What Gets Your Blood Pumping

In this episode, the host discuss various aspects of cattle breeding that excite them, including seeing their own prefix on successful cattle, observing progress and improvements in the herd, and experiencing the satisfaction of cattle that perform as expected. The episode concludes with an invitation for potential 2025 Angus Association board candidates to join the podcast.

Transcript

0:01

We are recording in progress. Ra, welcome to around the shoot. You're here with Corbin. Joe and me. Vince in the library. In the library. That's what it feels like. There's like the, there's no energy. What happened? I was just, I was just, uh, waiting to see how long Vince would talk before one of us would say something. He was like, uh, are y'all gonna hop in here? I started sweating. Dude started sweating like, man, he's already in the freaking janitor's closet down there. Vince does that, uh, does that office have a window? Yeah, but hang on. Ah, look at cows. Look at the cows. Look. Not like the bistro. Look at the cows out there. Look at my back scratcher. Oh, nice. Wow. That thing has claws. That's metal. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I've never, I've never seen a metal back scratcher. Oh yeah, it's heavy duty. I see your Angus. I see your Angus legends in the background. Uh, listeners hang tight teasing the our favorite cows episode forthcoming. I don't know when we're gonna do it, when we're gonna do it in the fall, I guess. Have you, uh, have you read both of those books? Um, I'm BEUs to them. There's a lot to read if you're just, it's not really something, it's not really something that you read though, unless you are just looking for a specific, but like, if you, like, let's say something triggers your attention and you look that calp and then you read about that certain g Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's not like one of those books that you're just gonna sit there and read, oh, this is the old, the old lady, or whatever. And whenever those came out, I mistakenly bought one for my dad and my father-in-law. Um, I didn't really understand what they were. But I thought they would be a cool gift and something that they could, they could learn from. But then I think at the end of the day, they're like, dude, this is way more in depth than I, than I care to know anything about. It's more like a reference manual. Yes. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And for people that don't know what to look for, it's just a lot of firestarter, isn't it? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it, but it is fun. Where I had the most fun. I don't know if it was on the group text or if I was on a. Did I have you on FaceTime or something, Vince? Maybe. It might've been the group text, but I just ca caught one afternoon. I was flipping through it, looking at the different trends throughout the eras and it is amazing how much cattle have changed through these time period. Yes. And you know, it's interesting. People say the cattle were so bad or this was so bad or that was so good. Or what? I don't know. I mean, we're still here, we're still in the moment. In the moment. I don't think it was that we couldn't see that it was bad how bad they were. You, you noticed, you noticed what was bad then. Just as we notice what's bad now. Correct. And everybody tries to, um, fall to the middle basically in a lot of things. Um, well we weren't even talking about this. This isn't written down, this is banter. But like I would ask you guys, did it take an influencer for the shift? Was it someone of influence who started breeding more belly into cattle that made it happen? Or was it a response to hard doing cattle or, I mean, you look back in the nineties, triggers those cattle are a response to something.'cause there's a lot of what triggers the, what triggers the change? What does it take? Oh no, I just remember when it did change. Um, I, I remember when it started changing to, from, from the hot, taller hard doing cattle to the softer, a little more moderate. And they weren't moderate like today's moderate, but they were way more moderate than the whole belt buckle cattle. Um, and when I say belt buckle cattle, it's not that they're tall enough that they're the same height as your belt buckle. It's the cattle that were so tall and so gutless that you could stand behind'em and they wouldn't be able to see your face, but they'll see your belt buckle. Yeah, there was a lot of those. Yeah, there was a lot of those, but, um, I don't know why they changed. I just remember when the change was. I was a little, little fella, so, well, and then we're, we're looking at it like from a history perspective. So we look at the fifties and we're like, oh, look at these belt buckle cattle. And then we look at the eighties and we're like, dang, they got really tall then. And we did like it. It's easy to lose track of. That's 30 years. It still took time to get to that point, but if you're just looking at it from a history perspective, you're like, if dang, these cattle have changed so much over the years, but it's like a gradual transition from whatever they are to whatever they're gonna be. And then it doesn't just happen overnight. Right. So did you guys see this thing, did you see this thing where somebody came out and said that they were gonna need 1100 pound carcass weights in the future, or no? No, no, no, no. Was it 17? What was the number? It was crazy. It was, it was super high.'cause we've had 1100 pound carcass weights no problem. But basically equated to 2000 pound fat cattle. It would have to be the norm for, um, business to survive or whatever. I can't remember. It was a couple weeks ago that came out. What, what do you got there? Oh, yeah. Oh, he's beautiful. Shady Brook. Shady Brook. No, we, we had some high country that is, I don't know, foot, what is that? Uh, foot Acres. Encore. What is that carcass? Which, that has to be in response to where we're at now. Our, our numbers are so short and people are like, well, how are we gonna make up the difference? Yeah, I think so. And I actually think that, I think it's a response to something and, and it's also somebody being bold enough. I mean, what do you got? Oh, you got more stuff? What's funny is, is some of those cat, well, yeah, she, uh, she's something open and ready to flush. Wow. Look at this bull, Susan. Oh yeah. Is that Peyton? You can't even say his nuts. No, no, that's, that's a name of a showman. That's not the bulls name. Corbin. Oh, it said, oh, I was pretty sure it did. It did say Patton. So it said Peyton bro. But tell me that some of the modern cattle today couldn't use a little of that right now. Oh, absolutely. I mean, absolutely. There's some cattle out there nowadays that need some real world put back into'em. I think. I think there's lots of good cattle for fleshing ease and, and a certain look. But when you, I think it would take somebody who has a reputation in the show world, let's just say. Um, I don't know how to even. Ryan Rash is a, is a name in the lights right now in the show world, right? Hello? Hello, hello. If Ryan were to boldly make some selections at a couple consecutive major shows, we could see a shift in how cattle are are selected. Now Joe Fisher goes in there and gets on a microphone and starts selecting things that are wildly different. They're gonna say, this guy's an idiot. He doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't understand the show world. And so I think that that's what happened. Isn't the, wasn't the gray steer's name like Conoco or something like that? Vince, do you remember that? What? Do you remember that Corbin? So there was a Charla cross steer