WEBVTT 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:14.039 Creeping across the pasture land. Got dirt on 00:00:14.039 --> 00:00:18.739 the boots and a working hand. From the milk house 00:00:18.739 --> 00:00:24.000 home to the auction call. These are the folks 00:00:24.000 --> 00:01:00.619 standing strong and tall. Yeah, this is... Welcome 00:01:00.619 --> 00:01:03.359 to the Bullvine Podcast, where we cut through 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:06.500 the milk check noise to what actually pays on 00:01:06.500 --> 00:01:09.680 registered dairy farms. Today's episode is something 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:12.579 special, the complete audio from the Pennsylvania 00:01:12.579 --> 00:01:15.319 Holstein Association's Market Like a Pro panel 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:19.260 at their recent convention. Huge thanks to PHA 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:21.700 for hosting this live stream session. They're 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:23.799 doing great work supporting Holstein breeders 00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:27.340 across the state. Moderated by cattle sales veteran 00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:30.459 Chris Hill of MD Hillbrook Sales, you'll hear 00:01:30.459 --> 00:01:32.739 straight talk from four powerhouse marketers. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:37.040 Jenny Thomas of Triple T Holsteins in Ohio, the 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:39.739 35 -cow operation that's boarding showstrings 00:01:39.739 --> 00:01:43.239 and running sales. Betsy Bullard of Bragging 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:46.239 Farms in Maine, 10th generation with nearly 600 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:49.739 cows and Holstein Association members since 1943. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:53.459 Alicia Lamb of Oakfield Corners Dairy in New 00:01:53.459 --> 00:01:56.980 York. the 11 ,000 -cow team flushing 8 ,000 embryos 00:01:56.980 --> 00:02:00.819 a year while making artisanal cheese. Peter Dupengeesser 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:03.900 of Ransom Rail Farm in New York, now ST Genetics' 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.260 Eastern U .S. sales manager, with partnerships 00:02:06.260 --> 00:02:08.599 keeping him in more registered cows than ever. 00:02:09.300 --> 00:02:12.620 They tackle the real questions, consigner expectations, 00:02:13.300 --> 00:02:16.479 selling your best calf, adapting to cow buyer 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:19.240 and COVID, and how to turn registration papers 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:23.639 into revenue when milk's at $16 .65. Stick around. 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:26.759 This is gold for anyone with registered Holsteins, 00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:30.219 from 35 head family ops to 11 ,000 cow teams. 00:02:30.659 --> 00:02:53.919 Let's jump in. Well, I guess we've got two New 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:56.860 Yorkers, a Maine, an Ohio, and a Marylander, 00:02:56.860 --> 00:02:59.400 so they're going to educate us a little bit here. 00:02:59.659 --> 00:03:02.819 But we've got some questions to go through that 00:03:02.819 --> 00:03:05.180 we already sort of prepared, but then there's 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:08.080 going to be plenty of time for you to ask questions. 00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:10.960 So, Flash, I'll turn it over to you. Then later 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.000 we're going to have a really cool sale, so stick 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:16.219 around for that. Yeah, that's my speed, so if 00:03:16.219 --> 00:03:18.639 I fumble here a little bit, don't get upset with 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:22.039 me. First of all, I'd like to commend PHA and 00:03:22.039 --> 00:03:26.099 David for putting on this little roundtable of 00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:28.500 marketing and merchandising. And I think we have 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:32.159 not only four very, very knowledgeable couples 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:35.340 and slashing people, but only one of them has 00:03:35.340 --> 00:03:38.419 come up here. I understand some of the guys haven't 00:03:38.419 --> 00:03:39.919 stayed at home because of the weather, which 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:41.840 is natural. And you've got to run a big period. 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:44.789 You've got to do it. But it is an honor and a 00:03:44.789 --> 00:03:46.629 privilege to be up here with these people. I've 00:03:46.629 --> 00:03:49.430 not only known them for most of my life, I've 00:03:49.430 --> 00:03:51.889 worked for each and every one of them in some 00:03:51.889 --> 00:03:55.569 aspect or another. So before we start, and let 00:03:55.569 --> 00:03:58.009 me close, I'd like you to give these folks a 00:03:58.009 --> 00:03:59.909 round of applause for taking time to come and 00:03:59.909 --> 00:04:07.419 share their experience with us. When David first 00:04:07.419 --> 00:04:10.240 asked me to do this, I was a little bit hesitant 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:13.020 because public speaking is really not my thing 00:04:13.020 --> 00:04:15.159 unless it involves numbers and going really fast. 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:19.800 So it is an honor and a privilege. And most of 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:22.139 you know me. My name is Chris Hill from MD Hillbrook 00:04:22.139 --> 00:04:25.459 Sales. And my wife, Jen, and I have a small select 00:04:25.459 --> 00:04:28.720 group of heifers. And we buy, we sell, we buy 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:32.649 private, we buy public. We sell semen for Blondin. 00:04:32.769 --> 00:04:35.269 My wife is very involved in her home farm in 00:04:35.269 --> 00:04:38.189 which we raise heifers now. They did sell their 00:04:38.189 --> 00:04:41.689 cows, and we have several heifers there for Jovo, 00:04:41.810 --> 00:04:45.389 joining her family, that we raise for them, and 00:04:45.389 --> 00:04:48.769 that's going really good. And most of all in 00:04:48.769 --> 00:04:51.629 my life, the best thing I have is my wife and 00:04:51.629 --> 00:04:56.069 my in -laws, who do a lot for me, and I'm just 00:04:56.069 --> 00:04:59.129 very, very appreciative for all they do. With 00:04:59.129 --> 00:05:02.009 that said, going from this side to the other, 00:05:02.069 --> 00:05:05.490 from Trinity Holstein's in North Lear, North 00:05:05.490 --> 00:05:08.810 Spurgo, Ohio, we have Miss Jenny Thomas. She'll 00:05:08.810 --> 00:05:11.009 be with us. They're involved in millions and 00:05:11.009 --> 00:05:14.649 millions of different avenues of marketing, different 00:05:14.649 --> 00:05:18.370 breeds. Jenny's a photographer, does a great 00:05:18.370 --> 00:05:20.949 job of civil fisher photography. I think that's 00:05:20.949 --> 00:05:23.350 getting less day by day, but she still takes 00:05:23.350 --> 00:05:26.089 beautiful pictures. They're very, very involved 00:05:26.089 --> 00:05:28.290 with their children. They have three wonderful 00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:30.269 children who I know you've seen at the shows, 00:05:30.290 --> 00:05:32.529 but not only at home. They're very, very involved 00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:37.050 with sports and very good at what they do. But 00:05:37.050 --> 00:05:39.290 yet they have time to do chores and have family 00:05:39.290 --> 00:05:43.470 time and do very well. Next up is Ms. Betsy Bullard 00:05:43.470 --> 00:05:46.069 from Turner, Maine. Back when I was a fitter, 00:05:46.069 --> 00:05:48.529 I used to go work the mainstay sale, and they 00:05:48.529 --> 00:05:52.759 would sponsor every year. Since that time, They've 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:55.699 added a lot of cows. They've gotten big. I think 00:05:55.699 --> 00:05:58.240 they have more mouths to feed now. And her and 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:01.100 her husband do a wonderful job managing Bergeen 00:06:01.100 --> 00:06:03.779 Farms. And they have avenues off the farm as 00:06:03.779 --> 00:06:06.079 well, have kids that are very, very interested. 00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:10.480 And then next in line is Miss Alicia Lamb. Her 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:13.139 and Jonathan manage, along with other family 00:06:13.139 --> 00:06:16.660 members, his brother and another partner, Oak 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:19.600 Hill Corners Dairy. And if it's got something 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:23.500 to do with dairy, beef, cheese, Wagyu, they do 00:06:23.500 --> 00:06:26.579 it. Basically, they do it all. They do a darn 00:06:26.579 --> 00:06:30.939 good job of it. They have a sale coming up, which 00:06:30.939 --> 00:06:34.759 is just a short time away. And we appreciate 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:37.740 Alicia being here again. She has her son with 00:06:37.740 --> 00:06:39.680 her. She has a son and a daughter. They have 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:42.699 many children running around there, be it from 00:06:42.699 --> 00:06:45.240 Kirk, Jonathan, or other members of the family 00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:47.779 that are very interested in showing and do a 00:06:47.779 --> 00:06:50.680 very good job. Then we have Pete Dupegeiser, 00:06:50.819 --> 00:06:56.139 the lone man with me up here. Pete is here with 00:06:56.139 --> 00:07:00.319 his wife, Roxanne, from Ransom Rail Farm in Perry, 00:07:00.459 --> 00:07:03.319 New York. Pete and his wife and boys, they did 00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:05.300 sell out several years ago, but they're still 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:08.480 very active in the dairy industry. They spent 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:10.759 a short time in Wisconsin. Now they're back in 00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:14.120 western New York. Their son, Jared, I believe, 00:07:14.220 --> 00:07:16.379 is back in western New York, and Jay gets down 00:07:16.379 --> 00:07:18.439 there in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He'll 00:07:18.439 --> 00:07:22.129 tell you a little bit about them later. So before 00:07:22.129 --> 00:07:23.930 we go any further, I'm going to have each and 00:07:23.930 --> 00:07:25.550 one of them, we're going to have several steps 00:07:25.550 --> 00:07:29.009 of this conversation. I'm going to go to each 00:07:29.009 --> 00:07:30.709 and every one. They're going to explain a little 00:07:30.709 --> 00:07:33.550 bit about what they do, how they do it, what 00:07:33.550 --> 00:07:35.670 aspects of the dairy business that they're in. 00:07:36.730 --> 00:07:38.629 And then we're going to go to step number two. 00:07:38.689 --> 00:07:42.230 I have several questions I'm going to ask, and 00:07:42.230 --> 00:07:43.910 they're going to answer to the best of their 00:07:43.910 --> 00:07:47.589 ability. Then I'll conclude with my portion of 00:07:47.589 --> 00:07:50.519 it to a question that, that has something to 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:52.399 do with each and every one of them's marketing 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:55.420 program. And then we'll take questions from Facebook 00:07:55.420 --> 00:07:59.060 Live and from the crowd. So without further ado, 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:01.279 this is Ms. Jenny Thomas. She's going to tell 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:04.120 you a little bit about Triple T Holsteins. Thank 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:08.180 you, Jenny. Go ahead. Well, Triple T Holsteins 00:08:08.180 --> 00:08:11.040 is a... Our family dairy farm in North Lewisburg, 00:08:11.139 --> 00:08:14.379 Ohio. My husband, his brother, and his father, 00:08:14.500 --> 00:08:17.560 they founded the farm themselves. It's for coming 00:08:17.560 --> 00:08:19.939 up on 20 years of milking there in North Lewisburg. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:24.600 It wasn't an existing dairy farm. They pretty 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:27.480 much bought a, they were milking cows with a 00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:29.339 bucket milker and a heifer barn, but decided 00:08:29.339 --> 00:08:34.210 they wanted to expand and build. Went to an auction, 00:08:34.389 --> 00:08:36.730 bought a standing building for $3 ,000, tore 00:08:36.730 --> 00:08:38.490 it down, moved it to North Lewisburg and put 00:08:38.490 --> 00:08:40.309 it up. And it was a weekend project to get that 00:08:40.309 --> 00:08:42.250 thing going. So to say it was started from scratch, 00:08:42.450 --> 00:08:47.049 that is for sure one of those things. As time's 00:08:47.049 --> 00:08:49.250 gone on, we keep trying to continue to build 00:08:49.250 --> 00:08:52.970 more buildings and make it more, I guess, our 00:08:52.970 --> 00:08:55.850 home what it is today. But it all started with 00:08:55.850 --> 00:08:59.230 what we call kind of a 4 -H project gone astray. 00:08:59.839 --> 00:09:02.240 And so it's kind of spiraled out of control from 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:05.179 there. Right now we're milking about 35 head 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:08.039 of registered pool scenes jerseys. We do board 00:09:08.039 --> 00:09:10.919 the, the era show string at our farm as well. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.259 And that's become a really nice partnership that 00:09:13.259 --> 00:09:17.419 we have with them. We've always, that's how Nathan 00:09:17.419 --> 00:09:19.500 kind of got started. I guess I'll speak on his 00:09:19.500 --> 00:09:23.200 behalf, but he started buying and selling cattle 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:25.460 when he was a fitter. He would try to find one 00:09:25.460 --> 00:09:29.289 kind of a diamond in the rough. And, polish it 00:09:29.289 --> 00:09:31.970 and and try to resell and it was just that slowly 00:09:31.970 --> 00:09:34.230 you know making a thousand dollars here two thousand 00:09:34.230 --> 00:09:36.809 there what evolved and kind of grew into where 00:09:36.809 --> 00:09:40.409 he is today and what the farm is today um we 00:09:40.409 --> 00:09:42.549 were able to kind of afford to you know buy a 00:09:42.549 --> 00:09:45.750 couple cornerstones like the dam of page um that's 00:09:45.750 --> 00:09:47.830 put us on the map and that's kind of where that 00:09:47.830 --> 00:09:51.669 came from um as things kind of went on and we 00:09:51.669 --> 00:09:54.549 continued to develop and milk cows and the page 00:09:54.549 --> 00:09:56.629 family started doing a lot of great things for 00:09:56.629 --> 00:10:00.149 us our good friend michael heath um we decided 00:10:00.149 --> 00:10:02.909 to have a start a sale and do a sale with him 00:10:02.909 --> 00:10:05.769 and that was the first triple t and uh best triple 00:10:05.769 --> 00:10:08.690 t and heat sale that we had and that turned into 00:10:08.690 --> 00:10:12.529 a series and then um we kind of just had an annual 00:10:12.529 --> 00:10:14.710 sale we managed a couple sales for some friends 00:10:14.710 --> 00:10:17.610 but then after that uh after we lost michael 00:10:18.190 --> 00:10:20.169 We wanted to continue doing it. We felt there 00:10:20.169 --> 00:10:22.289 was a need for it, especially in the Jersey breed 00:10:22.289 --> 00:10:25.909 and the Holstein side as well. So we've continued 00:10:25.909 --> 00:10:28.830 on and kind of evolved to the Thomas marketing 00:10:28.830 --> 00:10:31.450 and consulting and managing some sales, like 00:10:31.450 --> 00:10:34.429 the Amplify sale at the Air Dairy and working 00:10:34.429 --> 00:10:37.870 with Aaron Eaton out of New York to do the Spring 00:10:37.870 --> 00:10:40.750 Select sale for our second year and then continuing 00:10:40.750 --> 00:10:43.629 on our Triple T sale as well. There's been lots 00:10:43.629 --> 00:10:45.889 of different avenues and things that have kind 00:10:45.889 --> 00:10:49.730 of evolved over the last 20 years, but it's definitely 00:10:49.730 --> 00:10:53.350 been a team effort on everybody's behalf, not 00:10:53.350 --> 00:10:55.090 only just Nathan and mine, but also our family. 00:10:56.090 --> 00:11:00.370 Thank you, Jenny. Moving on to Betsy. All right, 00:11:00.389 --> 00:11:04.840 I guess it's my turn now. bringing farms is located 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:08.240 in turner maine which is sort of our from here 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:11.159 and everything else as it turns out the farm's 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:15.620 been in existence since 1777 so my husband bill 00:11:15.620 --> 00:11:19.279 and i are the 10th generation to farm there he's 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:21.940 not from a farm which is great it's like hybrid 00:11:21.940 --> 00:11:24.820 vigor for our kids so if you've met either of 00:11:24.820 --> 00:11:29.379 them that will make lots of sense uh bringing 00:11:29.379 --> 00:11:32.250 farms has been a member of the Holstein Association 00:11:32.250 --> 00:11:37.370 USA for 83 years. So, you know, there's a, you 00:11:37.370 --> 00:11:39.250 talk about genetics, there's definitely a genetic 00:11:39.250 --> 00:11:42.409 component to, to our business. I'd like the, 00:11:42.529 --> 00:11:45.210 I don't know, my grandfather loved registered 00:11:45.210 --> 00:11:47.309 Holsteins, got into registered Holsteins. My 00:11:47.309 --> 00:11:52.350 parents continued that. My dad spent some time 00:11:52.350 --> 00:11:55.049 as a fitter as well. I was reading one of Ron 00:11:55.049 --> 00:11:57.669 Hughes' books the other day. He had interviews 00:11:57.669 --> 00:12:01.070 that Doug Blair did with some folks like Lowell 00:12:01.070 --> 00:12:02.730 Lindsay, and there was one with Dave Younger, 00:12:02.850 --> 00:12:06.690 which was fascinating and amusing. And he talked 00:12:06.690 --> 00:12:09.909 about Steve Briggs and his fluffy clipping on 00:12:09.909 --> 00:12:12.610 the animals in a sale they did in California. 00:12:12.990 --> 00:12:15.629 So that was kind of the world that I was immersed 00:12:15.629 --> 00:12:18.470 in growing up. Our farm has changed over time. 00:12:19.710 --> 00:12:21.710 Milking about 60 when my husband and I moved 00:12:21.710 --> 00:12:24.769 up in 2000. We're milking, you know, just shy 00:12:24.769 --> 00:12:28.570 of 600 mature cows right now. But cow families 00:12:28.570 --> 00:12:32.309 and investing in great cow families, great maternal 00:12:32.309 --> 00:12:35.950 lines, and then turning around and figuring out 00:12:35.950 --> 00:12:37.750 what do we do with them from there. So that's 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:40.169 been a fun process that has certainly evolved 00:12:40.169 --> 00:12:43.929 over time. So we'll enjoy chatting about that 00:12:43.929 --> 00:12:48.789 as we go. Thank you, Betsy. Now to Alicia. Hi, 00:12:48.830 --> 00:12:51.129 everyone. First of all, thanks for including 00:12:51.129 --> 00:12:53.309 me in this panel. I think it's going to be a 00:12:53.309 --> 00:12:56.009 lot of fun discussion here. I'm Alicia Lamb. 00:12:56.190 --> 00:12:59.570 My husband is Jonathan Lamb. The Lamb family 00:12:59.570 --> 00:13:02.889 has been involved in agriculture since they, 00:13:02.889 --> 00:13:06.950 yes, emigrated from England back in the 1600s 00:13:06.950 --> 00:13:10.669 or 1500s, whenever it was. So Jonathan and his 00:13:10.669 --> 00:13:13.549 brother are 12th generation farmers here in the 00:13:13.549 --> 00:13:16.879 United States. which is pretty incredible and 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:18.779 something that the Lamb family is very, very 00:13:18.779 --> 00:13:22.440 proud of. They moved from where they landed in 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:25.779 Massachusetts out to western New York in the 00:13:25.779 --> 00:13:29.220 1800s. I can't remember the exact year. And have 00:13:29.220 --> 00:13:32.000 been farming in the St. John, Genesee County, 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:36.379 New York since that time. So over the years, 00:13:36.419 --> 00:13:38.799 they have very humble beginnings. Jonathan's 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:42.480 dad and grandfather owned about 50 cows. When 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:44.299 the state of New York, through a minute domain, 00:13:44.519 --> 00:13:47.159 came through to purchase their property. So they 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:49.320 had to move. That's now a state park. They had 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:52.620 to move to where the farm is located now in 1965, 00:13:53.019 --> 00:13:56.039 which is in Oakfield, New York. And it actually, 00:13:56.200 --> 00:13:58.440 from the stories I've heard, it's been a great 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:01.340 thing because the land is so much better in Oakfield 00:14:01.340 --> 00:14:03.659 than where they were previously. So it was a 00:14:03.659 --> 00:14:07.860 great thing. They've expanded a lot since the 00:14:07.860 --> 00:14:11.509 mid -60s. When Jonathan came back to the farm 00:14:11.509 --> 00:14:18.190 after college, that was back in 1997, early 1998. 00:14:18.830 --> 00:14:23.230 Wait, no. Late 1996, 1997, sorry. He came back 00:14:23.230 --> 00:14:25.950 to the farm full -time, and a lot of expansion 00:14:25.950 --> 00:14:28.669 occurred since that time. So we're currently 00:14:28.669 --> 00:14:32.289 milking at four locations, three in western New 00:14:32.289 --> 00:14:36.210 York and one in western Ohio. It's about 11 ,000 00:14:36.210 --> 00:14:40.100 milking cows total. Obviously, with that many 00:14:40.100 --> 00:14:42.159 cows, there's a lot of people involved, and we 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:45.399 really look at ourselves as a team. So we're 00:14:45.399 --> 00:14:47.039 fortunate to have a lot of great people that 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:50.799 we work with. As far as our genetics program, 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:54.059 when I moved, I'm from Florida originally, and 00:14:54.059 --> 00:14:57.080 I met this handsome young man when I was in college 00:14:57.080 --> 00:15:00.419 and had these romantic visions of cows in New 00:15:00.419 --> 00:15:04.059 York. Crazy reason I didn't realize that there 00:15:04.059 --> 00:15:07.320 was snow and stuff like that. I'm learning extremely 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:10.019 hard this year after many, many years of being 00:15:10.019 --> 00:15:13.820 in New York. But, yeah, so I moved to New York. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:17.039 And back in the late 90s, we started up our genetics 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:21.620 program. Back in those days, embryo transfer 00:15:21.620 --> 00:15:24.419 was kind of still in its infancy, I would say. 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:27.360 And you could buy embryos from, like, the best 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:30.179 joke house in the world for, like, $250. And 00:15:30.179 --> 00:15:32.600 that was pretty cheap. And the one thing we were 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:35.720 really good at was making pregnancies and making 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:38.440 calves. So that's really how we got our start 00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:41.539 with our genetics program. We would buy, like, 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:43.539 you know, embryos from Daughters of Black Rose 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:46.240 and Elegance at the time for next to nothing. 00:15:46.299 --> 00:15:48.340 And we could get, you know, three or four or 00:15:48.340 --> 00:15:51.039 half our calves from those cows. And, man, we 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:52.860 had a business going. You know, we could resell 00:15:52.860 --> 00:15:55.840 those calves to 4 -H kids, to other breeders. 