We Live It | LiveAg's Livestock Marketing Podcast

From Startup to Success: Building America's Fastest-Growing Livestock Auction Company with LiveAg CEO Jason Barber

Join hosts Ty deCordova and Casey Mabry as they sit down with LiveAg CEO Jason Barber for an exclusive look inside America's fastest-growing livestock auction company. Since launching last fall, LiveAg has successfully marketed over 190,000 head of feeder cattle, transforming how ranchers buy and sell livestock across the nation.

In this episode, discover the story behind LiveAg's founding partners, their mission to revolutionize livestock marketing, and the team driving this groundbreaking company that's taken the industry by storm. Jason shares insights on key mentors who shaped his career, his background in the livestock industry, and how the founding team came together to create a company that's changing the game for cattle ranchers nationwide.

Whether you're a rancher, livestock marketer, or agricultural entrepreneur, this conversation offers valuable insights into building a successful agtech company and the future of livestock marketing.

Interested in marketing your cattle on LiveAg? Find your rep here: https://bit.ly/lareps
Looking to manage your risk with Blue Reef Agri-Marketing? Contact them here: www.bluereef.ag 
Submit your questions or guest ideas to the show hosts here: https://heyor.ca/sq3C0d

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.

Coming up,

Jason said something earlier that really

rings true to our vision. We don't want

to be the biggest, we want to be the

best. They look right across the table

and there's like, what do you mean?

Well, it not accept a bid. No, it'll

accept a bid. Well, can you push the

button and bid on stuff? Like, yeah, we

just don't know like the way it looks. I

don't care what it looks like. I want to

do business with y'all. That's who I

want to do business. We have a

relationship with you guys. We wanted if

it'll accept a bid and you can show a

video on it, what are you worried about?

And I'm sitting here and I've I've been

trying to tell this guy this for the

last 300 miles. I'm going to stand on

God and I'm going to sit on God first.

So So when I when I talk to my team a

lot and and with Jason and myself and we

we have a kingdom foundation is it's all

founded on a godly vision and a

god-fearing purpose. We had a lot of

naysayers when we started doing this. We

had people had a lot of people that said

we wouldn't be successful. Um and and we

still have a long ways to go and and for

those out there, here we come.

That's right around the corner on the

live a ranch and livestock marketing we

live at podcast. But first, a reminder.

If it's time to sell your cattle,

consign your cattle with liveag. Our

summer auction schedule is on your

screen and available at live-ag.com.

Consign your cattle now and take

advantage of Liveag's generations of

experience in livestock marketing. Now,

here's your hosts, Tid Cordova and Casey

Mabberry.

Welcome back to the We Live It podcast.

Today, we're excited to have uh Tai

Cordova once again. Uh and finally,

we've gotten Jason Barber dragged on to

here. Uh today, we're excited to talk

about uh what's been going on with Live

A. Uh this thing's been going on here

for a while and we're pretty excited to

hear what you guys have gotten going on.

So, uh Jason, can you kind of give us an

intro on uh on yourself and how the

business has been going?

Sure. Just you know about myself, I grew

up at Channing, Texas on a registered

Herford ranch that's been in my family

since 1904. So, uh definitely grew up in

the industry. Um as far as how the

business is going, it's it's great. I

think uh so far this year, we're already

surpassed 140,000 head of commercial

cattle marketed. Uh we've done close to

100 purebred sales since we started the

uh business and uh we just launched an

equipment division here within the last

couple months. But this market makes a

little bit easier, but it's been great.

It continues to expand. We continue to

just get phone call after phone call and

people that want to know more about Live

A and want to do business with us.

Yeah, it's pretty exciting to see the

growth you guys gone and obviously there

was uh some demand there and a need

obviously there. So, how'd you recognize

that need?

Well, we didn't want to reinvent the

wheel on everything. You know, clearly

video auctions been around for a while.

