September 16, 2025 • 25 mins
Joel Van Dam, a third-generation dairy farmer from Route 77 Dairy, takes us behind the scenes of modern dairy production and its surprising connection to the beef industry. With 4,200 dairy cows and a newly acquired ranch, Joel bridges two agricultural worlds with innovative thinking and deep family roots.
The conversation explores "beef on dairy" genetics – an increasingly common practice where dairy cows are bred with specialized beef bulls to produce calves with better beef characteristics. For eight years, Joel has refined this approach using TD Beef (Angus) genetics, creating animals that satisfy both dairy efficiency and beef quality demands. These crossbred calves represent a solution to one of dairy's longstanding challenges: finding valuable markets for male calves born to dairy cows.
Technology plays a starring role in Joel's operation. Each cow wears an ear tag that monitors body temperature, rumination (digestive activity), and behavior patterns – allowing for precise, individualized care. This technological edge helps overcome the nationwide shortage of large animal veterinarians while maintaining exceptional animal welfare standards.
Joel dispels common misconceptions about dairy production, explaining the rigorous testing that ensures milk contains no antibiotics or inappropriate hormones. Every load undergoes testing before leaving the farm, maintaining the highest food safety standards. Similarly, the milking facilities maintain cleanliness levels that surprise most visitors – often "cleaner than most people's houses."
Despite challenges like finding qualified workers and managing weather extremes, Joel remains passionate about agriculture. His "fail forward" philosophy embraces innovation and learning from mistakes. With eleven new countries seeking American milk and growing opportunities for beef-dairy crossbreeds, the future looks promising for producers willing to adapt.
Whether you're curious about where your food comes from or considering a career in agriculture, this episode offers valuable insights into an industry that continues to evolve while maintaining its family-centered roots. Subscribe now to hear more stories from the people who produce the food on your table!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome back to another episode of Behind the
Burger, our podcast produced bythe New Mexico Beef Council.
I'm Caroline Romo and I'm herewith Joel Van Dam.
Joel, will you introduceyourself and maybe your
background and then kind of whatyou do now?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, I'm Joel Van Dam, a third-generation dairy
farmer originally fromCalifornia but relocated to New
Mexico in 2002.
Dad, brothers, whole familymilk cows.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
And you have Route 77 dairy.
Is that you yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Okay, my mom are up 77.
We're milking about 4,200 cowsthere.
We keep all our young stockcalves, beef on dairy calves,
pretty well everything stays atthe farm.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Okay, where does that name come from?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
So the highway is 77.
It is okay, it's located on 77.
Okay, perfect, All right, Ifigured that much.
We were kind of out of names sowe figured that was easy enough
.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
That's a great name.
And then now you guys, youbought a ranch too, right?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
So you guys are.
You bought a ranch too, right,Correct.
So you guys are.
Are dairymen turned ranchers?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
In a roundabout way.
I do not own a cowboy hat yet,and I'd probably I'd probably be
punished if I did buy one.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Well, I think that's great and I think, um, uh,
obviously, as a dairy producer,your operation plays a large
role in the beef industry in somany ways.
Um, but specifically you talkedabout beef on dairy calves and
that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
will you kind of tell us a little bit more about that
, how that's evolved in youroperation, and it's been a game,
uh, for quite a while justtrying to figure out the right
genetics that we need in theseanimals to to mimic like the
perfect angus cow, or your yourproper beef cow, if you would.
So we've gone lymph flash,we've gone limo, we've done a
(01:52):
lot of different things.
Uh, right now we're we're alltd beef, which is angus okay,
and guys are really, reallythrilled with them yeah, yeah
and um and what that means,right for listeners.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
we explained it in some of the podcasts, but in
case you haven't listened toanother one so dairy calves, so
a dairy cow has to have a calfto start producing milk, and
that calf was often.
If it's a heifer, you keep themor, you know, have a plan for
it might go back into the milksupply or milk production.
But if it was a steer steer ora bowl, it maybe didn't have
(02:25):
much of a destination or hadsome destinations but less right
or fewer it had fewer, feweropportunities to be able to
market them.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Look, the marketability of a Holstein
steer was rapidly going away, um, so our thought on doing the
beef on dairy was our facilitiesare full, we have our effort
numbers.
What is something else we cando to financially benefit from
something?
And um definitely turned intosomething that is working out
(02:55):
really well, not only for us butfor beef guys themselves with.
With the amount of cattle thatare not available if you're
going to go to your sale barn,it's just unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, and it's been.
Maybe.
I think it was really new,maybe 10 years ago or maybe less
, but now it's normal.
Almost all dairies are doing itright.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It's pretty well a standard practice.
I don't want to say we weresome of the first, but we
definitely have been working onit for about eight years or so
now.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, we kind of really got it dialed into what
we want, what the buyer wants,and consistency being king yeah,
and are you guys, now that youhave, uh, now that you're also
on the ranching side, are youguys gonna raise some of those
calves too on your ranch?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
or, yeah, that is the plan.
Um, we run.
I think there's 280 head upthere.
Uh, we got 250 calves that justdropped, so we have room for
another 200, 300.
So we're gonna definitely trysome of their out.
Yeah, out there and see how,just see how they do.
Um, you know, they've beenproven in a feed yard, they've
been proven out the dairy, but II haven't seen anything with
(04:02):
them coming off of actual, youknow, pasture ranch.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, well, good luck with that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It'll be interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, yeah, and what a neat opportunity to be able to
test it out and see how itevolves right and how it has
evolved.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
That's one of the things I like being able to try
something different.
If it works, cool.
If not, let's try somethingelse.
Figure out how to make it work.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Oh yeah, and that's that's.
Um, I think a good way to be asa human and probably a really
good way to be as a producer, isyou got to fail forward you
gotta try things and be okaywith failure and start again.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Fail forward.
