Episode 41 - Remembering Dennis Parrett and Country Artists Speaking Out about Farm Preservation

Thanks to this week's episode sponsor Masterson Farms!

Thanks also to our studio sponsor Biotech Innovations.  Learn more about them at www.biotechinnovationsag.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:07

Welcome to Dirt the Dollars, where we cover everything from the dirt on your land to the dollars in your hand.

SPEAKER_05 0:14

We're talking all things agriculture simply quick, from the field to the farm office.

SPEAKER_04 0:19

Join your hosts, Daniel Carpenter, Matt Adams, and Mark Thomas as we dig into current ag news, practices, and more. And now, coming to you from the biotech innovation studios, here's Dirt to Dollars. Now let's get innovative. Welcome back to Dirt to Dollars. I'm your host, Matt Adams, here with the rest of the Dirt to Dollars crew. Say hello, Daniel. Hello, Daniel. And say hello, Mark. Hello, Mark. We're all back this week. Have you been listening to another podcast? It sounded a little familiar to me. It sounded familiar to me. Yeah. A little bit of a somber start today. Uh if you're here in the center, really anywhere in the Kentucky agricultural area, uh, you know that we've experienced the loss of uh Senator Dennis Parrott, uh, former state senator, ag retailer, ag businessman, farmer, uh former extension agent. Yeah. Uh we're gonna start out the show here in a minute and spend just a little bit of time remembering him. But uh Mark, before we get into that, who's your sponsor this week?

SPEAKER_05 1:24

Uh Masterson Farms LLC. Arlo over there. He uh sent us a little money again to be a sponsor of the show.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

I hope they're not dipping into his college fund or something. They probably are. It's money well spent, guys. Appreciate it, Arlo. Probably right. Yeah, thanks for the crew over at Masterson Farms. And if you need any straw, hit them up. They've been busy in the straw field this spring. Uh fun fact if you're buying straw at any tractor supply anywhere within our general listening area, then you are probably already buying Masterson Farms straw.

SPEAKER_05 2:01

So there's a very good chance of that.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

So yeah, if you just need a few bales and you got a tractor supply down the road, that's that'll be supporting them too. So go for it. But uh Yeah, like we said, Senator Dennis Parrott uh passed away this week, earlier this week, age of 66 from uh kind of a lengthy battle with younger onset uh Alzheimer's. And uh yeah, we just wanted to remember him a little bit. Mark, he's family to you, so if you want to go first with anything you've got to say.

SPEAKER_05 2:38

Gosh, where do you start? He uh you know, like he's my uncle uh married my dad's one of my dad's sisters, so um I I had the um benefit over the years of of you know getting to spend time at family functions with him as an uncle and and uh compete against him in in very competitive as I got older, compete against him in very competitive backyard volleyball games or softball games or football games or whatever. He he was uh very competitive and was gonna find a way to win. So you wanted to be on his team no matter what it took. So he never picked you. So he never picked me up, no. Um so but you but you wanted to you wanted to be on his team if you could, because he was gonna find a way to win. And and I kind of alluded to it on Facebook the other night when I uh uh posted up a little something, you know, like uh if anybody ever won it life, you know, he he won it live with a lot of great friends and uh built a built a business and and really a legacy. I mean, it's been uh it's been 11 years, believe it or not, since they sold Cecilia Farm Service and we're in the local community. Everybody still talks about you know Cecilia Farm Service. You know, that that store is still operating, but it's not operating as as Cecilia Farm Service anymore. So uh you know that's that's a pretty pretty good legacy that that he left behind, you know, as well as uh all his accomplishments in the in the Senate. And uh he was an extension agent for a few years before he before he got here to Harden County.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

He was an extension agent in Harden County.

SPEAKER_05 4:07

He was an extension agent in Harden County, yes, and in Nelson. Yes, that's right. So um you know at the it was it was in his obituary at the age of six days old. Uh they they put him in a shoebox, they said, and brought him from California back to Kentucky. So uh Miss Parrot doesn't uh uh Uncle Dennis's mom, she doesn't like that story when when people say that. But uh it was in a comment. And and mom and I were laughing, so you know it probably wasn't a shoebox, but I guarantee you in in 1959, I guess it would have been, I guarantee you it wasn't a car seat. So, you know, a lot of things happened over the years that that got him uh into agriculture. Uh one of those big things was uh Hesie Williams. Uh a lot of people remember Hesi Williams as the egg teacher down at West Arden. And uh you know, he was uh Uncle Dennis was set up to he was gonna go in the military when he high school and and you know Hesley tell him said no you're not, so you're you're gonna go to UK. And he got him set up with a job and and set up at uh UK and got a Aggie Con degree and I guess the rest is history from there. So, you know, uh I'll tie this back into to dirt to dollars. You know, if if uh Hesley Williams hadn't sent him to UK, you know, he might not have come back to UK to uh Harton County and and bought a farm store, then Daniel wouldn't have had a job in 2000 uh eight, I guess it was. Uh-huh. And uh he might not have never met uh Whitney.

