the milk house
home to the auction call. These are the folks
standing strong and tall. Yeah, this is... Welcome
to the Bullvine Podcast. Today we're doing something
a little different. This episode goes behind
the article, Calves for a Cause, $170 ,000 and
counting, and lets you hear directly from the
dairy dad at the center of it all. You're about
to meet Daryl Marcus, a 60 -cow producer from
near Ingersoll, Ontario. Daryl and his wife Sarah
have seven kids, including Brooks, who was born
in 2019 with a rare condition that means his
body sometimes forgets to breathe. After 120
days in the NICU and more hospital stays than
most parents see in a lifetime, Daryl found himself
sitting in one of those hard plastic chairs,
watching nurses and child life staff take care
of kids who weren't his. He asked one question.
How do I ever repay these people for what they're
doing for our son? Out of that question came
Calves for a Cause, the dairy charity sale at
Canadian Dairy XPO that has now raised more than
$170 ,000 for Children's Health Foundation in
London, Ontario, all on the strength of top -end
calves and an industry that shows up when it
matters. In this conversation, you'll hear how
the Marcus family juggled cows, seven kids, and
months in hospital. why nurses at London Children's
became second moms, and how one simple idea,
let's sell a calf and see what happens, grew
into a headline sale in the We Cover Cow Coliseum.
Whether you run 40 cows or 400, this one is about
what dairy community really looks like when life
tilts sideways. Let's jump in. Can you give me
your background, how you got started in the farming,
kind of the family, the family operations, and
kind of what things look like today for the Marcus
family? So obviously I started with Markville
Holsteins, yeah, ever since I was born, basically,
out in the barn, up and down the mountain. Did
4 -H, started when I was 10, did that until I
was 21, then started milking cows with my brother
when we were 21 as well, on our rented farm with
40 cages of quota. Bought a farm in Belleville
in 2016. And then had the opportunity to buy
a farm five minutes from home in 2008. No, sorry,
we moved in 2014 to Belleville. Had a chance
to buy a farm close to the home in 2018. And
we did that. Moved the quota and the cows from
Belleville to our current location in Ingersoll,
which is now 60 cows milking on 180 acres. Okay.
And you don't do that alone. I know that's a
lot of work for yourself, but you don't do that
alone because you have a fairly large family,
if you may. So it could be a little confusing
for most people. We order things, but yeah, there's
four of us in our family. My brother Gary has
his own farm about a stone's throw away, and
then Mark is now running Markville Holsteins,
and then my sister is about two minutes away
from him, and she also has her own dairy farm,
so we all kind of help each other where we can,
and we're all, yeah, within the max five -minute
radius. And just to extend the much even larger
family, you have how many kids yourself? I currently
have seven, six boys, one girl. The girl is actually
the last one. I was going to say, and she is
the baby, if I recall off the top of my head
pretty well. Was that go until we get a girl,
or was that just by what it worked out? I was
good until four and got forced into the next
three to get the girl. Okay. That's the way it
goes. Happy wife, happy life, right? Exactly,
exactly. I was just curious. I got the girl third,
so I didn't have to go all the way to seven.
So we were pretty good that way. And then you
have... Is he the second youngest? What does
Brooks fit in the... Brooks is our sixth. Sixth,
that's what I thought. Second youngest, yep.
Second youngest, that's what I thought. So, as
a family dynamic, what does a day on the farm
look like for all of you guys? So, we don't do
our own crops. And we let... My cousins own a
custom business, so they look after my cropping
and all that side of it. My typical day is looking
after the everyday duties of a 60 -cow dairy
farm, milking, breeding, all that side of it.
The kids help with milkings to play sports, basically,
and trucking kids around, basically. Even before
Brooks, you probably had a crazy enough lifestyle
with the five boys. But when Brooks came, was
it after he was born you guys discovered that
he was having complications, or did you know
ahead of time a bit, or how did that all? Nope.
So basically we had no inclination anything was
wrong. He was born October 28, 2019. He was born
blue, which, of course, is never good. No. Bluish
gray, I should say. Probably took them a half
an hour to really get him breathing correctly.
