The Poultry Leadership Podcast
"Welcome to 'The Poultry Leadership Podcast,' where we dive deep into the world of poultry leadership to help you soar to new heights in your career. Join us as we sit down with some of the industry's most accomplished leaders, farm owners, and allied professionals. Gain valuable insights, strategies, and personal stories that reveal the secrets behind their success. Discover what makes these poultry visionaries the outstanding leaders they are. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, our show is your go-to resource for unlocking your full leadership potential. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey to becoming the poultry leader you aspire to be."
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The Poultry Leadership Podcast
Bet the Farm: Mike Weber's Fight Against Activist Attacks & Avian Flu
What happens when 400 vegan activists storm your chicken houses? How do you rally an entire county to defeat a ballot measure designed to eliminate family farming? And what drives someone to keep producing food when faced with one existential threat after another?
Mike Weber, fourth-generation California egg farmer, doesn't just survive challenges—he transforms them into opportunities for community building and innovation. From the moment his family decided to "bet the farm" and modernize their century-old operation, they've faced a gauntlet of trials that would have broken most businesses: activist invasions, politically-motivated ballot initiatives, and devastating avian influenza outbreaks.
"We've been tested by fire and flame and everything there possibly is in the last few years—and it's kind of made us stronger for it," Weber explains. His story reveals the remarkable resilience at the heart of American agriculture and the complex reality of farming just 35 miles from San Francisco. When vegan activists orchestrated what Weber calls a "vegan insurrection" on their property, the farm responded not with anger but with transparency. When a ballot initiative threatened all animal agriculture in their county, the Webers helped unite an entire community around their agricultural heritage, eventually winning by an astonishing 85% to 15% margin.
Most powerfully, Weber's account challenges simplistic narratives about modern farming. His operation pioneers environmental sustainability with 2,500 solar panels, innovative manure processing systems, and organic fertilizer production. When neighboring farms faced avian influenza outbreaks, Weber and his team suited up in protective gear to help contain the spread—putting community welfare above competitive advantage.
"Someone's got to feed America," Weber says when asked why he persists despite these extraordinary challenges. His philosophy of stewardship speaks to a deeper purpose: "This isn't our farm. We're just taking care of it until our dad comes back...and we want him to be really proud about where we're at."
Ready to understand what really happens behind the scenes in American agriculture? Listen now to this eye-opening conversation that will forever change how you think about the people who produce your food.
Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Commercial Accounts - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com
Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast. I'm your Brandon Mulnix, and on today's episode I have Mike Weber. Mike Weber is fourth generation farmer in California and I'm excited to share Mike's story with you because, as I've gotten to know the Weber family over the last five years, it has been an absolute pleasure because I haven't met two brothers more passionate and more engaged in their farm on a whole than these two. They live it, they breathe it and I'm excited to share Mike with you. So, Mike, welcome to the show.
Mike Weber:Thank you, thanks for letting me be part of it.
Brandon Mulnix:Hey Mike, can you give the audience a little summary about mike weber, a little introduction about yourself and maybe the weber farm?
Mike Weber:yeah, we're, you said we're we're fourth generation farmers and I know there's many people that are fifth and sixth and seventh california. We're kind of a dying breed. You have to be kind of half crazy to be in farming in the first place and then to do it generation after generation got to be even crazier. And it's not easy to compete in a way where you have to have lots of capital these days, especially to be in poultry where it's insanely capital intensive, and to then also have the skills to deal with all the challenges. And we've had a whole slew of interesting challenges. So we've kind of been tested by fire and flame and everything there possibly is in the last few years and kind of made us stronger for it.
Mike Weber:So we operate an egg farm, so we produce table eggs for Northern California, both organic and standard conventional white, cage-free eggs. We managed the cage-free transition in California which happened several years ago. First we managed a transition where we had to go from really no specification how much space for birds to a prop two standard, which meant they had 116 inches per bird, and then to cage-free, which is kind of like Columbus burning his ships. And then we've dealt with our fun with animal activists and we've dealt with bird flu for the last couple years in our area and we've been a victim of it and we've been a successor, in the sense we overcame it and prevented it from coming back. So we've had some good fun and somehow we still managed to be brothers. It's good.
Brandon Mulnix:So, in looking back on a little bit of your history and just what I've known and heard about the farm, when you and your brother kind of took over, it wasn't by normal happenstance, correct.