SPEAKER_06 5:36

So are you gonna let me tell my stories or are you gonna just tell them all?

SPEAKER_05 5:41

Go ahead, Daniel. You can tell your stories now.

SPEAKER_06 5:43

Yeah, so uh yeah, my first my first boss after I got my college degree was was Dennis. And uh I remember having a conversation with Dana at a AGR basketball game, uh, because I was still hanging around campus working at the UK horticulture farm and and uh was talking to her and she's like, you know, you don't talk to my dad. I think he's hiring.

SPEAKER_04 6:01

And what she was really saying is quit being the creepy guy that's already graduated, still hanging around in school and go get a job somewhere.

SPEAKER_06 6:08

Yeah, she she pretty much said that without saying it. But I had a job. I had a job at UK, it's all right. But uh uh but yeah, so uh decided to to take him up on it. And um, you know, to be honest, at first I hated it. I thought about quitting, did not like it.

SPEAKER_05 6:23

Um But that wasn't because of Dennis, that was because you had to work beside with Greg, right?

SPEAKER_06 6:27

That was because of Greg, yeah. And but it was just a baptism by fire when you get in the when you start in a place that you've never really been in. Because I've I as my introduction to row crop farming really was was that job uh because I studied horticulture and worked on tobacco farms and and horticulture businesses all my life and hadn't really been in that world. But uh, you know, it it caught on quick and seeing how uh Dennis worked with farmers and listened to them and and gave them you know solid advice, uh just really took that in over the years. I worked there for six years. Um, but yeah, if it wasn't for uh Dennis taking a chance on me and hiring me there, I don't know. There's no telling where I would have ended up or what I would have been doing, but uh probably would not have been in Harden County. And man, you sometimes you think about some of those life decisions and and where you'd be now if that didn't happen. It kind of scares you because you know I've got a great family and great job and and everything's worked out, but I mean it all came from um you know toughing it out there and learning the ropes and finally getting a groove of it and and uh and just meeting great people. I mean, how many you know you judge somebody by the people they surround themselves with and and and I don't care to say it, I mean that store now is nothing like it was back then, and it's because of you know Dennis and the people that he surrounded himself with and the people that wanted to be around him. Uh, you know, you can tell a lot about somebody by uh the people that gravitate around them and and how much you know they think of them. And man, that's that's just a I I couldn't think of a better place to get going and just make so many good friends and people that uh um that I'll know the rest of my life now because of that, because of that store counter, you know, farm store job that That's how you met me. Yeah, probably. You know, but there's some things I could have done without, but you know, but anyway, but that's I knew that's what you were getting at.

SPEAKER_05 8:19

And in case you didn't see it, Daniel was actually featured in his Senate campaign commercial from back in 2011 when we ran. He actually, I think he had some hair.

SPEAKER_06 8:32

Well, but I think he had some hair under there. And I had my really long sideburns going down, and and uh I told my kids ought to bring that back. And my daughter looked at me and was like, no, you don't have enough hair on your head to do that, Daddy. Okay. But um but no, learn, I mean, just from all the things that Dennis got involved in outside of his job, um, you know, he just really took community seriously. And I think that's something that I've always tried to uh I mean I I didn't do a good job of it as he did, but try to be involved in different groups and boards and uh be involved in the Farm Bureau and uh speak up about things and don't be shy to say, you know, what you think? And he was uh just a good role model for that and was a good first boss for me to have out out of college. Um just extremely thankful for that. And um, yeah, couldn't have I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for that job, as weird as that sounds, that I didn't like at first, but um it's probably one of the best learning opportunities I've ever had.

SPEAKER_04 9:29

So that's I was thinking about that the other day. Is there a committee or a board in this state that he hadn't been on at some point in time? And it seemed like he was involved in everything, even before getting the Senate seat.