Yeah. And then once he was breathing correctly,
they actually found a heart murmur. But then
just kind of said, oh, he'll be fine. He'll grow
out of it. Yeah. And so then. Brooke stayed in
our room that night, or in Sarah's room, I guess
it is. Didn't wake up to eat or drink, or I guess
eat. And then in the morning, Sarah tried to
feed him, and he wanted nothing to do with it,
and instead decided to throw everything up. Well,
it was a straight pile, basically. And then that's
when doctors got alerted to something. So they
took him to the Woodstock, like, their NICU,
or not NICU, but their, like, extra care center
station. Yeah. Well, they took a gas tube down.
They did a couple x -rays, and it showed a blockage
within his belly, or his intestines, I guess.
Yeah. And I'm sure that's a scary time for the
parents going through all that. A, not knowing
what's going on. Even when you do, I'm trying
to understand what that means going forward.
How did you and Sarah handle all that, or how
did that? it was super traumatic as parents you
well especially for sarah right like you have
a baby uh 12 hours later your your your your
child's emergency transferred to london um and
and that took us we got there after him and uh
but like for the mother your typical child's
born you get to hold them and love them whereas
Sarah wasn't able to hold Brooks for 10 days.
We were only able to look through a bassinet
cupboard, right? Or whatever, I'm not sure what
they called it exactly, but he was inside one
of those bassinet things with a cover on it.
And yeah, you could just sit there and wonder
what's going to happen with your kid. The nurses
at, I'd say any children's hospital, but for
us, obviously London, they're incredible. Like,
we got lucky. We had a nurse that took him on
as a, I don't know what they call it, like a,
I'm trying to think now, a core nurse, basically.
So whenever she was on working. He was her kid,
right? And we had two of them within the first
three days. He was a little bit different for
them in that the NICU is used to preemies, right?
He was full term, no reason for really being
there other than the obvious, right? So we had
two amazing core nurses almost right away. is
second to none. It was amazing. And between you,
obviously you have family support at home, but
there's still cows to be milked, stuff to be
done at home, and the five other boys, it's probably
quite still the busy time, but yet trying to
be there as much as you can, and Sarah trying
to do as much as she can, the support from them
probably helps a lot. Yep. A lot going on. Oh,
yeah. So we were actually fortunate that my cows
in quota were actually at my dad's at the time
because we were doing a building project at our
home farm. So my cow, and you can see God's providence
on it, I guess, in that we had just moved from
Belleville. been in Balboa, we would have to
go to Ottawa with him. And that would have been
hard. And you wouldn't have had the family support
in there. Which is an insane drive. Whereas now,
we're 20 minutes away from a hospital. Or from
London. And at that time, Mark, my brother, obviously
carried my herd in that I wasn't able to be there
as much as I needed to be. But I think he understood
that. Dad did. That's what their family would
totally understand. Yeah. And can you just describe,
because I know you guys went through a lot, but
maybe just share a little bit about what those,
like the first year or all the things that Brooke
had to go through kind of early on to get, and
I don't want to call it stable, but to get to
a point where you could even come home regularly
and be home and stuff. So for us, it was the
first four months. We were... He was from day
one until four months old. I think, I want to
say February 22nd of 2020, we came home for the
first time, or he came home. That entire time,
he was half in the NICU, half in the PCCU. I'd
say that he had a disease called Hirschsprung's
disease. His colon does not work. So he has no
large intestine because of that. So that surgery
to make for an ostomy happened, I'd say about
two weeks in. And then at the same time, we were
alerted to a disease that could be his actual
diagnosis. That took, oh, I'd say six, close
to six weeks, I'd say that. I'd say six weeks
to get those results back because it included
Sarah and I being tested for the same disease.
Okay. So it was his came back and then we had
to send ours back because if Sarah and I tested
the same as him, then he wouldn't have had the
disease. Yeah. But, of course, we don't have
it. Yeah. That disease was congenital central
hypoventilation syndrome. Mm -hmm. Also CCHS.