It's a great way to market cattle,

eliminates uh some liability and some

other issues. And you know, being able

to sell cattle on contract for immediate

and future delivery, and then transport

them direct from the ranch has a lot of

benefits to it. But when Tai and I were

approached to come do this, you know, we

didn't want to do just the exact same as

everybody else. Wanted to be more

versatile. That's where you're going to

see the cell barns come into play with

us, then the equipment division. But,

you know, really it's it's an

opportunity with great leadership and

great resources to continue to serve

agriculture. Yeah, it looks like you

guys are probably doing something a

little bit different for sure. Uh and

obviously that's probably that way

you're not getting back into the same uh

competitive revolving, you know, I guess

uh wheelhouse that everybody else is in

and trying to just steal customer. It's

actually uh grown quite a bit. Um no,

it's been pretty exciting to watch you

guys and it's been I mean it's been

pretty impressive to watch just the

growth there. You probably had a little

bit of anxiety when you first got this

going. So, uh, kind of go through some

of those things whenever the stages, you

know, uh, over the last year or so, how

those how those emotions have been,

you know, it's it's been good. I think

anytime you've been somewhere for a long

time, trying to step off and do

something new and provide the leadership

and the correct leadership, uh, makes

you definitely second guess, hey, am I

going to go off? Were you going to be

successful? Uh, one thing that gave me a

lot of comfort is good friend Tai came

with me. Uh, we've been aligned with the

same vision since the start. We both

grew up in the industry. We've had a

long track record of relationships

within the industry. And people ask me a

lot, how did y'all get so big so fast

almost overnight? How are you getting

these headcount numbers? And to me, it's

it's pretty simple. Uh we've been in the

industry for a long time, but we had

good relationships with people that are

in the industry. And if you look at our

staff, we have an incredible set of

employees. And they're not people that

just graduated out of out of college. I

mean, they're people that we've worked

with alongside in other ventures and

everything else. They've got real world

experience in this and to me just the

team has set us up for success from

almost day one.

Yeah. I mean, you know, just to kind of

like take it personally back, uh, when I

left Cargill, I'd been there for 12 to

15 years. It was extremely comfortable.

Um, and then whenever we started working

with Blue Reef, it got um there was, you

know, the same type of deal. You wanted

to um, you know, you had a little bit of

anxiety around if it was going to if it

was going to work and all that stuff.

But you know, I keep saying you run with

a little bit of paranoia to make sure

that you continue to service your

customers well.

Um, but I imagine you had that. But you,

you know what, you got Tai over there

and I imagine Jason, you're a pretty

serious guy for the most part. And you

got a little uh uh Tai over there that

could probably relax things a little bit

for you and kind of find some comfort.

Yeah. Here I am throwing my phone off

the

brought that to you. So just give a code

to this guy that's behind me over here,

071182.

And uh so he can do some stuff.

Is that your is that your ATM pin pin

number? Yeah.

So um but no, I was getting something I

need to comment back to real quick. But

but yeah, back to the the how the

dynamic works. It's pretty neat to be

able to work with a

Jason's a really intelligent guy. He

understands the the bigger picture and

the broader picture. And sometimes I can

get in the weeds a little bit and get we

we work total different but we work good

together. Put it that way. We we we

found out early on that we would work

really good together cuz we we both held

up each other's faults. So I have a I

have some strong suits and then I have

some weaknesses. He's the same way.

Well, they're they balance out really

good together. Um so that's what makes

the great team of of up where we're at.

And then we've hired we hired a crew

underneath us that second to none that

that that take their job serious and and

really want to lead. and it's a young

and determined and and

stout team of people that we got

underneath us that that make us look

really good. Um, so we're super

fortunate about that. And I told the

whole crew yesterday, we had a a roundt

meeting with everybody that's internal

and the foundation of the company. And

that's what I told him. I said, "If if

y'all don't bring whether it's problems,

solutions, or ideas back to Jason and

myself and Mike, and if if y'all don't

have the

confidence, I guess it is to say to come

to us, bring us those visions, bring us

those ideas, we can't ever get better."

Yeah.

That's how we grow as leaders is is if

our team comes to us and tells us, "I

don't like you're doing this." Okay.

Well, tell me why.

Give me strategy, give me reasons, then

we can grow.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, but that's what we've we've built in

a team that that aren't Yes. people that

are people that that can stand on their

own two feet and and they will be and

there there's some of them that still

are kind of hesitant because I guess

they think I'm going to eat them or

something.

Yeah. They want to make sure that

they're there they want to make sure

that they don't let you down. You ever

seen Ty when he gets angry?

I don't I'm a lot better. But no, we got

a great we got a great team and

like the Incredible Hook

a

little bit.

No, it's not that bad. Not that bad.

Obviously, starting out, you had to get

people to trust you to switch or do

something different than what they had

been doing before because they had

already been selling cattle before,

whether they had been doing a private

treaty, going to a sale barn, or going

into some other auction, right? So,

yeah, it's how can you do it better? And

to me, and this has kind of been Tai's

mantra since we started, we don't

necessarily want to be the biggest out

there. We want to be the best.

And to kind of give a backstory on on

what we're talking about, people doing

business with people, when when we first

got this thing started, me and Jason

made a trip up to Kansas and met with

us, met with a guy, and then on our way

back through, we stopped in at Express.

They wanted to meet with us and sit down

with us. We're sitting down there

thinking, "Okay, well maybe next year

we'll have their business, you know, cuz

at the time we were not ready." We sit

down at the table with the leadership of

Express and and we'll get them on one

day to kind of tell the story too so

they won't mind me telling it. We're

sitting around the round table and we're

talking about the deal and we're like me

and Jason were pushing back like, "Okay,

well maybe we can maybe we can do the

October deal or maybe we can do the when

they had one coming up on September."