SPEAKER_06 9:42

Yep. Well, and and even like uh UK agriculture alumni, he was very involved with that. And even just on the local level to to go to some of those meetings now, they're not the same. It's just not like you just when those people who really cared and and uh kind of aged out of that a little bit and are not as involved anymore, and it's just uh it's not the same as it used to be with with their leadership.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

Well, and one of the biggest things that I know stood out to a lot of us when he was uh in the Senate, of course, we were all excited to have a uh to have a farmer, an ag representative uh in the state legislature, and he did represent agriculture well, but probably one of the biggest, most important things is how many people across the state probably didn't know what party he was affiliated with. Uh it just really didn't matter when it and I made the comment on something this week that you know when it came to Dennis Perry, they mentioned something about reaching across the aisle. Really when it came to Dennis Perrot, it that there was no aisle. I mean, we were all on the same side. Uh, and he was really good at working with working bipartisanly and uh working with both sides and had support from both sides. Uh had people that helped him get elected that weren't the same party as him. I thought about that the other day, about how many people in our community supported him, even though they weren't uh in the same party, and that's something that seems to be kind of lost today with both sides. You don't really we don't really have that in state and especially in national politics anymore.

SPEAKER_05 11:18

So that was one thing he said when he uh got the first got that job in 2011. You know, he would he would come home and he would just say, you know, I'm so glad Frankfurt is is not like Washington. I'm so glad that we can work together, you know, bipartisanly uh get things done. And and towards the end, that that had changed some. And that was probably his his least favorite part, you know, towards the end is that it was it was becoming more political and wasn't as easy to to get things done. But um, you know, wonderful job up there and great to work with.

SPEAKER_04 11:49

Yeah. So I've thought back on a lot of memories the last several years and I or last few days, and I've uh really known Dennis most of my life growing up in 4 H and stuff. You know, his the girls were all uh right around my same age. And then, you know, Mark being kind of uh hanging around the Thomas family a lot in high school and college years, got to go to some NASCAR races at Kentucky Speedway with them and do some family stuff as well as as uh showing and stuff in the community as when we were younger. And uh one thing that will always I can remember it like it was yesterday will always stand out to me. We all there was a group of us went to, I guess would it have been Payoli Peaks?

SPEAKER_05 12:30

We went somewhere skiing and we would have had to have been it's probably Payoli Peaks, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:36

And uh I can't remember. I must have stayed at your house the night before or something, because I remember we left early, we all met at Dennis and Lisa's house and left from there. And uh we showed up, and I don't remember if I was on the only one, or there were may have been a couple of us that if you were under 18, you're supposed to have a permission slip signed. And Dennis was going around checking all the boxes, making sure everybody had their signed permission slips from their or their sign, I guess it wasn't a permission slip, but a a liability form.

SPEAKER_05 13:04

Yeah, liability form, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:05

Yeah, yeah. And uh found out that I didn't have my liability form signed. I didn't think anything about it, didn't think anything about needing it. It's like five o'clock in the morning or something stupid early. And uh he's just like, well, I don't know, I don't know. You he you're just not gonna be able to go, you don't have that form. And and I think finally Lisa or somebody kind of piped up, so let's, you know, you know him, you know his parents, it's probably not that big a deal. You can just go on and sign it for them and go, Oh, well, I'm not gonna do that. I'm not without speaking to them. I'm not, I'm not gonna do that. I thought, oh gosh, here I'm I'm gonna have to go home and we'll get left left behind on the ski trip. And uh, and you know, I thought it was kind of ridiculous at the time, but looking back at it now, if some 15 or 16 year old came in and said they forgot to get this form signed, but their parents said it was okay, I probably wouldn't believe them either. But uh so finally he thought about it and he said, I'll tell you what, he said, I'm not gonna call them, but he said, You're gonna call them and wake them up at five o'clock in the morning or whatever it is, and explain to them what the situation is, and then you can put me on the phone with them and they can tell me if it's okay for me to sign this form or not. So that's what we did, and everything was fine, and he was fine with it on that. But he he uh he sure wasn't gonna bend any rules there.

SPEAKER_05 14:19

Now that you mentioned that, I I don't remember that exactly happening, but um we would always go for Devin's birthday, her birthday's in February, and it seems like we would we would always go um church youth group would would go around that time and and we'd go for Devin's birthday. So that's that's probably what that was.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

But yeah, yeah, and then Daniel, he probably did the same thing to you after you started an extension. I don't know how many times I was asked, uh, because you know, Dennis, what did Dennis work six or eight years probably in extension? Rob or something like that. But was well liked and well respected when he was a extension agent. And I don't know how many times I was in the store after I got that job that he would lean against lean across the counter. He'd say, Okay, you know, uh most important part, have you have you figured out the uh the turf grass management and the water quality trips? I'd look at him like, what are you talking about the first couple times? And finally he explained it to me one day. Back in the day, back in the good old days of Extension, things were a whole lot more lax than they were kind of still halfway like this when I started, Daniel. They were probably we were done past that by the time you worked in Extension. But uh so there'd be a group of ag agents would get together and they'd have turf grass management training days, and that means they were going off in for the day.

SPEAKER_05 15:38

And I think water was the water quality was ag water quality was fishing trips. Oh, I thought that was that was some of their they consumed uh something near water to while they were on these trips.