00:15:55.899 --> 00:15:57.919 And that's really how we got our start in this. 00:15:59.659 --> 00:16:03.279 than genomics did and so jonathan's dad always 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:06.320 had an interest in index cows and and we really 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:09.179 believed in the science behind genomics and and 00:16:09.179 --> 00:16:12.440 started into that pretty heavy as well so currently 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:16.220 uh we blush mostly internally through transova 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:18.580 and i should say completely internally through 00:16:18.580 --> 00:16:22.039 transova and mobitech and transfer about 8 ,000 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:24.740 embryos a year through those programs. About 00:16:24.740 --> 00:16:27.740 95 % of those embryos are in deaths. So high 00:16:27.740 --> 00:16:30.940 GTPI, high net merit cows, we're looking to make 00:16:30.940 --> 00:16:34.480 the next great bull, the next great dam of a 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:37.960 great bull. And then about 4 % to 5 % of that 00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:40.360 are show -type cattle, show -type embryos, I 00:16:40.360 --> 00:16:42.740 should say. And then we do a few beef as well, 00:16:42.820 --> 00:16:46.559 some semangas and Wagyu. About a year and a half, 00:16:46.659 --> 00:16:49.769 two years ago, We started our Oakfield artisanal 00:16:49.769 --> 00:16:53.210 business, just looking for ways to diversify, 00:16:53.230 --> 00:16:56.090 I would say. And what better way to do that than 00:16:56.090 --> 00:16:57.870 to make product on the farm, right? I don't know. 00:16:58.070 --> 00:17:00.149 I'm sure a lot of you are doing that on the farm. 00:17:00.190 --> 00:17:02.570 And holy cow, that's a whole different industry. 00:17:02.710 --> 00:17:04.549 And it's been a very steep learning curve for 00:17:04.549 --> 00:17:07.809 us. But it's been a lot of fun. So we make Mexican 00:17:07.809 --> 00:17:10.829 -style artisanal cheeses. We make three of them 00:17:10.829 --> 00:17:13.480 now. We just started up. a fourth venue which 00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:16.380 Griffin's super excited about making some cheese 00:17:16.380 --> 00:17:18.660 curds flavored cheese curds with our nice kind 00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:23.180 of cheese so anyhow that's kind of my story we 00:17:23.180 --> 00:17:24.819 do have a sale coming up we're going to talk 00:17:24.819 --> 00:17:26.759 about marketing we'll get into that more and 00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:29.460 more but thank you again for having me I really 00:17:29.460 --> 00:17:32.720 appreciate it thank you Alicia now Pete and then 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:35.559 we'll start into some questions Thank you for 00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:37.680 having me. I appreciate it and I'm really looking 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:40.619 forward to a good discussion. So I'm kind of 00:17:40.619 --> 00:17:43.259 the odd guy here for probably more than one reason, 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:48.039 but we don't have a dairy anymore. Six, seven 00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:51.279 years ago, we sold our dairy and moved to Wisconsin. 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:55.059 Both of our sons were working out there managing 00:17:55.059 --> 00:17:58.980 large dairies. And so we moved out there, and 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:01.859 I took a job at that time with ST Genetics, working 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:05.140 in primarily Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin 00:18:05.140 --> 00:18:09.539 with larger dairies. And then from there, moved 00:18:09.539 --> 00:18:14.059 to a Central U .S. sales manager position. And 00:18:14.059 --> 00:18:17.119 then when we moved back about a year and a half 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:20.519 ago, now I manage the East U .S. sales team for 00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:23.019 ST Genetics. But our load for the registered 00:18:23.019 --> 00:18:27.859 cow never changed. And we do it now through tremendous 00:18:27.859 --> 00:18:31.640 partnerships. So we're just able to stay in the 00:18:31.640 --> 00:18:34.099 business because we have six or eight partners. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:37.759 And we're probably working with more cattle than 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:40.079 we were working with on the registered side. 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:42.279 I'm not going to say how many because my wife 00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:44.640 is in the crowd, so I don't really want her to 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:49.769 know exactly. She did see the spreadsheet once, 00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:52.269 and she said, I thought we were downsizing this, 00:18:52.269 --> 00:18:54.630 and it's sex, semen, and embryo transfer. I'm 00:18:54.630 --> 00:18:57.190 working on it, but it just doesn't allow it to 00:18:57.190 --> 00:19:00.609 happen. But we're super blessed to work with 00:19:00.609 --> 00:19:03.230 fantastic people, and I have to mention O -Source. 00:19:03.730 --> 00:19:06.410 They're the ones we work with predominantly on 00:19:06.410 --> 00:19:09.470 our best Showtime channel, and just fantastic 00:19:09.470 --> 00:19:13.450 partners, and we love doing that. But we have 00:19:13.450 --> 00:19:17.690 a couple different partners. Pennsylvania and 00:19:17.690 --> 00:19:19.970 several in New York and a couple more even in 00:19:19.970 --> 00:19:23.529 Wisconsin yet so it allows us to do what we do 00:19:23.529 --> 00:19:27.549 and we all believe it needs to be a win -win 00:19:27.549 --> 00:19:29.369 and as long as you have that the partnership 00:19:29.369 --> 00:19:32.690 works out very well and it's allowed my sons 00:19:32.690 --> 00:19:34.730 and I to continue in this business doing what 00:19:34.730 --> 00:19:38.259 we love. Thank you, Pete. If you want to pass 00:19:38.259 --> 00:19:40.559 the mic right back up to Miss Jenny, she's going 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:42.220 to be the first one every time. So everybody 00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:44.759 has to follow in Jenny's footsteps. Now we're 00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:47.119 going to do, I have six questions here. We're 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:49.819 going to ask each and every one of you to answer 00:19:49.819 --> 00:19:53.460 that in a short but very informative answer. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:56.900 And the first question is for you, Jenny. What 00:19:56.900 --> 00:20:00.079 is the main approach to marketing your type of 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:03.859 cap? And what outlets do you use, etc.? Like 00:20:03.859 --> 00:20:08.049 I would say, time. show, whatever, for my end 00:20:08.049 --> 00:20:10.549 of the industry. I would say, obviously, I'd 00:20:10.549 --> 00:20:13.170 probably sell them through myself, but I'm not 00:20:13.170 --> 00:20:16.430 limited to selling them through other sales management 00:20:16.430 --> 00:20:19.450 firms. We all get along. We're all one family. 00:20:19.509 --> 00:20:21.730 We've got to work together in order for this 00:20:21.730 --> 00:20:24.049 thing to go right. So, Jenny, here you go again. 00:20:24.130 --> 00:20:25.910 What is your main approach to marketing your 00:20:25.910 --> 00:20:29.890 type of cattle and what outlets do you use? Obviously, 00:20:29.890 --> 00:20:32.569 we're into the show industry. We're into the 00:20:32.569 --> 00:20:35.730 show type cattle, but also love good pedigrees, 00:20:35.769 --> 00:20:38.609 good cow families. And I think it all translates. 00:20:38.930 --> 00:20:43.589 But like I said before, we began the Triple T 00:20:43.589 --> 00:20:46.329 and Heat sale. We've evolved that. We try to 00:20:46.329 --> 00:20:50.410 consign a bulk of our young stock and young cows 00:20:50.410 --> 00:20:53.750 and top consignments to our own sales. But we 00:20:53.750 --> 00:20:56.519 also find a lot of value in marketing. throughout 00:20:56.519 --> 00:20:59.019 the country and all the top sales. I think you 00:20:59.019 --> 00:21:01.039 have to spread it around, get in different markets. 00:21:01.140 --> 00:21:03.700 And like Chris said, you have to all be friends 00:21:03.700 --> 00:21:05.740 and we all have to work together. You know, we 00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:07.779 can sign in the sale tonight. We can sign to 00:21:07.779 --> 00:21:12.420 Chris's sales. We can sign out to sales all over, 00:21:12.500 --> 00:21:17.250 young group sales like the PA. Excuse me. The 00:21:17.250 --> 00:21:20.069 PA, I can't say it because I'm a Ohio State fan. 00:21:20.569 --> 00:21:24.430 But the youth sale there. It's the college sale. 00:21:24.650 --> 00:21:27.130 It's the college sale. You just made your sale. 00:21:27.190 --> 00:21:30.269 I know. I know. It was just struggling there. 00:21:30.490 --> 00:21:33.910 But, yes, we try to, at all different levels. 00:21:34.029 --> 00:21:36.950 And I think that we try to send our best, what 00:21:36.950 --> 00:21:39.990 we have, to fit those different sales and those 00:21:39.990 --> 00:21:48.450 different platforms. Yeah. Well, I'm not going 00:21:48.450 --> 00:21:50.390 to struggle with any college needs or anything 00:21:50.390 --> 00:21:53.809 like that. I try not to bias either of my kids. 00:21:54.009 --> 00:21:56.910 So for us, it's been sort of interesting as we've 00:21:56.910 --> 00:21:59.630 grown the herd over the last 25 years. I think 00:21:59.630 --> 00:22:02.329 kind of the number of animals we've been marketing 00:22:02.329 --> 00:22:07.089 has shifted over time. We have hosted several 00:22:07.089 --> 00:22:10.359 sales at the farm, both... kind of earlier on 00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:14.019 when we moved up there in 08 2010 2024 we hosted 00:22:14.019 --> 00:22:16.539 another sale and and our goals are always to 00:22:16.539 --> 00:22:19.200 sell those deep maternal lines and then really 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:21.279 appealing animals that we know are going to work 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:25.059 in in any sort of operation so that's that's 00:22:25.059 --> 00:22:26.980 really been our focus whether we whether we're 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:29.240 calling them crossover cattle or you know certainly 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:32.200 that their current genetics their They're productive 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:35.539 genetics, but that's certainly what we strive 00:22:35.539 --> 00:22:39.579 to do. I think over time as we kind of, I don't 00:22:39.579 --> 00:22:41.380 want to say plateau on count numbers, but maybe 00:22:41.380 --> 00:22:44.359 plateau for veins not on weight anywhere else. 00:22:44.460 --> 00:22:47.460 Did I mention that earlier? So we have to get 00:22:47.460 --> 00:22:49.599 a little bit more creative. Certainly we have 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:52.319 something in the sale here tonight, and we are 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:56.619 always cognizant of selling those best ones. 00:22:57.679 --> 00:23:00.460 looking for the best opportunities to maximize 00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:03.539 that value to us and making sure that we're selling 00:23:03.539 --> 00:23:05.839 cattle that are going to be successful for somebody 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:08.420 else. I mean, there's nothing cooler than getting 00:23:08.420 --> 00:23:11.819 that message that, hey, this one that we bought 00:23:11.819 --> 00:23:14.160 as a calf is very good or, you know, she just 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:15.960 went excellent or she's got three daughters and 00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:18.880 we couldn't be happier with them. So at the end 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:22.500 of the day, that's certainly what we strive to 00:23:22.500 --> 00:23:27.450 do. Want me to read it again, Alicia? You got 00:23:27.450 --> 00:23:30.890 it. I think I got it. So with our marketing program, 00:23:31.069 --> 00:23:34.730 we have two distinct divisions, the index side 00:23:34.730 --> 00:23:37.589 and the show side. So I'll start with our index 00:23:37.589 --> 00:23:40.369 side. It used to be pretty easy to move some 00:23:40.369 --> 00:23:42.890 index cows, especially when genomics hit and 00:23:42.890 --> 00:23:45.869 numbers were high. You could sell and make some 00:23:45.869 --> 00:23:49.789 really good money from those index cows. It's 00:23:49.789 --> 00:23:52.130 not so easy anymore. There's a lot of restrictions 00:23:52.130 --> 00:23:56.450 from studs out there. Our marketing primarily 00:23:56.450 --> 00:24:00.430 on our index cattle is bulls going to stuff. 00:24:01.710 --> 00:24:04.509 That's about it. We are able to sell some IVF 00:24:04.509 --> 00:24:07.690 sessions from time to time. We do a few privately. 00:24:08.349 --> 00:24:11.130 We've done a few in sales, not too many because 00:24:11.130 --> 00:24:15.109 of the contract restrictions. So that's where 00:24:15.109 --> 00:24:17.269 we are with our index animals. It's still obviously 00:24:17.269 --> 00:24:20.910 a large portion of what we do, and it is still 00:24:20.910 --> 00:24:24.019 financially successful. It's just different than 00:24:24.019 --> 00:24:26.259 it used to be. Maybe not quite as fun as it used 00:24:26.259 --> 00:24:28.359 to be back in the day, but it is what it is. 00:24:28.819 --> 00:24:31.799 For the type side, things are pretty wide open, 00:24:31.900 --> 00:24:34.079 how we're able to market those animals. We do 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:36.519 a lot privately. We sell a lot in sales, and 00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:40.579 we have our own sale. We try to, like Jenny said, 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:43.279 make sure that we're putting the right type of 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:45.559 animals in the right type of sales, be it a college 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:48.849 sale. via the Pennsylvania Holstein sale or via 00:24:48.849 --> 00:24:51.069 like a national convention type of sale. We try 00:24:51.069 --> 00:24:54.589 to match those cattle to those markets. But yeah, 00:24:54.670 --> 00:24:57.569 it's a lot of fun selling on head cattle. We 00:24:57.569 --> 00:24:59.589 have a lot of fun making embryos and trying to 00:24:59.589 --> 00:25:03.130 make that next best or great show cow or brood 00:25:03.130 --> 00:25:06.650 cow for someone. The embryo market's pretty strong 00:25:06.650 --> 00:25:10.349 right now. Chris and Tim have set up Bright Future 00:25:10.349 --> 00:25:13.470 Sales and those embryos, we're able to sell those 00:25:13.470 --> 00:25:16.410 very successfully in those types of sales. lots 00:25:16.410 --> 00:25:19.170 of opportunity for those types called type animals 00:25:19.170 --> 00:25:24.349 more appreciated about those markets yeah so 00:25:24.349 --> 00:25:26.930 when we had our dairy we were very involved in 00:25:26.930 --> 00:25:29.549 the index side of things as well but when you 00:25:29.549 --> 00:25:31.569 don't have receipts that gets to be a tougher 00:25:31.569 --> 00:25:34.990 tougher situation so we've kind of moved away 00:25:34.990 --> 00:25:38.170 from that and uh we're more exclusively in the 00:25:38.170 --> 00:25:41.400 type side of things And, you know, we, again, 00:25:41.500 --> 00:25:44.240 with our partners, we were looking to fit the 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:46.500 right cattle to the right sale. But we, like 00:25:46.500 --> 00:25:49.200 everybody else said, we want to sell our best. 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:51.440 We want cattle to go on and do very well for 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:54.980 people. And, you know, I remember when my boys 00:25:54.980 --> 00:25:58.180 were young. Jared is the younger son. He was 00:25:58.180 --> 00:26:01.859 probably eight or nine. And we had four sisters 00:26:01.859 --> 00:26:05.170 to Robert Cameron. And somebody came in, and 00:26:05.170 --> 00:26:09.930 we had sold a pick of one of those, and four 00:26:09.930 --> 00:26:14.569 calves were there. And he said to me, he said, 00:26:14.630 --> 00:26:16.269 yeah, they're going to pick the best one. And 00:26:16.269 --> 00:26:18.930 I said, well, bud, they don't want your sick 00:26:18.930 --> 00:26:22.369 cat. They want your best one, right? And so that 00:26:22.369 --> 00:26:24.769 kind of stuck with them, right? You have to sell 00:26:24.769 --> 00:26:26.569 your best. You have to sell what people want. 00:26:27.549 --> 00:26:30.509 and hope they go on and do very well. We use 00:26:30.509 --> 00:26:33.269 a lot of social media, not as well as we should, 00:26:33.430 --> 00:26:36.869 but that's kind of our outlet. But we're looking 00:26:36.869 --> 00:26:39.549 to sales all over the country and see where our 00:26:39.549 --> 00:26:42.930 cattle are going to fit best and do well. Okay, 00:26:43.009 --> 00:26:45.910 back to question number two for the panel. As 00:26:45.910 --> 00:26:50.170 a consigner to an auction, what do you expect 00:26:50.170 --> 00:26:55.460 from the sale manager? And number two. What can 00:26:55.460 --> 00:26:58.539 you as a consigner do to ensure your animal sells 00:26:58.539 --> 00:27:04.059 for market value or higher? What do you as a 00:27:04.059 --> 00:27:07.779 consigner expect from the manager for your commission 00:27:07.779 --> 00:27:11.599 paid? And what can you do to ensure your animal 00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:15.660 brings what it should? That's a tricky question 00:27:15.660 --> 00:27:17.839 because I see it from both sides here. But as 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:21.460 a consigner, you definitely want the sale management 00:27:21.460 --> 00:27:24.440 to... give your animal or your consignment the 00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:28.519 exposure it deserves and to relay that to the 00:27:28.519 --> 00:27:32.680 potential customer as clearly and concisely and 00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:37.220 as honestly as possible. As a consigner yourself, 00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:40.480 I think you need to also assist with that. I 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:42.220 mean, we all are on social media. Most of us 00:27:42.220 --> 00:27:45.019 are probably on social media. And I think you've 00:27:45.019 --> 00:27:47.519 noticed probably the algorithms. You don't maybe 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:50.500 see things as much as what you used to. And there's 00:27:50.500 --> 00:27:52.599 certain words you have to try to stay away from 00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:54.920 so that you don't get lost in a feed and things 00:27:54.920 --> 00:27:58.339 like that. But the more times that you can. share 00:27:58.339 --> 00:28:01.900 or create your own posts to i guess help the 00:28:01.900 --> 00:28:04.079 sale management get your animal out there i think 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:06.579 that's a good thing um i think you need to take 00:28:06.579 --> 00:28:09.940 responsibility on your own um to also market 00:28:09.940 --> 00:28:11.779 your animal and get it down there to the public 00:28:11.779 --> 00:28:14.299 whether that be a print ad whether that be a 00:28:14.299 --> 00:28:17.000 social media post um there's a lot of different 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:21.119 avenues that you can do um sale management always 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:24.539 tries to they have x amount of lots in the sale 00:28:24.539 --> 00:28:26.839 and you're trying to get do the same job for 00:28:26.839 --> 00:28:29.299 all of your consignors. So I understand that 00:28:29.299 --> 00:28:31.180 and you want to get everybody out there. But 00:28:31.180 --> 00:28:33.740 I think as a consigner, if you can step up and 00:28:33.740 --> 00:28:35.220 do a little extra, that's going to only help 00:28:35.220 --> 00:28:39.539 you in the end. Perfect. That's it. Yeah, I would 00:28:39.539 --> 00:28:41.720 echo. I would echo all of that. I mean, certainly 00:28:41.720 --> 00:28:44.339 expectations for sale management. I mean, you're 00:28:44.339 --> 00:28:47.519 relying on their expertise to have created an 00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:51.240 event that buyers are aware that it's happening 00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:53.059 and that they're looking forward to it and they're 00:28:53.059 --> 00:28:56.230 looking forward to whoever particular. a segment 00:28:56.230 --> 00:28:58.869 of cattle, a particular quality of cattle. And 00:28:58.869 --> 00:29:01.750 so as a consignor, you're relying on that. You're 00:29:01.750 --> 00:29:03.490 relying on them to make sure that they're presenting 00:29:03.490 --> 00:29:06.869 information in an accurate manner and certainly 00:29:06.869 --> 00:29:09.069 in an easy -to -consume manner that you don't 00:29:09.069 --> 00:29:12.349 have to wade through 82 pages of, geez, I don't 00:29:12.349 --> 00:29:15.029 even know if that other record was a thing or 00:29:15.029 --> 00:29:18.369 not. So that would be my expectations for sale 00:29:18.369 --> 00:29:21.789 management. And really, you have a lot of responsibilities 00:29:21.789 --> 00:29:25.559 as a consigner. I mean, if you are consistently 00:29:25.559 --> 00:29:28.019 sending cattle to a sale that haven't seen a 00:29:28.019 --> 00:29:30.619 halter before, haven't ever seen water before, 00:29:31.099 --> 00:29:34.220 fitting crews remember that. Sale managers remember 00:29:34.220 --> 00:29:37.099 that. And it's really important. It's really 00:29:37.099 --> 00:29:39.000 important that you do your part. I mean, that 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:40.599 they're well -grown, that they're healthy, that 00:29:40.599 --> 00:29:42.579 you've done everything you can do to build that 00:29:42.579 --> 00:29:45.079 pedigree to the point where it's appealing to 00:29:45.079 --> 00:29:47.140 a buyer. If you haven't done that work, then 00:29:47.140 --> 00:29:49.839 it's really hard for the sales managers to do 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:53.869 their work. Yeah, I don't know that I have a 00:29:53.869 --> 00:29:58.230 whole lot to add to what Betsy said, really. 00:29:58.549 --> 00:30:01.690 One thing we try to do is take nice pictures. 00:30:01.789 --> 00:30:04.930 And honestly, cell phones nowadays take really 00:30:04.930 --> 00:30:09.910 good pictures and video. And so I try to do that 00:30:09.910 --> 00:30:13.970 as much as I can. Get the poop balls off of them. 00:30:14.009 --> 00:30:15.890 Clean them up a little bit just so they're not 00:30:15.890 --> 00:30:19.470 nasty looking. Make them look presentable. But, 00:30:19.549 --> 00:30:21.150 you know, doing a lot of that, putting it on 00:30:21.150 --> 00:30:23.490 social media is a great thing. So Jamie, the 00:30:23.490 --> 00:30:25.509 manager of our show, is doing it. He does a lot 00:30:25.509 --> 00:30:27.890 of Snapchat. He'll direct that to a few people 00:30:27.890 --> 00:30:30.930 that he knows might have interest in certain 00:30:30.930 --> 00:30:33.650 animals. So anything that you can do as an designer 00:30:33.650 --> 00:30:36.410 to promote yourself, promote your animals that 00:30:36.410 --> 00:30:38.490 are selling, that's the best way to do it, I 00:30:38.490 --> 00:30:40.029 think. As much as we love our sale managers, 00:30:40.269 --> 00:30:43.170 Chris and Tim, they're wonderful. But anything 00:30:43.170 --> 00:30:45.369 that you can do really is going to push that 00:30:45.369 --> 00:30:47.930 to get the extra few hundred or thousand dollars 00:30:47.930 --> 00:30:50.089 that you really want when you sell your animals. 00:30:52.009 --> 00:30:54.829 Yeah, everybody's done a great job really laying 00:30:54.829 --> 00:30:57.230 out what's important on both sides. The only 00:30:57.230 --> 00:31:00.160 other thing I would say is... that we would ask 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:02.539 from a sales manager to help us decide what's 00:31:02.539 --> 00:31:04.700 the right fit for the sale, right? They understand 00:31:04.700 --> 00:31:07.940 the sale, how it's going to flow, what the customer 00:31:07.940 --> 00:31:11.400 base is going to be. And so helping us choose 00:31:11.400 --> 00:31:13.700 the right animal for that sale, we really rely 00:31:13.700 --> 00:31:16.779 on the sales management for that. And then what 00:31:16.779 --> 00:31:19.339 everyone else has said, it's your animal, it's 00:31:19.339 --> 00:31:22.420 your responsibility to get her. uh looking the 00:31:22.420 --> 00:31:25.140 best that she can or present them the best way 00:31:25.140 --> 00:31:28.000 you can so you know we take that very seriously 00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:29.720 when we put something and we want them to be 00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:34.200 successful so that's on us thanks beaton and 00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:37.619 i think uh echoing from that uh as far as what 00:31:37.619 --> 00:31:39.819 you expect from the sale manager i think number 00:31:39.819 --> 00:31:41.900 one the sale manager is probably the person that 00:31:41.900 --> 00:31:43.759 drove in your driveway and selected that and 00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:48.279 that's true but what we have all experienced 00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:51.160 is you have to do some work at home too They 00:31:51.160 --> 00:31:53.779 need to be altar broke. If they come in there 00:31:53.779 --> 00:31:56.220 with skis per feet, nobody's going to see the 00:31:56.220 --> 00:31:57.619 good part. They're going to see the bad part. 00:31:57.740 --> 00:31:59.759 You see her feet? You see her feet? Oh, yeah, 00:31:59.799 --> 00:32:01.500 they're getting to her feet. That's all you're 00:32:01.500 --> 00:32:04.180 going to hear. She can be a great, great animal 00:32:04.180 --> 00:32:07.079 past that. But you know what? Everybody's going 00:32:07.079 --> 00:32:09.079 to turn to the negative because it's human intuition. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:15.019 And I also say, us sale managers, you know, we 00:32:15.019 --> 00:32:16.839 often get the question, what are you going to 00:32:16.839 --> 00:32:18.460 do for your commission? What are you going to 00:32:18.460 --> 00:32:20.690 do for your commission? Well, commissioned same 00:32:20.690 --> 00:32:25.230 as it was in 1984, and animals bring the same 00:32:25.230 --> 00:32:30.349 price they did, or less, than in 1984. I think 00:32:30.349 --> 00:32:32.589 we all know the cost of living, the cost of everything 00:32:32.589 --> 00:32:35.490 has gone up. So, we don't have these excitement 00:32:35.490 --> 00:32:38.869 sales to get rich. We do it, number one, to market 00:32:38.869 --> 00:32:41.450 our own cattle, and number two, is to try and 00:32:41.450 --> 00:32:44.410 help all the breeders as much as we can. Coming 00:32:44.410 --> 00:32:46.799 to our next... Question. There's probably folks 00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:49.019 listening. There's folks in this room and forum 00:32:49.019 --> 00:32:51.420 listening to the forum who've never consigned 00:32:51.420 --> 00:32:54.759 to a sale or advertised their farm in any sort 00:32:54.759 --> 00:32:57.740 of app. We all know that we're good friends with 00:32:57.740 --> 00:33:00.519 a lot of them. What advice would you give to 00:33:00.519 --> 00:33:03.700 them to start out on merchandising? If you have 00:33:03.700 --> 00:33:06.519 registered Holsteins, why not take advantage 00:33:06.519 --> 00:33:08.680 of this? Because obviously we know the milk checks 00:33:08.680 --> 00:33:12.519 right now eat real good. What are we going to 00:33:12.519 --> 00:33:15.500 do to make money off the farm? Because we have 00:33:15.500 --> 00:33:18.660 registration papers. Let's use them to our advantage. 00:33:18.740 --> 00:33:22.140 Jenny? That's a good point. I think a lot of 00:33:22.140 --> 00:33:24.900 people that haven't consigned, whether for whatever 00:33:24.900 --> 00:33:27.779 reason it is, sometimes they're not willing to 00:33:27.779 --> 00:33:30.140 give their best animal to the people that are 00:33:30.140 --> 00:33:31.839 on the driveway and ask for the best animal. 00:33:32.420 --> 00:33:34.359 Whether that's a fear that they won't bring enough 00:33:34.359 --> 00:33:37.099 or the fear that they won't be able to make another 00:33:37.099 --> 00:33:41.299 one. I don't know what that is 100%, but I know 00:33:41.299 --> 00:33:43.220 there's a lot of really good breeders out there 00:33:43.220 --> 00:33:46.180 that just won't sell. And for whatever reason 00:33:46.180 --> 00:33:49.380 it is, but if you're looking to make the extra 00:33:49.380 --> 00:33:51.859 money, if you put in a good animal to a sale, 00:33:52.019 --> 00:33:55.019 it's going to bring a good price. There's enough 00:33:55.019 --> 00:33:58.740 great cow people out there that appreciate good 00:33:58.740 --> 00:34:01.920 pedigrees and good type, good index, whatever 00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:06.039 it might be, they find value in that. So I think 00:34:06.039 --> 00:34:08.599 that for me, one of the things for people getting 00:34:08.599 --> 00:34:12.130 started, be open -minded and willing. to trust 00:34:12.130 --> 00:34:16.489 a sale manager or whoever to consign your best 00:34:16.489 --> 00:34:21.389 sample off the farm. Thanks. I'll let go again 00:34:21.389 --> 00:34:25.110 now. I'm not trying to take over. Trust me. But 00:34:25.110 --> 00:34:28.909 call us, text us, email us. If we haven't been 00:34:28.909 --> 00:34:30.750 to your farm, we'd love to come, but we've got 00:34:30.750 --> 00:34:33.909 to know you're interested. Betsy? Yeah, I would 00:34:33.909 --> 00:34:39.150 echo that. Just take the jump and consign. Consign 00:34:39.150 --> 00:34:41.789 your best. And they're worth what the market 00:34:41.789 --> 00:34:43.590 says they're worth. I mean, it's sort of like 00:34:43.590 --> 00:34:45.190 classifying. We can imagine that they're all 00:34:45.190 --> 00:34:48.130 89 .2 -year -olds, but until somebody unbiased 00:34:48.130 --> 00:34:51.389 comes in and tells us, okay, this is where they 00:34:51.389 --> 00:34:55.650 fit on the continuum of things, that's eye -opening, 00:34:55.650 --> 00:34:58.329 and take that and learn from it. I mean, maybe 00:34:58.329 --> 00:35:02.309 your best is an 86 -point effort. That's still 00:35:02.309 --> 00:35:06.539 fantastic, but it... can be overwhelming to try 00:35:06.539 --> 00:35:08.420 to figure out where you where you fit in the 00:35:08.420 --> 00:35:10.960 continuum of things and you know if you haven't 00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:13.380 been consigning you haven't been doing that check 00:35:13.380 --> 00:35:15.599 out some sales that you enjoy or you felt like 00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:17.219 geez where did that the one that taught that 00:35:17.219 --> 00:35:19.300 sale what did what did they do that i'm not doing 00:35:19.300 --> 00:35:21.079 or what are they what am i doing that they're 00:35:21.079 --> 00:35:23.440 not doing why why didn't i get signed on top 00:35:23.440 --> 00:35:29.579 of that sale and just kind of have those conversations 00:35:29.579 --> 00:35:34.769 maybe So a couple of thoughts with this, and 00:35:34.769 --> 00:35:37.190 maybe I should have mentioned it with the, what 00:35:37.190 --> 00:35:40.130 does the sale manager do question. But one thing 00:35:40.130 --> 00:35:42.269 you can do when you're considering consigning 00:35:42.269 --> 00:35:45.190 to a sale is ask the sale manager, ask Chris, 00:35:45.269 --> 00:35:48.150 what do you think this animal is worth? Because 00:35:48.150 --> 00:35:51.510 if he says, yeah, it's worth about $2 ,500 and 00:35:51.510 --> 00:35:53.849 you're expecting $5 ,000, there's a significant 00:35:53.849 --> 00:35:56.949 difference there. And either brace yourself for 00:35:56.949 --> 00:36:01.309 that or just say no. Yeah, I'd much rather be 00:36:01.309 --> 00:36:03.630 the bad guy up front than Andrew the animal. 00:36:03.809 --> 00:36:07.429 Yeah, and that's something that we've done a 00:36:07.429 --> 00:36:09.530 lot when we consider even just putting it to 00:36:09.530 --> 00:36:11.690 our own sale. What is the market value of that 00:36:11.690 --> 00:36:15.480 animal? So that's something that Chris and whoever 00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:19.019 your sales manager is, has great expertise at 00:36:19.019 --> 00:36:22.239 that I don't necessarily have. The other part 00:36:22.239 --> 00:36:25.119 of that when we're marketing animals, especially 00:36:25.119 --> 00:36:29.119 if you are new to marketing, new kind of to the 00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:31.059 industry, if you want to call it, or sales is, 00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:34.219 you have to market yourself a little bit too. 00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:37.739 And that's one thing that we've worked hard. 00:36:38.230 --> 00:36:41.750 at Oakfield Corners is to build a brand, if you 00:36:41.750 --> 00:36:45.050 want to call it that. Tell your story. Tell, 00:36:45.269 --> 00:36:47.550 you know, hey, we're 12 generations of farmers. 00:36:47.730 --> 00:36:50.769 We're big, and that's not always a positive. 00:36:50.809 --> 00:36:54.949 We're big, but we also love cows. And just tell 00:36:54.949 --> 00:36:58.469 your story. I remember, so the very first cow 00:36:58.469 --> 00:37:00.789 Jonathan and I bought when we moved up here was 00:37:00.789 --> 00:37:03.969 just in a local, maybe Allegheny, Steuben County, 00:37:04.090 --> 00:37:06.289 say, all in New York. You know, we spent like 00:37:06.289 --> 00:37:08.949 three grand on our baby. But it was the first 00:37:08.949 --> 00:37:11.869 cow that we bought together. And so there's a 00:37:11.869 --> 00:37:14.010 story there. We still have members from my cow 00:37:14.010 --> 00:37:16.510 family that have done well. We've had, you know, 00:37:16.510 --> 00:37:19.250 at least 15 excellent animals from my cow family. 00:37:19.610 --> 00:37:22.389 They're still milking in the farm, in the commercial 00:37:22.389 --> 00:37:24.550 operation. So I'm going to show them. And just 00:37:24.550 --> 00:37:27.210 telling those stories of some of those cows that 00:37:27.210 --> 00:37:29.570 you are going to sell and telling that story 00:37:29.570 --> 00:37:32.989 of you as the farm and as a breeder, I think 00:37:32.989 --> 00:37:36.760 that resonates with buyers. And it makes people 00:37:36.760 --> 00:37:40.559 respect you as a breeder and as someone who's 00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:44.719 selling. Yeah, I think to add a little bit to 00:37:44.719 --> 00:37:47.360 what Alicia said is, you know, working with a 00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:49.679 sale manager, but there's, you know, work with 00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:52.039 smart people that are marketing up here or your 00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:54.820 neighbors who are marketing and get advice from 00:37:54.820 --> 00:37:56.760 them. How are you doing this? How do you market 00:37:56.760 --> 00:38:00.400 yourself? What fits into this sale? And then, 00:38:00.420 --> 00:38:03.550 you know, be willing to let your best go. and 00:38:03.550 --> 00:38:06.030 have realistic expectations. I think that's really 00:38:06.030 --> 00:38:09.289 important. Really be sure that you know, hey, 00:38:09.349 --> 00:38:11.949 this animal's going to fit in this range. And 00:38:11.949 --> 00:38:14.289 there are tons of markets, right? We have bull, 00:38:14.489 --> 00:38:16.690 we have rat, we have index, we have show, we 00:38:16.690 --> 00:38:20.230 have show calf, we have cows. There are so many 00:38:20.230 --> 00:38:23.190 markets that you can fit into. What do you have? 00:38:23.800 --> 00:38:27.800 that fits into that type of market. And if that's 00:38:27.800 --> 00:38:30.099 something that you want to develop, talk to people. 00:38:30.300 --> 00:38:33.400 How did you get into this show stuff? How do 00:38:33.400 --> 00:38:35.860 you get into that market? Or whether it's pulled 00:38:35.860 --> 00:38:38.960 or read or whatever it is, understand what you 00:38:38.960 --> 00:38:42.239 have and where they fit and talk to other people 00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:44.380 who are good marketers on how to get it done 00:38:44.380 --> 00:38:47.829 and be happy when you do it. Hit the nail on 00:38:47.829 --> 00:38:50.170 the head. And thanks for all those four very 00:38:50.170 --> 00:38:52.030 valuable answers to the question. Now we're going 00:38:52.030 --> 00:38:53.929 to get into some real -edit questions, I think. 00:38:54.530 --> 00:38:58.789 Next one is, since COVID and the inception of 00:38:58.789 --> 00:39:02.010 Calvire, sales have changed. We all know that. 00:39:02.769 --> 00:39:05.530 How has your merchandising program been affected 00:39:05.530 --> 00:39:09.409 by these changes? And what do you do to adapt? 00:39:09.789 --> 00:39:15.400 For example, when COVID hit, My life was turned 00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:18.619 upside down. We had cattle at Frederick for a 00:39:18.619 --> 00:39:21.559 large man to sale. They were already at the fairground. 00:39:21.619 --> 00:39:25.059 They were already tied up. And the world stopped. 00:39:25.639 --> 00:39:28.840 I didn't know what to do. They said they were 00:39:28.840 --> 00:39:30.639 going to take tractor -trailers off the road. 00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:33.260 I was going to have 80 head at the Frederick 00:39:33.260 --> 00:39:37.329 Fairgrounds for six months. So obviously we had 00:39:37.329 --> 00:39:40.590 to adapt. So we did for that. And then once that 00:39:40.590 --> 00:39:42.789 was over, we got all the cattle gone, everybody, 00:39:43.030 --> 00:39:46.690 and it was a very successful sale. Then I wondered, 00:39:46.769 --> 00:39:49.050 what am I going to do now? I can't be an auctioneer 00:39:49.050 --> 00:39:51.130 because there can't be anybody in sales. So that's 00:39:51.130 --> 00:39:54.429 when we bought in. I had the idea of this bright 00:39:54.429 --> 00:39:56.849 future sale where people could merchandise embryos, 00:39:56.849 --> 00:40:00.130 which it takes six people, three people, and 00:40:00.130 --> 00:40:03.690 somebody from Calvary there to help us out. And 00:40:03.690 --> 00:40:05.170 it worked. And it's still going. There's one 00:40:05.170 --> 00:40:07.789 Monday night. But I'm not doing this as an ad 00:40:07.789 --> 00:40:09.670 for me. I'm telling you what I did to get through 00:40:09.670 --> 00:40:13.670 COVID. And it took a hold. And if Oakville Corner 00:40:13.670 --> 00:40:16.909 sends five embryos out of a certain cow, we sell 00:40:16.909 --> 00:40:19.610 them that night. Nine times out of ten, another 00:40:19.610 --> 00:40:21.849 interested party is going to call them in the 00:40:21.849 --> 00:40:23.750 next few days. And you can end up selling 15 00:40:23.750 --> 00:40:25.670 or 20 embryos you're not paying commission on. 00:40:26.389 --> 00:40:30.250 So that's kind of my story. Jenny? Because COVID 00:40:30.250 --> 00:40:33.599 hit us all. Oh, yeah. To go back to the last 00:40:33.599 --> 00:40:35.900 question really quick, though, something I thought 00:40:35.900 --> 00:40:38.739 of after we kind of got through this, if you're 00:40:38.739 --> 00:40:40.599 thinking about selling and you're afraid to send 00:40:40.599 --> 00:40:43.539 that great one, I mean, your prefix carries on. 00:40:44.099 --> 00:40:45.880 And that's something to be very proud of. I'm 00:40:45.880 --> 00:40:47.699 pretty sure Alicia's got a cow out there named 00:40:47.699 --> 00:40:49.500 Footloose that they bred that they no longer 00:40:49.500 --> 00:40:53.019 own that still puts them on the map. So not to 00:40:53.019 --> 00:40:55.119 regress here, but just wanted to touch on that 00:40:55.119 --> 00:40:57.500 as well. Your prefix stays on that animal forever. 00:40:58.489 --> 00:41:00.690 No better way, like Dundee Page put us on the 00:41:00.690 --> 00:41:04.329 map, no better way to build your brand than to 00:41:04.329 --> 00:41:07.250 have a Cal family do well for other people. And 00:41:07.250 --> 00:41:10.050 life is about a brand. That's right. So back 00:41:10.050 --> 00:41:13.269 to COVID, I like to forget about it altogether, 00:41:13.469 --> 00:41:19.170 but I guess we were lucky in Ohio, for instance, 00:41:19.309 --> 00:41:22.349 that we were able to maybe carry on with life 00:41:22.349 --> 00:41:24.949 a little bit more normally than some other states. 00:41:25.550 --> 00:41:28.030 And I won't mention any other state names. But 00:41:28.030 --> 00:41:30.889 we were able to do some things and move a little 00:41:30.889 --> 00:41:32.690 more freely than maybe some other states were 00:41:32.690 --> 00:41:37.969 able to do. So we tried to move forward as business 00:41:37.969 --> 00:41:41.630 as usual as much as we possibly could, whether 00:41:41.630 --> 00:41:44.929 it be having sales, shows, whatever. The reason 00:41:44.929 --> 00:41:48.110 I bring up the show aspect was because that carries 00:41:48.110 --> 00:41:52.789 over into marketing your brand, your sales, everything 00:41:52.789 --> 00:41:57.590 that we do as registered breeders. And that year 00:41:57.590 --> 00:41:59.849 with no Madison, that hit a lot of us really 00:41:59.849 --> 00:42:03.849 hard. We, I know there's several people in here 00:42:03.849 --> 00:42:06.309 and some people on the stage that came together 00:42:06.309 --> 00:42:10.190 and we put on a show to try to replace Expo for 00:42:10.190 --> 00:42:14.010 that year. And we said we found value in carrying 00:42:14.010 --> 00:42:17.530 on and having all American contests and doing 00:42:17.530 --> 00:42:19.409 all these things and having recognition because 00:42:19.409 --> 00:42:22.639 you lose a year. At that time, we didn't know 00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:23.960 how many years we were going to lose, but we 00:42:23.960 --> 00:42:27.340 felt like we had to carry that on to keep the 00:42:27.340 --> 00:42:29.719 registered business and what we do for a living 00:42:29.719 --> 00:42:33.539 alive and well. So that was one of the things 00:42:33.539 --> 00:42:36.340 that we decided was very important to us. Again, 00:42:36.480 --> 00:42:40.739 we tried to have sales as normal as possibly 00:42:40.739 --> 00:42:44.980 we could. Obviously, we all have to do the lovely 00:42:44.980 --> 00:42:47.019 bird flu testing and things like that now that 00:42:47.019 --> 00:42:49.650 hasn't gone away. But, you know, when that first 00:42:49.650 --> 00:42:50.989 came out, we thought that was going to be the 00:42:50.989 --> 00:42:54.170 end of the world. And we've all kind of moved 00:42:54.170 --> 00:42:56.809 on from there. But Cowbuyer has been a great 00:42:56.809 --> 00:43:00.449 tool. But everybody knows with technology, you 00:43:00.449 --> 00:43:02.769 have problems sometimes. And we've all been to 00:43:02.769 --> 00:43:04.650 sales where there's been some sort of glitch 00:43:04.650 --> 00:43:08.650 or this or that at no fault to anybody. But that's 00:43:08.650 --> 00:43:11.610 just technology. I think still having a valuable 00:43:11.610 --> 00:43:14.469 sales staff and people there and trusting people 00:43:14.469 --> 00:43:16.730 that are at sales, maybe so -called the old -fashioned 00:43:16.730 --> 00:43:20.300 way. is very, very important. You've got to have 00:43:20.300 --> 00:43:22.699 the eyeballs there at the sale that people are 00:43:22.699 --> 00:43:24.219 going to trust if those people can't be there 00:43:24.219 --> 00:43:30.139 themselves. Thanks. So there's a lot between 00:43:30.139 --> 00:43:32.860 COVID and Cowbuyer and when we think of what 00:43:32.860 --> 00:43:34.739 sales look like today versus what they looked 00:43:34.739 --> 00:43:37.800 like 20 or 25 years ago. I mean, for us up in 00:43:37.800 --> 00:43:41.559 New England, COVID. restrictions kind of drove 00:43:41.559 --> 00:43:44.360 the need for another show. Again, some of our 00:43:44.360 --> 00:43:48.079 usual suspects weren't a thing. So we had a fall 00:43:48.079 --> 00:43:50.619 show that's morphed into a really successful 00:43:50.619 --> 00:43:54.280 spring show series. So, I mean, I think all of 00:43:54.280 --> 00:43:57.480 us are determined to continue moving the business 00:43:57.480 --> 00:44:00.739 forward and to be creative in problem solving. 00:44:00.840 --> 00:44:05.440 So I think that speaks to the resilience of our 00:44:05.440 --> 00:44:08.820 readers and marketers around. around the country. 00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:11.059 So that's pretty exciting. I think Calvary has 00:44:11.059 --> 00:44:15.920 been a fantastic tool. I think it changes the 00:44:15.920 --> 00:44:19.099 vibe of a sale when you're not thinking, geez, 00:44:19.159 --> 00:44:21.300 there's not 350 people sitting out here in the 00:44:21.300 --> 00:44:23.579 audience. We're not going to have a sale. So 00:44:23.579 --> 00:44:25.760 that's pretty different. But that goes back to 00:44:25.760 --> 00:44:28.280 one of the earlier questions about what's your 00:44:28.280 --> 00:44:32.780 responsibility as a consigner? You better have 00:44:32.780 --> 00:44:35.460 done your work at home and figure out how to 00:44:35.460 --> 00:44:38.320 use social media. obviously that's a whole other 00:44:38.320 --> 00:44:40.079 conversation about whether they're not great 00:44:40.079 --> 00:44:42.300 things about social media but you know when i 00:44:42.300 --> 00:44:44.980 think of what we do we certainly try to utilize 00:44:44.980 --> 00:44:48.099 social media i feel like so you know you all 00:44:48.099 --> 00:44:50.420 have some whether it's your cell phone company 00:44:50.420 --> 00:44:52.000 or your credit card company where there's like 00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:54.360 that two -step authentication or something else 00:44:54.360 --> 00:44:56.599 i feel like i have that social media now because 00:44:56.599 --> 00:44:59.340 i have a 19 year old daughter who assists on 00:44:59.340 --> 00:45:01.420 some of the farm posts so i'll post things and 00:45:01.420 --> 00:45:05.300 then she'll help me improve them so to speak 00:45:05.719 --> 00:45:09.280 Which is great, and I think that's in the same 00:45:09.280 --> 00:45:12.679 vein as just ask people questions. Don't be shy. 00:45:14.380 --> 00:45:18.539 One person out of a million is going to be unpleasant 00:45:18.539 --> 00:45:21.420 if you ask a question. But the vast majority 00:45:21.420 --> 00:45:23.719 of people are happy to answer your questions, 00:45:23.920 --> 00:45:26.039 whether it's a sale manager or whether it's somebody 00:45:26.039 --> 00:45:27.900 that you admire that's done a lot of marketing 00:45:27.900 --> 00:45:31.280 work or is a terrific breeder. I mean, we wouldn't 00:45:31.280 --> 00:45:34.559 do any of this stuff if we didn't love it. we'd 00:45:34.559 --> 00:45:37.139 love to talk about it too so ask questions and 00:45:37.139 --> 00:45:42.179 listen to the answers too that's an important 00:45:42.179 --> 00:45:48.059 step so the old days of having sales was a lot 00:45:48.059 --> 00:45:50.440 of fun you know we have the big tent Bring out 00:45:50.440 --> 00:45:52.239 the animals. You want to come through the ring. 00:45:52.579 --> 00:45:55.900 And Rama was our auctioneer. And if anybody's 00:45:55.900 --> 00:45:58.960 heard Rama, he gets pretty animated. And actually, 00:45:59.059 --> 00:46:01.360 I saw him a couple weeks ago at the New York 00:46:01.360 --> 00:46:03.980 Holstein Convention. And he's like, oh my gosh, 00:46:04.019 --> 00:46:07.099 that last live sale we had, pre -code, was amazing. 00:46:07.500 --> 00:46:09.699 It was so much fun. I wish we could go back to 00:46:09.699 --> 00:46:12.500 that. And I'm like, yeah, it was fun. But the 00:46:12.500 --> 00:46:15.300 reality is, I don't know. I don't know if I want 00:46:15.300 --> 00:46:18.599 to go back to that. Because there's an expense 00:46:18.599 --> 00:46:21.519 in a tent. And, yeah, it's cool. But, you know, 00:46:21.539 --> 00:46:23.639 the way we've structured our spring cessation 00:46:23.639 --> 00:46:25.800 sale series now, it's a little bit of a hybrid 00:46:25.800 --> 00:46:29.000 model. So the animals are there. You know, we're 00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:31.219 on a farm. They're there. But then we're all 00:46:31.219 --> 00:46:33.800 able to kind of go off in almost more of a social 00:46:33.800 --> 00:46:37.739 setting, I would say. In their natural habitat. 00:46:38.079 --> 00:46:41.039 Yeah, yeah. In the people's natural habitat. 00:46:41.960 --> 00:46:46.159 And we're able to, you know. I guess, quote unquote, 00:46:46.239 --> 00:46:48.300 compete against each other if you want to buy 00:46:48.300 --> 00:46:51.039 that animal like you do in any other sale. But 00:46:51.039 --> 00:46:53.599 it's kind of a lot of fun in that way. And we 00:46:53.599 --> 00:46:55.340 don't have to have the animals going through 00:46:55.340 --> 00:46:58.239 the ring or worry about if the wind's going to 00:46:58.239 --> 00:47:00.719 blow the tent down or the storm's going to come 00:47:00.719 --> 00:47:02.559 through and find the animals as they're going 00:47:02.559 --> 00:47:04.980 through the ring. So I don't know. I kind of 00:47:04.980 --> 00:47:07.840 like the way that we have structured at least 00:47:07.840 --> 00:47:10.719 our spring sensation sale series now where you 00:47:10.719 --> 00:47:12.400 have the option to go out and look at the animal. 00:47:12.500 --> 00:47:15.190 Please go look at the animals. And we do have 00:47:15.190 --> 00:47:18.469 that big sale crew that comes in, and we ensure 00:47:18.469 --> 00:47:20.710 that we've got individuals that are qualified 00:47:20.710 --> 00:47:23.349 to look at cattle. So if you're not able to make 00:47:23.349 --> 00:47:25.730 it to New York, you can call up, you know, one 00:47:25.730 --> 00:47:27.389 of those people that are on the list that have 00:47:27.389 --> 00:47:28.969 gone through the animals, and they'll give you 00:47:28.969 --> 00:47:32.409 an unbiased, honest opinion of what those animals 00:47:32.409 --> 00:47:38.210 are. I don't know. I like it. It's stressful. 00:47:38.409 --> 00:47:40.929 Having a sale is always going to be shit. I like 00:47:40.929 --> 00:47:47.659 that format. And as sale managers, we have, you're 00:47:47.659 --> 00:47:49.519 the sale manager. I was working on work for you. 00:47:49.860 --> 00:47:53.039 You have to find ways, just to reiterate what 00:47:53.039 --> 00:47:55.940 I said before, we've got to save money because 00:47:55.940 --> 00:47:58.900 15 % doesn't go very far. Yeah, it really doesn't. 00:47:58.900 --> 00:48:01.280 You know, I mean, you still have to pay fitters 00:48:01.280 --> 00:48:02.880 to come in and take care of the animals. You 00:48:02.880 --> 00:48:06.880 still have to allocate charges for feed and straw 00:48:06.880 --> 00:48:09.300 and housing and the people that do that. But, 00:48:09.300 --> 00:48:14.829 you know, it works for us. incredible and being 00:48:14.829 --> 00:48:18.030 able to help navigate those sales virtually. 