Southeast Cattle Marketing Strategy: Selling More Cattle to More Buyers

We're coming to you live from Hope Hull, Alabama, right out of the brand-new Elite Livestock Marketing Group facility. Ty sits down with Darrell Stokes and Jerry Etheredge of Elite Livestock ahead of their Grass Time Special sale on Thursday, April 23, reflecting on a year of partnership with LiveAg and everything that's been built along the way.

From the jump, Jerry and Darrell share what the partnership has meant for their operation — increased buyer base, expanded geographic reach, and load lot goals that weren't just met, but surpassed. Darrell even gave away a vacation to Hawaii to make good on a bold promise. 

The conversation goes deep on what makes this partnership work: trust, people, and a shared foundation of faith. 

Jerry wraps it up with something worth celebrating: this is the largest video cattle auction ever held in the state of Alabama. That's not a small thing — that's history being made right here at Elite Livestock and LiveAg.

If you're a producer looking to grow your program, expand your buyer base, or learn what a LiveAg partnership looks like in the real world, this episode is for you. Reach out to Darrell and Jerry locally, or connect with the LiveAg team wherever you are on www.live-ag.com

The We Live It podcast is proudly powered by BioZyme, the makers of VitaFerm® and Gain Smart®. Cattle health starts with proper nutrition, and that is why BioZyme® Inc., a leader in animal nutrition and health, is excited to partner with LiveAg, one of the fastest-growing livestock marketing firms in the country. Through LiveAg’s nationwide video auction platform and sale broadcast services, cattle fed VitaFerm and Gain Smart mineral are positioned in front of a national, competitive buyer base on sale day, often receiving premium returns. Learn more:

https://biozymeinc.com/blog/biozyme-partners-with-liveag/?utm_source=live_ag&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=live_ag_podcast_march

• 00:00 – Welcome & Live from Hope Hull, Alabama
• 00:56 – Jerry Etheredge on the LiveAg Partnership
• 01:26 – Exceeding Load Lot Goals & the Hawaii Vacation
• 02:10 – Rep Group Growth: Wesley, Mississippi, Louisiana & Florida
• 02:41 – What Makes the Partnership Work
• 04:48 – The People Behind LiveAg: Whitney, Mitch & Shawna
• 05:10 – Built on Faith: The Kingdom Vision
• 06:05 – Starting Every Sale with Prayer & the National Anthem
• 06:21 – The Grass Time Special Sale Overview
• 07:30 – Young Producers in the Stocker Business
• 08:46 – Breaking Down the Sale Lineup: Yearlings & Calves
• 09:33 – Cleveland Landing Cattle
• 10:26 – Florida Cattle & Drought Conditions
• 11:42 – Largest Video Cattle Auction in Alabama History
• 12:04 – How to Partner with LiveAg
• 13:41 – Closing Thoughts & God Bless

• (00:00) - – Welcome & Live from Hope Hull, Alabama
• (00:56) - – Jerry Etheredge on the LiveAg Partnership
• (01:26) - – Exceeding Load Lot Goals & the Hawaii Vacation
• (02:10) - – Rep Group Growth: Wesley, Mississippi, Louisiana & Florida
• (02:41) - – What Makes the Partnership Work
• (04:48) - – The People Behind LiveAg: Whitney, Mitch & Shawna
• (05:10) - – Built on Faith: The Kingdom Vision
• (06:05) - – Starting Every Sale with Prayer & the National Anthem
• (06:21) - – The Grass Time Special Sale Overview
• (07:30) - – Young Producers in the Stocker Business
• (08:46) - – Breaking Down the Sale Lineup: Yearlings & Calves
• (09:33) - – Cleveland Landing Cattle
• (10:26) - – Florida Cattle & Drought Conditions
• (11:42) - – Largest Video Cattle Auction in Alabama History
• (12:04) - – How to Partner with LiveAg
• (13:41) - – Closing Thoughts & God Bless