that was used in Denver one year that shifted a lot out of, I believe it was the Baby v Faira and all that crap. Um, and Tom Burke could be the type of person to ask that question too. But I do think the show world used to play a pretty. Critical role is an influencer for direction of the industry. Now it's kind of in this whole different land, which we were going to talk about the show world in a little bit more timely place, but how it shifts. Do you guys feel like there's a shift right now in the cattle world? I do. A little bit. I do too. How? Explain that. I feel like, I feel like there's a lot of people that went down a path that they were led to believe is a good path. And I think they got a lot of cattle that they didn't like or it's very possible that they, that they made and purchased those cattle. And then in the process they learned more and then realized those are not the kind of cows that they like or the cows that they want. And I, I truly feel like the, people, what I would call, I guess the one percenters that are looking for the top 10% or 1% of this and that, I think those guys are taking a step back and saying, these are not working for me and either I need to sell out or I need to, um, shift directions. Does that make sense? Is that what you're seeing or no? Am I way off base? Well, what do you think Corbin? I think you're seeing it. Absolutely. Um, ultimately I think there's more people that have gone down that route and then are like. Man, these things are not working. They're not breeding back. I'm not making any money right now. Then there are those that are trying to raise practical cattle and then at the end of the day are like, uh, I can't get'em sold. I can't get'em sold. I can't move'em. Um, so I'm gonna go chase numbers. Now there's a, there's a percentage of people that do go that route. Um, I think the three of us could name some right off hand that, that we'd say, you know what, they weren't selling cattle, so they bred some numbers into'em and then they started being able to sell'em. So that's what they're doing. Uh, but at the end of the day, there's more people with the real world in mind than there are people that are just trying to get'em sold. So that's what's causing the shift is that there's a lot of people that are like, you know what? Money is side. I just wanna make a better cow. Right? But I also think Joe and I were talking about this the other day. I also think there's a place for the middle road. Yeah. You know, you're, you got the extremists on both directions. You got the extreme purist maternal guys, and you got the extreme, uh, the carcass guys. And I, I do think there's a middle ground that I think people are also starting to look towards. That middle ground is going to be, it's gonna grow and grow and grow and grow, especially with what's going on within the association itself. That's gonna cause people to band together in that way. And that's, and and they're gonna go away from the science side of it, um, from what I can tell. So I think that middle ground, which is kind of where. This would just be straight up opinion, but that middle ground's kind of where we kind of need to be. And I think that middle ground's gonna get bigger, and we're at the mid, at the time of this boom in cattle prices. We're gonna start trying to, I feel like we're just hitting everything right on time. Everything's gonna be right on time. The cattle are, are right, the numbers are down. Um, everyone has the idea in mind that, hey, we're just trying to make good ones. Um, and I don't mean to transition here, but I think that a lot of us have learned from 2014, 2015, whenever the market was high. Hey, we don't, we don't have to go spend a bunch of money. We don't gotta go buy a bunch of heifers. We don't have to. We can, we can ride this out and make some money. So I think, uh, all of it's kind of hitting at the same time and it's all, it's all net positive in my, in my view. So if you, um, if, if listeners, if my voice is nails on the chalkboard for you, it'd be a good time to just fast forward like two or three of the 30 seconds because while these guys were talking, I made some notes and you guys chime in at any second. This isn't a monologue and I didn't prepare this, but my mind kept going to social media and how that's changed so much. It's changed so much because I feel like cattle in general, especially Angus cattle, but all beef cattle are so easily over promoted. So easily over promoted. I've got Facebook ads all the time and it doesn't really matter if it's herford or Shorthorn or Char, but it is dominated by Angus, or at least that's what on is on my algorithm. And anybody could be a marketing genius and anybody can hire the exact same photographers to come doctor the photos. They could have high integrity photos, any number of things that they want, you can find out there and there's a prize for it. And so I think that also, while that space is going on, I do think that the people investing in these high-end genetics do have expectations. They have expectations of some sort of success. And I think that when they don't get that social media has become the town square in which they start asking a lot of questions or they connect with people and they say, wait a minute, are your torque daughters doing this? Or Are your shady book high country doing this? Or are your uh, rafter five and Ravens doing this? Or, you know, whatever the bull may be. And they start to vet out and more information is readily available. And so I do think the shift is coming where cattle better do what they say that they will do. And I think what's wild is you guys said, you talked about two different camps of cattle, almost the maternal guys and the number guys or the, the, uh, and I'm putting air quotes on both of those, by the way. To me, maternal is way more than a look or a body type. I think that a lot of times when we put so much whale belly into cattle or so much muscle into cattle, and we can call it whatever we want, are those truly maternal traits? Well, if you can quantify them as a cow that has bred back and stayed in the herd and raised a calf that got sold right along with the rest of the bunch, then maybe it is or maybe it isn't. I don't know. Um, I've always said that, that that is in the eye of the breeder to be able to define that. But what I will say is in both sides of those camps, we are missing out on some cattle that take care of the fundamentals for commercial cattlemen. Fundamentals are rare. Now fundamentals are, are, are, are valuable to commercial cattlemen and I think that when you have now a bread heifer that's worth 42, 4500, uh, a 7-year-old bread cow that's worth 38 50, uh, you see these stories of these pears bringing over 5,000. Them cattle better take care of the fundamentals because the day that she leaves the sale barn or the high-end production sale or whatever, nobody remembers or cares how much potential she has. What they remember is what she actually does. And so when you say shift, Vince and Corbin, you agreed. I absolutely feel a palpable shift right now in the entire beef business where the cattle, I don't care what your numbers are, I don't care what your look is, they better do what you said they were going to do, or someone else is gonna seek out someone else in this online marketplace that'll do a better job than you will. So do you, what's your response to that go? Do you think that, uh, that this ballooned market, this, this really high market, it's gonna make people quicker to move on? In my opinion, I, I mean, I think if genetics don't work. They're worth so much just to haul'em off that they're just gonna say, you know what, this cow's not working for me, so