Latest / The Source – The Jorgensen Land & Cattle Podcast / Episode 17: New Website, Same Program with Shannon Kubik

Transcript

Episode 17: New Website, Same Program with Shannon Kubik · The Source – The Jorgensen Land & Cattle Podcast

• speaker-0: Mm-hmm. Over a hundred years of experience lie in ideal South Dakota. The team at Jorgensen Lanning Cattle is going to take the time to offer insight into that experience along with many other industry experts. If you're ready to learn and grow, this is the Source. ⁓ happy days, folks. Welcome back to The Source. ⁓ as per usual, your host Jamie Wolf. ⁓ we have been gone for a couple weeks and for that I apologize. ⁓ I have been all over the world and ⁓ Have fell short for you, ⁓ keeping recordings done. So we're gonna try and get caught up here. ⁓ kind of a fun episode today, joined by a fun guest that I'll introduce in just a minute. ⁓ things going on at JLC. ⁓ after our pre-weaning episode, the boys got the calves weaned, ⁓ things are rocking and rolling at the ranch, getting leasebulls home. Getting ready for a couple of sales. One at Rancher's Choice Livestock in Aromas, California on October 3rd. And ⁓ we'll show you guys some fun stuff to go with that sale here later. And then October 29th at Jordan Cattle Auction in San Saba, Texas. And then Arcadia, Florida at Arcadia Arcadia Stockyards on November 13th. ⁓ those are all the big events coming up for Jorgensen Atlanta cattle. ⁓ obviously the Lazy Jay is off and running, they're hunting pheasants, ⁓ along with a lot of fun other things going on at the Lazy Jay, so always busy at Jorgensen Lana Cattle. ⁓ today I'm joined by ⁓ a new slash old team member. ⁓ Shannon Kubik has been with us since April as our chief marketing officer, so she is my boss, guys. Please be nice to her in the comments. ⁓ Shannon ⁓ was with Keep Farmers Farming ahead of that, so she had been involved in a lot of stuff going on at Jorgensen's prior to joining the team. ⁓ Shannon, welcome to the source. speaker-1: Yes. Thanks, Jamie. Thanks for inviting me finally. speaker-0: Would you ⁓ would you take some time, Shannon? Obviously ⁓ the folks at home like to know the background on the on the folks that we get to visit with, so ⁓ go ahead and introduce yourself to the to the folks at home. speaker-1: Absolutely, yes. Well thanks, Jamie. Well, actually my mom ⁓ just dropped off my baby book, so we could like go back to the very, very beginning if she'd like to do that. But yeah, so ⁓ but to go back there just for a minute, I am from central Nebraska, South Central Nebraska originally, so grew up there on a farm, ⁓ and then After college and all of that, I've always been involved in agriculture. ⁓ but I started my career in the seed corn world. So I spent about 13 years working for different seed corn companies, which if anybody listening to this knows much about the seed corn industry, it has consolidated tremendously even since I started in 2012. So if I were to name company names the places I worked at, they're all gone now, which is depressing, but just how that industry is gone. But really worked in the sales and marketing. ⁓ communication side of the seed industry. and then spent a couple years at Millbourne Seeds, ⁓ out of Brookings. And so that's actually everything but corn and soybean seed is what Millbourne sells. So still in the seed world, but a little bit different. ⁓ and then as you mentioned, I worked for Key Farmers Farming for about a year, ⁓ and really helped that's ⁓ we work with farmers and ranchers to transition their operations to the next generation. ⁓ still do some work with them as well to support that cause. It's really Near and dear to my heart, and yeah, now here. As far as on the personal side, so my husband and I live on his family farm near Hamill, South Dakota, which is about twenty miles from winter. ⁓ so actually working here at JLC is the closest job I've ever had. Most of them have been from Indianapolis to Brookings to Omaha, so all over the place. So that's a a nice perk for sure. but yeah, we're on the family farm. We have cattle and we raise crops and we have two little boys. ⁓ and also a hunting lodge. So kind of all the things we do at JLC I have a little bit of experience in, but it's a whole different ball game over here. So yeah, and we also have a seed our own seed dealership, which is where I'm officed out of actually here. So we sell seed and chemical and all of that here in in winter as well. So just a couple of things happening, but ⁓ yeah, excited to enjoy the JLC. speaker-0: And Shannon, just because I think ⁓ you as a as me, ⁓ with you know my time spent at Washington State, I don't want you to just glance over your time at at college because it really does bring when we talk about what we do at Jorgens Atlanta Cattle an understanding of the outside world, right? You know, me before that time ⁓ Just like your typical farm ranch kid, just wrapped up in our own little world of how we see it, how agriculture works, we know and understand all of it, and we see these things on social media and go, gosh, these people are just bonkers. But but you got that same through college time understanding a little bit of the outside world. So I don't want you to just blow past that if you if you go ahead and spend a little time there. speaker-1: Absolutely, yeah. I think that was ⁓ yeah, extremely pivotal in my just growth and on the personal but also professional level too, like you're mentioning. So I went to I was in Lincoln, which is where all my call my friends went to college as well, actually, but they all went to the University of Nebraska. We're on East Campus, the I campus, which was fantastic. I loved spending time there, but I actually went to Nebraska Westleyan University, which is ⁓ a liberal arts school and ⁓ majored in communications, but that is where I you know I was one of well, at least a handful of people that talked about being on the farm and being passionate about agriculture. I wrote articles for the newspaper. I I remember being interviewed for homecoming court, ⁓ which is kind of crazy. I don't know why I was being interviewed for that, but I got interviewed for it and they literally asked me to explain ⁓ what semen was, like how it worked, you know, AIing and all of that. And I'm like, this is this most strange conversation I've ever I think has ever existed when it comes to being interviewed for homecoming court. But But yeah, that experience, like you're mentioning, like