Two Livestock Worlds, One Ranch Vision – The Broken Oak Story

In this episode, we sit down with Brittany Pierce and Kale Pierce of Broken Oak Ranch in Weatherford, Texas to hear how they’re building a ranch rooted in the western lifestyle and driven by a simple mission: raise stock with quality, genetics, and purpose. Brittany and Kale share what goes into developing a Texas Longhorn program focused on balance and beauty—selecting cattle with powerful frames, eye-catching horn sets, and pedigrees backed by proven families, all while honoring and advancing the legacy of the breed.

Then we head beyond the pasture and into the barrel horse arena, where Broken Oak competes at rodeos, futurities, and derbies nationwide. We talk about what they breed and look for in true performance horses—heart, athleticism, and longevity—and how that same standard of excellence connects everything they do. Whether you’re a cattle enthusiast, a horse person, or just love a great ranch story, this episode is a look at two livestock worlds united by one clear vision—pride in every stride and every horn.

Broken Oak Ranch: https://www.brokenoaklonghorns.com/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi there, I'm Molly. And I'm Jamie. We're the owners of Hired Hand Software.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

And this is season six of our From the Pasture podcast. For more than 15 years, we've been helping breeders promote their pedigree livestock with our easy-to-use, animal management-driven website software.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Each week, we bring you stories from the pasture, breeding philosophies, ranch traditions, cattle knowledge, and conversation with folks using Hired Hand to power their livestock marketing. So settle in for today's episode of From the Pasture with Hired Hand.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Welcome to this episode of From the Pasture with Hired Hand. Today we're visiting the beautiful pastures of Broken Oak Ranch in Weatherford, Texas, a place where registered Texas Longhorns graze right alongside high-level barrel horses and future performance prospects. I'm your host, Molly Clubb, and I'm excited to take you on another journey into the world of livestock heritage and the breeders who care for them with today's guests, Brittany Fellows and Cale Pierce. From raising in utero foals to building a young Longhorn herd together and doing it all from a tiny community of fewer than 75 people, Britney and Cale have created a ranch that blends two entirely different backgrounds into one shared vision. Whether you come from the horse world, the longhorn world, or somewhere in between, this episode has something for you. Thank you both again for joining me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Why don't we start a little bit with kind of your origin story for lack of a better term? So you both came from very different livestock backgrounds. Kale, you were helping with commercial cows in Oklahoma. And Brittany, you were coming from a high-level barrel racing and breeding program. How did those two worlds collide and become Broken Oak Ranch?

SPEAKER_05 1:50

I don't know. We kind of did it on a whim originally, and we were in Colorado and we saw the Metcalf dispersal sale going on in Amarillo. And I was hurt at the time, so I wasn't really running barrels. And we made the drive and we bought three bought three longhorns and did not know what we were doing. So we just kind of we were winging it at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

So when you kind of started dreaming about building your ranch together, did you originally imagine a place where horses and longhorns could coexist, or did that kind of evolve naturally?

SPEAKER_05 2:30

Um it kind of happened naturally because I mean I've I have so many horses. Um and we kind of had to make a coincide and work together. And um yeah, it it was pretty natural on that part.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

So we'll talk a little bit more about those three longhorns you bought to start with here in a little bit, but go ahead first and tell us just what is the meaning behind Broken Oak Ranch and how do both breeds fit into that picture?

SPEAKER_05 2:58

Oh man, I don't know. Like we came about broken oak because we're trying to buy a piece of land off a broken road, just down the road from us, actually. Um, we're hoping that comes into play pretty soon, actually. Um But man, I don't know. Like we just love everything about it between the horses and the longhorns. I mean, it all kind of works together. I mean, you spend a lot of time with them, you feed them, you take care of them, you take them to the repro vets. I mean, it's all so similar and it's we just love it. I don't know. I mean, it's fun adventure. It's really fun. We enjoy it. We want to see it grow and we want it to be better. I mean, I think everybody does. So we're trying.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Learning and trying and hoping for the best on both aspects of the horse side and the longhorn side. Just it's fun learning these pedigrees and maternal lines and sires and everything, and just seeing how much of the longhorns play part, just like horses, how important it is. And like she said, how similar it is and everything.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Especially probably with the traits that you are looking for for each breed. Like you're it they're very trait-specific, right? I'm assuming it's either for speed or or performance or you know, horn, total body, those types of things.

SPEAKER_05 4:17

Yeah, but honestly, like it's kind of neat because confirmation plays a big role in both. And it's kind of similar, actually, on what you're looking for between like a good performance horse and a producing cow. I mean, it's pretty similar.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

So just for my curiosity, um, we have a lot of breeders that always talk about the feet and how important the feet are. Is that the same for both?

SPEAKER_05 4:40

Yeah. Okay. You can't the the horse starts at the foot. I mean, you need a good foot to carry a good one. I mean, it starts there.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Well, recently you all rebranded. You formerly were KB Cattle Company for our listeners who might still recognize you by that. And as we just mentioned, you you recently took on the name Broken Oak. Uh, aside from the location that you're trying to secure, did anything else spark that change, or how did you know it was the right time for a rebrand?

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Honestly, um we wanted to focus more of a family affair ranch and not just strictly cattle. So her horse side of stuff is like, let's be just broken oak ranch. We have a bunch of oak trees at our property now, which works perfect. And we just wanted to kind of shift from just being a cattle company to okay, let's offer everything we have to offer from horses to the cows.

SPEAKER_05 5:42

Yeah, we needed to combine it somehow. That's kind of how it started to come about.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

And then we have a gentleman helping us throughout all this revamp and all that that kind of helped put a little bit of fuel to the fire and kind of helped play a part and a big part of it.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Well, I noticed your brand on the the hat you're wearing for our listeners who are watching with video, is that the brand for both the the cattle and horses now?

SPEAKER_02 6:10

It is. Yes, I am.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

I like it. Tell me a little bit about how you came up with it.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

That's you.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

It kind of looks like a broken oak tree.

SPEAKER_05 6:19

Yep. And we actually have a cool logo too that does look like the broken oak tree. Um, it's a little more uh detailed. But that's kind of how that came about. It's just the branches coming off.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

So it's kind of cool. I like it. I like how simple it is, but still it still gets that message across.

SPEAKER_05 6:38

Yeah, we kind of learned the hard way. We put our the KB brand on a heifer and it didn't show up very good because it was a little too intricate, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

So it's hard when you're developing brands. It's hard to think in terms of negative space and and how you can't connect too many uh you know part portions of it or the the hide will fall off and all of that. We learned.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

Yeah, that's uh because the KB is a diamond with the KB in it and the KB didn't really show up. We didn't let air to come through for all that blood circulate, and she's got a cool diamond on her.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

You'll just have to get her a fancy ear tag with the the new lo the new brand or something.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Well, a lot of folks I think are intimidated by rebrands. They can be a lot of work, right? So new website, new logo, new brand. You have to get your message out there about why you're rebranding and kind of your new mission statement and all of that. Um, are you all exhausted from that? Do you feel like you're still in the middle of it? Tell me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_05 7:43

We're definitely still in the middle of it. We have a lot going on, um, and a lot still coming. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Our biggest thing is we've uh publicly wanted to be noticed as broken oak, but we've been so secretive on some of the stuff we're buying, and that's here, that's not here yet. So it's like, no, don't say it yet, but let them know who broken oak is at the same time.

