50. Winning the Branded Beef Challenge and Akaushi Assn Updates w/ Andrew Pryor

What does it take to win the American Akaushi Association Branded Beef Challenge?

What updates were there from the Board of Directors of the American Akaushi Association at this year's convention?

Andrew Pryor of Sixteen Peaks Cattle Company answers these questions for us, as well as:

• Who selected the winner of the branded beef contest and how
• Seth meeting Marie Wood at the awards banquet
• The genetics and feed behind the competition winning beef
• The American Akaushi Association moving to the Helical platform
• Genomics and their ability to accelerate genetic change
• DNA being the gold standard vs coat color for registration purposes
• Rotational grazing and virtual fence

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Got Any Cows Podcast. If you want to learn all you can about the beef cattle industry, this is the podcast for you. My name is Seth Christensen. My company has sent beef cattle genetics to 45 of the 50 states and 12 countries around the world. I've had the chance to learn from some of the best and brightest in the beef cattle industry, and I invite you to join me for those conversations here on the Got Any Cows Podcast. Well, I'm here at the American Akiushi Association Convention in College Station, Texas. We are at the tail end of all of the everything. So first off, Andrew, congratulations. You've survived the event. I I think I don't think we've offended too much of anyone too thoroughly with anything, at least that I'm aware of. I think we've all escaped unscathed. I'm sitting here probably more tired than you, which makes no sense because I mean you you've been doing bored stuff. You've been you've been, I mean, very thoroughly engaged. But uh, I guess give us a real quick intro who I'm talking to, just so anybody that's listening only and and and can't see uh that I'm chatting with the the ginger from Tennessee. That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Who is it I've got on the podcast today? Yeah, so Andrew Pryor here today, uh own and operate with 16 Peaks uh Cattle Company with Mr. Randy Massey, uh just outside of Knoxville, Tennessee, uh, but serving on the board of directors for the American Akuchi Association, uh currently in the vice chair role and been meeting here to be lots of members. Uh great, great anticipation here on the convention. So uh thrilled to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Oh yeah, yeah. And Andrew, I just I really appreciate you taking the time because I mean we we recorded together last year. So you're you're actually you would be outside of folks that I work with directly at Christian Genetics. You're the first repeat guest on the God Any Cows Podcast. What a pleasure. Thank you. Congratulations. I appreciate you tolerating me twice and and and not having me run you off on round one, but appreciate you joining me because I I recognize, I mean, all of what you've put into this event. I mean, this is a huge undertaking. I mean massive. Couple hundred people here. I don't know, I mean, exactly attendance-wise, but I mean hundreds of people. 300 or so, yes. Yeah, yeah. And you're and you're in a board of directors capacity in addition to the fact, like you mentioned, owning and operating 16 Peaks, which is not a a um, well, how would you call it that is not a a hands-off approach. I mean, you guys do things well, you run them at a high level, you're selling retail beef, you're running a cow herd, you're finishing cattle. Um, you have a wife and kids.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