SPEAKER_04 15:50

That was that was fishing trips, was ag water quality. And I think they'd invite like their area direct directors and their bosses with them on these trips, and it all got coded like that because in an extension you have to account for all your time there, but uh, and nobody really cared because as long as you were getting the job done and everybody in the county was happy, they were they were happy with you taking some turf grass management training and some ag water quality.

SPEAKER_05 16:15

I'm gonna have to start asking questions because I think dad goes to a state ag water quality meeting at least once a month. So they're probably just fishing something. It might just be fishing. If it's Kentucky Lake or something like that. Put life 360 on his phone or something.

SPEAKER_04 16:33

But yeah, so he'll definitely be missed. Uh if you haven't looked that obituary up and you knew, Dennis, go back and look it up because it's probably one of the best written obituaries I've ever read. Uh if I go before you guys do, y'all make sure something like that gets written about me, all right.

SPEAKER_05 16:53

Something will get written.

SPEAKER_04 16:54

Oh, yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. Probably the most relatable point in there was uh the part about him making sure that the girls weren't lying about walking their goat their show goats every day.

SPEAKER_05 17:06

Um you're living that right now, aren't you?

SPEAKER_04 17:09

Never thought I'd say that, but I'm living that right now.

SPEAKER_05 17:11

So yeah, Dana wrote that obituary and and she she nailed it. Um as she's of of those three girls, she's the most like Dennis. So that's you know, prayers with uh with their family and and and friends over the next few days. And this is uh uh this will come out on Saturday, but uh if you hadn't if you hear this on the radio or whatever, the visitation will be from 12 to 6 on Saturday, um Sunday 1 to 6, uh all at Brown Funeral Home in Etown, and then the funeral um visitation starting at 9 on Monday and then funeral at 11 o'clock at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Rightneyville.

SPEAKER_04 17:57

So that'd be June uh thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, correct?

SPEAKER_05 18:00

That would be correct, yes.

SPEAKER_04 18:04

Yeah, our uh thoughts and prayers are definitely with them, and we just wanted to take a little time this week and and remember somebody because he definitely had an impact on all three of our lives.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

Uh had a little rain this week. A little rain?

SPEAKER_05 18:25

I had I had a lot of rain at my house. I think see not did y'all see that out of Lanesville and Cordon.

SPEAKER_04 18:35

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Southern Indiana looks like they got hammered. Uh flooded.

SPEAKER_05 18:40

When that happens and everything. Uh that would have been Monday morning, right? Monday when that was happening, uh, there was a a storm coming across there that was projected to drop eight inches of rain an hour.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

I saw that.

SPEAKER_05 18:55

And I mean that is that is wild. That's insane. That's that's fast. We had here by the time we got up, I guess Monday morning, we had had Tuesday morning, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_04 19:08

Tuesday morning.

SPEAKER_05 19:08

Maybe it was Tuesday morning.

SPEAKER_04 19:10

I think they had some rain Monday as well. Early Monday morning before we got anything, so everything was already saturated up there was part of the problem.

SPEAKER_05 19:19

And then we had like two and a half inches, and then by 9 45 or 10 o'clock, we had had another over an inch. Had another big flush of rain that afternoon. The the creek came up and down twice, maybe three times. Uh got out of its banks a little bit Tuesday afternoon. So Nolan Lake ought to be full, and all the boaters and fishermen ought to be happy.

SPEAKER_04 19:47

I guess, but you know, down here it I think we had about two and a quarter total and a big hunk of that was Tuesday morning, but really we didn't have water ponding in the places that water typically ponds, and then uh I had to go to town Tuesday and driving around you could see where the ditches had had ran full and the you know, the grass had mud marks or whatever you call it on it, where they had had been running full and stuff. I don't I think you all must have got a harder, more intense rain up there than we got here, more of it kind of soaked in. But really what fell Monday was about the most perfect falling rain you could ever saw.

SPEAKER_05 20:27

We worked outside all day and nearly all day in it Monday, and it just really barely got wet. You know, it was just a good, good falling rain.

SPEAKER_06 20:37

But I know Tuesday, I think it was Tuesday whenever uh just going through Cecilia, the water was way out.

SPEAKER_05 20:42

And I think we had more like three and a half, four and a half inches on this part of the Wednesday, it won't be out yet, but what's your uh drought monitor prediction for Thursday? I think we'll back up and we'll think we'll back up another level. So I think we'll still be a D bast like that level, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 21:02

So Yeah, you've kind of a D zero because we're in a D route. We stepped down to a D1.

SPEAKER_05 21:12

Yeah, yeah. Parts D2, part will be D1. So interesting to see.