The one we did I think was October 7th.

Okay. October. They had one coming up on

October 7th and we're like, "Maybe we

can do the later one or the next one or

whatever." And they looked right across

the table and I was like, "What do you

mean?" Well, it did not accept a bid.

No, it'll accept a bid. Well, can you

push the button and bid on stuff? I'm

like, "Yeah, we just don't know like the

way it looks." I don't care what it

looks like. I want to do business with

y'all. That's who I want to do business.

We have a relationship with you guys. we

wanted if it'll accept a bid and you can

show a video on it. What are you worried

about? And I'm sitting here and I've

I've been trying to tell this guy this

for the last 300 miles and and he's he's

very particular on how and that's great.

That's that's one of his strengths and

my weaknesses. I don't Well, if it'll if

it'll function, what's the matter? Let's

go. We got stuff to do.

Well, he wants it to be pretty and and

that's great. I love it. But and they

look across and boy, I start laughing

and I look across. I said, "I'm so glad

y'all just said that." And at the time,

we weren't ready. I was not expecting

that because I was kind of nervous as

hell to be honest with you about doing

it. But that just kickstarted us. That

made they put a fire under beneath both

of us to make sure something was ready.

And it was all based on a relationship.

It did. And I mean, you and I, we left

that meeting like, man, I hope we can

pull this off. And

you know, we're probably on top of our

developers pretty hard for for a few

weeks. But I'll tell you another funny

story about that. Uh couple weeks later,

Express has their Herford female sale in

the fall. And I was up there buying

cattle for Barber Ranch. I go up there

every October for that. And Mile Shout

comes up to me and sits down. He goes,

"You know what?" He goes, "I'll give it

to you." He goes, "Cuz I was back there

directing bulls in and everything for

the sale." And he goes, "I looked it on

my phone at least 40 times." He goes,

"There ain't never been a company in the

history of online bidding that it worked

the first time out of the gate." He

goes, "I just knew y'all were going to

have issues. I knew it was going to have

problems." and he goes, "It was perfect

the entire entire time." So,

yeah. Couple months after, couple weeks

after that, we kind of had our issues,

but it went perfect the whole time.

That first one, I mean, it went it went

through like it

it was that I mean, at that point in

time, we we were blessed. We had God was

watching over us. That's all we can say

is he it pretty neat how it all worked

out. Well, I think the biggest thing in

any any venture that you roll out to,

whether that's taking a new job or you

go into a new career, you go into a new

field, you go to do a new business

venture, is that's what a lot of people,

they get to this idea where they're

like, "Hey, I can do this and I think

it'll be successful." And then lots of

people talk themselves out of it before

they do it because of the anxiety and

the fear that they're going to fail.

Yeah.

Um, and and I think that what's cool

about you guys, I've known you for a

while, a long time, and what's cool is I

know you're different personality types.

Um, I've got the same dynamics in our

business, but you guys, uh, you're going

to be both probably having a very

similar vision to where you want to push

and you want to succeed and all that

stuff. Um, but I think if y'all were

both the same,

it wouldn't flow, right? So, if y'all

were both the same, the wheels would be

off the bus tire. If it was just you and

somebody like me, right? like you and I

are probably similar in that respect.

Let's go and then hopefully it all gets

together.

Uh Jason's gonna keep things buttoned up

and then he's going to be somebody that

pushes you along the way, right? Let's

try something new. Let's do something

exciting. Absolutely. It is going to be

okay.

I'll tell you what, when when the people

approached me to come do this, I

approached Tai.

Um they're hoping to sell 50,000 head by

year three. And I said, I can't do that.

And I mean, I can recognize that that's

not my strong suit. The commercial

industry is ties. And so that's why went

to Tai and obviously we've been real

close and had a great relationship for a

long time. But I know he's strong in

that and that's an area that that I'm

not as strong. So, you know, to get him

on board has really helped us. And uh

you know, it's just it's the dynamics we

have with each other. We we know where

we're strong. We know where we need

help. And uh for the most part, I think

we make a really good team. And uh so

far the results have definitely been

following.

