The Country 13/03/26: PJ Budler talks to Jamie Mackay

We catch up with a Texas-based South African livestock judge.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm at like the country from the one a CACHEW

(00:02):
day one of two beautiful day.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Huge crowds here, you can't believe it.

Speaker 1 (00:05):
A few weeks ago, I got an email from a
bloke saying, I hear you're at the Wana CACHEW.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
You need to talk to this man. His name is PJ. Butler.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
He's a South African livestock judge of world renowned and
he's based in Texas. We've met for thirty seconds literally
before we conduct this shown. Tell me about yourself and
why you're such a big deal in the livestock judging Tomie.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
That's a very difficult introduction, but I don't think of
a big deal. I'm cheap and available. I really enjoy
evaluating livestock and I love doing it all over the world,
and it complements my real business, which is working for
a biotechnology company. We dock livestock embryos and cloning and

(00:50):
gene editing, stuff like that, and then I consult on
cattle operations worldwide and get pulled into a lot of
speaking of tunities at conferences.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
So that's what keeps you well.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
I know you're here today and your capacity is a
large stock judge have you had a look around the
cattle here.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
No, just from a distance. I like seeing them, you know,
for the first time when the judging actually starts, and
I'm looking forward to that. There's a good entry, a
lot of different breeds represented, and from what I saw
from a distance, the quality is bang on target.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Why the move to Texas.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
So I was seventh generation on a farm in South
Africa beef, cattle, wool sheep, and I loved it. I
really loved the production.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
We had big bull sales.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
And then I got this bug for international business after
I started consulting in different countries and bringing genetics in
from different countries, and I thought, maybe there's a place
in the market to do a global livestock initiative where
try and create a bit more awareness and do some
product that bring some goodwill between those producers and then

(02:03):
launch that into trade. And that project is running and
it's keeping me busy, and I need it to be
in Texas to do it. Just from a logistics standpoint,
South Africa's far away from everything, and also there's a big,
busy airport in Dallas that I fly in and out of,
and there's a lot of activity in Texas itself, so

(02:25):
it's kept me busy.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
I've been lucky enough to visit your country on a
rugby tour and.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
You have the prize.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yes, barbecues you do great, you do great barbecue.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Meat.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Took another tour in a past life to South America.
They do meat really well. But the best steak I've
ever had in my life was just outside of Dallas,
between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas Steakhouse.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
So where are the best steaks in the world.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
So that's a controversial question, but I agree with you
on that. I think that generally America does food really badly,
but they really really good at doing steak. And yeah,
I think there's a good North American Rabbi or the
New York Strip. I think that's about as good as
I've had.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Because over there they the steak that I had anyhow,
was like two inches that. Yes, so they si either
side and then they whack it in an oven for
eight or nine minutes or whatever and just new cut
and it's just to die for.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Yeah, And I think also there they've really got the
management down in terms of how long they feed them
for like entry point, exit point, their cuts have really
they've really got that refined and to an art, and
their genetics have become quite uniform, so that part of
the cuisine in the years is good. The rest of

(03:46):
it is pretty suspect.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Ye, fair enough. They have the deep fried onion rings
to go with it. That's why Americans are if you're
a beef farmer listening to this, where on getting record
returns at the moment? How long will this sweet spot last?
Four because you've got to rebuild the herd, especially in
the US.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
So the interesting part about this is it is record highs,
and it's literally record highs. As long as they've been
cattle in the US, they've never sold for as much
as they sell for now, and it's becoming a global trend.
Pretty much all around the world. They're getting good spikes
in their prices. It's going to last for at least
another three years because even if it starts raining now

(04:27):
in the West, they're going to have to start retaining
hafers are not sending them to the feed yards, which
means that the inventry will be low for another couple
of years. And there's a problem with New World screwworm
in Latin America, so those borders are closed so that's
two million cattle not getting into the feedlots.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
PJ Butler, a very late notice. Great to catch up
with you today on the country Enjoy. You're judging gig
hair at the Wanaka amp Show.