00:48:18.269 --> 00:48:20.610 I know there's a sale coming up on Monday. I'll 00:48:20.610 --> 00:48:23.429 be sitting behind my computer screen, potentially 00:48:23.429 --> 00:48:27.590 making some bids. And it's kind of nice for me 00:48:27.590 --> 00:48:30.710 as a potential buyer to do that as I'm still 00:48:30.710 --> 00:48:33.900 able to work on the farm. and do my own thing. 00:48:34.179 --> 00:48:37.380 But it's, I don't know, I like the way that this 00:48:37.380 --> 00:48:39.639 hybrid model has gone. I like having some virtual 00:48:39.639 --> 00:48:42.320 sales and still having people that are bidding 00:48:42.320 --> 00:48:45.980 live at the same time. I kind of like that format. 00:48:46.179 --> 00:48:49.079 And we haven't had complaints of an unhappy buyer 00:48:49.079 --> 00:48:50.539 either because most of the time, if they're not 00:48:50.539 --> 00:48:52.579 there, they're represented by somebody who's 00:48:52.579 --> 00:48:56.019 qualified. Take the complaint. Right. Yes, they'll 00:48:56.019 --> 00:48:59.030 take the complaint. They're getting paid. Yeah, 00:48:59.050 --> 00:49:01.530 I think obviously times have changed, but all 00:49:01.530 --> 00:49:03.630 these folks have been marketing through all those 00:49:03.630 --> 00:49:06.190 changes, right? So you just pivot and you find 00:49:06.190 --> 00:49:08.650 your way. We have tag sales today. That's something 00:49:08.650 --> 00:49:12.190 that has evolved in the last 10 years or so, 00:49:12.329 --> 00:49:16.630 and that's a unique approach as well. I do miss 00:49:16.630 --> 00:49:21.190 the fun, the camaraderie, the excitement of the 00:49:21.190 --> 00:49:24.010 sale, and I love to see live animals in front 00:49:24.010 --> 00:49:27.510 of me, but that's less and less. I think we have, 00:49:27.550 --> 00:49:29.710 you know, there's a ton of expense to bringing 00:49:29.710 --> 00:49:31.929 those animals and trucking them across the country. 00:49:32.010 --> 00:49:34.429 And we have health issues and risks and fitting 00:49:34.429 --> 00:49:37.150 and all of that. So, you know, we've pivoted 00:49:37.150 --> 00:49:39.889 and changed, but it's still great. And Cowbuyer 00:49:39.889 --> 00:49:42.789 allows us to connect with people around the world 00:49:42.789 --> 00:49:45.170 that would be much more difficult to reach if 00:49:45.170 --> 00:49:47.829 we didn't have it. So I think it's been great. 00:49:48.389 --> 00:49:51.179 But I still, you know. They have the Nashville 00:49:51.179 --> 00:49:54.780 sale and no live animals, but they do such a 00:49:54.780 --> 00:49:58.519 great job to keep a high -tempo excitement. That's 00:49:58.519 --> 00:50:02.219 still fun when you have sales, right? So I think 00:50:02.219 --> 00:50:04.739 you just have to find what fits for you and, 00:50:04.760 --> 00:50:08.380 you know, continue to pivot and change. All right. 00:50:08.420 --> 00:50:11.119 Now, last question before I give each and every 00:50:11.119 --> 00:50:14.440 one of you a personal question, then we'll go 00:50:14.440 --> 00:50:17.360 into questions from the crowd. You've all hosted 00:50:17.360 --> 00:50:20.969 sales, all four of you. and you sold your own 00:50:20.969 --> 00:50:23.210 cattle and you sold consignments along with it. 00:50:23.269 --> 00:50:26.070 If someone purchased an animal from you for a 00:50:26.070 --> 00:50:31.150 substantial price, what advice would you give 00:50:31.150 --> 00:50:36.389 them to make sure that they make profitable returns 00:50:36.389 --> 00:50:39.989 on that purchase? And I'm going to add to that 00:50:39.989 --> 00:50:41.889 in the second part, what is the most valuable 00:50:41.889 --> 00:50:44.010 marketing lesson you've learned over the years? 00:50:44.750 --> 00:50:46.969 Something you've sold. You're going to convince 00:50:46.969 --> 00:50:48.590 the people or you're going to help them make 00:50:48.590 --> 00:50:50.750 money. What's the most valuable lesson you've 00:50:50.750 --> 00:50:55.730 learned? I guess that's kind of a loaded question, 00:50:55.929 --> 00:51:01.949 but I feel that no matter as a consigner, you 00:51:01.949 --> 00:51:04.690 want the same thing in return as a consigner 00:51:04.690 --> 00:51:06.849 to whatever sale, to Chris's sale, to the PA 00:51:06.849 --> 00:51:09.230 sale. You want to try to get the most out of. 00:51:09.559 --> 00:51:11.559 what your animal is and going through the brain. 00:51:11.760 --> 00:51:14.400 And we try to treat every consigner that same 00:51:14.400 --> 00:51:17.940 way, whether that animal brings $4 ,000 or whether 00:51:17.940 --> 00:51:21.539 that animal brings $40 ,000. I want to see a 00:51:21.539 --> 00:51:24.000 happy consigner at the end of the day and a happy 00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:27.820 buyer. And I think that's true for every sale 00:51:27.820 --> 00:51:31.039 management person. As far as helping them out 00:51:31.039 --> 00:51:33.559 or what you can do to help them along the way. 00:51:34.010 --> 00:51:36.590 You try to do that for everybody. If somebody 00:51:36.590 --> 00:51:38.170 needs help, maybe it's somebody getting started 00:51:38.170 --> 00:51:40.510 that just bought their first 4 -H calf. If they 00:51:40.510 --> 00:51:42.369 need advice on how to feed, you're going to do 00:51:42.369 --> 00:51:45.730 that for them or assist that with them. Whether 00:51:45.730 --> 00:51:47.929 it's somebody that's well -seasoned in the industry 00:51:47.929 --> 00:51:50.309 that bought a really high -priced animal, you 00:51:50.309 --> 00:51:52.989 try to follow that animal and help them make 00:51:52.989 --> 00:51:55.309 the right decisions. Just have those conversations 00:51:55.309 --> 00:51:58.750 about breeding, feeding, whatever it might be. 00:51:58.949 --> 00:52:02.360 And I feel like that is one great thing. But 00:52:02.360 --> 00:52:04.340 we've developed over, I guess, time with a lot 00:52:04.340 --> 00:52:06.960 of our return buyers and even new buyers. It's 00:52:06.960 --> 00:52:08.900 kind of that relationship of working with them 00:52:08.900 --> 00:52:12.579 and that open conversation that can be had. So 00:52:12.579 --> 00:52:15.099 what was the second part of the question? Most 00:52:15.099 --> 00:52:18.079 valuable marketing lesson you've learned. Most 00:52:18.079 --> 00:52:23.039 valuable marketing. I don't know about lesson, 00:52:23.139 --> 00:52:29.059 I guess. As being as much as I. Have a love -hate 00:52:29.059 --> 00:52:31.139 relationship with social media. It is a very 00:52:31.139 --> 00:52:34.679 important tool. But having the right people, 00:52:34.760 --> 00:52:37.800 I guess, surround you, whether it's your fitting 00:52:37.800 --> 00:52:41.460 crew, whether it's sales staff, just having the 00:52:41.460 --> 00:52:44.860 people around you that you trust and that other 00:52:44.860 --> 00:52:48.219 people trust, I think that's a huge, huge component 00:52:48.219 --> 00:52:53.639 to a successful sale. Okay, Beth. Yeah, so... 00:52:54.199 --> 00:52:57.619 Again, I would echo that. I mean, I think when 00:52:57.619 --> 00:52:59.800 you're in the position of consigning an animal, 00:53:00.019 --> 00:53:04.039 if this is a long -term kind of thing for you 00:53:04.039 --> 00:53:06.659 and something you want to do again, you have 00:53:06.659 --> 00:53:09.159 a responsibility again to make sure that you 00:53:09.159 --> 00:53:12.079 continue to build that relationship. If you want 00:53:12.079 --> 00:53:14.079 it to be something other than just a one -off, 00:53:14.099 --> 00:53:16.219 well, I sold that one and I'm going to retreat 00:53:16.219 --> 00:53:20.239 back into my corner of the world. Did I mention 00:53:20.239 --> 00:53:24.250 Maine's not related? So, you know, I think you 00:53:24.250 --> 00:53:26.750 have a responsibility as a consigner and as a 00:53:26.750 --> 00:53:29.849 breeder to maintain that connection, to kind 00:53:29.849 --> 00:53:31.570 of follow up, you know, are there family members 00:53:31.570 --> 00:53:33.909 of an animal that somebody purchased that have 00:53:33.909 --> 00:53:36.690 done well, or there's interesting new details, 00:53:36.750 --> 00:53:39.789 or just reaching out and asking how an animal 00:53:39.789 --> 00:53:42.349 somebody purchased, how is she doing, or what 00:53:42.349 --> 00:53:46.210 cool stories do you have about that, and hopefully 00:53:46.210 --> 00:53:48.190 that makes the buyer feel a little bit more like 00:53:48.190 --> 00:53:50.739 you're... You're invested in the process, and 00:53:50.739 --> 00:53:52.679 it wasn't just, well, hey, that's great. I'm 00:53:52.679 --> 00:53:54.960 glad I sold that one for that much money, and 00:53:54.960 --> 00:53:58.719 thanks a lot. Have a great day. I mean, those 00:53:58.719 --> 00:54:01.000 connections, and I think everybody's touched 00:54:01.000 --> 00:54:03.679 on it, those relationships, whether it's relationships 00:54:03.679 --> 00:54:06.179 with the folks that you have on your sales staff 00:54:06.179 --> 00:54:10.199 that are trusted advisors to the buyers and to 00:54:10.199 --> 00:54:12.199 you as a consigner and a sale manager. Those 00:54:12.199 --> 00:54:14.800 relationships are important. We can do lots of 00:54:14.800 --> 00:54:17.539 cool stuff on social media. At the end of the 00:54:17.539 --> 00:54:19.159 day, I think a lot of people want to talk to 00:54:19.159 --> 00:54:22.039 a human who's seen that animal or who has experience 00:54:22.039 --> 00:54:24.400 with that particular consigner and can say, yeah, 00:54:24.480 --> 00:54:27.980 that's not just really good editing. You can 00:54:27.980 --> 00:54:32.880 be confident in that, and I think that's really 00:54:32.880 --> 00:54:36.139 important. I think as far as the biggest marketing 00:54:36.139 --> 00:54:39.500 lesson to learn over time, I mean, there's some 00:54:39.500 --> 00:54:41.500 of them you have to learn repeatedly. I'm not 00:54:41.500 --> 00:54:45.510 super quick that way, but always. I'm always 00:54:45.510 --> 00:54:48.409 still your best. And that's fantastic when they 00:54:48.409 --> 00:54:50.789 go forth and do really well for somebody. You 00:54:50.789 --> 00:54:53.210 know, I mean, it's cool for us to have, you know, 00:54:53.250 --> 00:54:55.389 we sold Robin. I don't even know if it's a while 00:54:55.389 --> 00:54:59.269 ago now, I guess, but she went on and Integrity 00:54:59.269 --> 00:55:02.150 Robin went on and was 95 for her new owners and, 00:55:02.170 --> 00:55:04.650 you know, iconic pictures and fun stuff like 00:55:04.650 --> 00:55:07.849 that. And that's a thrill. Would it have been 00:55:07.849 --> 00:55:12.139 fun to have her still? But it's great to see 00:55:12.139 --> 00:55:15.179 them go forward and do well. And somebody mentioned 00:55:15.179 --> 00:55:17.880 that that marketing, he said, they'll always 00:55:17.880 --> 00:55:20.900 have your prefix. Always, always, always. No 00:55:20.900 --> 00:55:23.519 matter what fantastic things they go on to do, 00:55:23.579 --> 00:55:26.659 that's always there to pedigree. And that's fantastic, 00:55:27.039 --> 00:55:31.519 fantastic marketing. And do your homework. Always. 00:55:31.599 --> 00:55:37.860 That's always a lesson. That's, yeah. So as far 00:55:37.860 --> 00:55:43.599 as when we sell animals, if the buyer wants us 00:55:43.599 --> 00:55:47.079 to, we try to remain in contact. Or if they have 00:55:47.079 --> 00:55:50.219 questions, you know, we're pretty open, I think. 00:55:50.320 --> 00:55:53.019 And we're always pretty open about history of 00:55:53.019 --> 00:55:56.840 the animal. If they flush well, what holes work 00:55:56.840 --> 00:55:59.500 in that cow family? Because a lot of times, you 00:55:59.500 --> 00:56:01.559 know, we're selling from a cow family. And so 00:56:01.559 --> 00:56:03.500 we kind of know what does or doesn't work in 00:56:03.500 --> 00:56:06.619 those cow families. and we're about it we try 00:56:06.619 --> 00:56:09.179 to be as open as we can with those discussions 00:56:09.179 --> 00:56:11.699 if the buyer has those questions and wants that 00:56:11.699 --> 00:56:14.840 feedback uh it's kind of fun when you have a 00:56:14.840 --> 00:56:17.239 free to get buying the calf because they always 00:56:17.239 --> 00:56:19.400 have questions you know what do i do how do i 00:56:19.400 --> 00:56:21.880 feed them how do i get a rope to lead you know 00:56:21.880 --> 00:56:24.380 what should i you know what kind of pen do they 00:56:24.380 --> 00:56:27.119 need to be sometimes you get some wild questions 00:56:27.119 --> 00:56:29.199 it's a lot of fun to talk to the kids about that 00:56:30.019 --> 00:56:33.559 And, hey, you know, that gives it back to us 00:56:33.559 --> 00:56:35.820 to work with. And I see that with our own kids 00:56:35.820 --> 00:56:37.820 now. They'll ask these crazy questions once in 00:56:37.820 --> 00:56:39.579 a while. I'm like, oh, yeah, you're 9 and 11. 00:56:39.780 --> 00:56:41.820 You know, I should expect these crazy questions. 00:56:42.880 --> 00:56:44.599 So, yeah, it's a lot of fun when there's little 00:56:44.599 --> 00:56:48.500 kids, younger, I should say, people that are 00:56:48.500 --> 00:56:50.679 asking those questions because that, you know, 00:56:50.679 --> 00:56:53.940 keeps them energized, keeps us watching to keep 00:56:53.940 --> 00:56:55.780 tabs on how those animals are doing for them. 00:56:56.989 --> 00:56:59.630 We always also stand behind the animals that 00:56:59.630 --> 00:57:03.650 we sell. There's been a few times that we've 00:57:03.650 --> 00:57:06.969 bought them back or brought them back. You know, 00:57:07.010 --> 00:57:08.389 somebody would say, hey, we can't get this cow 00:57:08.389 --> 00:57:11.090 pregnant. Like, what do we do? All right, do 00:57:11.090 --> 00:57:13.150 you want the beef check? And, you know, how do 00:57:13.150 --> 00:57:14.510 you want us to do this? We'll give you the beef 00:57:14.510 --> 00:57:16.550 check and just pay you and we'll bring her back 00:57:16.550 --> 00:57:18.230 or we'll bring her back to the farm and get her 00:57:18.230 --> 00:57:20.210 pregnant. And I think we've only brought two 00:57:20.210 --> 00:57:22.670 or three back to the farm and they got pregnant 00:57:22.670 --> 00:57:26.059 first or second service. you know whether there 00:57:26.059 --> 00:57:28.360 were some issues with feed or whatever at the 00:57:28.360 --> 00:57:31.440 buyer's farm it doesn't matter but we get them 00:57:31.440 --> 00:57:33.500 pregnant get them far enough along to their second 00:57:33.500 --> 00:57:36.019 prep check send them back to the to the buyer 00:57:36.019 --> 00:57:37.880 that was there but that's one thing we always 00:57:37.880 --> 00:57:40.920 do is we stand behind the animal that we sell 00:57:40.920 --> 00:57:44.760 um because if we don't then why are we selling 00:57:44.760 --> 00:57:49.079 you know we just don't want that reputation um 00:57:49.079 --> 00:57:55.650 as far as marketing lessons um We try to surround 00:57:55.650 --> 00:58:00.929 ourselves with really good people. I think people 00:58:00.929 --> 00:58:05.289 are key to this whole business, you know. If 00:58:05.289 --> 00:58:08.670 you see us at a show, it's usually the same team. 00:58:08.809 --> 00:58:12.010 You know, Jack Ross goes with us to every show. 00:58:12.130 --> 00:58:15.030 He's our guy. For as long as we're able to have 00:58:15.030 --> 00:58:17.849 Jack Ross there, he's our guy. And we want him 00:58:17.849 --> 00:58:20.889 with us because, you know, we have that relationship. 00:58:21.050 --> 00:58:23.889 We know how to work with him. but he also knows 00:58:23.889 --> 00:58:27.489 the cows and so when we start our shows in march 00:58:27.489 --> 00:58:29.869 in new york we're going to have the same crew 00:58:29.869 --> 00:58:31.869 through the whole year but that's they're our 00:58:31.869 --> 00:58:33.750 guys they're our team they're going with this 00:58:33.750 --> 00:58:35.969 you know they know the cows and i think it's 00:58:35.969 --> 00:58:37.530 really important and that's you know that's just 00:58:37.530 --> 00:58:40.469 on the show side of course but any of these marketing 00:58:40.469 --> 00:58:43.489 aspects that we we do you know we kind of have 00:58:43.489 --> 00:58:45.710 our team you know we work pretty closely with 00:58:45.710 --> 00:58:49.929 chris and tim with our sales and and us working 00:58:49.929 --> 00:58:52.429 with them with their sales. And I think it's 00:58:52.429 --> 00:58:54.849 important that we have those connections with 00:58:54.849 --> 00:58:58.570 the people to just build upon those relationships 00:58:58.570 --> 00:59:02.889 in this industry. Well, I've got to tell you, 00:59:02.909 --> 00:59:05.289 it's tough when you go after three smart ladies 00:59:05.289 --> 00:59:07.469 to think of anything intelligent to say that 00:59:07.469 --> 00:59:10.150 they haven't already said. And I was going to 00:59:10.150 --> 00:59:12.809 mention what Alicia just said about standing 00:59:12.809 --> 00:59:15.190 behind Carol because that's something that's... 00:59:15.400 --> 00:59:17.500 It's inevitable, right? If you sell a lot of 00:59:17.500 --> 00:59:19.840 cattle over time, something's not going to work 00:59:19.840 --> 00:59:22.099 out. And we just have always stepped up and said, 00:59:22.139 --> 00:59:24.920 how do we want to make this right? And I think 00:59:24.920 --> 00:59:27.780 that's really important. And buying from people 00:59:27.780 --> 00:59:30.800 that you trust is also really important as well. 00:59:31.059 --> 00:59:33.900 I mean, it's about people at the end of the day. 00:59:34.280 --> 00:59:37.900 And the cattle are great, but you're buying from 00:59:37.900 --> 00:59:40.219 people. So I think that's really important. But 00:59:40.219 --> 00:59:45.070 when we had our sale, the registered sale, The 00:59:45.070 --> 00:59:47.530 higher price cattle we sold went to people smarter 00:59:47.530 --> 00:59:49.489 than us, so we didn't really have to tell them 00:59:49.489 --> 00:59:53.670 too much, but we have had situations where they 00:59:53.670 --> 00:59:57.610 wanted us to keep cattle for a while or get it 00:59:57.610 --> 01:00:00.190 started or whatever, and that's just what you 01:00:00.190 --> 01:00:03.230 do. It's just what you do to market your cattle 01:00:03.230 --> 01:00:06.929 and to help the buyer of whatever you did sell. 01:00:07.289 --> 01:00:10.510 I would say advice, a lot of what these folks 01:00:10.510 --> 01:00:13.969 have already said, but... I would say the best 01:00:13.969 --> 01:00:17.090 marketing thing that I've ever learned is it 01:00:17.090 --> 01:00:20.449 takes a lot of work. It is constant effort, 365, 01:00:20.989 --> 01:00:24.409 to have your cattle, to develop the right kind 01:00:24.409 --> 01:00:26.550 of cattle that are going to be marketable, that 01:00:26.550 --> 01:00:29.289 people want. Because if you're the only one that 01:00:29.289 --> 01:00:32.190 wants it, she's going to be in tough sell. And 01:00:32.190 --> 01:00:34.429 you can't tell people what they should like, 01:00:34.510 --> 01:00:37.030 right? The market will dictate it. And you have 01:00:37.030 --> 01:00:39.550 to understand the market, work hard to present 01:00:39.550 --> 01:00:42.199 your cattle that fit into that market. and get 01:00:42.199 --> 01:00:45.539 them sold. So I think embracing the hard work, 01:00:45.659 --> 01:00:48.699 being smart about doing it is something that 01:00:48.699 --> 01:00:52.400 we've learned. Thanks, B. To share a little story, 01:00:52.539 --> 01:00:55.179 I had a staffer one time that was in a sale and, 01:00:55.219 --> 01:00:57.860 you know, everybody goes, give me a range on 01:00:57.860 --> 01:01:00.900 her, give me a range on her. I said, $25 ,000 01:01:00.900 --> 01:01:03.920 to $40 ,000. Cool. How am I going to get my money 01:01:03.920 --> 01:01:07.739 back? So, it was a very prominent breeder that 01:01:07.739 --> 01:01:10.000 consigned her, and I called him up and I said, 01:01:10.019 --> 01:01:12.699 this guy, he's got the coin, he'll send me a 01:01:12.699 --> 01:01:14.739 check the next day, that's no problem. He says, 01:01:14.880 --> 01:01:19.099 but his major question is, he loves blue ribbons, 01:01:19.099 --> 01:01:21.260 but he wants his money back. The guy on the other 01:01:21.260 --> 01:01:22.920 end of the phone, he says, well, you tell him 01:01:22.920 --> 01:01:25.340 to get her bred, and I'll give him $750 for every 01:01:25.340 --> 01:01:28.400 embryo she makes before it's time to quit IVFing 01:01:28.400 --> 01:01:34.679 her. So, that said, Caledon African's bred. And 01:01:34.679 --> 01:01:36.880 he went right, started going right to the shoot 01:01:36.880 --> 01:01:40.599 every two weeks. She made, I don't know, 20 38s. 01:01:40.619 --> 01:01:43.099 Well, lo and behold, he ended up in the bar for 01:01:43.099 --> 01:01:48.880 like 22 ,000. And he sold probably 17 5 8s because 01:01:48.880 --> 01:01:51.900 of what the seller told him that he would do. 01:01:52.489 --> 01:01:54.530 to back up this purchase plus you're getting 01:01:54.530 --> 01:01:57.510 the calf that's inside plus you've won some shows 01:01:57.510 --> 01:01:59.829 so everybody at the end of the day is happy now 01:01:59.829 --> 01:02:01.969 they don't all work out that way as we all well 01:02:01.969 --> 01:02:05.210 know but the secret to the whole thing is you 01:02:05.210 --> 01:02:07.849 got to make more on your investments than you 01:02:07.849 --> 01:02:10.230 lose you got to be you got to try to be at least 01:02:10.230 --> 01:02:14.000 60 40 or you have trouble So I'm going to conclude 01:02:14.000 --> 01:02:17.119 my portion of this, and then we're going to get 01:02:17.119 --> 01:02:19.780 into some questions for people online as well 01:02:19.780 --> 01:02:21.300 as in the room, because I'm sure there's a lot 01:02:21.300 --> 01:02:23.860 of questions out here for these people. But I've 01:02:23.860 --> 01:02:25.699 got one question for each of them, and I'm going 01:02:25.699 --> 01:02:29.820 to start with you, Jenny. And I'm sure a lot 01:02:29.820 --> 01:02:31.559 of people want to know about this. So obviously 01:02:31.559 --> 01:02:34.079 you and your entire family, your three children, 01:02:34.199 --> 01:02:38.519 Nathan, play a huge role in the success of Vieira 01:02:38.519 --> 01:02:41.940 Derrick. So those of you who don't know who Vieira 01:02:41.940 --> 01:02:45.119 Dairy is, go to the 7 -Eleven, fill your cart 01:02:45.119 --> 01:02:47.579 up, and go home, because I know you know who 01:02:47.579 --> 01:02:49.900 they are. The most prominent showroom in the 01:02:49.900 --> 01:02:54.940 Jersey Green today. And they're a great cow share 01:02:54.940 --> 01:02:59.219 hotel with Triple T. You're involved with them 01:02:59.219 --> 01:03:01.619 in showrooms, sales, et cetera, and your name 01:03:01.619 --> 01:03:06.110 is synonymous with theirs. However, you have 01:03:06.110 --> 01:03:08.670 not allowed that relationship, not even for a 01:03:08.670 --> 01:03:10.849 second, interfere with the continued success 01:03:10.849 --> 01:03:14.329 of Triple T, Holsteins, and Jerseys. How do you 01:03:14.329 --> 01:03:16.389 maintain that? And how do you keep everybody 01:03:16.389 --> 01:03:20.969 smiling? Honestly, it's an open and transparent 01:03:20.969 --> 01:03:23.630 conversation. Like we set up, we're very honest 01:03:23.630 --> 01:03:26.829 in what our expectations are. They are honest 01:03:26.829 --> 01:03:28.949 with their expectations. We've had a great working 01:03:28.949 --> 01:03:31.010 relationship. They're good people to work with. 01:03:32.889 --> 01:03:35.289 We provide a service. We're going to do it 110 01:03:35.289 --> 01:03:38.929 percent. And, you know, again, we have our own 01:03:38.929 --> 01:03:42.750 farm, our own cattle, our kids own cattle. Our 01:03:42.750 --> 01:03:44.789 kids have bought and sold cattle like we've kind 01:03:44.789 --> 01:03:48.250 of brought them into that. And we want to make 01:03:48.250 --> 01:03:50.429 sure that we have something at the end of the 01:03:50.429 --> 01:03:53.829 day. If beer and dairy and us decide to go different 01:03:53.829 --> 01:03:56.829 directions at some point in time, we are going 01:03:56.829 --> 01:04:01.150 to quit being us and ourselves. to bring in somebody 01:04:01.150 --> 01:04:03.650 else. So we're kind of like a love it or leave 01:04:03.650 --> 01:04:07.409 it type of thing, I guess. But luckily in our 01:04:07.409 --> 01:04:10.510 situation, we all work great together and it's 01:04:10.510 --> 01:04:13.789 working out well. But we kind of, again, we have 01:04:13.789 --> 01:04:16.210 X amount of spots in our hotel. We only milk 01:04:16.210 --> 01:04:18.610 35 heads. So it's a balancing act. Sometimes 01:04:18.610 --> 01:04:23.010 on the triple T side, we sell animals that maybe 01:04:23.010 --> 01:04:25.960 we... wouldn't want to sell. Maybe we can sign 01:04:25.960 --> 01:04:28.239 a couple extra head just because we don't have 01:04:28.239 --> 01:04:31.980 the room that normally we would keep. So we have, 01:04:32.099 --> 01:04:34.480 but that's what makes us kind of continue to 01:04:34.480 --> 01:04:36.699 move on. And that's kind of our, our place in 01:04:36.699 --> 01:04:39.780 the market too. Like we're always trying to IVF 01:04:39.780 --> 01:04:41.639 and we have to sell X amount of head to kind 01:04:41.639 --> 01:04:43.500 of keep our numbers in balance. We kind of know 01:04:43.500 --> 01:04:45.800 where that fine line is of being too crowded 01:04:45.800 --> 01:04:48.519 and, and being able to allow those poor cattle 01:04:48.519 --> 01:04:51.840 to stay there. So sometimes we sell ones we don't 01:04:51.840 --> 01:04:54.380 necessarily want to sell. That kind of goes back 01:04:54.380 --> 01:04:56.179 to selling your best. You've just got to be willing 01:04:56.179 --> 01:04:58.400 to put them out there and continue that cash 01:04:58.400 --> 01:05:01.119 flow and make it work to be able to only milk 01:05:01.119 --> 01:05:04.119 30 by pet. Thank you very much, and I'm sure 01:05:04.119 --> 01:05:05.920 you'll get more questions about that as we go. 01:05:06.099 --> 01:05:08.860 The next question is for Pete. People hand the 01:05:08.860 --> 01:05:11.980 mic down to Pete. Pete, in my experience, it's 01:05:11.980 --> 01:05:14.780 been clear that deep pedigrees continue to market 01:05:14.780 --> 01:05:18.280 and market very well. You were involved with 01:05:18.280 --> 01:05:22.380 a cow that was very famous named Covail Dempsey 01:05:22.380 --> 01:05:25.179 Dena. We all know who Dina was, Cali Pig Good. 01:05:25.260 --> 01:05:27.280 She was granted the Royals. She was nominated 01:05:27.280 --> 01:05:29.820 her All -American Reserve several times back 01:05:29.820 --> 01:05:33.219 -to -back. But we've been talking about brand 01:05:33.219 --> 01:05:37.039 names all day. Now, she herself is a brand name, 01:05:37.119 --> 01:05:40.820 but her pedigree, nice, but not a brand name 01:05:40.820 --> 01:05:45.719 pedigree. But if you go to sales still today 01:05:45.719 --> 01:05:50.920 and you have Dina's name in the pedigree, that 01:05:50.920 --> 01:05:54.210 animal, I think, Still works well. I mean, she 01:05:54.210 --> 01:05:57.809 breeds true. But isn't it cool how she started 01:05:57.809 --> 01:06:01.130 the real true breeding of that family? But didn't 01:06:01.130 --> 01:06:02.949 have a brand of pedigree. She made a brand for 01:06:02.949 --> 01:06:05.389 herself. Tell us a little bit about Dina and 01:06:05.389 --> 01:06:09.150 her story. Yeah, so we've been really blessed 01:06:09.150 --> 01:06:12.690 to be able to work with some really special cows. 01:06:13.170 --> 01:06:17.010 And Beth is another one of those. And, you know, 01:06:17.050 --> 01:06:21.619 Dina was just a really exciting young cow. A 01:06:21.619 --> 01:06:23.440 friend of ours that probably many of you know, 01:06:23.579 --> 01:06:27.579 Bob Landis, had her and said, hey, I think you 01:06:27.579 --> 01:06:29.440 guys ought to take a look at this cow. You know, 01:06:29.480 --> 01:06:33.099 she's just fresh a couple weeks, and I bought 01:06:33.099 --> 01:06:35.320 her as a calf, and I think she could be pretty 01:06:35.320 --> 01:06:38.159 nice. So my son, Jade, was down there. He was 01:06:38.159 --> 01:06:41.079 just out of college and looked at her, and he 01:06:41.079 --> 01:06:43.780 called me and said, yeah, I think we should partner 01:06:43.780 --> 01:06:47.239 with Bob on this cow. So we brought her up to 01:06:47.239 --> 01:06:49.500 our place and we had some, you know, we're running 01:06:49.500 --> 01:06:52.119 with some show cows at that time. And she came 01:06:52.119 --> 01:06:54.920 off the truck and I thought to myself, why did 01:06:54.920 --> 01:06:58.099 he think we should burn down this cow? She was, 01:06:58.199 --> 01:07:01.099 you know, just a couple weeks fresh and kind 01:07:01.099 --> 01:07:03.480 of a narrow rear udder and just a baby, right? 