The the way I look at the mission the

first the mission is to to have a

successful company. But in order to have

the sess successful company, you got to

have a foundation. And and here

four, five, six years ago, I've I've

kind of turned turned my way of thinking

around and the way I do business and the

way I think about things and and I've

and I've formed it on a kingdom

foundation. So me and Jason when we

decided to do it, the the first thing we

did when we decided to transition and

make the or think about making the move,

we both agreed, okay, we're going to

pray about it and and we're going to

really seek and make sure that this is

the right thing for not only us, but for

what God sees for us to do. So, and and

all we do and and and I tell our team

this all the time and and I don't care

if it's the political politically

correct thing to do or the HR, however

all that works and HR and all that

stuff, that don't bother me, none. I

don't care. I'm going to stand on God

and I'm going to sit on God first. So,

so when I when I talk to my team a lot

and and with Jason and myself and we we

have a kingdom foundation and it's it's

all founded on a godly vision and a

God-fearing purpose. So we'll wake up in

the morning and say, "Okay, what can I

do to to better myself in the kingdom

realm and and how can we glorify God in

all we do?" So that's that's a big part

of this. He's given us abilities. He's

given us both talents to do things. So

if if we if we remember that and we

remember that we we have those God-given

talents, he's given us a platform to go

out and to share what we're good at. So,

we will have a successful business, but

as we're doing that, let's share what

he's done for us and and how he's got us

here. So, not only are not only do we

need the sec the business to be

successful, but in order to do that, we

got to share God's word and and tell

people where he's brought us from and

what he's done for us. So, that's kind

of my my vision and my mission. And and

Jason, kind of share a little bit about

yours. And

yeah, well, I think, you know, we always

want to surround ourselves with good

God-fearing people. We know that our

faith is very strong and everything. And

you know, just a testament to everything

that's happened. I mean, there's been so

many doors that have opened for us when

we didn't think they're about to open.

And and we're not

that intelligent.

I mean, I'm just be to be honest with

you, we're we're we're too dumb to do it

on our own really. I mean, truly, when

you really look at what what has

happened,

we're not that smart. I mean, we're good

at what we do, but the only reason we're

good at what we do is God's given us

this

and our faith and and our and our and

our steadfast and our worth at that. But

it's all given to us from somebody and

it it's not us. It's not our flesh. It's

not our nature. It's all spiritual.

Let's get into some details a little bit

on how these sales function. Well, Ty,

we'll talk about the We haven't talked

much about the purebred side on these

deals. So, uh, let's say I'm a cow calf

prod or I'm I'm a purebred guy and I

want to sell some bulls. How's that

work? I mean, how do we get a hold of

you guys? How do like how's how's give

me start to finish how all that stuff

goes through?

So, just go to our website live-ag.com.

get on there. There's the purebred sales

team. Uh Margot Peltz heads that up for

us. Uh Blake Tucker's also very

instrumental in sales, but get our

contact information. Uh we'd love to do

business with with every seaock producer

in America right now. Uh get a rate card

out there. Someone will come visit you.

Then, you know, on sale day, uh come out

there, set up a camera. Our platform

shows both the pre-recorded videos which

almost every rancher does right now in

addition to live stream. Uh people sign

up and and bid on it. But you know that

part of the industry's grown so much

when I first started in the industry is

almost they didn't want you there for

online bidding at the sales site because

everyone's like you're just giving

somebody a reason to stay home now come

sit in the seats. And my vision for it

all the time was you know we're not here

to give someone an excuse to stay home.

We're here to provide new business and

touch people you haven't done before.

And and I mean really after co so much

uh of it shifted and there's just such a

higher percentage of every purebred sale

that's sold online. It's just across the

board. It's incredible. But you that

mentality's changed. It's not just hey

giving people a reason to stay home and

bid. It's it's okay creating new

business touching new customers and just

the marketing the advertising that that

goes with it. You know, one thing that's

that is unique about Live A is we can do

custom marketing packages. Uh we use

social media, we do paid Google ads, we

we do a lot of stuff. And you know,

getting ready for this podcast this

morning, I was trying to go back through

some of our website analytics and and

we've got over 110,000 users in the last

year. But even that Express Ranch's

March Bull Cell, I mean, they had 60

68,000 views on our website. uh upstream

branch. We did probably our first social

media push that we did ourselves had

like 44,000 views on that. But uh just

the marketing that comes with the

broadcast beyond just you know what you

turn in on on sale day cuz it's always

been a tough concept too because in the

past people wanted to judge you and say

okay uh this worked because we sold 25

bulls online or it didn't work because

we couldn't. Well there's so much social

media and marketing that comes and you

know included with a broadcast now. I

mean, people can get on there and see

that the sells on live a still go there

in the stands and and buy stuff. And uh

I had a had a funny story. Uh one of my

real good friends, Dustin Leighton, uh

had a big commercial female sale that

his his dad was a big part of in

Oklahoma. And afterwards, they didn't

think that we'd sold enough online for

him. They didn't really like that. Well,

they go uh talk to this guy and he

bought I don't know 80 90 red heers that

day. Said, "Well, how'd you get that?"

He saw it from the advertising that the

online company did.

