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73: 6 Side Hustles That Actually Work for Cattle Producers · CattleUSA Daily

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  Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
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  the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the update
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  shaping agriculture today. I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a
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  passionate advocate for agriculture, here to keep you
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  informed and connected. Now let's dive into today's
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  episode. Happy Friday.
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  Welcome to another episode of the Cattle USA Daily podcast.
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  Today we are coming on to talk side hustles and specifically
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  side hustles that can help compliment you guys as cattle
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  producers, what that looks like. And here's the thing with side
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  hustles, not all side hustles are created equal, especially
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  when you are a rancher, right? And you are juggling a million
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  things and you need to be able to like be called away because
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  cows are out, but still like be able to do the side hustle, you
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  know what I mean? So we are going to be talking
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  what actually works for you guys as producers, side hustles that
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  can keep you on the ranch, support your long term goals and
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  sharpen the skills that matter in the long term.
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  So side hustles for me are like massive.
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  I love talking about them, right?
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  Because side hustles are a way for you guys to take take your
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  ranching operation to another level, right?
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  It can take what you're already doing and just complement it and
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  scale it to be bigger. I have always been a side hustle
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  person. I was side hustling when I was
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  at my corporate job. I really think that there is a
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  lot here and there's a lot that we can be doing as producers.
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  And I will say there are going to be things that I bring up
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  today that you're going to be like duh, like big red truck
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  hello. Like that's kind of obvious, but
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  it's still considered a side hustle because it's not actually
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  like raising cattle, right? And so I think it's important to
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  keep an open mind and we are going to be talking first and
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  foremost with the side hustles, the like the filter of them.
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  So what makes a side hustle worth it, right?
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  Because we, it has to be worth our time to put in all of this
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  energy, right? So we're going to break it down
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  into three things that everything side hustle must have
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  because I'm going to give you 6 side hustles today that would
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  actually work and complement your ranching operations for the
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  part. But if there's one that's not on
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  this list that you're thinking about, I want you to ask
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  yourself these three questions and make sure that it fits into
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  these three must haves, right? So the first must have, it has
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  got to have cash flow. It's got to bring in money
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  consistently and not just someday, right?
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  There's nothing wrong with working towards goals and not
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  getting paid for certain things right now because it is going to
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  be like it's going to pay off in the long run.
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  I'm a big like, let's look at the big picture thing and the
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  long term term, not just the here and right now.
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  So if you do have those things in your life, like that's fine.
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  I'm not saying you got to drop them, but for a side hustle,
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  it'll really be worth it. Like it's got to be bringing in
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  cash flow next. It's got to have flexibility.
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  If it can't bend around calving season or haying or shipping
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  days or just life on the ranch, it's not going to last.
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  Let's be real. Like if you can't go and do your
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  job while also doing this, it's not going to work and it's not
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  going to build in the long run. Next, it has to be skill
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  building or bring synergy. So does it teach you something
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  that helps your cattle operation or your long term vision?
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  Is this something that is fueling you and really just like
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  bringing things, stretching your brain, bringing new things into
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  your life, doing all of those things?
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  OK, so now let's get into six side hustles that actually work
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  on a ranch, right? OK, first and foremost, this
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  one's probably going to be a little obvious, but it is still
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  considered a side hustle in my opinion because it's a side
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  hustle that my family no longer does because it just, it wasn't
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  flowing with our life, right? And that is custom hanging or
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  bailing. So big pros of this.
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  You can use existing equipment and labor.
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  And Hayne season actually comes at a typically a really good
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  time because we've sent cattle out to summer grass.
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  We've got if you've got the land and you've got the equipment, it
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  can be a really, really great option.
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  Now the cons, the weather window is really short.
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  You've got really big fuel and equipment cost if you don't
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  already have all of the equipment.
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  And then you're also putting a lot more wear and tear on your
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  tractors and things like that. And then also you have to have
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  the land for it, right? So that's where custom hanging
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  can come in nice because you're just doing it on the other
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  people's land. But for us, Hayne just didn't
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  make any sense anymore because I think we sold all of our hay
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  equipment like 15 years ago, 10 years, so 1015 years ago,
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  because we were able to buy hay cheaper than we were able to
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  produce the hay. And so it just made more sense
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  for us to be putting on that hay ground in the summer months than
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  it did for us to be hanging it and just go and purchase our
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  hay. Now that did suck a couple years
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  ago when we had to go down to Arkansas to buy our hay because
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  we couldn't find anywhere locally that had it because we
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  were going through a drought, right?
