Episode 26 DWP- Cervid Labs Takes the Velvet Path w/ Jade Noble

Jade Noble from Cervid Labs joins the Deer Wizard Podcast to discuss velvet antler collection and products along with elk farming at Noble Farms. Great conversation!

https://cervidlabs.com/

This podcast is built around real-world experience, collaboration with producers and veterinarians, and nearly three decades of hands-on work across North America. The goal is simple: provide practical insight that helps producers make better decisions for herd health, genetics, and long-term success.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Welcome to the Deer Wizard Podcast, conversation shaping the deer industry. I'm your host, Josh Newton, the Deer Wizard. Through interviews, advocacy, and industry news, we deliver field-proven insights to help producers build better herds. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the Deer Wizard Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

What do you know about elk? Well, on today's show, we talk with a gentleman from southern Wisconsin all about elk, but we have a little bit different spin on it. So we dive deep into uh elk, velvet, and processing.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

We talk a little bit about the history and origins of uh you know eastern medicine, the uses for elk velvet um as a uh component of the uh elk market business.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

And so it's a really interesting conversation. Um I hope you enjoy. Without further delay, we want to welcome Mr. Jade Noble to the Deer Wizard Podcast. Jade, welcome to the Deer Wizard Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Josh, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

You bet, man. I uh I'm glad we got to uh get in here into the studio. I think I messaged you six weeks ago and you're like, Yeah, yeah, call me Monday. It was on uh like a Friday, and uh six weeks went by and I was like, hey, I'm calling you on a Monday, and it was six Mondays later.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

So I'm I'm glad we uh life's busy, I'm the same way, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

It's crazy. You know, we got into uh we got into fawning cabin season, and like it just it gets hectic, and you know, I got a uh consult business, and of course my phone starts going as soon as as soon as fawns start going hitting the ground and it just never ends.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Um it gets busy. There's not a better time though, really, to if we're gonna talk some velvet antler and yes stuff. I mean, it's it's uh it's my busy season too. We got we got elk calves hitting the ground, but um, we're in like peak, you know, velvet antler mode here. Got farmers are cutting velvet, um, velvet antlers starting to come in here, and so so it's like we're we are definitely busy, busy as well. So that's a good time to talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

No doubt. Um, it's always cool to have conversations about what's going on, when it's going on, because like your your mindset, like you're directly into it, right? Every once in a while, you get in a little bit of off season. Um, not that you're not busy, but like your your brain's in a different place, right? So I'm glad you uh glad you're able to do this. Um why don't you just uh give a little background on your yourself and um you know your your entities, and then we'll we'll dive right into some Velvet Antler.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Yeah, so I know we talked before about for anyone that uh you know didn't listen to the last one. Um so I'm over here in southern Wisconsin. I own Noble Elk Farm, uh, which you know raising elk for the meat, we do pet products, um, you know, trophy animals. And then my other company is Servid Labs, Velvet Antler Processing, where basically we have a start to finish, so like from farm to bottle, supplement manufacturing company. Uh, we stick to what we know, you know. I don't get into any of the protein powders or creatine or any other, you know, pre-workouts or anything like our supplements we stick to is just elk-based supplements, um, elk-based nutrition. So it is, you know, we we do everything from commercial, you know, freeze drying, milling of powders, product encapsulation, tableting, liquids, co-packing, you know, but like we we do stick to the elk space with all of our consumer branded products. So like everything we do is is normally velvet antler or elk related in the supplement space.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah. Um before we dive into velvet, let's set the stage with Noble Elk Farm because obviously this is the the the basis of how everything kind of gets gets going. Um I I had seen that you had purchased some new ground. It looks like you were adding on some additional uh facility space. Uh, how's that how's that project going? How what what kind of spurred that on?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Been busy, but um, I mean I started, I probably bought my first head of L about five years ago now. Um, so we've been slowly growing and you know, breeding up and breeding more every single year. And as we do that, just putting up putting up more pens and expanding the herd. Um, I know you're like a whitetail guy and everything, and maybe maybe you're gonna start getting some elk, but the elk elk market's hot right now, man. Um, it's there's not the time to enter the elk market. It's not the time to enter the elk market, but it's a good time to own some elk and uh and and and breed more. I mean, everybody should be breeding as many as they could pack into their farm, um, the way I see it. But like phone phones ringing off the hook. Yeah, you know, people are looking to buy animals, whether it's hunt preserves or whether it's white-tailed guys looking to buy some elk and get into it. But the I love the elk market, and I I love the you know everything about raising these critters, and so it is really like uh there's not a better time, I feel like, to be to be in this business or and and some would disagree. I mean, you you know how you hear about you hear it all the time too, where guys guys get caught up in the CWD and whether fighting over whether raising deer is profitable or not. But it's like I feel like if you can be innovative in this industry and um that there's there's opportunity, uh there's a ton of opportunity, you know, in raising service.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

So yeah, I feel like um while uh elk and and deer generally kind of they fall into the same category. I feel like elk is a a little bit uh better kind of diversified animal from a business standpoint. Do you want to talk about um you know the different avenues for that?