I mean, like, yeah, drop that just a little subtle hint.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Yeah, yeah, details. You know what I mean? But holy smokes, you're you're a busy guy, so I appreciate the time. Um, wanted to jump in specifically tonight, Andrew, and touch on a couple of different things um specific from this convention, maybe some updates for anyone that wasn't here and a little deeper dive on a couple of these these changes. Um, and just remembered, I guess, one other that I hadn't talked to you about, but that you mentioned in your board updates this afternoon with DNA uh qualifying cattle as opposed to specific coat color or inspection requirements. So there were, I guess, three things in particular that we want to go over that were updates, you know, in at this convention. One would be the first iteration of the carcass competition, you know, here at the American Aki Association Convention, which you're also the grand champion of. And congratulations. Thank you, sir. Well deserved. Thrilled to see you there. That doesn't happen by accident. That is not a roll-of-the-dice luck kind of a thing. There's an awful lot of hard work bundled up in that award, and I thought just tremendously well deserved. So we'll jump into that a little bit in addition to the update on DNA from the board, in addition to the update on the database change from the board. And then I would like to wrap back around and and feed into some of how you produced a carcass capable of competing with all other entrants there. So let's let's start and I guess run through in in uh timeline order here at the convention Thursday night with that branded beef competition. Walk us through, if you would, what that contest is and kind of the format there for anyone that's not heard of it.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Absolutely. So uh we had the idea, it's probably been about two years in the making of just tossing ideas around, but we wanted an opportunity for a breed that hangs their hat so high on beef quality, an opportunity for branded programs across the country to be able to showcase what their cattle are capable of. We've seen the stories all across the country. People have had their families' lives change forever, generational uh opportunities that these cattle have been able to provide for families. But let's have an opportunity to compete, right? We all we all love an opportunity to compete. So what we did was we created a competition. Uh we looked at lots of different competitions to style what we have done. Uh so what we do is send a whole strip loin off. It's evaluated at West Texas AM University. Uh Dr. Ty Lawrence there is one of the best in the country. He's in the Meat Science Hall of Fame, uh, brilliant man. Gave us his ideas on how he could evaluate it in multiple different factors, but also from a from a subjective measurements, doing a lot of mechanical tenderness testing, uh, actually getting exact measurements on marbling through multiple different methods to confirm that each is accurate. So nothing was done by strictness of opinion. This was all mechanically tested so we can have confidence in the results. Able to submit those entries in in lot numbers so there was no bias involved. Really proud of the way that the competition was put together, strictly for that reason. There was true integrity to it, people from all across the country able to compete head to head. We also did three different classes of cattle. So we had a full blood division that also had purebreds in it as well. Then we had three quarter blood cattle as well as half bloods. Uh so those had the opportunity to compete in their divisions so that we could see respectively what the percentage of Akuchi was able to contribute, and then a grand overall champion as well. So super excited for the future of this competition. I really see it as going to be one of the more premier events of the weekend moving forward. Oh, yeah. Uh one of the unfortunate parts of this year's competition was to get everything finalized and in place. Uh, we had kind of a late notice to announce to membership, so a lot of people didn't have the time to get the cattle uh ready to go to get that product to West Texas. Still had an unbelievable participation, had over right at 200 in attendance in Kyle Field. What a what an amazing venue. As best I'd say, uh I'll wear my orange there. Um but nonetheless, what an atmosphere. Yeah, really thankful for membership, what they participated um in that. But nonetheless, I think moving forward, we'll see a huge participation in that, even way in above and beyond, even though this year was a huge participation as well. I just think moving forward, people uh will have a year to get that product ready. That product can be frozen. So it doesn't matter if that calf is harvested next week or right before uh the deadline for entries next year, which will be sometime in March. Uh so lots of time to get those cattle fed uh to your specs. The cattle do need to be DNA verified uh so that we can use that information to see what the lineage and pedigree of those cattle are and how they competed, um, and and then have that product ready to ship to West Texas on time.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah, absolutely. And and I absolutely commend you guys on the structure of that contest and making it as unbiased, a third-party evaluation as possible. And and now you're defending champion, you know. The pressure's on, yeah. And I, you know, and it's fun to see, like I said, the that that competitive nature and let people go ahead and say, hey, let's all bring our best and let's run them side by side. And I think that it that fosters, you know, camaraderie, you know, friendly competition, you know, um among um producers, I think is a very positive thing. I think it was really fun to see and and say, hey, it I there's nothing that pushes me more than friendly competition, you know, with with with others whom I respect and admire to say, hey, I need uh my game, you know, and I think that's the hope or the intent. That was the feel to me. It definitely didn't feel like anyone's in there saying, well, you know, so-and-so won or so, you know. It's it's a friendly competition, but I think a positive competition. Competition's a good thing. Absolutely. Um, you know, and so I would encourage people to to to to join or to submit a strip loin next year and in that contest and and see if you can keep up with Andrew and the crew of 16 Ps.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

