Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 326: Good Cattle Are Just Good Cattle — No Matter the Industry with Heather Welper

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326: Good Cattle Are Just Good Cattle — No Matter the Industry with Heather Welper · CattleUSA Daily

0:00
Today we are welcoming Heather Welper onto the podcast.
0:02
Heather is here to talk about the intersection between the
0:05
show industry and our commercial livestock herds all throughout
0:10
the United States. What that really looks like in a
0:13
realistic everyday standpoint, where some maybe are going a
0:17
little bit too far and where maybe some could learn a little
0:21
bit from the other side of the aisle as well.
0:23
We also have a really wonderful conversation about the next
0:26
generation of agriculture, about mentoring the next generation in
0:29
agriculture and what that looks like as well.
0:32
Before we hop in, today's podcast episode with Heather, if
0:35
you're watching on YouTube, make sure you take a second to hit
0:37
that subscribe button. And like this episode.
0:39
If you're watching on any of our other podcast platforms, make
0:42
sure that you take a second to go follow the show rate and
0:44
review it and share it with a friend.
0:45
If you enjoyed today's podcast episode, without further ado,
0:49
let's go ahead and hear from Heather Welfer.
0:53
Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily Podcast, your go to source for
0:57
the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
1:00
updates shaping agriculture today.
1:02
I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
1:05
agriculture, here to keep you informed and connected.
1:08
Now let's dive into today's episode.
1:16
Heather, welcome back to the podcast.
1:18
This just feels like such a full circle moment because I had you
1:22
on as a guest on my original podcast that I had a couple
1:25
years ago. And now I get to welcome you
1:28
back on the Cattle USA Daily podcast this year to talk about
1:33
who you are, what you do. And then we're also going to be
1:35
talking about the show, cattle industry, the commercial
1:37
industry, how the two intersect and all of the things like that.
1:40
So this just feels like such a full circle moment, and I'm so
1:43
excited to have you on and for you to be joining us today.
1:46
But before we get started, can you just kind of give the
1:49
audience members a little bit of a brief overview of who you are,
1:51
what you do, and what kind of led you to the life that you're
1:54
living now? Absolutely.
1:55
Well, I'm super excited. It doesn't feel like it's been
1:57
as long as it has since I was on your podcast, but I'm excited to
2:02
get to chat with you again. I enjoyed that one so much.
2:04
My name is Heather Welper. I am the production manager at
2:08
Cultivate Agency. We are a full service marketing
2:11
agency that specializes in clients in agriculture.
2:14
So some of our big clients include the State Fair of Texas
2:17
livestock side of things. We handle a lot of their edit
2:20
exhibits. Dairymax was one of our really
2:22
big clients. A lot of those kind of sectors
2:26
face the ag world and I handle all of our behind the scenes
2:30
kind of boring things that nobody else really wants to do
2:33
outside of my full time career. My husband Calvin and I, we run
2:37
purebred and Club CAF Hereford offer operation.
2:41
My goodness, I'm stumbling today I called to see livestock.
2:44
Calvin's family has part of the production out in West TX.
2:50
If you know anything about raising show cattle, they just
2:52
do it better in West TX. The the air, they just, they
2:55
just do so much better. But they handle most of the club
2:58
CAF stuff out there and we do most of the purebred stuff here
3:02
in North Central Texas. We are located in Valley View,
3:05
TX and we hit the road often. Our big thing is selling and
3:10
raising show cattle, but also giving back to youth and
3:14
agriculture. So that's our big thing is going
3:16
to these shows with these kids, making sure these livestocks are
3:20
at a 10 by the time they go to a stock show because that's a
3:24
reflection of us. It's a reflection of the kid.
3:26
And so we just want to put our best foot out there and do what
3:29
we can to help and we enjoy being on the road and going.
3:32
And I broke remote. I work remote, so it's really
3:35
easy for me to get up and go with him whenever we have a son
3:39
named Crew. He's two years old.
3:41
He's just the best little thing. Actually, this year will be the
3:43
first time he gets to hit the ring as like a shadow showman.