really showed the other side, just like invite a new conversation. And we I also did a lot of political science classes there too. So a lot of opportunity for discussion and debate, but in a really healthy way. And so that's what I like to bring bring to the table is even if I'm really good at bringing the other side of the conversation, even if it's not like what I truly believe to my core, but it's what we're gonna hear. So let's have a conversation about it, let's air it out and Then can get to where we can. speaker-0: And you know, even in my experience there at at Washington State, ⁓ with with kids that are pre vet in the animal science department and using terminology that ⁓ you would expect them to know and they going, Okay, you have to explain that and it's like, Okay. Now I understand that I need to step back and truly ⁓ be able to talk to anybody at this point. And some of it needs to be at the one ⁓ one level instead of those of us with higher education that want to talk at the five ⁓ one. speaker-1: Yep. Yeah, for sure. I mean I know we're gonna talk about it, but even this last week when I was on the road for the four thirty seven project, which we can dive into, but we were driving the rapid and people are just asking, you know, questions about what I do. So I was explaining what we do at Jorgensen's and you know, the number of bulls that we move every year and the leasing program. And, you know, these are people from South Dakota, actually grew up on farms. A lot of them or their family were from farms, but just like the conversation it led to, they were like, whoa, this is happening in South Dakota. Like I have no idea or what is the lease bowl program? Like that was an interesting conversation to have and you know that she's just even here in our own state. So tons of opportunity there for sure. speaker-0: Absolutely. And you you touched on what you did last week and that was part of why I wanted you on this week, Shannon. ⁓ not necessarily for Jorgensen Lanic Cattle, but something you did and did highlight Jorgensen's while you were doing it. ⁓ explain what the four thirty seven project is and what you've been training for for the last ⁓ since I've known you and in the rain what you did last week. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, so the four thirty seven project is a ⁓ a project, a program that started five years ago, ⁓ here in South Dakota and it's four thirty seven because the state of South Dakota is approximately four hundred and thirty seven miles from the western border to the eastern border. And so there was a group of twelve of us runners, so it's a a running ⁓ relay, and we ran from the Wyoming border to the Iowa border ⁓ from Thursday. through Sunday this past weekend. ⁓ and it's really it's a run, but it's actually more about bringing awareness and raising funding for suicide and mental health resources. ⁓ and I applied to be part of it well because I like to challenge myself first of all. And I not they keep saying they did not like when I said I'm not a runner. I can run, this is true. I'm just not a elite runner. How about that? but For me, ⁓ as I especially wasn't with working on heat farmers farming and sitting at tables with farmers and ranchers, mental health and suicide are topics that unfortunately affect people in agriculture three and a half times more than actually the general population. But it's just not something we talk about because we are known to power through it. You just gotta figure it out. and I really wanted to bring awareness to that and show people that it's okay to talk about it. It's okay to not be okay, but We had a speaker with us all week and he kept saying, It's okay to not be okay, but it's not okay to stay there. And I really like that thought process of you can't stay in that. And so that's why I ran in it. it did rain, which was what a blessing. Like we really needed rain. ⁓ so that was really awesome. I mean, it was a challenge because the one night we were west of Pier, and so you're if you know anything about the state of South Dakota, that's the middle of nowhere. In the dark. ⁓ pouring rain and luckily I just mostly had like light rain, but some people after me had pouring rain. ⁓ but it was also amazing 'cause you just think about like what that actually I was telling them my other runners, like this is actually helping the mental health of the ranchers out. Like this rain, while it's a pain for us, it is such a blessing to be able to run through it knowing that it is gonna positively impact all these people people's lives today and for a while because it was a good rain. ⁓ But yeah, we raised over four hundred thousand dollars, ⁓ which the previous four years they'd raised a million doll dollars in total. So really had a good showing and had a lot of support for the industry. ⁓ and I also ran in honor of one of our friends, ⁓ my husband's friends from college. He died by suicide a few years ago. And so I just really wanted to run in his memory as well. And it was cool to have his you know, have his name on my shoes because every time I like, ⁓ I can't run anymore. ⁓ I looked down and there it was. ⁓ I also had a pair of shoes decorated that were for JLC, so that was a wonderful support from Jorgensen's ⁓ and the family. And, you know, I think that's a thing too, is this is unfortunately a topic, like I said, that is just so widely it's just a thing that affects all of us. And we all have mental health. Like there's something wrong with all like honestly, there's something wrong with all of us. we just know how to we just learn how to handle it in different ways, or we don't handle it, and that's unfortunately what can lead to some of some of these things happening. So Yeah, it was an experience. I ran thirty-six well, actually thirty-seven miles after the last mile, over like seventy-two hours. ⁓ so I can walk now though, that's positive. Not that sore. So yeah. speaker-0: It's really neat, Shannon, from the standpoint of you know, going back to what we did with the built to last event and growing your network. Yeah. Like like you said, it it's okay to not be okay. ⁓ really good to have somebody to talk to. And if you've got a a group of people that ⁓ you can call speaker-1: Absolutely. Yep. speaker-0: At any time, you know, I had an old man in Kansas when when things were rough and I still talk to him probably once a week, but it's just like done a wonderful job of always just listening to me scream and that