Creators and Guests

Host

Ty deCordova

Ty DeCordova is a seasoned professional with more than 25 years of experience in cattle marketing. He spent 20 years at Superior Livestock Auction, including his final years managing the Country Page as well as the block during video auctions. This allowed Ty to develop a deep understanding of the cattle industry's operations and build relationships with cattle buyers on a national level. Ty now oversees all operational aspects of the business, ensuring efficiency and excellence across all areas. Ty comes from a family with a long-standing history in the cattle industry. Growing up in Groesbeck, Texas, he and his brother started their own cattle business during their teenage years, purchasing and selling loads of steers. By the age of 17, Ty was actively involved in buying cattle at sale barns for his father, gaining hands-on experience. This early exposure to the sale-barn environment shaped his lifelong passion and expertise in cattle marketing. Ty continues to run cattle today and is committed to serving the agriculture industry.

Guest

Casey Mabry

Casey comes to Blue Reef following over a decade-long career with Cargill. Casey’s career in the industry started as a cattle buyer in Western Nebraska and Wyoming for six years. Casey then moved to Wichita, KS where he worked in boxed beef pricing with a focus on understanding out front prices and position optimization. Casey then took to cattle procurement as a Strategic Supply Manager where he focused on cattle formula and grid marketing arrangements working with Cargill’s largest suppliers. Casey’s experience in cash and value based marketing of cattle can be a valuable asset to your operation. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Texas Tech University where he served on the Meats Judging team, and a Masters from Tarleton State University where he coached the Meats Judging team. Casey resides in Brock, TX with his wife Deidrea and daughters Reyse, Avery, and Brooklyn.

Producer

Katy Holdener

Katy Holdener's journey in agricultural communications began on her family's row crop farm in California's Central Valley, where she developed a deep appreciation for the industry. After earning a degree in Agricultural Communications and Economics from Oklahoma State University, Katy has been fortunate to work with respected organizations such as the American Hereford Association, American Angus Association, Superior Livestock Auction and BioZyme, Inc. These experiences have provided her with valuable insights into seedstock and commercial livestock marketing. Katy strives to create effective marketing strategies that support the company and its consignors.

What is We Live It | LiveAg's Livestock Marketing Podcast?

Welcome to the "We Live It" ranch and livestock marketing podcast, where cattle market intelligence meets ranch-ready wisdom. Join hosts Ty deCordova with LiveAg and Casey Mabry with Blue Reef Agri-marketing as they bring you straight-talk market analysis, proven strategies, and insights from industry leaders who understand ranching isn't just a business - it's a way of life.
From livestock market trends to cattle management practices, each episode delivers actionable knowledge to help take your ranching operation to the next level. Whether you're in the saddle or in the truck, tune in for conversations that matter to modern cattlemen. Because we don't just talk about the cattle business...we live it.

Ty deCordova: 00:00

Welcome back to the We Live It Podcast. We are live here in Hope Hole. Is that right? Hope Hole, Alabama at the new Elite Livestock Facility. We're gonna have a live ag sale here at 10AM this morning.

Ty deCordova: 00:13

We're gonna get kicked off there with a bunch of good yearlings each guys got on, and we're gonna kinda move around down to some calves and some wing calves down later on. So, guys, we're just gonna sit here and talk for just a minute. I got Daryl and Jerry here with me today, and just kinda wanna talk a little bit about the partnership that we've had in the last year, how how it looks to y'all and and kind of all the excitement we've done and the growth we've had and y'all kinda fill in the blanks here. Jerry, how what do you think about it?

Jerry Etheredge: 00:39

Well, I've been extremely pleased with this partnership as a lot of partnerships when you start out, you don't know exactly how they're gonna end up. But in this case, every goal that we had has been met. We wanted to increase our buyer base, and that has certainly happened, and it's given us the ability to to increase our region as well. And so we have been super excited about our partnership with LiveAg and the growth that we've been able to achieve.

Ty deCordova: 01:07

What I get a kick out of is at the December party, y'all was talking about the growth and y'all had set a kind of unrealistic goal of of load lots to be sold this past year, and and I believe y'all achieved that and then surpassed it. Is that not right?