3:47
We've been working on it. We'll see how it goes.
3:49
If he even goes in the ring, he may tell us no.
3:51
And that may be the end of it for that day, but our goal is to
3:55
get inside the ring at least once in some type of capacity,
3:59
hopefully at state show, we'll see kind of what that looks
4:02
like. But yeah, that's a little bit
4:03
about me. I'm super excited to chat with
4:05
you about all things show cattle and how it affects the
4:09
commercial side. Yeah.
4:11
Absolutely. So opening kind of up that
4:13
conversation about how the show cattle industry and the
4:16
commercial industry intersect. I think a lot of times people
4:19
look at them as two separate lanes, like oh, the show cattle
4:22
people over there, oh the commercial people over there, or
4:25
it's like you either run purebred cattle or you run
4:28
commercial cattle or something like that in some way, shape or
4:32
regard. People look at it as different
4:35
lanes and they look at it as you're in your lane, I'm in my
4:38
lane or run in two different races and let's just let it be
4:41
that way. But that's really not the case.
4:44
There is a lot of interconnectivity across the two
4:47
different sectors of how we choose to produce cattle in the
4:51
industry. Can you kind of give us some
4:53
insight into that and your thoughts on how the two
4:55
intersect? Well, in my opinion, the way we
4:58
do our production is to make them functional enough that they
5:04
could go and live in a feed yard or on a commercial operation if
5:07
they had to, either on the club CAF side with our stairs or on
5:11
the purebred side with our heifers and we raise a couple of
5:14
purebred bulls. We mostly do sex IVF when we do
5:18
do embryo work just because it makes more sense on our side.
5:21
So we don't end up with a ton of purebred bulls or a ton of club
5:24
calf heifers just to kind of eliminate that.
5:27
You're spending so much money. So it makes sense to go ahead
5:30
and spend that extra dollar and not have that extra.
5:32
But when we do, we have seen that we have livestock tent that
5:35
can go and intersect with both. We're trying to raise cattle
5:40
that are functional, that are sound, that can get around when
5:44
they need to, that have good utters that can be moms and
5:47
produce 'cause like I said, we do do a lot of embryo work, but
5:51
they have to be Mamas to be able to stay around here too.
5:53
We don't have donors that just get to hang out and do a whole
5:56
lot of nothing unless we have one.
5:58
I won't be a hypocrite. We have one that gets to do
6:01
that. But she's she's made a name for
6:03
herself around here, so she kinda gets to do whatever she
6:06
wants. But for the most part, ours have
6:08
to be production animals. And that's something from both a
6:12
livestock evaluator side when Calvin and I judge a couple of
6:16
shows and a producer side that we look for is their ability to
6:20
get out and move are a lot of times you say, well, you can't
6:23
eat their feet, but they ought to be able to survive that
6:28
thirty 6090 days in the feed yard after their show cattle
6:31
career is over just raising quality cattle that can do both
6:35
and be just actually be in both and not just single purpose
6:41
animals, if you will. Yeah, absolutely.
6:43
I couldn't agree more. And I think that you made such a
6:45
good point at the different traits that really translate to
6:49
both of hey, we are looking at our structure, we're looking at
6:52
feet structure and that's really impacting the longevity of these
6:55
operations and these animals as well.
6:58
Especially when we look at the whole reason that the show
7:01
Cattle World even started was as a marketing opportunity for
7:05
ranchers, as an opportunity for people to take their best out
7:09
and to share about them and to hopefully sell them or sell
7:13
others on their operations and things like that.
7:15
And obviously the show world has evolved greatly since that time,
7:19
but that is still the basis for a lot of the show industry and
7:24
many of the people that are involved in the show industry.
7:27
So when we're talking about traits or different things that
7:30
really translate to stronger commercial cattle, talk a little
7:34
bit about that intersection and how then the show world is kind
7:38
of impacting the commercial side as well.