So that's his prime diagnosis. And Hirschsprung's
is a side effect of that diagnosis. Our first
year or so was a mess. Not a lot of issues with
the breathing, but a lot of issues around his
ostomy. His outputs were way too high. He just
wasn't thriving. And, like, I think we in the
first year, I think we maybe had two new Austinies
put in as well, if I remember correctly. It just
wasn't working. And, yeah, he just wasn't thriving.
So it was a lot of time on TPN and in hospital.
I think we were, for the first year, we were
probably in, oh. Probably half of the year by
the time everything was set. And then it was
almost the same for the second year. We were
just having trouble getting him to thrive, I
guess, is the right answer. And as a parent,
that's the hardest thing in the world because
you try to do anything you can, but some of this,
especially in this scenario, was so out of your
control. Yeah, yeah. I think everybody was. Concerned
is the right word, I guess. Like, everybody's
trying to figure it out, right? Like, he's got
a whole team of specialists, right? Everybody's
trying to figure out what's going on. And you're
trying to figure out, hey, if he eats this, what
happens? If he eats that, what happens, right?
And you know all the things you're supposed to
stay away from with the Hirschsprung's disease,
but then he was reacting to things that he should
have been okay with, and it just wasn't. Yeah,
again, at two years old, I think he weighed,
like, boy, he wasn't, if he was 20 pounds, it
would be a lot, I think. Yeah, especially with
his four, sorry, five older brothers who, I know
your family well, were bigger boys, so he'd seem
quite small compared to his brothers. Yeah, oh,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There was times we took
him in and it was, yeah, he was just, yeah, he
just wasn't private. It was terrible. But it
sounds, or at least from my following, that as
he's gotten older here and you guys have gotten
a better understanding, he's started to do better.
So, yeah, like, the thing we've learned along
the way is not every ostomy is perfect. And doctors
sometimes, like you said, they do their best,
right, to make a good one. And essentially...
a good one, and you hope that one works for the
long term. And so, yeah, I'd say probably around
the end of his two years, once he was about two
years old, we finally, after, I'd say, four or
five different tries, we finally got a good one.
And then he sailed for, I'd say, Six seven months
he was really good mm -hmm and then we decided
to do Well, it's called a reverse I guess reversal
yeah Surgery which basically brought his small
intestine down to his bum Mm -hmm To eliminate
the ostomy and that did not work Okay Whatever
the reasons are age Possibly how severe his Hirschsprung
actually is. Right? Like it's something we don't
really know. Like still probably don't know how
severe it is. But yeah, it did not work. And
then we spent, oh shoot, I'd say probably nine
months trying to make it work for him. And it
was like, yeah, it was terrible for him. Terrible
for us. up most nights screaming that he was
in pain and it didn't work at all and then um
finally he uh got really sick uh june of 23 i
want to say and uh he forced us to uh go back
to yeah or the Canadian one at least, which is
in Toronto. So London made it happen that he
could go to Toronto. And we spent about a week
on sick kids. And that doctor decided to obviously
go back to the ostomy. And ever since then, Brooks
has thrived. Okay. He's been unbelievable. That's
good news. Yeah, yeah. Now, one of the things
I've had the privilege of knowing your family
since almost when you were like Brooks' type
age, that faith and community are huge for you
guys. Yes. Your parents, obviously, very much
so, and yourselves. Yep. And so you decided to
give back to everyone who's helped and supported
you guys. How did that start? Where did all the
genesis of the... Cavs for a cause even begin?
In a chair in the NICU. Okay. I'd say probably
four to five weeks in, you just realize what
they're doing, right? Like how amazing the nurses
are. There's side programs going on for kids.
