#59 - Josh Mueller & Charly Cummings, Calf Marketing Decisions

Josh Mueller and Charly Cummings both work with Superior Livestock Auction.

Josh and his wife, Macey, also operate Eldorado Livestock Auction, plus farm and ranch with their family near Halstead, KS.

Charly is an auctioneer, real estate agent, and partners on his family's diversified hay and livestock operation near Yates Center, KS.

On this episode, we cover decisions that producers should consider when they decide how best to merchandise their calves and yearlings this fall. We cover some market trends and even get into the need for producers to join their industry organizations to help make better decisions and represent all producers.

El Dorado Livestock Auction, Inc.
Superior Livestock Auction – The leader in Livestock Marketing

Episode Transcript

Matt (00:05):
Thanks for joining us for episode 59 of practically
ranching.
I'm your host, Matt Perrier.
As always the podcast issponsored by Dalebnks Angus,
Eureka, Kansas...
the home of practical,profitable genetics.
For those of you keeping closetabs, we are a week late for

(00:25):
this, our last episode of seasonfour.
Between a guest cancellationearlier in the month, wheat
harvest, cover crop planning,updates to our bull development
yard, hay season...
I just flat couldn't get it donethe last week or two.
But I'm hopefully making up forit with this, an in-person
episode with two of my friendsand industry partners.

(00:49):
Mr.
Josh Mueller and Mr.
Charly Cummings.
I let these guys introducethemselves right off the bat.
So I'm not going to steal theirthunder.
But in short, they both workwith superior livestock.
Plus Josh operates Eldoradolivestock auction.
And Charly is of course, anauctioneer and real estate
agent.
To me, they're both unique inthat, although they are heavily

(01:14):
involved with superior, theyalso work with more conventional
livestock marketing and evenseedstock marketing in Charlie's
case.
And as our customers know,Charlie now sells are bull sale,
plus, he helps us on a number offronts when it comes to helping
market and merchandise, both ourand our customers cattle.
In addition, both he and Joshhave countless side gigs in the

(01:39):
farm and ranch production sideof things.
So when it came time to put anepisode together on today's
topic, calf marketing.
It was fitting to bring thesetwo guys who each live 30 miles
in either direction from myplace over to our bull marketing
facility and sit down for a funin-person conversation.

(02:01):
Since we had Charlie, we alsogot his professional mikes and
soundboard, which are asignificant step up from my
normal equipment.
Unfortunately.
Um, yours truly didn't know howto use his mic correctly, so I
may sound a little distant, butyou'll be able to hear the other
two guys clearly.

(02:22):
And they're the important onesanyways.
So it's a better deal foreverybody.
We'll talk about it toward theend of the episode, but in
addition to Josh and Charlie'swide array of involvement and
their insight into the marketingand really all segments of the
industry.
I appreciate these guys'willingness to be involved in
leadership and to stand up andbe counted when it comes time to

(02:46):
take some stands on some issues,you know?
These days it's, it's not alwayseasy and it's rarely popular to
give of our time, back to ourindustry and check off or
Cattleman's associationleadership positions.
But these guys do that here.
Many in the marketing segmentare fairly hesitant to do that,

(03:08):
and for good reason, they needeverybody to like them and want
to do business with them.
But these guys have a goodvision, I think, for where our
industry's headed.
They're willing to consider thesteps we need producers to take
in order to be profitable alongthat path.
And they, aren't afraid to letus know what they believe and,
um, ways that they think canhelp us get there.

(03:31):
So I appreciate you tuning in.
God, bless each and every one ofyou and enjoy this conversation
with Josh Mueller and CharlieCummings.
Well, this one could be a lot offun or a complete disaster.
I'm not sure which because forthe first time in Practically
Ranching history, we areactually Live sitting in the

(03:54):
same room and recording apodcast.
I tried this once before and itwas a complete flop.
So hopefully you guys will be mylucky rabbit's foot here.
I have with me Charly Cummings,Yates Center, Kansas.
And Josh Mueller, Halstead,Kansas.
Eldorado as well.
Um, And we're going to talk alittle today about feeder cattle

(04:17):
marketing, calf marketing.
I don't think that anybodyneeds, Much of an introduction
for these two guys, but I am,for the first time, I am
breaking my rule that I've toldfolks that I wasn't going to
recycle guests.
And I guess after two years,almost two years of the day,
Charlie, you're coming backaround.
So I'll let you go first andthen we'll turn over to Josh.

(04:38):
What have you been up to?

Charly (04:39):
Well, thanks so much for, uh, yeah, the invite back.
And, uh, it's truly an honor tobe on the podcast and, uh, uh,
I've thrown your podcast atmany, many listeners and, uh,
that is, it's absolutelyawesome.
And for those of you listeningfor the first time, catch up
because a lot of, a lot of greatepisodes.
So I live over at Yates Center,It's just about 30 miles from

(05:00):
here.
find myself, uh, on a daily.
Task of taking care of cattleand ranching is what's deep
rooted in my heart, and that'swhat I love to do.
But, uh, also, most peopleprobably know me as an
auctioneer.
And, uh, so, in 2011, won theWorld Livestock Auctioneering
Contest, and, uh, went to workfor Superior Livestock, and, uh,

(05:20):
since then have, uh, been anauctioneer.
Been fortunate enough to find myway and path into the real
estate world and sell lots ofreal estate as well as, uh, one
of the most enjoyments andprobably is what's, uh, brought
you and I closer as friends is,uh, the purebred world and, uh,
selling lots of purebred salesand, uh, really enjoy that venue
as well.
I've got a great wife at homeof, uh, 23 years, uh, this past

(05:43):
week.
So that's exciting.
And, uh, yeah, exactly.
We got, uh, Got a son that's 19and he's went to welding school
and he's home now for, uh,haying season.
We, my brother puts up a pile ofprairie hay, so we help with
that as well.
Uh, have a daughter that's goingto be a sophomore in high school
and, uh, she lives, sleeps andeats with a volleyball.

(06:05):
So that's a good thing as wellat that age.
So I'll, uh, I'll kick it toJosh.

Josh (06:10):
Do we have any time left, Matt?
Yeah.
Okay.
Just making sure.
Along those same lines, uh,appreciate the invite.
Uh, it's good to be here.
I've always kind of admired whatyou've done here the last couple
of years.
And, and it's good just to beamong friends here and talk
shop.

(06:30):
So I guess my history a littlebit, I've been kind of all over.
So, uh, Josh Mueller, onceagain, if, if you don't know me,
Uh, originally from Halstead,Kansas.
Uh, and that's where I live and,and farm and ranch with our
family.
Uh, be fourth generation rightthere where we're at.
And so we're, we're proud ofthat.
My wife, Macy, and I and, uh,four kids all together.