7:41
Yeah, I think speaking as a Hereford breeder especially, I
7:45
think the American Hereford Association is doing an
7:47
excellent job on the show front. And people in the show world
7:50
have differing opinions on this, on how they feel, but from a
7:54
real world perspective, it is good other genomics and their
7:57
EPD's that they're bringing into their national level show and
8:00
judges putting emphasis on the genomics when they're evaluating
8:05
these cattle and sorting them kind of accordingly.
8:07
You could have one that maybe fits the bill from a show calf
8:11
perspective, but she's going to be moved up or down the line
8:14
depending on what those papers save from a production
8:16
standpoint. And I think that's important
8:18
there. You agree with it or not to to
8:22
know that they're doing that so that those commercial, even if
8:26
they are running a purebred commercial herd, they can come
8:29
and find those good genetics in their ones that are going to
8:31
have cavities and ones that are going to have just milk ability
8:35
and things like that, that aren't just wasted and not being
8:40
utilized also in the show cattle world.
8:43
Absolutely. And then on the flip side, do
8:45
you think that there is any ways that in the show cattle industry
8:49
that maybe we have drifted a little bit too far away from the
8:52
practicality of these cattle and real world cattle production?
8:56
And then how do you think that we need to start bringing back
8:59
that balance into the industry? Yeah, I think especially on the
9:03
show steer side of things, I mean, we are making these things
9:07
just insanely huge, muscled and so powerful that sometimes with
9:13
that you give up a little bit of structural integrity and you'll
9:17
hear judges say, like I mentioned earlier, well you
9:19
can't eat their feet or this one gets around and moves just well
9:22
enough. And I think that's something
9:25
we're going to have to kind of rein in in the future.
9:28
And also these things that are just without like offending
9:33
anybody or anything. Sometimes we get so caught up on
9:37
all these things are so, so cool fronted or oh, they're so dragon
9:41
necked. And a lot of times with those
9:44
that trait comes them being a little harder doing and not
9:47
being able to put on fat quite as much.
9:49
And I think that's a trait that a lot of us can get lost on as
9:52
well. This thing is cool and they have
9:53
really cool pieces, but does it look like is it going to look
9:56
right on the rail later on? That thing may win it's class at
10:00
a major, but you get that thing on the rail later and it just
10:03
it's not good. So finding that balance of being
10:07
fat, being a fat steer and looking the part, but not being
10:10
overly fat and still looking cool from a show cattle
10:13
perspective, I think. And like I said, these things
10:16
are just, they're a lot. And I think you see it a lot
10:18
also in the show Goat World right now.
10:20
They are just cracked open. And I know this is a cattle
10:23
podcast, but will you see it in all sectors of the industry?
10:26
Kind of having to rein those things back in when we get so
10:30
far gone in One Direction sometimes just from an overall
10:34
power and losing a little bit of the functionality side, yeah.
10:38
Absolutely. And I mean, I think that that's
10:40
been been an issue probably since the conception of the
10:43
stock show industry. Like I think you could probably
10:46
talk to the old schools, 50s, sixties, 70s Rd.
10:49
Warriors and they would say the same thing.
10:52
They would say we, we saw the same thing then, like you're
10:55
seeing the same thing now. It's just maybe a little bit
10:57
more exaggerated now with what we have the capabilities to do
11:01
with genetics now, because now we're able to sexy men, we're
11:05
able to spit pick and choose specific traits that we want.
11:10
We're able to clone, we're able to do all of these things that
11:12
you never could have even fathomed doing at the conception
11:16
of the show industry. And I think that when we reign
11:19
it all together and we look at the effects of this on the
11:22
overall cattle industry, there is a lot, especially when we
11:26
look at the show industry as being kind of the maybe you look
11:31
at the commercial industry as being a little bit more behind
11:32
the curtain and the show industry is being a little bit
11:34
more in front of the curtain. Especially when you look at the
11:38
interaction that we have at the shows with our consumer
11:41
populations. There is no other potential
11:45
possibility that you are going to have 5000 people walk by your
11:48
ranch on a given day unless you were at the Houston Livestock
11:52
Show. Absolutely.
11:53
That's a great point. It's not.
