1 00:00:02,806 --> 00:00:04,913 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast. 2 00:00:04,913 --> 00:00:08,852 In this show, the Texas FFA Foundation will take on a 3 00:00:08,932 --> 00:00:12,682 journey of exploration into agricultural science, education, 4 00:00:12,682 --> 00:00:16,010 leadership development and insights from subject matter 5 00:00:16,091 --> 00:00:19,708 experts and sponsors who provide the fuel to make dreams come 6 00:00:19,728 --> 00:00:20,010 true. 7 00:00:20,010 --> 00:00:22,368 Here's your host, Erin Alejandro. 8 00:00:22,368 --> 00:00:27,263 Here is your host, Aaron Alejandro. 9 00:00:30,006 --> 00:00:32,768 Speaker 2: Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening or 10 00:00:32,927 --> 00:00:37,250 whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast. 11 00:00:37,250 --> 00:00:41,213 You know, we just are so appreciative that we're able to 12 00:00:41,334 --> 00:00:45,256 use a technology like this to bring on special guests to share 13 00:00:45,256 --> 00:00:55,043 insights, experiences, to share encouragement and hope and 14 00:00:55,064 --> 00:00:55,424 maybe some skills. 15 00:00:55,424 --> 00:00:56,810 And I was recently in Ria Dosa, new Mexico, and I met this 16 00:00:56,890 --> 00:00:59,340 couple and as soon as I met them and I heard their story, I'm 17 00:00:59,381 --> 00:01:01,347 like we got to bring them on to the show. 18 00:01:01,347 --> 00:01:06,120 So y'all join me in welcoming Cade and Morgan Hodges with 19 00:01:06,182 --> 00:01:07,885 Hodges Livestock. 20 00:01:07,885 --> 00:01:11,072 Cade, morgan, good morning and thank you for joining us. 21 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:13,805 Speaker 3: Yes, sir, thank you for having us. 22 00:01:13,805 --> 00:01:14,608 We're happy to be here. 23 00:01:14,980 --> 00:01:17,287 Speaker 4: Yeah, like Morgan said, thank you, we're honored 24 00:01:17,307 --> 00:01:18,631 to be here on the podcast. 25 00:01:19,180 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 2: That's awesome. 26 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:21,804 Yeah, I just love doing this. 27 00:01:21,804 --> 00:01:24,268 By the way, everybody that knows me, I always say if 28 00:01:24,408 --> 00:01:27,111 agriculture has taught me anything, it's taught me. 29 00:01:27,111 --> 00:01:29,635 If you want to know what the future is, grow it. 30 00:01:29,635 --> 00:01:31,525 Well, how do you grow the future? 31 00:01:31,525 --> 00:01:35,001 Well, you got to plant the right seeds, you got to take 32 00:01:35,042 --> 00:01:37,510 care of them and then you got to harvest it and then share it 33 00:01:37,549 --> 00:01:38,010 with others. 34 00:01:38,010 --> 00:01:45,980 Y'all's story in this podcast. 35 00:01:45,980 --> 00:01:47,683 I said I got to have those folks on because I want them to 36 00:01:47,703 --> 00:01:49,367 share some of your seeds of wisdom and greatness so that 37 00:01:49,567 --> 00:01:55,063 maybe we can plant some ideas, some vision, some encouragement, 38 00:01:55,063 --> 00:01:58,790 some resilience and maybe the people who will hear this 39 00:01:58,849 --> 00:01:59,451 podcast. 40 00:01:59,451 --> 00:02:02,283 So thank you for doing that. 41 00:02:02,283 --> 00:02:06,230 Every podcast, we start off with the same question, so I'm 42 00:02:06,250 --> 00:02:08,354 going to ask each of you to answer this question. 43 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,379 Speaker 3: Cade Morgan what are you grateful for today? 44 00:02:15,379 --> 00:02:17,081 I guess I can go ahead and start. 45 00:02:17,081 --> 00:02:19,187 I'm grateful to be sitting here doing what we love and chasing 46 00:02:19,228 --> 00:02:22,924 our dreams together as a family Cade, myself, and then our 47 00:02:23,044 --> 00:02:24,971 almost one-year-old baby boy, Weston. 48 00:02:26,860 --> 00:02:27,481 Speaker 1: That's awesome. 49 00:02:28,242 --> 00:02:30,328 Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I can't use the same answer exactly, but 50 00:02:30,328 --> 00:02:35,104 no, I'm very fortunate to be doing what we do with our family 51 00:02:35,104 --> 00:02:38,012 , with my family out here involving Morgan's family as 52 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:39,102 well. 53 00:02:39,102 --> 00:02:41,907 Just very thankful, very blessed to get to live this way 54 00:02:41,926 --> 00:02:42,247 of life. 55 00:02:42,949 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 3: And for the recent rains, we have to add that Well, 56 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:50,509 that's good stuff, yeah. 57 00:02:56,025 --> 00:02:57,829 Speaker 2: So one of the things that I like to share with people 58 00:02:57,829 --> 00:02:58,691 is called R2A2. 59 00:02:58,691 --> 00:03:01,679 So I tell people, anytime you hear a speaker or presentation, 60 00:03:04,250 --> 00:03:06,299 listen to a podcast, try to R2A2 . 61 00:03:06,299 --> 00:03:08,944 Recognize what they're saying, relate to it because everybody's 62 00:03:08,944 --> 00:03:10,609 going to relate differently assimilate it, take it in and 63 00:03:10,629 --> 00:03:11,412 then apply it. 64 00:03:11,412 --> 00:03:13,516 So, if you can, r2a2 things. 65 00:03:13,516 --> 00:03:18,063 Sometimes we find blessings, sometimes we find vision, and 66 00:03:18,343 --> 00:03:23,368 already y'all just got started and already you've given us some 67 00:03:23,368 --> 00:03:24,691 really good R2A2. 68 00:03:25,412 --> 00:03:34,930 So you talked about a dream, talked about family, you talked 69 00:03:34,949 --> 00:03:36,377 about faith, and we're just getting started. 70 00:03:36,377 --> 00:03:37,231 So thank you for that. 71 00:03:37,231 --> 00:03:37,919 By the way, I agree with you Everything that you just said. 72 00:03:37,919 --> 00:03:40,707 I love the fact that I live in a country that's got an 73 00:03:40,728 --> 00:03:41,751 incredible abundance. 74 00:03:41,751 --> 00:03:46,733 I love the fact that I get to do life with family and that we 75 00:03:46,793 --> 00:03:50,423 live in a country where we've got the freedom and liberty to 76 00:03:50,483 --> 00:03:52,287 chase those dreams that you talked about. 77 00:03:52,287 --> 00:03:55,614 So, with that, let's go ahead and get started. 78 00:03:56,300 --> 00:03:56,881 Speaker 3: All right. 79 00:03:57,161 --> 00:03:58,742 Speaker 2: Thank y'all for sharing that by the way. 80 00:03:59,223 --> 00:03:59,723 Speaker 3: Yes, sir. 81 00:04:00,644 --> 00:04:04,609 Speaker 2: So while we were in Rio Dosa we were at an ag co-ops 82 00:04:04,609 --> 00:04:11,836 managers meeting and I got to hear Morgan and K2 tell kind of 83 00:04:11,895 --> 00:04:12,597 their story. 84 00:04:13,340 --> 00:04:18,627 And when I heard their story it inspired me, because I'm from 85 00:04:18,648 --> 00:04:21,733 the city originally and I'm kind of a transplant to the country 86 00:04:21,872 --> 00:04:23,555 way of life, into agriculture. 