coming up. You were hoping that the LRP
would not pay off. Yeah. And then you
get there and the cattle make three 400
$500 ahead, whatever it is you're and
you're grapping about 70 bucks. You
know, 5 years ago, I'd have told you if
a guy's got less than a,000 cattle, he
probably wouldn't work with somebody
like us. Um, but today's standards, we
can work with anybody of any size.
Embracing the youth, uh, enriching the
youth, and and, uh, I mean, that's how
we're going to keep this thing going
long term. That's right around the
corner on the Live A Ranch and Livestock
Marketing We Live It podcast. But first,
a reminder. If it's time to sell your
cattle, consign your cattle with Live A.
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, Tidy Cordova and
Casey Mabry. Welcome back to the We Live
It podcast. Here, myself, Tidy Cordova,
and Casey Mabry. We'd just like to
welcome all you back in social media
land for joining us and and thank y'all
also for for subscribing and liking to
the podcast and continue to watch and as
it continues to grow. We we're going to
keep asking you guys out there that if
you want to be on the show or you want
to advertise on the show or you want to
be a part of any of it, just reach out
to Katie Holdener at katie live-ag.com
is her email and she can get you fixed
right up with marketing package. So
Casey, we'll kind of dip right into
here. We're going to talk a little bit
about marketing strategies and risk
management through Blue Reef Aggra
Marketing. Um, which is a company that
you co-founded or worked with or partner
partner in. And uh, y'all have multiple
locations, Texas, Nebraska.
Help me out here. Speak. So, we've got
an office in Weatherford, Texas. We've
got an office in O'Neal, Nebraska. Uh,
we've got a guy that works out of San
Angelo, Texas. Wade Perks works out of
San mention.
And then uh yeah, we've got an office of
a couple we've got several guys that
work directly on the grain side. So uh
Blue Reef was started about 15 years
ago. We've talked about this a little
bit. A couple of guys, Chip Nellinger
and Adam Dryer. I would have probably
joined about 7 8 years ago after I'd
spent some time with Cargill um bringing
that on there. And so we f started
focusing predominantly on cattle and
cattle price uh seven or eight years
ago. Uh and it was Scott Dryer and
myself for the bulk of that. Um over
time um as our business has grown, our
biggest uh business model difference is
we reduced the number of people that we
work with uh so that we can have a
really really tight relationship with
those guys uh in the producers. Um and
as as we've grown and we've had we've
had to grow with people um and so we've
added those people across the way. So
tell us a little bit about your team. I
mean, how does that look? And who who
are they and what are their specialties
and kind of cuz one thing we do know
about successful companies, it's the
people that are underneath the people
that people normally see or resonate
with. We got people under us that are
great at what they do that what makes us
look so good. So, kind of tell us a
little bit about your team and what what
all they do. Yeah, as you know, the
hardest thing to do is find the I mean,
it's easy to say, man, let's grow or I
mean that was really never our intent
was to grow. it was really honestly uh
to work producers on a one-on-one basis
and give them advice. Um the byproduct
of that is it's a little bit different
than what the other people do it as. Um
and so that's allowed us to grow as
we've gotten more customers. And so I
mean honestly, so what we've tried to do
is find people that are that understand
the business. I will and I always joke
around, I'll never hire a 4.0. Um, and I
want to hire people that are really
understanding and and compassionate
towards the customer. I don't want to
try to find the smartest smartest guy in
the room type deal. Um, and so with
that, we try to find, you know, people
that grew up in this industry, whether
they were in FFA or 4H programs. Um,
going out and trying to find seasoned,
you know, 40, 30 year old veterans in
this industry is hard. Uh, they don't
necessarily want to make a transition.
And the other thing, they come with some
bad habits, too. So, we try to find
people that are in the middle part of
their career and they're, you know, 30
years old or so, uh, that have got some
experience in the business in the
commercial side of it. We trade futures.