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Yeah, I think like with the whitetail guys, sometimes they get um caught in just one lane. Like, you know, they're selling, they they live or die by selling, you know, whitetails uh for for hunts. And and whereas with like the elk, you know, yeah, we have trophy animals and breeding stock we sell too, but there is there is other products like we have our elk antler chews that we sell for dogs, and the antler chew business is a huge business. The elk antlers have a ton of marrow in it, but dogs love it. The pet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. It's like we, you know, most guys that are selling dog chews, they can't get enough dog chews. Um, you know, they're just the the demand is there for them. Um, so it's like we we have a uh a product there that we get from the elk. Um the elk meat is great. I don't I don't know how good the deer market is, you know, for meat, but I know with just regular whitetail hunting and stuff that's probably not as big as um, you know, as elk elk meat's much harder meat to find and and get it, you know, anywhere. So it tastes it tastes better than white tail. Tastes better than white tail. I don't I didn't want to say it, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Well, I that's that's I think everybody would agree. If you've ever had a a piece of elk meat and then you've had some whitale, regardless of how it's prepared, um elk is a superior quality meat for sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So then you have the elk meat and stuff there too, and then obviously we we do the supplements. Um, but other farmers, if rather they're harvesting their own velvet. I've talked to many guys, um, you know, up at like Nadifa and stuff that were looking at harvesting some of their own velvet antler to make some of their own branded products to then sell on their farm or hunt preserve. So, you know, there is opportunities there.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah. Um, so as far as your expansion goes, um, give us a little rundown of what the the new farm and facility looks like and where it's at.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah, so basically we we bought some new land just across uh just across the road. Um, we're gonna be building out roughly about a hundred acres of pasture, and plan is to pack as many elk in there as I can fit, as long as the the business stays good um and going. But yeah, I mean, so up to this point, uh we had a bunch of cows that were AI'd. Um, we've had a successful cabin season to this point. Um, and yeah, I mean, I couldn't, I really couldn't be more excited in like what we're doing here with our breeding um operation. Really, everything I've been focused on in the probably the last three, four years, especially as I've really found like my niche in the velvet business. We've been trying to breed and bring back, you know, velvet antler genetics. So these are bulls that are are gonna push heavier weights of antler. Um, they're gonna be, you know, those bulls that are real palmated and have big, big bulbs and tips on the ends of their antlers and round, heavy, just mass, massive antlers. Um, you can see a lot of those genetics in in Canada, and there's obviously the guys out in New Zealand that raised the red deer for velvet, and they're you know, they're pushing those heavier genetics. Um, that's something we've lost here in the US. There's not a whole lot um out there right now. If you want to find some bulls that are really massive and are gonna, you know, they they're the the 20-pound two-year-olds and the 70, 80 pound big mature bulls, it's like you they really don't see that um right now in the States because guys are they're in the trophy market, right? And they want long beams and they want long tines and wide and stuff, but they're not pushing more like with our velvet genetics here. I'm okay shortening up my beams. Like some guys are like, no, you never they'd never think about doing that. But it's like I'm gonna shorten up my beams. Um, we may not be super wide, we may bring the antlers in a little bit more, but we will um we're gonna be focused on like whoever's in our breeding program is gonna be pushing a heavy antler. Um, and that that that would ultimately be you know good for your supplement business.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Okay, so um I'm in my in my mind, I'm trying to pair these two together, right? Because like um you have a you have a bull and the qualities that you just mentioned, like you're accepting shorter beams, you you want more more mass, right? Which I'm assuming is just because the circumference is surrounded in velvet, and you want to harvest that velvet.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yep. So that when you think of the the velvet antler supplements and products, like the the products made out of that marrow in the tissue, in the blood, um and all that cartilage-like parts of the antlers that's found inside of that growing antler. So, I mean, ultimately, like as a farmer, like the heavier you can grow that antler, like the more marrow, you know, and blood and tissue found in that antler, um, you end up yielding a higher uh you know, higher yield on your end product. So um, yeah, like everything about having a bull grow heavy antlers is um you know definitely is gonna look good for good for us. That's what we want.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

So the the velvet when you say a velvet bull, you're not like you are using the the velvet that is around the bone that's grown.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