Mike Weber:Well, our dad had been a poultryman since the day he was born and my grandfather our grandfather had built a bunch of chicken houses on this property which is adjacent to the original property that our great-grandfather had poultry buildings on. So when our dad was, dad was pretty much incapacitated in his last years and he had one functioning chicken house and we were in a partnership with some of their partners and had some other ranches. But everything was pretty dated and pretty end of life from an equipment perspective. I wasn't part of the business. I had flown the coop if you want to make a pun on it and was working in the professional world.
Mike Weber:It was real evident to us that if we were going to stay in it we were going to have to bet the farm, bet the inheritance and just kind of risk everything.
Mike Weber:Either that or you sell the farm and close it down, which so many of our friends growing up we watch their families and both dairy and poultry go through, you know, and that's just the ongoing crisis with farming. There was kind of a need deep down inside, like a legacy need, you know, that we wanted to fulfill a little bit. And then there was also kind of a like, a little bit of a gambler need that I think we can. I think we can do this need that. I think we can do this and I think we can do it well because the farmers of today, they have to be able to adapt, they have to be a little more nimble. They don't necessarily need to be smarter, it helps. But you just got to be able to pivot and at times, make some really tough decisions and be comfortable with the decision you made and see where the roulette wheel turns out when it stops rolling. And we've done that several times. And the harder we work, you know, as the saying goes, the luckier we've been able to get.
Brandon Mulnix:So you took over from dad. You've built this business and, as you mentioned, it hasn't been easy. Looking back on growing up with dad being a poultry man, what is one of the things that you learned from your dad that you're able to continue to use today?
Mike Weber:It's a really good question. My dad had a lot more patience than I have, so I'm still learning that one A little more tolerance. Yeah, he was also one of those who talked about self-denial that yes, there are things you want, that's great, keep working, you don't need them. He had that mindset. There's seven days in the week, so you work seven days and even when you weren't physically working, you're still working. So we've had that drive for quite a while. Sometimes you need that extra muscle to get through the highs and lows.
Mike Weber:One of the things I saw real quickly when I came back with my that helped me to remember learning that our dad taught was to always be looking for the root cause of things you know. So one of the things we're always looking at is what caused this problem. Brandon, I'm happy you fixed it. That's great, gold star. You know great job, gold star. You know great job. But if you can't tell me why it broke and we're just as much at risk today because we don't know what put us in that bad situation and how can we change things, redo the process, put other things in place so we don't find ourselves in that situation again.
Mike Weber:For me, things have become so complex that I get pulled into. I call them the morning turds. I show up and I collect everybody's morning turds. Everybody's got a turd to throw in my basket that I got to deal with and that's just part of life, right? So once they're resolved, my focus is in preventing it from happening again and putting in either process or changes so we're not going to see that one pop up and have that discussion with them, or that they can either predict it happening so we can cut it off before it happens, or that they're empowered to do whatever's needed, so that you know we're free of this kind of silliness so we can keep focusing on the important stuff. You know it took coming back and picking that up from my brother and then having him really illustrate to me you know, the teaching that our dad gave us way back when.
Brandon Mulnix:So, speaking of your brother, not everybody can work with family. Has it always been easy to work with your brother?
Mike Weber:Yeah, it's a great question. We're very different people, so I think that's what really helps, and we both have a different way to process things. We both have a different way when we get frustrated or whatever. You know, part of it is just you know, I'm much more transparent and this is how I feel. This is what I think, this is what we should do, and for some people, you kind of you have to give them time to process and come to their own conclusion on it, and you can't press them. So I know how to work with them that way.
Mike Weber:There's other times when I just look over at him Are we good, ready to go? Or he'll look at me You're good, yeah, let's go. And at that point the decision's made. We didn't have to have a board of directors and sit around eating pastries and sipping Starbucks and all that kind of crap. You just hit the ground and start going. And there's times when there's so much uncertainty or we're facing something that doesn't look good, but it's like, okay, well, can't run from it, it's our mess to go fix, let's go do it. We find ourselves gravitating into the roles where our personalities and our strengths benefit us the most. And because we're so different. That way it's a powerful combination. I haven't had a business experience where I've been this fortunate. Too often in big companies people are kind of homogeneous and have the diversity of talent, experience and passion to win together.