(06:55):
Got Conway, he's 12.
going on 17 and uh, he lives,eats, sleeps, breathes with a
basketball.
So he does that all summer, allwinter.
Um, and then we stepped down anotch and there's Raleigh who is
going to be eight, um, startingto get into it a little bit,

(07:16):
wants to be horseback all thetime.
And, uh, Then there's Gigi,that's, she's gonna be six in
September, and if you've evermet Gigi, or ever meet her in
Crossing Paths, you will notforget her.
And then, uh, Coral, ouryoungest, she, she just turned
four in March.

(07:36):
And so a lot of little feet,hands running around, um,
graduated from K state, no one,um, spent a little time in the
feed yards.
Um, there was, I tell this storysometimes there was always only
two things I ever wanted to begrowing up.

(07:58):
And one, I told my dad when Iwas in eighth grade that I was
going to play professionalfootball and I wasn't going to
go to college.
I was just going to get draftedout of high school.
We all, yeah, yeah.
And, uh, and an order buyer.
And, uh, I remember my dad tookme sales when I was young and,

(08:18):
and, uh, would get me out ofschool and we'd go to the sale
barn and, uh, it was somethingthat just.
Stuck with me forever.
And I just remember going to thesale and man, I'd get mad if my
dad didn't buy anything.
And I can remember trying tograb his hand and hold it up in
the air.
So, you know,

Matt (08:36):
auctioneers love guys like, yeah,

Josh (08:38):
absolutely one of those guys.
Yeah, I can, uh, I can not standto, uh, not participate in a
good auction anyway.
And then, so, yeah, started withsuperior in 2003, uh, it's a
little over 20 years now alreadyin that business and, uh, have

(09:00):
been fairly successful there.
And along with that started anorder buying business about the
same time.
and then decided we wanted tospread our wings a little
further and took over EldoradoLivestock, uh, in January of 19,
it's going to be, we're five anda half years now at ELA.

(09:24):
So, you know, I feel like we, weare all things cattle.
We, we farm and ranch some athome, but, uh, pretty much
involved in, in every aspect,uh, of the industry outside of,
you don't do a whole lot in apurebred business, but, uh, know
a lot of folks, includingyourself and, and, uh, We don't

(09:46):
dip into that too much, but, uh,everything else is pretty much
fair game.

Matt (09:50):
Awesome.
Awesome.
Well, this, uh, thisconversation kind of came as a
result of Charlie and I on alittle road trip week and a half
ago down to Oklahoma city tolivestock marketing associations
annual meetings, where.
Each of us were on two differentpanels and I've gotten a couple
calls from customers of oursjust toeing the water trying to

(10:11):
figure out how best to marketcalves, when to market calves,
different programs, things likethat.
And I was just talking toCharlie about it and I, as you
know, Seems to be the case nowthat I'm a big podcaster.
It seems like every goodconversation about halfway
through, I'm like, stop, stop,stop, this is going to make a
great podcast.
So let's not, let's not ruin it.

(10:32):
Um, and so as we got to talking,um, Charlie said, you know, Josh
may have a little something toadd on this too.
And so, um, that.
Coupled with the fact that it'sa hundred and some degrees
outside this afternoon.
It wasn't that difficult to getyou to sit down conditioning and
do something besides video andcattle or cleaning ponds or

(10:55):
fixing dams or whatever it else,building feed yards or whatever
we three were supposed to bedoing this afternoon.
So I appreciate you being here.
So Josh, speaking of hot.
Uh, you had a little auction aweek ago that I would say.
Was about 112 degree heat indexthere to tell us about your both

(11:19):
video and live sale you hadthere at Eldorado last Thursday.

Josh (11:23):
Absolutely.
It's good timing, Matt.
so last week we were fortunateenough, Charlie and I've been
talking about for the lastcouple of years.
I don't know what it's beeneight, 10 years ago.
Superior started this, uh, tallgrass yearling sale to feature
the Flint Hills and had it forseveral years in Emporia.
Um, just at the, uh, pavilionthere.

(11:46):
And then I think they went toPawhuska one year.
but Charlie and I had talkedabout, you know, I'll just have
it there at the salebarn.
And, and finally.
You know, explain our ideas and,and got superior to bring the
sale to our place there lastweek.
Uh, had a little over 11, 000 orright out 11, 000 cattle on

(12:07):
superiors video, um, it mainlyfeaturing the Flint Hills and
some of the Osage country,there's a few lots from Texas
and whatnot, and we're nevergoing to turn anybody down, but,
uh, featuring the Flint Hills.
Had a lot of cattle that wouldship anywhere from immediately
to first part of August, evenfirst of September.

(12:28):
Uh, and it just took off fromthere.
Um, had a phenomenal sale.
I mean, selling 950 pound steersfor 260.
if you can fathom that or runthe figures there.
And then, um, to go along withit, And it just happened to be
our sale day on Thursday also.

(12:49):
So we featured a special, uh,calf and feeder sale at our
barn.
We had right at 2, 500 cattle atthe barn.
Uh, so we had lunch,transitioned over to the live
sale.
And never skipped a beat.
We started with load lots of, offeeders.
Uh, we had right around 25 loadsof, of feeders, heifers and

(13:09):
steers, uh, weighing in thesixes all the way up to over a
thousand and, um,, featured areally nice consignment of home
raised black steers.
Uh, there was 300 in some ofthem.
And never fell off.
I think we sold two loads,weighed like 936 or something
like that for 260 and a quarter,sold two loads of bigger

(13:32):
brothers.
They weighed, they weighed 1030something, I think, for, uh, 245
or yeah, and in the calf market,I'm telling you what you, you
know, and myself included.
I'll just be honest.
I do not like starting calvesor, you know, even weaned calves

(13:54):
in June and July with the heatand the humidity.
Um, Most of the calves that wehad were weaned, you know, fall
calves that had been weaned 60days plus.
And it made a difference, youknow, they were pretty much all
on a program.
But then, all the way throughthe entire sale, I mean, we had
one set from Yates Center.
Usually weans them, sells themthe end of the summer.

(14:15):
Decided, you know, with themarket, I'm just gonna bring
them to town.
We sold a package of his heifercalves, two rounds of shots off
the cow, weighed 485, bring 342.
And, and that was towards theend of the sale.
So yeah, it was, it was a greatday.
You know, obviously the marketbeing where it's at helped, uh,

(14:37):
but we had a really good crowd,had a nice lunch.
Uh, I think it was a funexperience.
I've had a lot of comments frompeople just in our part of the
world here that had never beento a video.
And even though that's kind of asmall version of what Superior
does, uh, they really appreciateit being there and being able to
come watch.
And so it was, it was a goodtime.

Matt (14:55):
Cool thing about it to me is, and I didn't get to go over.
I was cutting wheat and plantingcover crop and bailing straw and
everything else.
It had been a lot more fun to beover there.
But, uh, the cool thing to me asI read about it and saw your
Facebook, report was it was kindof full circle for superior.
I mean, and especially forsomebody like you, um, I think

(15:17):
growing up when I startedhearing about the superior
video, that was a novel ideathat these cattle actually
weren't going to come to town.
They were going to stay in thecountry, but still be sold in an
auction type format, either fornear or even far out delivery.
Um, and it was a hard conceptfor me to, to get accustomed to
and you all as well.