11:54
Happening otherwise, yeah. No, that's, that's a, that's a
11:58
wonderful point. And I think something people get
12:01
lost on a lot too. And the reason that I mean, we,
12:03
we have a love and a passion for the stock that we're raising,
12:06
obviously, but we also have such a huge passion for the kids that
12:09
come out of this industry. And that's huge as to why I do
12:14
it is to raise future agriculturalist.
12:17
We've had multiple students that have come to us because they've
12:20
caught in the Houston stock show scramble or they've caught at
12:23
Fort Worth or whatever in a scramble and they want to come
12:26
to us and grow a herd. Otherwise they had really no
12:29
interest in agriculture. And I get those kids as freshmen
12:32
and by the time they are seniors fixing to head into college,
12:35
they're choosing an AG degree and going into some type of
12:38
agriculture future that otherwise they probably wouldn't
12:42
have gone into. And so that's something that's
12:44
important to me as the stock show side of things and keeping
12:48
those kids at the forefront of it.
12:50
I know that that's not always the case for everybody and it
12:53
can't be. But for us especially, I think
12:55
that's a huge, huge part of it. I.
12:57
Could not agree more. And I personally have the
13:00
opinion that sometimes the show industry doesn't get enough
13:04
credit for the way that they are cultivating the next generation
13:07
of agriculture. Whether that be the next
13:09
generation of producers or whether that be just the next
13:13
generation of veterinarians, of agricultural leaders, of our AG
13:17
economists, of these people that are going to go out and continue
13:20
to be that next generation of supporting agriculture.
13:24
Because the reality of it is we need people back home on the
13:27
ranch that are willing to raise and grow these livestock.
13:29
But we also need people who understand and love the industry
13:32
in our DC offices, in our veterinarian offices, in our
13:36
marketing agencies, in all of these different areas and the
13:40
show industry. He does a really great job of
13:43
cultivating that next generation.
13:45
Can you talk a little bit more just about that?
13:47
Yeah. I think from a full grand
13:50
picture of it, it's teaching them so much.
13:52
I actually put on through Cultivate an internship program
13:56
with the State Fair Texas Livestock Media Department, and
13:59
I was talking to a young girl. She was interviewing me as one
14:02
of her course work and said, well, what do you see with with
14:05
AI? And moving forward, what do you
14:07
see for the future of agricultural communications
14:10
majors? Do you see our jobs being taken
14:12
away by AI? And that kind of caught me off
14:15
guard because, I mean, I've thought about it a little, but
14:17
also I'm so old in my role now, I guess I don't have to think
14:21
about it as much. And the more I thought about it,
14:23
the more I was really like, you know, I could see AI in that
14:26
side of things coming for communications majors in
14:29
general. But your agriculture kids are
14:32
doers. They just get their hands dirty,
14:34
they get it done. Maybe they don't take the perm
14:37
and proper job straight out of college.
14:38
It's going to pay huge money, but they do it for the passion.
14:42
And you can't fake AI can't fake passion.
14:45
You can't fake what these AG kids have.
14:47
And they haven't because they've spent countless hours in the
14:50
barn seeing it first hand. They've, they've seen this
14:53
heifer. They picked a heifer bull to
14:56
breed their heifer project to, to make sure that, hey, if, if I
15:00
don't have anybody around that can pull this heifer, is this
15:03
hep, we're going to be able to calve easily.
15:04
And those are decisions they're having to learn how to make.
15:07
They spend late nights, early mornings in the barn, they get
15:10
beat. And I think that's a lot
15:12
something a lot of kids don't have to get because we're in
15:14
such a a time that people play sports and they do things like
15:20
it's such an extreme level that they're not get it, They're not
15:23
getting beat it when it comes to like losing and AG kids, you can
15:27
have an amazing year and you can have a really, really bad year
15:30
and it teaches you adversity. And I think that's something
15:33
that a lot of these young professionals don't have as the
15:36
adversity that our AG kids do have.