That is a very good term yeah,I say it a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I don't know if that tells says something about the
way I work, but I'm alwaystrying to fail forward.
We're gonna.
We're gonna make mistakes, yeah, and just be just learn.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
It's a learning process.
It's a groaning process.
I mean we're especially on theranch side.
I mean we've never done itbefore, but we have a lot of
friends that know how to do itand I've been told I'm doing
stuff wrong before, and this isone of them.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
There you go, not afraid to hear that, and change
and adapt and learn.
Yeah Well, what do you think isthe most rewarding part of
being an ag producer?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
There's a lot of them .
How you would define exactlyone is kind of, you know, being
able to wake up and go, go checkyour cattle, whether it's at
the ranch or it's at the dairyor to feed yard.
Just being able to go, you knowwhat these are going to feed
the world.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
That's pretty neat and obviously we appreciate what
you're doing to feed the world,because you know when I go to
the grocery store.
It wouldn't happen, therewouldn't be an abundant and safe
food supply in America withoutpeople like you.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And it's still running short.
Yeah gosh, it's still runningshort.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, and what do you think?
Can you talk about the care forthe livestock?
What?
What do you do to make sure andcare for the health and
wellbeing of your livestock?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Being there daily.
I mean, clearly I'm not rightnow because we're at Redoso, but
uh, having good staff, goodgood management practices.
Uh, technology is helping out alot.
We're using the new cow managertag from Select Sires.
It gives us body temperatures,rumination, activities.
It's lifetime.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, so each animal has an ear tag that tells you
everything about them.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, and when you say rumination, that's their
digestive system.
How?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
much food they eat, how much water they they drink,
how much time they're spendinglaying down how much time
they're up walking around.
If I see them getting long, youknow, are my guys taking them
in the milk barn too early?
Are they sitting over thereinstead of you know on my time?
It's just another tool thathelps me be able to manage my
guys to be more efficient.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, yeah, and to take care of the animal.
I mean, gosh, I don't know thelast time I took my own
temperature.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Probably been a while .
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah, and nobody's paying attention to my nutrition
, much to Kate's dismay.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
our dietician- I can pull it up lifetime on my phone
and it shows me all the alertsof cows that you know might be
off of food.
Are they coming into heat?
Do we need to get them bred?
Did one slip and fall?
Is she down somewhere?
Do I have a lame cow somewhere?
It's just a really neat tool.
It's been in the works for awhile and it's definitely
(07:23):
probably the coolest tool I haveright now.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Oh, absolutely, and I think it's just a cool thing
for a consumer to know thatyou're going and buying milk off
or we are going and buying milkoff the shelf and to get that
milk there, a dairy farmer kneweverything about the animal that
produced it and cared to theutmost level of care.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
We don't have a steady supply of vets around.
We don't have a vet on farmevery single day.
We have them once a weekbecause we don't have enough.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
So this is a tool that helps us go hey, go check
out this cow, go check out thatcow, and it's pretty neat.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah, yeah, that is really neat we do.
That could be a plug to ourlisteners.
We do need more large animalveterinarians.
Oh absolutely, in New Mexicoand across the nation.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
The nationwide.
So it was really cool.
We had that dairy consortiumgroup out and I don't know if
you've talked about that on thepodcast yet or not, but about
half the kids that were there.
When I say kids are 18 to 21.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
About half of them were interested in being large
animal vets.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, which is really neat.
Oh, we need them so much it'sthere's a shortage and yeah.
So we haven't talked about theDairy Consortium, but it's the
US Dairy and EducationConsortium, I think, is maybe
the full name, if you.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Google it.
If you look it up.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I think it's like usda etc.
But they are.
They are a college course inthe summer, a six-week program.
Students from all over thenation come to clovis, new
mexico, um six.
They stay in clovis for sixweeks.
They put them up in a hotel.
The cost is like a hundreddollars to the student yeah
except maybe your tuition, if itcounts for your credit somehow.
(09:04):
I'm not sure how that all worksout through dairy producing new
mexico.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
We help subsidize some of that cost also yeah,
yeah, and it's so.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
It's almost free to the students and it's this
incredible program and they'reon a dairy farm, like every day
six days a week at least yeah,yeah, and so getting that
hands-on experience.
So if you're a young person andyou have to apply and I don't
think everyone gets in- no it'sthe cream of the crop.
We went, I went and spoke tothe group recently and I had a
(09:33):
line of people asking mequestions.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
They had to run me out of the room cause they had
to get back to the curriculumbecause this group was so great
they were so inquisitive aboutand a lot of them are have a
production history already,whether, and then a handful that
already had dairy experienceYep, but just them being able to
get out and really see howdifferent operations run and get
(09:57):
to meet somebody like me.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
You, don't meet a farmer.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
You're not meeting grandpa that's, you know, 70
years old, because he doesn'thave anybody to take care of his
farm for you.
You get the old, 37-year-oldJoel and they're like wait, you
do this for a living.
Yeah, I've been doing it sinceI was 18.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
you do this for a living.
Yeah, I've been doing it sinceI was 18, oh, and what a cool
inspiration for young people toothat if they want to go into
the industry they can.
Oh right, you can be abeginning farmer, um, and yeah,
the dairy consortium is a greatplace to start.
I know that's a great programthat a lot of agriculture groups
support.
We support as a new mexico beefcouncil.
Um, all of that so well,speaking kind of of those kind
of you know mentioning those aggroups, and then you mentioned
(10:37):
we're in Rio Doso, so we're atthe Dairy Producers of New
Mexico annual meeting.
There was a board meetingyesterday, producer meeting
today.
Can you talk about your rolewith the Dairy Producer
Organization?
And then I guess that kind ofmaybe leads into you're also a
board member for New Mexico BeefCouncil.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, I a both sides.
So yeah, um, really, the dairyproducer side is really more
litigation, politics, um stuffthat beef council cannot do.