01:07:03.599 --> 01:07:06.059 Yeah, just a milking yearling. And the cow just 01:07:06.059 --> 01:07:08.940 blossomed incredibly well, just continued to 01:07:08.940 --> 01:07:12.670 develop. We did our part, she did her part. And, 01:07:12.710 --> 01:07:14.510 yeah, you develop those kind of cows that are 01:07:14.510 --> 01:07:16.449 well -known. Everybody wants those genetics, 01:07:16.750 --> 01:07:19.610 right? Everybody wants that special one. And 01:07:19.610 --> 01:07:21.409 she did a lot of that. She made a lot of great 01:07:21.409 --> 01:07:23.469 daughters, a lot of excellent daughters, cows 01:07:23.469 --> 01:07:25.710 that have done well in the show ring, pretty 01:07:25.710 --> 01:07:28.570 calves. And she really helped get us there. And 01:07:28.570 --> 01:07:30.550 then Beth was the next one. Now, Beth had a great 01:07:30.550 --> 01:07:33.929 pedigree. And, you know, we bought her dam from 01:07:33.929 --> 01:07:39.699 Jenny. and Nathan, and they helped us tremendously 01:07:39.699 --> 01:07:42.679 get that dam rolling, and then Bath was born, 01:07:42.860 --> 01:07:45.199 and that's another great story for another time, 01:07:45.380 --> 01:07:49.280 but yeah, you just have to find the right individuals 01:07:49.280 --> 01:07:53.559 sometimes, you know, and develop them, and the 01:07:53.559 --> 01:07:55.900 industry will embrace it, and everybody wants 01:07:55.900 --> 01:07:59.239 that special one. Thanks, Pete. Betsy, you're 01:07:59.239 --> 01:08:03.500 next. And we want to know, and you may have answered 01:08:03.500 --> 01:08:06.800 this in a roundabout way, but Take us a little 01:08:06.800 --> 01:08:08.900 more in depth about your family farm. How has 01:08:08.900 --> 01:08:11.980 your herd's merchandise program changed since 01:08:11.980 --> 01:08:15.340 your herd has grown in the past 20 years? And 01:08:15.340 --> 01:08:20.380 have you seen limitations on more ways to capitalize? 01:08:24.439 --> 01:08:29.180 That's a lot. Thank you. Yeah. So it's a great 01:08:29.180 --> 01:08:36.689 question. Absolutely. going from milking 60 cows 01:08:36.689 --> 01:08:39.369 in a tie solid having that really finite amount 01:08:39.369 --> 01:08:42.890 of space to having a little bit more latitude 01:08:42.890 --> 01:08:46.210 on space and you know and maybe we're moving 01:08:46.210 --> 01:08:49.729 from needing to sell a set number to being able 01:08:49.729 --> 01:08:52.130 to absorb more of those animals and and kind 01:08:52.130 --> 01:08:55.510 of just selling selling off the top that you 01:08:55.510 --> 01:08:57.310 know that's one change certainly as we change 01:08:57.310 --> 01:09:01.409 size and scale uh you know i would say at this 01:09:01.409 --> 01:09:04.119 point cow number wise we're pretty we're sort 01:09:04.119 --> 01:09:06.840 of set so moving a little bit back into that 01:09:06.840 --> 01:09:10.819 so focusing on merchandising a few more so that's 01:09:10.819 --> 01:09:13.359 that's definitely changed over time i mean the 01:09:13.359 --> 01:09:17.199 dairy population in new england has certainly 01:09:17.199 --> 01:09:20.920 shifted over time so 25 30 years ago there were 01:09:20.920 --> 01:09:22.979 there were club sales and there was a state sale 01:09:22.979 --> 01:09:25.119 chris talked about coming up and working the 01:09:25.119 --> 01:09:29.189 main state sale and so there were more local 01:09:29.189 --> 01:09:31.970 marketing outlets from that standpoint. So that's 01:09:31.970 --> 01:09:34.550 definitely different. That's shifted over time 01:09:34.550 --> 01:09:36.930 and have to be a little bit more creative about 01:09:36.930 --> 01:09:39.449 whether it's social media or whether it's, you 01:09:39.449 --> 01:09:41.229 know, continuing to maintain those contacts, 01:09:41.430 --> 01:09:44.090 whether it's going out, showing someplace other 01:09:44.090 --> 01:09:46.970 than Maine for us, you know, just again, that 01:09:46.970 --> 01:09:50.149 back to that brand sort of idea and making sure 01:09:50.149 --> 01:09:52.649 that we're aware of what's going on in the market. 01:09:52.710 --> 01:09:54.630 So that has definitely changed over time as our 01:09:54.630 --> 01:09:57.449 herd size has changed. There was the second part 01:09:57.449 --> 01:10:01.130 to the question, too. Maybe. Have you seen limitations 01:10:01.130 --> 01:10:04.970 or more ways to capitalize? That's why I do use 01:10:04.970 --> 01:10:11.850 beef scene. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So Maine's 01:10:11.850 --> 01:10:15.909 its own little island, so definitely different 01:10:15.909 --> 01:10:18.010 things that I don't know that we would have imagined 01:10:18.010 --> 01:10:21.409 15 or 20 years ago, whether we breed 30 % of 01:10:21.409 --> 01:10:23.890 our cows to beef, so that right now that's more 01:10:23.890 --> 01:10:25.689 appealing than the milk check a lot of days. 01:10:26.270 --> 01:10:28.949 So that's handy, and that also gets back to that, 01:10:29.010 --> 01:10:32.350 what's the number of cattle that we need to either 01:10:32.350 --> 01:10:35.649 maintain or grow or herd size or that we want 01:10:35.649 --> 01:10:39.329 to put out, need to put out on the market from 01:10:39.329 --> 01:10:41.710 that standpoint. We even dabbled in ice cream 01:10:41.710 --> 01:10:44.229 for a minute or two. That was like a around COVID 01:10:44.229 --> 01:10:48.289 sort of experiment, but it takes a lot of time. 01:10:49.069 --> 01:10:54.409 And anyways, I like cows. So there's that. So 01:10:54.409 --> 01:10:58.630 again, back to focusing on some of the merchandising, 01:10:58.630 --> 01:11:01.750 focusing on some of the marketing, and maybe 01:11:01.750 --> 01:11:04.630 being at a point in our lives where we kind of 01:11:04.630 --> 01:11:06.550 want to focus on the things that we enjoy doing. 01:11:06.750 --> 01:11:11.750 Life is short. Alicia, it's obvious that Oathfield 01:11:11.750 --> 01:11:14.050 Corners has a large presence on social media 01:11:14.050 --> 01:11:17.729 for all facets of your herd. What are some of 01:11:17.729 --> 01:11:21.069 the pros and cons of this tool? How do you ensure 01:11:21.069 --> 01:11:24.989 that your post target reaches the target audience 01:11:24.989 --> 01:11:29.170 you want to? For instance, you put up, I got 01:11:29.170 --> 01:11:31.390 something right now about the sale. I don't know 01:11:31.390 --> 01:11:34.430 who's putting it up, but what if I'm a cheese 01:11:34.430 --> 01:11:36.689 customer and I'm getting something about, is 01:11:36.689 --> 01:11:39.090 it the algorithms? Does somebody control who 01:11:39.090 --> 01:11:41.810 sees what? Like your sale advertisement, your 01:11:41.810 --> 01:11:44.630 cheese people or your Wagyu buyers, they don't 01:11:44.630 --> 01:11:47.550 see it, do they? Or how does that work? How do 01:11:47.550 --> 01:11:49.310 you control who sees this is what I'm asking. 01:11:49.600 --> 01:11:53.819 Yeah, that's a great question. So we do have 01:11:53.819 --> 01:11:58.420 four different pages. There's an Oakville Corners 01:11:58.420 --> 01:12:01.979 Dairy page, which I manage, and I've not done 01:12:01.979 --> 01:12:04.600 very well with that lately because it's been 01:12:04.600 --> 01:12:07.140 a lonely winter, and I've been building and helping 01:12:07.140 --> 01:12:09.500 get our catalog done the past couple weeks, so 01:12:09.500 --> 01:12:11.199 I've been a little bit slow on getting posts 01:12:11.199 --> 01:12:13.779 up on that. But basically the Oakville Corners 01:12:13.779 --> 01:12:18.220 Dairy page on Instagram, Facebook. wherever else, 01:12:18.279 --> 01:12:21.819 Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube. I don't do Twitter 01:12:21.819 --> 01:12:24.859 anymore, whatever it's called now. Basically, 01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:29.600 that's focusing on cows, info, genetics, cows 01:12:29.600 --> 01:12:32.720 and the herd, management of what we do on the 01:12:32.720 --> 01:12:36.479 farm day -to -day. There is a dedicated Oakfield 01:12:36.479 --> 01:12:39.939 artisanal page, and Molly, who is our cheesemaker, 01:12:40.180 --> 01:12:43.880 she manages that page both with Facebook and 01:12:43.880 --> 01:12:48.069 Instagram. I think she's got another social media, 01:12:48.229 --> 01:12:50.729 but I'm not for sure which one it is, so I apologize. 01:12:51.289 --> 01:12:54.010 But that's dedicated to the production of the 01:12:54.010 --> 01:12:57.210 cheese and what we have available for sale in 01:12:57.210 --> 01:13:01.029 that regard. There used to be a Wagyu page, and 01:13:01.029 --> 01:13:03.630 we kind of morphed that into the artisanal page 01:13:03.630 --> 01:13:06.750 because we're doing the Wagyu through the artisanal 01:13:06.750 --> 01:13:09.819 brand. And then there is a lamb farms page. And 01:13:09.819 --> 01:13:13.100 my sister -in -law manages that. And it's not 01:13:13.100 --> 01:13:15.260 like that. I would say that it's more community 01:13:15.260 --> 01:13:19.380 based, like Oakfield specific based than like 01:13:19.380 --> 01:13:22.260 Oakfield Corners Dairy. We're trying to hit everybody 01:13:22.260 --> 01:13:25.699 in the U .S. and internationally. So, you know, 01:13:25.699 --> 01:13:27.319 when you think about it in that regard, it's 01:13:27.319 --> 01:13:30.060 kind of a lot. And, you know, luckily we are 01:13:30.060 --> 01:13:32.159 a big farm and we've got a lot of things going 01:13:32.159 --> 01:13:35.039 on. So it's great. So the content is there. The 01:13:35.039 --> 01:13:39.689 problem is just that. I asked for help from guys. 01:13:43.170 --> 01:13:46.989 It's kind of a one -man show where I'm trying 01:13:46.989 --> 01:13:51.029 to keep it somewhat diversified with a little 01:13:51.029 --> 01:13:54.130 bit of a focus. I just have to have time to do 01:13:54.130 --> 01:13:57.069 that on top of everything else. It can be its 01:13:57.069 --> 01:13:59.550 own job. I don't know how everybody else manages 01:13:59.550 --> 01:14:02.029 their social media pages, but that can be a full 01:14:02.029 --> 01:14:05.329 -time job on a farm when you're marketing. um 01:14:05.329 --> 01:14:09.130 cattle food whatever i mean there's a lot that 01:14:09.130 --> 01:14:11.750 goes into it and don't ask me about the algorithms 01:14:11.750 --> 01:14:14.029 i'm too old for that i don't understand that 01:14:14.029 --> 01:14:16.850 it's not only that i just like it thanks for 01:14:16.850 --> 01:14:19.729 asking that by the way yeah so um yeah no it's 01:14:19.729 --> 01:14:22.880 it's good and it's a great way of marketing Well, 01:14:22.899 --> 01:14:26.319 this is going to conclude my part. We still have 01:14:26.319 --> 01:14:28.920 45 minutes left for questions, and I'm sure there's 01:14:28.920 --> 01:14:31.119 people out there online and in the crowd that 01:14:31.119 --> 01:14:33.619 has a question for each and every one of you. 01:14:33.699 --> 01:14:36.020 I'll just ask that one person just say, I can 01:14:36.020 --> 01:14:37.899 cover that one, and you just kind of pass the 01:14:37.899 --> 01:14:41.699 mic around. So my first question we have sent 01:14:41.699 --> 01:14:44.039 in is, what is the differences between marketing 01:14:44.039 --> 01:14:46.979 animals for show and marketing animals for function 01:14:46.979 --> 01:14:49.960 and production? How do the markets and methods 01:14:49.960 --> 01:14:52.260 differ? You got the mic, you can answer that 01:14:52.260 --> 01:14:54.479 one, Jenny. I think we probably already answered 01:14:54.479 --> 01:14:58.680 it. But how do they differ? As far as, I guess 01:14:58.680 --> 01:15:01.840 on our end, I think it's a little bit the same. 01:15:02.479 --> 01:15:04.840 Show animals, especially the modern show cow, 01:15:05.100 --> 01:15:07.520 has to be a cow that milks and it has to be a 01:15:07.520 --> 01:15:10.640 functional cow. I think that that is where the 01:15:10.640 --> 01:15:14.060 two industries have come closer and closer together. 01:15:15.060 --> 01:15:20.220 The days of having 68 -inch two -year -olds that... 01:15:20.489 --> 01:15:23.569 their front legs crossed, has slowly, luckily, 01:15:23.789 --> 01:15:28.029 started to drift away in the last five, six, 01:15:28.050 --> 01:15:30.869 seven, eight years. So I think that those two 01:15:30.869 --> 01:15:33.189 worlds have come together a lot more. I think 01:15:33.189 --> 01:15:36.369 when you look at sires that are available, sire 01:15:36.369 --> 01:15:39.829 selection, yes, there are still some pure type 01:15:39.829 --> 01:15:42.630 sires out there, but you look at like a lambda. 01:15:43.159 --> 01:15:45.460 for instance, that has kind of crossed into both 01:15:45.460 --> 01:15:47.779 worlds. So I think there is a little bit of the 01:15:47.779 --> 01:15:49.979 same, but as far as marketing on both ends, obviously 01:15:49.979 --> 01:15:54.779 if we have a high type, you know, cow, 89 .2 01:15:54.779 --> 01:15:57.100 year old, we're not going to sell it in a commercial, 01:15:57.220 --> 01:16:00.640 you know, setting or for a commercial price. 01:16:00.760 --> 01:16:03.359 So you kind of navigate and know your own animals 01:16:03.359 --> 01:16:06.380 and be honest with yourself and know what is 01:16:06.380 --> 01:16:09.250 what and the difference between what. We're probably 01:16:09.250 --> 01:16:12.369 the hardest critics on our own animals. We're 01:16:12.369 --> 01:16:15.529 pretty critical. There's lots of conversations, 01:16:15.890 --> 01:16:18.449 lively conversations that go on at our house, 01:16:18.670 --> 01:16:21.430 but we see things a lot the same, but we also 01:16:21.430 --> 01:16:23.189 have different opinions, which is a good thing. 01:16:24.350 --> 01:16:26.670 It's really fun. We go to Triple D with one life, 01:16:26.689 --> 01:16:30.300 one monkey, and standard. So that's a discussion 01:16:30.300 --> 01:16:34.439 for another day. But this question a little bit 01:16:34.439 --> 01:16:37.140 is we're talking about show animals and functional 01:16:37.140 --> 01:16:41.060 animals. Really, in our eyes, we all show and 01:16:41.060 --> 01:16:44.239 we love to show, but show and function should 01:16:44.239 --> 01:16:47.119 be two words that go together. Now, a lot of 01:16:47.119 --> 01:16:50.819 people that are, how should I say, not anti -show, 01:16:50.920 --> 01:16:53.760 but they think a show animal is different than 01:16:53.760 --> 01:16:56.350 a functional animal. Well, that's what us people 01:16:56.350 --> 01:17:00.569 at show are trying to change. We want that show 01:17:00.569 --> 01:17:02.909 animal to be medium -sized. We want her to be 01:17:02.909 --> 01:17:05.170 functional. We want her to be able to survive 01:17:05.170 --> 01:17:08.970 in a freestall slatted floor environment. And 01:17:08.970 --> 01:17:11.010 there's nothing wrong with a cow like that winning. 01:17:11.310 --> 01:17:14.750 And yes, there's more of those coming out all 01:17:14.750 --> 01:17:17.149 the time. There's more great cows found in freestall 01:17:17.149 --> 01:17:20.510 herds all the time. And you can go to a sale. 01:17:20.510 --> 01:17:23.869 I don't care if it's tonight. where they're selling 01:17:23.869 --> 01:17:28.829 a lot of brand -name cows, and brand names are 01:17:28.829 --> 01:17:34.029 what sells. Or if you go to, for instance, Brubaker's 01:17:34.029 --> 01:17:37.630 in Shippensburg, a great dairy sale. They sell 01:17:37.630 --> 01:17:39.930 milk, but a lot of great cows have come out of 01:17:39.930 --> 01:17:42.289 there. Cows have been granted Harrisburg. It's 01:17:42.289 --> 01:17:44.670 called right out of Brubaker's sale bar. All 01:17:44.670 --> 01:17:47.390 you've got to do is just look into a crystal 01:17:47.390 --> 01:17:49.550 ball a little bit. Now, do we have any questions 01:17:49.550 --> 01:17:54.640 from the floor? I have one that was texted in 01:17:54.640 --> 01:17:58.260 that tags onto that topic, and maybe everybody 01:17:58.260 --> 01:18:02.479 can address it if they want to. But if you don't 01:18:02.479 --> 01:18:06.500 have that quote -unquote show herd, what avenues 01:18:06.500 --> 01:18:11.180 are there for you to market those cattle the 01:18:11.180 --> 01:18:14.600 best, and how can the value of those cattle be 01:18:14.600 --> 01:18:16.739 recognized? In other words, the great barn cows. 01:18:17.420 --> 01:18:26.159 Where or how can they be best marked? That might 01:18:26.159 --> 01:18:30.220 eventually build you to the greater love. So, 01:18:30.300 --> 01:18:33.300 you know, there's a tagline that I use once in 01:18:33.300 --> 01:18:35.479 a while in our social media posts, the kind we 01:18:35.479 --> 01:18:38.140 love to know. And that's exactly what you're 01:18:38.140 --> 01:18:41.770 asking right there. They're cows with deep pedigrees. 01:18:42.050 --> 01:18:45.229 They're amazing barn cows, just truly great barn 01:18:45.229 --> 01:18:47.069 cows. And they're never going to go win a show 01:18:47.069 --> 01:18:49.329 at Madison or Harrisburg or anywhere else like 01:18:49.329 --> 01:18:52.010 that. So how do we market from them? I don't 01:18:52.010 --> 01:18:54.729 know. It's a great question. You know, we, again, 01:18:54.970 --> 01:18:57.109 are trying to promote cow families. And when 01:18:57.109 --> 01:18:59.289 we promote cow families, sometimes there's their 01:18:59.289 --> 01:19:02.649 buy -in from people. And we have a wheelhouse 01:19:02.649 --> 01:19:05.609 right now. She's not high enough. She's like 01:19:05.609 --> 01:19:08.159 30. 350 or i don't even know i'll say it wrong 01:19:08.159 --> 01:19:11.720 but uh she's not high enough index to make goals 01:19:11.720 --> 01:19:15.159 anymore but she has a rerouter that would pop 01:19:15.159 --> 01:19:17.460 you in the head like crazy when you see her full 01:19:17.460 --> 01:19:20.840 of milk an amazing cow and i took pictures of 01:19:20.840 --> 01:19:22.859 her i posted her and guess what we're selling 01:19:22.859 --> 01:19:26.479 embryos a year from the cow now um so it's kind 01:19:26.479 --> 01:19:28.739 of funny how again some of those things resonate 01:19:28.739 --> 01:19:32.920 from you know yes she At one point was an index 01:19:32.920 --> 01:19:35.579 cow. She's not anymore. She's, you know, three, 01:19:35.680 --> 01:19:39.060 almost four years old. But that's, I guess, how 01:19:39.060 --> 01:19:41.119 you're going to have to do it is, you know, push 01:19:41.119 --> 01:19:44.300 the cow family side, you know, get a great shot 01:19:44.300 --> 01:19:46.500 of those rear. People love rear udder shots. 01:19:46.779 --> 01:19:49.960 I mean, it's incredible how many people you put 01:19:49.960 --> 01:19:52.460 a great rear udder on that car and people really 01:19:52.460 --> 01:19:55.789 are drawn to that. And I think that's how you 01:19:55.789 --> 01:19:57.890 promote those cows. I'm not saying any daughter 01:19:57.890 --> 01:19:59.850 from her is going to bring $50 ,000 or anything, 01:20:00.149 --> 01:20:02.829 but I bet we can sell anything from $5 ,000 to 01:20:02.829 --> 01:20:06.109 $10 ,000 from that, which is a nice price. Profit. 01:20:06.130 --> 01:20:09.270 Yes, for those animals like that. And especially 01:20:09.270 --> 01:20:12.590 if you use a bull that's hot, that's going to 01:20:12.590 --> 01:20:15.109 help increase the value of those cows as well. 01:20:16.140 --> 01:20:19.279 And for those cows that aren't going to win Harrisburg, 01:20:19.359 --> 01:20:21.399 they aren't going to win World Dairy Expo. I 01:20:21.399 --> 01:20:23.600 can give you a perfect example. You said five 01:20:23.600 --> 01:20:26.460 or six really nice milk cows down to Dan and 01:20:26.460 --> 01:20:30.779 Bob's sale in first September. And they all bought 01:20:30.779 --> 01:20:34.239 $4 ,000 to $6 ,000. Nothing wrong with that. 01:20:34.359 --> 01:20:36.859 And you've got two or three lactations and daughters 01:20:36.859 --> 01:20:39.739 out of them already. That's the kind of sale 01:20:39.739 --> 01:20:42.380 you put milk cows in that are into that $4 ,000 01:20:42.380 --> 01:20:46.119 to $6 ,000 range. Because as we all know, there's 01:20:46.119 --> 01:20:48.880 a huge difference between goodness and greatness. 01:20:49.600 --> 01:20:53.640 And a good dairy cow with a nice pedigree is 01:20:53.640 --> 01:20:56.560 milking a hundred. Now, she can't be a seven 01:20:56.560 --> 01:21:00.479 on somatic cell and be pregnant 30 days and been 01:21:00.479 --> 01:21:03.920 in 240 days. Now, everything's got to be lined 01:21:03.920 --> 01:21:07.159 up right. The somatic cell, stage of lactation, 01:21:07.300 --> 01:21:10.439 is she bred back? Is she easy on the eyes? Does 01:21:10.439 --> 01:21:13.239 she have a nice pedigree? Automatically, four 01:21:13.239 --> 01:21:16.479 to six grain. And that ain't bad after you've 01:21:16.479 --> 01:21:19.239 got two or three lactations out of them. Next 01:21:19.239 --> 01:21:21.880 question. Chris, the only comment I would make 01:21:21.880 --> 01:21:24.380 about that is, you know, maybe she's not going 01:21:24.380 --> 01:21:26.560 to win Madison, but she's a pedigree builder. 01:21:26.680 --> 01:21:30.180 If she's that kind of cow. Go back in some of 01:21:30.180 --> 01:21:32.500 these show cow pedigrees and look at some of 01:21:32.500 --> 01:21:35.439 those cows back in there that you never saw on 01:21:35.439 --> 01:21:37.600 the show. They didn't win Madison, but they're 01:21:37.600 --> 01:21:41.159 90 or 92 or 93 points and they made 35 or 40 01:21:41.159 --> 01:21:44.739 ,000. They are pedigree makers. So, you know, 01:21:44.739 --> 01:21:47.140 don't despair just because she can't win Madison 01:21:47.140 --> 01:21:51.619 today. Use that cow. Don't just let her die on 01:21:51.619 --> 01:21:53.520 your farm. You didn't make anything out of her. 01:21:53.640 --> 01:21:56.060 She's the one that you want to IVF. You want 01:21:56.060 --> 01:21:59.550 to make babies. uh make some really unique meanings 01:21:59.550 --> 01:22:03.029 from that cow and build your pedigrees and that's 01:22:03.029 --> 01:22:05.010 how you get there yeah and if you don't know 01:22:05.010 --> 01:22:07.489 there's everybody talks about expo but there's 01:22:07.489 --> 01:22:11.829 only 18 winners only 18 sorry folks but that's 01:22:11.829 --> 01:22:17.630 it so you can't compare everything to world dairy 01:22:17.630 --> 01:22:21.010 expo you gotta have some fun at home first david 01:22:21.010 --> 01:22:24.069 okay i have one other that was texted in and 01:22:24.069 --> 01:22:27.420 then we'll open it up be proud How does a small 01:22:27.420 --> 01:22:31.260 family farm breeding high -type cattle get their 01:22:31.260 --> 01:22:36.039 name on the map and get sale selectors to visit 01:22:36.039 --> 01:22:42.600 their farm? 8 -6 -7 -5 -3 -0 -9. We're gone. 01:22:44.619 --> 01:22:47.619 Chris is right, though. We're not afraid to call. 01:22:47.680 --> 01:22:50.260 We're not mind readers. I mean, you pay attention. 