(15:38):
And.
Now, the fact that you can doboth and do it pretty
effectively and efficiently.
I mean, I assume most, all thecattle that were there obviously
were for immediate delivery andmost of those were still less
than 60 or 90 days out.
Uh, but got pretty close interms of prices and everything

(15:59):
else.
It didn't, didn't really mattermuch when the delivery was.
And, and that's something that Ithink.
Somebody as they watch and hearabout some of these video sales
always has to take note WeCharlie and I got to hear dr
Darryl Peel speak there inOklahoma City last week and he
was talking about when you hearcalf prices when you hear these
types of things you have to aska lot of questions and one of
them is When is that transactionactually taking place?

(16:23):
And so as we look at some ofthese video, summer sales that,
you know, we can the Rockies orwe can Utah or whatever we're
calling it this year is comingup, that's, I guess the question
that I have gotten from somecustomers of ours, um, where is
the value going to be?
In terms of weaned or unweaned,in terms of program cattle,

(16:48):
NHTC, GAP, natural, um, What, inyour mind, going forth, what
should cow calf producers whohave spring born calves that
they're going to be weaning thisfall and are trying to make some
decisions on management, butthen also how that works into
marketing, how that worksConnect the dots there and, and,
and explain, I guess, andCharlie and I had this

(17:09):
conversation, jump in if youwant, but about why it is that
in some markets we see thesehuge premiums for program cattle
or these huge premiums forweaned calves or whatever the
case may be.
And then other times, and thisis the question I got from a
customer a couple of weeks ago.
Um, they look at it and go, I'mnot sure they're paying me to do

(17:31):
this.
So weigh in on, I know a bunchof questions in that, but that's
part of the discussion.

Josh (17:36):
Yeah.
And those are all good questionsand questions that I get as
well.
You know, just weekly, daily,all year long.
What it really boils down to,and part of this is my opinion,
part of it is what I see in themarketplace.

(17:56):
but it is a supply and demanddriven market.
Uh, so for instance, when youstart talking about program
cattle, you have to think about,so we're still in an industry
where the majority of our calvesare born.
Uh, you know, from February toMay one.
And so the lion share of thosecalves being delivered either

(18:21):
off the cow in October,November, uh, coming in
December, 1st of January as aweaned calf.
Uh, or going full circle and ifthey're retaining ownership up
until their yearling weight,eight, 900 pounds in the spring.
Um, but you just think aboutwhen those cattle are really
being marketed.
And so you have to consider.

(18:44):
At that point, there's going tobe a lot of program cattle.
You're going to see a lot ofprogram cattle delivered calves
off the cow in the fall.
Uh, you're going to see a lot ofyearling cattle, uh, with
programs being delivered, uh, inthe spring of the year, either
off from background or offwheat.
Um, and so those time periodsare when the most of those

(19:05):
cattle are available.
Therefore, you're going to seethe, when you're marketing at
those same times, of a premium,uh, is the best way to explain
it.
Um, I've always seen the, andyou'll see it this summer.
You'll see the biggest premiumon program cattle, uh, mid to
late summer as a yearling, um,or, you know, as a fall calf,

(19:30):
uh, weaned fall calf coming inJuly, August, September.
And that's just simply becausethere aren't as many of them.

Matt (19:37):
Would it have something to do with health, too, and the
inability if they are in a, youknow, natural type of program
where they're not going to wantto be.
Mass medicating or having totreat a significant percentage.
They want those things.

Josh (19:51):
Exactly.
Exactly.
And so, um, you know, we get alot of questions, uh, superior,
myself, anybody about, you know,programs on a calf.
So if your program is to sell abawling calf, you know,
precondition two rounds ofshots, whatever, uh, off the cow
in the fall, um, uh, A naturalprogram just is not going to add

(20:15):
much value.
If you're getting a big premiumfor your calves and they're on a
program, it's probably moreabout the history of your cattle
and their performance than it isabout them being on a program in
that time period, because as a,as somebody who feeds cattle,
starts calves in the fall, um,chances of me buying your calves

(20:36):
as natural, And me being able tokeep them natural through the
weaning process and through thewinter, is you're going to have
too much fallout.
That's what we're going toassume.
Now, like I said, there, theremay be sets of cattle and you're
going to see one here and therethat bring a big price, but
that's probably more about knownhistory of those certain cattle,

(20:58):
uh, than it is about the programitself.
the other thing is.
I've seen it before, mainly in2014, 15.
when cattle get as high as theyare now, there's that law of
diminishing returns that you,your cattle are only going to
bring so much.

(21:19):
I mean, so.
You raise the best one thatwalks and you put them in every
program that's available.
Um, you're probably not going toget as much premium out of those
programs as what you think youare.
It's more about the cattlethemselves.
because you're going to compareup against a, say a conventional
calf.
The best that walks, but not onthe programs.

(21:42):
And, you know, you may only getthree, four or 5, a hundred
premium.
And, and that's probably notenough.
Uh, but at this point in time,it's just, it's like, how much
am I really willing to spend ona set of cattle?
Uh, when the market's as high asit is now.

Matt (21:59):
Consumer markets probably helping drive that too, as much
as we want to say, uh, moneydoesn't trickle back down.
When we see retail prices go upand up and up and up, there's
some point that that natural orthat gap at Whole Foods or
whatever they call theirs, theirgap certified, all of a sudden

(22:20):
that person making that buyingdecision goes, I'm not sure I'm
that concerned about theenvironment or whatever they
feel like they're doing by thosepremium programs.
And they go, you know what, I'mgoing to buy the commodity.
Choice, whatever that's sittingthere next to it.

Josh (22:36):
And that's absolutely the other component is that yes, the
consumer, when you get down tothe finished product and in a
meat case, um, there's not,there's still some, they're
going to buy that grass fed orthat natural or that gap
certified product every timethey go to the store.
But that number of peopleshrinks as prices get higher.

(22:57):
And so, um, Again, it all kindof boils down to supply and
demand and there's price pointsand everything in between
really.

Matt (23:06):
So I have heard folks in the livestock marketing
business.
In fact, I just heard it withinthe last week say.
Whatever you do, send me goodones and I'm going to sell them
well.
So from a livestock marketowner, manager, from a video
rep, from an auctioneer, Charly,from your perspective in 2024

(23:31):
and going forth, what is a quoteunquote good set of cattle?
What, what do they need to looklike?
What do they need to.
Have as far as information or,you know, sky's the limit
programs, ID, you name it.
What are good ones today, whatdo we need to be making sure
that you can get all you can getout of them regardless of where

(23:53):
we sell them going forth

Charly (23:55):
When I think of a really, really good set of
cattle, I mean, and what theycan actually take in, I start at
the very bottom, and I thinkabout vaccinations and think
about health and think about areally good mineral program.
Any, any breed, if you will, canhave a really good calf if

(24:16):
they've got them on the rightprogram.
As far as when we start talkingabout vaccinations and if
they've done the research onwhat they're putting out there,
in their product.
When I start to think about howare we really going to represent
these cattle and how, what makesyour cattle separate from
somebody else's, it's exactlywhat Josh says.