No, no, so in velvet and velvet antler supplements the hair and that that little velvety fuzz on the outside of that antler, that's waste. Um, during our manufacturing process, that that is stripped off and and discarded. Um the the nutritional value of that antler, and it gets the name velvet antler because those bulls are in velvet while they're in that growth stage, and that's when you are harvesting that antler is when it's in that velvet growth stage. Um and it's before it calcifies, it's before it gets overgrown. It's when all if you look at the brow tines, they're nice and rounded. If you look at the end of the beams, it's nice and rounded, like uh, you know, like a softball. So you don't let that antler overgrow. You harvest it while it's still in that tissue-like um growth stage of antler. Um, and then, and like we said, the heavier those bulls are, um, the more velvet antler powder, the more dried velvet antler powder you end up with. So um, yeah, that's definitely what like our approach on breeding, though, is um, I'm not really right now thinking about anything um other than how heavy is that bull, how heavy is that bull and how much weight, and we're throwing everything else out. So we'll see that how this experiment works out here in you know in another five years or so.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Yeah, that's that's interesting. Okay, so um there's a set time period in the growth stage where you're you're kind of targeting the harvesting of this. Um so you have the the crowns right off the front, you got the you got the two, and then you got the three. And when the three splits, that's kind of the the cut.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Yep, so you'll have your brow time, the second and third time, and then by the time you get to that fourth and fifth, you shouldn't see any branching off. It should, I would say by the time you have those three tines, and and obviously every bull's a little different as far as how they look, but you know, in general, it's like um most farmers are harvesting, you know, around that 50 to 55 days of growth. Um, and it's gonna depend, like on you know, a lot of the spikers, like I noticed we got to cut our spikers a little bit earlier because if you let them just keep growing straight up, it's like, yeah, they don't have all these tines and stuff. But the longer you let them go, well, now near the head here, there's it's too calcified and dense, and it and it makes for like a low, lower quality uh velvet antler grade. So it's like it is it's it is important to like cut everything. Like I would rather cut a bowl early than than late because it just it makes your your end product that much better um and more potent. And so it's like we if I'm if I'm looking at a bowl and I'm like uh like should we cut him or not? I always lead on the side. If I'm if I'm even thinking about like, should I cut him? Like, we should just cut him then and not try to push him, not try to push him any further.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

So walk us through that harvesting process. What does that look like? So a bull's got his 55 days of growth. What do you do with them?

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Yeah, so every year, you know, guys are gonna have their let's say most farmers are gonna have probably a pen of bulls that they know they're these bulls are leaving the farm, they're going to a trophy ranch. And then other guys may leave their bulls that they know are good, they're gonna velvet. Um, and right now, you know, you have two options. You're you're not gonna ever keep a pen of 30 or 40 bulls together and let them grow out into hardhorn. Um, so those antlers are coming off that if they're not gonna move to a trophy ranch, like those animals, those antlers have to come off that elk's head. Um, so it's up to the farmer to decide do you want to cut them in hard antler or do you want to cut them in velvet antler? And right now, the as good as like the dog chew market is and stuff right now, hard antler, we're seeing as of prices right now in 2026, like we see hard antler prices, probably around 11, 12 bucks a pound for hard antler. It's not uh it's not anything great, but it's you know, it's just it is just a byproduct. So uh, but yeah, you're looking 11, 12, 13 bucks a pound for maybe some really good stuff right now. Whereas raw velvet, um, I know like our company, Serbit Labs, like we've been averaging paying farmers anywhere from 20 to 25 dollars per pound, depending on grade. So you're getting twice the amount of money for your antler. Um, there is just you know, you are just cutting it a little bit earlier. But the process normally looks like you know, farmers are gonna be checking their bulls because they're not all ready the same day. Right. And when certain bulls are ready, you're gonna they're running them into their handling facility. Um, it's normally as easy as just squeezing them in the hydraulic squeeze chute. We wrap a tourniquet um around the pedicle, cut off that butt blood supply, um, harvest that antler. It's as simple as just cutting it off with uh replicating saw or saw zar, um, and then from there giving them a little bit of blood stop, powder, some fly spray, and let them go and let them get let them get out of there. Um the the worst part of the velveting process for the animals is just the stress of being in the chute, so being organized, having plenty of hands, you know, helping you, like that's how do you do it the right way and get that animal in, cut those antlers off, and get them out as as as quickly as possible. So um that's how we're doing it here. And then immediately after that harvest, we take those raw velvet antlers and they're gonna go immediately into um a freezer to start cooling down.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

So I've used uh I've used that uh calicrate antler bander before. It's basically like a really heavy rubber uh rubber band that goes around, you know, for fixing damaged antlers on on whitetails. Is that what a lot of guys use? They just throw those. Yeah, I've seen that.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Yeah, I've seen that brand out. I've seen that brand out there, some version of that. Yeah, um, everyone's a little bit different, but yeah. Normally guys are are doing a tourniquet, so whether they're using that that bander there or they're using like surgical bands and and wrapping a figure eight pattern around it, like guys have their different ways of doing it. Uh, but yes, they some some sort of tourniquet will you know is ideal.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

And those get like guys take the tourniquets off then or they just leave them, leave them on. No, tourniquets off. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

So you're you you would you would put apply that tourniquet pressure. Um, we try to leave it on there maybe a minute or two before harvesting, um, and then taking the tourniquet off and letting them out.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Yeah. And then do you get regrowth on them um after they kind of heal over?