No doubt in my mind. I I could totally

see that. You know, the the interesting

thing in the day and age that we live

in, no different than like Tik Tok or or

Facebook or what whatever social media

platform that you're probably I mean

everybody's on most of them. I mean even

Snapchat's got all the different stuff

at the top there. Um this generations

the generations have evolved. The

marketing has evolved. I mean my kids I

mean Todd and I have talked about this a

lot. I'll give you an example on show

pigs. Uh, I saw my daughter walks up to

me one day and saw an Instagram reel of

a show pig and it was a no-name breeder

in Colorado. So, you think that Colorado

is not necessarily a big state where

they raise those things. And I'm like,

she shows it to me. Thing looks really

good. And I'm like, man, I'm going to

steal this thing, right? Get something

bought, right? You know, be able to um,

you know, finally buy one that's got

some value to it for not a whole lot of

money. And I it was on uh an online

platform and and I started to bid on

that thing and and you know pigs bring

1,500 500 750. That's kind of what I was

thinking. This pig brings $9,000. And

when I talked to the breeder I didn't

buy it obviously, but then when I talked

to the breeder I'm like man I didn't

really realize you guys were going to

get that much traffic. He said when his

kid put that on there on that social

media platform it gave him a lot more

exposure and then lots of people started

doing that. So, it's incredible and and

in our industry for the most part, um,

the people that are, you know, marketing

those, the comment you made about they

didn't want people staying at home. I

could see that because they're like,

they want the excitement, they want the

emotional side of it there, but they're

giving up the potential to have

thousands of people. I mean, you you

could flip through and and see these

videos after bull sales have gone for

months and months and years and years,

right, to where they just continue to

populate through, you know, Facebook

reels or any things like that. But, um,

I think that the the exposure, the the

megaphone, if you will, is impressive

and and and very very strong, uh, to get

exposure back into your business.

Yeah. And then we can tie it right back,

you know, with the pure bed. We can tie

the purebred section right back with our

commercial section when we we we produce

the purebred sales. We we broadcast

them. We sell bulls on them. Then when

we come back and sell the calf crops, we

can there's a lot of advertisement that

goes in there, too. I mean, we can

promote them bulls. I mean, we can

promote the sellers of them bulls

through the cavs and we can get

performance data and you know, you got

them certain there's certain bull

customers out there that that'll buy

them buy the bulls back. I mean, buy the

calves back. There's there's just

different things like that where it all

blends together and all ties together

and it's just pretty unique, pretty

cool.

Yeah. Let's say you're a bull, you're a

guy selling bulls and you got you're

going to sell 50 bulls. I'm just going

to throw that number out there. And

those those bulls are going to go cover

um a considerable amount of cows and

hopefully they're across the whole

country and then you're a cattle feeder

at the same time and then you want to do

that. It's impossible for you to make

every one of those

to go to those guys places and do that.

So, I mean, it gives you so much more

exposure to have the ability to sell

your bulls to somebody and then whenever

you're the guy that bought the bulls,

selling your calves back um to give that

much exposure back and and because I

mean, it's a predictability thing,

right?

It is. It is. And, you know, we're going

to encourage people that uh do business

with us to also do business with other

other people that do business with us.

You know, we love to see these bull

sales that we broadcast have some of our

reps, some of our consigners go out

there and, you know, buy bulls from

these places. And for the most part, I

mean, if if you looked at the sales

we've done, they've been a lot of the

lead operations in the US. We know that

going and buying these bulls, that's

going to give more performance, more

efficiency to those kevs. And I mean,

really the end product, you know, better

meat to the consumer. So, definitely a

focus of ours is to tie it full circle.

Um, you know, they're both really

important to us. Obviously me growing up

on a registered Herford operation that's

still in my family. I mean the purebred

division is definitely you know close to

my heart for sure.

Yeah. And you go back to thinking about

your your ancestors that would have

started trying to sell bulls way back in

the day. I mean those the the probably

the best marketing thing they would have

done was tacking the sale catalog or I

mean the sale deal above a urinal at a

sale barn or something. You know what

I'm saying? I mean that's the old school

deal. and then how we've morphed into

where, you know, somebody is now sitting

there looking at their phone and they

can see something pop up uh pretty

quickly. But I think it's absolutely

impressive and it gives I mean, look, it

took you guys a couple generations

probably to get to where you're

everybody understood how good the

genetics were and how good the cattle

were and then so then it became word of

mouth. I mean, you guys could probably

help if if somebody wanted to and

there's lots of people that enter the

cattle market or enter the purebred

cattle, seed stock cattle business um to

where you could take them to the

forefront pretty quickly.

Quick quick analytic deal on on purebred

sales and was talking about he was

talking about the views and and how the

part participation I get tangled up on

my words, you know, I'm from Grossback.