Darrell Stokes: 01:24

Yeah. That's correct. And I'll take full blame for that because The year before I had made just some off the wall statement about, hey, if we sell this many, I'll give a rep a, you know, week's vacation to Hawaii. And so everybody made a made a big deal about that whenever we did achieve it. And to our we did give a a vacation away.

Ty deCordova: 01:46

And and in testament to that, that's just that's a testament to the rep group you have put together. The guys y'all have under y'all that y'all work side by side with. You got some good young guys and you got some guys that have been doing this a long time. The noticeable growth though from us is Wesley in Mississippi and Louisiana and and kinda where he's been and what he's done there. And then the rest of your guys, I mean, they've y'all just kinda spread out.

Ty deCordova: 02:11

And then Florida dipping down to Florida with Coleman and those guys, that that's been a pretty integral part of that.

Darrell Stokes: 02:17

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We're extremely excited about what Wesley's been able to do in Mississippi, and there's just lots of room for opportunity there and he's taken full advantage of it. And, you know, there's not a better rep in the world than Wesley. We're we're really excited and proud to have him as part of the team.

Darrell Stokes: 02:33

And, you know, one thing that excites me, Ty, about our partnership is that, you know, when we come into this, we none of neither one of us knew exactly how it was gonna go, but we knew we had kind of tied on to good people. And after a year, sometime the honeymoon is over. Well, what's been really good for me is that, you know, it's only gotten stronger. Our relationship is better today than it was the first day. And, you know, we've got to know each other and that trust that we've developed with your team, Whitney in your office.

Darrell Stokes: 03:04

I mean, she's a saint. I don't know if you know that, but, you know, I just bombard her constantly with changes and requests and, you know, how do we do this and how can I fix this? And I screwed this up. Can you help me? And, you know, and she just handles everything as well as anybody could.

Darrell Stokes: 03:20

And, you know, Mitch and Shauna that I deal with daily on payments and checks and deliveries, they're just super, super people. We're extremely proud and happy to be part of that. Our goal, like Jerry mentioned, when we started this with y'all was to you know, increase our competitive base and add buyers. I wish I had the statistics right here in front of me, but, you know, we sell cattle every sale to someone we've never sold to before. Over and over, I get the same response once those cattle are delivered and, you know, when they get the cattle, you know, they'll be like, we didn't know y'all had this kind of cattle from your area.

Darrell Stokes: 03:58

So being able to get reach those new people and get these cattle for our customers in front of people that's never really participated before is a huge advantage in the, you know, from the marketing side. And just to, you know, have 20 buyers or 30 buyers that potentially gonna buy that animal instead of two or three is just an unbelievable advantage.

Ty deCordova: 04:17

It just kinda changes the things, changes where they can go and where they can end up. You was talking about Whitney and then to Shauna and Mitch and the whole team, and that's just a testament of the people we've surrounded ourselves with, and that's y'all and everybody else that's associated with LiveAg is kind of what this thing was built on relationships and the people we surround ourselves with make us all better, better at what we do. And then another thing I don't wanna not go on touching on it is when we founded this thing, we founded it on the kingdom base, on a God principle and what we do and just like Pam, the lady that works for y'all, I mean, she does a fantastic job taking care of you guys and she's just so spirit filled when she gives you that hug, you can just feel the spirit oozing out of her and it's pretty neat to see that all transpire and take place and we all have that same vision because if we didn't, this deal wouldn't have worked. I mean, we're all equally yoked and we're kinda run right along with it.

Ty deCordova: 05:18

Terry, you're gonna talk

Jerry Etheredge: 05:19

about The fact that we start every sale with the national anthem and a prayer is a pretty good testament to how the organization is run and where the thought process is.

Ty deCordova: 05:30

Yeah. No doubt. No doubt. It's a it's it's it ain't always been that way, but but God will take some people and shake them and and change them around for sure. I promise you.

Ty deCordova: 05:40

You wanna kinda get in and talk about what you're gonna have to offer? You got a lot of good yearlings on. You got a lot of good calves on from everywhere.