Right, we were allowed to getout there and lobby and really
work uh, work both sides of theaisle for not only beef guys but
the dairy guys, and uh, like,one of the cool things we got in
the docket right now is the uh,the healthy milk for kids.
So getting like whole milk backin schools instead of one
(11:21):
percent or zero fat milk.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
So that's gonna be pretty cool oh yeah, and that's
an important, important workthat dairy producers do, and
then, and then you're avolunteer for their board and
you're a volunteer for the newMexico beef council board.
So you're, you're, uh uh, keepgetting voluntold or something
voluntold is a very good way toput it but I'm happy to help.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Oh yeah, and we're glad, glad to have you the the
amount of people that arewilling to one sacrifice their
time away from their kids orfamilies or everything else, or
guys just go I don't want to doit, yeah, just have no interest,
it's hard to get volunteers inany in any situation and then
and then to put yourself outthere and in these situations is
(12:03):
it's good.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
So we we thank you for, for your service to the
industry on both sides, becausewe we need, we need volunteers
like you, and I'm very gratefulfor all of our board members.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Being able to come up here and spend a week in the
mountains doesn't hurt either.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah, it's not so bad , it's still better than
Albuquerque.
Yeah, we make him come toAlbuquerque for our board
meetings often.
Well, okay, so kind of back tothe cattle.
What's one thing maybe peopledon't know about raising cattle,
whether dairy or beef.
I know we kind of alreadytalked about some things that
maybe people wouldn't know, butanything else that you think is
surprising, maybe somethingsurprising that the consortium
(12:38):
kids thought of.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
You know, not off the top of my head.
Really, I think the fallacythat people think that every
animal has hormones in it, orevery gallon of milk has
antibiotics in it or it's youknow something bad.
And there's unbelievable theamount of people that still,
like producers, won't go buymilk from a grocery store
(13:02):
because they think there'ssomething wrong with it yeah, I
think that's an important thingto address, and what I would say
about that, from myunderstanding, is every all milk
is tested.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
All milk is to a very high degree of regulation, even
it's the highest regulatedmarket.
Yes, and they're testing tomake sure there's not hormones
in the milk.
They're testing to make surethere's not antibiotics in the
milk correct.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
So every load, every load, before they even put it in
the truck, gets a test.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah, and if it's, and if it fails the test, it's
gone.
That milk will not go into thefood system.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It goes in the lagoon and it gets sprayed on a field.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yep, yeah, so the the water is reused in a system, or
, you know, the liquid is reusedas kind of a water or a
fertilizer, so that we're stillbeing resourceful and
sustainable, but that milk willnot go into the food system.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
No, after 15 years I've had one tank ever.
Oh, that's been it.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, well, that's good.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
And it went down the drain.
I had to pay for it.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, that's bad news , but one in 15 years is good
news.
But yeah, and I think that'simportant for people to know
that it's very tested, it's veryregulated, our food system is
safe.
We want you to feel verycomfortable buying milk at the
grocery store the cheapest milk,whatever milk you feel you want
to buy that you can feelconfident that it's safe because
(14:25):
it has been tested, it has beencareful.
And then, even if we talk aboutantibiotics too, I always think
it's an important conversationto talk about withdrawal dates
and conversations with that.
Every medicine that's approvedfor livestock or cattle or food
animals has withdrawal datesright, and so you can give an
animal this and you cannot usethat animal for food production,
(14:49):
whether beef or dairy, untilthat medicine is out of their
system.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So even our hospital cows, the mastitis cows.
They're in a separate pen, theyget milked at a separate time,
they go in a separate tank andthat gets handled all by itself
and everything's sanitized everytime we process those cows to
the barn to make sure thateverything's nice and clean.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Oh, absolutely.
I think that's.
Another great thing too aboutdairies is the sanitization.
Sanitization yeah, that wordsounded weird.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Is that a word?
That is a word.
I guess it is now.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Maybe, oh, I don't know if it is a word.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, anyways, sanitizing.
You got this.
Come and see kind of what.
When you were out last time andthe look on your face and who
else was with you Kate Schultz,our dietitian.
She's like this is what theinside of a milk barn looks like
.
It's cleaner than most people'shouses.
Yes, it's, and we have to bethat way?
Speaker 1 (15:41):
yeah, right, because there are regulations in there
and and you care about theproduct that you're putting in
people's homes.
Absolutely, yeah, well, I thinkthat's that's a great answer to
that question.
Um, what?
How would you describe newmexico's landscapes and then
maybe even land and resourcemanagement?
Playing into your um, playinginto what you do?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
well, like everybody said, six inches of top dirt and
a little bit of rain makes itgo a long ways.
We would not survive without it.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Um, and we need rain, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
You have to yeah, need rain.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
And then even where your dairy is is in a unique
spot where there's a lot ofdairies, because it's good
climate for cattle.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
It's the I won't say the best.
I mean California is stillbetter.
Wisconsin claims that theythink they're still better, but
New Mexico still sits number oneCow numbers per herd, right,
the largest, largest dairy,largest dairy numbers yeah, um,
kind of all across.
(16:43):
I mean the guys that aren'tweren't good at it.
They're all gone.
Now you're left with mygeneration and we're the
bullheads of it all and I thinkit.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
It's great that New Mexico has the climate and the
ability to have those herds andcare for those herds in a good
way, because we have this uniqueclimate.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yeah, I mean it's dry , it's arid.
I mean we've had a great springwith really good rain as you
can tell you, look at.
Clovis versus Roswell.
It's a night and day differenceand thank the good Lord that we
got that Yep.
So that's nice.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
We were saying in the last podcast, we wish we could
share the rain because it'spretty uneven throughout the
state right now.
Yes, Quite uneven, but it'ssuch an important thing and
that's where resource managementI mean.