Not so much him at the time. specialty as far
as the uh child life like that stuff you can
kind of see going on um and and yeah like you
just sit there and and you see all this going
on and all i could think about is how on earth
do i ever repay these people um for what they're
doing for our kid or for our son i guess um and
i just for me it was fairly side of the box and
that i just i i know the industry i know enough
people in the industry um and i i'd never run
a sale before but i thought oh you like i i my
original thought was hey i'll just throw a cap
on facebook and just let people bid on her right
and what if you get 600 bucks you get 600 bucks
yeah um but yeah and then i'd So then, yeah,
we got out and COVID hit. As I say, it was right
during COVID times. Yeah. Two weeks after we
got out, we were shut down. So that added the
online elements to the first year. Yeah. But,
like, I just, to be honest, like, I literally
reached out to, well, almost like it was everybody,
really. Like, Brooks had a large following. which
we noticed fairly quickly. And we were getting
a lot of messages of support and stuff, right?
So, yeah, I just started reaching out to people
I knew, asked them what their thoughts were of
putting a calf in the sale. I wasn't expecting
donations, per se, but everybody kept saying
yes. Like I said, originally I just thought,
hey, I'd... To be honest, my original message
was actually to Ethan McMillan, who when I was
in Fellville I had some pretty good connections
with. And I just emailed him. I said, hey, if
I do this on a Facebook page, are you interested
in putting a cap in? And he said, oh, absolutely.
We'll do that for sure. We'll do that for sure.
And then I just kept asking. I made my first
post, and then Julie Ashton contacted me fairly
quickly, like within probably an hour, hour and
a half, and she wanted to be involved. And then
probably fairly quickly after that, Nick Saubacher
messaged me, and he wanted to be involved, and
he donated his paddle club spot for me. for the
online part of it. And then, yeah, then it grew
from there. Like, I think the first year we had,
I want to say we had 25, 20, 25 donated lots.
Well, I think a lot of that also comes from the
fact that your family, yourselves, plus your
extended family, had been so involved in the
community that everyone wanted to help back.
And then, obviously, you amplify that with the
power of, Facebook, digital media, whatever you
want to call it. And I think it just grew. It
grew rapidly. It grew way quicker than I ever
thought of it. It would. And I should, like,
the credit goes to Dad on how our family dynamic
is. Like, yeah, we're involved. And, yeah, I
go from show to show, too. Whereas I'm more just
the show side. Like, I don't show a ton, but,
like, I get around the show world a little bit.
But, yeah, my dad really planned that. I can
say as someone who interacted with your dad.
I would say your Clarence Marcus is, everybody
knows who you are. Yeah, I was going to say,
as someone who. I had the opportunity. You guys
were just a little little when I first saw you,
but your dad would take the time to, or does,
probably still does, take the time to sit and
chat with people, anyone about things. And how
do I say it? I was a bit of a crazy teenager
at times, and your dad still would come and sometimes
settle me down, sometimes just have a cool talk,
just depended what he felt was needed at the
time. Yeah, I know that's him. So, as I said,
his care and, you know, I'll word it this way.
At some points, I didn't understand your dad
because I was a 16 - or 17 -year -old, and he
would bring faith into it a bit, and I didn't
come from strong that way. But as I got to know
your dad, then I obviously understood all that.
Oh, yeah. That was a key part with him was faith
and behavior. I'll word it that way. Yeah, no,
absolutely. That's how we grew up. So you guys
all have grown up with that. I wouldn't say I'm
an unknown person in the industry, but, like,
I'm not. Like, I wrote his coattails on that
one. Or he opened doors or whatever you want
to call it. But, yes, yeah, yeah, no. I think
lots of people know who I am, but it's not. I
think it's still directed to him. Yeah, no, no.
Yeah, like I say, the first sale, that was all
me just messaging people that I knew through
shows on Facebook. And I just kept getting yeses.
And it went extremely well, extremely well. Yes,
yeah, yeah. The first year we made, what was
it, 71 ,000? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's got to stay
in my notes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, 71 the first
year. And then the second year, I believe, is
when you guys started moving or kind of working
with Dairy Expo? No, no. The second year, I actually
ran it out of the start. Obviously, COVID made
it so we couldn't. My dream was always to have
a live sale because I always noticed. Like, I
loved going to Tavistock. Yeah. Like, the sale
barn. And I always noticed the sales were kind
of not – like, you don't have quite as many live
sales anymore. Yeah. And I always loved going.