You know, well I think it's just better, you know, uh all all boats will rise on a high tide, right? So an opportunity for a lot of people just to see what these kettle are capable of. Um we you know, we had social media begin to engage for the association at the conclusion of the event. Uh I haven't seen the exact reactions at this point in time, but one of the most interacted posts the association's ever seen uh on social media outlets. So I think it's it's an opportunity when when different programs share those posts and get those pictures out there. Uh one, I think it creates anticipation for next year's event, but but also friends and family that aren't even involved in the industry, but then heard the Akushi name maybe for the first time, right? Just a huge spread and an opportunity to get Akushi out there to the greater public.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yep, yep, yep. And a neat venue to be there at Kyle Field was neat. I thought it was so well, um, I don't know what the term would be catered, I guess. The food that was presented, the different Akeushi products there to eat were wonderful, you know, and a fun place. And it's one of those deals, I mean, uh a nod to the value of coming to convention. I mean, I was sitting at a table at that event and I had never before met Marie Wood, who was directly involved in the imports of of the cattle from Japan. You know, and what a neat piece of Akeushi history, you know, to get to engage in with her and in her story because I happened to sit at a table with her at this event, you know, and I think that's illustrative of the value of coming to convention. I didn't come to convention with the intent to meet Marie or to hear that story, or you know, I didn't know who would or wouldn't win this contest or what all would go into it, but what a fun and unique thing to say, hey, I got to meet some new people. We got to hear about, you know, who who won the contest and how they win it and everything else. And and I guess so I and it should be mentioned as well, your your your winning entry would have been sired by your summit bowl. Um and so if you would maybe touch base on uh quick, Andrew, on on the summit bowl and and maybe on some of what it took to develop a carcass that was able to compete at that level, as far as as the feed behind it or the program behind it, because obviously genetics play a part, and then a well, well-developed management program, well-developed feed program plays a part in in delivering the quality of final product that can compete at the highest level. So would you touch on those two pieces, please? Summit and the feed program that delivered that winning.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Yeah, so so Summit actually came to us in our original herd acquisition. Uh so he was a pear, came a part of a pair, uh, just a little young calf at the time, a few months old, developed fully in Tennessee, born in Texas. Um, had the opportunity to really almost made a mistake with that bull. So this will be the first time the public hears this story, but uh that that bull was nearly a steer, um and and not because of phenotypic value whatsoever. Um at that point in time we were thinking we'd be strictly into the beef business. So we were gonna steer the entire calf crop. Yeah, when he came through. Uh Logan Brown was was with us at the time, and we just looked at each other and just we couldn't bring ourselves to let an animal like that be a steer. So ended up keeping him. Really, really liked him as an 18-month-old, but um just as he's continued to progress, just a bull that that really never ceases to amaze me and what he's capable of. So, our quest specifically in 16 Peaks has always been how can we create an elevated product but also get these cattle in less days on feed, early marbling maturity. As you will know, that's a that's a a place we've hung our hat on since the start of our operation. As we really dove into that and got all this carcass data as it started to come in, there's a there was uh a borderline outlier that could seem to consistently do it better than anything we worked with, whether it be an AI, an in an ET, or within our own herdbull battery. And uh when you look at the bull on on paper, there's not a lot of names that are gonna stand out in that five-generation pedigree to the average person, myself included. Um, but the bull just continued to do it, continued over time. Now, his mother had already proven himself. Uh she had entered the donor battery, so we knew what she was capable of and how consistent she was. But as you look back on the pedigree, not a lot would wow you. Uh so we continued to just use them in a natural setting. And every year, when we began to work through those progeny, we're like, where is this coming from? Um so to date we we had 197 carcass data points at the time of the sale catalog creation, uh, across over 200 now, uh, working through some more cattle this week while I'm at convention that of his. So I think you will struggle to move across the breed and find another full blood bull that has 200 carcass data points of real hard carcass data. Uh, there are probably some out there, but we're sure proud to be able to have that raw data and prove what he has done on the rail on not just full blood cattle, percentage cattle, um, but now having the opportunity to move to other other other operations across the country as we introduce his genetics nationwide. Really excited for that. So that was the big introduction of Summit last night. You know, we took a big risk in the approach we took here, right? So when we when we entered this triple N competition, the goal was always set to have that semen following the night after the competition. And it's a big roll of the dice, right? Right. What if we finish way back on the page and then we introduce some semen? Maybe we we didn't anticipate some of some of those negative consequences, but hey, we all take risk, right? So took the risk. Uh super thankful for how it turned out. Uh got a whole team of people that that deserve a lot more recognition than I do. Um, but it worked out perfectly. Grand champion uh has the opportunity to introduce his semen the next night on a champion carcass. Uh really thankful for that opportunity. But uh as you mentioned about feed and what it takes to get there, uh, so we have a little unique approach at 16 peaks. Uh, we have always tried to keep those days on feed down, like I mentioned. Um we we do feed our cattle on TMR in a feedlot. Everything is fed in-house. We're not feeding cattle third party, um, have the opportunity to keep that in-house. So uh we do raise halage, we we chop corn silage, and we get in local commodities of what's available uh to for a protein source to go with those commodities as well. Uh this particular carcass was fed a little bit longer uh than what we typically do. Uh that that carcass was fed a little over 260 days. Um still, I think when you ask industry-wide, that's still probably on the low end of the spectrum. It is. But for 16 peaks, we're typically around the 230 to 250 mark. Um, and we that was not purposeful strictly for the competition. Actually, the way that worked out was um we only calve two calving seasons a year, spring and fall, and they're about 45 to 50 day seasons. Uh so operating a branded beef program, we have to have 12 months' supply of beef, obviously. Uh so stretching those supplies out six months, we end up having some cattle we feed a little longer than maybe we would so choose in a perfect world, and maybe short fed some cattle at the start of a season, also as well. So the way the deadline worked out for the competition, the cattle were on the touch of long fed, maybe worked out for the quality-wise, uh, of course. So I would like to in the future, as we have more time, have some entries that really showcase what these cattle are capable of early on. Get get some show some carcasses, you know, sub-225 uh days on feed. I'm I'm excited to try to get some entries like that there in the future. But nonetheless, incredible event. Hats off to the association for putting it together. Uh, really excited for the camaraderie, the competition. Uh, again, like you say, friendly competition, but but not a better uh way that I thought to recognize all the branded programs across the nation.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