(24:37):
They've got history.
And you can't beat that.
I mean, you just absolutely, Iwould ask you the question, what
makes Dalebanks as awesome as itis over the years?
And that's because when I wasgrowing up, my dad come to this
sale, and that's what theneighbors had, and those
genetics have continued, andthat's why people are coming
back.

(24:57):
So it'd be the same, I believe,if we're looking at buying a set
of feeder cattle.
I know who's bought thosecattle, either where they bought
them from, whether they sourcedthem right here local, or
whether they sourced them fromthe southeast.
And so you know how those cattleare going to perform.
And that's the difference to me,is when you lay your eye on

(25:17):
those kind of cattle, you cansee, uh, what the rancher's
actually done to be progressive,whether he's put them on a
program or not.

Josh (25:25):
you know, asking about what are the good ones, so to
speak?
Um, that's kind of a loadedquestion, especially from a sale
barn manager.
You know, everybody's got a goodone.

Matt (25:38):
But everybody's got reputation cattle.
It's just whether it's goodreputation, good or bad.

Josh (25:42):
Exactly.
and So to build off that just alittle bit, and that's what I've
kind you know, told mycustomers, in this business, if
you are in it for the long haul,your reputation, your name is
really all you have.
I mean, at some point the cattlespeak for themselves if you're
raising them.
But, Even through a sale barn.

(26:04):
I mean, these guys know theyhear feedback from their
customers, whether it's an orderbuyer, whether it's a, uh, a
feed yard operator, uh, you'd besurprised what they remember.
and they're going to rememberthe bad ones easier than they
remember the good ones.
And so just reputation.

(26:24):
And, sometimes it takes a whileto build that.
Um, and that kind of goes handin hand with what I was going
to, one of the remarks I wasgoing to make Our earlier
conversation about what's goingto add value.
What, what should they do?
Should they wean?
Should they not wean?
What I've told guys for years isdon't necessarily chase every

(26:46):
dime that's out there.
Don't try to reinvent your wholeprogram to, to gain a few extra
bucks this year.
Do what's worked for you for thelast, however, many years, um,
do what the buyers haveanticipated that you do to your
cattle.
because if, so if I'm a, if I'ma cow calf operator and I've for

(27:08):
every year for 20 years, if I'veweaned my calves and, and give
them three rounds of shots andthey never get sick for that guy
that's buying them the next goround, those buyers expect those
cattle to fall into that sameprogram or same, you know,
history this year that they havefor the last 20.
So if all of a sudden you decidethis year, well, it's not worth

(27:30):
my money to wean them.
So you're going to one year outof 20, you're not going to wean
them.
That's a different set of buyerscoming to buy your cattle.
Um, And next year we might beright back at a, you know, a
value added weaning program.
And so you've basically cut thatsome of those buyers out of, of

(27:50):
being interested in your cattlebecause you've changed your
program and then you want to goback in a year or two and, and
they might've gone to buy in adifferent set of cattle or
sourcing somewhere else.
And so that's one of the, that'salways been one of my number one
rules is don't reinvent yourprogram to.
Just to try to chase a dollar inany given year.

Matt (28:13):
Yeah.
That consistency.
We talked about that on theconsumer end all the time.
And I try to produce that on thegenetic side all the time.
But I've never really given anythought about consistency not
just with genetics and where thecattle came from and the person
standing behind them, but Howthose cattle have been handled
up and to that point where theytransfer ownership and that you

(28:35):
raise a good point I mean someof us that are out here
listening to this today goingYou know, this may be that one
year that I decided not to wean,even though I've weaned for the
last 20, like you said, all of asudden you've got a different
time.
You've got a different set ofinterested buyers.
Um, and if you go back to itnext year, you may have lost the
ones that brought you to thedance.
and Charlie, you mentioned alittle bit before there in times

(28:59):
price levels, like we're seeing,I don't want to say people are
encouraged to cut corners, but.
There is less incentive toinnovate, not, not that cutting
bulls and, um, not vaccinateyour calves or wean in these
calves or whatever is anythingthat innovative in 2024, but,
um, you can look around and lookat somebody that just gathered

(29:24):
them up and never put a needlein them and see what they got
and go, good golly, you know,but.
But really, if you think aboutthat consistency thing, what
you're doing is not just sellingthis calf crop, but you are
keeping those folks satisfiedfor three years, five years,
whenever from now, when we dosee a little bit different time

(29:45):
in the market, that your cattleare going to be a whole lot
higher than those cutting bullsand calves that hadn't had
anything done to them.
Several things and I'll, I'lldirect folks to a second
podcast.
If you get a chance after youfinished listening to us, of
course, but in the time that ittook for Charly and I to talk

(30:07):
about this and actually get itdone today, last Saturday, uh,
working ranch radio had apodcast that talked with Clint
Barry, uh, with superior, Ibelieve, and basically the same
concept.
So we're not going to.
Plow that same ground.
But there are some things thatyou mentioned in there, Josh,
that he would have echoed, Ithink, in, in talking about

(30:29):
making sure you didn't let themarket drive your management.
Make sure you do what's rightfor your calves, for your
customers, for your reputation,not just a flash in the pan.
I'm just going to sell themright off the cow because I
don't feel like weaning them,even though I've gotten pretty
good at it and I've got thefacilities to do it.

Charly (30:46):
Well, I think even it goes back to when you and I were
traveling, you know, and talkingto your customer and do I wean,
do I not wean, I've been gap inthe past.
Should I be, should I not be,and the cattle that's on a
program, a lot of times, uh, Ifthey're not weaned, they won't
bring that great big premium, aswe mentioned.

(31:07):
But, he has or has not, theyhave or have not, for the last
couple years, weaned.
Then, and sold them really well,and have to take them 75 miles
to a different facility to getthem weaned.
It, you know, like I say, don'treinvent the whole entire wheel
or change the whole wheel.
Uh, over one situation, it's,it's an ongoing joke, between

(31:31):
Ralph and I and it happenedThursday, uh, uh, with Josh, uh,
you picked your spot, you pickedyour spot in your catalog,
right?
I mean, you, we switch every 30minutes, but you know, so from
an auctioneer standpoint, Youpick your spot because the first
set of cattle, you know whatthey're going to be and you want
to sell them as high aspossible.