So, I always wanted to make it a live. And so,
the second year, we made it a live auction. Okay.
I had basically – I actually – I hummed and hawed
whether to do it the second year. It's a lot
of work. It's a lot of brain power. You don't
want to disappoint people. I was pretty tired
after the first one, even though it was online.
But then I didn't do much. And then in December
of that year, I had people start contacting me
that they wanted me to run it. Yep, yep. So I
probably had 15, 25 lots just of people that
were calling me to say, hey, we want you to run
it. We have a cap for you again. Okay. Right?
And so that's where that came from. And I was
like, you know what, let's just make it a live
one. But we still had the sale online. Okay.
I added the live viewing part of it. Yeah. And
then the next year we moved to CDX. Okay. So
23. 23 was for Jordan and Underhill. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And that's grown quite well. It's
become a key part to the events there. So that's
been a great partnership. I think it's... I'm
proud to have started it. I think it's a very
good image for the industry. I think, again,
because we do stuff with the foundation as far
as pictures and stuff, which I don't necessarily
need, but again, I think it's good for the industry
to be out there. hey the dairy industry is giving
back to the hospital like right like i always
think that's good um so but yeah it's really
taken off especially internationally since we
got to uh cdx yeah yeah it kind of brings that
even more exposure or partners up for even more
exposure like i get messages from all over like
all over the world interested in buying just
because of logistics but just like hey that's
amazing what you guys are doing yeah well I think
it is and I think people recognize that and I
know that yes you've there's a lot more help
in it now than maybe your first years which is
great because I know that Jeffrey has become
on Jeffrey Not the start, but Jeffrey's been
around for... Jeff has been around since we moved
to CDX. That's what I mean. Jeffrey's been around.
Yeah, because I... So for the first two years,
I didn't have expectations for cap quality. And
I would just sell what people were kind of just
giving, right? Yeah. Whereas now with CDX, I
wanted... My goal was to make it the Sail of
the Stars. Yeah. Right? Like, I want it to be
that. Like, because going to the Royalist, kid,
that was, like, that was the cool thing to go
see, right? And that was kind of my thought.
I want to provide another, like, high -end series
show. More or less. I want, like, high -end show
cabs. We have some with numbers, but they also
have to look good. That's kind of where I'm at,
and that's where Jeff comes in. I don't have
time to go around the countryside and have looks
at these cows, or heifers, I should say. And
bringing Jeff on has been one of the best decisions
we've ever made. Yeah, and Jeffrey obviously
does. He gets around a lot and has a lot of connections,
as you know. And a lot of, yeah, a ton of connections.
So he's able to draw and help and, yeah, help
elevate the quality, but also, you know, he's
a high -quality judge in his own right, so he
knows when it's a good one and a bad one and
what they are. He's able to help you that way
and has the time to do it. And on my end, it's
important for me to have people that understand
the cause. It's not – we've had a little bit
of – I should – this is not – like, it's important
for me to have people that – what's the right
word? Understand it's a charity sale. Yeah. And
are willing to – and Jeff has kids, right? So
that really brings it all home, too. Yeah. But,
yeah, that part of it's important to me. And
I think that's a key differentiator. to be honest
about this sale. You talk about, there's not
a lot of live sales and stuff go on as much anymore,
but I think when you, because of the charity
slash emotional component to all of this, it's
more than just a sale. It's an event. It really
is an event. And that's why it fits well. I think
with the X, because it is an event. There is
the two parts. Like it's not just, Hey, we're
selling high quality cattle, which is great.
but it is an event in it outright as well, so
that makes it extra special. And that is our
goal with it, right? And I want the special to
stay part of the sale. That's the driver of it
for me. Yeah, and I know from talking to people
who have donated calves or portions of calves
or whatever over the years, that's obviously
the key component. For them as well. You talk
about Kingsway, and we all know that faith is
also a key element for them, and not surprising
that they jumped on board instantly for many
reasons, but that would be one as well, is they're
wanting to help and donate, and for a cause,
they would step up as quick as anyone. On the
faith side of it for us, I'm not a huge faith
talker, but I typically will show my faith through
how I behave. And for us, that's obviously part
of this for us. It allows us to show that side
of us as well through the sale where I can. Obviously,
that's just how I am. No, no, everyone shows
differently. And I would say some people talk
a lot more. Some people just through actions
and obviously that, but this is a huge action
that you guys do to kind of share and do that.