87 00:04:24,483 --> 00:04:27,264 But a lot of times we hear people say, well, I could never 88 00:04:27,324 --> 00:04:31,221 do that, I couldn't pursue that, there's no way I could make 89 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:36,237 that happen, and I could always offer words of encouragement but 90 00:04:36,237 --> 00:04:38,221 I really didn't have anybody I could point to. 91 00:04:38,221 --> 00:04:43,375 Well, now I have somebody I can point to, because when you hear 92 00:04:43,375 --> 00:04:46,341 Kate and Morgan's story, you're going to understand that this 93 00:04:46,401 --> 00:04:52,336 is a couple who had an idea, a dream that they wanted to do 94 00:04:52,396 --> 00:04:56,045 together, and they wanted to do it for their way of life, they 95 00:04:56,084 --> 00:04:58,471 wanted to do it for their lifestyle, they wanted to do it 96 00:04:58,572 --> 00:05:01,584 for the fact that they're feeding and clothing the world, 97 00:05:02,446 --> 00:05:06,312 and so with that I want y'all to kind of take us on that journey 98 00:05:06,312 --> 00:05:07,415 , morgan, if you will. 99 00:05:07,415 --> 00:05:11,550 How in the world did y'all come together? 100 00:05:11,550 --> 00:05:14,730 How in the world did you bring your family interest together? 101 00:05:14,730 --> 00:05:17,668 How in the world did you ever say this is the cattle company 102 00:05:17,687 --> 00:05:20,668 we're going to start and the harvesting of natural resources, 103 00:05:20,668 --> 00:05:24,591 all of the things kind of walk us through what that looked like 104 00:05:24,591 --> 00:05:24,591 . 105 00:05:25,841 --> 00:05:26,483 Speaker 3: Absolutely. 106 00:05:26,483 --> 00:05:28,810 So I guess we'll go ahead and start at the beginning. 107 00:05:28,810 --> 00:05:33,747 We met at Texas A&M University and it was kind of love at first 108 00:05:33,747 --> 00:05:38,141 sight for me, honestly and we started dating my sophomore year 109 00:05:38,141 --> 00:05:43,492 of college and from that moment on we knew that we wanted to 110 00:05:43,591 --> 00:05:46,841 spend the rest of our lives together and spend it doing what 111 00:05:46,841 --> 00:05:47,423 we loved. 112 00:05:47,423 --> 00:05:51,336 So I guess, to back up even a little bit further, I did not 113 00:05:51,377 --> 00:05:52,500 grow up on a farmer ranch. 114 00:05:52,500 --> 00:05:55,968 I grew up my dad was an extension specialist in my 115 00:05:56,007 --> 00:05:58,072 younger years in Southern New Mexico. 116 00:05:58,072 --> 00:06:01,627 So I got to bounce around on a lot of ranches but I didn't grow 117 00:06:01,627 --> 00:06:03,312 up as a quote unquote ranch kid . 118 00:06:04,081 --> 00:06:07,701 But I always had a passion for the ranching industry. 119 00:06:07,701 --> 00:06:11,350 We were at a speaking engagement last night and I got 120 00:06:11,370 --> 00:06:14,283 to share the story about how, whenever I was about 10 years 121 00:06:14,463 --> 00:06:18,853 old, my one of my family members asked me what I wanted to do 122 00:06:18,892 --> 00:06:22,086 when I grew up and I said I wanted to raise sheep and they 123 00:06:22,127 --> 00:06:25,072 told me that was a bad idea and I didn't like that answer. 124 00:06:25,072 --> 00:06:28,730 So now we raise sheep and cattle and goats for a living. 125 00:06:28,730 --> 00:06:33,745 So, as you can see, I did not heed that advice and yeah, 126 00:06:33,764 --> 00:06:35,550 that's a little bit about my background growing up. 127 00:06:35,550 --> 00:06:37,245 Would you like to share some of yours, gabe? 128 00:06:37,627 --> 00:06:40,810 Speaker 4: Yeah, I kind of have a little different upbringing. 129 00:06:40,810 --> 00:06:44,045 I'm extremely fortunate I'm a sixth-generation rancher out 130 00:06:44,105 --> 00:06:44,365 here in. 131 00:06:44,505 --> 00:06:45,166 Sterling County. 132 00:06:45,166 --> 00:06:46,810 This is what I grew up doing. 133 00:06:46,810 --> 00:06:52,245 My family started out in 1889 raising cattle, and then some of 134 00:06:52,245 --> 00:06:54,389 the first sheep were brought into our operation in the early 135 00:06:54,490 --> 00:06:55,211 1900s. 136 00:06:55,211 --> 00:06:57,946 They were Merino Rambouillet Wool Sheep. 137 00:06:57,946 --> 00:07:00,752 That's what my family raised all the way up until 2016, 138 00:07:01,319 --> 00:07:05,007 whenever we transitioned fully to Hair Sheep, and that's what 139 00:07:05,028 --> 00:07:06,432 we still continue to do today. 140 00:07:06,432 --> 00:07:11,353 I grew up as that kid stomping the wool sacks, pushing the wool 141 00:07:11,353 --> 00:07:14,504 into the bags and getting them packed and load them on the 142 00:07:14,524 --> 00:07:15,588 trailer and then it's down. 143 00:07:16,752 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 2: So real quick for our audience, because this is good 144 00:07:19,380 --> 00:07:19,740 stuff. 145 00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:20,923 What's a wool sheet? 146 00:07:22,365 --> 00:07:24,067 Speaker 4: It's just a breed of sheep that produces fiber. 147 00:07:24,067 --> 00:07:27,572 There's several breeds of sheep that do that, rambouillet, 148 00:07:27,612 --> 00:07:30,103 merino being two of the most common, but there's several 149 00:07:30,163 --> 00:07:30,786 others as well. 150 00:07:30,786 --> 00:07:35,411 But that fiber is produced and it goes into making clothing or 151 00:07:35,533 --> 00:07:41,107 other wool-based products like army blankets felt all the way 152 00:07:41,166 --> 00:07:42,730 up to your high-end Italian suits. 153 00:07:43,752 --> 00:07:47,904 Speaker 3: Wow fell all the way up to your high-end italian 154 00:07:47,925 --> 00:07:48,024 suits. 155 00:07:48,024 --> 00:07:48,105 Wow. 156 00:07:48,105 --> 00:07:49,250 And on the other end of the spectrum, hair sheep are ones 157 00:07:49,271 --> 00:07:50,093 that don't produce wool there's wool. 158 00:07:50,093 --> 00:07:52,603 They, specifically are targeted at producing meat. 159 00:07:52,903 --> 00:07:55,288 Speaker 2: Yep there you go see. 160 00:07:55,288 --> 00:07:57,853 That's why I asked that question, because I know there 161 00:07:57,872 --> 00:08:00,009 will be somebody that will watch this and they're going to, in 162 00:08:00,028 --> 00:08:03,182 their mind they you know they'll never email me, but in their 163 00:08:03,201 --> 00:08:06,889 mind they're going to want to know what that answer is Okay. 164 00:08:07,129 --> 00:08:12,278 So y'all you meet, you come together and you said, hey, I've 165 00:08:12,278 --> 00:08:14,985 got a little background in this , I've got some aspiration for 166 00:08:15,024 --> 00:08:15,225 this. 167 00:08:15,225 --> 00:08:18,011 How do we pursue this? 168 00:08:18,011 --> 00:08:24,088 Take us down that path of how y'all began to unpack and put 169 00:08:24,129 --> 00:08:26,754 the bricks of the foundation of this dream that y'all had 170 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:27,762 together in place. 