Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the
Growing Our Future podcast.
In this show, the Texas FFAFoundation will take on a
journey of exploration intoagricultural science, education,
leadership development andinsights from subject matter
experts and sponsors who providethe fuel to make dreams come
true.
Here's your host, AaronAlejandro.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, good morning,
good afternoon or good evening,
or whenever you may be tuning into the Growing Our Future
podcast.
Hey, listen, number one, wewant to say thank you for
stopping by.
You know time's the only thing.
We can't save it.
All we can do is spend it.
So the fact that you're willingto share a little of your time
with us, trust me, we're honored.
(00:50):
We're also honored because thisshow brings on some incredible
guests.
You know Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln used to say that thephilosophy of the school room in
one generation will be thephilosophy of government in the
next.
Now, let that sink in.
The will be the philosophy ofgovernment in the next.
Now, let that sink in.
The philosophy of theschoolroom in one generation
will be philosophy of governmentin the next.
(01:11):
So when I think about thefuture, I think about
agriculture and I tell people,if agriculture has taught me
anything, it's taught me this Ifyou want to know what the
future is, grow it.
Well, how do you grow it?
You got to plant the rightseeds, you got to nurture those
seeds and then you got toharvest it and share it with
others.
The reason I enjoy this show isbecause we get to bring on
incredible guests, guests thatshare their experiences, their
(01:36):
insights, their seeds ofgreatness that we can put in
place in our lives and sharewith others.
I am so excited for today'sguest y'all.
I got to tell you I'm going totry not to fanboy it here, but I
may fanboy it a little bitbecause I am in awe of this
man's career.
I'm inspired by his passion foragriculture and I'm taken by
(02:00):
his incredible heart for others.
Ladies and gentlemen, legendaryrodeo announcer, bob Tallman.
Bob, thank you for being withus today, thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Cowboy.
Thank you, I like it.
I love it, I love it.
You know I'm big on Jesus, bigon agriculture, big on America.
So God bless America and Godbless Texas and I know this will
go outside Sure Texas, and Iwas born and raised in Nevada,
(02:30):
nevada.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Nevada.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Nevada.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
And there's some
pictures behind me of my great
great uncle, 1903 in Denial,nevada.
He came, he raised horses foruh the cavalry in butte montana
and there was a uh scuffle so heleft with about 150 mares and
20 studs and 10 dogs 1600 miles.
(02:56):
He drove them horses to nevada.
I was raised in a place calledfour vada, nevada, 55 miles
outside of Winnemucca.
W-i-n-n-e-m-u-c-c-a stands forone moccasin, because Chief
Winnemucca is a Pied Indianchief there and he was in World
(03:16):
War I and he got his foot shotoff so he only had to wear one
moccasin.
Cool people, pied Indians, yousaid about raising kids in
agriculture.
We're ready to go.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Okay.
So before I get you wound up,let me ask you one question,
because every one of theseepisodes, every episode of the
Growing Our Future podcast, Iask all the guests the same
question.
I'm going to ask you thequestion.
You ready?
Here it is Bob Tallman.
What are you grateful for today?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Oh, life, life, God's
abundance.
Family, my family, my friends,we're in agriculture.
My grandkids now are seventhgeneration agriculture, blessed,
blessed, blessed, blessed.
As you well know, I'm not verytechnical and had help setting
(04:15):
up this podcast with you, withJordan Jo Hollibaugh, who does
all my social media stuff andshe's a pretty cool lady Mary
Doream and Hollibaugh rodeopeople and breakaway ropers and
horse people and so forth, butseven generations of us.
The next room, in the tack room, I've got brands that go back
to 1894 246, which was thecavalry brand for those horses
(04:37):
he raised in montana.
Je, my mom and dad's brand,three-quarter circle T and now
3T, our brand.
It's like Rodeo Houston,everybody's got a brand.
Okay, where I was raised, aaron,I went to a one-room
schoolhouse, no electricity,two-hole route house out in the
(05:00):
back, eight, nine, 10 kids everyyear, mostly girls, and when
the bus ran, ran, we went toschool and the teacher lived
with us and had eight grades andso if you're going to go on to
high school, you had to go towinnemore, mcdermott or
someplace like that.
I can remember as a kid, schoolgot out in April because we had
(05:30):
to take the cattle to themountain.
No fences, no fences.
15 ranches all put their cattletogether and went to the
mountain for the summer andschool didn't start till October
because after Labor Day by thetime you got all the cattle
separated and everything hadbeen branded in the spring and
you got your cattle home.
Kids had to go as a hand.
They paid them in those days $2a day to buckaroo Pretty good
(05:52):
deal.
But gas, if you could find it,cost 15 cents a gallon.
So I can remember I used tolove to go to the chicken yard
with my grandmother and we had,oh I mean probably 100 chicken,
around 500 head of sheep and 800head of cows, and I can
(06:15):
remember going in that chickenyard with a stick and drawing
pictures of pastures, corrals,places to work cattle, because
every place you build a set ofcrows on that ranch and those
other ranches always had a creekrunning through it so you had
water in it and the milk barn,milking barn, was right there.