01:22:50.460 --> 01:22:52.100 Like, we watch social media. I don't know how 01:22:52.100 --> 01:22:54.619 many times Nathan's like, yeah, I bought one. 01:22:54.899 --> 01:22:57.420 Where'd you see it? Snapchat. I don't know. I 01:22:57.420 --> 01:22:59.500 mean, there's random places and things. It just, 01:22:59.619 --> 01:23:00.899 you never know what's going to catch somebody's 01:23:00.899 --> 01:23:03.380 eye. But the sure bet thing is to reach out to 01:23:03.380 --> 01:23:06.079 somebody and let them know you're interested. 01:23:06.180 --> 01:23:08.699 Because if you've never sold before or maybe 01:23:08.699 --> 01:23:11.380 somebody stopped at your farm, but, you know, 01:23:11.399 --> 01:23:13.520 four or five times and you never wanted to sell, 01:23:13.600 --> 01:23:14.920 but now all of a sudden you've had a change of 01:23:14.920 --> 01:23:17.680 heart. You've got to let people know and let 01:23:17.680 --> 01:23:21.640 people be aware. A good picture can sell. Right. 01:23:23.140 --> 01:23:26.739 We've all seen the kind of fluffy pictures. I 01:23:26.739 --> 01:23:28.119 call them fluffy pictures sometimes. The very 01:23:28.119 --> 01:23:31.079 posed, the very professional photos. I did it. 01:23:31.460 --> 01:23:33.439 There's still a place for that. There's embryo 01:23:33.439 --> 01:23:35.920 interest. There's still professional photos that 01:23:35.920 --> 01:23:40.039 you want for your All -Americans, your All -Pennsylvania. 01:23:40.880 --> 01:23:44.210 There's places for everything. Just like we did 01:23:44.210 --> 01:23:46.829 for this sale here, taking an honest picture 01:23:46.829 --> 01:23:50.369 with your phone and putting it on Facebook, letting 01:23:50.369 --> 01:23:52.090 people see the different angles of a heifer, 01:23:52.250 --> 01:23:55.729 it's very transparent as well. Like there's a 01:23:55.729 --> 01:23:59.449 place for everything. And doing all of them is 01:23:59.449 --> 01:24:02.949 an important thing as a consigner. Anybody else? 01:24:04.869 --> 01:24:08.729 Well, so to me, actually all three of those questions 01:24:08.729 --> 01:24:10.550 kind of get at the same thing. We talked about 01:24:10.550 --> 01:24:13.569 it earlier. What's your responsibility as a designer 01:24:13.569 --> 01:24:16.590 or reader if you want to market? Like maybe that 01:24:16.590 --> 01:24:20.590 if it's a show -specific kind of thing you're 01:24:20.590 --> 01:24:21.989 doing, well, you've got to get them onto a show. 01:24:22.170 --> 01:24:24.270 I mean, that's fairly straightforward. Or get 01:24:24.270 --> 01:24:26.630 in touch with somebody who can help you with 01:24:26.630 --> 01:24:29.930 that. If it's that fantastic barn cow, I mean, 01:24:29.949 --> 01:24:31.609 make sure you do all your homework. Make sure 01:24:31.609 --> 01:24:34.569 they're scored. Make sure they're doing the things 01:24:34.569 --> 01:24:36.109 that they need to do, that they're calving back 01:24:36.109 --> 01:24:38.630 regularly, and that pedigree continues to get 01:24:38.630 --> 01:24:43.470 stronger. I think these guys said it pretty clearly. 01:24:43.609 --> 01:24:48.430 Pick up the phone or message somebody. Nobody's 01:24:48.430 --> 01:24:51.189 mind readers. They don't know that you're interested 01:24:51.189 --> 01:24:53.550 in selling something unless you let them know 01:24:53.550 --> 01:24:57.710 that. So definitely do that. I got one, and I 01:24:57.710 --> 01:24:59.489 don't know who can answer because I can't. I 01:24:59.489 --> 01:25:02.130 hear it all the time, too, and this came in on 01:25:02.130 --> 01:25:06.449 text. Can somebody tell me the definition of 01:25:06.449 --> 01:25:14.289 a free agent? But I think it's a great question. 01:25:15.930 --> 01:25:19.590 So I'm assuming the question is in reference 01:25:19.590 --> 01:25:26.130 to index animals, yes. So a free agent is anything 01:25:26.130 --> 01:25:29.130 that you don't have a contract on. So if you 01:25:29.130 --> 01:25:33.010 do not have a contract on an animal, if there's 01:25:33.010 --> 01:25:36.090 not a contract on the semen that is used to mate 01:25:36.090 --> 01:25:40.109 that animal, she's a free agent. I should have 01:25:40.109 --> 01:25:42.729 said beyond Aaron Rodgers. Pittsburgh. Don't 01:25:42.729 --> 01:25:45.550 ask me anything about sports. Cows I know, sports 01:25:45.550 --> 01:25:47.390 I don't. Yeah, so that would be a free agent. 01:25:47.430 --> 01:25:48.789 So it's just like, you know, any of our show 01:25:48.789 --> 01:25:51.189 cows that we own outright that, you know, there's 01:25:51.189 --> 01:25:55.270 not going to be a contract unless it's a contract 01:25:55.270 --> 01:25:57.609 between partners that own an animal. Yeah, you 01:25:57.609 --> 01:25:59.470 probably won't hear this at the typeset, but 01:25:59.470 --> 01:26:02.149 it's a genomic option to hear, you know, number 01:26:02.149 --> 01:26:05.430 one free agent. Yeah, yeah. So no, that just 01:26:05.430 --> 01:26:09.840 would mean that there's no, You didn't sign a 01:26:09.840 --> 01:26:13.220 paper saying that I can't sell this animal. Okay, 01:26:13.260 --> 01:26:19.619 good question to wherever you are. Crown. Dagon. 01:26:19.939 --> 01:26:22.800 You'll be second. Okay, a question kind of related 01:26:22.800 --> 01:26:26.060 to that. Oakfields and their genomic flushing. 01:26:26.579 --> 01:26:30.600 How apt are they more to use a sub that is a 01:26:30.600 --> 01:26:51.960 less restrictive PRS contractor? So every stud's 01:26:51.960 --> 01:26:54.279 a little bit different. There are some that are 01:26:54.279 --> 01:26:58.359 extremely restrictive, as we know. And some of 01:26:58.359 --> 01:27:02.800 those restrictions, it's not just the resulting 01:27:03.420 --> 01:27:06.840 calf or calves that are born from a mating is 01:27:06.840 --> 01:27:09.699 the next generation and potentially the second 01:27:09.699 --> 01:27:12.119 generation that are restricted by that stud. 01:27:12.479 --> 01:27:19.239 So there's some pretty strict contracts. Other 01:27:19.239 --> 01:27:23.939 studs, and I'm not going to name any names because 01:27:23.939 --> 01:27:29.659 I'm just not, but other studs are free and open. 01:27:30.319 --> 01:27:35.819 And that really is incentive for us as breeders 01:27:35.819 --> 01:27:39.699 to use bulls from those studs, especially if 01:27:39.699 --> 01:27:42.779 they rank high, because then you have a resulting 01:27:42.779 --> 01:27:44.619 potential female. I mean, the bulls are going 01:27:44.619 --> 01:27:47.020 to go back to that stud needle. That's no big 01:27:47.020 --> 01:27:50.300 deal. But if there's not a restrictive contract 01:27:50.300 --> 01:27:54.460 on any resulting females, then that leaves it 01:27:54.460 --> 01:27:57.020 open. You could potentially sell that female. 01:27:57.890 --> 01:28:00.789 or a decent amount of money if she tests well. 01:28:01.130 --> 01:28:04.050 Or you can just keep her and continue building 01:28:04.050 --> 01:28:09.270 generations. Yeah, so for us as breeders, as 01:28:09.270 --> 01:28:12.529 long as the dam herself does not have restrictions 01:28:12.529 --> 01:28:16.470 and there's no restrictions on the seam, that's 01:28:16.470 --> 01:28:19.550 what we like if we can make it happen. And unfortunately, 01:28:19.770 --> 01:28:25.270 that window of bulls that are available gets 01:28:25.270 --> 01:28:29.189 tighter and tighter every day. I'd like to address 01:28:29.189 --> 01:28:31.789 that too. I think you really need to understand 01:28:31.789 --> 01:28:35.470 what the contracts are from each one of the studs. 01:28:35.470 --> 01:28:37.670 What are you signing? What is that going to allow 01:28:37.670 --> 01:28:41.210 you and not allow you to do? And the more restrictive 01:28:41.210 --> 01:28:44.350 contracts that are out there tend to be for people 01:28:44.350 --> 01:28:48.350 who want to accelerate the genetics within their 01:28:48.350 --> 01:28:50.390 own herd. They're not traditional marketers. 01:28:50.810 --> 01:28:53.250 They're not really necessarily looking to market. 01:28:53.590 --> 01:28:57.409 They are looking for tremendous level of genetic 01:28:57.409 --> 01:28:59.949 improvement as fast as they can get it for their 01:28:59.949 --> 01:29:03.430 herd. And they tend to be people who are doing 01:29:03.430 --> 01:29:08.050 some type of mating and genomic testing and just 01:29:08.050 --> 01:29:11.569 trying to capitalize and create the most, in 01:29:11.569 --> 01:29:14.090 their mind, profitable cattle for their herd. 01:29:14.369 --> 01:29:18.090 So that's how they view it. If you're going to 01:29:18.090 --> 01:29:20.210 market, that's a different world. You better 01:29:20.210 --> 01:29:22.770 understand what you're signing if you want to 01:29:22.770 --> 01:29:28.590 be a marketer. Sure. Tying into the genomics 01:29:28.590 --> 01:29:31.130 and the index side, if you were talking to a 01:29:31.130 --> 01:29:33.649 young breeder that has a passion for index cattle 01:29:33.649 --> 01:29:36.210 and the way that whole industry has changed, 01:29:36.430 --> 01:29:40.470 how important recipients are and how important 01:29:40.470 --> 01:29:43.470 these contracts are, what advice would you give 01:29:43.470 --> 01:29:50.729 them trying to tap into an index market? I would 01:29:50.729 --> 01:29:52.829 never say there's no hope, right? I mean, there 01:29:52.829 --> 01:29:56.270 is. And we might have four different answers 01:29:56.270 --> 01:30:00.310 here. But I would say for a young person, I think 01:30:00.310 --> 01:30:02.930 the best way, if you really want to, you know, 01:30:02.930 --> 01:30:05.489 it really is shots on goal, right? I mean, if 01:30:05.489 --> 01:30:09.810 I want to win in the high net merit or TPI world, 01:30:09.970 --> 01:30:12.869 I need to throw some darts at the wall. That's 01:30:12.869 --> 01:30:14.989 just the way it is, right? Because even the highest 01:30:14.989 --> 01:30:17.369 animal isn't always going to make the nest highest 01:30:17.369 --> 01:30:20.579 animal. We've seen changes, right? So I think 01:30:20.579 --> 01:30:24.420 economically, I would say embryos are a good 01:30:24.420 --> 01:30:27.199 way in. Buy some embryos. They might be a little 01:30:27.199 --> 01:30:29.260 bit cheaper than going out and buying that $120 01:30:29.260 --> 01:30:33.199 ,000 high net merit effort, right? And the other 01:30:33.199 --> 01:30:36.460 way is maybe an IBS session. Those would be the 01:30:36.460 --> 01:30:38.859 ways I think as a young person you can get in. 01:30:39.500 --> 01:30:41.640 Partnering with somebody who's got a large herd 01:30:41.640 --> 01:30:44.600 and receipts, that's what we do on the type side. 01:30:44.800 --> 01:30:48.470 It's a win -win. Again, I think Jenny mentioned 01:30:48.470 --> 01:30:51.670 communication with partners. Critical. Have it 01:30:51.670 --> 01:30:53.890 written out. This is what I'm expecting. This 01:30:53.890 --> 01:30:56.189 is what you're expecting. Everybody has to win 01:30:56.189 --> 01:30:59.010 for it to be good, but you're right. Recipes 01:30:59.010 --> 01:31:01.789 are expensive, but there may be a nurturer that 01:31:01.789 --> 01:31:04.369 has receipts that would love to do what you want 01:31:04.369 --> 01:31:07.470 to do. You buy an IVF session or some embryos 01:31:07.470 --> 01:31:11.270 and use their uteruses, and you're off and running. 01:31:12.180 --> 01:31:14.460 And just to echo a little bit, but you remember 01:31:14.460 --> 01:31:17.020 Alicia talking about that cow that she pictured 01:31:17.020 --> 01:31:21.840 on Rotary that's 33, 100, mid -33s? That's the 01:31:21.840 --> 01:31:24.380 kind of cow you can get in on an index family. 01:31:24.479 --> 01:31:26.319 It might not be the next generation. It might 01:31:26.319 --> 01:31:31.149 take you two generations, maybe three. But if 01:31:31.149 --> 01:31:33.449 you reiterate to the outsiders and they stay 01:31:33.449 --> 01:31:35.569 hot, then you're off to the races. But you've 01:31:35.569 --> 01:31:37.369 still got to supply the receipts. You've still 01:31:37.369 --> 01:31:39.050 got to get the pregnancies. You've still got 01:31:39.050 --> 01:31:41.289 to have healthy females. You've still got to 01:31:41.289 --> 01:31:43.310 test them. There's a lot that's attached to it. 01:31:43.390 --> 01:31:45.770 It's not like you're going to, I don't think 01:31:45.770 --> 01:31:47.149 you're going to ring the bell of one generation, 01:31:47.409 --> 01:31:51.329 but it's affordable and it's nice index that 01:31:51.329 --> 01:31:53.630 people, from a gal people, obviously respect. 01:31:55.109 --> 01:31:58.319 And yeah, I would say. IPF sessions are becoming 01:31:58.319 --> 01:32:01.100 a little bit easier to work with just because 01:32:01.100 --> 01:32:04.840 you can select the bull that you want to use 01:32:04.840 --> 01:32:08.100 on that dam and you can select a free agent bull 01:32:08.100 --> 01:32:11.199 to use on that dam. And the best way to do that 01:32:11.199 --> 01:32:13.699 would probably be to talk to a genetic consultant 01:32:13.699 --> 01:32:18.189 that you trust. You know, we work closely with 01:32:18.189 --> 01:32:21.130 each of the studs to go through different bowls 01:32:21.130 --> 01:32:24.529 that are available. So any of the stud consultants, 01:32:24.810 --> 01:32:26.909 you could work with them, or just somebody that 01:32:26.909 --> 01:32:30.289 you know that you respect that would be able 01:32:30.289 --> 01:32:32.750 to say, hey, you know, this is a free agent one. 01:32:32.869 --> 01:32:35.729 Go by the IVF session, work with if you're a 01:32:35.729 --> 01:32:38.829 small farm, find that farm to implant, you know, 01:32:38.829 --> 01:32:41.869 input and recess. Make sure they understand if 01:32:41.869 --> 01:32:44.689 they've never done embryo transfer work, what 01:32:44.689 --> 01:32:47.100 is involved. You're not just breeding the cow, 01:32:47.260 --> 01:32:49.079 you know, there's some stuff. So you got to make 01:32:49.079 --> 01:32:51.079 sure that they know the process and understand 01:32:51.079 --> 01:32:53.260 that process. But I would say, yeah, I think 01:32:53.260 --> 01:32:56.340 that's probably the easiest way, quickest way 01:32:56.340 --> 01:33:00.420 to get into a good family and a good cow that 01:33:00.420 --> 01:33:02.859 you can potentially make some money on eventually 01:33:02.859 --> 01:33:08.460 and build internally on your own farm. Anybody 01:33:08.460 --> 01:33:11.979 else? I got another one texted. Willis said, 01:33:12.020 --> 01:33:14.199 you mentioned realistic values to fitting into 01:33:14.199 --> 01:33:17.569 the right kind of sale. Could you all cite a 01:33:17.569 --> 01:33:20.590 moment where you far exceeded that expectation 01:33:20.590 --> 01:33:25.789 and how and why it's been achieved? Well, I can't 01:33:25.789 --> 01:33:29.890 really put one into it. I mean, we've had county 01:33:29.890 --> 01:33:33.189 sales where you have a genomic one back in when 01:33:33.189 --> 01:33:34.989 we could sell genomics for a lot of money and 01:33:34.989 --> 01:33:38.310 they weren't tied down that far exceeded our 01:33:38.310 --> 01:33:45.600 goals. But I guess, well, stop. Nobody expected 01:33:45.600 --> 01:33:48.159 her to bring $1 .9 million in a day, but the 01:33:48.159 --> 01:33:51.420 hardest part about that was trying to say it 01:33:51.420 --> 01:33:54.960 in my chant. But she's the one that most far 01:33:54.960 --> 01:33:58.720 exceeded my expectations, and actually she's 01:33:58.720 --> 01:34:02.000 proven she's going to make it back. So, you guys? 01:34:02.859 --> 01:34:05.859 I don't know that we have anyone that far exceeded 01:34:05.859 --> 01:34:09.420 our expectations. You know, we've had some big 01:34:09.420 --> 01:34:11.539 offers privately on a few cows that we've turned 01:34:11.539 --> 01:34:15.399 down. There's several that, you know, you think 01:34:15.399 --> 01:34:17.220 it's going to bring 5 ,000. It brings 12 ,000, 01:34:17.439 --> 01:34:19.979 15 ,000, 17 ,000. It only takes two people. And 01:34:19.979 --> 01:34:22.420 that's the thing. Exactly. You know, that's the 01:34:22.420 --> 01:34:25.260 exact point. You get guys that go through and 01:34:25.260 --> 01:34:27.920 we'll get heifers in the barn when they're prepped 01:34:27.920 --> 01:34:30.579 for our sale. All you need is those two guys 01:34:30.579 --> 01:34:32.779 that fall in love with that heifer or that young 01:34:32.779 --> 01:34:35.600 cow. And they just go. And we're like, okay. 01:34:36.300 --> 01:34:38.640 All right, you know, we'll take it. On the other 01:34:38.640 --> 01:34:40.760 side, sometimes there's an animal that, like, 01:34:40.800 --> 01:34:43.220 you'll really like, and it breaks half of what 01:34:43.220 --> 01:34:45.619 you think. So, you know, we look at it as a law 01:34:45.619 --> 01:34:49.140 of averages. It all has to average out. But, 01:34:49.199 --> 01:34:51.479 yeah, I can't remember any specific examples. 01:34:52.180 --> 01:34:55.100 Great job. Thank you, Jenny. Got any? Crown? 01:34:56.300 --> 01:34:59.119 No, Crown. I have another one texted in, but 01:34:59.119 --> 01:35:05.039 I'm going to put it in. Question, folks. Joy. 01:35:05.159 --> 01:35:11.399 Hey, Joy. Joy to the world here. Go ahead. So 01:35:11.399 --> 01:35:13.859 this is not necessarily a question about genetics. 01:35:14.220 --> 01:35:17.479 It's a question about how long it took you guys 01:35:17.479 --> 01:35:20.619 to get to where you are today. So I am a partner 01:35:20.619 --> 01:35:23.180 in a family farm. I am the youngest partner. 01:35:23.380 --> 01:35:25.439 I love the genetics, but I have to take it back. 01:35:25.560 --> 01:35:28.159 My niece is a family farmer. She is younger than 01:35:28.159 --> 01:35:31.880 me, but I was the youngest partner. I am in the 01:35:31.880 --> 01:35:33.760 genetics. I love the genetics. I love the show 01:35:33.760 --> 01:35:35.880 cow world and even the virtual genomic world. 01:35:36.399 --> 01:35:39.800 I have my father who, you know, you smell cows. 01:35:40.020 --> 01:35:42.920 That's all you do. Nothing. I have my sister 01:35:42.920 --> 01:35:45.739 who is in finances and enjoys this part of it. 01:35:46.380 --> 01:35:48.840 Supports me but doesn't love it like I do. And 01:35:48.840 --> 01:35:50.260 then I have a brother -in -law who is kind of 01:35:50.260 --> 01:35:52.000 on the next. I have a brother that supported 01:35:52.000 --> 01:35:54.260 me on it who works at a law school a year ago 01:35:54.260 --> 01:35:58.680 this time. Now I don't have his 100 % support. 01:35:58.899 --> 01:36:01.560 One thing he would always do is back -weave on 01:36:01.560 --> 01:36:03.840 every plant I would make. Whether it be 100 % 01:36:03.840 --> 01:36:07.239 or 30 % back -weave. How do I convince the rest 01:36:07.239 --> 01:36:09.039 of my partners, if you're doing the back -weave 01:36:09.039 --> 01:36:12.819 on this, show them that this is a different opportunity 01:36:12.819 --> 01:36:16.659 to help us be profitable at the next level? And 01:36:16.659 --> 01:36:18.699 how long would you guys say it took you until 01:36:18.699 --> 01:36:20.640 you broke into the nation? You're talking about 01:36:20.640 --> 01:36:23.199 having other partners. Every one of your partners. 01:36:23.840 --> 01:36:31.699 100 % love. Yeah, I'm trying to get my question 01:36:31.699 --> 01:36:34.380 heard, but Mark, I'm not sure I'm 100 % sure. 01:36:34.659 --> 01:36:39.140 Yeah, so our story, so Jonathan and I started 01:36:39.140 --> 01:36:43.600 the genetic side. And, you know, luckily, large 01:36:43.600 --> 01:36:47.899 families. So, you know, one partner focuses on 01:36:47.899 --> 01:36:51.760 the crops, the manure. One partner focuses on... 01:36:52.159 --> 01:36:54.359 you know, the commercial cows, if you want to 01:36:54.359 --> 01:36:57.119 call it that. And Jonathan and I do the genetic 01:36:57.119 --> 01:36:59.600 stuff. So, you know, it's kind of a distinct 01:36:59.600 --> 01:37:05.039 in that regard. So it's nice. And, you know, 01:37:05.060 --> 01:37:08.939 we started this back in 1997. We bought our first 01:37:08.939 --> 01:37:14.760 animal. And in 2025, we won a brand expo, which 01:37:14.760 --> 01:37:17.300 was incredible, right? So that's how, what, about 01:37:17.300 --> 01:37:21.989 28 years, something like that, 29 years. You 01:37:21.989 --> 01:37:24.970 know, when you start in this business and the 01:37:24.970 --> 01:37:26.850 show side, you know, that's the ultimate goal, 01:37:26.930 --> 01:37:30.149 I think. I mean, I think if you're showing cows, 01:37:30.310 --> 01:37:32.829 that's the ultimate goal, right? And it took 01:37:32.829 --> 01:37:37.590 us 28 years to get there. So I think, you know, 01:37:37.609 --> 01:37:40.909 as you go through this progression, you got to 01:37:40.909 --> 01:37:43.529 look at it incrementally. Like, you know, the 01:37:43.529 --> 01:37:45.510 first couple of years, we were like third place 01:37:45.510 --> 01:37:49.670 at our county fair. That's awesome. we didn't 01:37:49.670 --> 01:37:52.130 lose you know that you know and then you go to 01:37:52.130 --> 01:37:54.529 the state fair or regional fair and you do all 01:37:54.529 --> 01:37:56.909 that so you really have to look at those things 01:37:56.909 --> 01:38:01.130 incrementally so our first champion at a national 01:38:01.130 --> 01:38:05.369 show was 2018. nathan was the judge there and 01:38:05.369 --> 01:38:08.409 um i'll forever love him because he made my carol 01:38:08.409 --> 01:38:11.750 sarah graham there and you know so that took 01:38:11.750 --> 01:38:14.930 us 20 something years to get to that point and 01:38:14.930 --> 01:38:18.960 then another almost 10 years So you really have 01:38:18.960 --> 01:38:21.560 to look at those things incrementally. And I 01:38:21.560 --> 01:38:24.720 think set expectations for where you want to 01:38:24.720 --> 01:38:27.220 be. And I think those are the discussions that 01:38:27.220 --> 01:38:29.960 you have to have with your partners is that, 01:38:30.000 --> 01:38:33.199 no, we're not welcome. Yeah, you can go out and, 01:38:33.239 --> 01:38:34.659 you know what, you want to buy a candy cane? 01:38:34.819 --> 01:38:36.720 Okay, I'll sell it. Let me tell you how much 01:38:36.720 --> 01:38:39.739 it's going to cost, though. And that's really 01:38:39.739 --> 01:38:42.380 how you have to look at it. Yeah, you can go 01:38:42.380 --> 01:38:44.899 in tomorrow if you want. It's going to cost a 01:38:44.899 --> 01:38:47.819 fortune to get there. So if you look at those 01:38:47.819 --> 01:38:50.659 steps, you know, baby steps, and doing it in 01:38:50.659 --> 01:38:53.100 an economically responsible manner, just, you 01:38:53.100 --> 01:38:55.340 know, set goals over the years to accomplish 01:38:55.340 --> 01:38:59.779 that. And it's about branding. In your case, 01:39:00.000 --> 01:39:05.420 you've got a great calf lady, and you've got 01:39:05.420 --> 01:39:10.079 to involve brand name. Because every, and I know 01:39:10.079 --> 01:39:11.899 what you're looking for. I know exactly what 01:39:11.899 --> 01:39:13.840 you're looking for. But you've got to. I want 01:39:13.840 --> 01:39:33.699 to enter both goals. I want to someday. It ain't 01:39:33.699 --> 01:39:35.399 going to happen overnight. You know that. You 01:39:35.399 --> 01:39:44.479 have to convince them. And so that they know 01:39:44.479 --> 01:39:49.939 it's just not trying to support a dream. So we're 01:39:49.939 --> 01:39:53.279 small, obviously. But everybody on our farm, 01:39:53.439 --> 01:39:56.760 to say that they love to show cows is probably 01:39:56.760 --> 01:40:00.020 not, that would be a lie. I mean, everybody's 01:40:00.020 --> 01:40:01.619 kind of got their thing that they're really good 01:40:01.619 --> 01:40:04.140 at. And everybody has a job. And that's small 01:40:04.140 --> 01:40:07.319 scale versus your scale. But on the same token, 01:40:07.420 --> 01:40:10.039 I think you have to show the value of what you're 01:40:10.039 --> 01:40:13.520 doing. And that's merchandising. ever been to 01:40:13.520 --> 01:40:15.500 your place you got a great great herd cows great 01:40:15.500 --> 01:40:19.960 people just continue to you know market and merchandise 01:40:19.960 --> 01:40:22.520 and show the income from those investments make 01:40:22.520 --> 01:40:24.479 some investments that's the other part that we 01:40:24.479 --> 01:40:26.439 don't maybe talk about we talk about selling 01:40:26.439 --> 01:40:30.800 but buying into a good cow family and merchandising 01:40:30.800 --> 01:40:33.060 them down the road i think that's where and you 01:40:33.060 --> 01:40:36.800 keep the receipts so the investment on what your 01:40:36.800 --> 01:40:39.000 return is on your investment and it's going to 01:40:39.000 --> 01:40:40.399 take it's not going to happen overnight like 01:40:40.399 --> 01:40:43.039 chris said but it's just slowly showing whether 01:40:43.039 --> 01:40:45.600 it's selling embryos selling heifers out of that 01:40:45.600 --> 01:40:48.220 there's always cost on the investment though 01:40:48.220 --> 01:40:50.939 too if anybody's ever said that they've won on 01:40:50.939 --> 01:40:55.039 everything only on one animal because it don't 01:40:55.039 --> 01:40:57.739 work that way if you're 60 40 you're in a positive 01:40:57.739 --> 01:41:08.680 very much i do have a question for alicia um 01:41:08.680 --> 01:41:12.340 a little different uh more on your cheese business 01:41:12.340 --> 01:41:16.979 what was the decision to go into cheese first 01:41:16.979 --> 01:41:19.100 than any other dairy product and specifically 01:41:19.100 --> 01:41:24.460 obviously Yeah, that was an interesting discussion. 