Brandon Mulnix:That's great that you have a partner like Scott. Yeah, he's a good dude love, love my time hanging out with him. I always learn something from him and it's always a blessing to be around him. Now you mentioned morning turds. I really like that, that analogy but you guys have faced a lot of morning turds and one of them that has really stood out to me that most farms in the US have not had to experience is the fact that you happen to be 30-40 minutes from just kind of an area where that produces a lot of folks that just don't like farming, and I'd like to talk a little bit about the activism and some of the things that you guys have had to experience that most farms just take for granted as they read in the news and they see it, but you guys have actually experienced it. Can you give me some of the background on that?
Mike Weber:Yeah, so we're in Northern California, just north of San Francisco, maybe 30 miles, 35 miles. We're also north of Oakland and Berkeley, and Berkeley has a pretty famous university there incredible university, a lot of really smart people, talented people. But it also has some people that are kind of on the fringe in many different areas, and there was a vegan activist group that came together with the sole purpose of putting animal agriculture out of business. That's their whole mission and it's their lifestyle, it's their religion, it's every part of their who they are is defined by their veganism. And there's, if you know, people who are vegan. I have quite a few friends. Many of them are there for a reason that they have either they just don't like meat or they have a belief that by not eating meat or meat products or animal products benefits the environment, which is great. But seldom do they come out and say you're an evil person.
Mike Weber:So this is a subset of the one or two percent of Americans that are vegan. They're young people. They're preyed upon by the people who kind of founded it and they believe that they should have direct action, meaning you should go and confront the places where meat and animal products are produced, are processed or are sold. So they will go into supermarkets and they'll take crazy glue and stick them right on the meat counter and glue themselves to it. They will take what looks like blood and in front of a store they'll dump blood all over them to and start screaming all these horrible things, Uh. They will chain themselves at poultry ranches and at meat packing places and slaughterhouses to try to raise awareness that meat is bad.
Mike Weber:You know, we believe strongly everybody's got the right to free speech. But there's a time when you kind of turn in your right to free speech. When you're trespassing on a property, You're impacting somebody's business, putting yourself and others at danger and actually costing that company. And that's what this particular group has done to several different poultry and dairy operations in California, including our own.
Brandon Mulnix:Are you able to talk about anything specific that you had to deal with?
Mike Weber:Oh sure. So we had 400 people get bussed in to the cemetery where my parents and grandparents and great-grandparents are buried. They got out of the buses there, they ran up to our farm and they ran onto our property and occupied our property. They conducted a vegan insurrection. They pried open the doors the locked doors to our poultry buildings and they ran in there to rescue the abused and dying chickens that they stated were all over the building and when they emerged, they were holding these totally emaciated, fully feathered, nice, great.
Mike Weber:Everything about the birds that came out were perfect. You know, the birds were like 56 weeks of age. They're fully feathered. There wasn't even a single bird that had a few feathers missing from its neck or its vent. Everything was perfect. It was like you couldn't find the dead ones were so fast they couldn't keep up with them, they just ran away. So these vegan activists weren't able to get any sick or dying birds, although they said they were everywhere, you know.
Mike Weber:So I made fun of it, but it's like the hypocrisy in their statements. And so I filmed it. I filmed all the people that came out. I filmed every one of the birds.
Mike Weber:I filmed them holding it and none of them actually understood how to hold a chicken, which you know for most people. If you're at home, you might not understand how to hold a chicken, but you don't go up and hold a baby, you know, by its neck, like this. Well, chickens, they have air sacs. You don't crush their air sacs and when you put a whole bunch of pressure around their belly, where their air sacs are, they can't breathe. So what they do is they stick their head out and they open their mouth and they you know they look like they're struggling because they are. A chicken needs to roost on a person's hand. It's the first thing we teach any new employee. This is how you hold a chicken. Let it sit on your hands. It'll grab it. Wrap your arms around the wings so they won't slap. You can walk all over the place. Chicken will be fine. It's breathing fine.
Mike Weber:None of these individuals knew what the hell they were doing, but you know they were in holding this insurrection event to steal our chickens and do a protest. It took a couple hours for police to get them to move up there and it's not like we got a huge law enforcement presence in our county. There's two people, two sheriff officers that are South County. So they called in all the local police jurisdictions for help and finally these individuals moved to the top of the property and they continued to protest and they had even called the media. And what's funny about the media was the San Francisco News Channel was there and the guy had a camera and he put it down and I remember standing up there and listening and they're saying why aren't you filming? Why aren't you filming?