(31:51):
And, he sold the heifers andthen I got up to sell the, to
sell the steers.
And I picked my spot Thursday atEldorado I mean, it was
phenomenal.
So, from an auctioneer'sstandpoint, you, they know,
everybody knows the cattle and,and have studied, whether
they're coming in the ring orwhether it's through the
catalog.
But, As you, as you get ready tosell, you know, what that, what

(32:14):
the market becomes and you know,that product.
And that's, that's anauctioneer's dream.
So you

Matt (32:20):
mentioned selling heifers compared to steers.
Uh, we're switching gears alittle bit here and one of the
fun discussions right now inthis point of the cattle cycle
is about heifer retention.
Today, I think it's prettyevident that we are in a short
supply situation and pounds paythe bills, and we're going to

(32:43):
get as much out of every animalthat goes through that supply
chain as we can, and that's whysteers are selling for so much.
And that's why heifers,especially given the fact that
there aren't a lot of folks thatare trying to put them back in
the pasture with a bull, aren't.
Um, Crystal Ball, everybody'sasking everybody else.

(33:04):
When or if, when is that likelyto change?

Josh (33:10):
I think you'll, we'll start to see it this fall.
Um, talked with the localcustomer here is going to sell
his cattle on Week in theRockies and, uh, you know,
whether to keep his heifers, uh,for later in the fall.
These would be fall calves,coming off the cow here, 1st of
August.
And, I think we'll see it.

(33:31):
I'm anxious to see.
So if you look back, uh, as longas we're just talking shop here
to the last highs in 14 and 15,when this deal got so good and
even prior, so like 11 and 12,when cows and bred heifers
started getting higher andhigher and everybody started
keeping heifers and making bredheifers, I don't know that we're

(33:55):
going to see it in that kind ofnumber again.
and you would probably have abetter feel for that than I
would Matt on man.
The more people you talk to, theless people there are out there
that are willing to calve aheifer.
That's exactly right or cows

Matt (34:11):
period or cows period, but

Josh (34:13):
especially a heifer.
And I'm not talking in centralKansas.
I'm talking nationwide andespecially even, and maybe we
have more of them here incentral Kansas than anywhere
else, just because the re speedresources and stuff, but when
you get into big ranch countryand think about the age of the.
of the average rancher, uh, andwanting to transition and this

(34:36):
and that there's just not verymany guys out there that want to
calve heifers, especiallythrough the winter time.
And so I just wonder how thatwhole dynamic is going to take
place as far as, as femaleretention and, and building back
the herd.
I think it's a slow grow thistime.
but I do think we'll, we'll seesome of it.

(34:57):
Uh, this, you know, going intothis fall.
but you can tell, yeah, by thesteer heifer spread, uh, there's
several reasons.
I get a lot of questions.
Why are the heifers so far backfrom the steers?
Well, and you, you referencedthat.
I mean, pounds is a big thing.
You know, we just last Thursday,you know, we're looking at all
these big figures and I'm goingthrough some of these prices

(35:18):
thinking, you know, how arethese ever going to work?
Well, if you start just changinga few numbers, so like on a, on
a nine weight steer that bringstwo 60, well, that's a pretty
green steer weighing nine 50 offthe grass.
Let's make him weigh 1650.
Uh, that changes the the break,even a bunch, uh, You're not

(35:39):
going to get a heifer to weigh1650.
And if, and if you do, you'regoing to spend a lot of money
doing it, a lot of money.
Uh, so that's a, one of thebiggest reasons, but, uh, yeah,
like you said, when, you know,people start keeping heifers
this fall and into the spring,uh, you'll see that, uh, that
difference shrink a little bit,um, because they're just, there

(36:03):
won't be enough steers and guysare going to have to buy heifers
at some point.
But, uh, I, I'm very interested,kind of anxious to see, uh, you
know, this transition into, intoretention and growing the herd
back to where we were, and maybewe don't get back to exactly
where we were, but it'll beinteresting.

Matt (36:24):
Charlie, is he right?

Charly (36:26):
Oh, spot on.
I mean, It's gonna happen to acertain extent and it's gonna
come, and I believe it startsthis fall.
I think we'll see it more, uh,in the fall of 2025 than, than
we are now.
And.
I think even, you know, you canlook, you can look at, uh, high

(36:49):
tech marketing.
They sell all their cattle on,at Council Bluffs, and he was
down, he was down almost 60percent from his numbers a year
ago simply because a lot ofthose are keeping heifers.
Not so certain they're keepingthem to breed them.
I think a lot of them are goingto sell the steers, and they're
going to hold them heifers overand grow them because they

(37:11):
didn't like the dollars perhundred it was behind it.
So they're going to make afeeder heifer for January,
February, which would be a goodmarketing decision.
I mean, there would be probablynothing wrong with that.
With that being said, as thatheifer grows, You see the one
you want to keep and they'llkeep the ones that, that, you
know, not just necessarily asblack and weigh seven today,

(37:34):
November 1st, but they'll keepher, you know, once they get
everything done.
And I don't think they're goingto keep as many because of the
age and things of that sort.
But like you mentioned, we gotthe genetic.
I mean, it's not difficult, tocalve one.
It just takes so many resourcesand so long that they're not,

(37:54):
they're just not going to keepthem.

Matt (37:55):
Yeah.
I think that's a lot of it.
I, I would agree.
Josh, you mentioned comparingtoday to the last high 14 and
early 15.
I had a conversation, not thatfar ahead of the high in 2014.
I'm going to say somewherearound 2010 with a customer

(38:16):
who'd seen a lot of cattlecycles and his premise at that
time was because of value basedmarketing, because of less true
commodity type beef in thechain, he said, we may never see
a cattle cycle again.
And if you look back at chartsover the last 30 years.

(38:38):
We went about two, 10, 12 yearcycles and didn't see a peak or
a valley supply, demand, price,however you want to look at that
cattle cycle.
So I think we stacked up andthat may be why we saw such a
run up because we had a wholecrop of beef producers who
didn't know what a cattle cyclewas, or they just heard about

(38:58):
them.
And so we made some crazydecisions in terms of, What we
paid for replacement females,bred heifers, whatever the case
may be back there in 14.
And so fast forward to today.
Now we've got another peak inthe cattle cycle, price wise low
in the, in the inventory.
And yet that's fresh oneverybody's mind.

(39:19):
And when you hit 3000 bucks,everybody's eyes get big and
they go,"Nope, I remember whathappened 10 years ago.
I ain't ever doing that again."And so there's this, there's
this ceiling that we have put.
That makes no sense if you mapit across what two and a half
steers are worth and what thatfemale should be worth, we're so

(39:39):
far out of line, we're athousand to 1500 bucks off

Josh (39:43):
and

Matt (39:43):
yet we've got a memory that still remembers 2014.

Josh (39:46):
Yeah.
And I, and rightfully so, uh, ithurt bad.
Charlie and I know a little bitabout that.
Uh, So there's several littlepoints in there, uh, That I want
to hit on.
So I'll be honest.
I was probably one of thoseguys, you know, in 10, 11, 12,

(40:06):
that said we're the traditionalcattle cycle is over.
This is, this is, you know,there's too many things
changing.
Um, And maybe yes, that, thatevery seven years or whatever
the old timers would call it,maybe is a little bit extinct,
but there's going to be cycles.