I'm just gonna go sell her for four grand for no. And she's, I bought, I paid eight for her, but I can sell her for four and she's not the cow I want and I can, you know, it's, I think the good ones stand there stands reason to say there should be, we should come out of this with a better cow herd. Well, absolutely. But I also look at what cost. I mean, I think that every, every single time you look, I'm looking at my Facebook feed all the time, and I see more and more bread cattle for sale, more bread, cattle for sale, and we're eating our nation's cow herd. There's gonna be a pile of opportunity for some young-minded people who want to grow and who want to have quality cattle that take care of the fundamentals. I mean. We just picked up two new leases this winter or this summer already for the winter. And um, I was visiting a great young, I say young, I'm 40, I'm going to be 42 probably by the time this podcast airs. And, um, this producer's 41 and I said, do you feel like we've got more opportunity even though we're in California than ever before in our life? And he said, absolutely. I sort of feel like the development that's happened is, is over and we can't really get crowded out too much. But there's a lot of people who are seeing these record prices and they're saying, we're gonna cash in and move on. We're gonna cash in and we move on. So back to your, your cow type question though, Corbin.'cause I took us on a little bit of a derail when you had the big number cattle, I think ingrained in everybody's mind was. The premise they operated under is they always bred and they caved and they did everything. And you got the numbers for free, so why wouldn't you choose that? And then on the other side, on the look side of things, it was also a premise of, you know, these have this maternal look and they're gonna raise a big calf and they're going to do all these things. Well, people are vetting out the premises now and saying, do they do that? And if they don't, they're moving on past them. And Vince, you were shaking your head about two seconds ago, and, and I, I just kept right on railroading through'cause I had a thought. So go ahead. What were you thinking? I was just thinking I agreed with you. Well, that was, that was good. He was saying good, he was trying to give a thumbs up. That's what he was trying to do. Jeff. No, I, I, I agree with everything you said, so I just was shaking my head. In fact, couldn't have said it better myself. I was like, yeah, in fact, I could have said it better myself. So you know what's interesting is a commercial guy called me this morning and also young-minded, and he said, you know what I finally dawned on me is he goes, what does breed average even mean anymore if we already said that we've maxed out growth in our operation X amount of years ago and we haven't had heavier calves? Why do I need to be top 1% now when the animals that are in the bottom 20%, so that means they're a 70 on your paperwork. Those were the top 1% for growth in the nineties. And we said those cattle were plenty big. So maybe I don't mind being below average for weaning or below average for yearly. And he said, actually he brought it up when it came to to marbling. He goes, what does that even mean? If breed average is 0.65 or 0.70 compared to what? If our cattle were meeting all the, all the closeout standards that we were hoping for 10 years ago or five years ago, or whatever the number is, and you think about the genetics they were using back then, I just feel like we're playing in this kind of outer space realm that is hard to validate. And if you really think about it when it comes to the number thing and you compare it back to what average is, average is probably good enough in a lot of the places, and I know somebody's gonna tear me down. It's gonna be the do-gooder types that say, we always need to work harder, we always need to do more. We need to strive for more. Why got news for you? This is my rant, Vince, go ahead and cancel me. We've had episodes edited before, but here's my rant. Usually those people saying, work harder, do more, make better cattle. Those aren't the ones out there taking care of things, right? Those are the ones who are working for somebody who's got a paycheck and they work for a genomic company or whatever, and they're telling me, you need to make your cattle so much better to meet the demands of the future. And I say, that's. Bull pucky. I need to be able to pay my bills today and I may, I need my children to have the same opportunities tomorrow that I've had today. I would agree wholeheartedly. That's very well, well said again. Very well said again. Do you, do you got anything else, Joe? Well, so, uh, you know, the, the thing, the thing about it is, you know, I had this same con, I had this conversation, um, earlier actually with I think Logan Sampson. We were talking about the fact that these EPDs honestly do not reflect if you have an animal that says it shouldn't marble well, and it actually marbles well. It actually out marbles, a lot of other bulls in your sale, then it's still going to hold it very low because that's what the parent average said it should be, instead of boosting it and giving it a a zero, say for instance, boosting it up to a 50 or instead of a 50, boosting it to a 75, they won't let it have its, um, 15 minutes of fame or whatever you wanna call it. They won't give it the accurate information. So that's the hard part about all this stuff is the inaccuracies. And this is not supposed to be about EPDs, we're just talking, but the inaccuracies in all of that stuff. It makes you not even want to do any of it because it doesn't matter. I think, I think we're getting closer to a time to where we're not necessarily using numbers. I, I, I really think that we're in an impasse and I think a lot of people aren't seeing results from the numbers cattle they're using. They're seeing other things that are kind of bothering'em and, and giving them reason to want to change. And so I wouldn't be surprised if the number of people that say, you know what? I'm not even 50 K in these things anymore because it's not paying me. You're, I, I, man, I, who am I to say, who am I to say that's, that's wrong. How you, you can't sit there and tell me that's wrong right now. People have got to get back to, I'm getting paid by the pound. We need pounds. And there's only a handful of people that are actually retaining interest on the rail that are gonna get paid for that extra marbling. I just don't see where I'm not, I'm not gonna give up pounds for marbling if I'm a commercial guy. Well let ask you this, Vince, I want you to open that up a second.'cause we do have to remember, I don't think we always remember this. We might have some really, really young listeners on here. So I think maybe they just heard you say you're selecting for weaning and yearling weight. That's it. That's it. But what, Vince, correct me if I'm wrong, you're talking about animals that take care of all the fundamentals. So they breed on time. You're talking about whole ranch production. Yes. You're selling pounds of beef off of the Shady Book Brook ranches, which includes Per unit. Per unit. Per unit. Per unit. Right. Which includes, that's the, that means you gotta breed how many cows exposed, how many cows bred, how many died of sickness, all these things, right, Vince? Yes. It don't it, I mean, and that's the thing we get, people can get focused, we get focused on different things, not necessarily Marly, but people can get focused on certain things. And if we're selling bulls or we're making replacement females, or we're just making replacement females for us and not to sell, they all still have to have all those fundamentals. Yes. So what, who cares if it's in the top? Percent or in the bottom 1% if she breeds and she can milk and raise a calf. And that calf is honestly more than likely in the, within the average of your herd. I don't even know what's, accept, what's acceptable. 