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Especially if you do cut them early. Um a lot of our bolts here, we cut two times a year. So it's like, and everyone's probably, you know, genetics are different and and and maybe uh feed quality and stuff. We we do feed a pretty like high protein here. Um, I like to think like our elk are fed, and especially like our bulls are fed really well. Um, so we'll harvest them them once, you know, early, and a lot of them you'll get a really nice second cut on of regrowth. So yeah, a lot of times two times a year.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

That's pretty awesome. Okay, so um the the cut antler then goes into the freezer, uh, just like a walk-in cooler, like a regular freezer.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Yeah, we we run a walk-in freezer here and we have shelves for those antlers to hang on. Um, the big thing to remember is like antler is a like this is a food grade product.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Um, that's going, you know, it's going into capsules and tablets and liquids for humans, right? So a lot of farmers like they they they gotta realize like this whole process, like from when it being harvested on the farm and and after you cut that antler off, then everything after that is like you know, should be kept in a very cleanly environment because the end product is going to be into a human, you know, food grade.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Like a piece of steak, like take care of your food.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

You're right. So, like our freezer, you know, we keep it clean, we hang on shelves so it's not sitting on you know the ground and dirt. Like it shouldn't ever be laid in like dirt or dust or debris. It should be it's like immediately after harvest, it's really about keeping that antler um as clean as possible throughout the rest of the process. Um, you know, but like after we cool that antler down, once we're ready to begin the actual production process of taking it from, hey, right now it's in this raw state, right? If I were to that velvet antler, after you cut that off, if you just leave that outside in open air, it's gonna completely rot and mold. And um, you know, so like we're taking it from this raw, meaty antler state into a completely preserved and dried um and safe quality product for people. So the next step in our process is gonna be freeze drying that antler. Um, there's many others that are processed overseas that you'll see they use spray drying and they use commercial heat ovens, and heat drying is a is a big thing. And heat drying is a lot cheaper. Spray drying is really cheap. Um, and it's but it it's a cheaper way to process an antler, where like we chose, like when we set up our production facility that we we wanted to go with the um, you know, definitely it's gonna be more time consuming and more costly on our end, but it is the most efficient way to preserve that antler is freeze drying it. So we we put it in these dryers, it uses a vacuum and it pulls all of the moisture out. It's it's cold processing, it's cold the whole time while it's in that freeze dryer. Um, and it's pulling all the moisture out of that antler to completely preserve it. Um, and it is, it's a it's a lengthy process. It's those antlers can be in there for weeks at a time. Um, and but but ultimately because you were not applying any heat, we're saving a lot more of those nutrients uh and minerals that are found in that antler.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

So we're we're shifting right into the servid labs um from from Noble Elk at that point. So um let's let's just use your let's just use um Noble Elk Farms as an example. So you've cut your you you've you've cut your bowls, they've been chilled and and cooled in your in your walk in. Yep. You said freeze drying. I'm assuming like there's preparation prior to the freeze drying, right? Like you got to start. The velvet, the fuzzy velvet part off the outside, or what what is what does that look like? Do you have to cut the antler into smaller pieces?

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Like what how do you absolutely yeah, yeah. So there is a whole preparation process as far as um you know sanitizing that antler, stripping the outer layer of velvet, cutting it down into smaller pieces so it can fit on, or or dicing. We we have a dicing machine where we actually get that that antler gets cut cut into pieces. Um yeah, there's a whole process. And even prior to that from the farm, just for because like us as a supplement company, like we always want to be um transparent with our uh you we have traceability, we want traceability on every antler. Like that antler, after it's harvested, even you know, before it's put in the freezer, it's gonna be tagged of what bowl that antler, uh, that antler came from, you know, which farm did it come from? Did it come from Noble Elk Farm directly, or did we source this from another farm in Minnesota or or or Wisconsin? Was it the left side or the right side of the antler? What's the you know, the federal tag or the on that elk? Like just for traceability, we know where every single antler that's harvested, um, you know, so that if you when it by the time it gets all the way through our production process, like we could trace back that antler exactly to um you know which bull that came from. And you really can't do that with a lot of these other velvet powders. So if you're importing uh velvet powder from China, it's like you can't even as much figure out where that velvet powder where it's manufactured, let alone what species of deer did it come from, and and and where was that farm at and how was that animal taken care of? And is it you know, like we or we can look back and we say, hey, no, this farm that we source, Serbid Lab sourced this velvet antler from this elk farmer. He's CWD free, he doesn't have TB on his farm. Um, he doesn't use hormones or antibiotics. And it's like we can like so we we can we can really get down to like know like knowing our end product and the quality that it is, like we can stand behind that uh because we're seeing and looking at every velvet antler that comes in.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