Mike Weber:Contrived, it's a form of performative acting to try to show this contrived outrage that these are horrible people and they're doing all these horrible things. But when we looked at their live streams and we looked at all the video that they posted, not once did we see a dead chicken. So our employees had picked up all the dead chickens, because we have dead chickens Every farm does. The employees had picked up all the injured chickens if there were any, and put them in hospital pens or dealt with them appropriately, because they weren't able to find any of those. They spotted one egg that had some blood on it and it was from the flock. That was a 20 week old flock. So the birds are just starting to lay eggs and that can happen. It's just starting to ovulate. So everything we saw was and we we reviewed everything with an animal welfare expert just to make sure there wasn't anything where there was an exposure. There's nothing there.
Mike Weber:It took us five years to support our local prosecutors to prosecute the leader of this. They prosecuted everybody else but they all took a deal and bailed out, but the leader of this organization, he went through the whole thing and it was ultimately found guilty of conspiracy, of a variety of different things, and it was a felony. So you've got a felony conviction, which is huge because he's a lawyer and he tried to represent himself. And he represented himself so well that the judge actually wrote a letter to the California Bar in complaint. The way he conducted himself allowed some of the activists who were in the courtroom every day go and approach the jurors or try to friend them on Facebook and tell them how they should vote for, you know, to acquit him and all this crazy stuff.
Mike Weber:Like I said, there's something that's not balanced about the small subset of vegans that are supporting this. First thing, you got to know, not everybody who is a vegan thinks this way. In fact, the vast majority of them think those guys are just batshit crazy and I don't know what the hell's wrong with them. But you know, we've got to realize that if one of those individuals shows up at a farm like ours and you're not doing all the right things and you're not checking, you know every day did you do the things you say you do you're going to be crucified in the court of public opinion because they're going to find something. You're going to be crucified in the court of public opinion because they're going to find something. And there's days when I turn and I find that somebody has picked up a chicken that passed away in the night and instead of putting it in the proper receptacle, they put it right in the middle of the aisle at the entrance and I'm like what the hell is this doing here? You know there's no way this is acceptable and I'll make sure they get written up and make sure their managers get written up, because it happened, so that everybody realizes that when someone shows up the camera, you can't get that back.
Mike Weber:You have to be as responsible as possible about everything. You have to have your processes written down and just assume that individuals like these they're going to show up at your door or they're already there at night sneaking into your houses this particular organization. They're not just in California anymore. They're taking their actions all across the country and nobody's immune to them. Their actions all across the country and nobody's immune to them.
Mike Weber:It's hard, it's really hard, to be a small farm, because you got to put up fences and cameras and all this stuff. You got to spend time. I have to teach our employees every year what to do if they come back. You know how not to engage them, where to go hide so you don't get hurt. So we don't know what they're going to want to do. So instead of teaching my employees on animal welfare and other things, I want to prove there I have to look out for their own safety, because these individuals that are associated with these groups they're just crazy. So it's taxing us. If we were a big farm in the middle of the cornfield in Iowa and we had a 20-foot fence with Cortina wire all over it, Piece of cake. But we're a small family farm so it's tough and we're not the only ones being targeted. It's going to keep going across our state and in our country.
Brandon Mulnix:You dealt with them. You continue to look over your shoulder, you continue to train your employees how to deal with that and then a ballot initiative comes that really wants to put you out of business or has potential of putting you out of business. Can you describe that ballot initiative that you had to overcome?
Mike Weber:Yeah, so the ballot initiative was put on our local ballot in our county by this activist group, so individuals from this Berkeley organization. They purposely moved people up here and they found somebody who would author a ballot. They stood out in front of grocery stores and they said we're collecting signatures. If you think animals need to be safe and cared for you, you got to sign this to protect the animals. Didn't say anything about what it was really designed to do. So in our county there's half a million people and maybe 250 to 280,000 vote every major election sort of thing, and what ultimately happened is they got enough more than enough signatures to put it on the ballot and then they started their campaign the ballot initiative would eliminate it was designed to eliminate poultry operations, meaning egg layers and broilers and ducks.