You guys are waiting on rain ina lot of ways for the feed, and
then too much rain makes thepens rough and all of that it's
part of life.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah yeah, too much rain is better than too much
rain is the goal, yep.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
What would you say is the biggest challenge you face
in your operation?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Probably being able to get the right guys in the
right positions to do the rightjob.
So staffing, Staffing is reallynot an issue.
I mean you could hire 100people in a week.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
But are they qualified?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Do they know anything ?
Yeah, did they just leaveAlbertsons to come work for?
Oh, you know what these guysare paying more over here.
But getting the good experience, guys, and the guys that really
want to work and care for thecows properly, is that 24-7
operation constantly trainingand and working to make sure, we
(18:28):
have great outsourcing thiswith.
You know the zoetis and othercompanies that provide drugs.
And they don't only providethat, they provide hands-on
training.
Okay, every, every quarter, wego through milker training,
outside guys training, hospitaltraining, calf training, just,
and they get a littlecertificate and I keep them on
file just in case we ever getout say is this guy qualified
(18:50):
for that job?
Yep, we got it right here yeah,oh, that's.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
That's it interesting challenge?
Um, you know you, you thinkabout the.
You know you, you think aboutthe.
You know waking up to cows, andthen you've also got to wake up
to people management.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Yeah, Somebody called and said do you have a human
resources person working for you?
I was like you're talking tohim.
Yeah, I got to deal witheverything.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, absolutely, cause it's family business.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
You don't?
You don't go to bed and wake upand somebody to take care of it
for you Right, it's you.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yep, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
is your favorite part of the industry?
Ooh, I like the baby calves.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, I love my babies and even with the Beef on
Dairy cross calves, seeingthose and really being able to
look at you know differenthealth traits in between the two
, because those angus calves arejust so stout and sturdy
doctrine rate on them probablyone and a half, two percent less
than what it is on ourholsteins okay yeah, we have
(19:51):
just as good as genetics in ourholsteins yeah but it's just
something about that beef ondairy that's a good they're,
they're healthy oh, that's great, I think that's.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I think that's a very easy way to see kind of fruits
of your labor when a calf isborn, right?
No, absolutely it's a veryphysical uh.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
You see that, and all that work and hope, especially
whenever you get, you know, yourfirst calf, heifers, coming in.
You know you've.
You've been sitting on them fortwo years yes oh, that was two
years ago yes, especially,especially when you get into it.
I got some specialty breeds, youknow, some show calves and
stuff for the kids.
Oh, neat being able to watchthose come fresh and then take
(20:29):
that calf and then watch it, andthen you know the kids wind up
showing it or if it works, yeah,that's neat, just something
different, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Absolutely Well.
So when you you know we not totalk too much negative, but you
have bad days or you have hardthings, whether it be, you know,
not enough rain, whether it bepeople management, all of that,
what makes you keep going?
Why do you continue to do whatyou do and even continue to
raise dairy cattle, raise beefand be a volunteer in the
(20:59):
industry?
Like what makes you keep going?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
It's just I don't know, it's been just built into
us.
I mean, my granddad startedback in early 50s and it just
kept on going, and we'refortunate enough that we were
able to keep on going.
Oh yeah, I think a lot of timeswe say it's just kind of born
in you yeah, well, and you getsome of those guys that you know
(21:25):
they were born into him andtheir dad made them work too
much, or you know.
Then they just lost allinterest.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, when you get pressured into that position,
luckily you have a lot of peoplerun away from it yeah, yeah,
that is a big, big problem ofgetting people to stay at the
farm, right?
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Well, just agriculture in general.
I don't care if you're a rowcop farmer, a cotton farmer, a
beef guy, a pig guy, a sheep guy, a goat guy.
Yep, If you're overpressured,you just kind of step out and go
yeah, I'm going to go tocollege instead.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
And never come back.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah, that's a big deal and that's one of the
things that a lot of theuniversities and youth
organizations talk abouttraining for careers.
But that career could be owningyour own farm or coming back to
the family farm or family ranchor family operation.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
I mean you look at the dynamics of a farmer anymore
.
It's absurd.
The age gap.
Oh yeah, I don't know if youknow what it is.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Well, I know that New Mexico has the oldest average
age of farmers or allagricultural producers we have.
Of all the nation, we have thehighest ages.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
And I think if you were to look at the dairy
producer side, you probably havethe youngest group in New.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Mexico now, yeah Well , yeah, looking at your
leadership and all of that, thatmakes a lot of sense.
I think there has to be achange at some point and hope
that there's a next generationto take over Exactly.
Just hope for that.
Is there anything else you'dlike to add about your operation
?
Or the beef industry, or dairyindustries?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Keep drinking your milk and keep eating your beef.
That's about all we could askfor.
I mean, there's a lot of cooloptions, like even our meeting
this morning.
We have 11 new countries thatare wanting US milk.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Indonesia being one of them.
Okay, the number onedairy-consuming country in the
world wants our milk, right?
They don't want New Zealand's.
The world, well, it's our milk.
Right, they don't want NewZealand's, they don't want
Europe's, they want Americanmilk.
Okay, so we have to.
I think there's 11 differentcountries that we're looking for
it.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah Well that's, that's good news for a
destination for the milk Cause.
We're really good at producingit.
We're too good at it, right.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Right it, we're too good at it, right, right.
I think that was said that lastnight.
Yes, yes, what's your, what'syour guys' biggest downfall is
like you know what we can?
We can make milk when we wantto.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Right, right.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Well, we can't add more animals, but we can
definitely use technology tohelp us make more milk more
efficiently.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yeah, absolutely Uh.
The more we learn about cowcare and and all of it and
genetics and everything, Well Ithink that's perfect.
So now, kind of my favoritequestion and the last question
to wrap it up what's yourfavorite way to eat beef, or
maybe a favorite recipe?
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Ooh, I'm a filet guy.
Okay, love a good filet.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
There you go, and what temperature, oh 125.
Oh, there you go.