SPEAKER_05 8:07

Yeah, we had to have some wow factor a little bit to get the point across at the beginning. But I think behind the scenes we still have a lot going on.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

A lot going on. So from horses even to the longhorns. I mean, both sides just yeah the growing aspect of it through this rebrand is it's been a stressful journey, but it's been a fun journey, and it's gonna be awesome to watch it all play out finally for us and hopefully show, like you were saying, other breeders and stuff. If it's time for rebrand or to start your herdover, you can do it. You can do it. Take that step. It's the scariest step you're gonna take. It's been fun though. It's it's worth it.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Good. Well, I can say, as one of your followers on the Longhorn side, you definitely made a splash with some of your announcements of the genetics you were procuring and and all of that the week you kind of launched your new logo and and made those announcements. I think you handled it really well. So kudos to you both.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Thank you. It was hard to keep it a secret.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Let's talk a little bit more about genetics in terms of the rebrand. So when you were going into this, um, you know, you all already had a great foundation herd. Um, but I feel like with those big announcements came some pretty big names, maybe some different types of bloodlines than what you've previously um been bringing in. So just tell me a little bit about how you know those things tied together and how long you had been planning uh those acquisitions and and that you knew those were the bloodlines you wanted.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Well, we sold all of our original herd besides three. And that's a bull eliminator checks that we got from J Barrell. He is currently leased out uh to Claybrook Farms in Pennsylvania. He was one of the originals we bought from this calf sale.

SPEAKER_05 9:59

He wasn't for sale.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Yeah, he wasn't for sale.

SPEAKER_05 10:01

I like that I could scratch his head so they let me back.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

And then we have a drag iron daughter from the original herb that we bought from Dreamwood Farms, and one of our first we had a drag iron daughter out of XC Heidi Cal. We were on top of the world back then. Love her to pieces, and then we have a red iron daughter that we bought from the Metcalf sale, and those are the only three we have left from our original herd.

SPEAKER_05 10:30

And we're using those two as recips now. And uh we uh we kind of took a deep dive on the cowboy chef checks. Um, we went down to Bentwood. We didn't know what our plan was when we went down there. We kind of we bought two heifers and we were picking them up, and then we got to looking at cows there, and we fell in love. Um, I mean, everything they had, it was just jaw-dropping. We we were so impressive. We've been to several places, and that place has stuck out to us so much. And Richard and Jeannie and Justin and Ryan and Ryan, they were all phenomenal to work with and seeing what they have is just impressive. I mean, it was the it was the most jaw-dropping experience I've ever had with L the Longhorns so far.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

And then just being able to slow down and sit, we sat with Richard for what, an hour and a half, just underneath his working pins right there, just cussing and discussing everything, the herd, the love for it, why this works for them and why they keep doing this for so long. I mean, you think of Benwood, you think cowboy tough checks. And we look what he produces. You know, I uh I got asked the other day, like, oh, so y'all like cowboy tough checks. It's hard not to like that bull. He's done so many great things, but through our revamp and our learning, we've also learned that the maternal line has become very, very important.

SPEAKER_05 12:01

Almost more important, honestly.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

And that's a bunch of our girls, if you look at their maternal lines, it's strong. It's very strong. And that's what's going to carry great heifers and cows one day.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

So did you have to do any similar revamping on the horse side, or do you was that just more of a rebrand and not a revamp with genetics?

SPEAKER_02 12:45

You you kind of flicked over to Goodbye Lane pretty hard.

SPEAKER_05 12:49

Yeah, there's a little bit going on on my horse side. I mean, I've always had pretty decent horses, but I've kind of started going towards another breeding um pedigree that I like. And I now have four. I started with one and now I have four by a stud called the goodbye lane, and he's one of the top producing sizes in our industry right now.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

And I fell in love with the one I needed more. So, what makes his genetics kind of stand out in the industry? For the good by lane?

SPEAKER_03 13:23

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_05 13:24

They are fast, they're fast, they're trainable, they have good temperaments, they their confirmations are typically hard to beat. Um they are just made to do the job. I mean, they are just impressive, impressive horses.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Lots of character too. Yeah, they do have a lot of characters. Each one that we have is unique. Yeah, they're fun.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Well, you all live outside of Wit, which as I understand it has a population of around or under 75. What made this the right area for you all to decide to build your ranch?

SPEAKER_02 14:01

Well, we were moving, we had 17 acres in Stephenville, and we realized that was not enough. Was on and this was before the revamp, even this was original herd and everything, and we were like, holy cow. Because I think at one point we had 15, 16 cows in our original herd. And 17 acres goes pretty quick with 14 horses and 16 cows. And um this place wasn't even on the market yet, and we were told about it, we're like, Yeah, we'll look at it, and I'm just we fell in love. That that day it was it has to happen. We need to be here.

SPEAKER_05 14:40

And we came from Stephenville, which is an hour down the road, and I was honestly tired of the hustle and bustle of a college town, and I was ready to go to somewhere smaller and less chaotic. And at least here we kind of get the best of both worlds. We've got Mineral Wells 15 minutes down the road, and Weatherford 30 minutes down the road. So if I need to go to the chaos in a town, I can.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

I feel like now don't take judgment with this, but I feel like uh that's maybe not the norm. You both are very young to be at the position I think you're at with it, being fortunate enough to establish your herd and have some of the genetics you want. So I feel like wanting to get out of the hustle and bustle is kind of the opposite of uh maybe a couple year age, you know what I mean? So that's very refreshing.

SPEAKER_05 15:29

Yeah, most of our friends are not the same.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

We gave up the party days and like you said, the hustle bustle days, and we have an eight-year-old son, going to be nine this year, so it's like okay, let's, you know, more of a farm life now, ranch life. He loves the longhorns. Uh he's not sold on the horses, hasn't really been a horse kid, but his chickens, his dogs, and the longhorns. And now we have the place where we have all the above.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Yep. So that is his bread and butter. That's awesome. What parts of the property setup, whether it be like fencing, waters, shelters, were chosen specifically because you needed them to work for both horses and cattle.

SPEAKER_05 16:13

So honestly, this place is set up really cool. Um, all of our pastures, we have separate pastures. How many is there? Eight?

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Eight or nine.