You bet, you bet. Well, and I tip my hat to you, a job well done in getting something of that caliber of strip loin turned in and all of the parts and pieces that have to come together. There's a lot going on. By the time you get to a finished product, it has got to have been bred right, it has got to have been fed right, it's gotta have been put up right, and then truthfully at the end of it all, it's gotta be cooked right. It's not as applicable, I guess, in this setting. We talked about all the dips from the There's a lot of pieces that come into play and and job well done in making that happen. So moving over to some of these updates from the board. You talked today about DNA being I mean, DNA walk us, walk us through. I thought you presented it all very, very well about the DNA component. Um walk us through uh walk us through it. I'm gonna butcher the wording. You know, you did you just did it well. Walk us through the DNA component of the update from the board update today, please.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Absolutely. So we got a couple things going on. Um I think I think a lot of people in our membership would agree. Um EPDs have not been a tool that a lot of breeders have utilized. And that's something as a board, we knew uh when we have the opportunity, we've got to get to work on that. Um, never gonna take away from stockmanship and the rancher's eye. That's always gonna be a big piece of your operation, mine as well. But nonetheless, the members deserve data that they can depend on, and we've got to work on that as a board to get that delivered to them. Uh so we've been working on opportunities for a long time, just looking at everything that's out there, what's the possibility? What data do we have? Is it enough? Do we need more? What type of data do we need? Um, so there's a lot of things that'll go into this. This is gonna be a very long-term project. Um, let me preface by saying that. Uh we have to start somewhere though, and so we're excited to get started on this project. So we're adopting the helical software. Uh, helical software I think offers a lot of opportunity compared to what we've been using. Um, I think it allows the the rancher to be able to be more efficient in our time. We're gonna be able to have bulk uploads of calves for registration, for DNA request, uh, any any data submission. So let's say Christian Genetics is weaning off a big group of calves, uh, whether it's in Excel form, whether it's if you use a software like Catlemax, we're gonna have compatibility to upload those directly off of a scale indicator to whatever platform you use directly into Helical with a click of a button instead of having to manually enter in hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of calves for some branches across the country. So I think that's just some of the ease of the software, and it's capable of so much more. But I I I think the the theory that we're after here is just to make it easy. I think all of us can say, at least for myself, if it's not easy, uh we try to make an excuse not to get it done. So if data is truly important for what we're trying to do to create more accurate EPDs, we have to make data submission easy. Um that's part of the goal with helical. Again, there's a lot more that goes into that, but that's the resounding theory there is we're gonna make it easier for our members to be able to consistently get data on a calf all the way through the system. Birth weights, weaning weights, yearling weights, carcass weights, and and eventually get into the carcass data as well. So this will take us a series of events to build this out to its fulfillment. Uh, we're working towards a September 1st goal to have it live for our members. Uh obviously, some of this be more um performance-minded, I guess, to start at the beginning. It'll take some time to build the carcass side, build other pieces to it. But we have a grand plan of how we're gonna take it there, and that target will move as well, right? We're we're gonna have some members testing on this. Uh, we're gonna have the ability to get feedback from everybody. How can we improve this for you? How can we make it easier for you? So while we might have a plan today, that target might move 150 times, and that's great if it does, because it's here to serve our members. On the DNA side, uh, we've done a couple of things. One, just to feed into the data while we're on that topic, uh, we are needing more high-density DNA testing to be able to create the genomics that the members are asking for. So I'd ask anybody that's listening that has Akashi Cattle to consider uh high density chips, whether it be an 85,000 or 100,000 uh SNP test, get to getting us to