Uh, we, so we have to have a series
three, but I don't necessarily want to
go out and hire brokers from other
companies. Um, I want to hire people
that we can teach uh, that side of the
business. And so understanding the
producer, understanding the different
geographic regions that these people are
in, understanding the timing of the
market, understanding the physical
attributes of the cattle is something
that's super important. So we try to
focus on that. So like Dawson Dietrich
works for us in uh in in the Texas
office here. His dad is a client of
mine. He's probably been one of my first
clients. I met Dawson, you know, he was
in school uh and finishing up school.
Um, and a man I knew right away that kid
grew up, you know, processing cavs and
working right alongside his dad and
going to sail barns and things like
that. Um, Zach Cibble runs our office in
Nebraska. And Zach, um, he he was a
cattle buyer for Cargill. I knew him
there. Great guy. Um, really grew up in
in production and he's still in
production. He runs cows, run feeder
cattle, feeds cattle. Uh, he is in the
thick of it. So, um, we want those
people that can understand that. Justin
Slayball works there under Zach and
mentors under him. He's a younger guy.
So, we're not going to try to go out and
hire guys that or girls that uh you know
don't necessarily um you know have the
compassion and that we know and you've
I've talked about this at length of u we
know it takes a lot to know this
business and so um we want to make sure
that these guys have some season um and
we want to make sure that they've
they've been through the good and the
bad because I mean you know how this
business is uh there's good and there's
bad. I mean, there's there's uh it's
definitely a challenging business. And
so, whenever things get tough, um
whenever the emotions get high, we want
to be able to step back on a solid
foundation and and make the best
decision that's out there. It might not
always be the right way. It might not
always be the right, it might not end up
being right, but it was the right
decision for that time um there. So, it
was educated and a right decision at the
moment and focused on how it fit that
individual producers deal. So
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preferred. I'm going to kind of jump off
topic. We'll jump right back on. But you
mentioned some of them while ago about 4
and FFA and they had the Texas FFA
convention in Fort Worth and your
daughter was awarded award. Yeah. So
what what what did she what did she
receive? Yeah. So it's pretty cool. So
uh she she found an a teacher and this a
teacher got her involved in the uh uh
the aggra science fair project. And the
aggra science fair project is where a
kid goes and actually does a physical
project. Hers was she last year she did
it two years in a row. um different
projects and these kids there's hundreds
of kids that have hundreds of different
projects and they all have different
deal and they break them into divisions.
Hers was food products. Um and so what
she did is took a she we were at the
grocery store one day and we're going
through there and she's starting to
learn about you know the value. She does
meat judging and she's learning about
the value differences and and cuts of
beef and she's like, "Dad, why are
ribeye steaks $17.99 a pound and beef
eye round steaks are, you know, 350 or
$4 a pound?" And I was explaining the
difference there. you know, one you just
throw on the grill and you can eat it
and everything's good. And she So, what
she ended up doing was taking uh beef
eye round steaks and marinating them.
Last year, she marinated them in
pineapple juice and then she went down
to Tarlton State uh with Dr. Drew
Cassen's there and they did sheer force
testing on that. So, she took the steaks
last year, marinated them, uh cooked
them to a certain degree of doneness,
which she knows and I don't. um and work
with that that professor to cook the
steaks and then do a tenderness testing
on it sliced here for us. This year she
I was like well I mean she's like well
it doesn't make sense to soak these
things in pineapple and it makes it
taste weird. So she tested different uh
you know dry rubs and so it was cool. So
uh there's lots of kids in her category
so she was fortunate enough to so she
had to do the project write the paper do
put together a poster board and then
present that uh to a panel of judges.
And so yeah, man, it's awesome. But I
mean, it's it Todd didn't buy a show pig
for her to win or, you know, you didn't
buy a show steer or something like that.
The stuff with these 4 and FFA programs
that you're going to get these kids out
of our houses and that the ability to
stand on their own two feet, man. Um or
those deals, right? To be able to stand
up there. And then and the week or two
before that, they made the national meat
judging. Is that correct? Yeah. So
there's uh there's we've got a team, my
wife and I coach, and my daughter's on
that team as well. Um, and there's three
boys that are on that team. Two of them
are going to go to college. They're
twins. They're going to go to college
this year. Um, basically for nothing.