Oh, specific right, I wasthinking like medium, medium,
rare, what you say?
No, just 125.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
All right, On the smoker hot as you can get it.
Finish it off in a cast ironwith a little butter.
You got the best of both worldsright there.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Delicious, delicious, Beef and dairy or dairy on beef
on that one.
Yeah, there you go there you goPerfect, perfect Well.
Thank you for what you do forthese organizations, thank you
for what you do to put healthymilk on the shelf and beef on
our plates, and thanks forjoining the podcast.
Absolutely Behind the Burger isa podcast produced by the New
(24:53):
Mexico Beef Council with thegoal of telling the stories of
the cattlemen and cattlewomen ofthe New Mexico beef industry.
Thank you for joining us fortoday's episode.
If you'd like more information,please visit nmbeefcom.
Whether it be a burger, a steakor another beef dish, we hope
you're enjoying beef at yournext meal.
Welcome back to another episode of Behind the
Burger, our podcast produced bythe New Mexico Beef Council.
I'm Caroline Romo and I'm herewith Joel Van Dam.
Joel, will you introduceyourself and maybe your
background and then kind of whatyou do now?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, I'm Joel Van Dam, a third-generation dairy
farmer originally fromCalifornia but relocated to New
Mexico in 2002.
Dad, brothers, whole familymilk cows.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
And you have Route 77 dairy.
Is that you yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Okay, my mom are up 77.
We're milking about 4,200 cowsthere.
We keep all our young stockcalves, beef on dairy calves,
pretty well everything stays atthe farm.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Okay, where does that name come from?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
So the highway is 77.
It is okay, it's located on 77.
Okay, perfect, All right, Ifigured that much.
We were kind of out of names sowe figured that was easy enough
.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
That's a great name.
And then now you guys, youbought a ranch too, right?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
So you guys are.
You bought a ranch too, right,Correct.
So you guys are.
Are dairymen turned ranchers?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
In a roundabout way.
I do not own a cowboy hat yet,and I'd probably I'd probably be
punished if I did buy one.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Well, I think that's great and I think, um, uh,
obviously, as a dairy producer,your operation plays a large
role in the beef industry in somany ways.
Um, but specifically you talkedabout beef on dairy calves and
that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
will you kind of tell us a little bit more about that
, how that's evolved in youroperation, and it's been a game,
uh, for quite a while justtrying to figure out the right
genetics that we need in theseanimals to to mimic like the
perfect angus cow, or your yourproper beef cow, if you would.
So we've gone lymph flash,we've gone limo, we've done a
(01:52):
lot of different things.
Uh, right now we're we're alltd beef, which is angus okay,
and guys are really, reallythrilled with them yeah, yeah
and um and what that means,right for listeners.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
we explained it in some of the podcasts, but in
case you haven't listened toanother one so dairy calves, so
a dairy cow has to have a calfto start producing milk, and
that calf was often.
If it's a heifer, you keep themor, you know, have a plan for
it might go back into the milksupply or milk production.
But if it was a steer steer ora bowl, it maybe didn't have
(02:25):
much of a destination or hadsome destinations but less right
or fewer it had fewer, feweropportunities to be able to
market them.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Look, the marketability of a Holstein
steer was rapidly going away, um, so our thought on doing the
beef on dairy was our facilitiesare full, we have our effort
numbers.
What is something else we cando to financially benefit from
something?
And um definitely turned intosomething that is working out
(02:55):
really well, not only for us butfor beef guys themselves with.
With the amount of cattle thatare not available if you're
going to go to your sale barn,it's just unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, and it's been.
Maybe.
I think it was really new,maybe 10 years ago or maybe less
, but now it's normal.
Almost all dairies are doing itright.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It's pretty well a standard practice.
I don't want to say we weresome of the first, but we
definitely have been working onit for about eight years or so
now.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, we kind of really got it dialed into what
we want, what the buyer wants,and consistency being king yeah,
and are you guys, now that youhave, uh, now that you're also
on the ranching side, are youguys gonna raise some of those
calves too on your ranch?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
or, yeah, that is the plan.
Um, we run.
I think there's 280 head upthere.
Uh, we got 250 calves that justdropped, so we have room for
another 200, 300.
So we're gonna definitely trysome of their out.
Yeah, out there and see how,just see how they do.
Um, you know, they've beenproven in a feed yard, they've
been proven out the dairy, but II haven't seen anything with
(04:02):
them coming off of actual, youknow, pasture ranch.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, well, good luck with that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It'll be interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, yeah, and what a neat opportunity to be able to
test it out and see how itevolves right and how it has
evolved.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
That's one of the things I like being able to try
something different.
If it works, cool.
If not, let's try somethingelse.
Figure out how to make it work.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Oh yeah, and that's that's.
Um, I think a good way to be asa human and probably a really
good way to be as a producer, isyou got to fail forward you
gotta try things and be okaywith failure and start again.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Fail forward.
That is a very good term yeah,I say it a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I don't know if that tells says something about the
way I work, but I'm alwaystrying to fail forward.
We're gonna.
We're gonna make mistakes, yeah, and just be just learn.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
It's a learning process.
It's a groaning process.
I mean we're especially on theranch side.
I mean we've never done itbefore, but we have a lot of
friends that know how to do itand I've been told I'm doing
stuff wrong before, and this isone of them.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
There you go, not afraid to hear that, and change
and adapt and learn.
Yeah Well, what do you think isthe most rewarding part of
being an ag producer?
Speaker 2 (05:06):
There's a lot of them .
How you would define exactlyone is kind of, you know, being
able to wake up and go, go checkyour cattle, whether it's at
the ranch or it's at the dairyor to feed yard.
Just being able to go, you knowwhat these are going to feed
the world.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
That's pretty neat and obviously we appreciate what
you're doing to feed the world,because you know when I go to
the grocery store.
It wouldn't happen, therewouldn't be an abundant and safe
food supply in America withoutpeople like you.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And it's still running short.