171 00:08:29,363 --> 00:08:31,947 Speaker 3: Well, I think we started laying the foundation 172 00:08:32,568 --> 00:08:38,043 whenever we were in high school and in our elementary years in 173 00:08:38,105 --> 00:08:39,648 the 4-H and FFA programs. 174 00:08:39,648 --> 00:08:43,282 We were really, really active in both of those programs and 175 00:08:43,302 --> 00:08:45,346 built some exceptional leadership skills there and I 176 00:08:45,446 --> 00:08:48,932 think that is kind of the pad from which we launched that, in 177 00:08:49,033 --> 00:08:52,765 addition to our amazing mentors, our amazing family that helped 178 00:08:52,826 --> 00:08:56,919 instill in us some exceptional I guess an exceptional life 179 00:08:56,980 --> 00:09:00,042 outlook and just general skills. 180 00:09:00,042 --> 00:09:02,143 But we took that love of agriculture. 181 00:09:02,143 --> 00:09:05,825 But we took that love of agriculture and as we 182 00:09:05,884 --> 00:09:09,706 transitioned into our college careers, I majored in animal 183 00:09:09,746 --> 00:09:12,967 science, minored in business at A&M and then went on to pursue a 184 00:09:12,967 --> 00:09:22,993 master's degree at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with a 185 00:09:23,933 --> 00:09:26,654 undergraduate degree in animal science and then a master's 186 00:09:26,715 --> 00:09:30,136 degree in animal science with a focus in small room and 187 00:09:30,157 --> 00:09:30,657 nutrition. 188 00:09:30,657 --> 00:09:33,258 So obviously very applicable. 189 00:09:35,980 --> 00:09:37,384 And we got married in 2021. 190 00:09:37,384 --> 00:09:39,931 And I worked in town for about six months. 191 00:09:39,931 --> 00:09:42,668 The San Angelo Stock Show had an exceptional time there. 192 00:09:42,668 --> 00:09:44,582 The San Angelo Stock Show had an exceptional time there, but 193 00:09:44,602 --> 00:09:49,668 we decided as a family that we wanted to take this time to give 194 00:09:49,668 --> 00:09:53,495 it our best shot and pursue both of us full time in our 195 00:09:53,534 --> 00:09:58,361 ranching business and took a really big note out from Capital 196 00:09:58,361 --> 00:10:03,046 Farm Credit and a lot of hours, a lot of sweat, a lot of tears 197 00:10:03,086 --> 00:10:04,366 and dreams, and now we're here. 198 00:10:05,748 --> 00:10:07,749 Speaker 2: I think there's something here that really 199 00:10:07,788 --> 00:10:14,573 caught my attention when I heard y'all's story, and it was how 200 00:10:15,115 --> 00:10:28,980 zeroed in and focused that you were, that this agricultural way 201 00:10:28,980 --> 00:10:29,982 of life, this farming and ranching way of life, was 202 00:10:30,003 --> 00:10:30,884 something that y'all were sold out to. 203 00:10:30,884 --> 00:10:31,846 At least that's what I heard. 204 00:10:31,846 --> 00:10:35,352 When I heard you tell your story, I heard that everything 205 00:10:35,394 --> 00:10:39,465 has been very intentional, that, no matter what hurdle presented 206 00:10:39,465 --> 00:10:40,105 itself, it was to never give up . 207 00:10:40,105 --> 00:10:41,167 Presented itself. 208 00:10:41,167 --> 00:10:43,269 It was to never give up. 209 00:10:43,269 --> 00:10:54,360 It was to always say how do we overcome, how do we continue to 210 00:10:54,441 --> 00:10:55,803 pour into our faith and lean into our faith? 211 00:10:55,823 --> 00:10:57,486 Everything that I heard y'all say was you had a goal, you had 212 00:10:57,506 --> 00:10:59,331 a dream, you wanted to do it together. 213 00:10:59,331 --> 00:11:03,645 You wanted your families to be a part of that, and so you 214 00:11:03,745 --> 00:11:04,408 pursued it. 215 00:11:04,408 --> 00:11:08,283 Something tells me that, as y'all and where you're at now, 216 00:11:08,363 --> 00:11:10,208 by the way, because you shared some of this, I want you to 217 00:11:10,249 --> 00:11:10,649 share this. 218 00:11:10,649 --> 00:11:13,104 It was not without challenges. 219 00:11:13,104 --> 00:11:17,693 It's been not without some real hurdles that you've had to 220 00:11:17,779 --> 00:11:18,280 overcome. 221 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:22,289 Can you walk us through kind of what that looked like as you 222 00:11:22,309 --> 00:11:25,466 got started and then you ran into some of these hurdles, and 223 00:11:25,500 --> 00:11:27,546 then how you navigated and overcame those? 224 00:11:29,211 --> 00:11:29,491 Speaker 4: yeah. 225 00:11:29,491 --> 00:11:31,759 So I mean I was talking about these hurdles. 226 00:11:31,759 --> 00:11:34,405 I mean it's farming, it's ranching, there's gonna be 227 00:11:34,446 --> 00:11:34,787 hurdles. 228 00:11:34,787 --> 00:11:38,846 I mean it's not so much if drought's gonna hit, it's when 229 00:11:38,966 --> 00:11:42,018 drought's gonna hit, right, I wish my crystal ball worked a 230 00:11:42,038 --> 00:11:45,744 whole lot better than it really did, but no, yeah. 231 00:11:45,764 --> 00:11:48,326 So when we first started out ranching, we started out by 232 00:11:48,346 --> 00:11:50,448 acquiring lease country, reaching out to landowners and 233 00:11:50,489 --> 00:11:53,712 we operated that said lease country. 234 00:11:53,712 --> 00:12:01,566 We had multiple years on land, run these lease country back up 235 00:12:01,605 --> 00:12:02,067 a little bit. 236 00:12:02,067 --> 00:12:04,653 So we operate 98% lease country . 237 00:12:04,653 --> 00:12:07,181 Currently only 2% of it is owned. 238 00:12:07,181 --> 00:12:09,226 It is some family land that Morgan and I purchased from our 239 00:12:09,268 --> 00:12:12,222 family and everything else. 240 00:12:12,222 --> 00:12:13,065 You have 98%. 241 00:12:13,065 --> 00:12:15,249 It's all lease contract. 242 00:12:15,249 --> 00:12:19,902 But whenever we were early on in our ranking careers, we had 243 00:12:19,942 --> 00:12:22,706 the unfortunate event of losing a lease which at the time was 244 00:12:22,807 --> 00:12:26,552 approximately half of our operated acreage, which that was 245 00:12:26,552 --> 00:12:30,886 a huge blow to both of us and we knew that was going to 246 00:12:31,008 --> 00:12:35,143 significantly reduce our income potential and that really made 247 00:12:35,163 --> 00:12:37,988 us think hard like, ok, how are we both going to be able to 248 00:12:38,028 --> 00:12:39,631 continue to ranch together? 249 00:12:40,072 --> 00:12:45,542 and be, sustained by it, together to be sustained by it. 250 00:12:45,542 --> 00:12:46,663 And if we don't figure something out soon, well, one of 251 00:12:46,663 --> 00:12:49,149 us is going to have to buy a job in town or find a part-time 252 00:12:49,188 --> 00:12:52,081 job somewhere until we can make ends meet otherwise. 