15:38
It's just incredible to see them come and to have these interns
15:42
that are just such doers and respectful compared to other
15:44
kids. And that like, they don't mind
15:46
taking the trash out. They don't mind doing the extra
15:49
that, you know, used to. Like, I'm sure when you and I
15:52
were interns, we just expected, it's kind of a lost art these
15:55
days. But the AG kids, they really do
15:57
still have that going for them. And it's just, and you can tell
16:00
it's because of their time in the barn and their time in FFA
16:04
and, and learning how to write a thank you note.
16:06
I'm huge about that. Kids in FFA, Faye and 4H are
16:09
taught, hey, you write, if somebody buys your animal, you
16:11
write a thank you note before you ever get that buckle, that
16:14
money, anything. And they learn to be
16:16
appreciative from that. And it's just little things that
16:18
they learn. And it's, it's huge to see come
16:21
full circle. Yeah.
16:23
Absolutely. When I'm hiring individuals and
16:26
multiple of my businesses, if they grew up showing cattle, I
16:29
know that they have a certain kind of work ethic because I
16:33
mean, if yours dad was anything like my dad in the show barn,
16:36
like I know you have at least a semblance of a work ethic or
16:42
whether it be your show mom or show dad or whoever it is, like
16:46
I know that if you had that as part of your life, you have a
16:49
really strong work ethic and that you're also someone who
16:53
understands losing. I think that that is such a good
16:56
point that you made there, Heather as well, because that's
16:59
the reality of it. Like you can grow up on a ranch
17:02
and be a really hard worker because it's instilled in us
17:05
from all different ages. If you grew up in the industry,
17:07
you're a hard worker. But do you get involved in
17:11
situations where you really have to understand what failure is
17:15
like and developing that as a person and as like a person
17:19
that's growing up in the industry?
17:21
What are you doing to develop your personal brand and your
17:24
reputation in the industry and not just being good at raising
17:28
cattle, but also being a good human and being good at
17:32
representing and marketing yourself in the world, whether
17:35
it be into a future career or whether it be I am going to go
17:39
be a producer. And you know what I always tell
17:41
people, the first step in marketing your cattle is
17:43
marketing yourself. Because if you can market
17:45
yourself well and if people can trust you, then they're going to
17:48
trust you when you say you have XYZ, that's going to fill the
17:52
hole that they need in their operation.
17:54
And so I think that we just need to be looking at the younger
17:58
generation as a place where we can continue to cultivate really
18:01
great leaders within agriculture, whether it be on
18:05
the like corporate side of agriculture or whether it be in
18:09
our family production operations or in our small towns all
18:13
throughout America. Absolutely.
18:15
Yeah. For sure.
18:15
So when we're looking at just the future of beef production
18:20
and we're talking about the commercial sector, and maybe
18:23
someone is in the commercial sector and they're skeptical of
18:25
the show world, they're looking at the show world and they're
18:27
like that's it's they're they're over there in their line.
18:30
I'm over here in my lane. What would you want them to
18:33
understand about the show world and its role in the future of
18:38
beef production? Yeah.
18:39
I think they just, we all need to understand that we all have a
18:42
generalized passion for these things that I love for what
18:46
we're all doing. It just looks different as to
18:49
how we're doing it. But at the end of the day, our
18:52
passion and our love and our our goal to keep producing high
18:56
quality livestock and high quality cattle is all the same.
18:59
It just looks a little different on the whole picture.
19:02
I would say we're all trying to produce cattle that that could,
19:06
like we talked about earlier, can move and can produce for
19:09
generations. It's just how we go about doing
19:12
that. I would say for for that they
19:14
just need to experience it one time and not even from the side
19:18
of a show ring, but come to a stock show with us and be on the
19:23
backside of it. See all that we're doing leading
19:26
up to the show, leading up to even walking in the ring from
19:29
5:00 AM that morning until that show starts at 8:00 AM.
19:32
See what all is happening. See how we're feeding these
19:35
things because it's Calvin and I always say I get asked to
19:38
promote a lot of supplements, if you will, and that's something I
19:42
think the show cattle world, I mean, everybody's trying to make
19:45
a dime. I'm not a huge supplement
19:46
person. I found some network and I
19:48
believe in absolutely I do. But at the end of the day, just
19:51
feed good ones. That's kind of Calvinized motto.