10% either way, 5% either way on, on a weight. You know, you don't want to, your whole herd averaging, uh, 600 pound females and you don't want this one to be at four 50. Now that cow needs to go right. Yeah, and I would say most commercial guys, commercial guys for instance, would look at trend lines and they would say, this cow continually has their heifers be too big and too hard and hurt. Or just like this particular cow always makes a, a steer calf with white feet that gets kicked outta the bunch and can't make the load. Or, this one is always, it's a matter of if they make the load or not. If they sell in your big bunch of steers or if they're not right. And those trends make her leave or go, if you just sorted, uh, if you just sorted on fertility as a commercial cow calf guy, do you know what kind of cow herd you could have? If you, if your only goal was pounds at weaning and fertility, the set of cows, if you just cut their heads off and didn't even know what their number was, you would have the best set of cows on the planet. If your only goal was pounds at weaning and fertility, they would all sort itself out. And all the other crap is just. Noise. Yes. Yeah. God, you guys are right. Yeah. It's just noise. It reminds me of, uh, I had a friend one time tell me about a high dollar cow, and I won't say his name on here because, um, I, I just won't, but he'll know when he listens. He's like, oh yeah, that cow over there. She's the one I call the bicycle with no pedals. And I'm like, what? He's like, yeah, she's got like the tricked out paint and the tricked out handlebars and it's all chrome and the wheel spokes are incredible and it's got the little thing on it, you know? Do, do, do you, you push the horn and you could beep at people in a basket. Well, but why doesn't it have pedals? Well,'cause you can't ride it. It's not good for riding. And, and I think that that's maybe where we've gotten with some of these cattle and, and it's the same in a lot of things. If you think about. Just how we consume everything as Americans. There's, think about the pickups. Are the transmissions as tough as they used to be in some of these pickups? Or do are we turning out more toque, more torque than ever before? We got heated seats, air conditioned seats, we got all these things and we're like, man, can we just get the fundamentals please? Because I don't need a screen that's bigger than this computer on my pickup. I just prefer that the transmission lasts longer than 60,000 miles. That would be correct. Pretty handy. That'd be pretty handy, correct. So, um, I don't know, do you guys have anything else to add on that? That was kind of, uh, our banter segment that grew. It was kind of fun. Yeah, I thought that was kind of fun. Yeah. So, uh, if you don't have something to do, you have something to add, Vince? I do not. I'm gonna take a way left turn and I'm gonna let Corbin tell us what's been going on in his life for a little bit.'cause he's been in dark and I don't know what he's comfortable sharing or not sharing with the masses. So, Corbin, the stage is yours. Well, I've been pretty quiet, uh, because, uh, we've been welcoming a child into the world and it's just been one of those times where, um, we've been spending some time together and sleep's hard to come by around here. So that's been an interesting change that we, it's been six years and so we're not quite used to it anymore. But, uh, but our listeners will be happy to know that Myla has a baby sister Millie, who's doing great. And, uh, before we hang up, I'll, I'll bring Millie in here and let y'all see her and everything. But, uh, um, there's not much better. There's not much better for me. It's been getting to be a dad. It's, it's definitely the biggest joy I've ever had in life, and it's ever since I was a little kid, that's all I ever wanted to be too. So it's, it's been very rewarding and, um, I'm excited to, to raise another one and, and in this lifestyle and to get to, to love someone as much as I love Myla. It's gonna be so awesome. Well, I know we were very, uh, excited for you and we were also, the entire time, every week we were cheering you on that you made it another week. Uh, that was awesome, to be honest. And, and then when you, when you finally, you sent the text and you're like, it's happening. And I was like, what's happening? And I was like, oh, it's happening. And, uh, I was a little off on that one. Well, as life is, you know, that's, that's been one of our challenges is, is. Basically keeping a baby in. Um, but she made it a really long time, almost to 35 weeks, came out eating and drinking and, and we were only in the NICU for a few days this time. So it, it's amazing what doctors can do and it's amazing what modern medicine has as afforded, uh, afforded parents the opportunity that, uh, you know, if, if it had been a hundred years ago, I don't know if I would have a kid or a wife. I don't know if I'd have either one. So, um, I'm so thankful with the advances in modern medicine. I did meet someone, uh, while we were in the nicu. His name was Joseph, and I don't know if Joseph's listening right now, but, um, he has a baby girl as well and he lives in around Shawnee, Oklahoma. And he was just asking me some, so I had my rafter five M hat on. And he read it and he is like, so what's that? I'm like, ah. And that's an awkward question, right? Whenever someone asks you that. I was just like, ah, it's just a little, I got a few cows and it's just kinda, you know what I do. And then he started asking more questions and he found out my name and I didn't say anything about around the shoot.'cause that would be, wouldn't that be weird? Yeah. Hey, I got a podcast if you wanna hear more, I just talked to you for 20 minutes, but hey, I got a podcast if you wanna hear me talk some more. No, not so I didn't bring that up. But then, uh, you know, he got to looking it up and he had, he had went and listened to some episodes, so, um, always flattering when that happens. But, um, Joseph, if you're listening, hopefully Yeah, he's, he reach out to me anytime. So, yeah, I think, uh, the interesting part about being a parent is, uh, Abby and I have experienced this just lately. We're, we're a little bit behind Vince, um, but quite a ways ahead of you, Corbin, and, uh. Once you're a parent, and I have a particular worldview that, um, fortunately we, we had the, the, I don't know, the blessing of, of never having to deal with losing a child or having struggles with our children or anything like that. But in faith, I believe that if you have, have conceived a child, um, that you're a parent, I believe that, um, regardless of, of what journey that child has, the cool part is, is that never ends. Like once it happens, it never ends. And it's so wild to think about. Like, I have a, I have a 19-year-old and I'm still a dad, but I'm a dad of an adult now, which is different. And so your role. I remember when we had Bennett, um, I was talking to that bridal horse mentor of ours, and I said, man, I'm just so terrified because he's so little and like if we hurt him or whatever. And he said, let me tell you something about being a dad. You'll never, ever stop worrying about him. And, uh, I don't know, it just hits me and, and I find new life. Uh, I find so much joy in new life. I find so much, um, testimony and seeing new life. I think it is so brilliant. I think it's so joyful. I think it's, I think it's something