253 00:12:52,701 --> 00:12:52,923 Speaker 3: We were. 254 00:12:52,923 --> 00:12:53,244 Also. 255 00:12:53,244 --> 00:12:58,114 I was two months pregnant with our first child at the time, so 256 00:12:58,860 --> 00:13:02,788 talk about a perfect storm of scary circumstances. 257 00:13:02,788 --> 00:13:07,221 But I remember once we got the call and got off the phone and 258 00:13:07,381 --> 00:13:10,090 we learned we were going to lose the lease, and I looked at Kate 259 00:13:10,090 --> 00:13:12,846 and I said we're going to make this the best thing that ever 260 00:13:12,905 --> 00:13:13,567 happened to us. 261 00:13:13,567 --> 00:13:18,004 We just don't know how yet and we tried to hold true to that 262 00:13:18,044 --> 00:13:18,466 promise. 263 00:13:18,547 --> 00:13:20,892 We got down and did the tough work. 264 00:13:20,892 --> 00:13:21,273 You know. 265 00:13:21,273 --> 00:13:24,708 We started making cold calls to people. 266 00:13:24,708 --> 00:13:27,187 We got a white pages subscription and uses county 267 00:13:27,488 --> 00:13:30,879 used, county appraisal, district data and started making cold 268 00:13:30,980 --> 00:13:34,587 calls down the list of landowners in the county and 269 00:13:34,628 --> 00:13:35,429 surrounding counties. 270 00:13:35,429 --> 00:13:39,946 And I don't know if y'all have ever done cold calls, but it is 271 00:13:40,005 --> 00:13:44,833 probably at the very bottom of my list of favorite activities 272 00:13:46,220 --> 00:13:47,846 and stuff. 273 00:13:47,885 --> 00:13:51,388 We, you know, put up flyers and tractor supply in search of 274 00:13:51,427 --> 00:13:52,289 release country. 275 00:13:52,289 --> 00:13:56,831 We posted stuff on social media and really tried to get out 276 00:13:56,890 --> 00:14:00,785 there and you know it ended up being the best thing that ever 277 00:14:00,846 --> 00:14:05,456 happened to us because we pivoted into some really 278 00:14:05,538 --> 00:14:06,381 exciting stuff. 279 00:14:06,381 --> 00:14:09,674 I guess we'll get to talk about it a little bit later, but we 280 00:14:09,855 --> 00:14:15,631 offer targeted grazing services to solar farms through sheep, so 281 00:14:15,631 --> 00:14:18,879 we are able to provide and manage sheep in hybrid grazing 282 00:14:18,980 --> 00:14:23,573 mowing systems on solar farms to help manage vegetation, and the 283 00:14:23,573 --> 00:14:26,361 reason that we pivoted to that was because we lost that leased 284 00:14:26,381 --> 00:14:32,576 country and eventually we actually replaced that leased 285 00:14:32,596 --> 00:14:37,246 country with another property that we're leasing and now we're 286 00:14:37,246 --> 00:14:41,221 way ahead of where we started and it truly was the best thing 287 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:42,182 that ever happened to us. 288 00:14:42,503 --> 00:14:44,765 Speaker 4: I guess way back, but it sure slingshotted us about 289 00:14:44,806 --> 00:14:47,370 10 steps forward, yeah. 290 00:14:47,450 --> 00:14:50,394 Speaker 2: Again, I hope everybody's picking up out of 291 00:14:50,414 --> 00:14:52,344 this great interview what I'm getting. 292 00:14:52,344 --> 00:14:54,629 Number one again. 293 00:14:54,629 --> 00:14:56,173 I'm going to go back to your laser focus. 294 00:14:56,173 --> 00:15:00,469 I absolutely admire that and I like the fact that, like you 295 00:15:00,489 --> 00:15:03,102 said, kate, it's not a matter of we're going to have a drought. 296 00:15:03,102 --> 00:15:04,125 We're going to have droughts. 297 00:15:04,125 --> 00:15:08,057 I live in North Texas, where you know we were on the verge of 298 00:15:08,057 --> 00:15:10,664 becoming the first major city, ghost city in the state of Texas 299 00:15:10,664 --> 00:15:13,461 , because we had three combined lake levels that were down to 300 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:14,423 17%. 301 00:15:14,423 --> 00:15:16,609 I mean it got scary. 302 00:15:16,609 --> 00:15:18,614 And what are you going to do? 303 00:15:18,614 --> 00:15:20,538 You're going to have. 304 00:15:20,599 --> 00:15:24,363 It's like COVID I mean in the world that we dealt with. 305 00:15:24,363 --> 00:15:25,583 Right, covid comes along. 306 00:15:25,583 --> 00:15:26,684 Nobody saw that coming. 307 00:15:26,684 --> 00:15:30,648 It's like Zig Ziglar and Tom Ziglar say. 308 00:15:30,648 --> 00:15:34,751 They say expect the best, prepare for the worst and 309 00:15:34,812 --> 00:15:36,212 capitalize on what comes. 310 00:15:36,212 --> 00:15:38,634 And I love that quote. 311 00:15:38,634 --> 00:15:40,917 Expect the best, prepare for the worst and capitalize that's 312 00:15:40,937 --> 00:15:44,400 what y'all did best. 313 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:45,423 Prepare for the worst and cap. 314 00:15:45,423 --> 00:15:45,943 That's what y'all did. 315 00:15:45,943 --> 00:15:46,565 We didn't see COVID come. 316 00:15:46,585 --> 00:15:49,110 I'm in the world of development, so I do know what you mean when 317 00:15:49,110 --> 00:15:49,672 you talk about cold calls. 318 00:15:49,672 --> 00:15:53,043 But, to your point, you expect the best. 319 00:15:53,043 --> 00:15:56,770 Y'all have a dream that was not built on. 320 00:15:56,770 --> 00:15:59,020 What are we going to have to overcome. 321 00:15:59,020 --> 00:16:02,386 Your dream was based on the blessing of what it's going to 322 00:16:02,407 --> 00:16:06,953 provide, and so, when the challenges come, we prepare for 323 00:16:06,974 --> 00:16:10,721 that and then we capitalize on it, and I think that's the 324 00:16:10,761 --> 00:16:14,770 beauty of y'all's story is, you were hit with some serious 325 00:16:14,811 --> 00:16:19,114 setbacks, but they were never really a setback because you 326 00:16:19,154 --> 00:16:23,006 looked at it as an opportunity to say how are we? 327 00:16:23,006 --> 00:16:24,490 What are we going to do next? 328 00:16:24,490 --> 00:16:26,034 By the way, I do share that. 329 00:16:26,176 --> 00:16:29,172 So all the CEOs, all the people that I've been very fortunate to 330 00:16:29,172 --> 00:16:31,822 work with, I tell everybody they've got one word that's in 331 00:16:31,841 --> 00:16:34,288 their vocabulary that I love One word. 332 00:16:34,288 --> 00:16:35,130 I love this word. 333 00:16:35,130 --> 00:16:35,652 It's called next. 334 00:16:35,652 --> 00:16:39,706 It does not matter if they have a success, what's next? 335 00:16:39,706 --> 00:16:45,520 It doesn't matter if they have a setback, it's what's next. 336 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:47,346 And I think that's the reason why God put our eyes here and 337 00:16:47,407 --> 00:16:52,301 not back here, because he wants us to keep looking forward and 338 00:16:52,581 --> 00:16:55,788 up and doing the things that we know are the right things to do, 339 00:16:55,788 --> 00:16:57,212 and y'all are proof of that. 340 00:16:57,212 --> 00:17:00,283 So I love your resiliency. 