have more data available that we can do more with on the genomics side. Um we have some of that available, uh, but we we have to continue to get more available to increase the accuracy of where we're going to introduce this. Um I mentioned today while we were in front of membership there, uh was able to talk personally with Temple Grandin at a Tennessee Cattleman's event, and um she basically somebody asked her what her thoughts were on genomics. Obviously, a person that's has a huge belief in eye, all right? She's a very visual person. Uh so I thought it was a great question for such a uh well-respected professional like herself. But even from her perspective, she said it's a great tool. It's a tool we need in our toolbox. She said, I can cut um a log in two with a handsaw, but I can sure cut it faster and be more efficient with a chainsaw. But at the same time, I can also cut my hand and my finger off a lot faster, too. And what she meant by that was it's a tool that we need to develop, even our specific situation for our members, but at the same time, it will never replace your ability to evaluate cattle phenotypically, what works in your environment and what you see. Uh we can't chase just a number. We have to chase a balance of what we see with our eye and also back up what we can see with data that's been proven. So that that's a really interesting thing that we've got to continue to build is more testing on those high-density markers. So excited to get more of that in and see where that takes us. On the DNA side, for some of the rules that we have as an association moving forward, we did update some rules on coat color. So on the full blood side, previously, if any if a full blood calf had more than 10 square inches of white markings across the calf, it was not eligible for registration. I do think the Beamans and the Corralis family did an amazing job in the development of the association to have all of this DNA from decades, from all from the start. And we believe that that's super important and has set the association up for success. And in saying that, we believe that DNA is king. If the calf DNA test has a full blood, we have made him eligible to be a full blood calf in the registration as well, no matter what the white markings are. If the DNA doesn't lie, what the lab says, we'll go there and we will move those calves into the registry. On the purebred side of things, uh, so 93 and 34% or higher, um, we obviously have some black purebred still around, which is incredible. And there's that's important to some programs, those have previously not been eligible for registration as well. Uh there's some programs though that are working closely with getting fat calves over to a CAB label that that are able to grade much more consistently with the Akuchi side of things. So I think it was important for us to also stand by that as well. Well, on this side of things, the DNA doesn't lie. The DNA will tell us what the if the calf is a purebred, the calf is a purebred. Regardless of coat colors, we're moving those calves into registry as well. So I hope it's well served for our members. Seem to have a very positive reaction today. So we hope that has a positive reaction for members across the country to be able to utilize those cattle in the registry.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Oh, absolutely. And I appreciate you bringing that up because I look at within my operation specifically, we do a lot with purebreds. We work with polled purebreds. And I'm coming from an Angus background. And so I've got a lot of clients who would prefer a black height, and that's what they'd rather do. And so for us going forward to say, hey, it can be a pulled purebred and be black. Now we're saying, hey, by the by your to your point, if the DNA says it's a purebred, it's a purebred. And that leaves the door open instead of it being, well, it's CAB or an Aukushi brand of beef program. Now with this step, we can say, well, the DNA says this is indeed a purebred Akaushi. And the coat color says it will also qualify for CAB. Because the most commonly missed mark for CAB is marbling. So the only thing that qualifies better for certified Angus than Angus is Aukish.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Absolutely, absolutely. You know, I think it goes back to just we want members to have flexibility to market these cattle, however makes them most successful, right? This association and this breed's only as successful as our members are, and we have to give them every opportunity in the world uh to make their operation the most successful we possibly can. We felt like this was a key step in giving them all the tools we can uh to help them be successful.