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  And so there are pros and cons to everything, but custom
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  hanging or bailing, always a great side hustle option for a
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  lot of operations #2 and this is one that we have talked about
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  before and is growing in popularity.
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  And that is direct to consumer beef.
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  So with this, I, I love it, I love direct to consumer beef.
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  Even if you just do it on a low scale and you're just feeding
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  out a couple stairs a year and you're just selling them to
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  people in the community. Like I think it's a great side
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  hustle. And the thing with this is, it's
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  building your marketing skills as a producer, It's building
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  your community ties. It is building your brand
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  awareness. It is leaving you with a lot of
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  different options to continue to invest in your community and it
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  works really well if you're already finishing cattle, if you
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  are already have an operational standpoint, operational
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  structure where you are finishing cattle yourself, it
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  works really well for you. Now, if you're not and you are a
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  cow calf producer like we are and we sell our stairs off to
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  someone else is going to go feed them, right?
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  It does take a little bit more effort, but we have show Catalan
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  feed. We have other cattle at the
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  house on feed. It just it was easy for us to
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  add a couple steers to that at the end of the day.
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  And so whatever works for your operation, but that is always a
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  great option as well. OK #3 freelance ad content.
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  And this is actually where I got my first.
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  I'm kind of like side hustle was in this.
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  So I'm talking photo, video, writing, social media, all of
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  these things. And some of you are probably
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  going to listen to this and you're going to be like, OK,
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  we're going to skip ahead 30 seconds and that's totally fine.
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  But this is always a great option.
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  There's always a lot of really great companies looking for
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  stock AG photos as well. I sell a lot of my photos on
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  different stock websites for AG businesses that maybe they don't
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  have a full video team or they're looking for something
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  super particular. And I'm able to provide that
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  with the photos that I've just taken around the ranch with my
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  professional photo and video content.
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  And this has been super impactful for my life.
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  It is now why I have a marketing agency, and that's where I got
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  my start in all of this. And the thing with this is you
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  don't have to be an influencer to make money online.
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  There are other options. And freelancing some ad content
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  is always a great way to start with that #4 custom fencing or
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  different cattle handling services.
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  So this is something that is in extremely high demand, as many
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  of you know, and it builds local reputation with and physical
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  know how, right? So all of us know how to do
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  fencing. But the issue with fencing is it
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  is in such high demand that sometimes the payoff isn't
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  always worth it a because of the prices that you can charge in
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  local communities. And then we're also seeing that
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  it's in such high demand that it might be a little bit too high
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  demand and not have the flexibility that you need.
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  But I want you to all like, think about it, consider it, is
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  that something that works for you and your operation next #5
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  something that we are actually doing this year for our ranching
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  operation, which is super exciting.
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  And I actually have a meeting with our bank loan officer after
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  I get done recording this podcast to go talk about it and
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  getting the loan for it and all of that jazz.
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  But that is rural Airbnb's and farm stays.
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  So this goes into Agri tourism. And I, I am so excited because
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  my family this year we are purchasing back a property that
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  is on our property that we had a family member by and they are
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  now moving out and we are purchasing it back from them.
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  So it's actually 1/4 of quarter of an acre that's cut out of our
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  property and has like dirt Rd. access from one of our like from
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  one of the it's on the side of our property.
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  So it's just like a cut out, right?
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  And it's about 1/4 of an acre. It's a property there.
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  And so we are going to be purchasing it back and turning
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  it into an Airbnb. And I am extremely excited about
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  this because, hey, this is something I've wanted to do for
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  a while. B, It's something that is
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  definitely needed in our community.