Yeah gosh, it's still runningshort.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, and what do you think?
Can you talk about the care forthe livestock?
What?
What do you do to make sure andcare for the health and
wellbeing of your livestock?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Being there daily.
I mean, clearly I'm not rightnow because we're at Redoso, but
uh, having good staff, goodgood management practices.
Uh, technology is helping out alot.
We're using the new cow managertag from Select Sires.
It gives us body temperatures,rumination, activities.
It's lifetime.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Yeah, so each animal has an ear tag that tells you
everything about them.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, and when you say rumination, that's their
digestive system.
How?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
much food they eat, how much water they they drink,
how much time they're spendinglaying down how much time
they're up walking around.
If I see them getting long, youknow, are my guys taking them
in the milk barn too early?
Are they sitting over thereinstead of you know on my time?
It's just another tool thathelps me be able to manage my
guys to be more efficient.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, yeah, and to take care of the animal.
I mean, gosh, I don't know thelast time I took my own
temperature.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Probably been a while .
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah, and nobody's paying attention to my nutrition
, much to Kate's dismay.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
our dietician- I can pull it up lifetime on my phone
and it shows me all the alertsof cows that you know might be
off of food.
Are they coming into heat?
Do we need to get them bred?
Did one slip and fall?
Is she down somewhere?
Do I have a lame cow somewhere?
It's just a really neat tool.
It's been in the works for awhile and it's definitely
(07:23):
probably the coolest tool I haveright now.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Oh, absolutely, and I think it's just a cool thing
for a consumer to know thatyou're going and buying milk off
or we are going and buying milkoff the shelf and to get that
milk there, a dairy farmer kneweverything about the animal that
produced it and cared to theutmost level of care.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
We don't have a steady supply of vets around.
We don't have a vet on farmevery single day.
We have them once a weekbecause we don't have enough.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
So this is a tool that helps us go hey, go check
out this cow, go check out thatcow, and it's pretty neat.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Yeah, yeah, that is really neat we do.
That could be a plug to ourlisteners.
We do need more large animalveterinarians.
Oh absolutely, in New Mexicoand across the nation.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
The nationwide.
So it was really cool.
We had that dairy consortiumgroup out and I don't know if
you've talked about that on thepodcast yet or not, but about
half the kids that were there.
When I say kids are 18 to 21.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Right.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
About half of them were interested in being large
animal vets.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, which is really neat.
Oh, we need them so much it'sthere's a shortage and yeah.
So we haven't talked about theDairy Consortium, but it's the
US Dairy and EducationConsortium, I think, is maybe
the full name, if you.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Google it.
If you look it up.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
I think it's like usda etc.
But they are.
They are a college course inthe summer, a six-week program.
Students from all over thenation come to clovis, new
mexico, um six.
They stay in clovis for sixweeks.
They put them up in a hotel.
The cost is like a hundreddollars to the student yeah
except maybe your tuition, if itcounts for your credit somehow.
(09:04):
I'm not sure how that all worksout through dairy producing new
mexico.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
We help subsidize some of that cost also yeah,
yeah, and it's so.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
It's almost free to the students and it's this
incredible program and they'reon a dairy farm, like every day
six days a week at least yeah,yeah, and so getting that
hands-on experience.
So if you're a young person andyou have to apply and I don't
think everyone gets in- no it'sthe cream of the crop.
We went, I went and spoke tothe group recently and I had a
(09:33):
line of people asking mequestions.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
They had to run me out of the room cause they had
to get back to the curriculumbecause this group was so great
they were so inquisitive aboutand a lot of them are have a
production history already,whether, and then a handful that
already had dairy experienceYep, but just them being able to
get out and really see howdifferent operations run and get
(09:57):
to meet somebody like me.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
You, don't meet a farmer.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
You're not meeting grandpa that's, you know, 70
years old, because he doesn'thave anybody to take care of his
farm for you.
You get the old, 37-year-oldJoel and they're like wait, you
do this for a living.
Yeah, I've been doing it sinceI was 18.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
you do this for a living.
Yeah, I've been doing it sinceI was 18, oh, and what a cool
inspiration for young people toothat if they want to go into
the industry they can.
Oh right, you can be abeginning farmer, um, and yeah,
the dairy consortium is a greatplace to start.
I know that's a great programthat a lot of agriculture groups
support.
We support as a new mexico beefcouncil.
Um, all of that so well,speaking kind of of those kind
of you know mentioning those aggroups, and then you mentioned
(10:37):
we're in Rio Doso, so we're atthe Dairy Producers of New
Mexico annual meeting.
There was a board meetingyesterday, producer meeting
today.
Can you talk about your rolewith the Dairy Producer
Organization?
And then I guess that kind ofmaybe leads into you're also a
board member for New Mexico BeefCouncil.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, I a both sides.
So yeah, um, really, the dairyproducer side is really more
litigation, politics, um stuffthat beef council cannot do.
Right, we were allowed to getout there and lobby and really
work uh, work both sides of theaisle for not only beef guys but
the dairy guys, and uh, like,one of the cool things we got in
the docket right now is the uh,the healthy milk for kids.
So getting like whole milk backin schools instead of one
(11:21):
percent or zero fat milk.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
So that's gonna be pretty cool oh yeah, and that's
an important, important workthat dairy producers do, and
then, and then you're avolunteer for their board and
you're a volunteer for the newMexico beef council board.
So you're, you're, uh uh, keepgetting voluntold or something
voluntold is a very good way toput it but I'm happy to help.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Oh yeah, and we're glad, glad to have you the the
amount of people that arewilling to one sacrifice their
time away from their kids orfamilies or everything else, or
guys just go I don't want to doit, yeah, just have no interest,
it's hard to get volunteers inany in any situation and then
and then to put yourself outthere and in these situations is
(12:03):
it's good.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
So we we thank you for, for your service to the
industry on both sides, becausewe we need, we need volunteers
like you, and I'm very gratefulfor all of our board members.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Being able to come up here and spend a week in the
mountains doesn't hurt either.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah, it's not so bad , it's still better than
Albuquerque.