So yeah, and the and the consumer really drives that, right? Like you've uh there's just there's no question that um, you know, I know the internet's old now, but like the internet and the information that's um provided today allows people to empower themselves with knowledge. And there is, I I think, uh, or at least I I feel this is the case, there is a demand for, you know, I don't want to say single source origin, but like they they want to know what they're putting in the body, their their body, where it came from. People are invested in the story um of of how this happens because they you know they're feeling what they're taking. And and obviously, you know, served labs is is making an impact on on people's lives, right? And not only human lives, but like, you know, companion animals as well. And and for those that are listening, if you're not familiar with the companion animal market, um, you know, Jaden mentioned it's in the billions, you know, everybody knows somebody that just spent you know fifteen thousand dollars on a surgery for their their pet dog, right? Yeah, and like it people just they they're part of people's families and they they care, right? And so it's it's cool that you have those things. All right. So if we if we we have this, uh the dicing's happened, we've done the freeze drying. Um, how do you like I'm sure there's quality measures that are that are taken, right? So there's different grades of antler, and you have all these different products within this line. There's obviously some nuances in the processing. Um, what what can you share with us about some of those those things?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Yeah, I mean, and there is like so we do, like you said, like we grade every every antler that's coming in. And I know like with our with our products that we're making for ourselves, um, you know, and for other companies and stuff, like we do we only process grade A. Um, so if there's anything that's lower grade, maybe it's overgrown, maybe that antler got damaged at some point during the process, um, that is never used in our products. Um, so like that's something like we always stand behind that. It's like that it's front facing on my website. Like we only process grade A Velvet antler. Um, so like we we know that we're only using like potent sections of antler, um, and an antler that that was harvested, harvested at the correct time, and um, you know, and it's good, it could be a good product. And kind of with what you were saying, like consumers right now are looking for like they they want a good story, they consumers want to know where their products are coming from. The supplement industry is just I think we talked about this earlier, but just there's so many companies out there online that you can look at and you can't, they don't have a phone number on their website, they don't have an address, and they they don't like you can't you you click on their product that they're saying it's like oh it's the best supplement ever, and you have absolutely no traceability of like where did this come from? We don't even know if they're people if they're run by people exactly is this imported agreement or whatever on the other side, yeah. Most likely it is, and that's what we're running on. Like that that is what I'm I like when we built servid labs, and you know, it's like I just wanted to be transparent with everybody of like, hey, this is me, this is our farm, you know, these are the other farmers that we get our velvet for. Like, we just want we and and we want to everybody to know, like, hey, like we do process this from farm, like from start to finish, and we don't have to outsource anything, we don't have to contract anything out. Um, and and that keeps like quality control on your process. If you don't have to send it out anywhere, um, like then you know, like, hey, I know this product is is good because I've seen this thing from start to finish. Um, but basically, after you know, after we freeze-dried that antler, it's um, you know, and everything's been graded, it's been dried, it's been pasteurized. Um, you know, we we do like we we have a room for particle size reduction where um there's a process of crushing and milling and grinding and sifting and milling some more and fine milling, uh, even more into a fine powder. Um that that that leaves us with like kind of like a really nice rich dark. We've used just the marrow and the tissue and the the good parts of that antler on the inside. Um is basically now into like a dried, finely ground powder. Um that once we get it into that finely ground velvet antler powder, it can then go into whatever, you know, and then from there. Yes, it's a it's a stable, dried, uh, completely preserved product. Um, we will send that some samples of that powder out to a third-party lab for testing, where we always test for um, you know, like the bacteria count and coliforms and salmonella and molden yeast, and like we run like a whole panel that we know that hey, this powder is stable. Um, the moisture content in it in it is good, so bacteria can't grow um and and it's safe for human consumption. And from there, we will then take it into whatever, like a lot a lot of it will get sent out now and to uh for to ingredient suppliers, it'll we'll private label for other companies that are making their own formulas and products. Uh it'll go into our own consumer branded products, so it just from there where whatever the needs of it.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Um I want to get into the the uh products specifically themselves, but I I wanna I wanna first ask you like obviously like I've raised animals a long time, but I understand the appeal of raising animals, right? Like I I love doing what I do, right? Some days are hard, but that's okay. Like even the hard days are good days, right? Um when you uh uh so I I get that aspect of it. What stuck out to you in the Velvet space? Because obviously you've you've dedicated your your your time and efforts to to this specific part of the market. Was there like a moment where you were like, ah, like this is this is this is my calling to focus on this space. Do you was there that time or what what was it that kind of stuck with you?