Has there been, go ahead. Sorry. Well, and for
us too, right? Like, cause we see it at the hospital
too. Like, um, the way we deal with Brooks and
the situation, people notice. Right? Like, they
know, hey, these people are, they have something
different going on, right? And for us, like,
that's a big part for us. Like, understanding
part of our, like, yeah, part of the journey
of Brooks is how we deal with it and showing
our faith through that as well. For sure. For
sure. Have there been any, like, surprising,
would it, like, or most memorable moments? Two
of the sales so far that would stand out to you?
You're going to make me cry? I know. It's got
to be Brooks leading a calf in 2024. He had just
gotten out of the hospital that day. It was,
yeah, he wanted to do it all. He wouldn't stop
talking about it leading up to him, and then
all of a sudden he ended up at the hospital.
Yeah, I think it was the day of. And, yeah, having
him lead that calf for the first time, that's
by far the most special moment for us. And you
see the look on his face that day. Oh, he was
loving it. He was grinning ear to ear, and it
didn't look like we were going to get him out
of there too easily. No, no, I think he ended
up leading three that day. I think he did a few,
yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He likes leading calves,
so he leads them around the farm too sometimes.
But yeah, that's by far the number of most special
moments I have. The second would be the first
year we actually had... Russell, Nick, and Julie.
And the excitement in that call as the sale closed
was amazing as well. But yeah, Brooks, that was,
that's by far my favorite memory. And, you know,
there's part of earning the money and then obviously
being able to share that back with the hospital?
Has there been good feedback from that side?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No. That's, yeah, like, again,
some of their executives actually show up at
the sale. Okay. So, like, most years there's
one or two board members there. And then every
year so far one of their top executives is also
there. She's just the person I go through. I
talked to her earlier. Yeah. But, yeah, like
the first or second year, so he's the, I don't
know what the right, like in the PCCU, he's like
the genius king. Because it's a bit of a different
dynamic, right? The PCCU for most people is a
dreaded situation. Yeah. Like, yeah, we don't
want to do this. But, like, the PCCU is for mostly,
like, trauma patients, right? But you guys probably
have also found support from it, though. Yeah.
Like, the average, most PCCU patients are brought
in after, say, a car accident, right? And they
spend two, three days there, and then they get
moved to another floor. Yeah. Whereas for us,
because of Brooks and... breathing situation
he has to stay in that in the critical care unit
but when he's healthy they play with them they
do it like he's the king yeah when he's healthy
right and he sits at their desks and he helps
do paperwork so the first year they had a That
was pretty cool, too. No, honestly, they've almost
become like family probably for you guys, too,
over the time. We actually don't hang out with
nurses, but we do a couple suffers with a couple
of them. One we try to do around his birthday
with his NICU nurses. And then Brooks likes to
go hang out with his... and see what nurse he
is on his birthday and stuff. Yeah, for sure.
And we try to go there with treats fairly regularly.
Just to, yeah, like, again, we owe them a lot.
Like, they were incredible to us. Yeah, again,
it's just a feel of a need to give back. Yeah.
And I find it interesting because I do have known
you for a while. And I wouldn't say you were
the most talkative always. I'll word it that
way. So now this probably has forced you to be
more sharing of emotion than I would have ever
said for you beforehand. You know what I mean?
I'm not a big talker. No. I always laugh because
Gary and I used to always go to the judging schools.
Yep. And I smoke them on my placings, but I won't
give reasons. Because I just don't like the mic.