01:41:24.720 --> 01:41:26.840 So, you know, John and I had talked for years 01:41:26.840 --> 01:41:29.220 about ways to diversify on the farm. And, you 01:41:29.220 --> 01:41:32.000 know, we see neighbors making, you know, different 01:41:32.000 --> 01:41:36.220 products, milk, yogurt, whatever. And you also 01:41:36.220 --> 01:41:39.779 hear in anybody that's processing milk here in 01:41:39.779 --> 01:41:42.199 this room probably knows milk has an expiration 01:41:42.199 --> 01:41:46.640 date, right? So we did not want to get into milk. 01:41:47.850 --> 01:41:50.109 full of milk because of the expiration day. So 01:41:50.109 --> 01:41:52.029 what we do, we went into fresh cheese, which 01:41:52.029 --> 01:41:57.109 has an expiration date. But the reality is that 01:41:57.109 --> 01:41:59.130 we wanted to do something unique and different. 01:41:59.210 --> 01:42:01.750 In New York, there's probably 500 different kinds 01:42:01.750 --> 01:42:04.550 of cheddar cheeses that are made artisanally 01:42:04.550 --> 01:42:07.949 and on farm. Maybe not 500, but there's a lot. 01:42:08.399 --> 01:42:10.659 And there's a lot of yogurts that are made on 01:42:10.659 --> 01:42:12.979 the farm. So we wanted to do something that was 01:42:12.979 --> 01:42:16.100 very unique and very specific. And, you know, 01:42:16.100 --> 01:42:18.960 in our research, you know, we had Molly went 01:42:18.960 --> 01:42:21.380 out to grocery stores and said, what are people 01:42:21.380 --> 01:42:25.239 asking for? Like, what is something, you know, 01:42:25.260 --> 01:42:27.640 and a cheese or whatever? What is a dairy product 01:42:27.640 --> 01:42:30.560 that is difficult to get that people are asking 01:42:30.560 --> 01:42:33.560 for? And Mexican cheese came up multiple times. 01:42:33.659 --> 01:42:37.449 So as we investigated that. And they really looked 01:42:37.449 --> 01:42:42.689 into how many cheese processors in the U .S. 01:42:42.689 --> 01:42:45.170 and in New York make Mexican -style cheeses. 01:42:45.229 --> 01:42:47.770 There's three in New York. I think one shut down. 01:42:47.989 --> 01:42:52.189 They're both in the city. And the Hispanic population 01:42:52.189 --> 01:42:57.069 in New York State is like 20%. And in rural farming 01:42:57.069 --> 01:43:00.909 areas, that population is even higher. And so 01:43:00.909 --> 01:43:03.890 large farms, 60 % of our workforce is Hispanic. 01:43:04.960 --> 01:43:07.619 where do you guys get your food from yeah it's 01:43:07.619 --> 01:43:10.140 it's gross and you know some comes from texas 01:43:10.140 --> 01:43:12.739 some comes from wisconsin it's gross it's you 01:43:12.739 --> 01:43:15.699 know it's not authentic so little did we know 01:43:15.699 --> 01:43:19.399 we had a built -in like a group of people that 01:43:19.399 --> 01:43:22.500 could help us design a product that they liked 01:43:22.500 --> 01:43:26.899 that was as unique and as representative of their 01:43:26.899 --> 01:43:30.520 culture as we could help make it, you know, from 01:43:30.520 --> 01:43:34.039 our cows in New York State. So a long answer 01:43:34.039 --> 01:43:36.359 to your question, I apologize, but that's kind 01:43:36.359 --> 01:43:39.779 of the story of how we got into the Mexican style 01:43:39.779 --> 01:43:43.020 cheeses. And yeah, all three are fresh right 01:43:43.020 --> 01:43:45.800 now, but we're looking at, Molly's working on 01:43:45.800 --> 01:43:49.560 an aged cheese right now. So we'll get there 01:43:49.560 --> 01:43:51.840 eventually and not have to have an expiration 01:43:51.840 --> 01:43:57.369 date within like four or five weeks. Questions? 01:43:58.930 --> 01:44:03.029 Go ahead. In reference to your cheese, are you 01:44:03.029 --> 01:44:06.850 using the build from your show herd or from your 01:44:06.850 --> 01:44:09.489 commercial herd for that? Yeah, so that's a good 01:44:09.489 --> 01:44:11.630 question too. And initially we wanted to do it 01:44:11.630 --> 01:44:13.909 from the show cow. So the way our show herd is, 01:44:13.970 --> 01:44:17.550 we have 28 and like a little, I think it's a 01:44:17.550 --> 01:44:20.449 3 ,000 pound tank or 3 ,000 pound tank. Anyhow, 01:44:20.470 --> 01:44:23.390 it's a tiny little tank in there. And so we really 01:44:23.390 --> 01:44:26.300 wanted to. process the mill from the show cows 01:44:26.300 --> 01:44:30.399 however because of show seasons the the variability 01:44:30.399 --> 01:44:33.859 across seasons was going to be way too extreme 01:44:33.859 --> 01:44:36.579 so we actually pull it from the commercial herd 01:44:36.579 --> 01:44:42.060 and process it right there's a small little area 01:44:42.060 --> 01:44:44.859 right in the parlor building that we're processing 01:44:44.859 --> 01:44:51.539 it right from the commercial herd any other questions 01:44:51.539 --> 01:44:56.159 dwight is that for me or somebody else All right, 01:44:56.199 --> 01:45:01.720 Jenny. We'll ask all four of them. Jenny, this 01:45:01.720 --> 01:45:04.739 is from Dwight. Everybody knows Dwight. That's 01:45:04.739 --> 01:45:06.699 a great question. Who was your greatest mentor? 01:45:06.760 --> 01:45:09.060 What was the most valuable wisdom they imparted 01:45:09.060 --> 01:45:16.100 to you? Very good question. There's been a lot 01:45:16.100 --> 01:45:19.359 of them. I don't know if I can narrow it down 01:45:19.359 --> 01:45:24.199 to one. i grew up on my family farm northeast 01:45:24.199 --> 01:45:29.760 ohio um my family is there still milk house obviously 01:45:29.760 --> 01:45:34.279 uh that's where i got my start um met nathan 01:45:34.279 --> 01:45:38.479 out of ohio state fair he broke up with me once 01:45:38.479 --> 01:45:41.079 and somehow we ended up back together but if 01:45:41.079 --> 01:45:43.180 i tease him about that often that's your goal 01:45:43.180 --> 01:45:49.510 yeah but uh you know honestly You know, mentors 01:45:49.510 --> 01:45:51.529 are always people you look up to, and there's 01:45:51.529 --> 01:45:52.869 been a lot of people that have helped us out 01:45:52.869 --> 01:45:55.590 along the way, some with us still and some that 01:45:55.590 --> 01:45:58.750 aren't. You know, Michael Heath was a great friend 01:45:58.750 --> 01:46:02.090 to both Nathan and I and our whole family, and 01:46:02.090 --> 01:46:05.489 we lost him. We had a lot of firsts, I would 01:46:05.489 --> 01:46:08.350 say, together in the show world, on the sales 01:46:08.350 --> 01:46:11.550 side. We always joked that, you know, a lot of 01:46:11.550 --> 01:46:14.039 firsts, he was there, you know. the day after 01:46:14.039 --> 01:46:16.039 our wedding, you know, on our couch. He was there, 01:46:16.100 --> 01:46:17.460 you know, there was just a lot of things along 01:46:17.460 --> 01:46:20.199 the way, but he was probably a big mentor for 01:46:20.199 --> 01:46:23.920 us and helped us along the way with our sale 01:46:23.920 --> 01:46:26.180 business, but also with the show cattle and helping 01:46:26.180 --> 01:46:28.479 us kind of keep moving in the right direction. 01:46:30.079 --> 01:46:33.979 Personally, I'd say Nathan, he's my best friend, 01:46:34.140 --> 01:46:36.600 but, you know, we see a lot of things the same, 01:46:36.760 --> 01:46:39.699 but he's helped me, I guess, along the way of 01:46:39.699 --> 01:46:44.039 having a little more confidence in my opinions 01:46:44.039 --> 01:46:47.779 and being able to voice those opinions and giving 01:46:47.779 --> 01:46:50.920 me, I guess, the act beyond whether it's, you 01:46:50.920 --> 01:46:53.539 know, judging or whether it's, you know, the 01:46:53.539 --> 01:46:56.460 photography side or whether it's marketing, sometimes 01:46:56.460 --> 01:46:58.500 it tells me things I don't want to hear and I 01:46:58.500 --> 01:47:00.579 got to be open to that and be able to take it. 01:47:00.640 --> 01:47:03.060 And after the first couple of four letter words, 01:47:03.199 --> 01:47:05.220 you know, then, you know, accept it, move on 01:47:05.220 --> 01:47:10.100 and be better for it. But I think that's. been 01:47:10.100 --> 01:47:12.560 a good thing as far as our partnership as husband 01:47:12.560 --> 01:47:14.300 and wife but also business partners just can 01:47:14.300 --> 01:47:16.479 be tricky sometimes but has pushed us to be better 01:47:16.479 --> 01:47:22.560 so where are we going wow we're gonna go down 01:47:22.560 --> 01:47:25.779 the line uh so definitely my parents uh you know 01:47:25.779 --> 01:47:30.819 they've been immersed in this world for forever 01:47:30.819 --> 01:47:34.119 uh you know they met at a show a thousand years 01:47:34.119 --> 01:47:37.500 ago approximately so so you know there were some 01:47:37.500 --> 01:47:40.260 things that were sort of laid out like that but 01:47:40.260 --> 01:47:42.720 uh we've been really fortunate my husband and 01:47:42.720 --> 01:47:49.920 i and my parents were very open to be clear about 01:47:49.920 --> 01:47:51.640 the things that they were really passionate about 01:47:51.640 --> 01:47:54.180 on the cow side cow family side those kind of 01:47:54.180 --> 01:47:56.039 things but at the same time being really open 01:47:56.039 --> 01:47:59.399 to we want a little more cows okay that sounds 01:47:59.399 --> 01:48:00.960 great it would be lovely if we could all buy 01:48:00.960 --> 01:48:04.000 groceries every week and and you know not have 01:48:04.000 --> 01:48:06.800 to pick a week of the month that So they were 01:48:06.800 --> 01:48:11.239 pretty open to doing things differently. And 01:48:11.239 --> 01:48:13.479 that's not just on the day -to -day farm activities. 01:48:13.659 --> 01:48:15.840 I think that extends to what are we doing with 01:48:15.840 --> 01:48:19.340 breeding cows and what are we doing with merchandising 01:48:19.340 --> 01:48:22.159 as well. So that's been really important to us 01:48:22.159 --> 01:48:26.579 to have their, I was going to say guidance, but 01:48:26.579 --> 01:48:30.760 feedback. And somebody commented about lively 01:48:30.760 --> 01:48:34.260 conversations. Those definitely happen as well 01:48:34.260 --> 01:48:39.470 and are pretty helpful. So Jonathan has been 01:48:39.470 --> 01:48:42.649 very fortunate with his business partner from 01:48:42.649 --> 01:48:46.510 the farm. His dad is retired now. And there's 01:48:46.510 --> 01:48:49.510 a non -family business partner that manages the 01:48:49.510 --> 01:48:53.390 crops and the manure. And, you know, you think 01:48:53.390 --> 01:48:57.069 about a couple of 20 -something kids back 30 01:48:57.069 --> 01:49:00.630 years ago, you know, living on a shoestring and 01:49:00.630 --> 01:49:03.210 living a dream or having a dream in your head. 01:49:04.330 --> 01:49:07.949 And they kind of said, okay, you know, go for 01:49:07.949 --> 01:49:13.390 it. And that's pretty incredible that, you know, 01:49:13.390 --> 01:49:16.210 people that have a larger business, it was a 01:49:16.210 --> 01:49:19.270 large farm at the time, still have the trust 01:49:19.270 --> 01:49:22.130 and, yeah, like I said, a couple 20 -somethings 01:49:22.130 --> 01:49:24.369 to be able to do that. So they've been incredible 01:49:24.369 --> 01:49:27.130 mentors, especially Jonathan's dad has been so 01:49:27.130 --> 01:49:33.159 supportive. You know, he's got Parkinson's. He'll 01:49:33.159 --> 01:49:34.760 still, when you read something, when sheep's 01:49:34.760 --> 01:49:38.359 ear came out, you know, he's like, oh, that's 01:49:38.359 --> 01:49:40.359 so cool. You know, like as a person, you know, 01:49:40.359 --> 01:49:42.399 we had a number one bullet, you know, and just 01:49:42.399 --> 01:49:46.720 so supportive of the accomplishments that we've 01:49:46.720 --> 01:49:49.380 had in this business for, you know, the past 01:49:49.380 --> 01:49:51.880 20 something, almost 30 years. So that's, you 01:49:51.880 --> 01:49:55.119 know, incredible mentorship for us. From the 01:49:55.119 --> 01:49:59.699 marketing side, two of the best friends, two 01:49:59.699 --> 01:50:02.840 of the best people, I should say, three. um that 01:50:02.840 --> 01:50:05.800 we've ever had were dave and mary rama and horace 01:50:05.800 --> 01:50:09.619 bacchus um we started our sale series back when 01:50:09.619 --> 01:50:12.460 we had like nothing you know and they came in 01:50:12.460 --> 01:50:15.399 and you know rubbed you up and built you up and 01:50:15.399 --> 01:50:17.060 you got the greatest thing you know you average 01:50:17.060 --> 01:50:19.739 2500 bucks on the sale i was like all right we 01:50:19.739 --> 01:50:24.460 did good you know um and then horses uh he always 01:50:24.460 --> 01:50:26.560 would say buy the best and breed them better 01:50:26.560 --> 01:50:29.060 and that's something that we really took to heart 01:50:29.060 --> 01:50:32.689 and that we really worked with and And those 01:50:32.689 --> 01:50:36.550 guys, from the marketing standpoint, just, you 01:50:36.550 --> 01:50:39.329 know, you can't replace people like that. And 01:50:39.329 --> 01:50:42.010 we were so fortunate that they were supportive 01:50:42.010 --> 01:50:44.869 of us in our early days and still to this day 01:50:44.869 --> 01:50:48.649 they're on us. Yeah, that's a great question 01:50:48.649 --> 01:50:51.250 to think about. I had a little time, so I was 01:50:51.250 --> 01:50:54.369 glad I was more than on this one. But, yeah, 01:50:54.470 --> 01:50:56.689 I would say for me, for sure, my dad, he certainly, 01:50:56.869 --> 01:50:59.770 you know, he was a German immigrant. And he worked 01:50:59.770 --> 01:51:02.289 hard, and he sure taught us to work hard. You 01:51:02.289 --> 01:51:04.170 know, we used to pick on him all the time about, 01:51:04.329 --> 01:51:07.609 you know, we'd have to go pitch frozen corn stalks 01:51:07.609 --> 01:51:11.329 to bed heifers, and there'd be a five -tine fork 01:51:11.329 --> 01:51:13.949 with only two tines on it. But that's what he 01:51:13.949 --> 01:51:19.989 believed in, and I never regret that for a minute. 01:51:20.680 --> 01:51:24.300 I also had a professor friend at Cornell, Dr. 01:51:24.439 --> 01:51:27.939 Galton, with huge influence on me as a young 01:51:27.939 --> 01:51:34.239 person to dream big, plan well, and the sky's 01:51:34.239 --> 01:51:36.500 the limit. And I don't know that I would have 01:51:36.500 --> 01:51:38.479 done some of the things that I did without his 01:51:38.479 --> 01:51:41.720 influence, so really appreciate that. And then 01:51:41.720 --> 01:51:45.960 as we got into the show world more, my boys and 01:51:45.960 --> 01:51:50.060 I do it as a team with my voice. Bussing most 01:51:50.060 --> 01:51:54.640 of the time. But we really do. And when there's 01:51:54.640 --> 01:51:57.279 disagreement, it's always going to be two boys 01:51:57.279 --> 01:52:00.060 against one dad. That's usually how it goes. 01:52:00.460 --> 01:52:03.920 But good, wrong, great. We talk about it every 01:52:03.920 --> 01:52:05.800 day. We live it every day. And I'm sure they 01:52:05.800 --> 01:52:08.920 would tell you that, you know, Jim Olsen and 01:52:08.920 --> 01:52:12.140 John Foster's at Milk Source have had a tremendous 01:52:12.140 --> 01:52:15.960 influence on them and the business side and what 01:52:15.960 --> 01:52:18.460 they do in the show and merchandising world as 01:52:18.460 --> 01:52:22.520 well. Thanks, Beaton. And for me, it's obviously 01:52:22.520 --> 01:52:24.739 your mother and your father are your number one 01:52:24.739 --> 01:52:28.460 mentors. And I certainly echo that. I lost my 01:52:28.460 --> 01:52:30.800 dad at a very young age. I was 23 years old. 01:52:30.859 --> 01:52:33.560 I lost my dad to cancer. Some of you knew him. 01:52:33.600 --> 01:52:35.880 Some of you didn't. But he was an estate auctioneer. 01:52:35.880 --> 01:52:38.880 And he's what handed off the love of auctioneering 01:52:38.880 --> 01:52:42.840 to me. And my mother, she raised a wild child 01:52:42.840 --> 01:52:45.439 for a while. And he got in control of that most 01:52:45.439 --> 01:52:48.899 of the way. Definitely my parents. I was brought 01:52:48.899 --> 01:52:51.579 up doing the right thing. They taught me to do 01:52:51.579 --> 01:52:53.659 the right thing. They taught me to treat everybody 01:52:53.659 --> 01:52:56.760 as you treat yourself. I also say that about 01:52:56.760 --> 01:52:58.779 my uncle. When my dad died, my uncle Norman kind 01:52:58.779 --> 01:53:01.039 of took over keeping me in line, and I worked 01:53:01.039 --> 01:53:03.699 with him on a lot of sales. But nobody more important 01:53:03.699 --> 01:53:06.720 than my wife, Jen, and her parents, and her cousin, 01:53:06.819 --> 01:53:09.739 Chad. Boy, I was so fortunate to marry into that 01:53:09.739 --> 01:53:13.899 family. And they've just done me great. And I 01:53:13.899 --> 01:53:15.760 love what we've got going now. We've got to have 01:53:15.760 --> 01:53:18.819 a small partnership and some cattle and show 01:53:18.819 --> 01:53:22.840 cattle. Not family members. Probably one of the 01:53:22.840 --> 01:53:25.560 guys that gave me my most chance was Richard 01:53:25.560 --> 01:53:28.020 Green, the guy that single -handedly made the 01:53:28.020 --> 01:53:31.560 red breed what it is today. Richard was one hell 01:53:31.560 --> 01:53:33.699 of a guy. If you happen to know him, he loved 01:53:33.699 --> 01:53:35.779 red cattle. And if there was a good red cow, 01:53:35.819 --> 01:53:38.220 he was going to buy it. for whatever it cost. 01:53:38.340 --> 01:53:41.939 He gave me my chance at managing sales. I managed 01:53:41.939 --> 01:53:45.319 Greenlee there for a little while, and the other 01:53:45.319 --> 01:53:47.920 one is Curtis and Ann Day. They gave me the opportunity 01:53:47.920 --> 01:53:50.619 to manage their dispersal when they quit milking 01:53:50.619 --> 01:53:53.140 cows, and that's when Dean and Ashland were hot. 01:53:53.220 --> 01:53:55.659 It was a very, very successful sale when they 01:53:55.659 --> 01:53:57.920 lived in Shippensburg, and I certainly appreciate 01:53:57.920 --> 01:54:00.520 them for giving me that opportunity, but I could 01:54:00.520 --> 01:54:02.680 go on and on and on about the people that have 01:54:02.680 --> 01:54:05.000 done me well, and I certainly appreciate it. 01:54:06.880 --> 01:54:09.380 More questions for the crowd, but more particularly, 01:54:09.380 --> 01:54:11.859 I'm thrilled that there's a lot of youth in here. 01:54:11.979 --> 01:54:15.600 Are there any juniors that have a question? Don't 01:54:15.600 --> 01:54:20.220 be shy. I don't even see any arms up. Anyone? 01:54:22.140 --> 01:54:26.119 Okay. I do have one that somebody texted in, 01:54:26.199 --> 01:54:28.739 and we can go a little past three if we need 01:54:28.739 --> 01:54:33.699 to. I already know the answer, but I'm going 01:54:33.699 --> 01:54:36.520 to ask it for everybody to answer. If someone 01:54:36.520 --> 01:54:39.760 loves cattle but does not show or have receipts 01:54:39.760 --> 01:54:42.960 to market index animals, how can they invest 01:54:42.960 --> 01:54:47.880 in the business? Yeah, I think we talked about 01:54:47.880 --> 01:54:49.680 that a little bit. You know, there's lots of 01:54:49.680 --> 01:54:52.659 ways to get into the business. Partnerships are 01:54:52.659 --> 01:54:56.340 a great way. That's allowed us to do things that... 01:54:56.680 --> 01:54:59.479 would be absolutely impossible without those 01:54:59.479 --> 01:55:01.880 partnerships. We could never be involved in some 01:55:01.880 --> 01:55:04.579 of the cattle that we've been involved in without 01:55:04.579 --> 01:55:08.500 having great partners. So that takes more work, 01:55:08.619 --> 01:55:12.659 and it takes a lot of effort. Communication is 01:55:12.659 --> 01:55:16.260 paramount. Having similar goals and direction 01:55:16.260 --> 01:55:20.439 is really important in that. but um two people 01:55:20.439 --> 01:55:23.119 can get more done than one so i think that's 01:55:23.119 --> 01:55:25.819 a great way and then specifically with embryos 01:55:25.819 --> 01:55:28.960 or ivf sessions allows you to get into cattle 01:55:28.960 --> 01:55:31.399 that maybe you couldn't afford otherwise but 01:55:31.399 --> 01:55:35.100 partnerships are fantastic if you're good at 01:55:35.100 --> 01:55:39.840 communication yeah i don't quite know how to 01:55:39.840 --> 01:55:41.819 answer this i think you could look at it and 01:55:41.819 --> 01:55:46.750 go a few different ways so if If, yeah, you don't 01:55:46.750 --> 01:55:49.510 have the financial means to buy a big one, try 01:55:49.510 --> 01:55:51.489 to partner up with somebody like Pete said. I 01:55:51.489 --> 01:55:54.890 think that's one way to do it. The other thing 01:55:54.890 --> 01:55:58.550 is, you know, you don't always have to like be 01:55:58.550 --> 01:56:00.970 on the farm. There's other ways to be involved 01:56:00.970 --> 01:56:03.670 in this industry than working on a farm. You 01:56:03.670 --> 01:56:06.130 know, I'm looking, I got Miss Jean out of the 01:56:06.130 --> 01:56:09.409 corner of my eye here, who I saw come in crutches 01:56:09.409 --> 01:56:11.829 and I'm going to ask you what's going on. But, 01:56:11.829 --> 01:56:16.220 you know. You can invest in this industry in 01:56:16.220 --> 01:56:18.659 so many ways. You know, Jean works for Dane, 01:56:18.739 --> 01:56:22.039 and it's, you know, an amazing thing that she's 01:56:22.039 --> 01:56:25.460 doing, promoting, you know, the products that 01:56:25.460 --> 01:56:28.520 we make every day. And that's, you know, maybe 01:56:28.520 --> 01:56:30.220 not a financial investment in animal, though 01:56:30.220 --> 01:56:33.500 she has done that as well. But, you know, there's 01:56:33.500 --> 01:56:36.159 different ways to do that. If you want to, you 01:56:36.159 --> 01:56:39.659 know, yeah, go work on a farm, we have robots. 01:56:40.590 --> 01:56:43.810 you know, working with a robotic company to just, 01:56:43.909 --> 01:56:46.170 you know, learn the different aspects of working 01:56:46.170 --> 01:56:47.970 in this industry. There's so many different ways 01:56:47.970 --> 01:56:51.590 to be involved, ways I definitely did not know 01:56:51.590 --> 01:56:53.770 about when I was a young person, and I wish I 01:56:53.770 --> 01:56:57.210 did. Not that I regret any decisions or the direction 01:56:57.210 --> 01:56:59.250 that my life was taken, but I just, you know, 01:56:59.250 --> 01:57:03.109 there's so many opportunities out there for people 01:57:03.109 --> 01:57:05.409 to be involved in this industry, and there's 01:57:05.409 --> 01:57:11.939 different ways to invest in this industry. Yeah, 01:57:11.960 --> 01:57:14.939 be creative. I mean, just think of the raccoon. 01:57:14.939 --> 01:57:18.460 It's trash can, not trash can. But I think, you 01:57:18.460 --> 01:57:23.000 know, whether it's Mark, that was Scott. It's 01:57:23.000 --> 01:57:24.220 one of those, like, there's a little thought 01:57:24.220 --> 01:57:25.720 bubble that seems we're going to have to talk 01:57:25.720 --> 01:57:29.880 about it. It's all right. But be creative. I 01:57:29.880 --> 01:57:31.720 mean, I think if we think about the opportunities 01:57:31.720 --> 01:57:34.340 for young people and thinking of the two mirrors 01:57:34.340 --> 01:57:38.239 and more of the population is young people, and 01:57:38.239 --> 01:57:40.579 I think of my age now, and that's really disconcerting. 01:57:41.370 --> 01:57:44.029 Your career path and your involvement in the 01:57:44.029 --> 01:57:45.930 dairy industry is going to look different than 01:57:45.930 --> 01:57:48.970 ours did. The opportunities are different. I 01:57:48.970 --> 01:57:51.130 mean, it's not, I'd like to be a herds person 01:57:51.130 --> 01:57:53.609 on a farm, or I'm not going to be on the farm, 01:57:53.689 --> 01:57:56.350 or I'd like to be on the show site, I'd like 01:57:56.350 --> 01:57:58.069 to be a fitter, or I'm not going to be involved. 01:57:58.569 --> 01:58:00.489 I mean, there are a lot of in -betweens, whether 01:58:00.489 --> 01:58:03.390 it's partners, but communicating. communicate 01:58:03.390 --> 01:58:06.170 on that. And maybe it's some weird opportunity 01:58:06.170 --> 01:58:08.170 that you feel like just falls into your lap. 01:58:08.329 --> 01:58:10.510 That goes back to the communication and that 01:58:10.510 --> 01:58:12.210 goes back to the connections, like the people 01:58:12.210 --> 01:58:13.689 that are sitting in this room and the people 01:58:13.689 --> 01:58:16.010 that, you know, maybe you follow on social media 01:58:16.010 --> 01:58:17.789 or maybe there's some weird connection that you 01:58:17.789 --> 01:58:19.890 didn't even realize that you were two people 01:58:19.890 --> 01:58:22.970 removed from somebody else and take advantage 01:58:22.970 --> 01:58:26.649 of those connections and be willing to take a 01:58:26.649 --> 01:58:28.289 little bit of risk. I mean, calculate a risk, 01:58:28.409 --> 01:58:30.250 obviously, be aware of what you're getting into, 01:58:30.350 --> 01:58:35.529 but take a little risk. I'll try to pick up the 01:58:35.529 --> 01:58:37.369 crumbs from everything everybody else said here, 01:58:37.470 --> 01:58:41.050 but all good points. I think from the marketing 01:58:41.050 --> 01:58:42.810 standpoint or from the sale management standpoint, 01:58:43.050 --> 01:58:46.630 there is a buy in every sale, no matter how good 01:58:46.630 --> 01:58:49.050 the sale is. We talked about, you know, cattle 01:58:49.050 --> 01:58:51.710 that exceeded your expectations, but there's 01:58:51.710 --> 01:58:53.949 some that don't meet the expectations of what 01:58:53.949 --> 01:58:57.970 you think. We've all done it. There's sold animals 01:58:57.970 --> 01:59:00.210 that we thought we sold maybe under value. There 01:59:00.210 --> 01:59:03.630 are multiple buys in every sale. Kind of talk 01:59:03.630 --> 01:59:06.430 to somebody you trust, pay attention, attend 01:59:06.430 --> 01:59:09.390 those sales and pedigrees, great pedigrees are 01:59:09.390 --> 01:59:13.250 out there. On another note, I mean, we've had 01:59:13.250 --> 01:59:16.470 a lot of interns come to our farm and work for 01:59:16.470 --> 01:59:19.409 us and help us over the years. And some have 01:59:19.409 --> 01:59:23.050 opted to be paid in embryos. That's one way to 01:59:23.050 --> 01:59:26.649 get into families and, you know, do some work. 01:59:27.579 --> 01:59:31.260 Get embryos for payment to also make your herd 01:59:31.260 --> 01:59:34.600 and create your own herd. Thank you very much, 01:59:34.699 --> 01:59:38.960 Jenny. Should be winding this up if there's any 01:59:38.960 --> 01:59:43.260 more. I got one over the text line just now that 01:59:43.260 --> 01:59:49.119 said, ask the group what animal, they've all 01:59:49.119 --> 01:59:51.520 sold animals for a lot of money in public sales. 