SPEAKER_05 16:21

There's eight or nine separate pastures on the property and they all connect. And then everything on one side of the property is connected to the alley where you can push everything up to the chut, and you can push them up to the loading dock. Like everything is just connected and it flows. And all the pastures either have well, they all have automatic waters and they all have lean twos.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

And then four of them have ponds.

SPEAKER_05 16:50

Yeah, four or five of them have ponds. Um, it's just set up really nice. And there's trees everywhere, and I mean, they they have it made. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Where the house is located, because her arena is up top. We kind of go uphill to where you know her horses are at, but where the house is located, you can see every single pen and every single pasture as well as up top up on the hill and stuff.

SPEAKER_05 17:15

So it's it's big, but it's you can see everything.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Nice. Well, when we were preparing for today's podcast, one of the things you all mentioned was that you do have some predators in the area. Um, is there any differences between kind of needing to protect your horses versus protecting the cattle?

SPEAKER_02 17:35

We had a little scare when was that two or two or three months ago. We actually had a what the vet believes was a mountain lion get a hold of one of our horses. She's okay. She's okay, yeah. She's alive, just some battle wounds. Um, but as the aspect of protecting the horses and the cows, we take it the same way. Like there are children. You're only gonna protect what's yours, and you're gonna whatever needs done is gonna get done.

SPEAKER_05 18:05

And we have um no climb all all around the perimeter. I mean, it's pretty hard to get in here for the most part.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Unless you're jumping the fence.

SPEAKER_05 18:14

Unless you're jumping the fence. And uh we do have some German Shepherds, we have a Belgian Malinois, I mean, we have our dogs, and they're the one German Shepherd, he walks the whole property several times a day. Um, and I think that kind of helps. And then we we're always kind of walking places and checking to see if anything's going on. We've got trail cameras and all the things.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

Our kiddo and I are big into shooting guns, so we're always looking for something to hunt anyway, so it helps.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Did you ever see the mountain lion?

SPEAKER_02 18:47

We've seen uh footprints, uh paw prints, I should say, of it, but and they've they've had sightings of it in the town.

SPEAKER_05 18:55

They've people have been seeing it, but nobody's been able to get a shot on it, to be honest. Nobody's been able to get it, so they've we've had trappers out here and the fire department's been trying to get it handled.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

Game Warden. I spoke to him and he said that they've known about it, but same thing. He's just he's a smart cat. They think he was what, six to eight years old. So he's been around a while, so just a smart animal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Well, let's dig in a little bit more to your breeding philosophy across the two uh species. Um, so horse breeders, um, as I understand it in my research, they talk a lot about feel and timing and kind of reading an animal. You know, longhorn breeders seem to look at confirmation, horn, maternal lines, like you mentioned. Um, how do you manage the two mindsets? I know you talked a little bit about how there's a lot of similarities, but I assume there's maybe also some differences. Uh, so do you each kind of oversee the area or do you um come together and make decisions and talk through things? Tell me a little bit about that. We definitely come together on a lot of things.

SPEAKER_05 20:04

I mean, he brings ideas to me, I bring ideas to him, and we try to settle on it. On the cow side. On the cow side. The horse side is that's all her. Uh but they are pretty similar. I mean, same with the horses, you want a strong maternal line, cross on a great stud. Um, and as far as what we're looking for, I mean, when they're babies, you you're looking for confirmation in how they're bred, essentially. And you want something that's got a good temperament and what seems to be trainable. I mean, you can't really see how they feel and all that until they're further along in their training, and you kind of know at that point, mm, this is gonna work, or this is not gonna work. And usually by the time they're three or four years old, you kind of know what you got. Um, and whether they hold it together or not, once you start fraternitying them, that's a different ballgame. You hope they hold together, but sometimes they don't.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Do you feel like it's harder to be patient with one than the other? Like longhorns, I feel like it's hard for folks to be patient because you're planning your genetics in advance and a calf finally hits the ground, but you don't know. You know, is it similar for your horse program?

SPEAKER_05 21:14

Kind of like it's definitely a patience game when they're babies and letting them grow up and enjoying the process on that because it is a long process, sending them to cult starters and trainers and people that kind of help bring it all together before you get them. Um, and for the longhorns, I'm not very patient. So sitting there watching them grow up is kind of hard for me. Um, but it's very similar. I mean, you gotta be patient on both of them and kind of let it play out and see what happens and give them time because every animal is different. Some of them mature faster than others, some of them you can see what they're gonna be and their potential sooner than others. I mean, it's just every animal is an individual and they're all gonna take however much time they need, and you just gotta be patient.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

And what we learn, if it's born red, it isn't gonna stay red.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Yeah, we didn't learn that one. So I wanna I wanna kind of go back to the first three you purchased at the Metcalf dispersal. So you mentioned that you didn't know a whole lot about like genetics and that type of stuff. Well, I'm talking about the longhorns now, sorry. Um tell me a little bit, Kayle, about. The learning curve uh with you know how you kind of taught yourself genetics between those purchases and then where you're at today, and then we'll we'll look at talk about the horses a little bit too.

SPEAKER_02 22:35

So uh when we got into it, I still do it to this day and it drives me crazy. I'm a big sire guy, I love studying bulls, and shoot, I would like to say, even to this day, I'll just stay up and just looking at bulls, going through pedigrees, looking at bulls. Well, the Metcalf cell, we kinda high-bidded online before we even went there, so we knew we were getting a cow, anyways. And uh, when we got there, Roxanne, who's the red iron daughter, and her pedigree is like I think she has six, 80-inch cows. We're new, we're new breeders, like, shoot, yeah, six, 80-inch cows. We're you know, the next best thing, y'all start calling us. Well, a year later we learn that an 80-inch cow is pretty average nowadays. Um, but it's just the learning curve, it honestly, like we knew what we liked, and we were wrong, basically. Like, that's part of this, and that's why it's such a fun journey for even other breeders. Like, buy what you like at first if you want to. That's nothing is wrong with that. Fall in love with these animals, but once you start playing a bigger role and studying and wanting to be more involved in these futurities and stuff like that, okay. Well, if you look, you know, the past six class winners, look at their sire. Look who it is now, nothing that we have. So we kind of just tanked a little hard and did more studying, reached out to more breeders. Uh Justin Rombeck has helped us tremendously. I mean, he's the one that has broken oak where it's at right now. Like big thank you to him. And listening just to the knowledge he has, and then slowing down because we were very gun happy. Oh wow, she's pretty, here's our money. Oh, he's pretty, here's our money. Versus, no, slow down and look. Here's why it won't work. Here's why she's gonna max out at 55 inches at six years old. Oh, okay, you're right, you're right. And just the studying. I mean, that that's the biggest thing you can do is just study these, slow down and do your research. And don't just look at the sire and the damn. Go to granddam, grandsire, great grandparents, and stuff like that. Like it's generational, and to go back that far, you learn so much more. And that's where we mess up. We were just, oh, cool. So and so's dad is this. Cool, we want it. Well, now we have a what is she a resipt cow?