Normally the slaughterhouse wasright over there.
(06:37):
Being in the beef businesstoday, I've been watching cattle
, lamb, hogs, deer, trout All mylife.
You lived off the land so Ididn't know the word agriculture
, had no clue about it.
Nobody ever talked aboutagriculture.
(06:58):
We talked about ranchinglivestock horses.
Everything we did was big horsem mules.
I hated them.
They were mean, they bite you,kick you, strike you, and we did
everything with sickle bar,mowers and dump breaks and my
mom drove them just likeeverybody else.
And so when we'd sit down atthe table there might be 15 men
(07:22):
me and my little sister thenshe's just a baby and my mom and
my grandmother and they wereswiss, italian came from the old
country to ellis island 1911and there they were in their
dresses.
My mom and my grandmotheralways wore dresses and they had
a rosary and they prayed whilethey cooked.
(07:42):
They prayed while they madecream, prayed while they make
butter.
It was just something that yougot used to in life, and
sometimes on Sundays mygrandmother would drive me to
Winnemucca 54 miles A lot of itwas a gravel road then church
where I was born, baptized,confirmed and married 54 years
(08:06):
ago now.
So the history in all of thatagriculture was not discussed
Wrenchy.
Then I moved to town.
My dad broke his back horsebucked him off and he broke his
back and he tried it for a yearin a body cast.
I remember cutting greenwillows and running them up and
down.
That back of his cast, couldn'ttake it.
(08:28):
No more.
He couldn't drive a team,couldn't run.
You know, put hay up with adairy.
So we moved to town.
We moved to town.
I joined 4-h.
We didn't have ffa, it's great,2,500 people.
Kirk day, my first 4-H leaderand he was, as you and I know,
thousands of them he was thehead of the agricultural
(08:51):
district in Humboldt County,nevada Changed my life.
I didn't know what recordkeeping was.
I didn't know what a recordbook was.
I didn't know what making aspeech in public was.
But being an old BSer now I wasa bsr as a kid got one fist
fight by accident, knocked a guyout with a cast ahead on a
(09:12):
broken arm.
So I wasn't a big guy, I was alittle kid.
But 4-h changed my life.
I did everything, everythingyou could do in 4-H, including
home ec.
Well, as time went on and I gotinto high school, I tried
football for three days.
That didn't work.
(09:32):
So I started to rope because Iwas raised doing that kind of
stuff and as I got ready thenlater to go to college, I went
to Cal Poly.
I was going to go to Sol Ross.
I had a girlfriend change mymind.
I went to Cal Poly San LuisObispo, california, for a year.
Yeah, what did?
(09:53):
I do when I got thereAgriculture I got the cap
contract, steer contract, tookcare of all of the livestock at
the Poly arena.
Worked in a feed mill on Mondaynights all night cleaning.
Worked in a feed mill on Mondaynights all night cleaning it so
we could have all the free feedpelletized that we wanted to
feed our cows and steers.
And on Tuesday nights we workedin Buelton, california, south
(10:14):
of Cal Poly, um, in a sale barnso we could buy all the killer
horses first and go to the anddo that kind of thing.
So agriculture took over and Ilearned, I think, in my early
days, about agriculture becauseevery pamphlet I looked at, read
, talked about or was lecturedby, had to do with agriculture,
(10:37):
didn't just say farming orranching, it said agriculture in
its entire sphere.
Pardon me for taking so long toget to all of that, but I mean
that was, you know, 20 years ofmy life and from that point on
until I came to Texas oh, by theway, I've been in FFA 45 years.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
You're a great
supporter, by the way, and we
appreciate you more than youwill ever know.
When you talked about what youwere grateful for your family,
your country I'm with you.
I love the fact that we havethis incredible liberty, and the
reason that we do that, bob,the reason we start every
podcast with that, is becauseyou know the great, you remember
(11:20):
the great Zig Ziglar, themotivational speaker.
Oh yes, his son, tom Ziglar, ison my board of directors.
And so Tom and I were talkingone day and he was up on the
East Coast and he was talking tothese kids and he asked them
this question.
He said how do you feel whenyou're grateful about things?
(11:40):
And the kid said well, you know, I feel good, I feel positive,
I feel hopeful, and he goesthrough all of these words and
emotions associated with theword grateful.
And then he asked him thisquestion.
He said what is the opposite ofgratitude?
And the room got quiet and thekids were thinking.
And finally he said and thekids were thinking, and finally
(12:07):
he said the opposite ofgratitude is entitlement.
And watch what happens to yourattitude.
Well, that's not fair.
That's mine, give that to me.
You go from a place of beinghopeful, optimistic and
visionary to a place of a littlebit of self-centeredness, a
little bit of negativity, alittle bit of anger, maybe even
(12:29):
some hatred.