Mike Weber:We have several duck farms here and dairy farms and it was punitive by the size. If you were a larger dairy, if you had more than 700 cows, you know you weren't allowed to be in business. You had to sell your cows, your herd off until you got to 700. But even then at 700, it opened them up to exposure that anybody could sue them for environmental issues and they didn't even have to prove it, like they could sue them civilly, and established this, this crazy stuff, that we already have protections for clean air and clean water and soil and all of that. You know, those are all established in our county and nationally. This sought to even create another layer of exposure for anybody who's farming. And when you're a personal farm, it's not like you can hire a corporate lawyer, you know. It's not like you can really defend yourself. So they come, come in and they do these things to shake you down. You're going to pay to avoid having to go to court, not to even get to court.
Mike Weber:So every weekend they sent people up to our county and they canvassed the areas, knocking on doors, handing out their pamphlets, doing their protests, protesting in front of poultry farms, protesting at a poultry processing plant, grocery stores, everything you could possibly think of, well-organized, all sorts of crazy stuff. And as a community we had to come together to fight it. And this was. You know, this was really early on. It was clear that if we didn't come together and get everybody on our side, they might not win. They might lose by a squeaker, but they'd be back and they'd kill us as local farmers. So I immediately ran toward part of the founding group and board that ultimately got every one of our supervisors, every one of our city councils, every one of the police and fire departments and unions on board. Every you know we had a list of all the big employers, every big employer, more than 50 people signed on. Countless farms, countless other individuals associated with our county.
Mike Weber:At the end of the day, you know, the only people that were left supporting this group were like a vegan bakery and you know some like a hairdresser or something, and and we did rallies, we did presentations and speeches. You know I felt like a politician. We work all day and then you're out shaking hands and kissing babies and then the next day it's rinse and repeat. It was like that. And did the debates, the televised debates and, you know, on radio shows.
Mike Weber:And what I saw, though, after a point, was people in this county had their roots reawakened. You know that they realized they came to this because it's a farm town. Those cows that are out in our pastures here they're pastured cows. We don't have a big feedlot, so our cows are on pastures. Those cows aren't factory workers, they're not factory farms, with these black and white factory workers walking over 1,000 acres out in the rolling hills. This is a beautiful area and it's all organic farms. We don't have conventional dairies here and so the narrative on their side started to fall apart and we took their wings off and pretty soon across the whole county were these signs. It was no on J. Everywhere you went it was no on J and, as stressful as it was, there was something so comforting and beautiful about everywhere I would turn. There was a sign there saying we stand with you. You know, I might run a bakery, but I stand with the farmers. I might run a bar, but I stand with the farmers. I've got a muffler shop. I'm with the farmers Everywhere you looked.
Mike Weber:And we had these debates at the board meetings Should we keep making these signs? And the guy who was the tenured political insider said you can't be spending all your money on the signs. And we kept overruling him and said no, we need to spend all we possibly can. And they were throughout the entire county. In the end, we defeated the measure and, by a landslide 85% to 15% absolutely destroyed them. In fact, the proponents I think they got less votes at the end of the day than signatures that they had originally turned in, where they had swindled people into thinking that they had originally turned in, where they had swindled people into thinking that they were doing something that was smart. We had environmental groups on our side. We had, you know, everything in our county saying this is part of the culture, what the essence of who we are, and why would we ever think about getting rid of a local food system? You know, and all the different challenges that our world faces, exporting the people who produce our food away from here just doesn't make sense.
Brandon Mulnix:So that was a wonderful day Way to see the blessing in all of that, because the distraction of something like that and at the end of the day, a lot of money was raised, a lot of support for not your farm, not just your farm, but the whole farm, I mean the dairy, everything, the culture of that community. It is a beautiful area. It's one of my early memories in the Coast Guard was being out to Station Petaluma, not too far from one of your farms, and that was I. Just. There's some really fond memories of that area and how beautiful it is and to think what it would look like without farming. But these activists aren't going away and thankfully you guys actually learned a lot and I know you've shared a lot of what worked. But it's just a matter of time before they find a weaker community that doesn't stand behind the farmers. And it could be anywhere in the US, it's not just California. That's the crazy part.
