Interview AAA Board Candidate, Robert Groom

This episode features a candid discussion with Robert Groom, a candidate for the American Angus Association Board. Topics include the challenges and responsibilities of Angus breeders, the controversial methane hub issue, the role and duties of the association, and the need for transparent and member focused policies. Robert also shares personal insights into his background, motivations, and family, emphasizing his commitment to improving the Angus breed and supporting the membership.

Transcript

0:01

Yeah. So, uh, no, don't say it Corman. I guess we'll just say, Hey guys, how's the weather? Vince is like, Hey, we're not allowed to talk about anything fun unless it's Caitlyn Clark playing basketball. Okay. Okay. We can't talk about, you got 30 seconds. Go college football just started. It's really fun. There's a lot of really good teams. There's been some upsets today. I've really enjoyed myself. Uh, Florida just got beat on a last second field goal. Uh, Clemson looks terrible. I'm sorry, Kevin Renwick. Um, your team sucks, but I hope they lose every game. Just kidding. I don't, I don't. Okay. That's it. I muted him. Oh God. Unmute. He's still going. He's still going. Now he has to ask. Um, he had to ask my permission to unmute now. I was like, I had to, I had to prove You muting me, unmuting me. What is your, you know what your best, the best thing about you talking about college football is, is your referencing games that are like two weeks from when this is gonna air. I know. So that's, and so everybody's gonna be like, Clemson was awesome and Florida didn't win The last second Al goal, they lost Corman. And so it's outdated. Yeah. Corman. It's outdated. So nobody we're very, we're very outdated. Um, so do you know what else is outdated then? If we were gonna talk, it's like, okay, let's talk about the weather where the weather's outdated. Uh, let's talk about, let's talk about what's going on in TMZ world. Well, it's outdated two weeks from now. Okay. You know what's gonna be outdated two weeks from now? All these calves that I'm having born today, they'll be two weeks old. Wow. Yeah. They will, we had a frenzy today. You'll have in, in two weeks. I think we have six, but Vince, in two weeks you'll have a hundred and I'll have a lot. I'll have a few. Well hopefully they, hopefully you'll have a hundred and in two weeks you'll be harvesting too. Harvesting, uh, I hope we're harvesting at the end of this week. I knew we'd get there. I knew we'd get to harvest in the weather. Well look in the cab. We need rain. We got rain. Same old shit. Different day. That's all we're allowed to talk about. We can't talk about fun stuff. I want to talk about a certain basketball player getting suspended because I think it's hilarious. Why did you get suspended? Why did she get suspended? Angel Reese, as far as I can tell, she got suspended because she came out and said they needed better teammates and they needed a better team. Meanwhile, she's like, uh, did you, okay, was she shoot like 28%? Oh, it's freaking ter. And, and I mean, when she actually shoots like a jump shot, it's like, holy cow, I'm better than that. I think she misses a lot on purpose to pad her rebounds. There's not. I really do, but okay, so did you guys see when they were, okay, so here, I'll just lay it out. They're down two late. What the good news is, you know what the good news is, is we went from the number one thing that our listeners don't listen to, to the number two thing our listeners don't listen to. And you know what nobody said. Welcome to a round the shoot. Welcome to a round the shoot. Angel Reese. Okay, angel Reese down two with like 12 seconds left. She's got a free throw, she's got one free throw, they're down two, and she looks over to the coach and she's like, should I miss it on purpose so that we can get the rebound? And he is like, no, go ahead and make it. And then, and then she misses it. She tries to make it and misses it. It is like, oh, well you should just, then when you're done your thing, sweetheart. Um, it's, it's so much fun. I, I, I, I really feel bad for, um, the contingency of listeners that don't care about college football and sports because she's, it's a great equalizer. It's a great, she got, she got it suspended for statements detrimental to the team around the rim. What is that? How do you even budget around the rim, around the, around the goalposts? How is that even a thing? Uh, so. I do wanna point out that we, we are excited to have our now third guest. Our third guest, no, fourth. Fourth. Come on. Fourth guest. Our third one has not, our third one has not dropped yet. This will be our fourth. We're a little bit ahead of schedule because Joe's got a sale coming up, um, which we're excited about. Joe has a sale coming up. I think Joe's rocking and rolling. So we're trying to get these in the can so that as we get closer to that time, we aren't, uh, pressed. We aren't pressed and we aren't having to stress. But, uh, um, so the first three have gone extremely well. Um, as our listeners listen to this one, they will have already listened to, um, Logan, Brooke Miller, Kelly Alrich, and Logan Sampson. Uh, for this episode we have Robert Groom. Uh, Robert's a an exciting one for me because I, I don't personally know Robert, and so it's gonna be really, uh, fun for me to get to know him. I've talked to Vince and Joe about it, and they said, man, you're gonna really enjoy getting to know Robert because Robert is a very personable person and you just give him the reins and let him go. And so, um, I'm excited to get you to know you Robert, and without further, uh, delay, let's bring in. Robert, how are you, Robert? Tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, I appreciate the invite to be on here. Um, I, uh, uh, I, I don't think I, I'd actually physically met any of you guys, um, before I, I've maybe only spoken to Vince and, and Joe maybe once. Um, but I appreciate what you do. Um, I appreciate what you've done with the other candidates that have stepped up this summer to run for the board. Um. A little bit about myself. I, as you can tell, from my pretty thick upstate New York accent, um, I didn't grow up here. Um, I I was super thick. It's super thick. They, all the locals talk like me. I think they're copied me, but I don't know. Um, I, uh, I grew up on a dairy farm, small dairy farm in Cheshire, England. Um, on the farm that my grandfather bought in 1955. Uh, he would be the first generation of our family to own land. Um, before that, he was a tenant farmer in SRE and he moved about 30 miles to Cheshire, um, to buy this farm. And all his neighbors thought he'd gone off the end of the earth. I mean, someone going 30 miles away from home was just unheard of. Um, and, you know, I descend basically from, from servants. I mean, our, our family name isn't a name at all. It's a job. Um. There's, there's lots of grooms around the country, um, but none of us are related because we're just the descendants of that particular groom, of that particular area. And so, um, so anyway, with my, my grandfather, um, from that farm from 55 until the early seventies when, uh, my mom and dad, um, took over the farm. Um, my dad was the youngest of three brothers. His older two brothers didn't wanna farm. And, uh, he worked, worked a couple other jobs to, uh, to kind of finance it and, and get into it. And he bought the farm from my grandfather. And then in, well, I graduated high school in, uh, 84 and um, at 16, which is when they'd let me leave. And so I, I took off running, headed for the first tractor I could find, and, um, started raking hay and, and really haven't looked back since then. And, uh, about a year after that. My mom and dad didn't