So I think, when we can teachyoung people to that, bob Tomlin
, look at this.
This is an accomplished man.
I mean, he's a legend, I meanhe's.
There's no way we could giveyou all of his awards.
But what did he start off with?
Gratitude.
And so, bob, part of thesedialogues that we have on this
show and you're already doing it.
(12:49):
So, as you were telling yourstory, one of the things that I
like about bringing people onand letting them share their
story is you find all theselittle tidbits in their
testimonies, call them seeds ofgreatness.
And as you were sharing, youwere talking about that.
I sure hope people heard somethings, because I'm gonna tell
you what I heard.
Number one you were willing tosign up for something.
(13:13):
You stepped out on on a limb.
That limb was called 4-h.
You probably had to stir up alittle confidence to get up and
say something for the first time.
Let me tell you something lifeis that way we we've got to
sometimes.
You know one of the things thatI've confidence to get up and
say something for the first time.
Let me tell you something Lifeis that way We've got to
sometimes.
You know, one of the thingsthat I've written about, bob, is
I tell people life is like acalf scramble and there's a lot
(13:34):
of people don't even sign up.
And then those that sign up,when you show up, you better
chase, you better run and youbetter not quit running until
the final calf's caught.
But if you catch, that's whenthe real work begins.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
You bet.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Life's the same way.
There's some people I don'teven know if they really sign up
, and then there's some thatsign up but they don't hustle,
they don't run, and then somepeople chase their dreams and
they catch them, and that'swhere the work begins.
And your story that alreadywe're going to get into it more,
but your story already isalready an example of all that.
(14:11):
So that's why I like to startwith gratitude.
So thank you so much forsharing, you know, your faith,
your country, your family,because those are all things
that I'm grateful for as welland they make me hopeful.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Can.
I ask you a question.
Just let me make a statement.
Two things Sure.
Number one time is anon-renewable natural resource.
Once it's gone, you don't getit back.
So in that frame, be positive,be grateful, be leading for
somebody's career if it's notyour own.
(14:48):
The second thing is you don'tunderstand winning if you lose
the first time and you don't tryagain.
Know what a winner is.
Know what a winner is.
A winner is a person, a horse,turtle that becomes a winner
(15:15):
because they lost, they lost,they lost and they tried again.
Never give up.
Never give up and thegratefulness that we all need to
have.
That's how you earn grace fromour Lord and Savior Jesus.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Christ man, I'm
writing notes, because that was
really good that was good.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I think about it
every day you have this
incredible kickoff.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It sounds like you
learned some work ethic early on
.
You learned you know somethingelse that you said.
I wanted to mention this to youbecause this is a.
This is a little tip that I usewith the kids.
I don't necessarily personally,I don't like it.
When I get into discussions andthe kids will say the word ag,
they'll say the words ag,industry, and I always tell them
(16:01):
.
I said, let me tell yousomething.
Number one I don't know anyindustry, but I sure know a lot
of farmers and ranchers thatraise some good food, and so I
like to personalize it all theway down to farmers and ranchers
.
And here's the reason why whenyou use the word agriculture,
back in about 2017, they did asurvey of Americans.
Did you know that 79% ofAmericans did not know what
(16:24):
agriculture was?
I believe that Now, if you usethe word food, now get it.
So a lot of the times, what Ichallenge the kids with is, I
said, start a discussion bylet's talk about food, because
then it won't matter if it'ssushi or barbecue or steaks or
baked potato, but if we canstart with food, we can start
(16:44):
having a dialogue about wherethat food came from and that
food came from.
And that food came fromagriculture and it came from
farmers and ranchers who didexactly what you did as a young
man that put in the toil, sweatthe tears and lived a brand of
bringing a product to the table.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Have you ever cut
three, three or 400 trout in?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
one day no sir.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Where I was raised
the cricks would go dry.
The 4th of July, snowpacksprings, they just dry it.
And on that ranch we hadbeautiful, beautiful rainbow
trout.
And if you told somebody todaythat you ground sluiced a bunch
(17:33):
of quail they'd say well, that'snot right.
You'd say if you went down anirrigation ditch with one or two
gunny sacks and pushed themfish together and somebody was
coming the other way and youturned, somebody else got in the
middle of it and filled thosegunny sacks full of trout, some
of them might be six, eightinches, some of them were a foot
and a half.
(17:53):
Would that be poaching?
No, sir, that's conservation.
That is a part of agriculturethat doesn't happen anymore, and
so when I see things spill increeks and rivers and lakes and
you know, kill fish.
I'm big on fish, I like fish,but I like steak, I like mutton,
(18:14):
I like pork, I like everything.
You can tell by my waistline.
I got a lot of scar tissue here.
The thing with agriculture, I'mafraid today that 79% in 2017,
you said, I believe that waswhen it was taken.