Mike Weber:Yeah, they went down to Harris Ranch in Kern County. You know, which is not even a purple county, it's red, red meat. You know they're targeting these different areas. I don't think they care, I really don't. Our residents are upset with them and they're not going to win the hearts and minds of our people. But I don't think that matters to them. They'll keep dragging it out, They'll keep taxing us if they can. And my last two cents on this is you know, every farm should run their operation as transparent as possible, even though you don't have to be transparent. But just assume the news crews are going to show up tomorrow. Assume there's going to be a disaster at some point and you have to open it up and show everybody your training records, your policies, what it looks like inside. You got to do it and just be prepared for that. So there is no there.
Brandon Mulnix:There, when someone comes in and makes that claim, you make it through that and then you turn the corner, that fight's over. But at the same time avian influenza is everywhere you look.
Mike Weber:Well, yeah, so avian influenza that actually hit us before Measure J. So we got hit in December of 2023. This past November was the election cycle. So, while we're fighting against the measure, you know our poultry operation here, which for 112 years had chickens in the operation, we had no chickens and we wrote a six-figure check to support the opposition because it was an existential kind of situation that failure wasn't an option. So, yeah, fire everything you got, we're coming back, we're coming at you.
Mike Weber:And bird flu came and got us. It wasn't our fault, it wasn't anything we did, and I'm not wanting to put blame on other people, but we were like number seven dominoes that fell. That it fell, domino, domino, domino, domino, domino, and we could just see the ranch was getting closer and closer. The last one was less than half a mile away. It's like a quarter of a mile away, and the amount of uh, of shedding that happened and air currents that were coming our way. We just knew one of the birds on our operation that this ranch had 550 000 birds. One of them was going to get one air sack with a little bit of virus and that was going to end it all, which it did, and you know it happens. This last year we've spent, you know, getting our legs back underneath us and getting our operation going, which has been great. During this last winter, when much of California got decimated a second time, we had one incident not far from where you were when you were at the Coast Guard, which is about roughly eight miles upwind of where our farm is, with the 550,000 birds, and it was a duck farm.
Mike Weber:The first round of bird flu that we all went through in the community pulled everybody together so we all had an early warning system. If somebody had a bird that coughed, everybody was told right away. Well, he had a bird that coughed and he said something's not right One of my barns, I'm sending them in get testing. And he notified us and then he got tests. I got bad news and I called him right away and the question was what do you got to put your birds down? Do you need help? And he said honestly, I've got one employee and I got thousands of birds here that are infected. And my question was what time does CDFA arrive? Do you oversee the site, take control of it?
Mike Weber:And that next day at 12 noon I showed up with a crew of people dressed in Tyvek suits, latex gloves on. We had duct tape over our arms. People have gone through all this. They know exactly what it is. The people don't think I'm crazy, but we showed up to go into battle, masks on mask behind our head, because you always lose this one here. A fake pocket with extra gloves in it because you're going to break one of your gloves. New boots we just bought at the local Home Depot, so everybody was walking in with fresh boots that we didn't have to disinfect and we could throw away when we're done, and everything we needed to do on site, everything, all the equipment needed to euthanize those animals that were infected.
Mike Weber:And we're posing a threat to all the poultry operations in our areas and potentially even the dairies, because there's active shedding going on. And this is like a you know for people who are at home and don't really understand what's going on from a bird food perspective. Think about being on a plane where there's a section of people who are actively sick with COVID right, it's not going to stay there, it's going to go to the whole plane. And in a community where you've got 10,000 animals that are infected and shedding, meaning they're producing a huge amount of virus, that virus gets airborne and it's just going to move. And as soon as one of them inhales it, they now got it and it's 100% deadly, you know. So we ran to that guy's operation as fast as we could get on there and we were allowed to come on 12 noon the next day and we did everything we could to help him to, in a very humane way, euthanize those animals and get them covered up, because there's a youth and there's a wind event that night. So we visqueened everything through pallets on top of the piles and we left that night, took off all our clothes, like stripped down naked in the the street, sprayed ourselves down with disinfected, changed into other clothes and garbage bagged everything just like by the book. And I think that event was the only time in California's history where CDFA has been able to hit the mandated goal that we want every animal on the property of an infected property euthanized within 24 hours. And the success out of it was that it didn't spread. No other farms got it, so we all were able to continue our business, even though this poor farmer had the misfortune of losing all of his birds.