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Yeah, I mean, so I I like that question because like one, my my entrepreneur um spirit in me, I I don't know if it was just like like I'm just like you, like I was I'm crazy about servants, like deer hunter. Yeah, I grew up working for an elk farm, and I knew like when I got out of the Marine Corps, like I knew I was gonna raise elk. I didn't know how, but I was like, I'm gonna somehow make it work where I can get get some land, start raising some elk. And and it is, but I I think like the entrepreneurial side of me is like I kind of sat back and I'm looking at this industry, um, like the elk industry in specific. And it was like I've heard, you know, and I in growing up around this business and stuff, I've always seen the velvet antler market as um, you know, farmers. If you remember back in the day, pulling all their velvet antler together and it getting exported overseas, all right. And far sometimes the prices were good, and then sometimes the prices were bad. Farmers had no control of that. It was on the buyer and that would come in from overseas and say, Hey, this is what we're paying this year. And all the farmers had to they have to cut the antler. It's like they need something to do with it. Like, and it was just it was all leaving the USA. And so kind of like I that was kind of my first like light bulb moment of like, okay, there could be a like a real business here because if all this velvet antlers leave in the US, it's going, it's gonna export overseas. Like, and then you look at that market over there, um, the the traditional medicine and um and and kind of in like the Asian market there, it's in every health store, it's in every you know, supplement or whole food type stores. You can like walk down, like there can be like a farmer's market type, you know, going on markets on the street in China, and they're cutting raw velvet slices. It's a commodity, yeah. It's a commodity, like they they love that stuff over there. And I think like so. When I got in this business, I was like, okay, like I knew I wanted to sell supplements, um, and you know, and I was like, man, like we gotta find a way to keep that US Vel or that velvet antler that's harvested here, like keep it here. Um, but at that time, there really wasn't enough, there wasn't enough demand, demand for the stuff. So what we had to build, um, like yeah, we had to build a demand for like we had to build a product that can customers wanted to buy. Um, and and it is like I've seen year over year the the market for it is growing, and kind of what we touched on earlier, like the younger consumers coming up, like they are interested in what they're eating. There a lot of people right now are into primal based nutrition, right? Like, where like it does the does does my uh supplement or does my food come from the ground? Does it come from an animal? Um, and and they want like, yeah, people want like all natural, like more holistic type approaches to to their medicine and what they're eating and everything. So that's all helped us as well. Um, because that antler comes right from the elk, right? Regenerates every single year. Um so yeah, I just I I really I think I just at that point, like we I knew I wanted to sell Velvet Antler here, and it was just from there, like I've been dead set on growing this, just growing this business here and keeping more Velvet Antler here in the US. And that that really is exactly what we're doing. So I think like for the first time ever, you know, last year, I think we probably kept any somewhere between like 12 and 15,000 pounds stayed right here, actually harvested in the US, was processed in the USA, was sold and distributed to different wholesalers and vitamin companies and chiropractor offices and you know, people looking to use it in their formulas and proprietary blends, like that antler's gone. I don't have any of it, but anymore. So it's like I know that like you know, we were able to like last year we made a I don't even know I a small den of you know, we were able to take 15,000 pounds of raw velvet antler that was harvested and and keep that here and it all stayed here in the US. Um, those are companies that now don't have to import Canadian velvet, these are companies that now don't have to import New Zealand velvet. Um, you know, as much as I love like our counterparts over there and those guys, but it's like I want my product, like our products that we're eating and consuming here. I want to hear from the US say, like, we don't need we don't need to import, we don't need to import New Zealand velvet antler powder. And that's my thing. Like some of these companies were importing New Zealand red deer powder and New Zealand elk velvet antler powder. It's like, why do we need to do that? We have plenty of velvet antler here in the US. Um, and so that's like how if you want to know how I got everything moving, I'm like, okay. And and that's when we like we got serious about like you know, setting up a uh a facility. And I set up a small processing facility, and now we've moved into a larger processing plant here, and we've upgraded our machines and are working more efficiently. And this year we planned uh um, you know, other than the velvet antler we harvest our on our farm here at Noble Elk farm, you know, we're gonna bring in another 15,000 pounds of of raw velvet antler this year. And hopefully, you know, in in the next, you know, I kind of try and be quick, but like in the next like three to five years, I hope that the velvet antlers getting so big that we now have to like start incentivizing more farmers to cut. And maybe more farmers can start looking and saying, hey, velvet price is really good now this year, because as uh obviously, like you know, like supply and demand, as demand grows for this stuff, and if supply is low, like we need we're gonna have to like the price naturally is gonna start rising for the raw material costs because we need more and more farmers to cut, and maybe we start bringing back that market for um farmers that are interested in harvesting velvet, and because there used to be a time where everybody was cutting velvet, and that's been away for a while. But in the last couple of years, like I've been getting more calls than ever of like guys are like, Hey, I've never cut before, or hey, it's been a while. How do you, you know, how do you want it cut? And what time should I be cutting this? And it's like like new people that are are and farmers and stuff that are looking to now um you know harvest felt. And that's that is a byproduct of the their trophy animals that they're raising. Like this is you know, these are helping uh farmers pay their feed costs on these animals throughout that year. So um, yeah, I look at it as it's just it's a it's a really a win-win for for everyone here if we can if we can grow this market for the product and and and keep and keep growing like this U US velvet antler business.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

Yeah, I I like that a bunch. I I've been to a few of the national elk conventions, so I've had an opportunity to to talk with some guys, and there's certainly there's a fair share of guys who've been around, you know, thirty plus years, right? So they've they've lived the boom, we'll call it the boom, right? When when velvet antler was in demand previously, they 70, 80, 90, 100 bucks a pound. Yeah, they saw the bust, right? So demand shrinks, and so they they remember that it was worthwhile to harvest these antlers, right? Because and you mentioned it, it's a renewable resource, right? They grow new ones every year, and so like outside of the the labor and the manpower to physically get the antlers off of the the head, there's not a ton of overhead to it, like it's there, right? Yeah, it's there's got to get the animal into the facility to to get it off their head, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:58