Darrell Stokes: 05:47

Yeah. You know, this sale, Ty, has been kind of our bigger sale of the year for, I don't for a long time. We've been calling it the Grass Time special for six or seven years. And, you know, it's we're unique in this part of the world with all these ryegrass cattle come off and we're helping some of our customers get these cattle to buyers that see the value in that grass condition. And, you know, these cattle coming off of our grass perform and do as well as anywhere in the world.

Darrell Stokes: 06:16

And so that's a little unique for this time of the year for us that we can offer that and have those cattle in front of front of everybody. I think we got 200 plus loads in our group tomorrow. So it's a big sale for us and one of the biggest ones of the year that we'll have as far as cattle for us. Some really, really good cattle in this sale. I mean, I looked through the catalog pretty hard trying to find some, you know, something to tell a guy not to buy, and there's there's not very many in there that don't meet standards.

Darrell Stokes: 06:43

One thing I wanted to mention, and and this excites me too, because, you know, I've been in it for a good while now, but, you know, I got several lots tomorrow for three e cattle. And that's a young guy that's just getting after it and doing a heck of a job and and turning out these cattle and making it work. And he works as hard as any man can work to make it go. And it just really, really pleases me to to see his cattle do well and perform, and and we can get them sold well and get them shipped to new people, and and they like them. And he he's very, very conscientious about what he does and how he does it.

Darrell Stokes: 07:17

And it is kind of it's exciting to see that come full circle, you know, for him. And then I got another young customer tomorrow, Adam Knowsworthy. Lot 2675 is a really, really nice load of steers, and his typical program was to graze them all through the summer, but we've been so dry here. He's worried that his grass is not gonna make it through the summer, so he's selling one load of his tomorrow. This little lighter weight than he typically does.

Darrell Stokes: 07:40

I think it's seven and a quarter, but he just needs to loosen up that grass. And luckily, this market is good enough. I think it's gonna, you know, reward him and he he won't get hurt for it. But just to have two young guys like that in the stocker business that are really working hard to make it go, you know, in the in the ag industry, we're all concerned, you know, about having those young people in it. There's two right there that that I'm pretty happy to be associated with and get to sell cattle for tomorrow.

Ty deCordova: 08:04

Yeah. I was looking at your lineup trying to figure out the sell order on where to start and and where to go from, and I was I went to sorting through those contracts, I I was like, heck, I guess I could just shuffle them up and see where whoever lands where, but but we do start out with a really exceptional set of of all black yearlings coming off of brown. And I mean, when I got to look at the video of them, I'm talking about the right condition and the right kind, them guys do a great job too. I mean, just all the way through, all the way through your yearling steers and heifers, they're all good. Like you said, they got that grass fleshed to them and just rock on for anybody's, in anybody's program, they can go anywhere.

Ty deCordova: 08:40

And then we kind of move on down to the calf deal, we start with a set of calves called Cleveland right here in Alabama and man, they are whooping.

Darrell Stokes: 08:50

Yeah. They're bell ringers. They're the cream of the crop in this area. They do an outstanding job. Richard and Chip over there at Cleveland Landing Cattle.

Darrell Stokes: 08:58

You know, those cattle can go anywhere for anybody and they'll they'll be pretty popular, I hope.

Ty deCordova: 09:03

And what I do wanna say on those calves, I mean, this has a two day delivery on there, but I was talking to Wesley about that and he and he said, you know, the first day they ship everything. Anything that's left over goes in the wean pen. And then the second they skip a day and then the second day, it's a whole new set

Darrell Stokes: 09:17

of cows. Yeah. There's no holdovers.

Ty deCordova: 09:18

There's no holdovers, and that means a lot to somebody that's buying them things. Don't get hung up on that two day delivery because it's not a true two day delivery where something's held over. It's a whole new set of cows that second day.

Darrell Stokes: 09:29

That's

Ty deCordova: 09:30

right. Then we move on down south and go to Florida, and man, just an exceptional set of calves from Northern Florida all the way to Southern Florida. You got Abel's, and then you got Rockin' G's, and then I'm I know I'm missing some up.