telling me to suck it up, Princess. And that was speaker-1: Yep. And I think that's what people need to realize is like it can feel like you're so alone, especially when you're, you know, out on a ranch by Edning. We saw one of our stops was in Enning, South Dakota. So like talk about again, middle of nowhere. But even if you're there, like you can feel so alone, but there is someone out there that is willing to talk. just have to f find who that group is, find those people. go to the bar inning, for example, and there are people there and like Not saying you have to go drink a beer, but like you can go out just like have a conversation because people want to do that. And it was amazing. We did community stops along the way and so yeah, even in ending we had someone come out that that I knew, but they came out to say hi and then they actually told me that their niece had died by suicide a month ago. ⁓ I wasn't expecting that, but that was just the heaviness that the running was hard, but the emotions that just this opening this conversation brings is harder, but If we don't talk about it ⁓ it's gonna keep happening, so we have to talk about speaker-0: as farm and ranch kids, you know, you feel very you know, like you said, if you're say in Mountain City, South Dakota, ⁓ you can very much feel like you are out there alone and you're the only one with problems. Everybody on social media is all sunshine and rainbows and ⁓ we all know that's not the case, but it's really good to have somebody that ⁓ is dealing with the same problems you are. That speaker-1: Absolutely. Yeah, I think it's something that if people are interested, I would I'm I'm gonna promote it right now. I'd go to the 437project.org or on social media, all the platforms they're on all of those. And you can see all the content that was that happened last week that along the route. ⁓ I think there was a lot of good interviews and conversations. We had people on our in our runner group that I mean one person had tried and luckily and not luckily, like I mean luckily she's still by God's grace, is still here to tell her own story. We had those people, some people like that. We had all sorts of different people that we that we ran with that work in different industries and I think it's just good to kind of see that this is not just like a certain kind of person or whatever. It's it affects everybody. ⁓ so would definitely say check that out and and if you're in South Dakota and you are a runner or want to be a runner, it'll open up to a soon. apply. So would recommend if pu people want to try it. It's a it is a life changing experience and I do appreciate all the support from everybody and I'm also sa not I'm sad it's over because it was fun to spend all that time with everybody, but I am not sad that I don't have to run like that anymore. I do have a half marathon soon, but it's not that many miles. So speaker-0: I appreciate you sharing that with us, Shannon. That's a a really neat thing. ⁓ like Shannon said, go to go to the four thirty seven project if you want more information. ⁓ great organization, ⁓ great thing to support if you can guys. So let's get off a heavy and let's shift gears. ⁓ since you've come on board, Shannon, ⁓ We love to be challenged at Jorgens and Lanic Cattle, and you've certainly challenged us to be better. ⁓ so ⁓ kind of titled this ⁓ new website, same program. ⁓ Shannon has really worked to help us provide information to you guys on the program, the philosophies in a much better way through the website. And ⁓ we kind of just wanted to walk through some of the the fun things that are that are now available on the website. So Shannon, if you want to go ahead and pull it up and start where you would like to start. speaker-1: Sure. Let's see what I can get there. Here we go. ⁓ alright. Can you see it? Alright. Let me just move you down here so I can sorry. See you. All right. Still see it? There we go. Yep. Okay, perfect. Yeah. So, you know, I think that as I think about marketing, ⁓ I just want to make sure that people can find the information they need, however they wanna find it. And Jamie and I have this conversation a lot of like, of course, you and I, Jamie, we are probably more on lean more towards speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: I don't know, techie, digital tools, all of that. But that's not how everybody wants to access information. So when we show all these tools, we're not like forgetting some of the traditional media, traditional catalogs, all of that. That is definitely not the the thing here, but we want to make sure that it's easy for people to find information. Would you agree with that, Jamie? speaker-0: Absolutely. It and I think, you know, yes, we're kind of the techie generation, right? And you and I have certainly obviously embraced that. But you've mentioned your father-in-law and I know my dad. they my dad's sixty-one, ⁓ been a DVM all his life. he he f sees a product that he likes and He uses the internet to do his research. so I don't think that we're we're out of line and thinking that there are are a lot of folks that, you know, they get their information through Google and ⁓ that's that's where product reviews are done today. speaker-1: Yeah. Yep. Yeah, I mean, you know, the majority of the population today, for good or bad, has one of these, has a cell phone. And so it's not always for the best. However, ⁓ that is how a lot of people find things and shop today. And so as we think about the Jordans at Lana Cattle website and all the tools and all the things we're building, yeah, we want to make sure that we can get everybody the information they need, how they wanna find it, ⁓ while still providing all the other tools, printed materials, everything that people are you know, used to and accustomed to ⁓ but maybe in a little bit different way because we like to this is this is not new to me joining JLC. It's always been always been a team to think outside the box and try new things. So we'll just continue that. So yeah, if you go to the Jorgensen Farms website, There's just a lot of different tools here. One thing that we ⁓ really want to make sure is we talk about when JLC and if people have been here for a while, we talk about the mother load. So Jamie, do you wanna explain what the mother load is? Because we really talk about it here on the homepage a lot. speaker-0: Yeah, and you know, Shannon, the mother load i is very much the philosophy behind everything we do at Jordan