SPEAKER_05 25:20

A 60-inch four-year-old.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Yeah. But we love her to pieces, and she'll never ever leave this property because she was the one that started the KB and broken oak now. And yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, just do your homework and be patient.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

And don't we did no homework before going to that cell.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

And don't be afraid to ask for help. That's the biggest thing we learned is don't have a high horse, don't have that chip on your shoulder. We don't know what we're doing, and we're over two years in now, and we're not scared to ask help from anyone. And whenever we were doing this revamp, you know, we kind of slid under the radar and went to what, six, seven different ranches just looking at different breedings and stuff like that. And that's what I think is one of the most important things is seeing, okay, this works at this ranch, and oh wow, I like this. Go to as many ranches as you can, talk to them, listen to them, and look at what they're producing.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Well, and I'm gonna argue with something you said just a little bit. I don't, I personally don't think there's anything wrong with buying what you like. I think it's you have to know your end goal, right? So if you like a cow, you fall in love with her in the ring for some reason or another, take her home, but know that she might serve your your daily happiness and not your number of trophies, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:42

No, absolutely. And like said, I mean, that cow we have, she's got her face tattooed on her. That's how important she is. And uh nothing wrong with that at all. She calls them her emotional support cows. Like uh that bull Eliminator checks, we have them for sale, but it's not one that I push because that's my dude. He's not the biggest bull, but he the emotional support, he's my first, our first bull. Like I said, we loved him, we liked him, and there is nothing wrong with keeping what you like and owning what you like. Nothing wrong with that. I will never say that's wrong because you like what you like and you're gonna get what you like.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

At the end of the day, it's your program, and if you if you want something on the ranch, it can be there, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Oh, absolutely. And like you said, I mean, even as the end goal, I would love to lie and say, Oh, we know what our end goal is. Every day's a new day for us. It changes. And we look at so many different cows and ranches and stuff, even on on a hired hand and all that, just going through, and it's like, oh well, that that'd be kind of cool. And just that's what's fun about Longhorns. So when so many aspects can come into your foundation and program that you in a million years never would have thought of worked, and now you just love it. And it just opened a whole new door for you and got you where you wanted to be.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Well, let's let's talk about the horse um aspect now. So, Brittany, I'm I don't know this for sure, but I'm assuming you grew up around you you grew up barrel racing and all of that, right?

SPEAKER_05 28:48

Yeah, I got into it when I was like eight or nine years old.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

So do you so you know you probably didn't have that learning curve then from going from commercial cattle to to the longhorns. Um, but tell me a little bit about just growing up with it, how you, you know, how you learned if there was any hard lessons or, you know, that sort of stuff with figuring out genetics and what worked for your riding style and all of that.

SPEAKER_05 29:10

Yeah, I've changed a lot since I was younger. Um we didn't know much when I got into the horses. Um when I was a kid, I watched the National Finals Rodeo on TV and I told my folks, I want to do that. And it stuck pretty hard. Um and when we first got into it, they traded some panels for a pony, like probably 14 hands, and the first time I got on it, it bucked me off and I broke my wrist. And I don't think I had to deal with that little sucker for a while, but um, and then we just kept getting better and better. I mean, we didn't really look at the genetics a whole lot when I was younger, but as I got older, probably 16, 17 years old, I started kind of getting more into that and learning a lot more, and it's just evolved a a lot. Um, I look at so many horses every day. Um, it is my passion. I mean, I I'm always looking for ways for to get a better one on the ground. I mean, that is what I want to keep doing. And it's just it's a lot of work, and you gotta find a strong maternal line, just like the cows. I mean, that's that is probably more important than the stud that we're picking. I mean, you need it to complement the mare, but you'd have to have a very strong maternal line. So I've learned a lot over the years and um still learning. Still learning. Um, and you kind of figure out what works and what doesn't. I mean, even with comparing it to the longhorns, I mean, there's gonna be an outstanding mama cow, and the the bowl is gonna be outstanding too, but they might not mesh. I mean, that's just part of it, and you kind of gotta do a learning curve with that. And no different with horses. I mean, there's gonna be learning curves, even if you breed the greatest cow to the greatest or the greatest horse to the greatest stud. I mean, it's just you just never know until they get here.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

So growing up in Longhorns, I like I've seen so much change from when I was little. Um, I started about the same age as you with cattle um to now, like not just in tip to tip, but also just like so many other changes, right? Um, are horse genetics similar? Like, are they just completely different from where they were, you know, when you were younger? And if so, in what regard? Like, tell me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_05 31:37

Yeah, so when I was younger, I feel like people were okay with like the Cow Force run cross. Um and it just wasn't, I don't even know, as people weren't as heavy into like the statistics of what worked back then. And it's just been evolving. I mean, horses back then weren't near the caliber they are now, and it's just constantly looking for ways to get better and better. And man, it's just crazy how much has changed because literally almost every horse I was on prior to me being 20 had cow in it, cow horse bloodlines in it. And now you don't even see them in most of these top horses. I mean, there's some that still people people like it. I mean, it did work and it still does, but it's not near as prominent as it used to be. I mean, people have kind of stepped away from that and it's run on bottom, run on top. I mean, these horses are they're running and gunning. I mean, they are bred to do it.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

I think you bring up a great point. You I don't remember the exact word you used, but it was stats or analytics or data that can kind of back all of the the breeding decisions now. And I I think that's huge, especially in the past, you know, 10 years or so with the advancements in technology that can supply the the data and AI and all of that. Um, it's it's I wonder where it will take us in the future, right? You think of how long things kind of took to change in your youth, you know, with the horses. I have a feeling that maybe, you know, in five years we'll make up what we haven't made up in the past, you know, 15, 20 in in all breeds, not just horses and cattle.

SPEAKER_05 33:17

Yeah, statistically, like they they matter. I mean, statistics are a big deal. And there's actually a girl in our industry, you can reach out to her and um pay her for her services, but she will tell you what the magic crosses are and what has worked on what crosses and what studs and these maternal lines and the percentage of what horses are 1D horses, which are like the top horses, and how it has worked um across the board and shows you all the statistics. I mean, it is a pretty cool deal. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 33:53

Well, what what haven't we covered about kind of breeding philosophies and genetics when it comes to either similarities or vast differences between the two?

SPEAKER_02 34:03

The repro sides, cows are cheaper.

SPEAKER_05 34:07

The repro is much cheaper on the cow side of things. Um significantly, actually. Um it kind of why. So to get man, my repro bill at um Paragon has been pennies to the dollar compared to my horses. I mean, I spend tens of thousands of dollars to get one horse on the ground. And I'm at like$3,000 at Paragon for one which one cow, and I've gotten a lot of embryos and done a lot of embryo work, and I mean it's significantly cheaper by more than half. Um it's just it's was kind of eye-opening actually.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

Bedbills are cheaper.