If they're not selling that bull to a hunt ranch until let's say three or four years old, you know, you know, it's like you could cut them as a spiker, you could cut them as a two-year-old, you know. Let's say you know you're not cut them at three, or you know you're not selling them at three to a hunt ranch. So then you caught them at three. And it's like you have three years now that that animal, um, where like that that velvet you cut off that animal's head will probably pay for its feed. We're now at four, grow them out, ship them off to a hunt ranch. But it really just it it provides another avenue, uh revenue stream um for farm farms rather than yeah, what's your other option? If you don't do that, you cut them off into hard hard antler. Um, farmers hang the they hang their antlers up in the barn and it sits there and collects dust for the next 10 or 15 years until they get out of the business. And then they're like, hey, I got all this antler. So it's like I don't, I just am like it's it's to me, it's no-brainer of just run them in, cut them. Then they have some regrowth, run them in again, cut them again. Yeah, like put it in a free. You need a your overhead, you need a freezer, you know, you need a clean freezer to store it in. Um it's called it.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

So how how long can uh uh how long can it stay in the the freezer?

SPEAKER_00 40:10

Like on average. I mean, I think I think on average, like antl, it's not really gonna go like bad in the freezer, but we do like to process fresh velvet antler. So everything, you know, we try to um, and you're estimating every year because this is just an annual. You get one, it's an annual crop. Yeah, and whatever's cut, that's all that's all you have. So, like, but we try to figure like like by the time like right now, like we're into harvest or we're into velvet season, like farmers are finishing up cutting bowls right now. They maybe have their last few big bowls to run in and cut. Um, but for the most part, like velvet season's coming to an end. Um, so like velvet, raw velvet antler is gonna start coming back into our doors and into our freezers for processing. So it's like I have now fresh 2026 coming in. I have no 2025 raw velvet left. Like, if you need a raw stick of velvet from me, there's nothing left. Yep. So that's how I'd like to do it. Like I would rather not um I wouldn't like antler to like sit in a freeze dry, I don't think, like over 12 months. You know, I think you know, once it's harvested, you know, within that first like you know, max like six to eight months would be like ideal to at that point, like to get it freeze-dried and and into a powder.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

So there is there is time for logistics to work, right? Because like you can't you can't gather up all the supply for a year in three weeks.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

So there you can't process it all in three weeks either. It takes a lot of time. I mean, like the big portion of my entire year is spent processing antler um in organs and different elk products, but it is like once it's freeze-dried and you get it in once you freeze-dry that product, it's now preserved, really like 25-30 years. Like once it's once it's freeze-dried and then you vacuum seal it and seal it completely in a barrel, um, as long as it's in a temperature-controlled environment and out of direct sunlight and not getting any moisture. And like that product's really it's it's completely preserved. Um, but we do put like we we put a Best Buy date, you know, or a quote unquote like expiration date. You know, normally we say like two years from the time of manufacturing, you know, is ideal, but um, but really it's like it that that antler's good for a lot longer than that once it's freeze-dried.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Um, so I want to get back to the products themselves because um you know, we have this raw material now, right? We have the processed velvet antler. What do you what do you do with it? How do you like obviously it's preserved, you can put it in capsules and there's liquid forms. Like, what what does that product line look like and how are they how are they different for for what you're trying to achieve?

SPEAKER_00 43:05

Yeah, so that's a good point, because like everybody, everyone's different on how they like to take their supplements. And we don't so when we we kind of launch some different products just because some people have preferences, like a lot of our athletes, we have a liquid extract, um, where liquid extract your body is gonna absorb it quicker. Um, a liquid extract, you can pull out certain peptides and stuff that you're not necessarily gonna get in the capsule. Um, so like a lot of our athletes and stuff are looking for IGF one and EGF and um natural HGH. And that's all found in Velvet Antler. Um, your body can actually take that a lot better uh through the liquid form. Um, so we do have like a liquid extract where we use just the bulbs and the tips and the upper, really bloody potent antler sections. And we turn that into a liquid. Um, but we would see like our main consumer for that is gonna be guys that are uh in the gym lifting every day, marathon runners that are looking for a quick recovery, um, UFC fighters and MMA fighters, like they tend to shift more towards the the uh the liquid. Whereas uh on the other end of the scale, like we have, you know, maybe uh elderly people with joint issues, um, people that suffer from osteoporosis and and arthritis, like they're taking their daily vitamins every day. And for them, it makes more sense for them to take a capsule. Um and we have for the pets, you know, we have pet tablets for dogs and soft chews for dogs that and that that's a way to take the velvet antler, and the dog can get the natural forms glucosamine and congruent sulfate to help with their hips and joints and mobility. Um, and then we do have a new product out that um hasn't launched yet. This might be the official release of it, official slash unofficial release of it. But we do have an elk velvet antler topical serum. That's innovative and new, right? So now you can take the velvet antler has collagen peptides in it. Velvet antler has anti-aging properties and anti-wrinkle properties found in it naturally. So we extract those minerals and nutrients out, and then we put it now into a topical serum to put on your skin. Um, so like we're just trying to find new ways, um, like to hopefully keep innovating this business to keep growing. Like if there's different forms to take, is ultimately like we are processing. I want to process all the velvet antler in the US, and we want more farmers producing velvet, like we need to create, like we're trying to create a bigger demand for these products, right? And and that's and so we don't want to just get stuck into like one way of like how however somebody wants to take it. Maybe they want it in bulk powder form, um, like maybe they want it in a gummy, like I don't know. Like there's so there's we we try to just keep innovating though, um, so that uh you know there's something for everybody or a different product for um you know everybody.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