really wanna milk cows for the rest of our lives, and I really didn't wanna milk cows for the rest of my life. And so they started looking for a farm. They found one in Scotland about 300 miles away, and, um, they bought about a 360 acre farm. And, uh, we moved there in the spring of 85. And again, all our neighbors thought that we were completely off our heads and, and we were going to the ends of the earth traveling 300 miles to the middle of nowhere. Um, but my folks, uh, um, sacrificed a lot to, to be able to make that move and buy that farm. Um, the 1980s in, in the UK were not a good time for farming or any of the primary industries really. Um, and it was, you know, I've since learned that it was pretty well true in the states as well because, you know, interest rates were ridiculous. High in inflation was high. Um. There was farms getting foreclosed on. Um, the farm we moved to, our neighbors had moved into their place about a year before us. Um, and they didn't make it outta the eighties unfortunately. Um, and so, you know, it was tough times, but, um, we were always taught to work hard and, you know, get after it. And so, uh, so we started with a completely new way of farming. We'd been dairy farmers now. We were growing small grains, we were raising beef cattle. Um, we had a bunch of sheep around. Um, and we were just, you know, trying to make it. And, uh, and so we did that, um, several years. And then about 1987, a good friend of my dad's saw that I was maybe going off the rails a little bit and maybe spending a little more time playing rugby and drinking than. Going to work. And that's what I'm talking about. Um, and he, he just casually said to me one day when we were working sheep, you know, you ought to think about getting into Aberdeen Angus. Um, and I hadn't really thought about that very much at all, but I had managed to earn a little bit of money and I, uh, I went to a dispersal sale at the end of September, or the end of August in, uh, 1987. And, uh, wasn't really sure what I was looking at, but I, I ended up coming home with a, a bread heifer that had a calf about a week later, heif a calf. And that was kind of the foundation of my first, uh, t Fergus herd, which was the name of the farm in Scotland. And that's the name I brought with me when I came to the States in 98. Um, did you bring cows with you when you came over here in 98? No, there was, there was absolutely no trade in 1996. Um, the BSC crisis. Pretty much come to a head and Britain was banned from exporting anything really. Wow. No embryos or nothing? No. And, and honestly, the titan kind of cattle that were prevalent in the UK and popular in the uk, um, wouldn't have worked in this market and drop some, uh, drop some pedi. Like what, what kind of, uh, and, and even if you need to modernize it, what kind of genetics are prevalent there today? Or, or were prevalent at that point? Well, um. There, there's a lot of us, us influence in the, in the Scottish herd or the, the, the British Herd book. Um, but a lot of that comes via Canada because it was always fairly easy to bring genetics in from Canada, and it was always very difficult to bring genetics in from the United States. Um, there was some notable embryos brought in from, from the states by a couple different people. Um, with Scotch Cap. Um, there were some I gotcha. Yeah. Sons of Scotch Cap out of, uh, some evergreen cows from, uh, gt Well Woodhill, uh, I see. Yep. But you know, it, you don't have to hunt too far in a pedigree in the UK even today to find bulls like QLC, Winchester, SCR, lone Star, um, sunset Acres, bang Harang, uh, old ruler. Um, you know, you can find a lot of the ghosts of the eighties alive and well in a lot of pedigrees, um, that, that size. Um. To an extent is needed in the UK market because of their grading system, which doesn't consider quality. It only looks at, um, caucus shape, which is, you know, they, they look at shape as a measure of quality when it's really just a measure of yield. And then they're looking at back fat, which is also just a measure of yield. And so, um, there isn't really a quality grade, so there's no real reward for any high modeling genetics. Um, and so, you know, I, I'd been fortunate enough to get a, a kind of young Farmer's scholarship in 1989 to come and study Angus cattle in the US And most people went to Canada because they knew they could get genetics out of there. But it seemed to me that the US was where the fountain head of the breed was now. Yeah. You know, it was not like, like in the 1960s, you know, everyone went to Perth Bull sales. Um. In the two thousands and, and nineties and even the late eighties the United States, because of the volume of cattle and the types of cattle that were available, um, they were the fountain head and they remain the fountain head of, of Angus genetics in the world. You've only gotta look around at, you know, what's making headlines in Australia right now, uh, New Zealand and their bull sales, American influence is everywhere. And after I'd come to the states in 89, I traveled around, I went across the country. I went anywhere from Virginia to Oregon. Um, traveled with some great people, some, um, regional managers, uh, got to visit a lot of herds. Went to National Junior Angus Show. Um, and, and the National Junior Angus Show honestly was a thing that really when I got home, it was like, I want to be able to give a future family of mine. The opportunities that the kids in America have. Well, I'm glad you brought up, uh, I'm glad you brought up your family. So did, when you came across, did you come by yourself or did your mom and dad come, um, did you meet your wife here? Are you married? What? How's all that go? How, what? Tell us about your family. Minor details. Okay. Um, so yes, I'd say I've kind of skipped forward. Now we've gotta, I'm gonna backtrack a little bit. So, so I met my wife in the, in the fall of 1991 in Scotland. Um, we got married in August of 93, so we've just been married now for 32 years. Um, our oldest child, our son was born in 97, uh, in Scotland. And then in the fall of 97 I saw an advert in the Angus Journal'cause I was already subscribing to Angus Journal to kind of keep track of what was going on here. And, um, there was an advert, a little classified in the back of the book that said, uh, manager partner wanted for Angus Heard. So I, there was a phone number. I picked up the phone, called the number, spoke to the folks. And it was interesting enough that I thought, well, I'm gonna take a trip over and, and have a look at this operation. Didn't know where it was, nothing. And apparently it was in upstate New York. And so I flew to Toronto, um, rented a car, drove down through Nigar and across the state. Um, it was like first week of December. It was actually my 30th birthday is what it was when I was driving. Um, and, uh, I rocked up at this place and, um, met those folks. We went through the cow herd. It was basically traveler retail, scotch cap, some pine drive, Shoshone. It was fundamentally, um, pasture base. Pasture raised, um, you know, pretty common genetics at the time. They were using some bulls that, that I used in some embryo work I'd done previously in, in Scotland. Um, so I knew a lot of the bloodlines. I kind of gotta see the cows and I was, it, to me it was a good enough herd. It was a good enough opportunity that I was prepared to sell up everything we'd built in Britain and start again. And so, um, so almost a year later we, we, we moved to the states. We had our dispersal in late September of 98, and we gathered up all the money and everything we put together. I mean, we didn't own property or anything like that, we just, our assets were a cattle and a few bits and pieces of machinery that we'd, that