Solana Cattle today. Cody would say that looking around at the industry, it was time to go back to what the Angus cow became so prevalent for in the late seventies and early eighties and you know, yes, CAB helped turn the nation's cow herd black, but if that cow couldn't do what she's done, it it wouldn't have stayed that way. And so the mother load is all about building cows at Jorgens Atlanta cattle that will produce bulls that will sire gray females. And so behind that is cows that are problem free, they're good footed, they're good uddered, they kept unassisted, they take care of their babies, ⁓ She when you go to move pairs and you ride to ⁓ she picks her kef up and goes to the next trap. ⁓ you get to the working facility and she is gonna go into the gate, she's gonna sort, she's gonna flow down the working facility, she's gonna enter the chute, exit the chute, do all the things that we expect those great Angus cows to do. And The start of that was going back and using a lot of older genetics to pull it forward. ⁓ but everything is all anchored on making a great Angus kettle at Jorgens Atlanta kettle. speaker-1: Yeah. Absolutely, yeah. So that's why we really wanted to some of this rebrand really tell that story of the mother load and why the the mom a cow is really the base of what we do here ⁓ at JLC. And so as you get in here and look at all the the different things we really wanted to show to all the different ways that people can access everything we hire at to offer here at at Jorgens. And I think people, ⁓ the majority of our customers and if you're listening, you probably access maybe one or two different ways. This maybe you have smart bowls or your lease bowls. But I mean we have a lot of different ways and different opportunities for people to access what we have built here at Jorgensen's and so that's we wanted to talk about. So Jamie, what do you what do you have to talk share about all of that? speaker-0: Well, I mean I think it's again it's a philosophy and ⁓ the mother load being the philosophy and the anchor point. But if you guys will go back to when Cody and I talked about phenotype versus production, the I ideal beef evaluation and ideal beef genetics is is the other anchor point. So you have phenotype and production and then the Jorgensen family opted to layer on top of that their own genomic evaluation. And that was initially just for in-herd use. That was for Cody to have another data point to be able to build great Angus cows. And with ideal beef genetics then it gave us the opportunity to offer that test to our customers so that they can now collect genomic data, have better records, and build better cowherds themselves. ⁓ so I think that that leads into everything else we talk about, right? speaker-1: Absolutely. Yep. ⁓ that's that's right, that's great. Yeah, so I think one of the biggest speaker-0: Anything else to add there? speaker-1: I mean, you know, before on our website we had all these all of our products and everything. One of the biggest changes, well there's several of them, but one of the biggest additions I'm excited about is the shop the source page and really allowing customers to be able to get in here and see the different ⁓ products, the different ways to access, whether that's semen or embryos or leasing or smart bowls, all of that. But truly dive in and look at so hey yeah, if we're gonna go down the path of semen, ⁓ Jamie's on a lot. work here of making sure that all the information's in here and you can actually go through, read through all of it and place an order if you want to request some semen for example. Yep. So Jamie, I know you built all this out. What else here as you think about kind of the the opportunity here for customers to do their own research and then really place orders here through the site. speaker-0: Well yeah, I I mean I think the big thing there is from a from a semen standpoint, maybe folks don't know that we offer semen. there's been a lot of really great herd source produced, especially through the mudlob project, with a bunch of different tools available there. And every every bully you use, every breeding decision that you make, they're all a tool, right? And so for somebody that that really wants to invest the time in their program, they can really get on the website and and dive through all the different tools that are available through Jorgenson Lanic Cattle and and Cody, ⁓ David Thomas, those guys have done a wonderful job of developing a great set of tools. to where no matter what you wanna do out of your program, ⁓ we've probably got one that fits where you want to go with Mm-hmm. And we we provide lots of data on those cattle. with tying it back to I V G I guess, Shannon, through our genetic testing on those herd sires. ⁓ It's not just data that gets turned into the Angus Association. ⁓ anybody that's genomic testing through us and maybe we're buying the bull Kiev's back as part of our genetic partner program, we're adding more and more data to those cattle than would ever be available through Angus. some of those bulls five and six times the amount of data in our system. that are available anywhere else. And it's data that that we can vet. it's data that we know exactly what it is. And so ⁓ now that Shannon's showing you the the IVG page, if we make a prescription after visiting with you, we have very, very high confidence that that prescription's gonna do what we want it to do. speaker-1: Absolutely, yeah. So I think that's yeah, just a big part of this too. And as we thought through the information to provide really helping people, helping everybody understand like if you if I ask Jamie where I started with with all of this too, especially with IBG, I've still learning constantly, but really trying to make it so it's easy to access and and understand and showcase how this can work for anybody's operation if they want to go down this path, especially with the the IBG. Correct, Jamie? speaker-0: Yeah, and I think it's worth pointing out where you're at. to go with the IBG and we talked about it with Nick on the deep dive, but the Ag Boost visualization, making all of that data easily digestible. And you you and I have talked about it a fair amount, Shannon. You get into a bull cell catalog and Boy, there's just a ton there and what should I care about? What do I not care about? ⁓ number one, if I don't know anything about my cow herd, it's hard to know what to care about. But then secondly, gosh, I'm coming through