SPEAKER_04 21:19

Yeah, well, and you've got to remember with that drought monitor deal too, we were getting pretty dry before this rain. I mean it was getting dry over the weekend. It was uh it was grass was crunching. You can see in the pasture fields where you get where the soil gets a little thin, it was starting to start to brown up a little bit in some spots.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

Yeah. So you gotta take that into account.

SPEAKER_04 21:46

And you know, just because we're getting regular rainfall doesn't mean that we're getting enough rainfall to catch up. Now some of these rainfall amounts this week should be getting us a little more caught up, but it has to be above and beyond what's normal to get you out of drought status.

SPEAKER_05 22:00

So well, and where crops are now, corn and soybeans for sure, they're they're in a point, some of them where they're soaking up a lot of water. They're consuming a lot of water and need to consume a lot of water in a week.

SPEAKER_04 22:11

So I've got got some corn that it had nitrogen on it about two weeks, and it was just really starting to get to it. And I swear Monday it grew a foot.

SPEAKER_05 22:20

Guarantee it. Yeah, you just watch it.

SPEAKER_06 22:22

You just hold your ear up and just listen to it grow.

SPEAKER_04 22:24

And it was it was planted in rye cover crops, so you know it always looks like crap for the first month anyway, until it kind of outgrows some of that straw, and it finally got up above that straw, and it just it's just beautiful. Just beautiful. I had had sprayed a bunch of beans with with Anthem Max last week when it was hot and they were all burnt and looking puny and the rain was able to perk those back up, so that always always makes you feel better about yourself too.

SPEAKER_05 22:53

If you listen to this and you and you spray your beans with Anthemax, don't be like Matt. Don't drive by them for a few days. Well, I it's literally on the main road across from the green beans.

SPEAKER_04 23:04

Like I have to I drive by them. Just don't look over at them when you drive by. Like I sprayed them or Monday after, sprayed one farm Monday afternoon and drove by it Sunday morning on the way to church, and it just it really hurts your feelings.

SPEAKER_05 23:15

I sprayed some one time with Liberty and Anthemax together on a really hot day. And I made one round around the field and I ran out and I went back. And before I got back, you could see those beans. Just you could tell that they didn't like it. Yeah, he had a good hot mix.

SPEAKER_04 23:39

So yeah. We won't mention any names though.

SPEAKER_05 23:49

Yeah. We all know.

unknown 23:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

We see you.

SPEAKER_05 23:54

You know, you know.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

Yeah. So last week uh New World Screwworm had just been confirmed when we aired. Probably the most entertaining thing over the last week, and it's really just started showing up the last couple days, are these mainstream media headlines. Have y'all caught any of those? Most of them are something along the lines of flesh-eating fly or flesh-eating larva. I was like, man, yeah, just use the absolute worst.

SPEAKER_05 24:26

Oh, here's one. Flesh-eating New World screw worm can infect humans and pets. Here are the symptoms to look for.

SPEAKER_04 24:33

Can it really affect the other thing? Are there automatic cases of it?

SPEAKER_05 24:36

I I don't know. Um But we we actually had a vet here tonight and we were talking about it um with a with a bull of calf. But anyway, um he said most in most cases you don't worry as much about uh the the larvae and and stuff on the animals because they eat dead flesh and dead uh skin. These can actually these will actually eat live flesh and skin and can eat bone. So that's where it becomes such a problem.

SPEAKER_04 25:12

Typically it's uh from what I've heard, it's an open wound type deal, right? Correct. And that's where it gets on the calves first calf. In that navel area. Something else, I'd saw a map, I think, today, that showed like progression and probable spread and things like that. And we were right on the northern edge of where they thought they could possibly get, but there were a lot of varying factors like climate and and weather and things like that, and said that if we did get them, it would be a seasonal thing. So I guess these things must not overwinter in very cold temperatures.

SPEAKER_05 25:51

Probably not.

SPEAKER_04 25:52

Uh, because it acted like it would just be in the warmer months and then they die out as soon as the first frost. Which you think about it like a fly, they're they're doing the same thing, a horn fly or whatever is doing the same thing. So uh gives a little bit of hope here, but uh and it also some of the things I read today uh talked like these things we're not gonna get these things pushed out of here overnight. Uh I think they said from the time from the time eradication started when we eradicated them the first time to the time we finally had them pushed south of the border was 15 years.

unknown 26:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 26:35

Oh no. Yeah. Which yeah, we've got a yeah, we have a lot better monitoring and a lot better technology now, I would think, but I think all indications are they're probably going to be in the country for a few years anyway to deal with. It's not like something we're gonna get pushed out in a month.