01:59:51.779 --> 01:59:54.039 Which one of your animals that you sold in a 01:59:54.039 --> 01:59:57.840 public sale blew you away the most? With the 01:59:57.840 --> 02:00:06.579 brown slip -on. It was a jersey. Mac and cheese. 02:00:07.340 --> 02:00:10.560 She exceeded our expectations. We knew she was 02:00:10.560 --> 02:00:13.619 special, but like you said, it takes a couple 02:00:13.619 --> 02:00:16.380 people that get excited about one, and that was 02:00:16.380 --> 02:00:20.210 one that... they kind of went at war, and it 02:00:20.210 --> 02:00:22.550 was fun to watch, and I don't know if I'll ever 02:00:22.550 --> 02:00:25.069 get to see it again. We loved being the generals. 02:00:25.270 --> 02:00:27.869 Yeah, I mean, I sat there, and I think I was 02:00:27.869 --> 02:00:30.090 lurking and shaking at the same time, and that 02:00:30.090 --> 02:00:33.329 was one of our first sales that we had. First 02:00:33.329 --> 02:00:35.609 year, I think we did jerseys, and it was pretty 02:00:35.609 --> 02:00:44.939 crazy. Yeah, I don't know if there's one special. 02:00:45.039 --> 02:00:47.880 Certainly not in the type side. We kind of knew 02:00:47.880 --> 02:00:50.779 where they would land. When we did have our sale, 02:00:51.100 --> 02:00:55.939 we had consignments. When we had a state picnic 02:00:55.939 --> 02:01:00.140 sale, we did our own thing with that. And genomics 02:01:00.140 --> 02:01:02.340 were really hot, and we were playing in that 02:01:02.340 --> 02:01:05.479 arena. We had an animal that was over 20 ,000, 02:01:05.479 --> 02:01:08.600 and she brought 100. So that was a wild day, 02:01:08.699 --> 02:01:12.180 and you just never know, right? But we just didn't 02:01:12.180 --> 02:01:14.729 expect it. Yeah, there's so many good stories 02:01:14.729 --> 02:01:18.350 about public sales. I mean, it's good when you 02:01:18.350 --> 02:01:20.329 undershoot them, but sometimes when you overshoot 02:01:20.329 --> 02:01:22.210 them, that brings you back down to reality, and 02:01:22.210 --> 02:01:24.069 that does happen too. But that's something we 02:01:24.069 --> 02:01:26.090 have to accept, and that goes back to what all 02:01:26.090 --> 02:01:29.149 these people said. Don't be afraid. If I had 02:01:29.149 --> 02:01:30.829 to look back on my life when I'm getting way 02:01:30.829 --> 02:01:34.090 old, I would have taken more risk because you 02:01:34.090 --> 02:01:37.409 can't look at it in the bank. I mean, if you 02:01:37.409 --> 02:01:39.170 take a little bit of risk, see what happens, 02:01:39.310 --> 02:01:42.310 but you also have to remember you're dealing 02:01:42.310 --> 02:01:48.479 with, a perishable product. Yeah, I do have one 02:01:48.479 --> 02:01:50.920 more. I brought up the Genomic Set. I forgot 02:01:50.920 --> 02:01:53.979 about it. We sold an IVF session from a sheepster. 02:01:54.579 --> 02:02:00.119 It's at 2024 at World Classic and expected. We'll 02:02:00.119 --> 02:02:01.739 just say she brought 10 times more than we thought 02:02:01.739 --> 02:02:03.960 we'd get from her, which was we were sitting 02:02:03.960 --> 02:02:06.819 at dinner and John was like, okay, let's get 02:02:06.819 --> 02:02:08.739 another bottle of wine now. So we had a nice 02:02:08.739 --> 02:02:12.479 night that night. So it blew us away. You guys 02:02:12.479 --> 02:02:14.539 think those were complete lightning strikes? 02:02:15.140 --> 02:02:17.760 Or was there something that helped you? And that 02:02:17.760 --> 02:02:20.319 was where my question was kind of going. Was 02:02:20.319 --> 02:02:24.039 there something that pushed that momentum to 02:02:24.039 --> 02:02:27.920 making that lightning strike happen? That's where 02:02:27.920 --> 02:02:30.920 I was kind of getting at, Chris. Well, for me, 02:02:30.939 --> 02:02:33.279 it was a cow at bread. Sunburst. We sold her 02:02:33.279 --> 02:02:36.220 up at the Intrigua. It was a Blondin. And we 02:02:36.220 --> 02:02:39.060 knew she was going to break a lot of money. Boy, 02:02:39.100 --> 02:02:41.659 would you breed one, and she sells for that much 02:02:41.659 --> 02:02:43.880 money. Now, there were several partners, but 02:02:43.880 --> 02:02:46.479 it kind of makes you feel great. What was the 02:02:46.479 --> 02:02:48.859 way you think, I mean, did you feel the momentum 02:02:48.859 --> 02:02:51.180 coming? Yeah, because she was undefeated. She 02:02:51.180 --> 02:02:53.840 had won New York Spring Show black and red, and 02:02:53.840 --> 02:02:55.800 Jeffrey was all over us wanting to sell her, 02:02:55.819 --> 02:02:57.380 so I knew we had her feet on the ground going 02:02:57.380 --> 02:02:59.659 into it. Now, that much of what she bought, my 02:02:59.659 --> 02:03:03.920 feet were off the ground. I think as a consigner 02:03:03.920 --> 02:03:06.399 sale manager, you try to do all the right things. 02:03:06.460 --> 02:03:09.060 You're trying, you have that animal broke, you 02:03:09.060 --> 02:03:10.680 have them ready, you have them in show shape, 02:03:10.800 --> 02:03:13.199 you have them, you did the pictures, you did 02:03:13.199 --> 02:03:16.060 the videos, you do everything possible. You make 02:03:16.060 --> 02:03:18.739 the phone calls. I mean, everything's kind of, 02:03:18.779 --> 02:03:21.000 you got to build everything up, but then there's 02:03:21.000 --> 02:03:23.920 a little bit of luck involved. I mean, let's 02:03:23.920 --> 02:03:25.779 just be honest. I mean, you try to do all your 02:03:25.779 --> 02:03:27.699 homework and do everything you possibly can that's 02:03:27.699 --> 02:03:30.319 in your control. But again, until those, you 02:03:30.319 --> 02:03:33.819 get in that room and, As sale management, you 02:03:33.819 --> 02:03:36.359 try to build an atmosphere that's exciting. If 02:03:36.359 --> 02:03:38.939 we all sat here and talked monotone, how exciting 02:03:38.939 --> 02:03:41.640 of an atmosphere is that? You got to build an 02:03:41.640 --> 02:03:45.140 event and build some excitement, have some hospitality. 02:03:45.260 --> 02:03:48.260 It all plays into it. And we all like to come 02:03:48.260 --> 02:03:50.640 together. I mean, sales are social events for 02:03:50.640 --> 02:03:53.619 people. We all like going to them and talking, 02:03:53.699 --> 02:03:56.300 visiting, catching up, seeing good cattle. But 02:03:56.300 --> 02:03:58.680 if you bring it and create a buzz and get that 02:03:58.680 --> 02:04:01.279 atmosphere going and get all the right people 02:04:01.279 --> 02:04:03.739 in the room, I think that's what helps make a 02:04:03.739 --> 02:04:06.659 really successful event. And sometimes what else 02:04:06.659 --> 02:04:09.100 is cool is you'll be in the sale atmosphere three 02:04:09.100 --> 02:04:12.500 hours before a sale starts, you know, and you'll 02:04:12.500 --> 02:04:14.380 have a cow there that's trying to get sold for 02:04:14.380 --> 02:04:16.659 a lot of money and somebody will walk up to you 02:04:16.659 --> 02:04:18.880 and say, Hey, are you here? Jimmy Smith says 02:04:18.880 --> 02:04:21.670 he's interested in her. Like, whoa, what the 02:04:21.670 --> 02:04:24.569 heck does he want her for? So I don't know, but 02:04:24.569 --> 02:04:26.630 he's interested. So some other guys listening 02:04:26.630 --> 02:04:29.369 to you say that Jimmy Smith wants that cow. Well, 02:04:29.449 --> 02:04:31.689 two guys on staff heard you, too, so they're 02:04:31.689 --> 02:04:33.829 calling over. Oh, Jimmy Smith wants that cow. 02:04:33.909 --> 02:04:35.689 You know, she must be wanting that other cow. 02:04:35.909 --> 02:04:37.890 Oh, yeah, Jimmy Smith wants her. I won't make 02:04:37.890 --> 02:04:43.289 you pay. But then, done. See, people are competitive. 02:04:43.510 --> 02:04:46.050 I'm not going to say any names, but we know something. 02:04:46.189 --> 02:04:50.319 We'll not quit when they want something. I will 02:04:50.319 --> 02:04:56.180 be here tonight. Or she will. And up, Joshua. 02:04:56.859 --> 02:04:59.779 Sorry, Gene. Oh, Gene, that was nice. You had 02:04:59.779 --> 02:05:01.979 a hurt leg and he didn't even pick you. And he 02:05:01.979 --> 02:05:08.000 hit me with a chair. It was an accident. Joshua. 02:05:08.619 --> 02:05:11.159 The same thing we were just talking about. I 02:05:11.159 --> 02:05:13.640 think all of the people in the corral and there's 02:05:13.640 --> 02:05:16.420 numerous sales managers, people that have had 02:05:16.420 --> 02:05:20.819 their sales. What are some things, maybe, for 02:05:20.819 --> 02:05:22.619 example, if you get asked to call the market 02:05:22.619 --> 02:05:25.220 sale, what are some things that you can do to 02:05:25.220 --> 02:05:28.479 help make those cattle bring money to work inside 02:05:28.479 --> 02:05:32.380 the farm to have their own sale? So, whether 02:05:32.380 --> 02:05:35.500 hiring a good sale manager, like Chris, or a 02:05:35.500 --> 02:05:38.659 manager, or what are some things down that line 02:05:38.659 --> 02:05:42.680 that you can do? As far as hiring, like people 02:05:42.680 --> 02:05:45.020 to help you, you have to hire the people that 02:05:45.020 --> 02:05:48.449 best represent the cattle. You have to match 02:05:48.449 --> 02:05:51.250 the product with the man that's selling the product 02:05:51.250 --> 02:05:55.189 with his clientele. You know what I mean? Like 02:05:55.189 --> 02:05:58.949 you can't have a high -type slash share. I shouldn't 02:05:58.949 --> 02:06:00.890 say it that way. I'm just being a high -type 02:06:00.890 --> 02:06:03.989 sale and get your top genomic guy in the country. 02:06:04.090 --> 02:06:06.510 He's not going to be any good because he don't 02:06:06.510 --> 02:06:08.329 represent the kind of people that buy that kind 02:06:08.329 --> 02:06:10.609 of cow. And vice versa, if you have a genomic 02:06:10.609 --> 02:06:14.029 sale, for instance, the sale on the Sun Series. 02:06:14.520 --> 02:06:16.319 None of us guys could have worked that sale because 02:06:16.319 --> 02:06:19.319 we don't have genomic clientele. That's just 02:06:19.319 --> 02:06:21.840 kind of the way. You've got to match the product 02:06:21.840 --> 02:06:24.239 with the person that's selling the product, right? 02:06:25.500 --> 02:06:27.880 Yeah, I would say it comes down to presentation 02:06:27.880 --> 02:06:30.680 and promotion, right? Do the job with the cattle 02:06:30.680 --> 02:06:33.140 at home. Do the job with the cattle at the sale. 02:06:33.460 --> 02:06:36.800 Have the right cattle to fit the sale. And promote, 02:06:36.920 --> 02:06:39.899 promote, promote. Sell those cattle. Make phone 02:06:39.899 --> 02:06:43.890 calls. And get it out there. And I was just going 02:06:43.890 --> 02:06:46.090 to say one thing on the last question, too, is 02:06:46.090 --> 02:06:48.609 you have to get involved. If you want to get 02:06:48.609 --> 02:06:52.069 in, we're a small industry, right? But I bet 02:06:52.069 --> 02:06:54.289 most of you know all the people here because 02:06:54.289 --> 02:06:56.649 you see them, right? They're involved in things 02:06:56.649 --> 02:07:00.050 outside of just their own farm. And you have 02:07:00.050 --> 02:07:03.010 to do that because you rub shoulders with others 02:07:03.010 --> 02:07:05.909 that think like you do and want to sell cattle 02:07:05.909 --> 02:07:08.850 and buy cattle and are involved in what you love. 02:07:09.420 --> 02:07:12.539 So I think it's really important to serve on 02:07:12.539 --> 02:07:15.420 committees, get involved, meet people, learn 02:07:15.420 --> 02:07:19.260 from people, ask lots of questions. That is going 02:07:19.260 --> 02:07:21.939 to propel you a lot faster than if you stay in 02:07:21.939 --> 02:07:24.159 your own farm and see nothing but your own farm. 02:07:24.359 --> 02:07:26.359 And I know it's tough to get off. I get that. 02:07:26.619 --> 02:07:29.420 But you have to make that effort if you want 02:07:29.420 --> 02:07:34.340 to branch out. And I'll say, like, for us with 02:07:34.340 --> 02:07:37.930 our sale, JB. Black. Like I said, I think he 02:07:37.930 --> 02:07:40.289 said he manages her shop outside. He's the one 02:07:40.289 --> 02:07:42.829 that's making contacts to reach out to people 02:07:42.829 --> 02:07:46.970 to work or sale. And when he calls those people, 02:07:47.109 --> 02:07:50.090 he knows that they have a built -in, if you want 02:07:50.090 --> 02:07:54.250 to call it that, buyers list. That said, yeah, 02:07:54.329 --> 02:07:56.670 whatever Joe Bob, whatever he said his name was, 02:07:56.789 --> 02:07:59.689 he's got certain people that he's going to call, 02:07:59.729 --> 02:08:04.130 you know, to that they know that those people 02:08:04.130 --> 02:08:07.770 trust. jim bob here and are gonna you know he's 02:08:07.770 --> 02:08:09.430 gonna call them they're gonna say what do you 02:08:09.430 --> 02:08:11.289 really think of this animal this is what we want 02:08:11.289 --> 02:08:13.829 what do you think of her and you know that's 02:08:13.829 --> 02:08:16.989 uh that's how we select or how jane i should 02:08:16.989 --> 02:08:21.989 say selects our sale contacts for ourselves and 02:08:21.989 --> 02:08:24.270 they're not hard for selling bad cattle either 02:08:24.270 --> 02:08:27.090 they're hard because they call the right people 02:08:27.090 --> 02:08:31.090 for the right fit and they need to be on staff 02:08:31.090 --> 02:08:34.619 just like we were talking I shouldn't say nobody, 02:08:34.739 --> 02:08:39.279 but not as many people go to sales anymore. Yeah, 02:08:39.279 --> 02:08:41.279 I would agree with that. I think when I think 02:08:41.279 --> 02:08:43.739 of sales that we've had, sales that you go to, 02:08:43.859 --> 02:08:46.220 and you think of people on sales staff that you 02:08:46.220 --> 02:08:49.239 just know, you're 100 % confident that you can 02:08:49.239 --> 02:08:52.479 trust their assessment of an animal. I mean, 02:08:52.500 --> 02:08:55.039 think back to Raymond LeBlanc, always worried 02:08:55.039 --> 02:08:58.060 about a million and a half sales, and you could 02:08:58.060 --> 02:09:01.399 be 100 % confident that whatever he told you 02:09:01.399 --> 02:09:06.229 about... a lot and a sale was exactly exactly 02:09:06.229 --> 02:09:11.270 what she was and you know when when we're on 02:09:11.270 --> 02:09:13.850 the buying side i mean that's the kind of person 02:09:13.850 --> 02:09:16.850 you want to contact to tell me more about that 02:09:16.850 --> 02:09:18.850 animal have you seen them have you what else 02:09:18.850 --> 02:09:22.050 what else should i need to know what and on the 02:09:22.050 --> 02:09:24.170 selling side you want to be confident that those 02:09:24.170 --> 02:09:25.829 are the people that are on sales staff that are 02:09:25.829 --> 02:09:30.229 going to make sure that it ends up going mostly 02:09:30.229 --> 02:09:34.689 to your expectations As a sale manager, I mean, 02:09:34.710 --> 02:09:38.029 we try to put people on staff from geographically 02:09:38.029 --> 02:09:41.569 different places. So that way, if somebody in 02:09:41.569 --> 02:09:44.850 PA, if we have somebody from this area that people 02:09:44.850 --> 02:09:46.829 would trust, that you would know, a familiar 02:09:46.829 --> 02:09:49.949 face, somebody that you talk to. But we try and 02:09:49.949 --> 02:09:53.729 cover kind of the U .S. and Canada geographically 02:09:53.729 --> 02:09:58.609 with a variety of trustworthy people. And I think 02:09:58.609 --> 02:10:01.170 it's important, too, that we hire people that 02:10:01.579 --> 02:10:04.100 are going to reach out to clientele. They're 02:10:04.100 --> 02:10:06.340 not just going to go to your sale, and we have 02:10:06.340 --> 02:10:08.760 to give them a check for working a sale promoting 02:10:08.760 --> 02:10:11.060 your animal, and they're going to sit there and 02:10:11.060 --> 02:10:13.340 say, well, nobody called me because it's not 02:10:13.340 --> 02:10:15.659 your job. You're supposed to call people. You're 02:10:15.659 --> 02:10:17.939 supposed to create interest. And that was one 02:10:17.939 --> 02:10:20.000 of Raymond's best attributes. He would bring 02:10:20.000 --> 02:10:22.800 them. Raymond would bring a whole book, and he 02:10:22.800 --> 02:10:26.760 would call every single person. That's gone as 02:10:26.760 --> 02:10:28.880 far as I'm concerned. There's not many people 02:10:28.880 --> 02:10:30.979 that do. There is some, but there's not many. 02:10:31.800 --> 02:10:34.399 And it's just like the job of being a ring man. 02:10:34.640 --> 02:10:37.279 That's trying to disappear after the first 20. 02:10:37.300 --> 02:10:39.600 We have to start recruiting people to be a ring 02:10:39.600 --> 02:10:41.479 man. So folks, if you're on staff today, make 02:10:41.479 --> 02:10:43.500 sure you keep your job or we'll try to embarrass 02:10:43.500 --> 02:10:49.760 you. David? Jean? So mine is more of an observation 02:10:49.760 --> 02:10:53.170 and kind of a... sort of a lesson for the kids 02:10:53.170 --> 02:10:56.930 and everything, but I, back in 2018, there was 02:10:56.930 --> 02:10:59.550 this little white calf, a little December white 02:10:59.550 --> 02:11:02.250 calf that was on the outfield sale. I just loved 02:11:02.250 --> 02:11:03.789 her, and I thought, I don't need to buy anything, 02:11:03.869 --> 02:11:05.710 I don't need to buy anything. It was the end 02:11:05.710 --> 02:11:08.149 of the sale, and I commented how many at the 02:11:08.149 --> 02:11:10.890 outfield sale. Yeah, you can, yeah, we'll sell 02:11:10.890 --> 02:11:14.729 it to you for $2 ,200. Because I saw the video, 02:11:14.850 --> 02:11:17.229 because they did such an amazing job, and I just, 02:11:17.310 --> 02:11:20.319 I love a white calf and water. for 22 hundred 02:11:20.319 --> 02:11:23.340 bucks and it was oakfield theme or frisbee who 02:11:23.340 --> 02:11:26.960 is a sister to footloose and that was before 02:11:26.960 --> 02:11:29.680 footloose was footloose and so sometimes you 02:11:29.680 --> 02:11:33.439 have to think about trusting your gut and like 02:11:33.439 --> 02:11:35.739 joy said and same with my swiss i bought from 02:11:35.739 --> 02:11:37.699 joy she sent me a picture and i was like i need 02:11:37.699 --> 02:11:41.960 that like i have to have that and so and so my 02:11:41.960 --> 02:11:50.359 point is too But my other point to tie into was 02:11:50.359 --> 02:11:53.579 what I said, was that as the years went by, I 02:11:53.579 --> 02:11:55.979 kept in touch with Jamie Black about Frisbee. 02:11:56.079 --> 02:11:58.539 And he kept in touch with her. And Alicia knew 02:11:58.539 --> 02:12:01.260 who she was. And then when she did well at Harrisburg, 02:12:01.479 --> 02:12:03.920 Jamie Black comes over and takes her from me 02:12:03.920 --> 02:12:05.760 and takes her to my house. And then she's part 02:12:05.760 --> 02:12:09.680 of the senior best three with Footloose. And 02:12:09.680 --> 02:12:13.359 so that's, to Joy's point, it takes a long time. 02:12:13.619 --> 02:12:16.159 I mean, that doesn't happen overnight. And so 02:12:16.159 --> 02:12:18.159 I think these conversations are so great, and 02:12:18.159 --> 02:12:20.479 I just think a lot of it is trusting your gut, 02:12:20.619 --> 02:12:24.039 too. Like, what you like, and it is luck. I mean, 02:12:24.079 --> 02:12:26.659 it is luck that I like a calf who's a sister 02:12:26.659 --> 02:12:28.979 to Footloose, who then became Footloose. But 02:12:28.979 --> 02:12:31.699 I just, I commend all of you. I think you've 02:12:31.699 --> 02:12:34.739 all done a great job, and I just hope everybody 02:12:34.739 --> 02:12:37.779 wins something. I think it's so cool. Thank you. 02:12:38.199 --> 02:12:40.119 Oh, and I have a granddaughter at Frisbee in 02:12:40.119 --> 02:12:44.460 the sale tonight. That's how we know we're able 02:12:44.460 --> 02:12:46.399 to do it. We want to promote your own product 02:12:46.399 --> 02:12:48.460 because nobody else is going to do it for you. 02:12:50.640 --> 02:12:54.000 David, PHA, I don't know in wrapping up, but 02:12:54.000 --> 02:12:56.380 what's your... I'm just going to add that after 02:12:56.380 --> 02:13:00.039 Footloose brought $350 ,000 at Duck and Sale 02:13:00.039 --> 02:13:03.300 that day, the next one in the ring was her daughter 02:13:03.300 --> 02:13:08.560 by Denver. Denver is a little... No, not hot, 02:13:08.739 --> 02:13:11.789 but she was a good happener. Michael Hughes, 02:13:12.069 --> 02:13:14.869 Royal Vista from Wisconsin, bought her. He's 02:13:14.869 --> 02:13:17.609 got a whole new franchise. And she's 94 points. 02:13:17.729 --> 02:13:21.069 And she's 94 points, and she's a brood cow. He 02:13:21.069 --> 02:13:24.890 started his franchise, and if you ask him, everybody 02:13:24.890 --> 02:13:27.409 else was buzzing about what Footloose just brought, 02:13:27.649 --> 02:13:30.090 and he was the guy who was interested in buying 02:13:30.090 --> 02:13:33.170 that effort. He pulled the trigger. Trust me, 02:13:33.189 --> 02:13:34.609 you're going to hear a lot more about the name 02:13:34.609 --> 02:13:36.770 of Royal Vista. But that's what's cool about 02:13:36.770 --> 02:13:38.789 that family. When you buy from the F family, 02:13:38.930 --> 02:13:40.529 you've got to remember that it's more bottom 02:13:40.529 --> 02:13:43.189 side than top side. Because Footloose is out 02:13:43.189 --> 02:13:46.310 of Nebraska, and she's a Denver out in La Sala. 02:13:46.590 --> 02:13:49.109 And breeding great stuff. So don't run down all 02:13:49.109 --> 02:13:51.149 the bulls before you look at these patterns. 02:13:51.430 --> 02:13:55.770 But take advantage of Footloose's top side. Big 02:13:55.770 --> 02:13:59.869 rib, wide rump, close rib, flat rump. She had 02:13:59.869 --> 02:14:04.090 all the tools. She overcame herself. Thank you. 02:14:05.039 --> 02:14:07.340 I think we've had two really nice seminars today. 02:14:07.439 --> 02:14:12.000 Hats off to you, David, and your staff. It's 02:14:12.000 --> 02:14:15.260 all about the people. Again, it's all about the 02:14:15.260 --> 02:14:17.520 people. These cows bring us together, but the 02:14:17.520 --> 02:14:21.260 connections, the friendships, the trust, that's 02:14:21.260 --> 02:14:27.479 what makes it all great. So we just coached Trump 02:14:27.479 --> 02:14:30.539 for two and a half hours. It's pretty awesome. 02:14:30.739 --> 02:14:34.399 But before we give them a rousing round of applause, 02:14:34.779 --> 02:14:38.159 just a little housekeeping. The pre -sale meal 02:14:38.159 --> 02:14:40.939 is going to be a buffet. It's served out there. 02:14:40.960 --> 02:14:42.579 If you already have a ticket, you can eat the 02:14:42.579 --> 02:14:45.300 food. Otherwise, you can hang out in here, and 02:14:45.300 --> 02:14:47.399 we have the sale starting at 7. But the food's 02:14:47.399 --> 02:14:50.380 from 6 .30 to 7 .30. But before that, if you 02:14:50.380 --> 02:14:53.119 would like to see our best and brightest dairy 02:14:53.119 --> 02:14:56.180 bowlers go at it, the finals will be... You can't 02:14:56.180 --> 02:14:57.920 go through that door, but it's on the other side 02:14:57.920 --> 02:15:01.119 of that wall. It's a series of rooms, fur, hemlock, 02:15:01.260 --> 02:15:04.039 elm, and hickory. But if you'd like to check 02:15:04.039 --> 02:15:06.500 that out and check out Dairy Bowl and see how 02:15:06.500 --> 02:15:08.600 our Pennsylvania kids are doing, you're invited 02:15:08.600 --> 02:15:11.819 to do that at 4 o 'clock. The Dairy Bar is excellent, 02:15:12.020 --> 02:15:15.439 so enjoy that. We thank you for your questions. 02:15:15.819 --> 02:15:19.979 Give these folks a big round. Maybe you can stand 02:15:19.979 --> 02:15:24.939 up. That's the full Market Like a Pro panel from 02:15:24.939 --> 02:15:26.859 the Pennsylvania Holstein Association Convention. 02:15:27.739 --> 02:15:30.880 Again, massive thanks to PHA running this great 02:15:30.880 --> 02:15:33.420 session. Be sure to check out polsteins .com 02:15:33.420 --> 02:15:35.420 for their events, sales, and youth programs. 02:15:36.039 --> 02:15:40.039 Key takeaways, consign your best, stand behind 02:15:40.039 --> 02:15:43.560 what you sell, use social, cow buyer, and embryo 02:15:43.560 --> 02:15:46.359 sales to beat low milk prices, and build relationships. 02:15:46.739 --> 02:15:49.579 Your prefix travels farther than any truck. If 02:15:49.579 --> 02:15:52.399 this fired you up, Head to thebullvine .com for 02:15:52.399 --> 02:15:55.119 the full article with photos of Footloose, Dundee 02:15:55.119 --> 02:15:58.239 Page, Candy Cane, and more, plus our breeding 02:15:58.239 --> 02:16:02.159 rankings, TPI lists, and farm profiles. Subscribe 02:16:02.159 --> 02:16:04.739 wherever you get podcasts, like, share on Facebook, 02:16:04.880 --> 02:16:07.500 and drop a comment. What's your go -to move for 02:16:07.500 --> 02:16:09.979 marketing registered cattle? From the Bullvine 02:16:09.979 --> 02:16:13.279 team, keep challenging the sacred cows. See you 02:16:13.279 --> 02:16:13.720 next time.