This is where I totally get out of my depth. Um so when you when you have the the raw powder or the raw freeze-dried um product that's ready for production to make products, are there like are you in the process of like putting other things along with it to help it absorb in the body better? Are there other pieces of the supplement, or is it just like just it's the raw velvet antler? Like there's obviously synergies with other stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Yeah, right now, and it is there. Like you've I've seen in like traditional medicine, like they like to pair it with like ginseng, or um, you know, so like there is sure there's stuff you could pair it with. Um right now we're pretty focused on just sticking to like a hundred percent pure okay, you know, Velvet Antler product. I think Velvet Antler uh in and of itself is plenty good product, like it's a staple in my vitamin routine. Like I don't um, and and there is like there's already a ton of other supplements and vitamin Delta. Do all these, they do all these mixes and blends, and and for me, it's like I don't think Velvet Antler needs that. It it works plenty good by itself. Um, and so like I I'm not trying to cause any like you know confusion with our customers or anything, but yeah, I do think like it could be paired with some other supplements, but for right now, we're we're like a hundred percent here at Velvet Antler, and we don't use like when you look at like our capsules where many other supplement companies they mix in fillers and they mix in flowing agents and they mix in different stabilizers and stuff. It's like we don't do any of that, like the way we process it is uh just it keeps the product 100 pure, like as a like a whole food product.

SPEAKER_01 47:59

So the potency is obviously really it's as high as it can be, right? It's not diluted and there's no carrier, so that's that's great. Yep. Um what what else um what else like have you found through the process that um of servit labs that was kind of maybe eye-opening or shocking to you? Um that that you think is worthwhile to the story.

SPEAKER_00 48:26

I think in the last couple of years, like we've seen uh you know, just the demand and for growth in like not just our own products, right? Like it's not just the products that I'm selling or that like we're making for, but there's plenty of like ingredient suppliers that are looking, they're looking for velvet antler powder, and they need they they need velvet antler powder. Um and now like with what we've seen, like with the tariffs, like in there, the tariffs have caused a uh a price hike now to bring in to to import velvet antler powder from New Zealand or Canada. The most surprising thing to me is like now all these companies that we're importing, like they want to buy US velvet now, and they want to come to us and get that um, you know, and a lot of them are really open to the idea. When I say, like, look, now you on your label, you can say, like, you know, this was sourced in in the USA. Um, and that's another selling point for them. So we're seeing that that side, like, and that's something I never anticipated. Like, when I got into this, it was mainly like, hey, you know, I want to be able to control my own product. So I want to, I want to control my own process and and own the entire manufacturing from start to finish. And I never really anticipated like going out there, you know, with servid labs and you know, doing all this processing for other people and getting velvet antler powder, like I supply all my competitors, right? Like every like every one of my competitors I supply from. So that and that's something like I didn't anticipate when I get in when I was getting into this, but um, but I see like how it is. It's the way I look at it now, is like that's really good for the industry because if more people are sourcing US velvet, that's that's good, that's good for the farmers, right? Um, and because that keeps a demand for their their product that that's being grown on their elk every year.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

So um I'm gonna make sure that we link up uh serve it's servedlabs.com. Is that is that right?

SPEAKER_00 50:23

Yeah, yeah, servidlabs.com or or or velvetantler.com, either either domain there will take you there.

SPEAKER_01 50:29

Yeah, we'll make sure those are linked up in the show notes so folks can come in and uh check those out. And they can they can order like if they wanna uh get some uh capsules or the the liquid, they can order that right through the site, correct?

SPEAKER_00 50:43

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:44

Awesome. Um Jade, I I appreciate you coming on and and uh shining some light on on uh you know what Noble Elk Farms uh is doing along with with servid labs. I think it's really interesting. And um, I hope as you uh get some more products going, we do some more unofficial official product launches on the on the show. That's that's super cool.

SPEAKER_00 51:07

So no, dude, this has been fun. And I think it's like I said, there's not a better time right now to talk about it. I think like if people have questions, maybe they're interested. You know, a lot of your people that listen to the show here, these are deer farmers and um elk farmers, and some guys raise red deer, whatever. Like they have questions are interested in it at all. Like maybe they want to launch their own line, or maybe they are looking for a way to sell some of their velvet antler. Like, just reach out, like we're happy to answer questions and talk about it. Like, this is this is all we do. So you can should be able to answer their questions.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

You bet. Yeah, we'll uh we'll drop your uh your contact info in the the show notes as well, so people can just ping you. And um yeah, it's been fun. I uh I got another feeding I gotta head out to. I suspect you're gonna go do the do the same. Um, but thank you so much for coming on. Thanks, Josh. And with that, stay tuned for another episode of the Deer Wizard Podcast.