SPEAKER_06 26:51

Well, and it's also something that I've noticed just I I like to I like looking at Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it and trying to keep up with news on there. And um, I like to look at Reddit a lot to get some news and see what people are saying about things. It's really hard. To get your news from Reddit. Yeah, well, I mean just like to see what people are gonna news and just what what people are saying and doing, because I th I feel like it's pretty real there. But it's um it's really hard to understand what's really going on because there's a bunch of bots and um uh you know people posting things to get people riled up and misinformed and uh it's it's just it's insane. And even those, you know, yeah, you're talking about those words that they're using to make posts that are misleading, and even though they're somewhat accurate, but it's not it's not gonna happen really. And uh it just it's gonna be tough to really know what's going on. I thought what did I see the um so there was conf I think there was confirmations there was a dog that had some I saw the goat, screw worm and maybe a dog and a goat in Texas and a dog from neighboring county, Lee County, New Mexico.

SPEAKER_05 28:04

But what's interesting about that is the the dog has not traveled to Mexico or Texas. So authorities are investigating around the property where the pet lived. Uh maybe that some flies hadn't had Charlie traveled that far.

SPEAKER_04 28:17

So I thought you were going to tell a bad joke for a minute and three three calves three calves, a goat, and a dog walk into a bar. Yeah, just something we'll have to watch going forward. But uh I don't know. One positive out of it, we all expected the cattle market to crash. I know we talked about that last week, and by the time this went on the radio Saturday, it proved us to be a fool, but uh it really did not. Actually, the market rallied, which is if you really think about it, what it should have done, because there is no situation in the world that New World a problem like New World Screwworm is going to create more cattle. And supply is is what has sustained this rally and uh why beef prices and stuff have been so high and why cattle prices have stayed so high.

SPEAKER_06 29:14

So so yeah, that was I know in the back of my conspiracy Mary con conspiracy theory mind that I have, you know, I thought, well, maybe maybe this new world screw worm isn't all that bad. Maybe you know, we don't know the what's real and what's not. Maybe the government was trying to do something to bring the prices down, but yeah, that if it if they were doing it for that reason, it worked back.

SPEAKER_04 29:36

That's right. Changing gears just a little bit here. Uh CMA fest was this week. I know you all probably really followed that. Uh but one thing that has come out of it is Mark, you you look are you a big Hardy fan? Do you listen to Hardy?

SPEAKER_05 29:56

I like uh that last song that he's a part of.

SPEAKER_04 29:59

Okay. Yeah, I think I think that's probably most of us. We probably weren't the biggest fans in the world. What? What? What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_06 30:07

You don't like Hardy? It seems like he'd be your all's jam. Oh. Like in the what's he? He's like the he's big on the uh pickup trucks, right? Is it truck med?

SPEAKER_04 30:19

Is it but it seems like he's kind of changed in the last few months. The the bury me and bottom land song, that's a good one. And it came out with the song MacArthur a a few weeks ago, or a few months ago probably now, uh about a family farm legacy uh and how it goes through some generations. Well, he had a uh I think a pop-up event as part of the CMA fest this last week and launched his lifestyle brand, MacArthur Legacy, uh, selling exclusive hats. Uh and says the brand is a movement dedicated to land preservation and supporting farmers across the United States, a cause close to Hardy's heart. Uh says MacArthur Legacy is positioned as a response to end quote concrete creeping out into the country, opposing the loss of farmland and urban to urban sprawl and data centers. A portion of the proceeds from the brand will go directly to organizations protecting land and farming communities nationwide. So I think I sent you all the uh there was a reel or something that was basically his speech launching this brand, and he was he was pretty passionate about it, and it was kind of cool because I think one of the things he said was if you're gonna wear this brand and you're gonna uh support this MacArthur brand, don't do it lightly. Like be serious about farmland preservation and be serious about land preservation. If you're gonna wear it, if you're if you're not into that, then don't go buy it, was pretty much what he was saying. Uh which is kind of cool to hear somebody of that.

SPEAKER_05 32:10

And and one thing he mentioned in that that he now owns a hunting farm that was purchased by his grandfather. Yeah, or purchased by his family over a hundred years ago. Now he's a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 32:28

And I think in as part of that, he said that he's had the opportunity to maybe buy some property around it as well and add to it instead of and grow that piece of property instead of uh shrinking it or or uh dividing it up. But uh been something kind of on my mind to bring up and talk about for several several months, really. Uh you think about it in popular country. We've had this song come out. Uh, what's the Cody Johnson song, Buy Dirt, or not Buy Dirt? Uh yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_05 32:59

It's Buy Dirt.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

Is it Buy Dirt? Yeah No, Buy Dirt is someday else.

SPEAKER_05 33:03

Oh. There's a song called Buy Dirty.