I'm afraid, with the worldpopulation the way it is today,
(18:36):
and even here in the UnitedStates of America, that it might
be closer to 89% today.
That don't understand, becausewe don't represent it right,
often enough and meaningfulenough.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Yep, I agree with you
.
By the way, you know WayneGretzky, great hockey player,
and they asked Gretzky one time.
They said what makes you such agreat hockey player?
And he said most players scapedwhere the puck is.
I scaped where the puck isgoing.
Now, when you said what you didjust a second ago, Bob Tallman,
(19:09):
you said something really goodand that is where's the puck
going?
I can tell you where it's going.
It's going to a hungry world.
And to think that in the next25 years we're going to need 60
to 80% more food than we havetoday, there will not be 60 to
80% more land.
There will not be 60 to 80%more resources.
(19:31):
60 to 80% more land.
There will not be 60 to 80%more resources.
That means we're going to needthe brightest minds that we can
cultivate to pursue careers infood and agriculture and science
and technology, because thechallenges that this whole world
are going to face when peopleget desperate, they do desperate
(19:51):
things.
When countries get hungry andwe're very fortunate to live in
the United States, we're veryfortunate to live in a country
that has the natural resourcesthat if, to your point, we use
conservation and take care ofthem we have the capacity to not
only feed ourselves but to feeda lot of our friends around the
(20:12):
world.
But we're going to need youngpeople to step into those
leadership roles, to step up andsay I want to pursue this
career and learning how to builda bridge to get food over this
river, I want to learn how touse a drone to get food into
this other village and I want tolearn entomology where I can
help with the pest control.
(20:33):
I mean, it is so many things,but it's exciting to think about
all the opportunities that arecoming down the line for our
young people if they willconsider looking at a career in
agriculture and food.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
I'm glad you brought
up Wayne Gretzky.
I'm glad you brought up WayneGretzky.
I met him when he was 19 yearsold.
Oh wow, one of my dearest,dearest friends, michael Barnett
, played for Calgary Flames.
He used to go to Edmonton watchthe Oilers play.
I'm a hockey fan.
I met Gretzky in a restaurantwith Michael Barnett.
(21:11):
Michael Barnett built WayneGretzky in a restaurant with
Michael Barnett.
Michael Barnett built WayneGretzky.
Michael Barnett has built a lot.
I don't get to see him as oftenas I'd like to, but first time I
met Wayne Gretzky I looked athim and I went.
That skinny little kid what canhe do?
You know what he did.
He outsmarted him as a littlekid right here.
(21:34):
I had to be quicker and getthere sooner because I wasn't
big enough to outrun the bigones.
You know what gretzky did.
He saw where his shot was goingto go and he let his feet carry
his butt so that he can standthat shot.
But he played beyond that shot.
This is not the first quoteI've heard that you just gave me
(21:54):
about him.
As another point, you'retalking about we as a society in
agriculture am I still correct,because I'm on a lot of
different television shows andradio podcasts and so forth.
I still say that less than 2%of us in agriculture raise the
food for the 98%.
Am I fairly correct still?
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
And I'm not so sure
that 20 years ago you didn't
give me those numbers.
You've given me a great lead inso much of this, aaron, as
we've done it With.
That said, we need to teachsomething besides agriculture.
I'll get back to that in amoment.
We need to teach peopleagriculture.
I'll get back to that in amoment.
We need to teach people theaverage consumer about waste.
(22:38):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Portion portion serving cleanyour plate.
Portion serving waste.
Have you been in a restaurantlately?
You watch what those waiterspick off the tables.
There is enough food in arestaurant.
Pick the one you want.
(22:58):
Every night at midnight it goesin a dumpster.
I used to slop hogs so I knowhow that works because we went
to restaurants and grocerystores and heads of lettuce
threw them in a garbage truckand slopped dogs with a guy
named Pete Pedroli when I was akid.
No waste.
But today we waste and that allgoes to a landfill or something
(23:20):
somewhere.
We've got to quit wasting.
We've got to learn to produceon 10 acres what we used to
produce on 100.
We need to think about water on100.
We need to think about water.
Water conservation is the numberone thing in my mind in the
real estate business today andin the ranching business,
livestock business, agriculturebusiness that if we don't start
(23:41):
conserving our water because oursnow packs less and our runoff
is less, we waste water byletting it run in different
directions to where it does nogood.
And if we learn how I've got alittle place here.
Have you ever been to my house?
Well, we manage with leaseplaces about 800 acres and I
(24:06):
have a little D5 Caterpillar.
Now this is going to kick yourbottom.
You know how I shoot grade?
Watch this.
My grandfather was an engineer.
This is how I shoot grade Righthere, this pencil.
So you take this and you eitherfocus where you want to go which
(24:28):
way do you want to move thatwater this way or this way and
then you find a way to go andyou find out what you're going
to do to do this, or come backand do this looky there all it
is.
Well, I packed a stick for mygrandpa as a kid.