341 00:17:00,703 --> 00:17:05,833 I think resiliency is a trait that more people need to have, 342 00:17:05,952 --> 00:17:06,861 especially young people. 343 00:17:06,861 --> 00:17:09,027 That's the reason why I hope the young people are listening 344 00:17:09,067 --> 00:17:09,387 to this. 345 00:17:09,387 --> 00:17:12,182 You're not always going to get a blue ribbon. 346 00:17:12,182 --> 00:17:16,351 I tell people I learned just as much getting the gate as I did 347 00:17:17,519 --> 00:17:22,107 getting a trophy for a calf or a sheep, whatever it may be a pig 348 00:17:22,107 --> 00:17:22,107 . 349 00:17:22,107 --> 00:17:27,424 That's the beauty of resiliency , is you learn, and y'all have 350 00:17:27,585 --> 00:17:29,885 learned, and I love the word, of course, pivot. 351 00:17:29,885 --> 00:17:33,165 No pun intended, but y'all did do that. 352 00:17:33,165 --> 00:17:38,248 And so when y'all began to make those pivots, those changes, 353 00:17:39,691 --> 00:17:44,388 where did this idea come from of why don't we utilize our sheep 354 00:17:44,489 --> 00:17:44,690 here? 355 00:17:44,690 --> 00:17:47,567 How did you vet this out? 356 00:17:49,882 --> 00:17:51,669 Speaker 3: On the solar grazing side of things. 357 00:17:51,669 --> 00:17:54,619 It had been an idea that had been brewing for a long time. 358 00:17:54,619 --> 00:17:59,627 I think that I checked my notes in my phone and October 24th of 359 00:17:59,627 --> 00:18:02,551 2021 was whenever we had a little bullet point written down 360 00:18:02,551 --> 00:18:07,085 that said solar grazing question mark and, for lack of a 361 00:18:07,085 --> 00:18:10,011 better word, the fire was put under us to find something new. 362 00:18:10,011 --> 00:18:12,807 So that's when we really, full steam ahead, tried to pursue it 363 00:18:13,891 --> 00:18:18,286 and we got to utilize some really awesome connections and 364 00:18:18,326 --> 00:18:21,396 mentors that we have, and they were able to point us in the 365 00:18:21,416 --> 00:18:24,625 right direction to the American Solar Grazing Association, where 366 00:18:24,625 --> 00:18:27,212 we were able to become certified solar grazers. 367 00:18:27,212 --> 00:18:31,327 And then we got to work with one of Cade's longtime family 368 00:18:31,387 --> 00:18:36,207 friends to get on our first site , and now we've got how many 369 00:18:36,268 --> 00:18:36,970 sheep on solar? 370 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,528 Speaker 4: About 1,300 ewes currently grazing on two sites 371 00:18:40,667 --> 00:18:41,329 in East Texas. 372 00:18:41,329 --> 00:18:41,790 Yeah. 373 00:18:42,372 --> 00:18:44,164 Speaker 2: Wow, what a story. 374 00:18:44,164 --> 00:18:51,086 So something else that you said in Rio dosa that got my 375 00:18:51,105 --> 00:18:53,529 attention um, there was a great motivational speaker named zig 376 00:18:53,549 --> 00:18:57,584 ziggler and, uh, zig passed away , but his son, tom ziggler, is 377 00:18:57,624 --> 00:18:59,067 now on my board of directors. 378 00:18:59,067 --> 00:19:02,424 So tom and I have a lot of these discussions and we were 379 00:19:02,464 --> 00:19:07,442 talking one day and we were talking about coincidence and I 380 00:19:07,481 --> 00:19:10,730 just made the comment that coincidence is God's way of 381 00:19:10,789 --> 00:19:11,893 remaining anonymous. 382 00:19:11,893 --> 00:19:15,566 And then Tom Ziegler said Aaron , he goes. 383 00:19:15,566 --> 00:19:17,932 In Hebrew there is no such word for coincidence. 384 00:19:17,932 --> 00:19:20,627 There is no word for coincidence. 385 00:19:20,627 --> 00:19:23,848 And I remember when you were sharing your story, you shared 386 00:19:23,868 --> 00:19:27,730 the story about how y'all were at a moment in time where you 387 00:19:27,750 --> 00:19:31,541 were looking for property and you happened on to a gentleman. 388 00:19:31,541 --> 00:19:37,173 Can you tell that story of what happened and how that began to 389 00:19:37,272 --> 00:19:38,114 unpack itself? 390 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:40,221 Speaker 3: Absolutely so. 391 00:19:40,221 --> 00:19:45,950 This was I met this wonderful mentor of ours before we were 392 00:19:45,970 --> 00:19:52,267 even searching for lease country very hard, so it was probably 393 00:19:52,748 --> 00:19:56,420 in at the end of 2021, maybe beginning of 2022. 394 00:19:56,420 --> 00:19:59,228 I was sitting there, I was getting my oil changed at our 395 00:19:59,268 --> 00:20:03,188 local Ford dealership and I just struck up a conversation with a 396 00:20:03,188 --> 00:20:05,835 gentleman next to me Ford dealership and I just struck up 397 00:20:05,855 --> 00:20:11,181 a conversation with a gentleman next to me and we talked 398 00:20:11,201 --> 00:20:12,523 probably for the entire hour that it took for us to both get 399 00:20:12,544 --> 00:20:13,265 the work done on our vehicles and we. 400 00:20:13,265 --> 00:20:15,410 He ended up being one of the most exceptional mentors we've 401 00:20:15,570 --> 00:20:20,587 ever had, just one of the most kind hearted people I've ever 402 00:20:20,628 --> 00:20:25,057 met, and whenever we lost that lease, he was one of the first 403 00:20:25,097 --> 00:20:29,508 people I mentioned to like, hey, if you know of anyone who is 404 00:20:29,548 --> 00:20:31,853 looking to lease out their property, please let us know. 405 00:20:31,853 --> 00:20:35,207 And about two or three months later, he gives me a call. 406 00:20:35,248 --> 00:20:37,580 I think that Cade and I were putting in a water tap at a 407 00:20:37,621 --> 00:20:43,954 solar farm and I answered it and he said hi, morgan, I am here 408 00:20:44,115 --> 00:20:47,300 with so-and-so and they're looking at leasing out their 409 00:20:47,382 --> 00:20:48,042 family ranch. 410 00:20:48,042 --> 00:20:50,887 You're on speakerphone, tell them about yourself. 411 00:20:50,887 --> 00:20:57,207 And that got our foot in the door that got us to the lease 412 00:20:57,267 --> 00:20:59,780 interview and the bidding process and we were able to come 413 00:20:59,780 --> 00:21:01,083 through and secure the lease. 414 00:21:01,083 --> 00:21:05,630 And all because of that one conversation we happened upon 415 00:21:05,911 --> 00:21:08,454 one of the biggest opportunities to our operation. 416 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,246 Speaker 4: Yeah, and just kind of expound on that a little bit. 417 00:21:11,246 --> 00:21:13,881 I mean, you never put yourself out there, you never know who 418 00:21:13,901 --> 00:21:16,729 you're going to meet, you never know what might happen, what 419 00:21:16,769 --> 00:21:21,387 might come from that, and just be genuine. 