SPEAKER_04 33:05

There's a song called Buy Dirt. And then uh What is Buy Dirt to Dollars. Yeah, you can do that too if you if you'd like to sponsor. Yeah. You can you can buy dirt to dollars. Dirt cheap is Cody Johnson's song. Uh, but they're all about, you know, not selling the family farm and preserving a legacy. And those songs have become really popular, and it's kind of ironic because that's not the popular thing to do today. I mean, how many farms do we can sit continue to see get split up and sold? And uh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 33:40

But I'll counter you a little bit. I do think I think it's getting kind of popular because we've talked about this on the show on how unifying all this is about anti data centers, right? Like everybody's like, no, we don't want those. We don't want them in our backyard, we don't want them taken up and even people that I wouldn't think say it, they'll say we don't want them taking up a farmland. Um, and and and it's been something that has kind of brought people together. And while I like Hardy, uh actually I like his new songs, I didn't hate his old songs. It's they're not my cup of tea, but like I'll listen to them, it's fine. But it's it's I kind of wonder like he wrote those songs before to appeal to popular culture time and I wonder he's trying to appeal to something that's popular now and and cater to that a little bit. But um, I think it's hard set. I mean, and you can I think you could tell that video you shared, you could tell some of the things he said I agree with, and and I and it kind of got he got me, but um I don't know. I I just I d I have a hard time trusting some of those people in those positions because they're really just that's how they make their living is doing things that are popular.

SPEAKER_04 34:43

But do you want to know my theory on why songs like that are popular and why that's kind of against the norm of what we see out here in the general public? I think a lot of it's generational. And I think a lot of the generations so and Mark and I see this every day with renting farm ground and and when ground moves from one generation to the next. The people are grandparents' age, or maybe even you know, most of our landlords are elderly, have some age to them. Uh and you know, with Mark and I with our age, they wouldn't necessarily be our grandparents' age, but maybe ten years behind that. But that's kind of that same generation there. They knew it was important even if they weren't gonna farm or do anything with that ground to hold on to it and to pass it on to the next generation. And I'm not sure what it is, but it's like the generation that's probably our parents' age seems to be the ones that are easily persuaded to to sell when uh when it gets passed along to them, and it's like they don't see that importance as much to sit to pass that down to their children, and it all it takes is one guy stopping by with a uh dollar amount that he thinks he can get for a farm, and all of a sudden it's split up into 15 tracks and it's gone, or gone as a whole anyway. Oh and yeah, it's gone, and then if it went to a farmer, they had to pay money for a school never, other than I mean, it'll take a lifetime to pay for and take several other rented farms or already paid for farms, the production off of them to make that payment. But I think part of my theory on that is you know, our parents' age, if they grew up on a farm, things were a whole lot more labor intensive, the economic situation wasn't near as good. You know, they were coming through the 70s and the 80s, and they probably don't have the best memories of that ground. And then people our age either didn't get to experience it at all because mom and dad didn't want anything to do with the farm, they didn't send you to grandparents to see how stuff went, they wanted to keep you away from it or discourage you from being a part of it. And now the generation our age and maybe a little younger are wondering what they've missed out on and and really want a piece of it and and probably understand that legacy a little bit more. Probably not a real popular take there. We may get some hate mail over that one, but send it.

SPEAKER_06 37:27

What's that email address, Daniel? Send us and and and uh send it to our our Facebook or whatever and yeah, we'll read it on the air. Dirt Dirt2, the number two dollars at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_04 37:39

I think that's it. I think, yeah. And then uh staying on the country music theme here. We had some news come out of Washington this week. So uh just announced here on the 10th of June, Secretary Rollins welcomes President Trump's appointment of John Rich as special envoy for American landowners. So this is all kind of along the same lines, really. Uh as special envoy, Rich will serve as a leading advocate for America's farmers, ranchers, and private landowners, helping ensure their concerns are heard and their rights are protected. He will engage directly with landowners across the country and work to address challenges posed by government overreach, activist pressure campaigns, and outside interests that threaten private property rights and the long-term viability of rural communities. A key focus of Rich's work will be advocating for landowners facing pressure related to large-scale solar and wind development that may impact productive farmland, ranchland, and rural livelihoods. It will also work closely with USDA leadership and stakeholders to ensure landowners have a strong voice in decisions affecting their property and communities. And if you don't know who John Rich is the band Big and Rich, uh I it's also uh I think they missed the quote in here, but I I heard he may be re-releasing the hit uh under the name of Save a Ranch, Ride a Cowboy.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

Hmm.

SPEAKER_06 39:14

It might cost you a ranch. But if uh but how how's he gonna how's he if he goes into a uh like how's he gonna advocate for agriculture? You think he's gonna walk into the room passing out hundred dollar bills?