So, but we did a sale in

Oregon, I think. Thomas'.

Yep. Thomas thing Rob Thomas

Rob Thomas sell in Oregon a couple

months ago maybe last fall oh I can't

remember when it was but December maybe

I don't remember

76%

of the bulls sold were sold on the

platform.

Yeah but you think about it. Okay they

got you're busy.

That might have been a little high on

the number but it was still it was an

obser

you're busy. You got you got other

businesses you're running. you got, you

know, you're you're wanting to get up

there and go cover cows with, you know,

some of the most elite bulls in the

country or you like those bulls. For you

to get up there, it's hard. It's a it's

a trip, right? Uh so you guys, I mean,

you just cover so much more uh ground

and allow more people to get on there.

And you know what, you might get a few

people uh that want to buy something

spontaneously, you know,

have our fact checker over there fact

check that real quick.

Yeah.

49. I knew I was close.

He doubled it. He doubled it. Okay. Hey

79 does sound better. So see again this

goes back to but then you're going to go

this goes back to you winging it. You're

good. Let's roll. And then Mr. Perfect.

I mean he's got to be all get it right.

Yeah. Mr. Perfect study for 30 minutes

this morning.

We had a meeting all morning before we

got here. So that didn't happen.

He's only tried to extinguish his flame.

But you know it is funny on these sees

sales because you're selling such a high

percentage of them online. I mean, it's

important that you've got somebody good

that's there on sale day that can set it

up, that can run it correctly, that's in

sync with the auctioneer

and that it runs right that day, you

know. Um,

we got a outstanding team of partners,

purebred partners that that well,

exactly what he just described. They are

second to none, the best in the business

out there. And uh that that's why it's

been so successful so fast. And we're

steadily growing it. I mean, we're

getting new ones, new new pure partners

every month. So,

yeah. And you got to probably make sure

that you have people that understand the

business and understand the cattle

because in the other part when they're

sitting there going through the sale

beforehand, they're text messaging their

buddies or saying this to check in on

this bull because I mean in today's

world honestly there's so many different

metrics and there's so many different

things that you can find value in

animals on

um that understanding and having the

ability to see that versus just being

there straight up and bidding live, you

know, as far as that goes.

Yeah. I I'll just say as a seesock

producer when you know you've got two or

three paydays a year mainly production

sales it's got to be right and it's got

to work on sale day and you know as a

seesock producer I can tell you what

it's like being uh asset rich and cash

poor most of your life

and uh having a strong relationship with

a good banker is a big part of it but uh

it it's got to be right on sale day.

Yeah. T. Now, we've had some bankers on

here before because we feel like it's

like how good how important they are.

He was really trying to keep them in our

pocket so we could get get a loan. As

you can tell, as you can tell, I need a

loan to give me some boots.

Yeah, there.

We'll work on that.

I mean, I need a pay raise. Hey, boss,

can I get a little I mean, I I I can't

afford a pair of boots. You reckon I can

We can work on that?

Those are some OnClouds, though. It's

not like you're wearing Felas, you know?

Hey, man. Why you got a

Why you got a brand name? I mean,

they're not a sponsor yet, but if

OnCloud, if you're watching, see, maybe

you need to look us up. So,

let's transition over into the

commercial side of it. Ty, we've talked

about it a little bit in in this deal.

So, how's that thing going and like

where, you know, if if you're somebody

that, you know, hey, you've just been

sending your cattle to some sale barn

and you gotten uh pretty decent numbers

and you're hearing, you know, I mean,

the values that you guys have been

selling these at these sales are

incredible. You know, that's it's it's

really that the growth has been crazy.

We really didn't we didn't see this

happening. We was hoping it would, but

we we aligned oursel with some key

people in the industry to to help us

grow this fast. I mean, we we went down

and come one of our first one of our

first gets was a a company down in

Southeast called Elite Livestock

Marketing, Daryl Stokes and Jerry Ach

and Wesley Grantham, a team of guys that

had had a had built a foundation already

down there. And uh we flew out there and

visited with them, met with them, and

they seen the they seen the potential

and the the possibility of their being

able to grow by joining us. And I don't

know how much they've grown this year

from last year, but it's been quite a

bit. They come on board. Um,

those guys are incredible. I mean, I've

gotten I've gotten and and they're at

every one of your sales that I've been

to, all of them, and they're I mean,

they're just excited and there's lots of

I mean, it's not a I mean, there's some

things I've get around where you've been

around some people that have done this

for a long time. They're just kind of

like going through the motions. I mean,

them guys want to own them all. I mean,

they just want they want to have all the

business down there.

Yeah.