(40:29):
I mean, because of.
Hey, it's, it's economics, youknow, we're, we're chasing it
now going up and we're going tobuild the numbers too high and
we're going to produce too manypounds and it's going to go back
down.
Hopefully for, for all oursakes, it's a little shallower
curve than it was the last time.
I think that's what goteverybody last time is just, it

(40:51):
was.
I mean, I don't even know how ithappened to be honest.
It just straight up and straightdown.
And, uh, it taught me a biglesson.
so yeah, those things stick inyour head.
But, I think it was, uh, an NCBAthere back in, uh, early

(41:14):
February they had, and I wish Ihad that handout, uh, but kind
of showing cattle fax with theirpresentation, you know, what a
bred heifer should be worthgiven what Steer calf prices
were worth and like a breadheifer ought to be bringing like
5, 500 bucks.
Um, and yeah, it makes sense,but then you got to think, well,

(41:36):
okay, so do that.
And I get one or two big shotsout of her.
Um, and then it takes anotherseven or eight years to pay for,
um, I just hope, you know, forall our sakes that, um, and it's
easy to get caught up in thesetimes, I'm telling you what, and
I don't be the first one toadmit, I mean, he, you know,

(41:57):
when the going's good and cattleare making money, we kind of put
our blinders on and, and all wesee is straight ahead, uh, But,
you know, there's some newmanagement risk management tools
with LRP and different thingsout there that I hope that some
of your listeners today, um, youknow, keeping their toolbox and

(42:19):
are ready to use.
And, and we can all kind ofweather the storm when it comes.
I still argue, um, this thing isa little different.
just given, All the variables,uh, as far as, you know, just
total acres in production and,and people just retiring, aging

(42:39):
out and, and just the continuedbetter product that we're
putting out the door and puttingin the meat case and we see,
we've seen over the last coupleof years, that kind of.
elasticity of, you know, youhear somebody who's got analysts
and brokers on the radio, youknow, people are gonna, they're

(43:01):
gonna back off of beef.
They're not gonna buy this beef.
It's too high.
Well, we've seen it.
Um, now there is a pointsomewhere out there in the
oblivion that we haven't seenyet that'll, um, knock people
back.
But we've, we've increased theconsistency and, the overall
product and, and not justdomestically, but

(43:21):
internationally and grown thosemarkets so much that as long as
we keep doing what we're doingin producing a safe, good,
wholesome product, um, I stillthink the sky's the limit.
Now there's going to be, to me,it's always been the outside
noise.
Um, we're in an election year, alot of unrest around the world.

(43:44):
Um, that's, there's a lot oftopics there for a different
type of podcast, but, those arethe things that, you know, and
we're not going to see itcoming.
And with the way that newstravels, by the time we know
about what's going on in ourmarket, it's too late.
And especially with, and I wasjust talking to a guy this
morning about that.

(44:04):
So, you know, they've raisedthese limits on futures
contracts.
So high, well, uh, one time, youknow, an event that happens on
the other side of the world, andwe don't.
You know, in the country, wedon't know what's happened
before we know it.
They've taken nine and a halfbucks off the feeder market.
That's a hundred dollar bill.
And I'm, and that's anotherthing we can talk about here.

(44:26):
Maybe, um, later in theconversation, but as a margin
operator, we're all stillworking on, you know, maybe
we've increased our target alittle bit, but you know, we're,
we're all still love it if wecan make a hundred dollars a
head and we're dealing with, youknow, 3, 000 fat cattle and 2,
500 feeders.

(44:47):
And any investor in the worldwould say, we're just stupid for
spending that kind of money forthe, for the return on
investment.
Um, but that, like I said, that,that outside noise, that outside
risk factor that we, We won'tknow until it's too late can
take all the profit off thetable in one day.

Matt (45:06):
That's where some programs like LRP, your livestock risk
protection.
Most of you that are listeninghave probably listened to the
podcasts that, that we had ayear or so ago about that and
several others, but you know,there are tools there that
aren't free, but at the veryleast, they can extend a market

(45:26):
like we have today, that you canprotect.
side and still leave the topside open.
And that's the cool part.
I mean, we as cattlemen, we all,we can say all we want.
Oh, we just want to hit things,singles and doubles, but we want
the grand slam home run, and wewant to be able to tell our
grandkids about it and that's away.

(45:48):
I mean, but you also hopefullykeep yourself from striking out
and does it cost a little?
Yeah, but it's, you know, itcovers your tail and I think
this is probably one of thosetimes for the next year, two
years, whatever that you go,maybe a fool.
Well,

Charly (46:04):
I mean, you talk about the memory.
I mean, I can remember Joshcalling me vaguely on a Thursday
and you know, Monday andTuesday, they raised, changed
that limit in 15 and.
And, I mean, Saturday we weretogether and, uh, we're looking
at each other and I'm like, whatdo you think?
I mean, we're white faced andpale, we don't even want to play

(46:24):
golf.
I mean, I don't, I don't evenwant to go to the lake.
I mean, I don't want to do,what's going to, he said, well,
you're going to find out howstable we are financially
because we're going to, we're,this is, this is going to hurt
here for a minute.
So the memory's there.
Also, that's why we're stillpartners to this day.
But now, I look at it and cantalk to the guys at National

(46:46):
Livestock and can talk to mybanker on a whole different
level and he says, How coveredare you?
It's not, we're just throwing itout there, you know, and running
900 mile an hour.
And it's comfortable, but at thesame time, it's really scary.
But as Dr.
Peel said, we, we got threeyears in this thing and I wanted

(47:09):
to give him a standing ovationwhen he said that, I was like,
can you tell, can you, I mean,write that down, I mean, sign
somewhere, make sure that's realbecause there's so many things,
as Josh mentioned, uh, that canhappen overnight to change it.
So yes, I mean, you want to talkabout marketing feeder cattle,
have a little protection andgoing forward.
And with that, I think we seethese new LRPs coming here,

(47:31):
October, November, we're goingto see what we can do with that
calf that's in her belly.
We just took out.
And I think down, I think as wego to take our coal cows of
town, look at the LRP and go"manalive 600.
We might actually see that 000bred female at that time and and
she's worth it I mean it is whatit is.

Matt (47:54):
Yeah We are at a as Randy block has said time again We're
at a higher a newer and highertrading level I think and it's
hard to wrap your head aroundthat I mean, it's just really
hard And and we don't know howlong we're gonna be here But
anything like that, that we canwith, a modest level of cost,

(48:17):
protect ourselves from somethingcompletely.
I mean, it's like you said,Josh, it's what we don't see
coming.
We can talk all we want aboutpolitics or economics or supply
or cow numbers or whatever thecase may be.
It's always what we don't seecoming.
It reaches up and grabs us.