we put together. So we just cashed it all in. Um, we packed some furniture into a shipping crate and, um. With the clothes on the back of a couple suitcases. We, we, we, we left. And so, so Robert, I got a quick one and, and just, just 30 seconds to a minute. Um, is it, we don't have to go deep into this'cause it's outside of the context of the reason you're here, which we all want to get to, but we have listeners reach out to us all the time saying, what would you do if you were starting over? What would you do? You know, and, and we've threatened to have a whole podcast on this and we've tried a whole podcast on it. You've actually started over, but in a completely different foreign land, literally. Um, what advice would you give to anyone in 30 seconds to a minute that wants to start over? You have to just do it. I mean, you don't, you don't start the journey until you've taken the first step. And so at, at some point, you can't just be a bystander if you ever want to accomplish anything. You have to take that step. You have to buy that cow. You have to take that opportunity. Um, all through my life, I, I've said that the only regrets I have are the things I didn't do. Hmm. Um, because so, so on the other thing I live by, and which is why I've ended up on your podcast, is because when, if someone asks me to do something and I can't think of a compelling reason to say no, then I'll say yes. What happens? Well, that's actually pro that's probably a great segue into, so, so I'm assuming somebody asked you to run for the board. Is, is that kind of where you're getting to? Right. That, uh, and that's, that's always been the case. I mean, and I had no plans to run for the board this year. I, um, I did get called in late May, early June when this whole methane thing was kicking off. Um. Quite a few people called me and said, you know, you gotta run, you gotta run. And I was like, nah, I don't think I do. I think there's enough people out there that, that are, that think the same as me, that, that see this the way I see it, that I don't need to be in this race. I've done it before. You know? I said never, ever, ever again after the last time. And, um, and so here I am, never, ever, ever doing it again, doing it again. So, so you did it, uh, you've did it once before. Is that one time before or more than once? Four times. Four times You've run for the board? Um, successfully, yes. Now tell, tell us, tell us a little bit about that experience because, well, go ahead Vince. Well, I was gonna say, I know you ran from the floor once. Did you run from the floor? All? I've never run from the floor. I Oh, you didn't? I've always, I've always run, um, a full. Oh, okay. And I've kind of learned a little bit along the way. Um, but the first time I ran was in 2003, and that was entirely result of the Advantage Cattle Services site. I, I was posting on there from early on. There was a lot of good discussions on there, and at some point that first summer, 2003, I people just started randomly calling me and saying, you should run for the board. You should run for the board. Ah, and I didn't know any different or know any better. And so I did. Um, I didn't really do probably half of what I probably should have done, but I, I showed up, I ran, I gave a speech. I tried to answer questions as best I knew how. Um, and I, I, you know, I got beat. So that was that. And so I, I left it be the next year. People say, well, you know, you ought to run again. You know, you, you were just unlucky the last time you, you get on again. And I said, I'm not really, not really for that. And then Phil Trobridge, uh, said that he, he wanted to run at it. And, um, and I said, well, there's no way on earth that I'm gonna run against Phil for my own state. Um, I'm, I'm just gonna step back and, and you know, he can go for it. And he, he got on and, and that was very fortunate. He did a great job as a board member, um, did a great job as president. And, um, and, and so when he turned out in 2010, I again got approached to, to run. And, um, I said, well, Phil's term's up and no, I don't see anybody else sticking their hand up. And, and then all of a sudden there was like 10 or 12 candidates that year. And so, uh, it ended. Like the previous occasion. And, um, so I, you know, I, I, I mean everyone can, you know, run for their own reasons, whatever, but I, I don't, I don't try and take it personally. I just, you know, it is what it is. Um, Angus politics can be a little dirty sometimes, and I know there's absolutely things that were said, and I, I, I store that stuff away, but I, I don't need to rise to the bait. Um, and so anyway, that was all done. And then, then four years later, there was the big blowup over the, um, firing of the regional managers and all that kind of stuff in 2014. And again, people were rattling my cage and asking me to, to run, and I, I couldn't really think of a good reason to say no then either. So I, okay, well I'll, I'll, I'll do it. And, um. That was, you know, that was a tough campaign. That was a tough, um, experience because the only person I really feel real sympathy for at that deal is Kathy Watkins, because I think she was denied an opportunity to lead our association, and she did not deserve what happened to her. Um, and so I, I went away from that one a bit sore. I, I did not, did not appreciate that. And I think our association as a whole took a bit of a hammering for a few years there with the results of some of those, those actions. But anyway, time moved on. And then three years ago, well same, same thing again. I just started getting calls and, and several people approached me and said, and I never expected'em to, because I don't necessarily class'em as friends. They're associates, they're people I know, but I wouldn't call'em my big pals in the Angus business. And they were saying to run, and I thought, well, even if people are potentially opposed to me are saying run, maybe I oughta listen. So I mean, so I did and, um, uh, you know, we got shuffled out again and, and so, so we move on again. But, um, so Robert, Robert, the, the big question, I think that, that, that what's different this time, I mean, obviously we've been, as you describe it, uh, a lot of these things are, are things that predate me, uh, to where I don't, I don't really have recollection of, of, um, the state of the American Eagles Association in 2010 or, um, even 2014. But what, what's different this time? What is it about this time where it seems. And maybe it doesn't, maybe it doesn't seem more, it seems like a bigger deal now than, than it has. I mean, it seems like this is more important. Where at, if it's possible, more of a crossroads. What is different about this go around in 2025? I think one of the things is that, um, I think the, the four of the guys that have stepped up, and I only knew one of them personally before this started, um, Brooke Miller.'cause I've served on the USCA board with him for several years now. Um, you know, he's a very intelligent, very sincere, um, very articulate man who, um, just, you know, is, he's passionate about his business and the Angus business and he, he's about the individual and about. You know, whether it's his patients or whether it's, you know, his fellow members of our association, I think he's very passionate about the, you know, the individual and the rights of the individual and the rights of the member. And, and I, I agree with that. That's why I serve on the USCA board. I, I'm all about the individual. Um, and then the other three guys that have stepped up, I've, I've spoken to'em all personally. I think they're all people who have tremendous integrity, who have tremendous knowledge. Um, they just strike me as, as people with character and depth and, and I