And I love it. I mean, they're so driven

and we've given them the platform. so

they can take their mind off of the

day-to-day functions of a video company

to go out there and grow. So, I I

wouldn't doubt if they didn't double

their size. They're tapping into

Mississippi, uh, Florida. They're

they're just they're spanning their wing

just crazy. It's cool to watch them grow

and and they're determined. They're

determined to be successful. They're

determined to make it work. Then we tied

in. We just got back from ship uh ship

Shamana here a couple weeks ago. um with

Jimmy Lambert and the UPI bunch up

there. Jimmy is is a rep for Live Aag

and UPI is one of the the co-founders of

LiveAG and they have a rep group too. Uh

we we sell right over a little over

15,000 cattle up there. That was a great

team up with Jimmy. Uh he has a great

following up there in in that area,

Michigan, Indiana, and up through that

area. Um all them guys want to do

business with him and they really like

him. We're going to transition here. um

next week or so to um uh Boise and we're

that thing could have 20 25,000 cattle

on it I'm guessing. Um so excited there

with Dennis and that crew out that way

and um and Elite's going to have quite a

bit of cattle on there as well. So this

commercial side is really growing. It's

really popping. We got people calling

every day. Jason said something earlier

that really rings true to our vision. We

don't want to be the biggest. We want to

be the best. So, we're really

really careful on on on some of the

hires we make and some of the people we

bring on. We want people that have a

good book of business that'll do it

right. Uh we're going to bring on some

smaller guys, of course, don't get me

wrong, but it's going to have to be the

right ones. We're going to bring them

underneath some people to sell some

cattle first. But the commercial side's

exciting. It's it's growing faster. Uh

we've sold over 140,000 cattle year to

date and expect that to grow quite a bit

here in the next two months. Um so it's

it's pretty cool. Uh no, it's

interesting as I sit here and to digest

all this stuff. Like you know the

industry, let's just kind of talk about

the industry for a minute from a

structure standpoint. The industry's

got, you know, call it 700,000 cow calf

producers out there. 750,000 whatever

that number may be who nobody knows that

I'm obviously but there's lots of

fragmentation down there. So then the

purebred guys are trying to sell into

these 750,000 producers. And then you

turn around, you talk to the 750,000

producers that you're trying to get

those guys lifted up to a smaller amount

of feed lots or next the next tier of

it, right? There's a there's another

tier that maybe that's numbers, I don't

know, say it's stalker precon guys, you

know, that are um whether that's guys

going to grass, going to grow yards,

whatever it is. I'm going to say that

number is probably more like 10,000.

Yeah. operations like that, maybe it's

15 or 20,000. Um, and then you get to

the most consolidated level. Um, and

that's those big corporate feed yards,

right? And if you think about it, those

big corporate feed yards, they might

have little guys sitting in sail barns

across the country or whatever, but it's

extremely fragmented. So then the the

the u what do you call it? The

communication chain is much slower.

Um, versus you have a somebody that's

sitting there buying cattle at a

commercial or one of the big commercial

feed yards. they can sit there at their

desk and own cattle and then you guys

and I've talked to Mezer about this

quite a bit. They find the trust in your

reps. Uh because then they can they can

they know that when they go to the

weighups and they go to the deliveries

that things are going to be right and

the cattle show up to the feedard in the

right way.

I think you're giving us a perfect segue

into some of our some of our next couple

of episodes that we're going to do. This

is a perfect segue to transition into

some of that to where the you know the

next one we're going to talk about that

the relationships between okay how how

do you do this? How do you how do you

find live aag? How do you find your rep

you can trust? Okay, what's their

background? How do they find the buyers

that they trust? How do this how does

this all tie together? So, this is kind

of a perfect segue to to kind of close

up this segment and and to promote the

next one on, okay, next next episode, we

are going to talk through that, Casey.

We're going to talk through, okay,

what's the best way to find your rep?

Okay, what do I need to look at in the

rep? Um, and then, okay, what's the rep

going to tell me when I get there? Um,

how do I fill the contracts out? What

are they going to s suggest to me on

shrink slides and all this stuff? Uh,

weight stops and and so forth. So, I

think as we as we end up this this

episode and and finally thank Jason for

finally coming out of his closet and

being on here with us and um he he says

he's never been invited, but I you know

it took me two months to get him to do

the RF RFD interview and then he fought

he fought all that every time.

Ty said do it for me one time then it

was do it every time.

Yeah, there you go.

Well, I knew what I was doing. I was

getting out of it. But it was good. I

mean, no,

main thing I wanted everybody to

understand out of this deal is how we

compl complement each other.

Um, that it's it's a great team. We have

a great team under us that that are

second to none. We we can't do this on

our own. We're we're not smart enough.

