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.