think they're sincere about their objectives for the association. And I think the nature of what's occurred there with this whole Bezos deal and the way it's been kind of parlayed out to the membership, I, I think we're all in this fight for the right reason. Is it, is there more of a, is there more of a, uh, help me with the words guys. Is there more of a, what is the word I'm looking for? Like, received? No, that's not it. Okay. That's not it. Like a ground swell or something. Like a more of a, uh, what is, say like a rally of the troops. How do you, how, what's the word I'm looking for? Like more of a, yeah, like a groundswell or a incentive. Like more, like, people seem more empowered. They feel, I, I, I just passionate. It feels louder. It feels louder, for lack of a better term. It feels louder. Why is it like that now, Robert? Because I think the way that this whole thing has been portrayed from the association standpoint is not entirely believable. It's not resonating with the members. I think that, you know, the idea that there were 17 people in the room. They all agreed unanimously, that doesn't sit well with me. You know, I, I know quite a few people on the board and I cannot believe they would just sit there and go along with this with no dissent and there, and there's nothing wrong with passing with something by a majority vote, but there, there has to be the evidence of a serious debate that there has to be evidence that, you know, to me, this, this whole thing on principle is wrong because by doing what they've done, they've basically said to this methane harbor or whoever these people are that are funding this deal, Bezos is of the world. Um, yes, we're a problem, but we're not as bad as you, you know, as you think we are. And I just think that's an awful position to put yourself in. I think that's, that's, that's, that's accepting defeat. It is correct before the battles going forward. And what I'd far rather say is, you know, no, we don't believe that the result of a naturally evolved process is a problem in this world. I don't think carbon is a problem in this world. I don't think methane is a problem in this world. I think the naturally evolved world that we have, if we've screwed it up, is because we've not utilized resources. We've not allowed, like farmers and ranches in the west to graze those hills that are burning. We've not allowed the logging industry to manage our woodlands. So they're burning, the, the things that are happening are not as a result of some, uh, shift in the climate. They're act, they're because of some shift in policy and the lack of people on the land and ultimately. If, if we don't have thriving rural industry, whether it's farming or logging or whatever it is, we will have no rural America. And when we have no rural America, we will have no America. That's right. Absolutely. I 100% agree with that. So, so I guess, I guess, go ahead Vince, or are you messing with your Well, I, no, no, no. I was gonna ask what other things outside of the, the Bezos methane deal, what other things would you like to see possibly changed or, um, maybe tweaked or upgraded or, you know, what, what other things would you like to see happen? I think obviously the first order of business in my mind is that we have to kind of. Somehow divest ourselves of that, that methane hub business. But after that, I think we have to take a hard look at a GI and the ownership of the DNA because when a GI was first set up, the pitch from the association was one, that it's better for us to own our own DNA, have our own library. We provide it then to third parties who will run whatever, like genomic tests, genetic defect tests, whatever it is. But we will have the ownership and we will have the identity of those samples, and these other companies will contract to utilize that DNA to, to give us a result that works for us. But that was my understanding of it. Right. And it was better that we had it rather than a Pfizer or Zoetis or, OR Identity had that. Yet now, uh, it appears that essentially when we submit all those samples and we pay for the submission of those samples, all of a sudden that now is association property and they can parlay that into getting rethinking grants, getting, um, research grants. They can use our property that may end up working against us. So I think that whole thing has to be revis revisited. And I did look on the, the board agenda, and it looks like there's gonna be some discussion of that in the upcoming board meeting. Um, and I'm gonna be interested to see what shape that takes after that because I, you know, we've been doing some of this genetic testing for quite a long time now. And, um, you know, we, my my impression was always that, you know, that, that I, it was my property correct, and that they were storing it for us. And I know people have said, well, you know, there's a, there's a legal document that you check off and, and sign every time you do submission. Well, yeah, of course there is. But I thought, I, I guess I, in my naivety I assume that that was, um, you know, just usual legalistic cover your rear kind of stuff rather than Right. Than, than me signing away my, my rights. Correct. So, um, so that's something that I absolutely has to be, uh, you know, readdressed. Because if, if we're still a member association, then that's how a member association would operate. They would do things that were in the interest of their membership and they would safeguard their members' interests and not allow it to be used for things that were, were not approved. Correct. And, and a GI essentially did that with the methane, it seemed like they took it and then the board were asked after the fact to kind of validate it. Um. Which they did. I, I'm not sure where to go with that. Yeah. So, so essentially what we've gotten into is, is we're unsure of what the role of a GI and what the role of the American Inga Association even is. I mean, what are they supposed to be providing for members? So I guess my next question for you is, what is the job of the American Indian Association? What should they do for the members? Well, I think at the basic level, our, our, our charter, um, pretty much speaks to that, um, that, you know, they're the keeper of the pedigrees. Um, you know, maintain unimpaired, the purity of the breed. I think that's still, uh, an essential, um, part of their, uh, duty. Um, and, and honestly, that's something they do extremely well. I mean, the turnaround in, in time on, on getting weights processed, getting paperwork done is, is. Without comparing the industry, it, they have the simplest online system. Um, I was very reticent early on to, to adopt, um, online storage of certificates because in my, um, I can't say skeptical mind. If you're not printing certificates, then you can start writing pedigrees for anything. And you can say, technically, I'm not printing a certificate on that, and all of a sudden we're registering cross breads. I don't want that to happen. No. And so, you know, I, I kind of resisted that for a while, but now, you know, we've gone all electronic storage because it's makes simple the transfer of animals, um, back in two. It makes, you know, it makes life a lot simpler. I, you know, I don't need to store all that paperwork at home. I don't need to find a registration certificate on a cow 15 years old ago to, you know, affect some. Or transfer. So, um, anyway, I, I think that they do extremely well. I think the girls in the office, um, do a phenomenal job. They're always, um, you know, answering questions and, and, and dealing with issues and getting things straightened out. Um, I think that part of the business is phenomenal. Um, you know, I I some of this other stuff, I think when it comes down to, you know, data