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Join We Live It for a behind-the-scenes conversation with Express Ranches’ Donnie Robertson and Kevin Hafner ahead of their 2025 Fall Angus Bull Sale. Hear how one of America’s leading seedstock programs continues to raise the bar in Angus genetics, marketing innovation, and ranch management.
In this episode, we talk about their personal journeys in the cattle industry, the vision behind Express Ranches’ success, and the importance of partnerships that keep the beef business moving forward.
🎙️ Subscribe for more We Live It episodes featuring leaders shaping the future of ranching and livestock marketing.
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.
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.
Welcome to We Live It, the live ag podcast, your source for livestock market insights, management strategies, and real conversations with those who don't just work in the cattle industry, they live it. Here are your hosts, Ty DeCordova and Casey Mabry.
Speaker 2:We'd like to welcome everybody out there in social media land to Express Ranches here in the great state of Oklahoma, Yukon, Oklahoma. We're live today. We have their awesome fall bull and commercial female sale this or starts at 11:00 today. Joining me today is Kevin Heffner and D. Rob.
Speaker 2:We're gonna kinda get into talk through some things about the history of the ranch and the stuff like that. But first of all, guys, with heartfelt thanks, I wanna from me, myself, Jason, Margo, Blake, and and crew, I don't know if a lot of people know this out there, but one of the first meetings me and Jason had was with you guys when we when we went on our own. And y'all brought us in with open arms and and said whatever y'all can do to support us, y'all would. And guys, we can't thank y'all enough. I still remember that meeting when D Rob looked across that table and told Jason, will will it accept a bid?
Speaker 2:Does it accept a bid? And then and when he said that, I just because I've been telling Jason the same thing. You know? It it works. It's just not pretty yet, and we'll get it pretty later.
Speaker 2:Let's worry about functionality first. And, man, we just can't thank you guys enough for believing in us and and being part of the LiveAct family, guys. I don't I mean, we just can't show you all enough appreciation for that and taking the faith in us, and I think we all share the same the same foundation of a of a kingdom foundation of a godly foundation where we all we all trust in god and trust in the faith of of where he's leading us and where he's he's built this this great, I don't know what you call it, this success story of Express Ranches, and it's all been done on faith and and believing in him and standing on his word. And, man, it's just awesome to look around the room and see all these banners and see all these pictures, and and the history of this ranch is just phenomenal. So, Lee Rob, if you'll just go into a little bit of the the history and the back back history of kinda where y'all been and where y'all come from and and the vision you have.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm sure there's still a vision here of of where y'all are going and kind of talk touch on that a little bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Sure, Ty. And and to your point, you know, I think with, with making that move a year ago, and I I think within this business, it's a relationship business. Right? And and I think Kevin and I both, you know, when we sat down and discussed it, just believed in our heart that we had a great relationship with you and and, with Jason and and the whole team that you brought on.
Speaker 3:And and so it is a relationship business. We felt comfortable with you guys and and yeah, it was it was kind of a shot in the dark at the time but but but but we trusted in you and and we've been very very happy with everything that you guys have done but as far as the history goes and and you you touched about about god and and that has been a big part of of our lives here at Xpress. And, you know, Bob Funk Sr. Started this and his family, what Kevin over thirty years ago, probably thirty three years ago now in the cattle business. Kevin and I joined, along with Roy Middleton, our embryologist, thirty over thirty one years now.
Speaker 3:And, and so, again, we we started this whole program has been, Christ centered for the most part, with with Bob's belief and his belief system. And, obviously, Bob wanted to be a large seed stock producer. And, with, the late Gerald Callahan, kind of leading the ship, if you will, and guiding the ship, We kind of got Bob to where he wanted to be, but we're very proud of where we're at today. We've had some, as everybody knows, we've had some two pretty big losses in the last year and a half. But one thing that we knew that both Gerald and Bob Sr.
Speaker 3:Wanted was for us to move forward. And Bob Jr. Carries that same feeling. It's about Bob's legacy and continuing that legacy to raise good cattle, to be good servants, and, to represent the breeds, that we're in in a positive way. And so, you know, we've got, Kevin knows more the numbers than I do.
Speaker 3:He's kind of the number crunchers in terms of what we have. But, you know, we run quite a few cattle. We have five sales here each year. We're in the industry. We show a few cattle as well, but primarily and one thing that we're very passionate about is what's going to happen here today.