our last bull cell catalog was like a hundred and twenty five pages, ⁓ two hundred lots. I'm combing through a hundred and eighty some odd bulls trying to find the data set that then fits me. ⁓ With AgBoost now, we can sort those very simply to be able to get down to a list that we want to work off of. And actually go ahead and plug it now for our customers that are using AgBoost. mobile has gotten a lot better. ⁓ they did roll an app out. So go to your app store, download AgBoost Pro. ⁓ still some things to work through there as far as functionality. But ⁓ but happy with that step that AgBoost has made now for for our customers to be able to use that data more easily ⁓ if they're not at home sitting in front of their computer. speaker-1: Yeah, it's great news. Continuous improvement. That's awesome. Find ways to access it. Yeah, and I mean I think that leads into because you just kinda talked about that ⁓ some of the additional tools we built for upcoming sales, which we're you and I are I guess very excited about. So if you come into the events page here on the website, it'll list all of the upcoming events and and it's not just sales. If we are at other events attending trade shows or whatever, you'll see that here as well. But ⁓ we do have a couple upcoming sales in October, so you can click in Those and ⁓ from there there's just information about that sales with this one's in California October 3rd, and ⁓ when it comes to what Jamie was just explaining, you you can get into here and you can look at each lot, their ag boost information, there's all of that information, other other EPDs and everything. So, Jamie, this is really your wheelhouse, but I know you're quite excited about this piece. speaker-0: Well yeah, ⁓ you know, back to a bull cell catalog and all the data you could ever imagine and and as you guys can see, ⁓ we write flowery footnotes and and have all the fun there because ⁓ we like to describe the cattle. But ⁓ the really nice thing about the web pages guys, ⁓ number one, all the data's there. ⁓ the Ag Boost wheels. Shannon, if you want to click on that wheel, ⁓ Everybody ⁓ we love to use the overall ag boost wheel just to be able to show full cattle. The problem with it in print in catalogs, it's extremely small, extremely hard to read. So with this capability online, ⁓ you guys can click it up big like it is now. It's easy to see. For those of you using that information, ⁓ it sure cleans it up a lot to be able to read and understand. ⁓ and this is really nice on the mobile as well. ⁓ really big image in the mobile. for me a a a game changer as far as being able to look through even our own sale cattle, obviously I'm fairly intimate with them, but it's like, well, just what is his use for instance his birth weight score. ⁓ from an Agbu standpoint and that now I can read it off the wheel to know exactly where he he hits on that number. ⁓ video being right there on the lot listing, ⁓ you guys all know what that's like going through D V, switching back and forth, ⁓ got a catalog pulled up, having the video right there on the lot too. ⁓ is great for me to be able to to click in, see the video. ⁓ and see all the data right there with it. ⁓ if you want to go up Shannon, the one thing I really like here is filters. ⁓ for those of you that are hunting something very specific, say even a you know a max birth weight at eighty two pounds. I use the ⁓ use the actual Shannon. Sorry. And a mi minimum weaning weight of five fifty. speaker-1: There you go. Got it. speaker-0: Let's see how many we filter down to. So we we went from fifty bulls to four bulls, and if those are metrics that you guys absolutely have to have, then when you get there to see the cattle or on sale day, it's pretty simple, those are the four bulls you gotta look at, right? ⁓ speaker-1: ⁓ shit. And yeah, Jamie, as I look at this, I'm ⁓ reminding myself that we had talked about and I didn't build it yet, some way to allow people to somehow star or choose whichever bowls they're most interested in and create their own kind of personal catalog. So this is me saying it out loud on here, so I have to build that. ⁓ so too coming soon that functionality will be in added in too. speaker-0: Yeah, and you know, it's all ⁓ pedigree information's there for those of you that are pedigree nuts as you guys know I am. ⁓ obviously I would dive way deeper than what we have here, but but for those of you that just need to know what what the sire is, ⁓ especially if you follow the program, ⁓ don't wanna trying to Keep the right amount of information in the right places for you guys to not have to sort through a bunch of BS. And ⁓ we all know that as seed stock producers, we like to put a bunch of BS in front of ya. speaker-1: What else on here, Jamie? speaker-0: Yeah that ⁓ I just think the like you said, the ability to star and one thing we we didn't forget about it. Go ahead and click on the full full sale catalog there, Shannon. There we are doing a book, you know, printed copies. ⁓ they just maybe won't be as deep. Technical difficulties. speaker-1: Hold tight. Nope. Now we got it. Okay. Can you see that now? There we go. Yep. speaker-0: Yeah. And so we we're still gonna provide you guys the same old school ways of getting your information. ⁓ it's gonna be more succinct, which I think ⁓ is actually gonna be a positive. ⁓ speaker-1: Yeah, so yeah, like we have like you said the full catalog with every lot listed and some information, but they can everybody can click in and find more information online if if people are interested. So yeah. For sure. ⁓ yeah, so we'll keep building these out and for every one of our sales we'll have these. ⁓ and I guess if anybody listening has any ⁓ thoughts or opinions on additional information that should be added, we're gladly we're always building, so we'll take any feedback. speaker-0: Yep. Yep. And I would I would also tell you guys, just no matter who you're buying your bulls from or what whatever genetics you're searching for, whatever source, if you don't see it provided, that doesn't mean that your provider doesn't have it. ⁓ and they would happily provide it to you. ⁓ whether it's websites or sale books or whatever it is, ⁓ I'll pirate David Brown a little bit, give a shout out to the Angus Underground. and I guess Joe Fisher said it at the time. ⁓ most of our customer base doesn't necessarily care about ⁓ we'll use the tenderness EPD as a highlight point. ⁓ does not mean that your seed stock provider