ownership, uh, DNA ownership, um, I, we have to remember we're a member association because if we're just a corporation that can, you know, auction off our assets to whoever for whatever, just to maintain the association, I'm not sure that that's what a lot of people signed up for. Right. Yeah. So I have a question for you, Robert, a little different vein. I mean, you mentioned, uh, the sheet and, and the disclaimer, and it really made me, the word that popped into my head or the, the phrase was, in good faith, a lot of us just kind of sign that in good faith. Yep. And I do think that when you evaluate, um, the past six months, the trust in the membership of the organization has been rattled. What are some things that the board could do effective immediately to start to build back trust with the members? I think there's, there's a couple things. One is there, of the communications that came out as a result of this uproar that occurred on online mainly of about the, the methane grant, their initial response wasn't to kind of step back and reevaluate it was to come back to us with a. You obviously don't understand this well enough, so let us explain it to you a bit more. Well, I don't know that I understand the whole role of methane in the whole picture of things, but fundamentally, I don't have to.'cause that's something that's concocted by my enemies to eliminate me from beef production. And so to my enemies who want to eliminate me and, and, and my fellow cattlemen from the, from the countryside, um, we're gonna stand against you and we're not gonna give you ammunition, uh, to destroy us. And so when that first communication came out, and then there was the Oprah Winfrey quote quote, you know, it, it just appeared tone deaf and it seemed a bit too formulaic and not enough. Hmm. We might have a problem here. You know, there, there wasn't, that there wasn't a full recognition of that, that maybe this was a step too far. And I think, and I don't wanna harp on the methane thing, but I think people should understand that the rest of the world has, has mostly bought into this nonsense and they're engineering their, their lives around accommodating it. And the only country that's really speaking out and speaking back on these issues around climate is the US because we have free speech, because we have independent thinkers, because we have people who have a, who have skin in the game, who are uh, outraged that this third party entity could essentially shut us down. And I don't wanna see that happen. And I think, you know, instead of worrying about having a seat at the table with people who want to destroy our way of life, maybe we ought to think about building our own table and inviting some people to come sit at it. But we'll stand in the fight with us. And we need a lot more of that in agriculture. There's far too many people high up in a lot of different associations who seem comfortable selling us out to go along and get along and pretend that this is all okay and it's not okay. It's absolutely not. Okay. Absolute well. Yeah. So you, so you talk about, uh, you say, Hey, how, how have we gotten to this point where we're, we're worried about having a seat at the table on a world, on a grand scale, when the everyday member is just sitting back like, man, I didn't even know we wanted to, I just wanted a seat at our own table. I just wanted to have my, my voice be heard within the American Angus Association. I wasn't worried about a worldview of how I am viewed by the world. I just want to have a seat at our own table. So how do we. Um, in essence, how, how do we make the members feel heard? How do we bridge that gap between the membership and the board? Uh, so if you're, if you're a board member and you, and you get elected, how do you include membership in ways that they're not being included today? I think we could probably have more direct communication. I think probably, um, you know, a lot of school boards and, and that now have, um, their meetings in public, um, supplied on Zoom. I don't think that's a big ask. I don't think that's an unreasonable, um, expectation in this, in this day and age. Um, you know, most people have a phone that's that's capable of streaming a, a, you know, a a a board meeting. Um, that would be an easy way to, and it would work, work for the board as well, because it would. It would allow that scrutiny to say, yeah, these guys are discussing the issues. Yeah, they are. Chew this stuff over. It would take, it doesn't matter. It would take, it would absolute, absolutely. It would take the target off of your back as a board member. It would, it would, it would. Shed light that, Hey man, I, I am in this fight for you. I want you to be on my side. I'm on your side. So I don't understand why, why we've lost this ability to be transparent. But, and, and in that spirit, how do we, uh, aside from letting the, you know, putting them on Zoom, there's other ways we can be more transparent. Do you have any ideas beyond putting the, putting the board meetings on Zoom? I mean, obviously we could, uh, make the votes, um, make everybody's vote, be heard. I mean, everybody can have a vote. We don't have to have a delegate. I mean, do you have any ideas that, that you kind of think might be something that would work for that? Yeah, the, I, I mean, the delegate system, uh, has been in place now for probably about a hundred years. And it replaced a system that had become corrupt with the use of proxy votes. You know, a couple guys would show up the annual meeting in Chicago and basically decide how things were gonna go. Um, and so it was replaced with a delegate system, which is a great system because it, it mirrors our country's, um, organizational system for of government where each state elects some, uh, representatives that will go and work on behalf of their membership in their, in their district at the annual meeting to, you know, uh, choose the leaders, choose a new leadership, uh, whatever it is to conduct the businesses association. Um, and that was a great system and it probably still is a great system. However, it is also become, uh, politicized and there's, there's a fair bit of horse trading goes on between states. Um, to ensure that, you know, uh, people get elected or reelected. Um, that's not something we're gonna change today. I'm not certain the system has to change, but I am fairly convinced that there there could be a better way to, um, you know, encourage people to become delegates or, or, or take on that commitment. Um, how do we, uh, how do we encourage membership engagement? I think that's one of the bigger questions that, that we haven't really been able to dive deeper on with, with, and, and we haven't done as good a job with our other interviews, but how do we get the rest of our membership? Because what are there guys, there's 22,000 members or something like that. I think that's a padded number. That's a, i I agree. That's a padded number. I agree. That's a padded number, but how do we, how do we. Get to where we hear from more than just the core. I, I don't know guys, probably 2,500, 3000 core. How do we get, how do we, how do we branch out and, and, uh, encourage the other members to be a part of the association? Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I would guess that, I think there's 12 to 15,000 actual members that are Yeah. They're active. Yeah. Um, I don't know what the others are. Um, but that's a good question because like you say, if there's 12, let's say there's 12, I mean, probably a third of them are involved. Yeah. How do you get the other two thirds to be involved? And, and like, a lot of'em might be like me, I just want a ranch. I just want to have my calves, I want to send my information in and I want them to send me a paper. And, and that's it. I want'em to stay outta all this stuff. They're supposed to be a simple breed registry. That's what it was started as. And now I believe we're far from being a simple breed registry. So how can we get back to just being a simple breed registry, which is what their job is. Is that Yeah. Incorrect. Is that an incorrect assessment of the Angus Association? No. And, and what is their job, Robert? What is their Yeah, I mean, seriously, I I, I'm, I'm fairly traditional and, and my, my basic, um, outlook on a, on a breed association is, you know, you keep the pedigrees, um, you, you act in the best interest of the membership. Um, I think the problem that. Angus has kind of got a problem because of its success. Absolutely. There's an expectation in the industry that, because the Angus breed is so large, I mean, we're registering over 300,000 calves every year. I think that's almost more than all the others put together. It is, it's a massive absolutely influence. It's a massive, and, and, and with that influence comes some responsibility, but Correct. But the responsibility does not, should not mean engaging in politics. It should. And, and that's what this whole uh, methane global warming stuff is. It's a political issue. It's not a, a breed improvement issue. Um, I mean, I'm sure that there's differences if you wanna examine some of this stuff, uh, there is in most things, but you can't change things without changing things. So what are you gonna change? That's right. Absolutely. So, so the next question I wanted to ask you is like, so Angus is at the epicenter of everything. Um, so they feel like they can't, we feel like we have to have a, we have to be at the forefront of every decision made. Um. I am of the belief that we can be at the forefront. We can be in the middle of everything while still controlling the narrative. Do you have an idea as to how we can control the narrative without outsourcing that and without taking money from other people? I mean, yeah, clearly I'm the layup answer is, yeah, we could, we could fund this ourselves. But is is that the simple answer? I, I think because of this, you know, we're the biggest. We believe we're the best. Therefore, uh, everyone will follow us. Well, there's no evidence to support that. Um, you know, to an extent, some breeds followed us by painting themselves black to exploit CAB, um, okay. That doesn't really affect the average angst breeder. I think, um, you know, that, that, that kind of. Homogenization as in the long term, has not, um, eroded Angus market share. I mean, we, back in the late eighties, um, early nineties, I think it was a fairly close call between Angus and Herefords and, and ALS for, you know, market share. And since that time, um, the Angus share has just increased exponentially. And, and, and most of the breeds have just kind of fallen back a little bit. Um, and then now they're kind of exploiting our, our dominance by, you know, tapping into that, you know, the Herefords are making a big deal about black Baldy again, like, like that, that's a new invention. And that's, it's a good thing. I mean, the Baldy cows has carried a lot of operations. Um, but I think the fact that because we have the most, we're, we're not obligated to put ourselves in the forefront all the time. I think. If we allow the breeders to do their job, whatever they see their job as, whatever market they're targeting, and we all have different customers with different, you know, needs and wants. Um, some people are serving the, the show heifer industry. Some people are commercial bulls in high countries. Some people are, you know, whatever it is, whatever your sector you are servicing, have a little more confidence in the breeders that are out there doing the job. Correct. Because most of them know what they're doing. They, they, I, I think that, that the push for data is an association driven thing, whereas the push for good cattle is a breeder driven thing. And with all these different traits to focus on, you can't focus on them all. You can't devote yourself to them all. And you also can't devote yourself to only one. So we've, we've, we've just gotta pick our battles within our own breeding programs that will accomplish our customer's goals. My customers generally have fairly simple, straightforward coal goals. I want a bull that will sire calves that don't give'em carbon trouble, that will, uh, not try to kill them and, and, and be easy to work with, um, and will be marketable to wherever they want to market those calves. That's pretty simple targets and we also be able to meet those. Then we can add some of the other bells and whistles as we go along. But I think in reality, a little more confidence than the breeders and a little less, um, you know, making it just about association programs, um, I feel would benefit the breed in the long run. I think that's, I think I'm sorry to cut you off, but I think that's beautifully said and a few times when you guys were going back and forth and then I feel like all three of you use the word best a lot, which just got me thinking as I was a fly on the wall here, Robert. Um, I wonder if a lot of these things are being implemented because of the long range strategic plan that we implemented, uh, several years ago. I, this is kind of off the wall. This wasn't on any potential question, but you've handled questions so well. Do you think it's time that we reevaluate the long range strategic plan and what the role association is? I think so. I think so. I, there's a tendency, and I've seen it a couple of times over the last 20 years since I've been here. For the association to trend towards corporatism. Um, in the, in the early two thousands, you know, there was a push for derivatives along with, you know, um, uh, I, they, they, during one annual meeting, they, they had this deal and, and they kept using this tagline and we can't stop now. And my blood rung cold because it was like, this is just about the association. This is not about the membership. And that's happened a couple different times since then. And I think anytime that we're, you know, we're focusing more on the corporation instead of on member service, that's when things start to go awry. Because, you know, well, we're a$60 million business. Okay, and who built that? Who built that? That came from the membership that came from my dues, that came from my registration fees, came from my, uh, genetic evaluation fees that came from, you know, all our participation in this. And the thing about Angus breeders is that none of us are ambivalent about this breed. Uh, you said earlier on about, you know, being dragged back into this caring about what the association's doing, and, and that's rooted in the fact that we're not ambivalent about our association. We're not, um, ambivalent about the Angus breed. We're passionate. All of us we're deeply invested in it financially and spiritually. I mean, I, I'm a first generation Angus breeder, but I've had Angus cattle now for pushing on 40 years. And we might run a few of different colors around here alongside that. But first, last, and always I'm an Angus breeder and. When I see something that's not right, I'm gonna stand up and say it's not right. And if I'm the only person saying that, that's okay, I can live with that. Well, I think that's, I think that's an important point to make because one of the questions we had from our listeners was, was, what are you gonna do? What are you gonna do if all the all just stacked against you? What are you gonna do? If you're sitting in a boardroom and we've got, uh, something brought to the table? Um, I wish I could come up with an example that wasn't the methane deal. I wish it was like, uh, something else. That's like a