Speaker 3:We believe that the bull sale and the bull trade, especially not only to the purebred breeders, but to our commercial guys that trust us is to raise good product. And so, you know, we've always looked at there's so much data and so much information that you can have right now. We continue, Kevin's on me all the time when we're making matings to make sure that we don't get lost in too many numbers. And so we try to, number one, raise good cattle first that pass that eye test, that look really good, and then still yet have the genomic base and performance and all the numbers that everybody's wanting. Because we're supplying not only for us, for our customers, we can't, we've got to keep that in mind.
Speaker 3:Again, we've been here for thirty one years and with five sales a year, you know that keeps us busy. We have three bull sales here, one in the spring, one in April at our grass time sale, and then of course here in our fall bull sale. Kevin heads up those bull sales. He does an excellent job in communicating with our buyers and just keeping kind of the train on the tracks, if you will, in terms of where they're all going and what we need to do to be better in terms of just producing that product that the commercial guy and the purebred breeders want. I think Kevin would probably agree with that.
Speaker 3:We have a big, we call it the big vent sale every August and we sell about 500 registered females. And that sale has been really good in the past and very thankful and blessed for that. But as we move forward, you know, the one thing that Bob Jr. Has instilled in us, the two of us and all of us here is that we will, we're going to continue Bob's legacy. We're going to continue in terms of where we're at in the future.
Speaker 3:We're going to continue to raise good cattle or try to and continue to just be a brand that people can trust, people can rely on and move forward. He has a great passion for the business and for the breeds that we're involved in. You know, one thing that Bob Sr, and it was infectious to all of us, he had a he had a unique love for people. And and obviously he loved the people in this business. And Bob Junior feels the same way.
Speaker 3:And, it's a big change as most of you would know, but, but we're full steam ahead and moving forward and just feel very, very blessed to be in the position that we're in.
Speaker 2:Well, that's awesome. I just every time I come here, I'm just amazed of of the of how it's been built and laid out and the beautiful how beautiful this ranch is, and then you got the Clydesdale Stables up top there that you drive by when you come in, and it's just awesome to see. And all the banners, I wish we could take this camera and pan this room where all these banners that are hanging from all the show stuff y'all do, and that's pretty cool too. But let's do get into the bulls and the females. What do you have today for you got some special bulls for some purebred guys today, and then do you got yeah.
Speaker 2:Know your commercial bulls are outstanding because they always are. We use quite a few of them down where I'm at, and we try to some every year. But what what do you got today, Kevin, to offer?
Speaker 4:Well, before we get to that point, to allude back to your story about our first meeting, I think the word kept getting thrown around was guinea pig. And I think that's where Donnie and I kinda thought we were. Exactly.
Speaker 2:We were
Speaker 4:crash danced dummies. But yeah, to get back to it, I think again, what Donnie said he alluded to is that, you know, we had a relationship with you guys. You guys have done a tremendous job for us, but you had to perform. You had to you had to produce. And so we've seen that.
Speaker 4:You guys have done a great job. And again, have been good liaisons for us. In that Donnie Donnie shared that it's a person personnel business, you know, we have to work with people and we work with people we like work with people to perform. And so that's why our decision was easy. We thought you guys have been here, you've done it, you've lived it.
Speaker 4:I think that's your slogan. And I think it's important to us. A lot of people can talk it, but not all people live it. So let's get to the bull sale today again, Ty, we've got a great set of cattle coming up today. We'll wind up selling about two thirty, two thirty five lots in the bull sale.
Speaker 4:To answer your question, yes, there's a good number of bulls in there that are in the upper echelons as far as EPDs. And one thing that we're proud of is that they're also phenotypically good. They're going to be the big stout bulls along with the number and genomics to back them up. So we've got that from the purebred standpoint and then we've got a lot of good bulls commercial guys. You know, this market is unbelievable.
Speaker 4:We're sitting in the times that we never seen and never thought we'd see you again. But it's awesome. I mean, we're sitting here. Yes, the bull market's good. But when you can sell caves for 22, 23, 24, sell them yearlings for around $3.
Speaker 4:Guys, this is good. We're in a business now that I never thought I'd see. I know you guys are the same way. I mean, we're blessed. This is, if you can't be happy now in the cattle business, this is the time that it's going to be as good as it's got right now.
Speaker 2:Just talked to a buddy of mine last night and he said, if if you can't in this time we're in now, if you can't sit back and smile and enjoy what you're doing, you need to find something else to do. Yeah. If it's not enough, if if you're if you're getting that greedy and and want an extra 100 or extra 200 in these times, you you might wanna rethink what you're doing.
Speaker 4:Donnie and I have talked a lot. Said, you know, this year we're blessed with moisture. We got a cattle market we've never seen. I said our biggest problem right now is finding something to complain about. And we've had to really work at that.