does not have that and they cannot simply send you a spreadsheet with the information available. So please pick up the phone, make the phone calls, get the information you want, even if it's not provided to you because everybody has it and it won't be a problem getting it to you. It's just not taking up a bunch of space in an expensive catalog of information that maybe isn't relevant to everybody that that is looking at that book. speaker-1: Mm. Yeah, and I think that's why as you walk through example here for this California sale, especially when it comes to the filtering opportunity here, like that just really I think is exciting because then it allows you whatever you're most interested in learning about or seeing or finding a bowl that fits your specific operation and needs, you can look for that and sort down and know you know which of these bowls would fit that. And so yeah we don't we don't know every operation is the same which is the beauty of being in the cattle industry. Absolutely. But we want to make sure speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: that we provide opportunities and bowls and and other products that fit whatever your your needs are and so yeah but yeah like Jamie said if you can't find the information here I guarantee you we probably have it and we can gladly get it to you. So speaker-0: Yeah, and like Shannon said, more more things to come with this. ⁓ obviously always open to ⁓ to suggestions from you guys out there. ⁓ we have our trusted sources that go through these things, but ⁓ a lot of them already live in the same wavelength that we do. ⁓ if there's something there that you guys want, ⁓ please let us know and we can assess whether it whether it works and what we can add to provide you the information you want. speaker-1: Absolutely. Yeah, another I think another to get off of this stuff I can go to something completely different, another cool new addition. When it comes to just tools and website things is our ⁓ new promotional goods store. We actually get quite a few questions about this of how do I get some JLC gear and so now we have a store, so you can link to it from our website, ⁓ get your own branded gear. There's all sorts of different options from men's, ladies, tall, which is something I always know people want. Kids, all of the things. So yeah, I'm excited for this edition. speaker-0: And I I think worth pointing out if you go to the outer wearing the men's Shannon, ⁓ this isn't just ⁓ product that's available. There's high end stuff in in there guys. ⁓ you know, Carhartt, we're not halfway in this, so ⁓ if you want Jorgensen gear, it's gonna be of high quality that you wanna wear. you guys know that when you've been getting hats from us all these years that we don't if if you get something from Jorgensen's it's gonna be something that you wanna wear and have and ⁓ all kinds of options on that store. ⁓ speaker-1: Well speaker-0: I know Shannon's really, really excited about the kids section. speaker-1: I love the kids. It's just so cute. They're so cute. Yes. I mean the kid in a branded item is just the cutest. So yes. Yeah, so you know, not nothing super big here, but it is a question that we get sometimes. So just wanted to point that out, that that is now on our site. Another thing that ⁓ let me go. homepage. ⁓ it's kind of buried but not r also it's here is ⁓ there are links to our on our site too say we always have opportunities for new roles on our team so if anybody listening is interested in finding opportunities on the team whether that's on the Jordan's Atlanta Cattle side or other brands ideal soil solutions or the Lazy J Sporting Club can go into that page and I mean right now we have For example, I think this is a really cool opportunity, the cow calf operations manager role. Like what a cool opportunity there to be in charge of the cow herd ⁓ at JLC. And so that is an opportunity here, but you can come in and apply for jobs there. So that's pretty neat, along with our internship program. ⁓ so we're still we're getting ready just to wrap that up, of course, when our ⁓ last year's interns went back to school here after the summer. But we'll have more information about how to apply for interns, internship roles, both on the Jorgensen side, but I believe we may be getting some agronomy, more ideal soil solutions related roles opening up too. Don't quote me on that, but that's what I hear. ⁓ and so this is a neat program. ⁓ and I think if you're interested as a student, no matter where I think this year we had one from California, is that right? Jamie, I'm pretty sure we an inter from California this year. speaker-0: Yeah, I think so. I'm I know previous years, Alabama, ⁓ Ecuador for that matter, ⁓ all over the world we've had folks come join us. ⁓ not to belabor here, Shannon, but ⁓ obviously need to do a podcast with Reagan on the internship program itself. But ⁓ if you would like a real look inside of a top tier seed stock operation, ⁓ Jorgens Lana Kettle doesn't hide anything from the interns. You get to see it all, you get to sit in meetings. ⁓ you get a true understanding of how a top end seed stock operation functions. And not just that, but a business standpoint from ⁓ the meeting structure that we have, you guys have heard all about that. ⁓ the internship opportunity is just unreal. And not not just hammered on speaker-1: It's neat. speaker-0: You know, the feedlot and summer internships. Jorgensen's accommodates about anything you can think of. ⁓ if you want to do a full semester, I would imagine that Reagan could probably figure out a way to make that work. ⁓ so if you have any interest at all, reach out to to Jorgensen's, ask for Reagan, ⁓ and they will tell you all about it and listen to the past podcast with the interns from this year. speaker-1: There. See look at that. Yeah, so we'll have the open positions here posted soon. ⁓ I know that students will be looking here probably anytime to think of as they're thinking about next summer or their internship opportunities for 2027. So we'll get those posted. I am a huge proponent of internships. I think that what you learn about in college is obviously very important, but what really sparks your growth professionally and personally, but also then can lead to full-time employment are internships. So I tell every student to do as many internships as you possibly can. And this is a really neat opportunity for someone that either maybe grew up in this world or just has an interest