Um, we got a great marketing team. We

got a great IT team. We got a great

production team. We got a great sales

staff. We got a great office staff. I

mean, it's just the whole dynamic of

people we have under us are why we're

being so successful so fast so fast. We

had a lot of naysayers when we started

doing this. We had people had a lot of

people that said we wouldn't be

successful. Um and and we still have a

long ways to go and and for those out

there, here we come. Uh we're we're

going to do it. So, uh we've already

made our mind up. We got the guys that

behind us that really believe in us. uh

TFC, UPI, that the CEOs of them two

companies are unbelievable God-fearing

men and and they they trust us, they

believe us, and they want to give us

every

tool we need to be successful. So, we

we're we're super excited about that. Um

the people we work for, all of them, we

just they're just such great people,

such great team that's behind us, and

they're going to give us everything we

need to be successful. So for all the

guys and the naysayers out there, we're

coming and we're going to be here for a

while. Um, so no, I think you've proven

that. I mean, it's it's uh I mean, it's

a testament to what you guys have done

and and pushed hard and got there. And I

mean, it's uh there's probably some

sleepless nights and some probably some

anxiety at the beginning, but now you

kind of gotten over the hump if you

Oh man, the roller coaster of emotions

at the beginning of this deal was crazy.

My wife was like, "Are you okay?" I'm

like, "No." I walk in the house and

anyway I I I walked in inside one day

and had bad been a bad day and uh I walk

in there and I'd been gone about two or

three days and uh finally get back home

and walk in and the first person

standing there is my daughter and I'm

telling I'm going to start crying just

telling a story about it and she comes

up to me she can see it in me. She can

just tell that I'm just

bound up. She comes and hugs me and

I can't turn loose. I get choked up

and she just says, "Dad, we're proud of

you and we love you." And that right

there is what keeps you going.

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

Absolutely, man. You you uh and I've

been in different positions like that

where you're like, "Man, I don't know."

And you got like this and I talk to my

team about it all the time when if we're

right to market or wrong the market, we

feel like you're going to lose every

customer. You're not going to succeed.

Um and then what it's all about really

and t you talked about this a lot. We

try to focus on our families a lot.

Dang. Right.

Um, and we do, you know, these stock

shows, which for some people probably

think are crazy to go to, but man, I

just spent the last five days with my my

three daughters, just me and those three

um in Illinois

showing pigs at the at the National

Junior Show. And there's nothing I'd

rather do because again, that's what

it's all about.

Yeah.

So, this is all a means to be able to do

that. Um, if you're keeping all that

stuff at home, like you know, as as far

as like if that's your priority,

you ain't going to let that little girl

down. No.

Right. So then what what's next? You

can't let your customer down.

If you don't let your customer down, the

business thrives, right? So as long as

you I call it paranoia, I think. I don't

know. Or fear, fear of failure or

whatever it is.

Um, I know you got it. There's no doubt

in my mind.

Well, there's there's definitely a few

times where Ty and I said, "Hell, we

really going to do this.

It's but it goes back to what we talked

about at the beginning to say it's easy

to stay where you're at.

It is. We were comfortable.

Then you got you you don't think you not

just our families, you got a team under

you that that trust you that are like

you're here. You're asking them to

change their whole uproot their whole

life and and come trust us and then

you're like

staring in the bathroom mirror in the

morning going

Kane fell now.

All of this is about to go crumbling

down. Can't let it go. I mean, it makes

you think, how can I improve myself? And

we're going to make mistakes. I mean, T

and I've already made plenty of them

doing doing this. I mean, that's going

to happen and we're going to have

growing pains, but but you know, trying

to improve ourselves as leaders, get

more knowledgeable about the industry,

just trying to learn more and do better

than we did the day before. I mean, that

that's got me motivated to keep going

right now.

Yeah. So,

no, absolutely.

But that's uh kind of going into the

next episode. Y'all y'all tune in tune

in to the next one. We're going to we're

going to visit more about uh the live a

live a process. Uh why I choose live a

um

yeah I don't know. She's trying to tell

me something. She always does this and

gets me all off.

Hey, that's my cue to go now, right?

No, that's not too cute to go. But I

think she said turn it over to Casey and

Casey's going to kind of close us out

here.

Yeah. So, I mean, thanks for joining

another episode of uh We Live It

Podcast. I mean, we're super excited

that Jason was finally able to take some

time out of his busy schedule to get in

here. Um, it's nice to watch you guys

interact with each other. I think it's

it's awesome. But again, thanks for

joining. Uh, like and subscribe. Forward

this thing on. Uh, if you will share it

around. Um, and uh, if you have any

interest in being on this podcast, uh,

holler at us. Uh, Katie Holdner is the

one that manages all of that stuff. Um,

but again, thanks for, uh, joining

your bones with that.