Speaker 4:But we found something just so you know it. But going on the commercial heifers, we had a great set of commercial heifers. Again, something's pretty unique. We worked with four sixes out in Panhandle, Texas. We got the bulls for them in March, bred these females.
Speaker 4:Some pretty unique. You got a set of four sixes females with the four sixes iron leaving that ranch. And that doesn't happen very often.
Speaker 2:So they have the stamp? They have the That's unique. The deal. That very often.
Speaker 4:They're the deal. You don't get it very often, but they're calf raisers. These are big country cattle that go out and produce. I like the term that Joe Leathers all of, they're not welfare cattle. And worked at Dusty and them on these heifers.
Speaker 4:I've been out there a couple of times and we've kind of helped them with it, but great set of females. Then we got a set of females from Jensen Farms here at Del Reno. These heifers originated off the Roose Ranch down at Sulphur. What happened is the Rooses have been customers for fifteen years, probably, probably bought about 200 bulls from us. Great set of guys to work with, great family, but they don't retain any heifers.
Speaker 4:So they took those heifers and sold them to Jensen's in December for this project. Jensen's were forward thinking enough. They saw what this market was and thought it would be a good addition to what they were doing. So anyway, they bought the whole calf crop, the whole heifer crop, brought them over here to El Reno, Oklahoma. We got the bulls for these in the March sale also.
Speaker 4:So we've got Jensen, Steve, Carson and those guys, and they worked hard at this program. Breed up was awesome on both sets of females. They did a great job with them, but it's pretty unique. These are big, stout, nice looking heifers that ought to go to work and make a tremendous set of cows for people.
Speaker 2:So those Jensen heifers, they'll be expressed both sides.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:So what are the calving days? Kind of when are they bred? When do they do to calve?
Speaker 4:About 80% of the both groups are going to be a January 1 to February 1. There's a middle cut February 1 to March ones and then there's a few. There'll be a March 1 to April 1 but the majority is gonna be that early set.
Speaker 2:So, they bred up pretty tight.
Speaker 4:Bred up really tight about 80% in that first first thirty days.
Speaker 2:Man, that's that's that's the testament of what they are and and and the breeding behind them and the genetics behind them if they do that.
Speaker 4:Lot of fertility, a lot of cow power, but again, hard to find these groups of one iron heifers like this that, are not put together. These are cows, females that go back and make a tremendous set of cows for somebody. And again, in this market, it's hard to lose.
Speaker 2:Just to set a really good ranching heifers. I mean, there's a market for them and it's very rare do you get opportunity to buy this many good heifers in one spot. So you guys set your shackle down and then set in here today and bid up and bid often because that it's a once in a lifetime deal to get get a set of heifers like this, two different ranches. One set is carrying a four sixes brands and that's, I mean, that's something of itself. So we all know that that brand and that that set of females.
Speaker 4:One thing I would mention too, we are kind of make it where a guy that wants five or 10 has an opportunity and a guy that wants to buy a pot load has an opportunity. So what we do, we sell them in groups of five, we allow that person that gets the first bid or the second bid to roll up to a dark line on the sheet about 40 head like on the Jensen heifers. I think I stopped it at 20 head on the four sixes. But so whether you're wanting five or a pot load, again, we've made it where you can kind of do that without, dinging around all day on them.
Speaker 2:But I will say, if you do want just five or 10, available. You better be the last guy bidding because that guy that's standing behind you.
Speaker 4:Could take
Speaker 2:those guys got big big appetites nowadays for these heifers. So, if if you're just wanting five and ten, don't sit around and think, well, I'll just get the next five or 10 guys. That These guys got some big appetites that are here today, and they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna gobble them up. So, guys, I know you're busy, and it's this cell day, and it's three hours before the cell started, and the phones are going off, and the jitters are going, and just thank y'all. I can't thank you enough, really, from the bottom of my heart from from the live act team, Blake, Margo, from Pure Red side, from me and Jason and Maynig and the whole crew.
Speaker 2:We just we thank y'all for trusting us. Thank y'all for believing in us and giving us a shot to prove ourself. And just thank you guys and good luck today and we'll get after them.
Speaker 4:Appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Ty. Appreciate you guys.
Speaker 2:Thanks everybody for watching out there in social media land. Once again, this will be this will go on YouTube here in little while, so hit the like and subscribe on Facebook. Be sure to hit like. If you have any questions or want to reach out to get involved with live ag, it's live-ag.com. Reach out to Katie at live dash ag dot com.
Speaker 2:Thanks, and god bless.