Yeah, we make him come toAlbuquerque for our board
meetings often.
Well, okay, so kind of back tothe cattle.
What's one thing maybe peopledon't know about raising cattle,
whether dairy or beef.
I know we kind of alreadytalked about some things that
maybe people wouldn't know, butanything else that you think is
surprising, maybe somethingsurprising that the consortium
(12:38):
kids thought of.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
You know, not off the top of my head.
Really, I think the fallacythat people think that every
animal has hormones in it, orevery gallon of milk has
antibiotics in it or it's youknow something bad.
And there's unbelievable theamount of people that still,
like producers, won't go buymilk from a grocery store
(13:02):
because they think there'ssomething wrong with it yeah, I
think that's an important thingto address, and what I would say
about that, from myunderstanding, is every all milk
is tested.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
All milk is to a very high degree of regulation, even
it's the highest regulatedmarket.
Yes, and they're testing tomake sure there's not hormones
in the milk.
They're testing to make surethere's not antibiotics in the
milk correct.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
So every load, every load, before they even put it in
the truck, gets a test.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Yeah, and if it's, and if it fails the test, it's
gone.
That milk will not go into thefood system.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
It goes in the lagoon and it gets sprayed on a field.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yep, yeah, so the the water is reused in a system, or
, you know, the liquid is reusedas kind of a water or a
fertilizer, so that we're stillbeing resourceful and
sustainable, but that milk willnot go into the food system.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
No, after 15 years I've had one tank ever.
Oh, that's been it.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, well, that's good.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
And it went down the drain.
I had to pay for it.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, that's bad news , but one in 15 years is good
news.
But yeah, and I think that'simportant for people to know
that it's very tested, it's veryregulated, our food system is
safe.
We want you to feel verycomfortable buying milk at the
grocery store the cheapest milk,whatever milk you feel you want
to buy that you can feelconfident that it's safe because
(14:25):
it has been tested, it has beencareful.
And then, even if we talk aboutantibiotics too, I always think
it's an important conversationto talk about withdrawal dates
and conversations with that.
Every medicine that's approvedfor livestock or cattle or food
animals has withdrawal datesright, and so you can give an
animal this and you cannot usethat animal for food production,
(14:49):
whether beef or dairy, untilthat medicine is out of their
system.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
So even our hospital cows, the mastitis cows.
They're in a separate pen, theyget milked at a separate time,
they go in a separate tank andthat gets handled all by itself
and everything's sanitized everytime we process those cows to
the barn to make sure thateverything's nice and clean.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Oh, absolutely.
I think that's.
Another great thing too aboutdairies is the sanitization.
Sanitization yeah, that wordsounded weird.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Is that a word?
That is a word.
I guess it is now.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Maybe, oh, I don't know if it is a word.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, anyways, sanitizing.
You got this.
Come and see kind of what.
When you were out last time andthe look on your face and who
else was with you Kate Schultz,our dietitian.
She's like this is what theinside of a milk barn looks like
.
It's cleaner than most people'shouses.
Yes, it's, and we have to bethat way?
Speaker 1 (15:41):
yeah, right, because there are regulations in there
and and you care about theproduct that you're putting in
people's homes.
Absolutely, yeah, well, I thinkthat's that's a great answer to
that question.
Um, what?
How would you describe newmexico's landscapes and then
maybe even land and resourcemanagement?
Playing into your um, playinginto what you do?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
well, like everybody said, six inches of top dirt and
a little bit of rain makes itgo a long ways.
We would not survive without it.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Um, and we need rain, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
You have to yeah, need rain.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
And then even where your dairy is is in a unique
spot where there's a lot ofdairies, because it's good
climate for cattle.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
It's the I won't say the best.
I mean California is stillbetter.
Wisconsin claims that theythink they're still better, but
New Mexico still sits number oneCow numbers per herd, right,
the largest, largest dairy,largest dairy numbers yeah, um,
kind of all across.
(16:43):
I mean the guys that aren'tweren't good at it.
They're all gone.
Now you're left with mygeneration and we're the
bullheads of it all and I thinkit.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
It's great that New Mexico has the climate and the
ability to have those herds andcare for those herds in a good
way, because we have this uniqueclimate.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yeah, I mean it's dry , it's arid.
I mean we've had a great springwith really good rain as you
can tell you, look at.
Clovis versus Roswell.
It's a night and day differenceand thank the good Lord that we
got that Yep.
So that's nice.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
We were saying in the last podcast, we wish we could
share the rain because it'spretty uneven throughout the
state right now.
Yes, Quite uneven, but it'ssuch an important thing and
that's where resource managementI mean.
You guys are waiting on rain ina lot of ways for the feed, and
then too much rain makes thepens rough and all of that it's
part of life.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah yeah, too much rain is better than too much
rain is the goal, yep.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
What would you say is the biggest challenge you face
in your operation?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Probably being able to get the right guys in the
right positions to do the rightjob.
So staffing, Staffing is reallynot an issue.
I mean you could hire 100people in a week.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
But are they qualified?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Do they know anything ?
Yeah, did they just leaveAlbertsons to come work for?
Oh, you know what these guysare paying more over here.
But getting the good experience, guys, and the guys that really
want to work and care for thecows properly, is that 24-7
operation constantly trainingand and working to make sure, we
(18:28):
have great outsourcing thiswith.
You know the zoetis and othercompanies that provide drugs.
And they don't only providethat, they provide hands-on
training.
Okay, every, every quarter, wego through milker training,
outside guys training, hospitaltraining, calf training, just,
and they get a littlecertificate and I keep them on
file just in case we ever getout say is this guy qualified
(18:50):
for that job?