Uh, so they won the national they won
last year. They were second in state in
Texas and went to Denver and they won
the National Western. Uh, this year
those kids won the state contest this
year and they'll qualify. Uh, they'll go
to the American Royal in October. Man,
that's awesome. Fun. So, I didn't mean
to get off topic, but I I wanted to
touch base there cuz I didn't get to
give her the accolades that I wanted to
in the last couple of them. And I I it
hadn't slipped my mind. It was still
there. But and I didn't want her to get
I didn't want her to get mad at me. So
what's funny is I I was the week before
we went to the state FA convention.
She's got to give a presentation, right?
And so she had been working on this
thing a lot and it's it's it's it's kind
of humbling to sit back and watch these
kids how they how they work on it. But
she had been giving this this speech
over and over and over again. And we
were in a hotel in Springfield,
Illinois. And at 2:30 in the morning,
she wakes up or she didn't wake up.
She's elevated out of the bed and
started giving the speech. And I thought
I was like, "Okay, is it time to go to
get up and go to the deal?" And I looked
over my phone and it was 2:30 in the
morning, but she had driven it in her
head so much that she like woke up and I
woke up the next morning. I said, "Did
you know that you gave this speech to
me?" I said I said, "I know you know it
because you gave it to me last night
without any distracting." It was
perfect. Yeah. Inner sleep. It was
weird, man. Yeah, but uh absolutely no
those programs are awesome for those
kids. And that's and that's where you
that's where we seek some of our talent
too that out of those programs burst
coachable, teachable
young adults. I mean Yeah. So like
Dawson, I mean he did the commercial
steer project which I don't know if
everybody knows about that Houston.
Yeah. I mean, and that's where those
kids, they take three steers, they feed
those steers out, they got to do a test,
they do a meat judging identification,
they do all these different things, and
then really it goes back to like that's
why I was Dawson could talk the market
up and down when the kid graduated high
school. So, um, man, having those
programs, we I absolutely, uh, we we
offer internships. Um, so kids that are
out there that are interested in this
stuff, whether they're going to go back,
we got one intern this summer that, uh,
his dad's a client of ours. He's, we
know he's going back to the operation.
Um, we've got other interns that we we
hire that we think might come to work
for us at some in some capacity. Yeah.
Um, but yeah, I mean, embracing the
youth, uh, enriching the youth, and and,
uh, I mean, that's how we're going to
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before every sale we get on here at the
podcast and we we talk about market
analysis and you give you give a market
analysis for that week and what's what's
kind of looking down the road. What
would you say to a potential customer
that comes to you and says, "Okay, I
need protection on
either thousand mama cows or 200 mama
cows or thousand feeder steers or kind
of walk us through the process of how
that all works and what I guess not what
fits because it depends on the timing,
but how how all that looks and and the
process of getting to know your customer
base and the questions you ask and all
that." Yeah. So the everybody it's so
awesome to sit down and talk to
producers because you really get to know
there's no there's no two that are
alike. Um we've got producers that are
massive and they you know they're beef
on dairy customers or uh and then we've
got small cow calf producers. And so I
would tell you 5 years ago it's probably
a lot different t than what it is today.
I mean the industry's changed. It's also
changed that uh we've got the insurance
side to where we can do LRP. So, you
know, 5 years ago, I'd have told you if
a guy's got less than a thousand cattle,
he probably wouldn't work with somebody
like us. Um, but today's standards, we
can work with anybody of any size. Yeah.
Um, so the most important thing is
understanding that person's operation.
So, uh, where are they at
geographically? What type of cattle do
they have? When do they what's their
marketing window? And and the luxury
that we have in the cattle industry is
the marketing window is extremely wide.