Whereas this has obviously had to make me, I've
grown that way. I don't know that I'm prepared
to give reasons off a mic yet, but I've had to
go out of my comfort zone, talk to people about,
yeah, logistics of the sale, that type of side
of it. I've had to do some speaking events for
the hospital. But, hey, it's good for people
to get out of their comfort zone. No, no, I know.
That's all I'm commenting on because I've known
you since you were little. That's all why I say
this. You're probably the most talkative I've
ever heard you be, other than if we were debating
about what cow is better than another cow. One
-on -one, then I would know. Yeah, you would
talk a lot. At that point, I would probably not
be able to get you set up, but yes. I can do
cows one -on -one all day long. I would love
to. I always tell Sarah I need to take nerve
pills and then go to a judging school. Yeah,
that's what I was going to say. I always knew
that if we just talked one -on -one standing
in the barn, you wouldn't hold back your opinion
and you would share a lot. In a more larger group
setting, yeah, that was normally a trickier situation.
Yep. No, I'm definitely more reserved. Gary's
the talker. Gary is more, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I find that, like, twins, obviously, because
you'll find two very distinct, maybe not appearances,
although you guys aren't identical, but personalities
you'll find very much difference. Yep, yes, yep,
yep. And yet, it's funny, we like the same things.
Yep. But yet, we're still very different in how
we, yeah, just still very different personality
-wise. Yep, yep. And we're talking, but yep,
yep, for sure. So, with the sale, what is the
goals? What do you, like, it's obviously grown
a lot, and it's become a key event. What are
you hoping for it for the future, or what it
grows into or develops, or what do you see for
it? probably... Again, my goal is still to have
it be the Sailor Stars. I don't think we're quite
there yet. I want guys to be willing to give
their best. For us, we have 40 stalls. Right
now, we have upwards of 70 calves that want in.
That allows be a go -to for for i guess for international
purpose like the go -to if i can help cdx with
visibility and they can help me with visibility
and i can get more visibility for children that's
my end goal doing something to give back. They're
all part of it. They all get days off school
around the sale just to help out. I think long
-term with CDX, they're in for it. I'm in for
the long -term. My end goal is probably a million
bucks. Obviously, that's a lofty goal. in my
head. The last thing I'd long to run under than
people want, if that makes sense. I think as
long as there's interest in it, I'm all in. Again,
you don't want it to get old, right? And then
be left saying, oh, gee, we only had a $2 ,500
average, right? Yep. I want to be able to read
the room that way, but obviously right now there's
still a ton of interest in it. Well, I was going
to say the neat part of what you guys have done
is instead of, how do I word this, just leveraging
it as the charity part, you really have worked
hard at growing it into a sale, and I think that's
the evident part. As you said, that was part
of your evolution. I do know you look through
the lots now, and you really do. I will say you
get the best of the best from Ontario. It's growing.
But as you say, your goal is to grow it from
there. And that's still growing. But I think
everyone's catching on that, hey, it is more
than just the message of supporting the people
who supported Brooks, that it is becoming more
than just that. And I think that's testament
to what your goals are. So I commend you for
that. But, you know, the other part hasn't been
lost. It's still there. It's just batting on.
Yeah, like, my goal is to keep the family part,
the giving back part, while pushing the high
-end calves, like, from all over North America.
And the neat part about that is having known
your family. That is so you guys. It's almost
the two things that I would. say to your family
is the passion for Holsteins, or passion for
cows, but I'll call it Holsteins. I don't know
if I've seen too many jerseys. Well, a little
bit. But in general, I'll word it as passion
for cows and faith in giving back. So this is
almost what I call the Marcus family trademark
right there, through and through, because I'm
like, it's everything I've always associated
with your family. Yep. And Gary and Dad are heavily
involved with it. They are involved. I will rebound
a lot of my ideas on Gary. The dad obviously
is a ring man, and he loves that part of it.
But, yeah, that's huge for me, right, like the
family. I don't think you'd keep your dad out
of it if you tried. Who he is, everything that's
involved, he's like, I'm involved one way or
another, even if you just make me a. Bump on
the line if he's going to be involved. I will
say I think both of them thought I was nuts originally.