SPEAKER_04 39:26

It'll chill and it'll thrill like the horns on a Silverado grill.

SPEAKER_05 39:34

Let's not get caught up in the moment, guys. But he could be coming to your city to talk to you.

SPEAKER_04 39:40

Or roll community.

SPEAKER_05 39:41

Or roll community. That's a good point. He was what? He was in the band Lone Star. He was the not yes, he was. He was not he would look it up. He was the fifth member in Lone Star, and when he left, they never replaced him, which made him a four-person uh band or whatever. I promise you.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

I think I think that's something some AI TikTok account made of that you saw.

SPEAKER_05 40:08

If it was, it was pretty darn real because it looked like John Rich sitting there telling the story.

SPEAKER_04 40:13

John Rich sets record straight on why Lone Star made the right decision decision to fire him. So apparently he got kicked out. Well, but I was like, it was one of them deals where he's like, you know, they're like, You're fired.

SPEAKER_06 40:25

He's like, You can't fire me, I quit.

SPEAKER_04 40:28

That's probably a good point. Before we wrap up here, we're gonna have a little fun. I've got some I haven't given you all a heads up on this at all. So we mentioned the hit song from Big and Rich, Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy. That was really popular when me and Mark were in high school. Daniel, you were probably like about to graduate college or something by then.

SPEAKER_06 40:48

I was in college. I didn't I didn't graduate on time, so I may have been still in there a little bit longer.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

What's uh top three songs from your high school days? Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_06 41:05

From high school, so high school you can go into college. You can go to the college. Kenny Chesney, um Young. Yeah. That was big when I was in high school. That was that was played a lot.

SPEAKER_05 41:18

Montgomery Gentry, Mike.

SPEAKER_06 41:19

Montgomery Gentry, yeah. Yeah. Just about any Montgomery Gentry song. Craig Morgan International Harvester.

SPEAKER_05 41:25

That was a good one.

SPEAKER_04 41:27

Um Big and Rich, Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy's gotta be in there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:31

It has to be. So we were at FFA Convention one time, Matt. You might remember this. We were at State FFA Convention, which was June. So that song must have come out um around this time of year, maybe a little earlier. But they played Save a Horse Rider Cowboy on CMT back when they actually played music videos nearly 24-7.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:51

I bet they played that video eight to ten times in a 24-hour period. That's that's just how popular it was.

SPEAKER_06 42:02

I think um another one when I was in college was uh they played it at some of the well, I might have gone to some bars from time to time, but anyway, uh not until your lighter ears though. Yeah, it's like you know, over 21. Yeah, that but um uh almost home. Yeah. That was like one that they played all the time, and it was I don't know, just I have fun memories of of that song, even though it's not a fun song.

SPEAKER_03 42:25

But Blake Shelton, old red.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 42:31

Yeah, and then I guess that was kind of on the back end when I was in high school, like Tim McGraw's some of his good stuff was you know, barbecue stain on a white t-shirt. I was in high school when that one was like, I wasn't at like six on that song.

SPEAKER_05 42:44

Mud on the tires, Brad Paisley. Brad Paisley was really getting big. Actually, my freshman year at FFA convention was Brad Paisley was the headline concert. So and that the fishing song was big then. That was one of his first big hits.

SPEAKER_04 42:57

Toby Keith was pretty big during that time. That was like along the top the lines of the what was it, Toby Keith and was it Scotty Emmerich was the songwriter that they like putting an album out. And there's a bunch of bunch of songs on it. That's what the Taliban song and some of that stuff is on. Yep. Uh but like a bunch of songs that never got released that are a whole lot of.

SPEAKER_06 43:17

It was kind of a wasn't really a great time for country music songs when we like when you know that early 2000s. It just wasn't a lot. Like, I mean, I just I just remember listening to 90s country would have been about the same time as the Dixie Chicks George Bush feud.

unknown 43:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 43:35

Goodbye, Earl. Yeah. Yeah. But the uh um, and then you had like Rascal Flats was probably coming on strong around that time. And uh just wasn't a lot. I don't know, just to me just wasn't like a a great time in country music.

SPEAKER_04 43:50

But yeah. But anyway, there's uh there's our thoughts, there's our top ones. If you're listening out there, drop us a comment or send us a message, or if you've got our number, shoot us a text. Let us know what your yours are, and we'll uh read those on there next week. If you're looking. So Mark, who's our sponsor again this week? We want to thank them.

SPEAKER_05 44:13

Arlo over at Masterson Farm. Check them out for all your straw needs, either at the farm or at the TSC.

SPEAKER_02 44:22

Thank you to the Masterons, and thank you for all of you listening. We'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_05 44:28

See you next week.