I've done a lot of things I Ijust thought about this.
(24:48):
But catching rainwater and Iwas in a continuing education
class the other day in realestate that just really brought
it to a head that we catchrainwater and it's the purest
form of water that you can have,full of nitrogen, awesome,
(25:08):
clean.
And what do we do with it?
We let it run out on the ground.
If you learn how, as ahydrologist will teach you how
to collect it, use it.
Water, cattle water, gardenwater, yard water, your house
there's so many things.
Be careful about waste.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
That's the end result
of cooking and producing food,
but you better don't waste yournatural resources going into
making you know, bob, one of thethings that you said and I know
we probably have talked aboutthis over the years.
I live in North Texas, I livein Wichita Falls and we were on
the verge.
(25:49):
Our city was on the verge ofbecoming the first major MSA
ghost city in the state of Texas.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Really, I didn't know
that.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
During the drought,
our three combined lake levels
three combined lake levels wasdown to 17%.
The Texas FFA officers happenedto be traveling through Wichita
Falls one day and I said I'dlike to take you all on a little
field trip and I drove them outin the country, out to a little
rural bridge.
We went across the bridge, weparked and I said follow me.
(26:20):
And we started walking and wewalked, and we walked and we
walked and I looked at these twoyoung men.
I said I want you to lookaround you right now.
They said where are we?
I, these two young men.
I said I want you to look aroundyou right now.
They said where are we?
I said you're walking on thebottom of a lake and I want you
to look at the ground.
I want you to look at thecracks in the ground.
And I want you to look aroundbecause in my lifetime I've
(26:41):
heard people talk about droughtsbut I'd never experienced one.
And I said I want y'all to lookaround as far as your eye can
see that there is no water.
How much water is it going totake to fill this lake back up?
And when?
You understand just to yourpoint, bob, how precious our
resources are.
That's why we love working withTexas Soil and Water
(27:04):
Conservation.
Matter of fact, rex Isom, theirexecutive director, is on our
board of directors.
We work with American WaterWorks Daniel Nix, their new
executive director, is a formerFFA member.
We work with Ducks Unlimited,another great conservation group
, which is working withCertified Angus Beef, which is
(27:26):
another collaboration onconservation, because, you said
it a while ago, we're going tohave to manage this land that
we've got.
We've got to manage this water,because people are going to get
hungry and we need people thatare smart, that can stand up and
say let me help figure this out, let me be part of the solution
(27:46):
here, and I think that our 4-Hand our FFA kids I have a
feeling they're the ones thatcan stand up and lead this
opportunity that's going to bepresented them are some pretty
heavy names.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
You just dropped the
people of what they're doing and
where they came from.
Sometimes I get preached backat for preaching.
I am ordained, by the way, Ihave a license, okay, and I have
(28:25):
a God gift on this property.
It's a hand-dug well.
It's 512 feet from the countyroad, hand-dug 21 feet.
Down in a hand-dug well is 25feet of water.
We've pumped it twice with afull horse pump for 24 hours and
(28:47):
reduced it maybe an inch.
It's above the Paluxy.
It's groundwater.
It's as clear, clean and safeto drink as you could have.
I don't use it.
There's an old windmill on it.
We shut it down and just let itturn because it's fun to listen
to in the wind.
If it ever comes going tofollow what t boone pickens said
(29:09):
, the day's going to come that agallon of water will be worth
more than a barrel of oil.
The day comes, I'll put a solarpump on that front of pipeline.
Out there, that street, tellpeople it's free, god gave it to
me.
It's free, god gave it to me.
It's my right and deservency togive to them.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I'm going to tell you
when we were in that situation
here in our community so I'veexperienced it you realize just
how precious that resource isover in some of the arid land
(29:48):
over in the Mideast thatactually the billboard has
porous holes in it and capturesthe moisture out of the
atmosphere.
I mean you have to tryeverything you can to grab that
resource while you have theopportunity.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
I don't know what you
know about wind or solar energy
In the real estate business.
My partner, phil Sanders, and Ihave got quite into the
development for clients in solarenergy and people say, well,
there's miles and miles of solarpanels, yep sun, second,
(30:22):
condensation, third, rain whenit rains.
And where does that water goonto the ground?
Capture, making solar panels.
Now that capture that water ina trough, goes into a tube,
tubes go into big pipes, pipesgo into big rivers.
It's picked up, you can turn itaround.
It's amazing.
(30:43):
Well, you take 12 sections ofground, 9,600 acres, and you
cover it up with solar panelsand you catch that much
condensation.
You can build a lake in a dayin a drought.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Now you know where my
next love of life is.
I'm 76 years old.
Okay, I'm only going to live tobe 101.
And then I'm going to figureout what I'm going to do in the
next quarter century, and itwill be in agriculture, okay.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
We're going to.
We've got to change topics oryou and I.
I knew this was going to happen.
I just knew when we got on thephone we were just going to
start and just go down thisagricultural path.