420 00:21:21,888 --> 00:21:25,096 Speaker 3: Yeah, every single conversation is an opportunity, 421 00:21:25,277 --> 00:21:28,182 an opportunity to make a connection or an opportunity to 422 00:21:28,223 --> 00:21:31,392 help someone, and whether you're sitting in line at the grocery 423 00:21:31,432 --> 00:21:34,490 store or the doctor's office, there is always opportunity in 424 00:21:34,510 --> 00:21:38,002 the conversations you can have and your ability to help someone 425 00:21:38,002 --> 00:21:38,964 or have someone help you. 426 00:21:40,086 --> 00:21:43,273 Speaker 2: I can tell you in my career, one of the programs that 427 00:21:43,273 --> 00:21:46,387 we run at the Texas FFA convention is we've got a 428 00:21:46,448 --> 00:21:49,603 program called the Foundation Ambassadors and we have about 429 00:21:49,643 --> 00:21:51,007 300 kids apply. 430 00:21:51,007 --> 00:21:52,290 We take 70. 431 00:21:52,290 --> 00:21:55,847 And for a week we train them and they host all of our 432 00:21:55,867 --> 00:21:57,551 sponsors, all of our dignitaries . 433 00:21:57,551 --> 00:21:59,227 They do all that for the week. 434 00:21:59,227 --> 00:22:03,345 But one of the awards that we give is called the Three Foot 435 00:22:03,766 --> 00:22:08,753 Award and we teach the kids get to know anybody that's within 436 00:22:08,794 --> 00:22:26,182 three feet of you, Because anybody that's within three feet 437 00:22:26,182 --> 00:22:27,306 of you could become a customer, a client, a colleague, a 438 00:22:27,326 --> 00:22:28,328 constituent, a consultant, a mentor, an encourager. 439 00:22:28,328 --> 00:22:29,553 But think about it, Just like you said, both of you said you, 440 00:22:29,573 --> 00:22:30,615 you put yourself out there and you build connection. 441 00:22:30,615 --> 00:22:31,638 Because God didn't create us to be the lone ranger. 442 00:22:31,638 --> 00:22:35,165 Uh, he created us to be in relationship, and the more of 443 00:22:35,205 --> 00:22:39,013 those that we have, uh, we're able to solve problems quicker, 444 00:22:39,401 --> 00:22:41,685 we're able to take advantage of opportunities quicker. 445 00:22:42,287 --> 00:22:46,747 So the fact that y'all are living proof that getting an oil 446 00:22:46,747 --> 00:22:52,231 change was a moment that you jumped out there and look at 447 00:22:52,271 --> 00:22:52,772 what happened. 448 00:22:52,772 --> 00:22:56,288 So I appreciate you sharing that story. 449 00:22:56,288 --> 00:22:59,346 I just wanted to share that with you, that I really valued 450 00:22:59,386 --> 00:23:02,422 that For the young people that may be listening, or the ag 451 00:23:02,461 --> 00:23:03,826 teachers or agents. 452 00:23:03,826 --> 00:23:08,346 Or, by the way, the podcast goes nationwide Just out of 453 00:23:08,385 --> 00:23:09,167 curiosity. 454 00:23:09,167 --> 00:23:12,353 Are there opportunities? 455 00:23:12,353 --> 00:23:14,143 Do y'all see a future in agriculture? 456 00:23:14,143 --> 00:23:19,559 Do y'all see a future in farming absolutely you're gonna 457 00:23:19,579 --> 00:23:20,962 touch on that one yeah, no, absolutely. 458 00:23:21,002 --> 00:23:23,214 Speaker 4: I mean like agriculture today doesn't sure 459 00:23:23,236 --> 00:23:26,163 does not look the same as it did 100 years ago, but it's not 460 00:23:26,183 --> 00:23:26,885 necessarily a bad thing. 461 00:23:26,885 --> 00:23:28,818 I mean you always gotta look back, respect the tradition, 462 00:23:28,878 --> 00:23:32,696 respect what was done, learn from the older, older folks that 463 00:23:32,696 --> 00:23:35,869 have been in this profession for 50 plus years, listen to 464 00:23:35,890 --> 00:23:38,921 them, listen to their mentorship , take their advice, but at the 465 00:23:38,941 --> 00:23:42,534 same time too, look forward to other opportunities like solar 466 00:23:42,554 --> 00:23:43,316 grazing, for example. 467 00:23:43,316 --> 00:23:44,057 What we're doing now. 468 00:23:44,057 --> 00:23:48,186 This is relatively new and on a large scale in texas. 469 00:23:48,186 --> 00:23:50,159 I mean this is something that's been going on the east coast 470 00:23:50,219 --> 00:23:54,067 for 15 years now, on smaller scale, more community scale 471 00:23:54,355 --> 00:23:58,301 sites that are 15 20 acres, but larger utility scales. 472 00:23:58,301 --> 00:24:01,507 Grazing sheep under those in Texas is probably the past five, 473 00:24:01,507 --> 00:24:07,180 eight years, realistically, so it's times have changed a little 474 00:24:07,180 --> 00:24:07,441 bit. 475 00:24:07,441 --> 00:24:10,647 But I mean, grab those opportunities and hang on tight. 476 00:24:11,595 --> 00:24:12,116 Speaker 3: Exactly. 477 00:24:12,116 --> 00:24:15,226 You know you can look at your circumstances and find 478 00:24:15,287 --> 00:24:18,516 challenges and opportunities in any single circumstance, and we 479 00:24:18,536 --> 00:24:21,863 choose to understand the challenges because they're there 480 00:24:21,863 --> 00:24:23,686 and they're real and it would be silly to ignore them. 481 00:24:23,886 --> 00:24:27,335 Speaker 2: but we chose to have laser focus on the opportunities 482 00:24:27,335 --> 00:24:33,847 and how we can use those to help put high quality protein on 483 00:24:33,847 --> 00:24:37,964 people's plates I just want you to know, morgan, that when we 484 00:24:38,005 --> 00:24:40,615 do podcast interviews, I'm always listening for what the 485 00:24:40,654 --> 00:24:44,556 title of this podcast is going to be, and you've already y'all 486 00:24:44,576 --> 00:24:46,355 have already given me three different titles that I've 487 00:24:46,375 --> 00:24:47,862 written down throughout this whole time. 488 00:24:48,343 --> 00:24:48,845 Speaker 3: Awesome. 489 00:24:49,035 --> 00:24:51,256 Speaker 2: So that you just threw another one out there to 490 00:24:51,297 --> 00:24:53,460 make this even more challenging to find the right one. 491 00:24:53,460 --> 00:24:58,663 Let's talk from the standpoint again. 492 00:24:58,663 --> 00:25:01,243 I said if you want to know what the future is, grow it. 493 00:25:01,243 --> 00:25:06,884 So hopefully we're planting some seeds in the imagination of 494 00:25:06,884 --> 00:25:10,720 young people that life's not a solo project. 495 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,544 You've got to dream big. 496 00:25:12,544 --> 00:25:14,237 You've got to work hard to make your dreams come true. 497 00:25:14,237 --> 00:25:18,006 That takes leadership, and leadership is not easy. 498 00:25:18,006 --> 00:25:19,036 Y'all have said it already. 499 00:25:19,036 --> 00:25:20,903 You've already talked about the challenges that come with 500 00:25:20,923 --> 00:25:23,884 leadership, but give us three leadership tips. 501 00:25:23,884 --> 00:25:26,656 If you were going to give a young person or a teacher or a 502 00:25:26,717 --> 00:25:31,372 colleague or somebody close to you a leadership tip, what would 503 00:25:31,372 --> 00:25:33,076 be three leadership tips you'd give them? 504 00:25:34,798 --> 00:25:38,282 Speaker 3: The number one, most important one that I would share 505 00:25:38,282 --> 00:25:41,326 is lean on your faith in the Lord. 506 00:25:41,326 --> 00:25:44,631 The Lord is the sole reason Caden and I are here today. 