19:54
Some of these things that you don't need to supplement,
19:56
supplement, supplement and to know that you can have one that
19:59
you can take from pasture, get them ready to the show on just
20:04
Cal feed, just regular things and they look like that is so
20:08
impressive and I think from a commercial side.
20:10
That's huge. If they can recognize, hey,
20:13
they're just feeding these things.
20:14
They're not doing voodoo magic to them to make them look like
20:17
that. They're just feeding them.
20:18
And to see that they can have an endpoint that looks as
20:21
phenomenal as they do, I think it would completely change their
20:24
mind. Again, we do.
20:26
Some do need supplements and some do need certain things, but
20:29
generally good cattle or just good cattle and it doesn't
20:32
really matter what you're putting in front of them.
20:34
I could not agree more that good cattle are just good cattle.
20:38
Like it does not matter who you are or where you're at.
20:42
Like as a livestock evaluator, you could go out to someone's
20:45
commercial operation and evaluate their herd in the exact
20:48
same way that you could evaluate a herd of someone that is
20:51
involved in the show cattle industry.
20:53
And I think that there's also so much over like Intersect with
20:57
those as well. Some of our best commercial
21:00
producers out there also have a show herd that they are doing
21:04
because they have bull sales that they're promoting or they
21:07
they go and exhibit at XYZ or they help out at their local
21:11
County Fair and maybe they do a catch a calf at the Houston
21:15
Livestock Show or something like that.
21:16
Like whatever it may be, you'll see a lot of Intersect.
21:20
And I think it's really important to remember that like
21:23
good cattle or just good cattle. Yeah, it does not where you put
21:26
a good cattle or just good cattle.
21:28
And you know what, one just might have a little bit more
21:30
feed in it if it's up at the house right now.
21:32
And that's the reality of it. Like our show string and our
21:35
family, they are up at the house and they're getting a little bit
21:38
of extra love and attention and feed.
21:40
But guess what? When they're done with their
21:42
show career and they have to go and they have to be Mamas,
21:44
they're getting kicked out with the rest of them.
21:46
Now, granted, they probably do come up to the house a little
21:49
quicker than the rest of them because they think that they're
21:51
going to get fed, but they do still have to go and be in a
21:55
great, They get into that commercial herd, into that
21:59
stalker herd, and really still perform at a level that we need
22:03
them to to be sustainable within the entirety of the livestock
22:07
industry. Exactly.
22:09
And if they can't go out and do that, they're getting hauled off
22:12
unless they are just the A1 donor.
22:15
We have several that that they have to get hauled off, whether
22:18
that be on or reset side or retired show heppers that just
22:22
don't make it like that's just part of it.
22:24
That's part of cattle and and raising them.
22:26
And I think he said that excellently.
22:28
They've got to be able to make it out there.
22:31
Yeah, exactly. I am.
22:33
You know, on the club cap side it's completely different and I
22:36
fully acknowledge that. But on our purebred operation
22:39
side, I do not feel like being up at 2:00 in the morning to go
22:42
pull calves and that's just not my cup of tea.
22:45
I'm not going to do it. And so, ladies, you got to go
22:48
out there and you've got to work for yourselves because I'm not
22:51
working for you. You're working for me.
22:53
You are my employees. I am not your bitch.
22:56
So we've got to figure this out and let's get this dynamic
23:00
straight. And we're we're going to grow
23:02
and we're going to develop from there.
23:04
But from a livestock evaluation side, I mean, you live it
23:07
everyday. You are evaluating these cattle,
23:09
whether they're born on your place or born on someone else's
23:12
operation that you and Calvin do a lot of placing as well.
23:16
And so you are evaluating people's cattle all the time and
23:19
saying like, hey, this is going to make sense.