Darrell Stokes: 09:42

Farms there is really nice set of calves. You know, some that we typically sell as weaned, but because of the drought, they're selling them selling them off to cow to try to help their cow herd refreshes. You know, great Mark Western right there in the Panhandle.

Ty deCordova: 09:53

They are good.

Darrell Stokes: 09:54

And the genetics there are outstanding. I mean, they're super, super cattle. I mean, there there's top notch of their genetic their genetics there. And to get opportunity to buy those cattle unweaned is probably pretty unique. It may not happen very often.

Darrell Stokes: 10:07

And a really, really two really, really nice loads of calves there.

Ty deCordova: 10:10

That's good.

Jerry Etheredge: 10:11

We are lucky to have have the opportunity to sell some calves that have long breeding histories like Cleveland's. You know, they have breeding history for thirty, thirty five years. Absolutely. And it's really, really a privilege to get to represent those kind of cattle as well as some of your Florida cattle have many years of breeding.

Darrell Stokes: 10:29

You know, sire list on those Florida cattle and you see De Bruker and Jorgensen just everywhere you look and, you know, the genetics are solid.

Ty deCordova: 10:35

Yeah. And get on further south, you see some W four Herefords on that on that south on that South Florida rocking g deal, and those are all reptables. I mean, they do a great job and and some unbelievable genetics there. Absolutely. Well, guys, I don't know what else we y'all anything else we need to kinda cover here while we're here?

Jerry Etheredge: 10:52

I would just like to say that for me and the whole Elite team, LiveAg team as well, it's exciting to be a part of the largest video catalog auction that's ever been held in the state of Alabama.

Ty deCordova: 11:04

Yes, sir.

Jerry Etheredge: 11:05

And to have it right here at our place and be able to represent our producers in that sale, we're super excited about.

Ty deCordova: 11:13

Yeah. And get to ship them all across the country. And that's what that's what's meaningful to us is to be able to give them give them that opportunity to that buyer base. That's that's what's pretty cool. And another thing, and then you if you're out there watching this and and you have a book of business or or or you are looking at doing something different, I mean, we'd love to sit down with you guys and talk on if you're looking to grow or expand or whatever, you know, and if you're in this area, we'd love for you all to reach out to Daryl and Jerry, and if you're anywhere else, we'd love you to reach out to us and we'd love to sit down with you guys and visit about maybe expanding your program and and doing the doing the partnership like what we did with these guys where where we just grow and grow together and get bigger together and and learn kinda what we're all about.

Ty deCordova: 11:53

I mean, it's not just not just selling cattle. There's there's more to it than than that than what we do here. So we want the relationship and the the kingdom vision to go forth, that's kinda what we're gonna be all about. Guys, I can't thank you enough for trusting us. Tell the story all the time when me and CJ flew down here, thought I thought that Daryl was gonna take us in the woods and shoot us, he he was he thought we was coming after a Wesley wish.

Ty deCordova: 12:17

If I'd have known him if he was as good as he was, I'd have to probably come after Wesley. But no, I mean, was just a cool trip and to see how y'all built this new deal and we come and looked at this that first year we come down here and you couldn't even see the front of it hardly for all the weeds and stuff and y'all done a well of a job and this is just an awesome building and you are taking care of your customers. Y'all do it right. You got good slides. You got good vac programs.

Ty deCordova: 12:39

You got good wait stops. I mean, if if a buyer's out there watching this, don't hesitate to bid on these calves because they they do it right. If it's not right, well, dang, sure fix it. So

Darrell Stokes: 12:48

Yeah. We we built this business taking care of the buyer and the customer, and Yeah. It's worked out for us pretty well so far, so we're gonna continue to do that.

Ty deCordova: 12:56

Well, thank you guys. Appreciate y'all. Thank you everybody out there in social media land for for watching and tuning in. Be sure to hit subscribe and like and send us some comments. I'll be sure to get Casey to get back with you if you got any questions, but thank you everybody and God bless.