politicized thing. Should we, should we change the white rule? Should we change the white rule? Uh, nah. I don't, that's, that's not what I'm going for at all, Vince. But, uh, uh, I mean, I do get that. But, but let's say something from the outside, like, like some, some outside pushes from a politicized point of view where we're getting pushed by a, uh. Left, this sort of thing where we're like being told we should do things a different way because the world's changing. Um, that's gonna be a really tough predicament because you're gonna be sitting there in a boardroom and you're gonna, you know, there's a good chance that everybody's gonna be just going right along with it. How in those situations, is it gonna be easy for you to just say, you know what, this isn't me. This isn't me. I think that's one of the things our listeners want to hear. We want to hear you stand up and say, I'm gonna do what I think's. Right. I, I think that's the easiest thing in the world for me to say that because, you know, I, uh, how to say this? I, um, when I came to America in 1998, I didn't fully understand this country. I came because of Angus cattle. Hmm. But over the last 25, 27 years. Um, as I went through the process to become a citizen and understood the founding of the country, understood what the founders meant with a lot of what they, they wrote and what they laid out in the constitution. Um, our basic rights, our inalienable, inalienable rights, our um, our role in the world, all these things made so much sense to me. And then the realization that, that, that creation that occurred almost 250 years ago was in the hands of probably only 3% of the population. That's awe inspiring. And it, and it should call on all of us when we see something isn't right to stand up and say it's not right. We have the right to free speech. We have the right to say what we think. And not be punished for it. And I'm perfectly happy to say what I believe, and if people disagree with me, I'm perfectly happy for them to disagree with me. But on a point of principle, I'm gonna fight to the death because if you lose your principles, you lose your life. Absolutely. Very well said. Absolutely. I just thought of another one, Robert, um, and another curve ball, but you've handled them with such a, a, a great thought process. I want to get your thought on this one. Do you think we should have policy on who, um, the association chooses to align with or do business with? Absolutely. Absolutely. Do we have policy? I mean, maybe I'm talking outta turn. I I haven't dove hard, hard into that. I don't think we do. And I, I think it's, it's one of those things that we ought to be able to recognize who. Is a good partner and who isn't, you know, unfortunately, unfortunately, common sense can't, can't control every narrative. So you have to write these things down, you know? I mean, that's the unfortunate reality of that. It is. And, and you would think like, if we have 17 people in a room that are elected by our membership, that one, there would be differing opinions and two, that at the end of a decent discussion you could come out with, um, a reasonable position. And, and that, you know, again, I don't wanna harp on the me thing, thing, you know, too much, but it's, if you can't see where, where the threats are coming from, how are you gonna deal with them? And if you can't recognize who your enemies are, how, how are you gonna position yourself for the battle ahead? I don't think we've really positioned ourself for the battle ahead. We've kind of tried to defer it. And the, and the problem with some of the stuff that's being used against animal agriculture is that if we don't fight it, if we don't push back on it with all our might, we're just gonna get steamrolled. And if we can only make one or two people think twice about what's going on, then that message will grow exponentially. And we don't have to just take it on this stuff. We can, we can push back. And so, um, you know, and that, and that's why, you know, say I, I was hesitant to jump into this deal, but I, you know, when I see who I'm, I'm alongside in this battle, I, I have a lot of confidence. Um, and I hope that. When we get to November, that the delegates to our convention, um, will hear us out and we'll recognize, you know, why we're here and, um, and why we're doing this and that we're for the membership. You know, and I don't, you know, I, and I know that we, we might get painted as radicals, but I, I, I don't know what the compromised position is between working with people who ultimately want to see our destruction and us continuing in our way of life. I don't see where there's a, a compromised position there. I do have some really strong opinions about that, particularly because I actually think that that's often, um, a way for people to diminish the voice of the opposition. Um, just say, oh, you're just radicals. But I do have a couple questions though as we wrap up here. Um, you know, Robert, let's just say, God willing, you're elected to the Angus board. Um. And, uh, you're sitting here a year from now, how would you say that we had a successful year, or Robert Groom had a successful year, felt really good about his service on the board. Um, I think if we straighten out the ownership of the DNA and and and what that means for how it's utilized by the association in the furtherance of goals of the membership, that would be a success. I think extricating ourselves from this grant and making a strong statement that, no, we don't believe that cows are a problem, uh, in this world. We don't believe that animal agriculture is a, um, is a problem to be fixed. Um, something along those lines that, that I would, I would see that as a success. I think there's a lot of other. Um, things that the association does really well. I'm actually, um, heavily involved with organizing the, uh, Eastern Regional Show that's gonna come to Hamburg, New York, first time it's been in, in the northeast in 20 years. First time it's been in New York in 30 years. And so, you know, I, I'm an Angus breeder and I'm, I'm, I'm working for, you know, basically the, the future of our industry to have an opportunity to, to do those things that I saw 30 odd years ago and, and just planted that seed in my head that compelled me to say, if I ever get the chance to come to the States and do this, I'm gonna do it. I'm not gonna worry about whether it's successful or failure. I, I'm just going to, to do it because I think the opportunities are just so great. And so, um, that would, to me, that would be a success. You know, being able to, you know, get that show off the ground and, and, and, and establish something for New York Juniors for the future. In terms of scholarship, you know, those four things, that right there I think would be a, a successful year. Um, but you know, if there's more to be done, let's do more. Robert, I wanna ask you, um, so obviously you've run before, but you, you've got a wife and so her reaction to you running and putting so much time, is she just like, you do what you gotta do? Or is she like, oh gosh, Robert, are we really doing this again? What is her reaction to the whole situation? Well, I, I, I run it by her because, you know, she works a full-time job as well and, um, you know, we. We're kind of empty nesters now. Our youngest one graduated high school, um, last year. She's coming up on finishing her associates. And so, so all our kids are kind of off doing their thing. And, um, and I, you know, I'm well 57 now and I'm, I'm planning to spend like the next, you know, eight or so years. I, I just wanna kind of devote myself to try and make things better for, for the next generation coming up, you know, and, you know, if, if, if that's all, oh, that's gonna cost