Yeah, probably. But that probably isn't the first
time they've thought you're nuts either, though.
Yeah, probably not, no. Just saying. But I remember
having the conversation with Gary and Dan before
the first year, and both of them were like, that's
insane. And then they've seen how the first year
went, right? And it's like, oh, shoot, maybe
he's on to something. Yep, hey. Hey, that's part
of just taking, not taking a risk, but thinking
outside and going from there. Well, like, that's
my original conversation with Russell before
I, the Russell game, and that was one of my very,
really, that's my first discussion even before
Kingsway. Yeah. Was Russell, Russell played,
I don't know what you want to call him, was a
very, extremely supportive. person while we were
and he still is always yep yep um uh through
that whole entire journey um and he was my first
discussion about the sale and he said hey if
you don't risk you'll never know yeah and that's
when i decided just to jump two feet in and go
for it and when it comes to wrestle especially
like this one it's a passion and heart project
I think he would be your biggest cheerleader
slash supporter slash grunt work, whatever you
would need. Russell would step up any way you
need and has, as I know, has done so and would
do so because that is Russell to a T. He's still
a major part. Yeah, so that's great. So, you
know, this obviously isn't the... ideal circumstance
of what you guys have gone through with Brooks.
It's not been easy. You've done just that. You've
made a tough situation and still not an easy
situation. But you've made a positive that I
think is amazing for you guys. What would you
say to someone as say they are going through
or happen to have something like this happen
to them, what advice would you give them, and
what advice would you say to them about trying
to give back? Oh, my advice going, oh, man. Or
even just the hospital stays, because I know,
like, we've had circumstances in our family where
we've had extended with children. So my advice
would be is to keep a positive attitude. um and
and if you're a faith person obviously lean on
your faith community uh which is something we
did big time between the church and the school
um but yeah like you gotta a lot of times i find
uh people want to work against the nurses or
almost you know like and i find if everybody's
working as a team everything works better would
be my major advice. And, yeah, and be there for
your kid, right? Like, you're obviously the number
one advocate for your kid. And don't be afraid
to make noise where you need to. I've always
found any time that we've had to make noise,
it's always been very well received by nurses,
right? And nurses will advocate for you as well,
right? And that's... And that's important in
the journey. As far as giving back, yeah, I don't
know what the right jump, like take a risk, I
guess, is the advice I'd give. There's many different
ways to do it. For us, this was, like I said
earlier, the organic way for us to do it in an
industry that we are part of anyway. But, yeah,
I don't know. And what would, like, what does
it mean to you or what would you say to the community
that has supported you guys helping this become
a success? Oh, that's a huge thank you. Yeah,
like, I think I've posted many times. Without
the consignors trusting in the original sale,
we're not at year five or six. Yeah, for sure.
Right? Like, really. All my emails that day could
have been, no, we're not joining in, right? But
every one of them seen a plan or seen what could
be, and they all jumped on board. And I don't
know the exact things, but I would say a lot
of them have become perpetual supporters. Yeah,
a lot of our sales, yeah, repeats over and over
and over and over again. And that part of it
means a lot to me as well. And I think I tried
to convey that to a lot of consignors still.
That part means a lot to me, to have the same
people trust you year after year after year.
If you were listening while doing chores or driving
between farms, here's the simple takeaway. Calves
for a Cause started with one tired dad in a NICU
chair, one Facebook idea, and a community that
refused to say no. And it's now turned into more
than $170 ,000 for Children's Health Foundation
and the kids cared for at London Children's Hospital.
If you want to see the full story, the photos,
and details on this year's sale at Canadian Dairy
XPO, head over to thebullvine .com and look for
the feature, Calves for a Cause, $170 ,000 and
counting. If this episode hit home, share it
with one other dairy family, 4 -H leader, or
show committee in your life. Stories like this
do more for dairy's reputation than any ad campaign
ever could. Thanks for listening to the Bullvine
Podcast. We'll catch you next time.