Mike Weber:That's what everybody needs to. If you're in the poultry business right now. You need to have that plan. You can't run away from the bullets anymore. You've got to run toward them and stamp them out. We've got a trailer that's loaded with all the PPE, all the equipment, co2 bottles, everything that's needed to start euthanizing immediately should something like this happen.
Mike Weber:Because until we have a vaccine and our flocks and our herds are vaccinated, these birds are going to suffer. And there's an animal welfare aspect to this that you know we're not talking about. And these animals are suffering as they're going through this, and it's a disease that could be preventable that if we could give them a vaccine, the flocks may not get it and then the ones that do get it, they may not be able to shed enough that it affects the next operation. So, to be a producer of table quality eggs, my responsibility is to protect my flocks, but also the neighboring ducks, the neighboring chickens, the neighboring broiler operations. You know from disease as well. They don't deserve to be threatened by something that's preventable when a vaccine's available and widely used throughout the world right now.
Brandon Mulnix:Mike, why do you do it? Why do you wake up in the morning and go to work?
Mike Weber:There's some fun that happens. I work with a lot of really good people. It's great working with my brother, but I work with a lot of really really good people who come to work really hard, who don't get the attention they deserve. Ones that are producing our food and prepping our food and processing our food and taking care of our landscaping and our gardens those folks that are being vilified right now. They all have a story. They all work really hard, they're great people and they care for our animals in the kindest manner. So someone's got to feed America. And you get a sense of pride after a while when you realize how well you're doing it. We're doing it on a farm where we've got 2,500 solar panels running our egg production, our processing, our manure processing. We're the first in the state to put in manure dryers to dry the manure so there wouldn't be any stink. We're the first to put in a pellet mill on site to pelletize the manure and that goes to support organic farmers from Oregon border all the way down to Southern California. And we did it first because it looked like the right thing to do, but it was also fun.
Mike Weber:So I get to have relationships with guys Like right now I've been shipping to the world's largest organic rice grower. I got a great relationship with a rice company. You know just fun. I got a great relationship with a rice company. You know, just fun. I got great relationships with guys who are growing vineyard grapes for wine, the wine industry, or hops or nut growers, and you know we get to go and meet other guys and press the flesh and there's something fun and exciting about that. We're not just this little. You know I produce an egg. Here's your box of eggs. Thank you very much. A lot of people depending on us and it's fun to be part of that food web, so it's kind of exciting. It's better than a desk job somewhere you know most days.
Brandon Mulnix:Now the question is is there a fifth generation coming up through?
Mike Weber:Yeah, it's possible. My dad didn't put any pressure on me to come back and I think it was really seeing that there was a major change hitting our industry. That helped me to realize if we're going to bet the farm, you fully invest yourself in it. You don't place your bet, sit on the sidelines. You get out there and quarterback the game or throw the blocks that are needed so that you can score the touchdown. So we'll see. There's enough great people here at our operation that I know. Even if our family doesn't carry it forward, they're going to be here for another generation. We've got my dad's foreman, who worked for him for 40 years. We've employed several of his kids and we still got a couple of them employed, which is great, and they're best friends. I mean, we used to play together as little kids where I didn't speak any Spanish, they didn't speak any English, but God, did we ever have fun, you know?
Brandon Mulnix:And now here we are, these old kids who, you know, still do the same sort of things and at the end of the day, it's just, it's great, great being able to work with good friends, good people you know, mike, I know we could talk for hours you already prefaced that before we even started the recording that you've got a lot to share, and I'd like to transition just one little bit to someone out there that this is new stuff for them. For them, what else should they be thinking of when it comes to the industry, whether that's the joys or something?
Mike Weber:that you can share so that they can also grow. We're in a very progressive part of California, you know, and I think California is kind of seeding the country right now, even though the country is politically, you know, in all different directions. People are starting to have some of their values shift a little bit. What we've been doing is trying to be as responsible as we can from a farming perspective, to truly love the land and not take as much from it or not pollute it as much, or the water or the air. And we do that through a variety of different things. And when I tell those stories about the effort that we make, the actions that we take and I'm in public, it earns me a little ticket that I can cash in every year to stay in business. I'm not saying you have to do it. A lot of these things we do and we know that you're not going to get a return on it. A lot of these things we do and we know that you're not going to get a return on it. But you know, when I show up and I say, oh yeah, this is. We could be like everybody else and just take the stuff and push it all outside and let the rain wash it away or, you know, spread it on somebody's field over and over again until the phosphate levels are so high. You know it's like irradiated. Or we can do the right thing and look for a better way to do it. That's long term, just as like makes really good sense, making the hard choice to try to seek out those solutions.