I want to switch back over toyour career real quick.
Okay, earned it.
(31:40):
But I'm curious for some of ouryounger listeners that may not
know Bob Tallman's story how didyou find your way into this
rodeo announcer space and howdid that start lend itself into
a career?
Can you take us on a real quickjourney of what that looked
like?
Speaker 3 (31:58):
No, it's only been 55
years.
I don't know how quick I canget through it, but here's the
deal.
I knew as a kid that I wantedto be a cowboy.
When I was four or five yearsold, my dad took my mom to
Elkville, nevada, to see CaseyTibbs ride a bucking horse.
And I knew that day when he metmy mother, he took his hat off,
(32:21):
shook her hand, kissed her handhand, shook hands with my dad.
I said, dang, that's a prettycool dude.
It's still just bright in mymind.
So I wanted to be a cowboy.
Well, it wasn't very big.
When I started high school Iwas five foot one weighed 105
(32:42):
pounds.
That's when I played football.
Three days All my friendsweighed 150, 200, beat me up.
So that didn't work.
But when I graduated from highschool I said six one weighed
135.
Still not big enough to doanything.
(33:05):
In that time frame I tried toride bucking horses, bulls, rope
calves, team rope, even triedbarrel racing.
Didn't have a good horse, butwhat I could do as an individual
and if I didn't win I didn'thave a team that lost and the
coach would make me run 30 lapsaround a football field I knew
that I had to try again.
Get a better horse, get bettercattle, try harder.
(33:27):
I did not know that I wanted tobe a rodeo announcer, except I
loved telling stories.
So I team roped with an oldgentleman.
His name was Vern Ryan, helived south of Winnemucca there
and he was a rodeo announcer andhe had four great big
university horns and these 50pound drivers and a bunch of
(33:49):
cables and a little 45 recordplayer and a microphone.
So when I started I had a $26Windsor mic, four great big
horns heavy big old drivers.
I mounted them on two by twelves, put them on the, but twelves
Put them on the hood of my truck.
(34:09):
My wife and I programmed eighttrack carts.
Because you didn't, it shoots,it moves and it ruins your music
.
I practiced and I practiced.
I also was still trying to ridebugging horses and rode.
They would have to hold thatfor me after the rodeo.
Well, about two months intothat, I said my God, I'm beat up
(34:30):
, I'm sore.
All the money I made announcingrodeo I had to pay over here
for this.
I said there's got to be abetter deal.
My wife said, yeah, you need toquit that crap.
Remember now she'd beentraining on me 54 years.
Remember now, she'd beentraining on me 54 years.
(34:54):
So today I did what you should.
I think I went through theright sequence of career living
in nevada I went to idaho,oregon, never did go to
california, utah, and nevada's abig state so I had plenty of
work that I could go out and getand I didn't know if I was
making enough money.
But the first rodeo I everannounced, the guy gave me a
hundred dollars a perk.
I said, whoa, there'll never beanother poor day.
(35:16):
We're going to filet mignon.
So much for them hamburgers.
Well, if my mom and dad hadn'tsupported me and us and all the
rest of it, I I'd have nevermade it.
And my dad had a splitpersonality about that.
He wanted me to stay inbusiness with him.
My mom got tired of listeningto him yell at me and she said
(35:37):
you need to go over here and dothis.
And the guy that reallyconvinced me was my
father-in-law, harris Goodrich.
He said you'll never know ifyou don't try.
And he said you'll never failif you don't try and you'll
never make it at whatever levelyou want to go to if you don't
(35:59):
persist and push.
So, just like we try to teachthese kids for a career, the
earlier we start on them, thebetter off we are.
Well, I've been very blessedbetween the accolades and the
halls of fame and Denver, fortWorth, houston, san Antonio
(36:23):
Think about it Reno and theCalgary Stampede for 40 years
and I have been from SanFrancisco in the Cal Palace,
caltown, new Jersey.
I've been from Seattle in theWorld's Fair with Larry Mayhem
to Miami.
I've been to Australia threedifferent times Medmonton,
alberta to now if I may pattheir chest the Houston
(36:43):
Livestock Show and Rodeo, theultimate, the biggest every time
I drive by that gate where youand I did that interview that
day I look up at nrg stadium andI go.
Aaron alejandro and I did a bigtv show right there.
I think about it every day.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I drive by boy, we
didn't know what was coming that
day.
That we did that did we?
That was right before covid hitus and yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:06):
So as far as a career
, how many people want to do
what they don't really know thatthey need to go?
Do?
I had so much support bob cook,jack roddy and jack sperrick
when it all started.
In those days I can go back tocorky prunny diamond day rodeo
company in elko, nevada,jarbridge prior to that, and
(37:28):
then cotton rosser and then mikeservey.
Mike servey opened my big doors, took me to phoenix to the jc's
rodeo one time.
The next year I'm at denver.