in it and studying it. Like you'll see a lot of different things if you get into these roles. So speaker-0: I can I can tell you that my internship is what turned me into a seed stock chunkie. And so it definitely an impactful thing. speaker-1: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, I think it's important. So stay tuned for that. I a yeah podcast with Regan would be greater to but do you have the ones with the other interns and from this year and that those was good that was a really good lesson. ⁓ another thing on the website is this the journal page and I think Jamie we have some catching up to you on some other blog posts here it appears which is okay. But is a wealth of information here. ⁓ all sorts of different topics appear here on on the website. and I think is I mean these are go back years and years and years. So a lot of them are maybe topics we've discussed on previous podcast episodes ⁓ or just you know things of like yeah like this one how much does it cost to lease a bowl, leasing versus buying? We get that question a lot. So these topics are covered here on the website and it is a really a wealth of information that sometimes gets overlooked in my opinion. So I would recommend people checking that out. speaker-0: Absolutely. Absolutely. Great great stories there too if you're interested in just the Jorgensen family and and the history behind what they do in Ideal. ⁓ great stories there as well. speaker-1: Absolutely. Yeah, so I mean long story short, there's a lot of things on here. I well we continuously like to add things and just again make sure that not just the website but our social media and all of our marketing tools are built for for all of you. Because it doesn't really matter about us, it matters about you and making sure that you have the information that you need to make decisions for your operation. So that's what we're trying to build. Jamie, I was just thinking one thing we should add to here. ⁓ as I make lists for us is the game that you came up with. That would be a fun addition. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ that was a big hit at Built Last. ⁓ we need to tweak on that game a little bit, but it is it's quite entertaining if you're into looking at cattle and guessing genomics. ⁓ it will it will definitely challenge your brain. speaker-1: For sure. Is there anything else on the site or or anything else that you wanted to talk about? speaker-0: No, I I think that kinda covers it. ⁓ give you guys a little bit of insight into ⁓ The new things that we've built on the website, I I really thought it was worth pointing out what was there and and how you can use it to your your advantage, whether you're studying the program, wanting to learn more about cattle, ⁓ or genetic testing, semen embryos, whatever whatever opportunity you're looking for, ⁓ through Jorgens and Landon Cattle, ⁓ you can find more information there. And ⁓ simple and easy today. speaker-1: Yep, absolutely. Yeah. You know, just I think the thing is is that it was built by well, you, the master of knowing all the details, but also me, the person that is pretty new here and needed things simplified. So, if you're like me and just kind of just starting to learn about all the things that Jorgensons have to offer, that's really w what I was trying to make sure that we could explain all the different opportunities for people to access. everything that there is within Jorgensen's, but also just even again back to like the journal, the blog posts, it's not just about us. Like we really want to provide just information for people making decisions. because ultimately whatever you do for your operation is, you know, as you've we've talked about, Jamie, it's not just a it's not just like a you're buying lunch and then you can eat the next meal later in the day. Like these decisions that are made buying bowls or semen or whatever, you know, are people in people's operations for Years and years to come. So speaker-0: I I love the Marty Rop statistic of the breeding decision that you make today will impact your cow herd thirty six years from now. speaker-1: Yep. And that's like a whole generation. Just think about that. Like that's a generation like speaker-0: A lot of the people listening will no longer be making decisions when ⁓ that breeding decision no longer affects that cowherd. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I hope our kids are making decisions by then. So not me. But that's why it's important to that have all that information. So you can really dive deep into what what you need for your specific operation. So speaker-0: Absolutely. Well yeah, and I mean ⁓ with the way the industry has moved and as fast as the ⁓ industry moves and as volatile as the industry is, ⁓ I had lunch with the guys at Compass the other day and volatility was the only word we could come up with and so it it's everything you can do to put yourself in position where that volatility doesn't impact you. Whether it Whether it's risk protection, whether it's using genetic testing, the right bulls the right places, ⁓ how you can build this thing to be here for generations to come. speaker-1: Yeah. which you know is something I'm passionate about as it comes to farm and ranch transition and just making work sure we're setting up for the future the next generation. So yeah, that's really I think that's how I think about marketing and all of this too is just making sure that w we understand that operations are multi-generational. I mean Jorgensen's is a multi-generational operation ⁓ and making sure we have the tools and the information and all of that available for not only the decision makers today, but the decision makers for tomorrow too. speaker-0: So I've come to end all of these episodes, Shannon, with a question to my guests. Your advice to an eighteen year old kid that wants to get into agriculture, and for you I'm going to challenge it to you just a little bit differently, to the kid that doesn't have a background. speaker-1: Okay. I think well we talk about internships. I I think that you should put yourself out there and apply for as many different kinds of internships as you can. ⁓ and you're probably not gonna get But the more interviews you do, the better you're gonna know yourself, know what people are looking for, ⁓ but also Ask a lot of questions. There's really no dumb question too, and I actually heard our intern say that during your intern ⁓ podcast is that ⁓ they really learned