SPEAKER_05 34:56

Yeah, the bedbills are much cheaper for cows because of issues that arise or for regular horses, like we have to do a lot of routine maintenance and they get injections in their joints and every few months, and um they require a lot. Um, they're on a ton of supplements, they have a lot of gut health-related issues that have to be addressed 24-7, and that adds up. I mean, it's just a constant how do we make these horses feel good, feel better, not hurting, not achy. I mean, it's just I got to the vet a lot, a lot with my horses. I mean, a couple sometimes a couple times a week, usually probably five or six times a month or so at the horses.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

We've got one that I think has stayed at the vet more this year and last year than it has at our ranch.

SPEAKER_05 35:50

Yeah, she has. But it's fine. We just own part of the wing now at the event clinic. Um, but yeah, there's just there's a lot more to keeping one horse going versus you take taking six calves to the vet and it's two hundred dollars to get vaccinated. Yeah, there's just a lot more uh pieces to the puzzle with the horses. It's not just pull them out and go run them.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Horses have a a greater return on investment though as well.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

Yeah, as as of right now, yes, but I think once we get the ball rolling on the longhorns, I think it'll be comparable. But I mean the horses, I mean, you can similar with some of these cabs and stuff, you can sell them for 50,000 on up when they hit the ground. Um I mean, it just depends on what you're doing and what you're producing. I mean, they can go from 50 to 100,000 as soon as they touch the ground, and then you've got some horses that are selling for half a million dollars that have made the NFR. I mean, it just they're all unique. I mean, it just depends on the caliber of horse you're working with, just like with cows, it just depends on the caliber of cow you're working with.

SPEAKER_02 37:05

And how badly you want it.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Yeah, and how badly you want it. How important do you think in both of those examples you just gave are like the marketing and the brand development and everything of the program behind those animals?

SPEAKER_05 37:17

Very, very important. I mean, you can't without having like a good name and something where people agree with like your morale and everything that you're doing. I mean, you gotta be a good person on either side of the spectrum in order for people to want to come to you in general. I mean, it doesn't matter how good a stuff you got. If you're not a good person, you're probably not gonna sell very much at the end of the day. Um so I mean, it's important no matter what. I mean, your name makes a big part of what you what you're gonna accomplish.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

So this question wasn't on the list I gave you all. So bear with me here as I work through it. But one thing that's kind of been in the back of my mind as you both have been talking is Bob Loomis, right? So, you know, famous in the horse world, famous in the longhorn world. Is that a surprise to you? Or are you just like, yeah, totally, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

So it's it's pretty cool about Bob Loomis because the eliminated checks we had is a Bob Loomis Red Bull. And like I've heard the name early on, I was like, man, Loomis is sounds so familiar. And I'm like, it's not the Longhorn side. Where do I know that name? And when we started putting pieces of puzzles like light bulb, oh, he's a horse guy, he's a well-known horse guy, okay. So we haven't had the chance to go to his ranch yet. I know.

SPEAKER_05 38:38

Yeah, we haven't really talked to him or anything yet, but we've heard his name prior to getting getting into the longhorns, and we didn't know we could not figure it out at the beginning because we're like, man, this sounds so familiar, but we're we've been putting those pieces together now. But it was kind of interesting to see somebody else heavily involved with the horses, also involved with the longhorns.

SPEAKER_04 38:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

Well, I think I could be wrong, but I think he's in the hall of fame for both different organizations. So maybe uh maybe something in you you all's future. Yeah, hopefully.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

That's one thing I will say with the the rebrand on the longhorn side. We're pushing more towards the breeding side of things. This breeding stuff is fun.

SPEAKER_05 39:19

Breeder of the year would be cool.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

Breeder of the year would be cool, and just to see, wow, you know, if seven ranches have something that we put together for them and seeing that brand go on for you know 10, 15 years, I think that's I think that'd be pretty fun for us to go, look what we did. Look at the smile on so and so's face now, because that's now that ranch is foundation, Cal. And it's it's pretty fun.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

I always think, you know, for breeders too, how cool is it to see your prefix or you know, however you decide to kind of name your animals to suit your your ranch to see those out there, you know, 10 10 generations from now, still making an impact and everything too. I think that's that's uh something I always thought would be, you know, a good feeling.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

I know we're hopefully one day.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

I know we're gonna figure out how to come up with some catchy names before too long. We got some quite a few calves hitting the ground this year.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Well, let's talk a little bit about just kind of daily routine. I feel like that's one topic we haven't touched on. So, what does a normal day look like for each of you or for both of you with both the the horses to train and the cattle to check? Uh, you know, I I think horse folks I hear love workflow, while cattle folks, you know, more like the system. So I'm curious on your feedback. Everything kind of gets done all day, every day.

SPEAKER_05 41:20

I mean, we're out with the longhorns all day, every day, it seems like. And then I usually do my horse stuff in the evening to ride them and exercise and work on them and do all of that because usually during the day we're out and about um either running errands and if we're home, we are we are out with the cows. I mean, that's just what we do. I mean, we're either dropping some cubes for them or um just kind of we'll just walk through the walk through the pastures with them and kind of just see what they're doing. But I I don't want to say any day is the same. I mean, it's just not. When you have animals, it just doesn't work like that. I mean, you can say you have a system and whatnot, but you you can plan your day, and it's probably not gonna go that way. Um, but every day, I mean, we get up, we feed our kiddo. He likes to do their alfalfa and stuff at nighttime. We do alfalfa every evening, everybody gets a flake each, and um that's just that's his bread and butter. He likes to go feed his cows. So we let him do that. But um during the day, I mean, we are we're just always messing with everybody. We kind of just bounce around throughout the cows and horses all day.

SPEAKER_02 42:31

But taking 500 pictures, trying to find the right one to put on the website.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Yeah, I take we both take a lot of pictures. What's your favorite thing to do out with out with either breed?

SPEAKER_05 42:43

Um, I love which I just started doing this here recently, but we have a back treed area, and I used to not really ride back there because my horses are scared of everything if it's not in an arena for some reason. Um but I've been riding back out in the trees and it has been so relaxing. Um and I really like just spending that time with my horses. I think um honestly just being on the back of a horse just for me. I mean, that's that's my happy place. So I think his is out in a pasture.

SPEAKER_02 43:15

Mine's if it's a long one. We have a heifer we bought last year at where'd we get Miley?

SPEAKER_05 43:21

Legends.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

But Legends. This is my girl. I mean, she she's a big fan, and she'll meet me at the gate every day. She'll I'll feed her out of my hand, whatever, scratch all over her. That's that's my biggest thing. I'll I'll just go sit in the field all day with them and just we don't you know some people are gonna be like, well, why would you hand feed them and all that? We get that, but our thing is is we have our eight-year-old son that loves being around them, so we'd like them to be as friendly as possible and used to people as possible.