Two years later I'm at Houstonand I'd branch off and go here
and I'd branch off and go thereIn 1983, I did 303 performances
(37:54):
in one year and 365 days.
But think about it, we had a lotof double days, unbelievable.
But we also had the GreatAmerican.
Now I want to give you a littlemedia here.
But we also had the greatamerican.
Now I'm going to give you alittle media here.
The great american cowboy radioshow, second only to paul
harvey, 454 stations at its max.
The great american farmer,sponsored by con agra, coors,
(38:18):
dodge, mango, jeans all thepeople that sponsor me still
today.
Some of them are 50 years old.
Wow, those, those two radioshows lasted 18 years.
I did them in australia, I didthem in mexico, I did them on
the east coast and I've stillgot a bunch of those.
I ought to give you some ofthose old tapes just for you to
(38:39):
listen, I'd love it.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Let me tell you I'm a
history buff.
I'd love that.
Let me tell you I'm a historybuff, I'd love that.
And because I know you, I'd behonored to know more about your
personal journey and what it waslike.
So, bob, real quick we got tostart wrapping up.
But I want to ask you somethingbecause you said something one
time that I've never forgot.
It's tough out there for ourteachers right now.
(39:05):
It's really tough and they'renever going to hear thank you
enough.
They're never going to hear weappreciate you enough.
And you know ag teachers are alittle bit different than you
know some of the other teachersbecause you know you know math,
science, history.
You know some of your basics.
(39:26):
You know some of the otherteachers because you know you
know math, science, history.
You know some of your basics.
You know you go from eight tofour and you're pretty much done
in the summertime.
You're pretty much done.
But ag teachers they're thereearly in the mornings to help
train teams.
They're there late in theafternoon training teams and
they have to go check onprojects.
And they got to go round upprojects for lambs and sheep and
you know, and goats and pigsand steers and heifers and dairy
(39:47):
and whatever else it may be.
And then they got the allsummer long They've got to go to
the FFA convention and theteachers conference and
leadership camps and they got.
We don't get to tell them thankyou enough and I heard you
speak at the Live Like Johnny.
You were the emcee at the LiveLike Johnny kickoff and I never
(40:08):
forgot your words and I want youto share some words of
encouragement.
But you said that an agteacher's name on the lips of a
child is almost like God.
Yeah, and it was your way ofsharing your appreciation to
those teachers.
And would you mind just sharinga little bit of word of
encouragement to our educatorsthat are listening to this?
Speaker 3 (40:31):
I'd like to talk to
some high school kids that are
thinking about getting into somekind of agricultural training
in college or tech schools tothink about graduating with a
teacher's degree to become an agteacher.
They normally go hand in handwith a county agent.
They normally work with countysupervisors and you know county
(40:51):
commissioners.
So they have broader.
They're not nothing againstEnglish teachers and I'll get to
that but they have a broaderspectrum of life and
appreciation for what theyrepresent and who they're
teaching.
I have a 16-year-old grandsonwho's been very blessed to win a
fair amount in the team ropingworld.
One day we're sitting outsideand he's coming out of the ag
(41:15):
building at Peaster High School.
I said how come you didn't comeout with all them other kids up
there?
He said I needed to talk to myag teacher.
All them other kids up there.
He said I needed to talk to myag teacher.
I said how come you in trouble?
No, he said you know we getgoing so fast with this team
open, this high school rodeostuff, all this junior
(41:36):
competition.
He said if you go talk to abasketball or football coach,
he's going to push you to goharder.
He said I went to talk to my agteacher and he said you know
what?
He told him sometimes you gotto slow down, to go faster.
Why?
Because that man's life.
99 of them are married, 99, 98of them, 90% of them, have been
(42:06):
in the job, not because itdoesn't pay that good, but
because they love their careerbase.
And 100% of them will have lifeleft over and they might want
to do something else in a career.
Now to teachers in general.
I've gotten in trouble a timeor two that I've always
(42:30):
supported teachers andveterinarians.
You know why Veterinarians andteachers have a lot in common.
Think about this when you'recoaching, when you're teaching a
five-year-old in preschool,they can't communicate.
When you're a veterinarian andyou're working on your animal,
(42:51):
they can't communicate.
So what do you have to do?
You have to think for them,feel for them, teach them, make
sure that the end moment thatyou leave them that they feel
better than when you got there.
Teachers today, you're exactlyright here.
Nice to see you, mrs Smith.
Thank you, mr Johnson.
Geez, I'm glad you're my teacherand in our classrooms today,
(43:15):
except in the country schoolareas, we've got some big that
they don't control them.
I think politics controls themis to run them through, teach
them, get them on, get them pastthe star test, act test,
whatever all the tests they take, and get them on into life.
Wrong, you're doing them adisfavor In the ag world with ag
(43:38):
teachers.
And then you can go on with ourFFA kids into college and I to
go back and think about the $27million we just gave at Houston.