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  CI hate renters because we rented this place out before
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  that family member bought it from us and dealing with
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  renters. Not my favorite thing in the
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  world, right? And my husband's probably going
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  to listen to this and be like, but Lauren, when we move, you
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  want to rent out our house. Yes, I think it depends on the
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  renter, right? We just didn't have the best
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  experience with some of our renters and it can just be so
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  hit and miss. And so I am extremely excited
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  for the Airbnb thing because like, at the end of the day, we
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  could rent it out for seven nights a month out of 30 and be
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  paid the same amount as we would if we were renting it out to a
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  renter. And it provides us an
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  opportunity to where we've even got like so many things going
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  on, right? Like we've got a bunch of
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  Longhorns at our house actually. And they're literally just yard
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  art. Like they were cheap at the sale
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  barn five years ago. And so my dad bought them and
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  they're really cool to go and take pictures of and like look
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  at they do produce calves. We do breed them, we do sell
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  their calves, but we're even thinking about like, we can
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  fence in a lot area of certain area down close to there and
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  have the Longhorns down there, right?
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  And have that even more of like a tourism aspect and be like,
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  hey, pay us an extra 20 bucks and we'll come out and you can
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  feed the Longhorns cubes or something like that, right?
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  And really just immersing people in rural communities, in
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  agriculture. This is not for everyone, but it
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  can bring you some really good seasonal income and it can also
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  from a community development standpoint, be really good for a
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  lot of rural communities. I have a friend in southwest
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  Kansas that you would not think that her area would be in high
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  demand for an Airbnb, but she actually turned an old grain Ben
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  into an Airbnb that she has on her property.
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  And the amount like she rents it out pretty darn regularly.
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  Like I would say she's probably at about like 80% capacity most
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  of the time. And this is in Scott City, KS
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  guys like rural Kansas and like not just rural Kansas, like
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  she's not in Scott City, she's outside of Scott City.
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  And so but her thing is she's like, I hit a lot of people that
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  are just on like Rd. trips or want somewhere unique and fun to
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  stay. Like it's cool.
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  She's got a large grain bin turned into now on Airbnb.
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  So like it's a cool unique stay too and all of the things like
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  that. But it brings a lot of tourism
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  to her rural communities too, because now these people are
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  coming in and they're going to their local restaurants.
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  They are spending gas at their local gas stations.
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  It is bringing in just a, it just helps with rural
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  development. And I think that if you have the
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  opportunity and the ability to do a rural Airbnb or farm stays
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  or different Agri tourism like that, that it is something that
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  you should definitely look into. And you also have to have the
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  personality for it, right? Like I'm extremely outgoing.
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  I'm an extrovert. So is my dad.
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  This is like right up our alley. We are the people at cow shows
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  that people are walking by like pointing at our cows and they're
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  obviously like people from the city.
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  And I'm like, hey, do you want to like, come up here and put
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  them like, let me tell you about my cow kind of thing.
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  And so that's just us at our core.
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  And so you do have to have the personality for it.
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  But it is always a great thing for communities, for farmers and
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  ranchers to just bring in some good seasonal income and number.
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  Let's go to number six. Let's go to the final one, and
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  that is trucking and hauling. Again, this is probably one that
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  you're like, duh, we do that already.
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  Why are you telling us that this is a side hustle?
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  It's still a side hustle, OK. And not everyone does it, but it
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  is something that is again, in high demand.
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  High quality haulers are an extremely high demand,
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  especially if you get into some niche markets like the show
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  industry or just higher paying industries like that where we
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  have show families that really need animals hauled in the
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  spring months when people are buying steers or buying heifers
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  or things like that. But they're like $60,000
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  heifers. So they don't want to just throw
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  them on any old truck. They want it to be a higher
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  quality experience. So that is always an option.
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  But then just traditional hauling and trucking.
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  If you have a CDL, it is a great opportunity to look into and you
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  stay close to the industry. With this, you are feeding your
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  communities. You're able to see a little bit
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  you're it just helps with a lot of different things that a lot
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  of soft skills that you can have as producers.
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  And so definitely something worth looking into does not have
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  to be something that you're doing all the time by any means.
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  Again, this is a side hustle. This is something you can do
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  once a month to just bring in a little bit extra income and just
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  help provide for your family and your operation in a different
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  way. So now as we round out, I do
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  want to remind you that like you need to avoid some things inside
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  hustles if you're in production AG, right?
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  So here's some red flags that I want you to look out for when
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  you are looking at side hustles, right?
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  So OK, ones that take you off the ranch during busy seasons.
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  I feel like that's kind of an obvious thing that's been a
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  trend for this episode, maybe is obvious things.