that we all need and I appreciate you allowing us to experience that with you, Corbin. Um, because it's such a gift. God, what a gift he gives us in life. And um, and there's a lot of people, there's a lot of people out there who would never be able to get to the depth to say. That they don't value life, but their actions do not value life. And that is evil. And that annoys me. Oh my gosh. Hi Myla. There's Myla. Oh, and here's the baby. Wow. Oh golly. It's so little. God, there's so little, huh? Like, God, it's just hard to realize that our kids were ever that little. I know. And you know, it's funny, I was, Abby and I were talking about like ours come into our bedroom more as adults than they did as kids. Yeah. And when they were confined in the crib, they went to bed and. Like that was it. Now it's like 12 in the morning, knock, knock, knock. Dad, we had this go on or that and, and I get frustrated, but then Abby's like, Hey, they're coming here. They have questions and they're bringing it here. We did something right? Anytime Sophia. Sophia used to have nightmares, she had night terrors and it took us a long time to figure it all out. But anyway, she would come in our bedroom and go, I mean like a ninja you wouldn't even know. She came in there and then her hair would be huge'cause she'd been sleeping and she would just be standing over. Amy like just looking at it. And Amy would just wake up like, holy, what do you want? Oh man. Yeah, that could happen to me.'cause I'm a pretty, I'm a pretty sound sleeper, but No, what a blessing, Corbin. Thank you for sharing with that, that with us and our listeners and, uh, you know, blessings to everyone. I mean, I, I think that that's, that's why we do this. I mean, so we're gonna kind of, uh, do you guys want to go, we have enough time to go into this topic now, Vince, what do you think? Yeah, yeah. So the topic we decided on for today is what gets your blood pumping. And then we kind of brainstormed before saying, well, Vince, what gets your blood pumping And Corbin, what gets your blood pumping? And you know, the first one that I said, I'll start because it ties into Corbin. Corbin with Mya and Millie. Uh, Millie, June, right. Corbin, is it Milli Junee. Milli June. Yeah, milli June. Um, and my land's crawling behind me right now watching my kids. Select a good one that gives my blood pumping. And it's not because I'm like, man, that kid's got an eye. It's more about, they've been watching what I'm doing, they've been listening to what we value. They've been listening to what we are frustrated about, what things we look for and appreciate in cattle, and they see all that and that is incredible to me. And that gets my blood absolutely pumping. I would've to agree with that when we were, I was just thinking back when we were showing and we would always kind of go out and ride around and try to find the next one that we wanted to try to show possibly. And sometimes I just brought some up there and we kind of messed with'em and, and try to figure out which ones acted the best. A lot of times, depending on the age of the kids. It's more so about which one is easier to handle than it is actually how good they are. But, um, you know, that was always kind of fun, um, to have those conversations. Like with Sophia and, and Amy and, and even Nate. Not so much Nate back then, but even now, Nate notices stuff and you know, he's like, man, that cow's doing a really good job, or she's not doing good enough, or whatever. And it, when he says stuff like that, it catches me off guard because, uh, I wasn't expecting it. And you weren't even really sure he was paying attention. Right. You weren't even, I didn't even know you were paying attention. And then like, Sophia may pull up or she may come down here and get something outta the office or something. She's like, Hey, that's such and such heifer. There in the bottom, she's pretty sharp. And I'm like. Okay, now I gotta go. Look what? Yeah. Yeah. And it even, it even, you can even extrapolate it out or whenever they're tiny, like Myla, she's six and the other day we were working, I was working cows and she was out there with me and a cow wouldn't come and heck, she goes behind them and, and brings'em through the, through the alleyway and through the chute without me even asking her to. And she was like, were you ready for the cows down? I'm like, yeah, you did a good job. That's right. She, she's brought up. So you don't realize how much they're paying attention. Well, until show you the type thing. The type thing. That's, that's what gets my blood pumping more than anything. Corbin is what you just said about paying attention, you know, and the other part is, is livestock judging. I never, I never would've thought this, um, despite the flaws of the livestock judging world, which we'll dive into that someday and see it, or, or open it up because there are a lot of flaws with it. But one of the best things about livestock judging ever, in my opinion, is that you have to observe something. And then you formulate a placing and you, you kind of take a stand and you justify why you did something. And so for those kids to be able to go out and evaluate cattle and justify their selections, I, I've said this several times to you guys. I think it's, it's not easy when you go into our bread heifers. I'm very proud of that fact. Actually, this particular year, bread heifers are pretty doggone sporty, and it's not easy to find the quote, best one. And, uh, Abby and I decided that we let every one of the kids choose, uh, heifer, a cow or a replacement heifer that they wanted this year to start their herd. And we would buy that animal from Bruin Ranch, um, personally, and then the kids would have it. And so there's no, like the, the corporate structure of the ranch and stuff isn't compromised or anything. But anyways, miles picked my favorite heifer. Without my help, he picked my absolute favorite bread. Heifer. Paxton picked one of my very, very favorite, um, uh, replacement heifers. Bennett goes out and makes a list and he picked the number one, the number two, the number five, and the number six heifer. If I were to rank'em. And so to see them kids just as a reflection of us, that gets my blood pumping. I would agree. You have anything else to add? No. Other than you picked all the best comments. So it gets our blood pumping and it gets mine too. You just say it a little better than I do a lot of times. Well, why don't you turn the page then? You, you start. I didn't write'em all down. Corbin did. I did. I did. So do y'all wanna hear what Joe's next suggestion was? Get his. Vince, you said progress, so why don't you take us through that. Yeah. Progress. Like just, and, and sometimes it, it goes back and forth. Um, but when you just go for a ride and, and there's no pressure and you're just out riding and looking or, you know, maybe you just drive by a pasture, uh, pasture, all the, every day and you happen to notice a specific animal. Blake texted me today. He was out checking. He was like, what about, uh, he's like, oh my God, did you see this cow? And he sent me her pedigree and uh, I said, yeah, I noticed her this spring. Every time I went by that pasture, she was standing right there. You know that one, that's just always right there. And, um, I just kept, I kept finding her all the time. She got a great udder. She's got good feet, good pedigree, so. You know, it, it, those things kind of get me excited when you're, when you're riding around and you just see, and, and sometimes it's after you haven't seen them for a while. Uh, you step away from'em for a minute or go out of town or whatever. And, uh, and sometimes it's even later on, you know, the older they