Josh (48:34):
Yeah.
You can talk fundamentals allday long, but that's, um.
That's not what's driving themarket most of the time.
Um, and yeah, I just implore onemay want to switch gears here,
but you know, you're youngerproducers, I just want to
reiterate, you're dealing with,with new records and all time

(48:56):
costs and not just in thecattle, we didn't have 9 percent
interest in 14 and 15.
Yeah, exactly.
Um, And, and what, you know, anyexpense, any input you put into
your operation, I mean, youcan't take a vehicle or a
tractor or anything to town to ashop and expect to get out of

(49:16):
the shop for less than athousand bucks.
And it's more like three, four,5, 000 bucks.
I mean, it's just insane whatthose costs are.
So young guys out there andgals, I mean, Don't think the
good times are never going toend because they will.
And, and I just, you know, weneed to be protected.

Matt (49:34):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
And that's, that's, um,regardless of what segment of
the beef industry you are,because the folks that we sell
to, whether we're talking feedyard, packer, retailer, Rest
assured those folks are figuringout ways to manage their risk
and they're expecting us to dothe same and when we don't The

(49:57):
market goes the other way andall of a sudden the Packer
that's losing several hundredahead today goes back to making
several hundred They're gonna gowell Guess what?
It just, it makes smart businesssense to see the tools that are
out there.
They didn't used to be there.
Some of them, a lot of them, atleast at the prices that they

(50:17):
are, but, uh, at least consideryour options there as you, as
you go about, we're, we'repretty good at producing,
especially on the cow calfsegment, we're really good at
producing cattle, the bestgenetics as well as we can
present them.
we focus on that.
And then when it comes time tocash in and sell them, or when

(50:38):
it comes to look down the lineand say, what makes sense for me
to spend a little, to make surethat I don't lose a bunch, then
we're like, well, we've neverdone that before.
Uh, that's probably the scariestwords in English language.
We've never done that.
Yeah, right, right.

Charly (50:58):
So,

Matt (51:00):
so one more topic and, This is one that I guess hits
home with me because anybodythat's that's listened to this
podcast knows that, I'm not verygood at staying in my lane.
Um, as far as just talking aboutgenetics or just talking about
Angus cattle or just talkingabout whatever it is that I'm
supposed to be talking about.
And Josh, not to throw you underthe same, uh, bus, but you are

(51:26):
probably a little unique in yoursegment of the industry in that
you've been very involved with alot of different sectors of the
beef business, but alsoinvolved.
I mean, are you still sitting onthe Kansas Beef Council
Executive Committee?
And tell us how important it isfrom your standpoint as somebody

(51:47):
that's marketing cattle everyday for other producers, raising
some of your own, growing somefarm crops, I mean all the
things, all the balls you've gotin the air and yet you're still
giving back and sitting in thatroom three, four times a year.
From your standpoint, selfishly,do you get some value?
And from an industry standpoint,how important is it that you

(52:07):
stay engaged and learning and upon all that type of stuff?

Josh (52:12):
uh, it's hard to tell where to start there, Matt.
But I have, so that's somethingthat I've always kind of taken a
little bit of pride in, andstarted young, you know, trying
to be active in industryorganizations and, you know, it
was a combination of wanting to.
You know, make connections, uh,make acquaintances, and improve

(52:36):
my bottom line, but also giveback, um, kind of be in the know
something that's frustrating tome and, and I'm just going to
talk pretty plainly and prettybluntly, so if anybody out there
gets offended, uh, you know,this is, I'm not giving you a
political speech.
This is what I believe.
And that, um, There's a lot ofpeople out there in the country

(53:00):
that think they know what'sgoing on and, and maybe want to
squeal the loudest.
Um, a lot of those people don'treally have a clue how some of
these things work, um, and whatthey've done for the industry.
We just want to, you know, takesomebody's gossip and run with

(53:20):
it and say, Oh my gosh, lookwhat they're doing to us.
Um, Yeah, I'm going to be prettyblunt, but I, I'm going to say,
if you don't think the beefcheckoff has done anything for
your business, then you need toget educated, uh, and look at
just simple return oninvestment.
Look at what the.

(53:42):
the industry has invested intothe check off and what the check
off has returned to theindustry.
So we just had a meeting, um,executive meeting last Wednesday
before our sale on thursday.
And so I only actually skippedout on half of it to get ready
for the sale on thursday.
But Had, uh, a coupleindividuals from, from the

(54:04):
executive committee.
One had gone on a, on a USMEFtrip to Korea and Japan.
And the other one had gone onone here just recently to Mexico
and with USMEF and just, youknow, seeing where our money's
gone, uh, from the Kansasperspective, we invest quite a
bit of money in USMEF and I'm,my personal opinion, I'm totally

(54:25):
on board with that.
I mean, um, Um, we talked alittle bit before we got on here
about, um, you know, if, ifyou're one of those folks that
says, well, I don't see any ofthese ads, where, where was all
this advertising at that we'repaying for?
Well, if you live in.
In Greenwood County, Kansas, orCentral Kansas.

(54:45):
Uh, like Matt said, you got afreezer full of beef and we're
not targeting you.
Yeah.
Um, we're not, we're not thetarget audience.
If, if we were doing that, thenI would tell you we're wasting
our money.
Yeah.
we're going after exportmarkets.
We're going after the urbanpopulations, uh, that have been
disconnected from rural Americafor a generation now and.

(55:08):
We're, we're selling products toother countries in the world
that we, you and I would neverdream of eating.
I mean, maybe some people havetried once, but I'm telling you
what right now, I saw a pictureof boxes.
Salivary glands in a Mexican wetmarket in a U S box.

(55:31):
So we are selling salivaryglands to another country that's
willing to pay us for them, notto dispose them.
I mean, we'd be paying somebodyto bury them in a hole if they
were staying in the UnitedStates.
And, and we're actually gettingmoney out of those.
We've added Almost 400 a headper carcass and in value by

(55:55):
marketing our products aroundthe world.
And a lot of that's done throughcheckoff dollars, done through
U.
S.
investment and U.
S.
MEF.
So just to hit rewind, I mean, Ithink it's, I think it's super
important.
I think, I think if you're anticheckoff or you're anti industry
organization, A, B, C, whoeverit is, All I would say is take a

(56:21):
minute, uh, take a day, dowhatever, educate yourself a
little bit, go through theprocess and it, and then, uh,
you know, specific to thecheckoff, because that's what
I've been involved in for thelast six, eight years.
if you would take a two or threeday period of time, go to the

(56:43):
office in Denver, Colorado, orjust take a day and go to the
Kansas beef council office andget oriented on how that dollar
comes to us, how it's spent,what firewalls are in place to
protect those funds and to makethem be used in a way that is
suitable for all producers.

(57:05):
I mean, just a little.
tidbit here now, um, due tothese, all these lawsuits and
stuff that have been thrown atus over the last 3, years and
really beyond that.
We now have what we all callMOUs, those memorandums of
understanding that we have torun through USDA specifically.