SPEAKER_01 23:31

Absolutely, absolutely. And I so appreciate you being willing to put the time and effort into arranging all this on the board, into presenting all of this to the membership. One last thing I want to pick your brain on really quickly, just individually as a breeder, and I'll let you get because you're exhausted. I'm exhausted in the best of ways. You know what I mean? It's been a wonderful couple of days. Um and you're tougher than I am, but I'm I'm sitting here like, this is probably good. You know, we're gonna we're getting late enough in the night. I'm surprised you still have a voice, but I appreciate it. I appreciate it. So I wanted to pick your brain real quick on rotational grazing. I know it's something that you've done a lot of and really worked on building soil health. And we talked about water retention last year and some of how you've been able to build that up, uh, the water retention of your soil by increasing organic mass and organic matter present in that soil. But was curious in your rotational grazing program, I know historically it's been all polywire-based. Does it continue to be polywire-based? Andor have you evaluated andor implemented anything with virtual fence, which seems to be the buzzword of the last 12 months? I'm sure you've watched it just the same as I have. I've watched it for a decade and honestly, for me personally, have done nothing. I I I continue to say every spring, I think, oh, maybe I'll pull the trigger on this one or that one or some of this or a lot of that. I've I I have added some 701x tags, not virtual fence tags, but but but a satellite tag, um, mostly just for tracking baby calves in our case to tie it to a Bluetooth tag on the babies and not lose track of them. But all of that aside, your rotational grazing program, does it continue to be polywire? Are you implementing virtual fence? If so, which uh which product?

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Yeah, absolutely. So I I think we've we have not jumped to that product quite yet ourselves. Um, but I do think it is 100% the way of the future. Uh we have evaluated it probably every six months as well. Uh and and maybe I should have already made the jump, but I think there's a couple things to consider in our specific uh operation. We are we have set ourselves up more so than most, probably in terms of polywire. Uh with with our full-wheeler setups, we're able to cross polywire with never getting off the full-wheeler. Uh, we basically set up a deflector that you can just drive over the wire at 30 miles an hour if you so choose and never open another gate in your life. Just drive over them. Um we've also uh set up a ways to have the step-in post where we can put them in while the reel is in basically a stand for lack of a better term. So we're rolling out the wire while stepping in the post. Uh so we're putting it in in one pass. Um with that being said, yes, it's the way of the future, and it's going to be at 16 peaks at some point in my career. Might be very soon, might be a few years away. I think obviously the biggest inhibitor is just cost at this point. Uh we have spent some, not a large amount of money, obviously, but we spent some time and infrastructure of setting up the way that we are with our with our polybraid setups now, uh, getting those four-wheelers set up to be efficient, having the staff to do that efficiently. Um, granted, again, with all of these things, we're never scared to embrace technology. I want to be clear that this is a way of the future. But at the same time, um investing in a lot of this technology at the price points that it is today, we have been better suited, in my opinion, to put those put that financial capital in other areas that we're focusing on and let that technology continue to develop. My personal opinion, as we've seen with a lot of technology, I feel like it's going to continue to get a little less expensive as that technology progresses. I may be completely wrong. Um I agree with you. I think we wait this one out just a little bit longer and wait to see what it's capable of. Um we are already moving cattle once to twice a day. So I don't think it would change what we're doing as far as the number of movements, the shape of the paddocks, things like that. I I really think we're probably as in depth as we could be. Maybe I'm misunderstood in this, but we're limited by shade basically at this point. We have no limits in water. Um, so I don't think that the fencing for us is going to change the shape of the paddocks, the size of the paddocks, the timing of the rotations much for our operation, like it might for many others, it made way more sense to invest in this technology. Where I think it helps us is strictly on time and efficiency, right? And there will be a point where that tipping point's obvious to us and it's time for us to jump in. Um but I think there's some things to consider there for a lot of people. Every setup is different. I was actually talking with uh the Heinz here over the weekend, and you know, I think that technology in those types of areas in the country is huge to think about. We're talking about land that's hundreds of thousands of acres in a lot of spots, has no fence around it. Um you have to run up to 50, 60, maybe even more acres per pair. Uh so the cost of that fencing compared to the amount of animal units on that type of land is really, really, really hard to justify. Uh embracing technology in these areas, I think, is the no-brainer for a lot of these areas, and people are really giving them shots there. In my area in eastern Tennessee, I think the next step for this technology is in crop residue. Okay, so there's a lot of crop ground with no fence on it, but there might be a pond in a low area, there might be a creek on the backside of it. If there's water, there's capability, right? Uh so I think cover crops and crop residue are underutilized. Uh, we do a lot of leasing of land for grazing, and we sell our management to the landowners basically by saying we're not gonna be the highest bidder per acre to lease this acre. But what we are gonna do is we're gonna take care of it just like our own. We're gonna get fence rows completely clear, it's gonna be clipped, it's gonna look right, it's gonna be a property that you're proud to own and have your family out on and all these things. Yeah, and I think there is only so many in our part of the of the country, so many of those properties available, right? Yes, if you no longer have to have a standing uh boundary fence and and facilities, how many more does it open up, right? So that's another piece of what I consider is you know, when you look at the tower situations and what the investments are on those, you know, if we can get more of these things to be where you could set them up on multiple different properties with less of these items, whether it be towers or or satellites or different products running different ways, um, where we can move these around maybe a little bit more, where they're a little bit more portable in certain situations. Sure, this technology is going to be a no-brainer at some point and it's it's close to to where we want to take advantage of it. I'd just like to see it come down in cost and come down in flexibility of how we could use it in application.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Sure, absolutely. No, I appreciate you sharing that. And and I would I'd like to wrap up here as we kind of bring it all, wrap it all back around and back together, Andrew. If somebody was looking at that branded beef competition for next year, if you were looking at keys to success and or pitfalls to avoid, all the way from genetics to select, how to feed them, and then you know when to harvest them to go ahead and uh submit an entry. Any thoughts that you would have for anyone considering entering next year? 100%.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