get, they just, man, where did she come from? She been here this whole time and I hadn't noticed her. Now look at her. Things like that get me fired up. Yeah. I, I, I tend to agree, um, when you go through a herd of cows and the amount of cows that you see, because if your mind's like mine, which I think all of us who, who year to be better, all of our minds and all of our eyes go to the, the worst count in the pasture. I mean, that's always the one I notice, and that's the one that I is like, golly, I wish I could make her better, but. That as I, whenever I go through a herd of cows and there's not one in there that's like that where it's like, oh, I wish I didn't have her. God, how great of a feeling is that? It's like I'm finally getting to the point where I, I'm eradicating problems enough to where I can stand to go through these cows because it's legitimately, um, something that with someone has that burning passion. It's something that I battle. Um, right. And then, and then time of year too, like going through'em right now when they have green grass and they're fattest ticks and they're raising big calves, man, it's so, it's so rewarding right now. And you see, like, you see all your work from getting'em through the winter, getting'em through the hard years where we had drought and we didn't have rainfall. And now seeing'em get to this pinnacle where we've had quite a bit of rain and we've got quite a, we've got more grass than we've had in quite a few years, and the cattle are doing so well. Um, yeah, you see that sort of progress too. It doesn't even have to be genetic progress. It can just be progress from where we've been. Yeah, so the part I liked about you bringing that up is those are qualitative, not quantitative things, and I hope we don't ever get to a day where everything is quantified with cattle, where I know the day it's born, if it, I do an ear punch on its ear, whatever, and she's either good or she's bad because she's either a nine or she's an eight, or she's a seven or she's a 10, or whatever you want to call it. Those qualitative things are the things that allow the breeder to put his or her stamp on it and allow the breeder to find that satisfaction in working hard and moving towards something. And I just so appreciate that progress. Comment, Vince, because I do feel like here. We see more of what we like than of what we don't, which I find that is progress because I remember going out to those fields and seeing more of what we were frustrated than with what we liked. Correct? Correct. What else you got Corbin? Um, alright, so the, the first thing that came to mind whenever I said what gets my blood pumping is weather. And what, what that means is, is when we, when there's a rainstorm coming, you know, you know that feeling whenever you're kind of like, you're in a tough time and, and like it's, you're starting to get close to a drought and there's some rain coming. And you're just like, you get so excited. You get so excited and then you're outside and you can smell the rain and you know it's coming and then it goes right past you and it don't rain. That, that, that happens. So then, so then I, what's the opposite of your blood pumping? I guess your blood just like, you know, it just kind of tuckers out. Like, oh, well I might, I might just pass out now because my blood quit pumping. But, uh, having weather that that's conducive to raising cows is, is, is a fun time. I mean, we've had a lot better start to our summer this year, so it's just something that came to mind for me. Well, it is for me too, especially when you're raising crops. Um, man, I, I was talking to uh, um, Josh Moan the other day and he said they haven't had any rain. Their corn looks terrible. Hmm. And um, you know, it's just. Especially this year, we've had so much rain, we're gonna have a phenomenal corn crop. And then, you know, you, you drive right past these fields and they got giant ears on'em, and you just kinda get excited. And then, uh, I've been spraying soybeans the last few days for fungicide and you know, you just, they're so tall and you hope they make pods and, um, you know, same thing with hay and pastures and, and all of it. So, yeah, I can, I can relate to, to the, the rain. The rain usually splits and goes around us when we've been dry. It, it takes a big deal to change the, change the cycles. For me it's the transitions. It's like, uh. If we've got everything bred and then it's like, man, if we could keep some of these halfway warm, early November, mid-November, even October, kind of rainstorms that are enough to get the grass germinating, but not enough to make it muddy and cals sick when we're trying to AI breed. And then it's those first days and end of February, 1st of March where I've told you guys before I add up the daytime high and the daytime low. And if it's over a hundred degrees, we're growing grass and I'll, I'll check that on my phone. I'm like, okay, Wednesday we're gonna be growing grass. Yep. And why does that get my blood pumping is because we get to see that genetic expression that we've been breeding for for generations. Yes. Because you can only see so much expression without the nutrients for that to be expressed. I mean, when it's dry and it's tough. It doesn't matter how much potential you got bred into'em, it's gonna be, it's gonna be tough. But good topic, Corbin. Bring up the next one. Um, let's talk about cattle with our prefix. Joe, you had said that's something that got your blood pumping. It's something that gets my blood pumping too. I know it's something that gets Vince's blood pumping too. Oh dude. Why is that the case though? I mean, obviously, um, we all probably have similar reasons as to why that's how it is, but why is that? I think it's because it's me hedging. It's the best hedge that I have in the business for these commercial guys. When I can look at a pedigree and I could go, okay, you've got 92, 17 in there, 53, 41, 86, 16, 42, 64. I know that I've, I've hedged my bet that there's a high degree of predictability that these cattle are gonna go out and perform for you the way that I've sold them to perform. And, um, so it gets my blood pumping when I get that calf that now, you know, we've got, I, I never told you guys this until Torque's mother came along, which she was purchased a little bit later and then, um, put through the ringer of production and then we decided to flush her. I can't remember if it was 20 10, 20 11, I'd made a goal that we were not going to have a bull in the sale that did not have our prefix all the way back to the bottom line. And we print a three generation pedigree. So every female on that line would be brewing broom brewing. And that was something that I was, I had a lot of pride about because, um, that could message to our customers that we'd been breeding for them for a long time. Well then torque's mother comes along, uh, in production and kind of set the whole thing on fire because she, her daughters are the first ones of the brewing prefix. But now that we're a little further down this road, 20 years into the breeding program, we're starting to see a lot of our prefix on both sides of the pedigree and throughout both sides of the pedigree. And so, uh, that's just cool to me. It's cool because I can. Really tangibly understand the relationship that we had with those animals here on Bruin Ranch that are represented in the pedigree. So you wanna go Corbin? No, I want you to, um, so when we started, me and dad started back in oh five and we were building, I mean my, my first goal was to start getting animals with our own prefixed.'cause you know, when you start, you gotta go out and buy everything and then slowly breed. And then it was, my