507 00:25:44,631 --> 00:25:48,767 We are not here by our own actions, by our own doing. 508 00:25:48,767 --> 00:25:52,526 We are here because it is God's will and he has placed us here 509 00:25:53,198 --> 00:25:56,740 and in our mission statement, which we have built around the 510 00:25:56,759 --> 00:25:57,422 Lord is. 511 00:25:57,422 --> 00:26:01,384 Our mission is to be good stewards of God's creation by 512 00:26:01,443 --> 00:26:04,396 producing profitable and productive livestock for both 513 00:26:04,436 --> 00:26:08,299 consumers and fellow ranchers, and my favorite part of that is 514 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:09,765 good stewards of God's creation. 515 00:26:10,174 --> 00:26:13,335 So, my number one tip would be lay on your faith in the Lord 516 00:26:13,896 --> 00:26:17,006 and just let him see what he's going to do in your life, 517 00:26:17,015 --> 00:26:20,144 because it's going to be pretty exceptional whenever you fully 518 00:26:20,183 --> 00:26:20,605 trust him. 519 00:26:22,435 --> 00:26:25,477 Speaker 4: Yeah, I'd say for me, and big one, is resiliency. 520 00:26:25,477 --> 00:26:27,884 I mean, like I mentioned earlier, it's not if drought's 521 00:26:27,903 --> 00:26:28,526 gonna hit, it's when. 522 00:26:28,526 --> 00:26:31,480 And just be prepared, be thinking ahead, think towards 523 00:26:31,501 --> 00:26:31,882 the future. 524 00:26:31,882 --> 00:26:34,567 Um, don't get your head down. 525 00:26:34,567 --> 00:26:38,729 Whenever circumstances just kind of take a turn on you, keep 526 00:26:38,729 --> 00:26:42,701 your head down, keep going, power through it or find 527 00:26:42,721 --> 00:26:46,041 something else, find a new opportunity, and you got to go 528 00:26:46,082 --> 00:26:46,702 out and look for them. 529 00:26:46,702 --> 00:26:48,415 They may not necessarily all fall in your lap. 530 00:26:48,415 --> 00:26:49,478 You got to pursue them. 531 00:26:50,599 --> 00:26:52,502 Speaker 3: Exactly. 532 00:26:52,502 --> 00:26:56,415 And I think the third one that we would probably say is 533 00:26:56,556 --> 00:26:57,277 creativity. 534 00:26:57,277 --> 00:27:01,763 You know, one of the biggest skills you can have is for 535 00:27:01,983 --> 00:27:08,056 finding creative solutions to complex situations, and your 536 00:27:08,215 --> 00:27:12,080 ability to adapt and be creative in tough times and good times 537 00:27:12,862 --> 00:27:17,627 is one of the biggest skills I think you can have as a young 538 00:27:17,667 --> 00:27:20,270 person or a more tenured farmer or rancher. 539 00:27:20,270 --> 00:27:27,922 I really think that creativity is highly, highly important by 540 00:27:27,942 --> 00:27:29,325 the way, everything that y'all just said. 541 00:27:29,345 --> 00:27:32,878 Speaker 2: The reason I love all this is because if we do read 542 00:27:32,919 --> 00:27:36,686 the bible and I tell people you can read it as a history book, 543 00:27:36,727 --> 00:27:40,000 you can read it as a religious book, I don't care which 544 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,548 direction you read it, but it's really got some great content in 545 00:27:43,548 --> 00:27:45,037 it. 546 00:27:45,037 --> 00:27:45,699 I would agree. 547 00:27:45,699 --> 00:27:51,567 There's a lot of agriculture in there, a lot of agriculture in 548 00:27:51,607 --> 00:27:55,200 there, and so it tells me that there must be a lot of life 549 00:27:55,259 --> 00:28:00,538 lessons that come out of growing things and planning things and 550 00:28:00,999 --> 00:28:05,298 expecting things and nurturing things and weeding things and 551 00:28:05,357 --> 00:28:06,359 calling things. 552 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,968 There's just a lot of wisdom that I think comes out of that. 553 00:28:09,968 --> 00:28:11,397 And y'all, just y'all said it. 554 00:28:11,397 --> 00:28:14,707 You know, I asked the young people a lot of times to name 555 00:28:14,727 --> 00:28:17,582 the most successful people they can, and they'll name movie 556 00:28:17,642 --> 00:28:21,838 stars and athletes and business leaders, and I always ask them, 557 00:28:21,900 --> 00:28:25,999 I said just name one of those, just one that every day gets up 558 00:28:26,039 --> 00:28:27,263 and makes their own heartbeat. 559 00:28:27,263 --> 00:28:33,324 Somebody allows us to be here because there's a purpose. 560 00:28:34,816 --> 00:28:38,226 That purpose is going to be faced with some challenges. 561 00:28:39,135 --> 00:28:41,763 And I tell people if you want a place that it never rains, I can 562 00:28:41,763 --> 00:28:42,266 take you there. 563 00:28:42,266 --> 00:28:42,925 It exists. 564 00:28:42,925 --> 00:28:44,606 It's called a desert, and I tell people if you want a place 565 00:28:44,626 --> 00:28:45,788 that it never rains, I can take you there. 566 00:28:45,788 --> 00:28:45,988 It exists. 567 00:28:45,988 --> 00:28:47,249 It's called a desert and nothing grows. 568 00:28:47,249 --> 00:28:52,270 But you show me somebody that's had a little rain and I'll show 569 00:28:52,270 --> 00:28:54,653 you somebody that's had an opportunity, will have an 570 00:28:54,752 --> 00:28:58,739 opportunity to grow, and that's resiliency, and y'all are proof 571 00:28:58,759 --> 00:28:58,939 of that. 572 00:28:58,939 --> 00:29:01,303 And then, lastly and y'all are proof of that and then lastly, 573 00:29:02,023 --> 00:29:05,367 you know, we have to be innovators and not imitators. 574 00:29:05,367 --> 00:29:13,865 We've got to be creative, we've got to be thinking. 575 00:29:13,865 --> 00:29:14,710 You know what, if what's next? 576 00:29:14,710 --> 00:29:19,903 And I just appreciate y'all sharing your story, because your 577 00:29:19,903 --> 00:29:24,542 story is a story of a vision, of a dream, of family, of faith, 578 00:29:24,542 --> 00:29:27,209 of resiliency, of creativity. 579 00:29:27,209 --> 00:29:31,785 Again, when I heard y'all at Ria Dosa, I said I've got to 580 00:29:31,805 --> 00:29:35,858 have them on this show because it's everything that I hope 581 00:29:35,919 --> 00:29:38,142 young people, teachers, can embrace. 582 00:29:38,142 --> 00:29:42,906 I call it the three E's encourage, equip and empower. 583 00:29:42,906 --> 00:29:46,131 And that's what life's about. 584 00:29:47,855 --> 00:29:51,265 We, you know it's crazy to think that maybe why we're here today 585 00:29:51,265 --> 00:29:58,662 is that your child, my child, my grandchildren they may have 586 00:29:58,702 --> 00:30:00,045 to lean on each other one day. 587 00:30:00,045 --> 00:30:04,433 We don't know that they may have to lean on each other one 588 00:30:04,453 --> 00:30:04,513 day. 589 00:30:04,513 --> 00:30:05,015 We don't know that. 590 00:30:05,015 --> 00:30:06,751 But maybe it's because of what we did today that we pour into 591 00:30:06,771 --> 00:30:10,961 their futures, because we planted seeds that taught them 592 00:30:11,041 --> 00:30:13,247 these very essences of leadership. 