me some time, um, then I'm more than willing to do it. And I, I do the same with us cattlemen. We we're involved in a couple of things right now that, you know, are gonna take up some time. But, but I think in the long run will be very beneficial for, for the independent US cattlemen and. You know, we're, we're gonna keep working together. We keep the farm going. And, uh, when I'm gone, you know, she picks up the, up the slack and, and, uh, you know, we kind of work as a partnership and it's not easy. Um, you know, it, it, it is a, it is gonna be a drain, but, um, I think the ultimate, um, objective is to, to improve things for, for my fellow Angus breed and for my fellow cattlemen. That's, that's my, my objective. Robert, we kind of breezed by some of this. How many kids do you have? So I've got three. I got, um, my son's 28. Uh, he's, um, a military historian. He's working on his PhD right now. Um, my older daughter is, uh, has a master's, um, from, uh, um. Sacred Heart in Connecticut. Uh, but she is actually now, uh, managing, um, several CVS stores up here in our area again, and she's actually heading out to Oregon on Monday to go and train a bunch of people to run stores out there. And so that's really far. Yeah. That's about as far away as you can get. Yeah, no kidding. Pretty much. And still be in the Continental, I mean, that's, you could, uh, is, it almost would be closer for you guys to go back home than it would be to go to Oregon. Section two. Threes is about 3000 either way, so, yeah. Yeah, that's what I thought. That's a long way. Yeah. But it's, um, yeah, it's, uh, uh, she's gonna head out there to do that for a, a couple of weeks and so she's, she's getting into that. And then my, I say my youngest, uh, just graduated high school last year. Um, she was big time showing cattle. We were traveling all over going to the junior show, national junior show and all that kind of stuff. And then, um. She kind of decided to step away from ag a little bit and she's going to do, uh, early childhood education, so Oh yeah. She's working on, uh, on, on getting her associates and then doing her bachelor's. Um, but I think she's probably gonna end up working full-time as well. And if she can be a teacher, she can have summers off so she can still show cattle if she wants. And, uh, yeah, are, well hopefully. Do you have, do you have any Go ahead, Vince. I was gonna say, are any of them interested in keeping tele parkas going? Well, kinda, um, my youngest probably, um, but we've also, about 10 years ago we had a, a young lady over from Scotland, um, uh, called Gemma Walk now Gemma McDonald, who, uh, came and worked for us for a couple of summers and, um, we actually have shipped some embryos over to her and she is, and we released the Fergus name over there. The society for her to use. And so she's essentially restarted the Holly Fergus herd over there. That's cool. Um, and that is awesome. Kind of, that's kind of, um, you know, following our pattern of, you know, we're looking at maternal, we're looking at, you know, easy care cattle that, you know, just go how to do the job and, and, and still produce a quality carcass and all that kind of stuff. So, um, so we kind of got, got her started with that. And then, um, there's another kid locally that's been helping me do hay for the last few years and grow crops, and he's trying to get started in farming, so we're helping him kind of get going a little bit. And, um, you know, it's just kind of a work in progress. I mean, I, I've never set out to build a dynasty. I'm the first generation of my family to raise, raise the Angus cattle. Um. If I'm the last, but there's others that have benefit from what we've done, and then I'm, I'm comfortable with that, you know? That's awesome. That's just Okay. Yeah. That's just Okay. Yeah, I think everyone should just do what they do, what they want to do. They should, they should find their path in life. I, you know, my dream is not their dream, so, you know, you've gotta, you've gotta give'em the, the space to go and find out what it is they really wanna do. Sometimes they'll come back and sometimes they won't, but, right. Well, hopefully to some capacity. I, I really think these things have a way of working themselves out in the end, and, and I like your approach of just letting things come to you. Yeah. We've got some contingency plans in place. If it works out, it works out. If it doesn't, it doesn't, generally it, it either will or it won't. Um, hopefully it does, but, uh, uh, I think I, I think. If we've got to a good point here, I really appreciate the time you've given us. I, I think we've, we've answered a lot of questions. People have learned a lot about you. Um, if Vince doesn't have any more questions, I, I wanted to ask, uh, is your bio gonna be in the journal? Yes. Yes. You made the deadline. Okay. You made the deadline. So you've got your bio in the journal, um, with like a video. There's like a video and stuff in there too, isn't there? Well, they do an interview. They interviewed you. Yeah, they did do the interview. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's actually out there on the internet is a very old I am Angus segment that, uh Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I am Angus. They came back in 2008. So, you know, honestly, that was one of the greatest things that the association has done in terms of, you know, producing something that, that really resonates people. I think it gives, it gives, it gives the every man the opportunity to, it gives people the, the chance to get to know people that, that kind of, they have more in common with. Yeah. Well then, then they never would ever get to meet because they don't have even know where they exist. Yeah. Yeah. So, Robert, how can, uh, if, if, short of giving out your phone number, how could everybody get ahold of you? Well, um, I'm on Facebook, Robert b Groom. Um, I'm, uh, my, my phone number's out there. I don't, I don't mind giving it out here. It's, uh, 3 1 5 5 7 3 2 5 6 9. Don't have a problem with anyone calling me. Um, I will caution you if you call me from a number that my phone doesn't recognize and you don't answer when I say hello, I will put the phone down on you. Yeah. So you don't have to try again because I don't put up with telemarketers. Um, uh. Email, you know, um, I'm on Twitter, I guess I don't really follow that too much Twitter, I don't think. I don't know that, don't call it Twitter. I don't, I don't think our contingency of guests is going to be looking you up on XI think we're gonna So, but Robert b groom on Facebook and Robert gave his phone number, if anybody wants to get ahold of him, uh, you know how to get ahold of him. I think, I think Robert would be, if you guys want to get more information from Robert, you just reach out to him.'cause I think he'd answer and I think he'd answer any question that anyone might have. And, uh, if Vince doesn't have anything else Joe had to check out here. But Vince you got nothing else. I just wanna say thank you for running and thank you for taking the time to come on our show. Absolutely. No problem. Not a problem, Robert. Robert, we thank you for I, I know it's a time commit, commit a time commitment, and, and we really appreciate you coming on. We appreciate you running, appreciate you sticking your neck out there, uh, for the association time and time again, and for having the right things in mind and for, for doing things for the right reason. Uh, ladies and gentlemen, Robert Groom, it was nice to get to know you and, uh, we will see you, me and Vince and I think Joe, we will all see you in November at the convention. Um, until next time, we will see y'all next time. Uh, let's take it away to. We will see you next time around the shoot.