goal was to get, um, our prefix on the bottom, not just on that animal. And then it was to get it two generations on the bottom. And then it was to get it like you're saying, three. And now I get pretty fired up when I see. A good one out in the pasture and I go look it up. Oh, look at that thing. I wonder what she is. And you pull her up and she's outta one of your bulls and your prefix is on top and bottom. So now you know that's, I never thought that would ever be a, a goal, but now that's getting to be where, you know, uh, I want it to be with, with, uh, our prefix on the top hand, bottom. And hopefully they'll be good enough. That's the whole thing. I think as long as you just keep, keep your quality where you want it. It shouldn't matter if it's a AI sire or if it's one of your sis. I think that's almost what makes it more exciting and what gets your blood, gets my blood pumping more, is that I do have the belief. That the sire that I own is gonna outperform a lot of the AI sis. A lot of the other stuff I, I choose to use, and that's enough to get me excited again. It's like, well, I knew it. And now I'm proving it. And so let's take it a step further and then as, as I get into the journey further and further, the excitement grows even more. And you think that your fire's gone and then you look back and you've got a four generation pedigree with your, and that just fires you up. Right? You get, you never lose that passion if you have it, you know? Right. But then I take the step, the next step, Corbin, which I know is on your list because I said it, but it's cattle that do what they say they should is when all of that stuff comes together and you've got your blood pumping and you're excited. But then, like right now, this afternoon, two hours ago, whyt and I, I had to take him over to this other ranch with me to pick up out on our dry feed. Right now there's cattle out on the dry and not on irrigated. And all the basic nutrient value is, is kind of gone in some of those fields. So we have to start supplementing with some protein tubs. And so we drove over to this other ranch and he helped me. Are you. Oh, you're playing with a pencil. I thought you were raising your hand. No, sorry. No, it's fine. And so, uh, we loaded that up and I was like, oh, that journeyman daughter's calving and these are the first journeyman daughters to calve. And she had feet hanging out of her and we're like, well, let's go. That ranch is about three miles away, two, three miles. So we grabbed the lick tub, went and put it out with those other cattle, went and checked some fence, fixed some hot wire. I looked at my phone, I said, it's been 30 minutes. He goes, well, let's go do something else. So why didn't I drive down and we go do something else? About 45 minutes we came back and that heifer was standing there whacking another heifer who was over there being nosy and that calf was nursing on that cow. And I was like, yes. So yes, Corbin, I got my blood pumping because that is journeyman, which is top and bottom, and her mother is four generations brewing all the way back. But it's even more excited now because she did what she was supposed to do. Yes, absolutely. At least for now. Now, we'll, we'll test it again when she weans it, and then we do the cycle all over again. But man, it got me fired up when I just said she just did what she was supposed to. It's the simple things, right? It's the simple things. What about, what about when you, you just, what you just said. You, you go out there and you see a cow cabin and you get so excited just for the fact that you bred her and you've had to wait 10 months to see what you're gonna get. And I tell you, I get pretty excited. I have all these, I have a spreadsheet I keep in my truck and we keep it in the barn of who's supposed to cal when and what they're bred to. So we can make tags when they calve. And, uh, every morning we go out and, um, check Calvin Cows, and I'll forget that I bred this one. To this certain bull or a certain mating or whatever, and I'm like, oh my God, I forgot all about that one and I'll get so fired up and then you haul butt out there just to see it, you know? And uh, yeah, those things like that get my blood pumping for sure. And you're like, oh, it's a black cap. Yeah. It don't have any wine on it. Yeah. Yes. Hoop stepped through. Uh, yeah. So to even extrapolate further on, on you saying you bred one a certain way and wait 10 months, what about those cows that peak late? What about those cows that you kinda, you know what, I'm keeping her because she's a, a good looking heifer decent. Um, let's see what kind of cow she turns into. And then you look up six, seven years down the road and you've got a cow that's, that's phenomenal. That's, and that's, um, turned into one of the best cows you own. And you didn't even have that expect expectation for her. Yep. We had, we have that. You know, you, you find them and you're like, who is that? And then you're like, oh, okay. That's pretty cool. She's looking, let's see what she's done. You pull her up and she's sitting at like six at 1 0 3, and you're like, holy crap. I didn't even realize this cow is doing it big time. And that that, yeah, that can definitely get you fired up. Yeah, I would say those ones that surprise you and are, there's certain cows that when they get 10, 11, 12 years old do not look like old cows. It's like they're still just hitting their stride and, and some of these six and seven year olds that still look like, you know, second caver or something. Yeah. I mean, they just, it's like they keep getting better every day of their life. Those are the ones that get me so fired up. I mean, I've told 86 16 now, she, she does not look her best right now. But when you say that cow's 17 years old and you go look at her, you're like, she's pretty all right. She's pretty all right. Absolutely. Absolutely. That gives my blood pumping. I, I think about that shady brook cow that I've seen a couple times that Vincent always joke about'cause he got rid of her, you know, but like that, that cow gets my blood pumping because that's an aged cow. She's an old lady and she is gorgeous and feminine in the right kind. Those get my blood pumping. It gets my blood, blood pumping even more when I think about what an idiot I was for selling her. Yeah. But it brings to the next one, though. It brings to the next one. Corby. Read. Read my next point where it talks about customer success. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. So watching your customer succeed and, and obviously obvious, obviously, he's gonna have a testimony that says, Hey, look what happened here. Um, well, I know. At this point, I don't even care if he succeeds. I just want my cow back. Throw my stupid cow back. Yeah. That's funny. And she's got a great freeze band. A great freeze band you have to look at. She actually does have a great freeze every freaking time sends a picture. You gotta see it. Goodness. No, it that's true though. Like that can get you fired up. It gives you such a feeling of, it gives me a feeling of happiness that I something left here and winning another herd and is helping them move to the next level or helping them succeed. How about when you sell a bull to somebody that has 30 cows? Then five years later they call you and say, Hey, uh, that bull's been great. Um, I know we've talked a little bit over the years, but uh, I had, I hadn't bought a bull in that time and, and he's doing great and I'd like to have another one that gets me fired up to know that a bull has gone out for that long, done his job and then you're coming back to me for round two. That fires me up as well. Yeah, we didn't have that on the list, Corbin, but