SPEAKER_05 43:51

But they need to give us space.

SPEAKER_02 43:53

But they need to understand space that their horns are nine foot out that way and they hurt. So my biggest thing is I my half place is just working with the cows, even if it's not pushing them through the chute and stuff like that, just spending time with them out in the field and just watching them. Seeing them and then it's also fun too because how this cow looked six months ago, she doesn't look anything like it now. So just seeing all the different colors and the horn growth, and I'm very big on about every three weeks to a month. Let's measure longhorns. I don't know why, it's just I like just having tabs almost and looking back and wow, look, we grew nine month or nine inches in this year. Just stuff like that brings me a lot of happiness.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

It's the statistics that Britney mentioned. They'll they'll come in handy, you know. You can continue to assess them and figure out what's working.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

Yep, absolutely. And I believe it is y'all that posted it on Facebook about you know keeping up to date on these measurements and pictures of how it brings more people in and stuff like that. And it's just she gets a little, I want to say grumpy at me, but I'm very big on, okay, let's update this picture now. It's been a month. Oh, okay, let's update this measurement now. I just like stay on top of the longhorn side of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

Yeah, you would be surprised how much it helped. You should go look at your little uh animal views report and kind of track if the the ones higher on the list are ones you recently updated.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

Yep. I need to.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

Well, prior to today's podcast, when we were preparing, I asked you. Both about some of your favorite tools. You both listed the P and C chute as your your favorite ranch tool. Tell me a little bit about how that fits in and um you know what what you like about it.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

It's been amazing. I'll be honest, when we first got into Longhorns, our working chute were two panels. We would just push them together.

SPEAKER_03 45:52

And hope it worked.

SPEAKER_02 45:53

And hope we didn't get kicked. Um we actually just got the P and shoot s P and C shoot system a few months ago. Yeah. Four months ago, somewhere around there.

SPEAKER_05 46:05

Not even that, I don't think.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

But it's a lifesaver.

SPEAKER_05 46:08

Yeah. I mean, my kiddo, Timber, he can he helps with it. I mean, it just gives us a little peace of mind. I mean, it's safe and it's easy. I mean, it's not complicated, and I feel like the average Joe can do whatever they want with their cow if you have one. It's just I mean, we're still learning and it it's made a world of difference for us. I mean, it's just it made our life a lot easier.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

Absolutely. And you know, we went through Dan on that and he helped us a lot, and he's always this phone call away if we need something or have a question. He's helped us with that. And the two gentlemen that set it up for us from P and C gave us some good ideas. So now we have more panels and stuff coming.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

Nice. That's awesome. Kayleigh, you mentioned that one of your favorites is a heifer you bought at the Legends sale. And um, let's just talk a little bit. Let's have you each pick your three favorites on the ranch right now and tell me who they are, what bloodlines they're they're from, and uh why they're your favorite for both the longhorns and the horses, please.

SPEAKER_02 47:09

So the heifer I talked about, uh we got our legends from Diamond B. She her name is DB Mermaid Smiley, she's a drop box out of Texas Mermaid. And she's it's kind of cool because it was at the very beginning of our revamp, like not publicly yet, but we knew what we were doing. Kind of. Kind of. We knew we wanted to go a different direction, and so we bought her there at that auction, and it was she was just a sweetheart since day one, but just knowing that she was kind of the stepping stone for us to go the direction we wanted to go, she's just been a favorite. And then she won us a trailer too, which was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 47:55

Yeah. Take that.

SPEAKER_02 47:59

I'm a big fan of awesome attraction. Uh she's one we got from Bentwood. She's Cowboy Tough Checks out of the Awesome Trixie Cow. And I'm a big fan of the up and out horns, and she fits it perfectly. She's five years old, 92 and a half inches of that, and beautiful color, beautiful body. She's just awesome to look at. Then Checks is up there, but as my cow, I'm probably gonna have to go Rose Blossom. We just picked up Rose Blossom from Bentwood, and she's a she's just she's spectacular. Like, I mean, you know, people always say, Oh, pictures don't do it justice, and that that's true. We've seen pictures or something like ooh, no, never in the seat in person. She's one of those cows. Once you see her in person, you're like, holy cow!

SPEAKER_05 48:49

Yeah, she's awesome, and she's a cowboy tough checks out of that HR slams rose.

SPEAKER_02 48:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:54

And she pictures don't do that cow justice.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

I mean she's a hundred inches in horn, she's big body, great udder, great feet.

SPEAKER_05 49:04

Yeah, she's probably one of my favorites too. And I love our Helmus Suppressive Cow. I've been obsessed with her since I saw her. Um, and she's just got a great disposition, and she's out of that Dio Miss Grand Cow. And I mean, she's she just don't miss. I mean, that's just an impressive animal. And then as far as like my horses go, pretty much all my favorites are by the goodbye lane, and they are all bred a little differently on the maternal line. Um, I won't get too much into that, but they all come from a strong maternal line, um, as far as the barrel horses go. And then I have a mare that's very near and dear to my heart that got hurt a couple years ago. Um, she broke a couple bones in her foot and uh the coffin bone, navicular bone, and her past turn from kicking an H brace. And she was my number one horse at the time um before she got hurt, but she's by a stud called Frenchman's Fabulous, who goes back to Sun Frost, which has been a big part in our industry, also, the Sun Frost line. Um, so yeah, those are kind of my favorites, and you know, they're all kind of tied together some way. So does she have a forever home on your ranch? Oh, yes. She's the one that's actually been at the vet more than she's been here. She'll never be leaving. I actually, before I bought her, they had flushed some embryos from her, and I actually bought one of the cults um that she had prior to me buying her, and he's three this year. Um, so I'm kind of excited about her babies, and I have one coming this coming spring, well, in a month or so is when that baby will hit the ground. Um, so I'm excited to finally have one of my own from her hit the ground that I bred.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

I know a lot of folks don't like to kind of show their hand, but is there anything that you can tell us about the genetics that you are planning to continue to add or any big moves that you're planning to make in 2026 that you share with our listeners?

SPEAKER_05 51:02

We are still working on that. Um, we do I want to get a bull calf, hopefully, out of uh the helmets impressive cow. I would really like for her to um give us one of those. So we're gonna breed her conventionally, I think, after we're done doing our flushing, which we'll be done with that soon. Um so I'm really hoping to get her genetics thrown into my thrown into our herd a little bit. But besides that, we're still kind of working out the details on everything. I mean, we've got so much to go over still and talk to Justin about and decide which direction we're gonna go. I mean, we've got a couple things lined up, but not nothing's set in stone yet.

SPEAKER_02 51:47

Yeah. We know what I want to say we know. There's a few bulls we like, but I'll just have to see what happens. We really don't know. We really haven't said, yes, here's, you know, let's put it all on red. This is what we're doing.

SPEAKER_05 52:00

Kinda We're still tossing everything around.