593 00:30:13,247 --> 00:30:16,884 So I just want to say thank you to both of you. 594 00:30:16,884 --> 00:30:20,377 Thank you for sharing your story, thank you for being 595 00:30:20,417 --> 00:30:21,563 willing to share your story. 596 00:30:21,563 --> 00:30:24,844 Not everybody wants to share that. 597 00:30:24,844 --> 00:30:29,421 They had challenges or setbacks , but I think it's inspiring to 598 00:30:29,461 --> 00:30:34,939 hear those that found ways to overcome and that you did it 599 00:30:34,979 --> 00:30:35,359 together. 600 00:30:37,242 --> 00:30:37,383 Speaker 4: And. 601 00:30:37,844 --> 00:30:41,009 Speaker 2: I found that very inspiration, so thank you for 602 00:30:41,028 --> 00:30:41,470 doing that. 603 00:30:41,470 --> 00:30:43,398 I found that very inspiration, so thank you for doing that. 604 00:30:43,398 --> 00:30:45,604 All right, so let's wrap this up. 605 00:30:45,604 --> 00:30:47,688 This is all good stuff, though. 606 00:30:47,688 --> 00:30:49,935 I mean we. 607 00:30:49,935 --> 00:30:52,807 I keep talking to y'all all day long. 608 00:30:55,596 --> 00:30:56,959 Speaker 1: Everybody gets a fun question at the end of the show. 609 00:30:57,019 --> 00:30:58,182 Speaker 2: So here's your fun question. 610 00:30:59,905 --> 00:31:06,416 Speaker 3: Hey, Morgan what's the best concert y'all ever been 611 00:31:06,416 --> 00:31:06,497 to? 612 00:31:06,497 --> 00:31:10,746 Oh man, I was not expecting that one. 613 00:31:10,746 --> 00:31:12,189 Uh hey, do you want to go first ? 614 00:31:12,189 --> 00:31:17,480 I think the last concert you know we don't make it off the 615 00:31:17,539 --> 00:31:21,326 ranch very often for those kind of things, but I would say 616 00:31:21,365 --> 00:31:25,923 probably in college I really enjoyed um Shane Smith and the 617 00:31:25,982 --> 00:31:26,243 Saints. 618 00:31:26,304 --> 00:31:28,092 Speaker 4: I think that's the first concert Kate and I ever 619 00:31:28,132 --> 00:31:33,426 went to together, so there you go at the now, uh, or the no 620 00:31:33,446 --> 00:31:38,259 longer standing Hurricane Harry's in Colton which I now I 621 00:31:38,278 --> 00:31:41,506 think is a parking lot yeah, yeah it, it's your change. 622 00:31:41,506 --> 00:31:42,047 I'll say that. 623 00:31:42,107 --> 00:31:45,279 Speaker 2: Yeah, now I get to say you're dating yourself a 624 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:47,124 little bit yeah. 625 00:31:48,287 --> 00:31:50,260 That's great, that is absolutely great. 626 00:31:50,260 --> 00:31:54,619 Yeah, I think it's a fun question and the spectrum is 627 00:31:54,721 --> 00:32:02,226 unbelievable Everything from Metallica to Pitbull to the 628 00:32:02,266 --> 00:32:05,521 greatest showman, and then, of course, george Strait's, always 629 00:32:05,541 --> 00:32:06,064 popular. 630 00:32:06,064 --> 00:32:09,901 Oh yeah, I'm sure it's always fun to ask people, because I 631 00:32:09,961 --> 00:32:13,417 think it's just another insight into life, that the same thing 632 00:32:13,438 --> 00:32:17,921 that motivates you, motivates me Family, friends, a good song, 633 00:32:18,102 --> 00:32:21,961 good movie, a good book and so I think it's fun to ask people 634 00:32:22,343 --> 00:32:23,807 what's your best concert? 635 00:32:23,807 --> 00:32:26,780 And there have been some really good responses to that. 636 00:32:29,205 --> 00:32:32,137 Well, cade Morgan, I just want to say again, thank you, thank 637 00:32:32,157 --> 00:32:34,924 you for your story, thank you for your testimony, thank you 638 00:32:34,964 --> 00:32:38,718 for your example, thank you for your willingness to share. 639 00:32:38,718 --> 00:32:45,170 I'm hopeful that whoever tunes in and God's going to have tune 640 00:32:45,210 --> 00:32:48,508 in, who God wants to hear the message I hope that when they do 641 00:32:48,508 --> 00:32:52,259 tune in, that they're going to get those three E's, they're 642 00:32:52,278 --> 00:32:56,268 going to be encouraged, equipped and empowered to go out and 643 00:32:56,307 --> 00:32:58,461 grow a better future for them, their families, their 644 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:00,286 communities, our state and our country. 645 00:33:00,286 --> 00:33:04,398 So the fact that y'all are willing to share today, it means 646 00:33:04,398 --> 00:33:04,740 a lot. 647 00:33:06,423 --> 00:33:06,964 Speaker 3: Well, thank you. 648 00:33:06,964 --> 00:33:08,776 We're super excited to have been here. 649 00:33:08,776 --> 00:33:09,839 Thank you for the invitation. 650 00:33:09,839 --> 00:33:11,003 It means a lot to us as well. 651 00:33:12,238 --> 00:33:12,799 Speaker 4: Thank you much. 652 00:33:12,799 --> 00:33:14,685 We really appreciate the opportunity. 653 00:33:15,654 --> 00:33:17,877 Speaker 2: Sure and okay for all the listeners. 654 00:33:17,877 --> 00:33:19,059 Thank you for stopping by. 655 00:33:19,059 --> 00:33:23,486 I meant time you can't save it, you can only spend it and the 656 00:33:23,546 --> 00:33:25,608 fact that y'all are willing to spend a little bit of your time 657 00:33:25,628 --> 00:33:26,309 with us today. 658 00:33:26,309 --> 00:33:33,221 We hope you found something of value here, maybe some seeds 659 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:34,866 that you can plant in your life, that you can grow it even 660 00:33:34,886 --> 00:33:35,249 better tomorrow. 661 00:33:35,249 --> 00:33:37,296 So until the next time we meet, go out and do something great 662 00:33:37,316 --> 00:33:37,916 for somebody. 663 00:33:37,916 --> 00:33:41,064 You'll feel good about it and guess what? 664 00:33:41,064 --> 00:33:44,257 By doing so you'll just make our world a better place to live 665 00:33:44,257 --> 00:33:45,900 , work and raise our children. 666 00:33:45,900 --> 00:33:48,204 So thank y'all for joining us today. 667 00:33:49,086 --> 00:33:50,469 Speaker 3: Yes, sir, thank you, Thank you. 668 00:33:55,715 --> 00:33:57,682 Speaker 1: We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the 669 00:33:57,721 --> 00:33:59,287 Growing Our Future podcast. 670 00:33:59,287 --> 00:34:03,635 This show is sponsored by the Texas FFA Foundation, whose 671 00:34:03,717 --> 00:34:06,575 mission is to strengthen agricultural science education 672 00:34:07,118 --> 00:34:10,018 so students can develop their potential for personal growth, 673 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,563 career success and leadership in a global marketplace. 674 00:34:13,563 --> 00:34:15,900 Learn more at mytexasffaorg.