And it's not all about farmkids, rural kids, it's
engineering, it's art, it'smusic, it's, I mean, behavioral
(44:00):
sciences.
Those scholarships are soimportant to give those kids a
chance.
But it came from where thehouston livestock show and rodeo
, the fort worth livestock showand rodeo, austin.
You know san angelo, just gosan antonio and so many people
outside our texas borders go.
You people just manufacturemoney down there like it's paper
(44:22):
.
I said, yeah, we do.
Yeah, and you know what we do.
We educate our children and Iwill stand up and fly my flag
for agricultural opportunities.
So if you put all of this lasthour sorry, you said 30 minutes,
you put all this in the lasthour and you think about it, if
(44:45):
we don't educate and help ourteachers, if we don't feed our
people better food, if we don'tgive our chance, our kids a
chance, to lose so they knowwhat it is to be a winner, and
if we don't give grace, thegrace we receive the credit back
to jesus christ, we're done.
Buddy, as a society and I knowyou and I in Wichita Falls are
only an hour and a half apart weain't done.
Speaker 2 (45:07):
Thank you, wow, bob,
your words, your wisdom, your
expertise, your insights, yourwillingness to share your
encouragement.
There's so many things herethat I could say, but I guess
the easiest way to do it is justsay thank you, thank you.
(45:29):
Thank you for taking time tocome on the show.
You and I have been trying toget this scheduled for a while,
and it's the reality of theworld that you live in and we
honor that.
We appreciate that and we needyou to keep doing what you're
doing.
You're not only a voice, bob,for agriculture, for farmers and
ranchers, but so many peopleyou know.
(45:50):
I've told Red Stieg all thistoo.
Red and I have talked about this.
He's such a good man, but Itold Red I said the reason I
appreciate so much about whatyou and Bob Tallman do is
because y'all also havelisteners that don't come from
our ranks, and so what you'redoing is you're using your voice
to help them understand andappreciate where some of that
(46:12):
comes from and to encourage themto support the kids that are
coming in our footsteps, and so,anyway, we could go on about
that.
I just wanted to say thank you.
Hey, okay, so you get one funquestion and I'm changing yours
up a little bit.
I've been thinking about whatdo I want to ask Bob Tallman,
Every guest gets one last funquestion, and so here's my
(46:35):
question for you If they were tomake a movie about Bob Tallman,
who would play Bob Tallman?
Speaker 3 (46:49):
Interesting, somebody
that loves the Lord, kids and
grass, somebody that understandsyou get one glass in life and
it's half full.
It's your job to fill it up andthen learn how to share it.
Can I get back to you on thatone?
(47:12):
I'm not sure.
I always wanted to meet Elvis,missed him.
Always wanted to meet JohnWayne and missed him.
And after that and lifestylechanges, when you reach six
(47:32):
million people a week in onefashion form or another, it's
not about me, it's all about him.
And it's not about the hurtfulthings in life, because that's
all the news is anymore.
It's about trying to makesomething positive.
I'm going to find the guy thatI would want to play me, but I'd
(47:53):
rather have them spend theirresources on a wake that is too
funny.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
You know when they
made the movie about our mutual
friend mr walrath.
Speaker 3 (48:03):
There's a yes there.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
There's a scene in
there where I've got just a
moment there with Val Kilmer andall the actors and everything,
and I always jokingly tell themthey were looking for a Texas
Danny DeVito, so that's why Igot the job.
So anyway, Bob, thank you so?
Speaker 3 (48:23):
much.
Speaker 2 (48:25):
What a man, what a
giver.
Your words today.
I want to wrap up with this.
So, again, this is the podcastGrowing Our Future.
If you want to know what thefuture is, grow it.
We got to plant those rightseeds and, Bob, I don't know how
many times today you've saidwhat I'm about to say, but
around the foundation shop,around the programs that we
(48:47):
operate, we have a saying.
It goes like this the essenceof leadership is to plant trees
under whose shade you may neversit.
There's going to be some mightyoaks one day.
Bob Tallman, because of yourencouragement, because of your
(49:07):
support and because of thethings that you've done, the
catalyst that you've served togreat programs, and.
I just want you to know assomebody who admires you.
Thank you, and thank you fortaking time to be on our podcast
.
Speaker 3 (49:24):
Thank you all.
God bless America and God blessTexas.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
And so, until we meet
again, everybody go out and do
something great for somebody.
Go out, listen, trust me,you're going to feel good about
it.
And guess what, when you do it,it just makes our homes, our
community, our state and countrya better place to live, work
and raise our family.
Until we meet again, everybodybe safe.
Thank you for stopping by.
Speaker 1 (49:51):
Welcome to the
Growing Our Future podcast.
In this show, the Texas FFAFoundation will take on a
journey of exploration intoagricultural science, education,
leadership development andinsights from subject matter
experts and sponsors who providethe fuel to make dreams come
true.
Here's your host, ErinAlejandro.