SPEAKER_02 52:04

We think we know what we're doing, and then we'll backtrack and yeah.

SPEAKER_05 52:09

We have we have like five colluder calves, I think, hitting the ground from what we bought from Bentwood. So we're excited about that to see what those turn out to be like. But besides that, we are we don't know we still haven't figured out what we're doing after those cows hit the ground, which we gotta figure that out pretty soon.

SPEAKER_02 52:26

So I believe they'll be calm in April.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

Any big plans for events you haven't gotten to attend before that you're gonna go to for the first time, or for charities you're gonna enter or races that you're going to, anything like that?

SPEAKER_05 52:41

Yeah, we're going to the Eddie Wood. We're gonna go check that out. We we're just gonna go. I don't know if we're gonna buy anything or anything like that, but we're gonna go socialize and check it all out. And we're talking about Glen Dennings. I think we're gonna go to Glen Dennings this year.

SPEAKER_03 52:55

And what's that one down in Austin? Uh can't remember it now.

SPEAKER_05 53:02

Yep, yep, the Texas treasure sale.

SPEAKER_02 53:04

Yeah, last year we I think we went to Horn Showcase and Legends, and that's all we went to. And this year, kind of whether we're not cheering or buying or not buying, it'd just be nice to kind of just go socialize and hey, how are you? We're the face behind Broken Oak.

SPEAKER_05 53:19

Yeah, we just want to go meet people now. Um, and maybe buy a couple animals here and there. We'll see. And then as far as the horse side, I mean, there's big events all throughout the year, and I'm probably gonna go to a lot of the same ones that I went to last year, the pink buckle, Ruby Buckle, Royal Crown, um, and then pro rodeos all summer. Um, and now actually I'm up at Odessa for the Sand Hill Stock Show on Monday.

SPEAKER_03 53:46

Go to Nashville's rodeo, maybe.

SPEAKER_05 53:48

I'll go to Nashville again in May, and then I'm up at the Denver Stock Show in two weeks.

SPEAKER_03 53:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 53:53

So we're busy.

SPEAKER_01 53:56

Well, um, since we're on video, I can see a bronze, I think, on your fireplace mantle. Did you all win one last year at the Horn Showcase?

SPEAKER_02 54:06

Thank you. Yeah, that's pretty cool. We uh we bought her from the pace. She's uh Mr. Big stuff out of MC Hang or hangin' tuff out of the PCC Dazzle doll. I think your mom.

SPEAKER_05 54:20

Uh maybe. I don't remember. She goes back to PCC Dark Sky. But she's she's cool, but she's probably gonna end up being a reset cow for us now. Um she doesn't really fit in with what we want to do, but she's a great cow. I mean, she's a great milker. She's got cool horn.

SPEAKER_02 54:37

She's she got a lot of total horn.

SPEAKER_05 54:40

Yeah, she has a lot of total horn. Um, but she's really cool and she's a very sweet cow.

unknown 54:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:47

When you all aren't at events in person, do you ever join us online on Hired TM Live for any sales?

SPEAKER_03 54:52

We do. Yep. We have five. Every single one.

SPEAKER_05 54:55

Yeah, even that one that we bought from Legends. I had to leave early, and I actually tuned in online and bought her out bought her off offline.

SPEAKER_03 55:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 55:05

Because I had to leave for my son's football game. So I did it that way.

SPEAKER_03 55:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 55:10

But we're we are always kind of fiddling and we always watch the lives on the hired hand stuff. So what's the craziest place you've ever watched a sale from?

SPEAKER_03 55:24

Probably now we've Nashville. We've seen where we're was Nashville?

SPEAKER_05 55:30

No. I don't know. I really liked when I had left, I was kind of cool watching the Legends sale because I was there and then I got to see it from the live too. And it I don't know, it was kind of fun.

SPEAKER_01 55:42

Well, let's talk a little bit about your hired hand powered website. Um, so you chose a hired hand site uh for both your horses and your longhorns. Uh tell me a little bit about just what excites you about, you know, our features for each and how you plan to to build your continue to build your new brand over the the coming year.

SPEAKER_05 56:02

I really like how easy it is to navigate. Um it's it's so easy. I mean, everything's lined out so clear, and you can find exactly what you're looking for pretty fast. But I'm excited to keep adding to it and I want to add more chavs to it to kind of make it even easier to sort through our cows. Um but that that's what I like about it so much. I mean, it's just so easy. I mean, it's easy for us to add stuff when we need to, and it's so user-friendly for us. I mean, I'm always on there fiddling with stuff.

SPEAKER_02 56:35

And it's nice too, because like whenever we have a question, y'all are just an email or call away, and it usually gets handled pretty quick. So it's that's nice, the customer service side of stuff has been pretty cool. I'm I'm not tech savvy at all. She kind of doesn't.

SPEAKER_04 56:48

I handle all that.

SPEAKER_02 56:50

So it's nice when I don't know what's going on, she'll reach out and it gets handled.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

So you're asking her to update all those measurements and all those pictures. I do all that.

SPEAKER_02 57:01

I will have that one. He just hands it to me.

SPEAKER_01 57:06

I feel like Angie needs to get you squared away, so so you can at least do that. We should probably just yeah, we should probably teach him.

SPEAKER_02 57:15

Have better luck teaching our kiddo. People know it better.

SPEAKER_01 57:20

Well, let's go through, let's end here on a kind of more of a fun note. We're gonna go through kind of your favorite things that we prepared before the uh the podcast. So uh Cale, you said some of your favorite movies were Tombstone, Eight Seconds, Young Guns, I'm seeing a theme here, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Uh, what is it about those films or maybe a scene or a character that sticks with you?

SPEAKER_02 57:44

Um I think my love for those movies came from my grandpa, both sides of my grandparents. I remember all summer, that's what was on TV, because all when we were home eating lunch stuff, that was on or and uh Young Guns. I'm a real big fan of Emilio Estvez. He's plays Billy the Kid in it. And he's just there's some I've always been fascinated with Billy the Kid because they said, oh, he's dead in uh Haiko, oh, he's dead in Arizona, oh he never turned in, oh he never got shot. So I've always been fas I love history and I love the old western cowboys and all that. So just seeing all that stuff and the gunfighting, even as a young kid, it's always, oh, this is awesome, this is cool. I would love if I can go back in time, I'd go back to that era of life, just to simpler times, you know, no technology, nothing like that. You're in the moment. A handshake is worth more than a contract, and the stuff like that I've I've always loved. And I don't know, Young Guns honestly is probably one of my absolute favorite movies. I've probably showed it to her 400 times. Like I will watch it every night, and it just I don't know, it just has always been like a home movie for me, you know, like a slow down, enjoy the moment, and watch it, and that's why I love it.

SPEAKER_01 59:08

So, Brittany, yours also had a theme here with uh Secretariat, Seabiscuit, Urban Cowboy, Yellowstone. Like I can probably guess, but tell me why they're your favorites.