(57:30):
And so we're not only are weaudited, um, you know, by the
cattleman's beef board and, andthrough, individual.
financial audits.
But now we have to geteverything we want to do
approved by USDA, which is timeand money spent doing things
that that no, we don't want touse that money doing.
but it's because of the forcesagainst it that we have to keep

(57:53):
those firewalls and keep andspend that money on things just
to ensure that, uh, you know,there's nothing going on and to
try to Help people understandand feel safer about, about
investing their money.
But from my standpoint, it'sjust been about, uh, being
aware, uh, understanding how theprocess works and, and given

(58:15):
back a little bit.
And I think just the, my time inthose organizations and, and
being around, uh, differentsegments.
Segments of the industry to islike I mentioned a couple times,
you know, none of us are gettingany younger.
And so we need good young peopleto step up.
Um, we need people to beinvolved.

(58:36):
We've got so many people thatare anti agriculture, anti
animal agriculture specifically.
That we need to start spending alittle more time doing that or
we won't have anything to passon.

Matt (58:49):
Yeah, and I think it's incredibly important, all the
things that you said, andprobably the thing, and we
talked about this at the LMAmeeting there a week and a half
ago, but we have gone throughabout a 30 year time period, of
industry infighting within thebeef industry, and we have spent

(59:10):
significant dollars, time, youname it and, and heartache
arguing with ourselves.
And one of the worst thingsabout that is not the wasted
time, my opinion.
And I'm now I'm going to get onmy soap box, but it's the fact
that we took our marbles andwent different directions.

(59:32):
And so if us three have threedifferent viewpoints on an
issue, you pick the issue, checkoff animal ID, you know, cattle
pricing, whatever the case maybe.
If all three of us are membersof three different organizations
and we disagree with each other,but we go to the organization

(59:53):
with whom we agree with, we'llnever sit down around the same
table.
Like we are now have a beer andsay, you know what?
But we disagree, but how do wefix it?
Because we're in three differenttowns at three different
association meetings.
And then if we ever do gettogether, we just sit there and
fight because our associationdoesn't agree.
It's time.

(01:00:14):
We, again, it is, I continue tohear more calls for industry
unity and it's time.
There's 700 and some thousandbeef producers nationwide.
It's time for us to finally gettogether.
And yeah, are there going to besome hard decisions and hard
discussions?
Dang right, but that's howThat's how family works and

(01:00:35):
that's kind of what we have tobe and going forth.
So that's a, that's a whole lotdeeper, more philosophical than
feeder cattle marketing tips,but I think it's, I, I don't
know that I'd say it's equallyas important in the short term,
but darn sure is in long term.
Absolutely.
So,

Charly (01:00:52):
yeah, you said something right there and it was family
and the word family and I meanlast Thursday between the sales,
I wanted, I almost jumped on andthen I got emotional, but as
I'm, I can do from time to time,but looking out across that
crowd and the amount of people,if it was a different kind of
meeting other than having asuperior there and other than

(01:01:15):
having.
You know, an awesome market andthen having 2, 500 head of
feeder cattle.
If we were having an industrytrade meeting, whether it's KLA,
whatever, whichever one you wantto name, would there be that
many people in the seats?
And if, if there is awesome, butI don't think there would be.
And that's because we haven'tdone, I have not done my part.

(01:01:38):
Being a part of one of theseorganizations is amazing and
giving back To any anybody underthe age of 40 get involved.
I mean we have got to be moreinvolved But with that being
said just telling them that wewe need to hear their voice and
it needs to all come together SoBut it has to come back as a
family.
And it has to come back as, youknow, that's, Josh and I both,

(01:02:01):
in our opening, that's what wetalked about, our family, right?
I mean, that's what's important.
And so, if we can take thatfamily aspect and become
unified, as we've talked a lotover the last, you know, year
and a half, two years as we seedifferent trade organizations
really trying to do something tohave that Goliath, I mean we all

(01:02:22):
are wearing size 11 boots and Wecan take our size 11 boot from
our trade organization and go toCapitol Hill And that's all they
hear is that size 11 boot.
We need a Goliath.
We need to be unified.
We need to be as one When we gothat we truly have a voice on on
whatever subject it is and andagree on it I mean, my dad and I

(01:02:45):
have, and my brother and I havedifferent things and different
agreements.
I, I wanted to mow the oatsthree weeks ago and he was
right, it was raining, but weagreed and we're still family
and we can disagree at differenttimes, but you're still family
and you can still make thatwork.
And you know that it just allcomes back to.

(01:03:08):
We have to be unified and therehas to be more unity and to have
your voice heard.
That's the only way we're goingto do it is to get together and
make these things happen.

Matt (01:03:21):
Well, I think that's a good spot to step off here.
And unfortunately, I think we'regonna have to leave the 77
degree air conditioning and goback and actually do some real
ranching.
But, uh, no, I, I reallyappreciate you both being here
and your leadership and yourpartnership and, you know,
whether we're selling cattlefrom the block or whether we're

(01:03:42):
trading them on the video orwhether we're producing them
back home.
We each depend on everybodyknowing what the other one's
doing.
And I think that that'ssomething that I think sets you
guys apart.
And one reason why we get to dobusiness with is because you
kind of see it from allperspectives and are doing it
out there yourselves as well.
So appreciate you being on hereand sharing and, uh, keep in

(01:04:05):
touch.

Charly (01:04:05):
Matt, I just want to say you, you will never understand
how much.
Uh, this podcast means to notonly just your local Greenwood
area or the five count area, butthroughout the United States.
You have done a tremendous joband there's no better way to say
it than just simply say thankyou.
But what you're doing and what'sbeing put forth on this podcast

(01:04:27):
is amazing.
I mean, the ones I've listenedto, I mean, some of them are
just, I mean, it's phenomenaland I've called on the Callahan
and I've called on the JoeGoggins and I have called on
these people because of yourpodcast.
And so keep up the great work.
Appreciate it.

Josh (01:04:41):
Yeah.
Thanks again, Matt.
And yeah, just what Charlie saidand what we were talking about,
you know, it takes people likeyourself to want to get
involved, just do something likethis.
That's.
You know, fun.
It's beneficial for you.
It's beneficial for the peoplethat are on here.
but that's what, that's a goodstepping stone and, and kind of
organizing people and, andgetting people to come together.

(01:05:05):
And, and so, yeah, I want to saythank you for having me and love
to be on anytime and, and, uh,just think, uh, yeah, we all
just keep Plugging away andworking at it.
Hopefully we got something leftto leave our kids.

Matt (01:05:18):
Oh yeah.
Even better days ahead.
So, all right.
Thanks guys.
Thanks again for listening topractically ranching brought to
you by Dale banks, Angus.
As we've said before, if youlike what we're doing here, give
us five star rating, drop acomment and be sure to follow
us, to hear future episodes whenthey're out.
And be sure to make plans tojoin us for our annual bull

(01:05:39):
sale.
November 23rd at the ranchNorthwest of Eureka, Kansas.
This wraps up our fourth season.
So we'll take a bit of a breakand be back late this summer,
early fall.
Have a great summer.
Thanks for listening.
God bless each and every one ofyou.