So, we're going to make recommendations
to them based on what fits them. We're
not just going to come with a
one-sizefits-all. You know, you need to
hedge them this day and do this this day
and all that. There's lots of factors
that play in
um those factors being, you know,
futures market stuff. For example, the
futures market last year ranges $35 a
100 whereas the cash market doesn't
range that much. It ranges probably half
of that. So, that mean what that tells
me is the futures market uh is going to
be right or wrong. It's mostly going to
be wrong. um what's real is the current
cash market or the physical market that
we're in. And so we got to be aware of
that. Um so really we spend a lot of
time educating those producers on you
know hey look how many cattle do you
have what are the different tools that
we can use whether it's LRP
options and op the word options gets
really confusing to people but it's
really simplistic. So whenever we take
those real complex things that are in
our industry and simplify that into the
language that a producer can understand
giving them downside protection in a
market um and then futures I mean it's
obvious what futures are um but how
those work with margin calls and you
know regulatory regulatory things that
you know a producer has to have in a
brokerage account and all that stuff.
You know terminology like being long
means that you own the market. you know,
being long doesn't necessarily have to
be a futures position. It could be the
physical inventory of length. Offsetting
or neutralizing that exposure um with
futures and options is is something
that's important. So, really what we try
to what we founded ourselves on and
really try to focus on and not lose
sight of is making sure the producer
knows where they're at, what they have,
how to offset it if they want to
neutralize risk. Yeah, we do make direct
recommendations to them. So, if a
producer says, "Hey, Casey or Scott or
Zack or whoever, um, what do you think
the market's going to be?" We're going
to come with a bias. The where that bias
is determined is, you know, seasonality
is one, flat price is one, technical
things are one, but nobody's good at
predicting the market. I mean, I
honestly can tell you that nobody's good
at predicting the market. what we what
people need to be good at and what you
need to look for is the delt the hand
that you're dealt today. How does it fit
and what's the best way to neutralize
that? So different things like so LRP
livestock risk protection that came out
long time ago but it really didn't start
getting utilized until recently. Uh
during co they subsidized it by about
20%. Um they've actually made the
program easier for people to get access
to. It is designed for uh the I'd say
the midsize and smaller producer.
There's pred there's uh you know head
limits so you can't have every corporate
yard using it. Um it's a great tool. So
it acts just like a put option except
it's cheaper. The USDA has made lots of
different changes to it. Um we just
entered a new crop year and there's lots
of different things that um are going to
come about about that. The cool thing
the b the thing I love the most about it
is it's a cheaper form of risk
management that provides the same level
of coverage that you get with options
but then there's no risk man there's no
margin call risk okay so you don't have
to have your money tied up in that deal
in today's world where interest is high
that's very very important on the con
side I've heard producers say I'm going
to give you an example talking to a
producer a couple weeks ago um they look
at it like uh they sold their I said how
did you sell your wheat pasture cattle
man, it was great. The only bad thing is
I had to write a check for $14,000 to
cover for my LRP. And I go, well, if you
would rather I said, would you rather
that thing pay off because you wouldn't
have sold those, you know, cattle coming
off wheat for over three bucks a pound,
you know. Um, so just understanding how
that works. It's an insurance policy.
It's a it's something that protects the
cattle. Um, it's utilized to make sure
that if we do have something
catastrophic that an unforeseen happens,
uh, it's there. So, we use LRP heavily.