So so this would tie back into the data for the association as well. But so we we do have DNA requirements so that we know that the the entry that you submit goes into the classification it it needs to be in, such as 50% all the way through the classifications here. So people that are not DNA verifying or registering steers, um, it's it's very hard to go back and then figure out how to rush a DNA sample in at the last minute and all of these things. I would highly encourage you to get those steers registered for multiple reasons. Uh, one with the new data that the association is going to be putting available, the more data you put in, the more your cattle are gonna be able to benefit from the information you will receive back. And I know that's gonna take time for us as an association to prove to members that we are indeed going to do that. But we ask for that participation and it would specifically help in this competition as well. So that way, as you're as you're harvesting cattle throughout the year and you see, hey, this one was really good, but man, it wasn't DNA verified, right? Have the opportunity as the best ones come available to represent your brand, cattle that are already DNA verified and fit the criteria that the competition has. Uh, that would be my first suggestion. Second, with with the criteria allowing for frozen product, start preparing those cattle now. If you have fats that are ready, be evaluating them. That product is can be sitting in the freezer tomorrow and it's gonna be perfectly fine. Sure. Um if you have cattle that you need to be feeding uh to the appropriate timeline to give them the most success, keep in mind when that those entries will be due sometime in March. Uh so get those cattle ready to go in that amount of time. Uh planning is going to be the key to keep those cattle and the loins where they're eligible. Um, and that way we can have that information to keep the integrity of the contest is the goal there. Um so I think those will be key. Uh, second point I would like to make on the nutrition side of things, uh, keeping those cattle in in a plane of nutrition that continues to increase higher in energy, backing off such in protein, not going to pretend to be a nutritionist here, but but consult with someone that has had success feeding these types of cattle as well. Um I think that is an item that I think a lot of members are confused on. Is is there a special ration in these Japanese cattle? What's the secret to success here? And I'll give a shout out here to Megan Call, our nutritionist that we work with. Uh, she feeds all types of cattle. And the cattle that we're feeding are no different than any other type of cattle. Do we pay attention to one or two things a little different? Maybe so. Um, but really, it's not specific to Japanese cattle. It's just traits that can afford or ingredients that can affect marbling on any cattle. Obviously, it's one of our focuses, so we look at it. But Japanese cattle are also cattle. Feed them like cattle. Listen to people that know how to feed cattle and take their advice. I'm not a nutritionist, but I've relied on people that do know what they're doing and are highly educated in that area. Consult with people uh on that area. Get your program where you have the utmost chance. Uh, you don't want to get in a situation where you put 250 or even more days on feed and just have fed the wrong ingredients right. Depend on people who know what they're doing there. Uh, maybe it is yourself, but it's certainly not me. Uh depend on depend on people that that are able to get that job done most efficiently.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

You bet. Absolutely. And I think some really solid points of advice, some actionable take-home things that people can do to improve the quality of that finished product that they submit, hopefully, in next year's Brand of Beef competition. Absolutely. Andrew, I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down with me. Is there anything else you'd throw in as far as closing remarks, things that I have missed or that you'd like to touch on before we close?

SPEAKER_00 33:41

None, but I would like to uh thank you for the opportunity to speak here. I really appreciate you putting this podcast out on the betterment of the breed. Uh, really thankful to have people stepping up in this avenue.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Absolutely. Appreciate you taking the time, my friend. Absolutely. Thank you. Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Got Any Cows Podcast. Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review wherever you get your podcasts. And visit us anytime at godnycows.com.