I get those all the time. It's like that. Well, I, I shouldn't say that. That makes it sound so flippant. I'm sorry. It's, it's not that I get'em all the time, but uh, they'll be like, yeah, that bull I bought in 21 or 22. And you get out there and look at the freeze brand and you're like, dude, that bull is eight. He is eight. You did not buy him a couple years ago. Yeah. That gets my blood pumping when the cattle exceed expectations and make people money. Um, most people buy cattle for a reason, and that reason is to add value to their operation. And if you meet those goals, man, that absolutely gets my blood pumping. What else you got? Cor. That's all that's on our list. Do you guys have anything you wanted to add to it? Well, I'll tell you what gets my blood pumping in the Angus Association right now. Ooh. All the, that's a good transition. All the new, look at that segue, cor, all the new, all the new candidates that are popping up left and right. Yeah. Just the interest of people, the people who want to be engaged, the people who want to connect with membership and, and people who want to share their story and, and think they have something to add that gets my blood pumping. Um, you know, I've said several times here, people have called me very flatteringly and I'm like, I, I can't right now I've, I've displaced way too much of my life away from my kids. And how many crusades can a guy go on? I mean, you gotta. At some point when they turn around, they're like, where's dad? Well, he is doing this because that's what people of high integrity do. Well, at some point dad has to devote some time to, to the family, and I feel like I've been falling short there. And so thank you to the people who have thrown their hat in the ring to, uh, to seek a an election to, to the board. But, um, guys, do you want me to handle it or Corbin do you wanna say it? Or, or Vince? Um, I want to invite, formally invite, this is anyone who tends to run or intends to run for the board in 2025 to come on here and chop it up with us around the CH style. So we'll ask about your program where it, we don't expect it to be a grilling interview, but don't also expect us to not ask a tough question maybe. Um, but we just want to visit, we wanna learn about you. We wanna learn about your operation, about your family, about how you make decisions. I think that we have a decent information blowtorch here, that we cast across the Angus land. And if we can help you share your story to potential delegates, I think that'd be lovely. And so it's our goal, um, to reach out to as many of you as, as we can. And, and I chose my words very carefully. I did not say write in delegates or, or candidates or new candidates. This is anyone that intends to run for the board in 2025. We would like to extend the opportunity for those folks to come on for a few minutes and talk about why it is they wanna be on the board and who they are. Yeah. Is that okay? Vince? I feel like you have something to add'cause you're shaking. No, no, no. I, I think that that's, that was perfect. Um, come tell us why you think you'd be a good board member. Come tell us if you want to make a change, come tell us if you think we're on the right track and we just need to keep good people on there to keep going the way we're going. Who, I mean, whatever it is that you want to tell us, come on here and tell us if you think, Joe, I think it'll be fun. If you think Joe's hat's silly, then tell us. Well, I'll wear a silly hat for sure. Uh, but, but maybe they want to ask us questions. Um, maybe they do. And absolutely I think it, I think it'll be fun and it'll be light. And you guys know we've been very guarded of who our first guest is gonna be, who our first guest is gonna be. And I think if we're using this podcast for good, which is what our intention always was, this is our opportunity from. How we conduct a visit with folks to just have a visit with some potential board candidates. Um, so Vince, you wanted to add some other information? People are gonna be listening to this. I, on the way to, I hope, I hope that this is out for people to listen to. On the way to the Tennessee Angus Field Day. I wanted to bring it up the last time and we got all wrapped up in what we were talking about and about 10 minutes after we got done recording, I was like, oh my gosh, I forgot to bring it up and invite everybody out. Um, the Tennessee Angus Field Day will be held at ZWT on Saturday, the second of, uh, August. There'll be so much stuff going on. There'll be panels, there'll be probably a guest speaker. Two, there'll be stuff for the kids to do. They're giving away a heifer. Um, they're giving away some sale credits. I think, uh, they're gonna have tours. I'm actually gonna be one of the tour guides. They're gi they're doing some tours. I did I say giving away tours. I didn't mean to say giving away tours. Good. So you're charging for tours? I'm charging for tours, yeah. No, good. They're, they're doing some tours and, uh, they'll have some stuff on display and, um, it, it's gonna be a good time. It's gonna be a good time. I hope. Did I see pictures for like bounce house or something like that? Maybe. And I cannot say if there is one that I may or may not get in. What about a water slide? Is there a water slide? Ooh, I don't know. There might be. Tell you what, you put that big fella at 118 heat index in a bounce house and it'll become a water slide, I guarantee. Yeah. That, that it, it is been so, it is supposed to be in the low eighties, I believe, though. That might be nice. Um, low eighties. Yeah, that's not even in our two month forecast. Yeah, actually we're supposed to be in low and low to mid eighties Friday for a week after Friday, and I'm thinking about weaning calves. That's a good plan. So I think you should, well, it just depends if, if I wake up, um, Thur, we're gonna, we're talking about doing it Thursday afternoon, so we'll look before we go gather pastures to make sure that and change the weather again. But, uh, no, it'll be, it'd be good times this weekend. So I hope to see a lots of folks out there. I know, golly, I think they've had 370 something people, RSVP or something. How many? I think they said over 300. What are they gonna feed you? That was the thing he will was talking about. Um, they're not gonna have enough food, so they had to bistro, they had to do it again. The bistro could not handle this deal. Bistro, he couldn't handle this deal. But no, it's, it's gonna be good times. I, I'm sure I left something out. I mean, there's gonna be a judging contest. There's gonna be all kinds of stuff for kids. Hey, so Vince, I got a question for you. Do you think there's, I think this episode's gonna be pretty clean if we don't have any screw ups. Could we let this thing fly on Friday? Maybe, and then people could hear this ahead of the field day? Maybe. Very good. Well guys, I'm gonna go check heifers before it gets dark, if that's cool with you guys. I've had a wonderful time. I think it was really fun and we'll look forward to hearing from some of these board members. A handful of them I know personally and I could text or call. Um Yep. But if you guys, listeners, uh, maybe reach out to those guys.'cause not everybody, surprisingly enough, not everyone listens to around the shoot. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I know. But, but seriously, listeners, if you are friends with someone and you know they've declared candidacy or something, say, Hey, you ought to go around the shoot, get ahold of Corbin Corbin's gonna coordinate some of it, um, and write it down and then get you scheduled in. That's right. We done. Take it away, tumor. We will see you next time around the shoot.