Um, we like it. We like it more so than
most other products because of the
flexibility it has. Some guys may say
it's not flexible
um because they can't get out of it. You
can get out of a futures position, you
get out of options position. But if you
use that in conjunction with uh a
futures position, there's lots of
versatility and lots of flexibility with
it. That wasn't Barbara that called in
and said that cuz I know he had to send
a check in on his we suffers and he was
like, "Y'all want to?" I'm like, "Dude,
you made uh I don't want to hear you
hush." Hey, it's always but it so it's
funny that whenever cuz I like I think
through this a lot cuz I have to have
this conversations and level set
everybody when we put it on you know
whenever you put that position on um you
were hoping the market would go up you
were hoping that the LRP would not pay
off and then you get there and the
cattle make3 400 $500 ahead whatever it
is you're and then you're grabbing about
70 bucks and you're like well they only
make I hope they make a hundred they
make 280 but then you had to give 70,
you still make 210. I mean, that's or
you make 350 minus 70 or whatever, you
know, whatever it is. But it's
interesting to watch how it's a human
nature deal. I was sitting in the
parking lot of this place talking to one
of my customers and and he's it was just
funny cuz he's like, "Oh, it's human
nature to act like that, isn't it?" I
go, "I remember one time you told me I
could only if I made $100 ahead on every
animal that we fed, I'd be the happiest
person in the world." And I've seen some
closeouts where cattle make 900 800 and
they're giving up 200 in risk management
and they're going and they're focused on
and they're focused on and you're like
man you made 600 or $700 ahead. But they
all laugh about it and it's actually
become somewhat comical in that. But I
mean it's it the LRP works in a market
like we're in uh where it just continues
to go higher and move higher. So again,
yeah, something fits different people.
Uh, a combination of those fits some
people. Um, but not everything fits
everybody. Well, Case, we appreciate it
and we appreciate your analysis every
week. Uh, you want to tell them how to
get I know we're going to have some
stuff on our website where they can get
to you, too, but you want to tell them
how to get to you and how to see your
market reports? Yeah. So, so we send out
uh market reports very regularly, mostly
once a week where we give kind of a big
in-depth uh uh, you know, overview of
the market, you know, where we're at,
where our bias is, what to do if you get
here, and that kind of stuff. So, we
call that our weekly wrap-up. Uh, we
send that out on Fridays. If you guys
are interested in getting that, reach
out to us. Uh, there should be a link
here or we can get, uh, Katie to do
that. We've got a, you know, just put
some information in there. And, uh, if
you guys are interested in any of the
services that we provide, we can
definitely offer that up, too. So, uh,
do that. We do send out the LRP quotes
every day. So, those the USDA publishes
the LRP quotes after the markets close.
Um, we send those out. We also have some
market information in those LRP quotes.
uh we make it very simple, very easy to
view. Um and and and if you guys want
that also uh we could put that there. So
there'll be a form uh on this to where
you can go in there if you want to talk
to me uh I can definitely talk to you or
any of our reps or or any of our uh
adviserss that we have. Um you know, we
got a great team of people. We got a
great team of people that are focused
on, you know, the the betterment of the
producer. Yeah. Um, and we try to do the
best we can to uh offer, you know,
whatever that advice is. So whether
you're somebody that's got 50 cows or
you're somebody that's got 50,000. Um,
like I said, not everything fits
everybody, but uh, we should be able to
accommodate that. Well, that's good.
Once again, thanks Casey for the insight
and appreciate you. I really appreciate
your faith in Live A and from the
beginning that y'all have been here with
us as as we all grow together. man, I
just can't thank you for enough for the
the friendship and the and being able to
talk about the girls showing and that
that just goes back to the foundation
and the the the building of the whole
company and founded on family values and
stuff like that. So, can't thank you
enough for that. Um, once again out
there, thank everybody for joining us.
Appreciate y'all for watching We Live It
podcast. Uh, don't forget to subscribe
and like. Uh there will be a QR code or
a link at the bottom of the page to
click in there and ask a few questions
if you'd like. Me and Casey would do the
best possible job we can to answer them.
Uh so try to make them easy cuz we're
not that educated. Third grade level,
but yeah, third grade level, please. No,
nothing longer than two or three words,
but short questions. But once again,
thank you guys and gals for watching us.
And we want to just we ask you to share
it. We ask you to get it out there. So
um we appreciate you. And if you want to
reach out and once again want to reach
out and be on or want to reach out for
an advertising package, go to live-ag or
email katie at live-ag.com.
And once again, thank y'all very much
and God bless.
Then your bones would attack simply in