SPEAKER_05 59:19

Um, they talk about my heartstrings mostly. Uh Yellowstone's a little different, I feel like, because it was there's just a lot more going on in that movie. I like the the action in it and the twists and the turns and all that. But as far as like Sea Biscuit and Secretariat, those pull up my heartstrings, but mostly because I feel like I've been in those shoes a few different times, and I feel like it was kind of more relatable for like what I do and my horses and when they get hurt and you get hurt, and for some reason it always happens that way, which it's kind of odd, but it is. That's how it works. But that's probably that's it. I mean, they just pull up my heartstrings. I like a good movie that makes me cry a little.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:04

Urban cowboy, before she watched it, I was like, it's gonna piss you off. Yeah, he shut down.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:10

It definitely pissed me off.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:13

And she's loved it ever since.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:14

Yeah, it's a good movie. It's hard though. It's hard to watch when you when you live and work on a ranch, it's hard to watch movies that are trying to recreate that life and you can see every little thing, you know, that that they're should be doing.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:28

Well, that's like I spent I'm the sixth generation in the oil field industry, and I spent eight years of my life traveling all over the world, and they came out with this show called The Land Man, and everyone's like, you need to watch it, you need to watch it. And I'm like, I will get pissed off. I'm not going to watch it, it's gonna bother me, and I'll be up all night.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:45

Yep. I think I think you're like the third or fourth person I've heard say that, that they like refuse to watch it because of their their work history.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:53

Well, that's like Yellowstone. I've never seen Yellowstone. I've heard it's great.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:57

It'll piss you off in stores.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:58

I've never seen Yellowstone. It's not like I'm not a rancher by any means. It's just I don't know. I've I know how northwest Oklahoma was. I don't know how what is it, Montana. I don't know how that ranch stuff works, so I'm not gonna watch it. I need to. She'll make me watch it eventually.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

Well, speaking of Montana, you listed your dream ranch destination destination as Douglas Lake Ranch. Uh tell me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:27

So I was working in North Dakota oh three years ago now, four. And I've drive through Montana a lot, and I believe they run one of the largest cattle and horse operations in Montana. In Montana, if not the United States. And just from I mean, even pictures online, you can look it up. They have a website and all that too. But I've always felt like Montana's home, which is kind of crazy to say, but I love the cold. I absolutely I will spend time in North Dakota, Montana, wherever. Give me negative 60 degrees. I'm fine with that. But it's just so beautiful. And to me, I feel like real cow, I say I better use that softly, but the terrain and stuff up in Montana, and how many I believe they have over 80,000 acres or give or take more than that. Just to be able to manage that type of property with the cattle they have, the horses they have, the cowboys on horseback, it's just it's incredible. I mean, it just it's always caught my attention. I've driven by parts of that ranch. It's beautiful, well taken care of, and it's just I would love to spend six months there if I could, just to learn and see it all take place and fold into place.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:50

Well, Brittany, you you answered King Ranch to that same question. Tell me a little bit about uh why that legendary spot is uh the first thing you'd want to see or what you'd want to learn.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:00

Honestly, because it's legendary. I mean, you hear about it your whole life growing up for the most part. I mean, it's a big part of history. I mean, I would love to go down there and just see it and understand how things happened and what happened down there. I mean, I just think there's so much history there to be learned. I mean, I just think it'd be so cool to actually step foot on that property.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:24

Well, we also asked you both if you could invite anyone to dinner, dead or alive, who it would be. And you listed Wyatt Earp. Uh, that was your answer, Kale, and Ashley Schaefer was yours, Brittany. Uh, so tell us a little bit about how you think the conversation between the four of you would go and uh what you would talk about and why they were your your picks.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:44

So Ashley Schaefer is a horse trainer, a very well-known horse trainer in our industry. And she's one of those people, she's just seems super real, and she kind of goes with the flow and does her thing, and she kicks everybody's butts while she's doing it, but she seems like she's just got one of those really cool personalities. Like you can talk about anything under the sun with her. Like, she just seems like a really down-to-earth person. I've and I've talked to her a few different times, just in passing, at the barrel races and jackpots and stuff, and she's just a very genuine person. And I think all of us at the table would probably be a very interesting conversation. Uh, I feel like that would pull from a lot of different backgrounds, and I think it'd be really fun. I don't know. I don't know much about Wyatt Earth, I'm not familiar with stuff like that, so you'll have to tag in the world.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:38

Oh you know, just like said, uh old history guy, you know, did he kill who they said he killed, did he not? Was you know, just to understand how he became an outlaw to a lawman and stuff like that, and just the stories. That's I can sit at a table all day. I mean, like even with Richard that day, I could sit there all day and listen to someone talk. That's just how I am. And I And talk yourself. Yeah, I I I talk a little bit. But just to understand the lifestyle and to see the world through someone else's eyes, I think it'd be amazing to see what it would be like and feel like back then and understand the history better.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:23

Yeah, I think all of our backgrounds would it would make for a very interesting conversation on that table. What would you serve to eat? Steak. Or ribs.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:33

She likes my ribs.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:34

He makes great ribs.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:35

Um I'm a big I'm I don't eat vegetables, you know, named after one. I can't eat them. Definitely meat and potatoes, some beans.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:46

Yeah. Well, is there anything we haven't gone over today that you all would like our listeners to know, whether it be on the longhorn side or the horse side or your rebrand in general?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:57

Really, we have a lot more coming, and we're excited for when everything falls into place and we get to share it.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:03

My my advice to any of these smaller breeders or even bigger ones, do what you love and love what you do.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:09

And ask questions.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:10

Ask questions and don't be afraid to put your foot down and defend yourself if you need to. I mean, we're all in this industry and we're doing it because we love these longhorns. We're doing it because we love these horses, and that's the thing that everyone needs to realize. We're all with each other because we love what we're doing for the industries. And enjoy it, have fun, and smile.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:34

Are you all open for visitors?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:36

We are. Um, I'm home most every day. If she's not at Tibet, we're both home.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:42

So or if I'm not on the road. Yeah, I have to go a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:45

She's gone all summer, but I'm home. So yeah, if anyone would love to come down, we'd love to have you.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:51

Yeah, I think we get we don't have all the girls here yet, but come April or so.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:56

March or April. Yeah. They'll be here, and then a few others that we have up our sleeves, we'll get them later on in the year.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:05

Well, thank you both so much for joining us, and thank you, listeners, for joining us on From the Pasture with Hired Hand. We hope you enjoyed this visit to Broken Oak Ranch and learned something new about the world of longhorns, performance horses, and the families who are blending both into modern ranch life. If you liked today's episode, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. You can always explore more stories from the pasture by visiting our website or following us on social media. Until next time. Remember to appreciate the pastures you roam and the traditions that make them special.