23:21
This isn't and this is how we're going to continue to move the
23:24
show industry forward. But then also those that skill
23:28
comes into play in commercial operations as well when you're
23:31
making the decisions on keeping heifers back or what's going to
23:35
go to the sale barn or what's not and making those decisions
23:37
from an overall level. You made a comment earlier,
23:40
Heather, about some different tools the different associations
23:43
are using right now, whether it be on the genomic side, just
23:46
more evaluation of EP DS, things like that.
23:49
How do you kind of see those different tools and different
23:53
abilities that we have to evaluate cattle coming into the
23:56
entire cattle industry as we look forward?
23:58
Yeah. Well, right now I think on the,
24:01
an issue a lot of associations have to battle is how accurate
24:04
their EPD's are on an average side of it because it is again,
24:08
just an average whole of a bunch of numbers.
24:11
So how accurate that is. And I think as we move forward
24:13
with different programs and, and different things like that,
24:16
you're going to see it get more and more accurate as it goes.
24:20
Really realistically for as long as we've been doing it, in the
24:24
grand scheme of everything, EP DS are not that old.
24:27
And it may seem like they are because you have years and years
24:30
and a couple different generations of it, but it's
24:33
just, we're not the dairy industry either who have it like
24:36
down to a science. I think eventually we'll get
24:38
there and it will be more correct and I look forward to
24:42
that day and I don't think it's horribly off right now, but it's
24:45
not. And people lie and I mean, it is
24:47
what it is, but I think that'll get better and better as future
24:51
producers come in and these young people, like you said, are
24:54
going off and they're making careers out of this and they're
24:56
figuring out better and better ways to do that.
24:59
I'm so I think that's something that we can really look forward
25:01
to into the future is just a more accurate read of EP DS and
25:05
seeing those be a little more true and honest.
25:08
Not that they're not necessarily honest right now, but they can
25:11
just be off sometimes. Like we can have one we send in
25:14
and we're like, oh, well, that came back better than we were
25:17
expecting. Great for us.
25:19
Probably won't be accurate forever, but we'll take it.
25:22
Yeah, absolutely. I couldn't agree more.
25:24
And I am very excited for the future of the industry, whether
25:27
you're talking about the industry as a whole or whether
25:30
you're talking about what we're going to see people starting to
25:32
do as far as the youth in our industry and the really exciting
25:36
things that we are cultivating there and continuing to grow
25:40
within our youth population. Whether it be through the show
25:42
world or whether it be through our local county fairs or
25:45
different organizations that we're getting our youth involved
25:48
in and really getting them excited about agriculture and
25:50
continuing to keep them involved.
25:52
Whether it be you are working with the Walper family and you
25:55
are showing underneath them or whether it be, hey, I am just
25:59
getting my kid and our local Farm Bureau meetings and getting
26:02
them involved there. Like there's so many different
26:04
opportunities for us to continue to work on our next generation
26:08
and continue to bridge that gap within agriculture as well.
26:11
Continue to see the impact that the show industry has on our
26:15
commercial herds, but then also see the impact that our
26:18
commercial and seed stock producers have on our show
26:21
industry as well. The continued to intersect that
26:24
we have within them. Because we are a very small
26:26
industry, we don't need to be divided on this.
26:28
We can find some overlap and that's.
26:31
What I tell young people all the time is our industry is 80% who
26:35
you know and 20% what you know when they're trying to to land a
26:38
job. I have the career I have because
26:40
I was involved in the Texas Junior Red Angus Association and
26:43
our owner was a junior board advisor.
26:45
The owner of Cultivate was one of my junior board advisors.
26:48
So it's like this full circle. When I was 15 years old joining
26:51
the Red Angus Association, I had no idea that I would work for
26:55
Anne in the future. But that's just kind of how life
26:59
has played out. And you meet these incredible
27:02
industry professionals that truly it's unlike any other
27:05
industry. These industry professionals
27:08
want to see these young people succeed and they're pushing for
27:12
them to succeed. They're they're pushing them
27:13
harder and harder all the time. And what they do on an
27:16
association level as junior board members or at the national
27:20
and state level, whatever it may be, but they're pushing these
27:23
kids to be successful. And I think a lot of kids don't
27:27
have that cause like me, I was, my parents weren't
27:30
agriculturalists, they showed when they were in school, but I
27:33
was the first one to be like, this is my life.