Mike Weber:Invest in those areas. It does win you a lot of secret supporters and admirers and that came out a lot when we were doing our political battle where I was just part of a group of farmers, but I was also part of farmers not in the poultry side but on the dairy side that were kind of on the other end of the progressives. Where they were, there was a lot of improvement needed and having examples where you're showing that there are a lot of people that are doing the right thing. In our area there's a guy named Albert Strauss who is one of the most famous and progressive dairymen. He's got an incredible brand and he's been fighting from an environmental perspective for the longest time and he's more just transforming people's mindset, what you need to do.
Mike Weber:But you can be transformative and run a big conventional operation, you know, and you can also make investments in things like solar and other areas and get a payback, you know, in four years or less. So it's not like you're throwing the money away, and we've been fortunate that some of the investments that we've made have paid us back in wonderful ways. And it also got the attention. Yeah, that is a responsible way to do it, and when you look like you're the responsible party who's also producing food, you get that little ticket so you can stay in business a little bit longer. It gives you the rule that the tie always goes to the runner, and in that case we're the runner, and that's what we all need, because life farming is hard enough as it is.
Brandon Mulnix:Any last advice for someone just getting in the industry or just from the wisdom that Mike has acquired all these years?
Mike Weber:God wisdom. I just say don't take yourself too seriously, you know, and try to try to learn from some good. People ask a lot of questions. The mindset that we have, that Scott and I have here, is that this isn't our farm. We're just taking care of it until our dad comes back. And at some time in the future he's going to come back and, uh, we want him to be really proud about what we got, you know and where we're at, and I mean that in the most sincere way. And if you start thinking about it that way because everybody wants to please their parents right, even though they're not around anymore but if you can do things right in a way that would make your dad and your mom happy, then you're doing all right. You know, maybe your kids will respect you. Who knows, we'll see. But that's that's kind of the mindset. Just, if you can't do it as right as possible, make it a little bit better than it was when it fell into your hands, and that's that's a good way for me to measure someone's success.
Brandon Mulnix:Mike, I didn't know your dad but I can guarantee you he's proud of you and Scott and what you guys have been able to do for the farm. I mean, you've been through hell and you've come out the other side stronger, harder, more, more in tune with what he had, he gave you and what he planted in you in terms of watching him grow and I can guarantee he's proud. And, mike, thank you for sharing the Weber farm story. It's probably a story that's not that different from a lot of farms. It's just different, different stuff that they have to deal with. But thank you.
Mike Weber:You bet. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to do this. I appreciate it, brian, really do.
Brandon Mulnix:Listeners, thank you for being here. I know how much my heart aches for farmers, but also has much more joy when we find out what gets them up in the morning and just how in tune they are with their culture, their community, their people. And we take our food for granted. We take the people that produce our food for granted. So today, if you see a farmer say thank you, I mean without them, the United States, the world, would not be the country it is and have the food that we all need to survive. So if it wasn't for guys like Mike and Scott and the Webers and everybody because we know it takes a team and Mike could share stories about the team more than he'd probably share stories about himself. So, listeners, please share this podcast with somebody that may not even be in farming.
Brandon Mulnix:This is a podcast where people can really understand what goes on that farmers have to deal with, not only in california but also just around the country, and how you can be supportive of them with your vote, with understanding the issues in your community. This is a subject much greater than leadership. This is a subject that, as human beings, we need to be in tune with. So, listeners, please share this podcast. This story does need to continue to get out. We're not big media, we don't have a huge following, but with you, this story can get shared.
Brandon Mulnix:So thank you, listeners, and I'd be remiss without talking about Prism Controls. I wouldn't know, mike, if it wasn't for Prism Controls. Prism Controls has been a partner with their farm for many years and we appreciate the ability to do business with farmers like Mike, because we know that that's why we do what we do, and the goal for Prism Controls is just to help farmers sleep better at night, knowing they've got what they need to feed the world. And so please reach out to Prism Controls, thank them for doing the episode, as well as just check out their website and the products that they have to offer, or just share this content, because that also helps them. So, Poultry Leadership Podcast listeners, thank you and have a great day. I'm out.