and felt comfortable asking questions when they were here, and I think that is important. So ask questions, reach out. I love when young people reach out to me and want me to like review their resume or I don't know, help them find the next opportunity. I think that's awesome. But you know, as we I talked about when you asked me about like my college experience. I went to a liberal arts school and and I was told like you're not gonna get a job in agriculture if you don't go to a land grant university. Don't believe that. That's untrue statement. But you have to you then you have to try hard to figure out where's your spot, how am I gonna fit, what does this look like, what opportunity how can I set myself up for success? And so, you know, I I did grow up in the industry in that I was in 4-H and FFA and my uncle farmed our our operation, all of our farm. ⁓ but we didn't directly farm, we had a livestock for for each and stuff. But it's not like I grew up on some cattle operation or anything like that. But you have to be willing to learn and ask questions and look stupid and that's okay. because the best people in agriculture, which the majority of people are in agriculture, are we want people young people in this industry. We want I would love to replace myself, like that's always my goal, no matter my job, no matter where I'm at, company I'm at. I wanna hire people that are better than me at My whatever the job is, because that's how we grow. so even just look at our little team here, Jamie, you know, you are way better at all of this data, all of the bull side, all of the livestock side than me. That's fantastic. Makes me look good, but you're doing the work and I would gladly like love to give you props on all of that because you know what you're doing. Then we have Boston, which you and I both know. Makes both of us look really good. ⁓ yeah. speaker-0: Yeah, Bal Boston's the one that makes both of us look good. speaker-1: ⁓ he is so talented with photography and videography and editing and social and all of that. and can I do that stuff? ⁓ speaker-0: Kind of. That's what I answered. speaker-1: could, ⁓ but why when you have someone like that that can just excel in that role. And so I think that as young people you just gotta find your name like figure out what you're interested in, learn about to ask dumb questions, because there's really not any dumb questions, and apply for jobs, apply for internships, and be okay with saying people telling you no, because that's all right. That's how you grow. speaker-0: And I think you you made a really cool point there as we talked about it ⁓ that I just kind of want to hammer home to everybody. Being in agriculture does not necessarily mean that you are farming or ranching horseback every day. ⁓ there is a million different things that we do in ag that would allow you to be involved in an industry that you have a great passion for. that you don't have to know how to saddle a horse and go sort pairs. ⁓ you know, take Boston is a prime example of somebody that ⁓ he has a very unique skill and it's a skill that is very needed ⁓ in all operations, but s especially a seat stock operation, to be able to capture content. And ⁓ so those of you out there, those are jobs actually in ag that are very underserved. ⁓ I think every livestock photographer would tell you ⁓ we could use ten more of me. And so I think that's a really great point to to pull out of what Shannon said. Don't just apply to all the internships but but remember that there's more out there than just just ranching. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, and I mean, if that's your passion, that's fantastic. But you know, if you look even me, like we have our own farm, so on nights and weekends we can be out we're out working on the farm, but you'll find me at a computer the majority of the time, unless I'm in a meeting, ⁓ the rest of my you know, my days and that's just that is what it is, but there are so many opportunities. Accounting we need accountants, we need attorneys, we need I mean there are just you know, what marketing of course, they're just I think yeah. People, especially young people, kind of just think, ⁓ I'm a farmer, I that's all there is, and that's the path, and maybe that is your path. But again, even back to if you want to round a cow, a cow herd, well, we do have that opportunity here. It does look a little bit different because there's a lot of leadership that comes along with that too. and so I think just yeah, thinking outside the box and looking at agriculture for all the opportunities is something that people should do and I do think that technology has made it easier. for some of that as well because like I've lived out here in Hamill my a lot of my career and work for some pretty big companies, ⁓ which people always wondered how that happened. Well, good internet can do you about anything. If you're willing to work hard and travel sometimes, you can you can have a career in agriculture and live on the farm. It is super possible. ⁓ But you have to you'll have to work a little harder than those that live in the big city because we have to travel. But hey, I get to see nobody once I've been in a city for a while, so it's actually a beautiful, beautiful place for me. So yeah. speaker-0: Again, you're you're in it, so when you talk to somebody that ⁓ is in it, you still understand what their day-to-day life is. speaker-1: Exactly. Yep. Absolutely. Can you hear the calves that just got weaned and they are loud and yes. So, you know, I I know that. I I feel that. Yep. speaker-0: And when the feed salesman calls, ⁓ he knows that ⁓ you don't have thirty minutes to talk. We we've got two minutes here. We need to do what we need to do, and then we're gonna move on. speaker-1: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, no, there's just so many opportunities. So I think that agriculture is something that we need young people to be exploring and interested in and you you don't have to grow up on a farm or a ranch. If you did, fantastic. If you didn't, that's okay. You can learn it. And if you're passionate about it, that's truly what matters. speaker-0: Yep. Absolutely. Well, Shannon, ⁓ thank you for taking time. We need to speaking of producer Boston meet with him here in just a few minutes. So we're gonna jump off here. ⁓ hope you guys have enjoyed this episode of The Source, ⁓ digging into a few different things, and ⁓ we will catch you next week. See you guys.