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  But if it takes you off the range during busy season, it's
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  not sustainable, right? And then the second thing is
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  anything with super high overhead and long ROIROAI is
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  return on investment. So if it has super high overhead
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  or it takes a really long to get that return on investment, then
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  it might not be worth it and it might be something that you
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  should probably just avoid in the long run of things.
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  So here's some tips for you guys as we round out the podcast.
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  Start with what you already have, whether it's skills,
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  equipment or land. Evaluate your life that you have
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  right now and ask yourself, what is something, a skill that I
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  have, equipment that I have, land that I have that I can turn
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  into something, right? Like you already have a
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  property, turn it into turn it into a rural Airbnb.
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  You already have all of the equipment for hanging.
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  Maybe that's something you decide to do this year if you
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  have the land for it. Or maybe you're going to go in
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  custom bail or whatever that may be.
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  Look at what you already have and build from there.
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  Next, I want you to pick one thing, not 5 is not sustainable
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  to look at that list and be like, I'm going to do all of
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  these. You're going to burn yourself
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  out. You're not going to do any of
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  them well. It is better to pick one thing
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  and do it extremely well and then if you have the time in the
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  capacity, maybe adding another after that.
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  And then wait until you figure out the thing and you've
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  mastered it and then maybe you add another then.
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  But it is not sustainable for you to sit here and say I'm
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  going to do every single one of these because you're going to
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  burn yourself out. You're not going to do any of
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  them. Well, just pick one thing and
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  start there. Next, build a brand.
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  Even if it's simple, right? People buy from people that they
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  know. So even if you're not selling
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  direct to consumer beef right now, it's still important that
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  you are building a personal brand and that you are looking
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  at yourself and your operation as a story to tell.
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  And that needs shared. That doesn't mean that you have
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  to show up on social media every single day.
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  Building a brand does not automatically equal social
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  media. Building a brand is also
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  reputation and how you're showing up in the industry, what
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  you're doing for your community, how you're giving back, how
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  you're contributing all of those things.
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  But start building a brand now because that is something that
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  is just going to compile overtime, right?
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  It is something that is it's Evergreen.
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  It's always going to be there. It's not going away.
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  So just start building it now, even if it is super simple.
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  And then next, I want you to track income and time spent on
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  these projects and make sure that it pencils out at the end
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  of the day. Because if the time that you
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  were spending on them is not matching the income that you are
• 17:08
  bringing in or you are bringing in more income in certain areas
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  than you are in this one. That's one of those situations
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  where like for me, I was like, OK, this is how much I need to
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  be making hourly. And if something that I'm doing
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  is not matching that hourly rate, goodbye gone.
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  I don't have the time, I don't have the energy for it.
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  And for me, it's not necessarily goodbye gone.
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  I'm not doing it. It's maybe it's goodbye gone.
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  I'm not the one doing it and I have a team member doing it,
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  right? Maybe it's something that we
• 17:37
  still need to be doing, but it's just not not feeding and fueling
• 17:41
  me anymore or it's not matching that income to time spent ratio
• 17:46
  that I need to be keeping. And so just at the end of the
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  day, make sure it pencils out. So with this, we talked about a
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  lot of things today, but your side hustle shouldn't compete
• 17:55
  with your ranch at the end of the day.
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  It should strengthen it, right? These are side hustles.
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  These are things that you're doing on the side.
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  These are things that should be building momentum and fulfilling
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  you and bringing you joy. And I want you to be asking
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  yourself, when you're doing these things, is this building
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  towards your long game? Is this is this something that
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  is building towards your long term goals?
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  Is it truly fueling you in your operation?
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  So I want all of you to think about what you can monetize this
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  year and go for it. It doesn't have to be big, it
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  doesn't have to be crazy. Pick one thing, do it well, and
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  just start. That's all I have to say.
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  Just start. Don't let this be something that
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  you're like, oh, that sounds like a great idea.
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  And then you let it go, right? Open up your notes app on your
• 18:43
  phone, write down what you're going to do and hold yourself
• 18:46
  accountable to it and start working towards those long term
• 18:49
  goals that you have for your operation and just overall
• 18:51
  fulfilment that you guys need as well as producers in AG.
• 18:55
  So as always, thank you guys so much for listening to another
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  episode of the Cattle USA Daily Podcast.
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  I hope you'll have a great Friday and we will see you all
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  on Monday. Have a good weekend y'all, we'll
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  see ya.