Yep, we got it right here yeah,oh, that's.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
That's it interesting challenge?
Um, you know you, you thinkabout the.
You know you, you think aboutthe.
You know waking up to cows, andthen you've also got to wake up
to people management.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Yeah, Somebody called and said do you have a human
resources person working for you?
I was like you're talking tohim.
Yeah, I got to deal witheverything.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, absolutely, cause it's family business.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
You don't?
You don't go to bed and wake upand somebody to take care of it
for you Right, it's you.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yep, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
is your favorite part of the industry?
Ooh, I like the baby calves.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, I love my babies and even with the Beef on
Dairy cross calves, seeingthose and really being able to
look at you know differenthealth traits in between the two
, because those angus calves arejust so stout and sturdy
doctrine rate on them probablyone and a half, two percent less
than what it is on ourholsteins okay yeah, we have
(19:51):
just as good as genetics in ourholsteins yeah but it's just
something about that beef ondairy that's a good they're,
they're healthy oh, that's great, I think that's.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I think that's a very easy way to see kind of fruits
of your labor when a calf isborn, right?
No, absolutely it's a veryphysical uh.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
You see that, and all that work and hope, especially
whenever you get, you know, yourfirst calf, heifers, coming in.
You know you've.
You've been sitting on them fortwo years yes oh, that was two
years ago yes, especially,especially when you get into it.
I got some specialty breeds, youknow, some show calves and
stuff for the kids.
Oh, neat being able to watchthose come fresh and then take
(20:29):
that calf and then watch it, andthen you know the kids wind up
showing it or if it works, yeah,that's neat, just something
different, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Absolutely Well.
So when you you know we not totalk too much negative, but you
have bad days or you have hardthings, whether it be, you know,
not enough rain, whether it bepeople management, all of that,
what makes you keep going?
Why do you continue to do whatyou do and even continue to
raise dairy cattle, raise beefand be a volunteer in the
(20:59):
industry?
Like what makes you keep going?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
It's just I don't know, it's been just built into
us.
I mean, my granddad startedback in early 50s and it just
kept on going, and we'refortunate enough that we were
able to keep on going.
Oh yeah, I think a lot of timeswe say it's just kind of born
in you yeah, well, and you getsome of those guys that you know
(21:25):
they were born into him andtheir dad made them work too
much, or you know.
Then they just lost allinterest.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, when you get pressured into that position,
luckily you have a lot of peoplerun away from it yeah, yeah,
that is a big, big problem ofgetting people to stay at the
farm, right?
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Well, just agriculture in general.
I don't care if you're a rowcop farmer, a cotton farmer, a
beef guy, a pig guy, a sheep guy, a goat guy.
Yep, If you're overpressured,you just kind of step out and go
yeah, I'm going to go tocollege instead.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Right right.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
And never come back.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah, that's a big deal and that's one of the
things that a lot of theuniversities and youth
organizations talk abouttraining for careers.
But that career could be owningyour own farm or coming back to
the family farm or family ranchor family operation.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
I mean you look at the dynamics of a farmer anymore
.
It's absurd.
The age gap.
Oh yeah, I don't know if youknow what it is.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Well, I know that New Mexico has the oldest average
age of farmers or allagricultural producers we have.
Of all the nation, we have thehighest ages.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
And I think if you were to look at the dairy
producer side, you probably havethe youngest group in New.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Mexico now, yeah Well , yeah, looking at your
leadership and all of that, thatmakes a lot of sense.
I think there has to be achange at some point and hope
that there's a next generationto take over Exactly.
Just hope for that.
Is there anything else you'dlike to add about your operation
?
Or the beef industry, or dairyindustries?
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Keep drinking your milk and keep eating your beef.
That's about all we could askfor.
I mean, there's a lot of cooloptions, like even our meeting
this morning.
We have 11 new countries thatare wanting US milk.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Indonesia being one of them.
Okay, the number onedairy-consuming country in the
world wants our milk, right?
They don't want New Zealand's.
The world, well, it's our milk.
Right, they don't want NewZealand's, they don't want
Europe's, they want Americanmilk.
Okay, so we have to.
I think there's 11 differentcountries that we're looking for
it.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah Well that's, that's good news for a
destination for the milk Cause.
We're really good at producingit.
We're too good at it, right.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Right it, we're too good at it, right, right.
I think that was said that lastnight.
Yes, yes, what's your, what'syour guys' biggest downfall is
like you know what we can?
We can make milk when we wantto.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Right, right.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Well, we can't add more animals, but we can
definitely use technology tohelp us make more milk more
efficiently.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yeah, absolutely Uh.
The more we learn about cowcare and and all of it and
genetics and everything, Well Ithink that's perfect.
So now, kind of my favoritequestion and the last question
to wrap it up what's yourfavorite way to eat beef, or
maybe a favorite recipe?
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Ooh, I'm a filet guy.
Okay, love a good filet.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
There you go, and what temperature, oh 125.
Oh, there you go.
Oh, specific right, I wasthinking like medium, medium,
rare, what you say?
No, just 125.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
All right, On the smoker hot as you can get it.
Finish it off in a cast ironwith a little butter.
You got the best of both worldsright there.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Delicious, delicious, Beef and dairy or dairy on beef
on that one.
Yeah, there you go there you goPerfect, perfect Well.
Thank you for what you do forthese organizations, thank you
for what you do to put healthymilk on the shelf and beef on
our plates, and thanks forjoining the podcast.
Absolutely Behind the Burger isa podcast produced by the New
(24:53):
Mexico Beef Council with thegoal of telling the stories of
the cattlemen and cattlewomen ofthe New Mexico beef industry.
Thank you for joining us fortoday's episode.
If you'd like more information,please visit nmbeefcom.
Whether it be a burger, a steakor another beef dish, we hope
you're enjoying beef at yournext meal.
Host
Carollann Romo
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