27:35
This is what I'm doing. My mom's a hairdresser, my dad's
27:37
a retired fireman. Like wasn't their career.
27:39
And so those people that really took me under their wings just
27:42
completely changed my, the trajectory of my life.
27:46
And I think we as producers, whether whatever side it's on,
27:50
have don't realize the capability we have to do that
27:53
for these young people. And I think that's so important
27:55
and something that people can get lost on in the middle of the
27:59
argument of commercial versus stock show.
28:02
But I think that's something we can all agree on is that we
28:04
have, as the professionals have this ability to give back and we
28:08
need to utilize it. I.
28:10
Could not agree more. And I wish that more livestock
28:13
producers out there would open themselves up to having some
28:16
mentees underneath them and just having someone that comes and
28:20
rides in the feed truck with them in the evenings after
28:22
school or whether that be like a child of yours or not.
28:26
Because Heather, I think you're a perfect example of that.
28:29
You have a very young toddler right now, but you are still
28:33
mentoring so many people throughout your career.
28:37
And then also throughout everything, anything else that
28:39
you're involved in, whether it be on the like social media side
28:43
or whether it be on the people that are showing under you side.
28:46
Like there is an opportunity I think for everyone to kind of
28:49
take some people under their wings and continue to really
28:52
build up that next generation of livestock professionals.
28:56
And it is just a really exciting time to be a part of the
28:59
industry and continue to get to sit back and see where it goes
29:03
and see what new ideas get to come to the table and where this
29:07
industry continues to go with these young professionals coming
29:09
into it. So this has been such a
29:11
wonderful conversation, Heather. I really enjoyed this and I love
29:14
talking to other stock show producers as well and
29:17
individuals. I obviously got my start in the
29:20
stock show industry when I was about cruise age 2.
29:23
I, I still have my first little trophy from Pee Wee Showmanship
29:28
and I was 2 years old. And the reason that I got that
29:32
trophy at two years old was because they didn't have any
29:34
other peewee showmen at our junior nationals.
29:36
And they were like, just send her into the ring.
29:39
Like we had an old, like we had a cow calf pair that year.
29:43
And so they sent me into the ring and they've got photos of
29:45
it and it's adorable and it's great.
29:46
And so my biggest thing for the longest time was like, yeah, I
29:49
started showing Catalyt too. Thank you.
29:51
So now, now crew gets to be part of that crew and we get to kind
29:57
of bring him into the life that we all get to live.
30:00
And so it's just it's this has been a really, really great
30:02
conversation and I'm so excited to see the impact that it has
30:06
and the impact that the next generation has.
30:07
Is there anything else that you would like to say as we wrap up
30:10
the podcast today? Heather No.
30:11
I really think that's it. I know we we got on here to talk
30:15
about the differences and in the similarities and then I kind of
30:19
derailed us by talking about youth.
30:20
But I think that is something that we all need to.
30:22
I think as producers on either side, we get so caught up in
30:25
what we're doing in the barn and in the pasture that sometimes we
30:28
get forget the overarching theme and the reason behind why we're
30:33
doing what we're doing. And it's easy to argue with
30:35
somebody if you really put a pen to paper and put it into
30:39
perspective. Sometimes it's nice to bring
30:41
yourself back down to earth and be like, OK, maybe I can learn
30:44
from somebody on other side of the fence.
30:46
So just don't ever get too set in your ways to learn, because
30:50
we can always learn. Absolutely, I could not agree
30:53
more. Well, Heather, thank you so much
30:55
for joining us today for sharing your insight and your knowledge
30:59
and just being willing to come on and share a little bit more
31:01
of your story. I really appreciate it.
31:03
And to all of you audience members, if you want to learn
31:05
more about Heather's story, follow along or anything like
31:08
that, make sure you check out the show notes down below.
31:10
I will have all of her links down there.
31:12
And we will see you all next time on another episode of the
31:15
Cattle USA Daily Podcast. Have a good one, y'all.
31:18
Thanks.