Running Down the Road: Jacobs, Frye Talk Seedstock Marketing Then and Now

The cattle have to be good, but the customer service is what seals the deal. That’s according to Roger Jacobs, who has helped breeders sell their Angus bulls for more than four decades as a leading livestock auctioneer. When he says “service”, that includes caring about the family, creating a market for your customer’s cattle and standing behind your product. He and Ron Frye talk about hitting the road in their younger years, how the cattle and the business have evolved, and the shift to technology from DNA to video sales. They wrap up a strong 2023 bull sale season and look ahead to the future. 

HOSTS: Mark McCully and Miranda Reiman

GUESTS:  

Roger Jacobs was born and raised on a farm/ranch in southwest North Dakota, as one of six boys on the operation that raised Angus cattle and small grains. In 1975 Roger graduated from North Dakota State University with a bachelor’s in animal science. He worked as a regional manager for the American Angus Association and Angus Journal from 1977 to 1983, at which time he and his wife, Sandy, started Jacobs Livestock Sales, Inc. The purebred livestock auction company sells 80 to 100 sales per year, across 25 states and Canada. Roger and Sandy have three grown children and eight grandchildren. Roger enjoys spending time with family, cooking, gardening, and his outdoor pursuits, which include fishing and bird hunting.

Ron Frye, Ron Frye Marketing, grew up in Wyoming, but has called Montana his home since 1990. He started his professional career with the Wyoming Stockman/Farmer Stockman magazines in Spokane, Wash., and later worked for the Western Livestock Journal. In 1992 Ron began a decade of serving as a regional manager for the American Angus Association, getting to know producers across the West. In. 2001 he left for a four-year stint at Edwards Angus Ranch, Denton, Mont., until their dispersion, when he continued his Angus marketing career at KG Ranch in Three Forks, Mont. In early 2015 he started Ron Frye Marketing. He and his wife, Lynette, have three children: Randy, Kyle and Jillian. 

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Transcript

Miranda Reiman:

Welcome to The Angus Conversation. I'm your host, Miranda Reiman, and today I have Mark McCully on the other end of the line. Hey, Mark.

Mark McCully:

Hello, Miranda.

Miranda Reiman:

We are just wrapping up sale season I would say officially in most regions of the country, still see some trickling in, but hear from our field staff and for those who have been there and see the reports coming in that there is a lot of optimism in the Angus business right now.

Mark McCully:

Yeah, there is, and I know a lot of our breeders, they watch our sale reports online or on the app pretty regular, so it's no surprise to many that some of these sales across the country, the averages have really been awfully, awfully strong. I know we see some variation from program to program, region to region, but across the board I think it's been really strong. We actually roll some of these numbers up. I'll share a few of them here through April, and this is fiscal year today, so this pulls in last fall and this spring, we have... we've sales reported of about 7,300 bulls averaging $6100. That's about a thousand more bulls than we sold last year that same time that had been reported on here, and had about an $800 average more. Last year we're at 5300, and I'm pretty sure last year we were talking about how incredible that was.

On the female side, we see not a whole lot of change. We've sold a few more females. We see our females averaging about 5,000, and that's actually down from about 5,165 last year, but the bull market has really, really been outstanding. Again, we see it kind of across the country and across programs and it's exciting to see. That's kind of success. Again, these sale reports and sale averages, I always sometimes... I'm always a little careful with them because they don't tell the whole story by any stretch, but I do think when we see some of these numbers, it also represents the commitment that so many of our breeders and programs have to providing and putting a product in front of their customer that their customers wants. That comes out in some of these averages.

Miranda Reiman:

Well, and that's something that, like you say, the numbers don't tell the whole story. We grabbed a couple of guests today who came on to kind of fill in some of those blanks to talk a little bit about what they're hearing across the countryside as they're at these sales. I'm thinking we touched on that weather is probably, well, although for sales season it was maybe not so great when we considered all of those sales that were postponed to different dates and things like that. We've got optimism that it's going to rain in some of these places that haven't seen rain, and the cattle market is in a different spot this year than it was ...

Mark McCully:

Yeah-

Miranda Reiman:

... previously.

Mark McCully:

... and really we've got a couple guys that joined us that travel a lot of miles, have traveled a lot of miles over their career. It was kind of fun. Some folks that... A couple guys that both started with the American Angus Association in a field position, and now one auctioneer and one marketing professional. They had... We got to tell some stories about the past and the way things were, some changes they've seen over time, and then really get their bird's eye view of what the marketplace has been and kind of where we see things going.

Miranda Reiman:

If you are in the pickup right now delivering bulls across the country, I think you're really going to enjoy this next conversation.

Mark McCully:

It was a good one.

Miranda Reiman:

Looking forward to the guests we've got on the podcast today, Mark.

Mark McCully:

Yeah, it's going to be a fun one and I'm a little sad, Miranda. We're wrapping up season two and this season has gone fast, but we've had some wonderful guests, some great conversations, and I know today will be a fan favorite. We've got two great guys that I sure admire the job that they do and the perspective that they have in this Angus business. I say it a lot that we probably spend most of our time in production ag focusing on the production, maybe not as much as time spending, spent on the marketing and, how do we make sure we get paid for the value that we create?

We got two guys with us today that probably have forgotten more about marketing registered Angus cattle than most of us will know. We've got two guests, both hailing from Montana, but actually neither native I don't believe of Montana. Roger Jacobs, known by many as Jake, of course, from Billings, Montana. Roger, a North Dakota native and a proud Bison graduate, correct there, Jake?

Roger Jacobs:

That's right. Very proud of that fact.

Mark McCully:

Yeah. You know, unique, both of our guests today are former employees of the American Angus Association. Roger, you were a regional manager, you were a regional manager back before the regional... There was separate Angus Journal field staff at the time you were with Angus. Or were you there when they were merged?

Roger Jacobs:

Actually, I was there when before the Angus Journal was owned by the Association, four years before I believe, or two years before. That's correct, and so 1977, matter of fact, I was paging, I was digging through a dust drawer this morning and I found my 1977 date book-

Mark McCully:

Wow.

Roger Jacobs:

... and I flipped to June. On June 9th, there's a note there that I hadn't seen in 40-some years. It said, "I got the job," and two big exclamation marks. That started my six-year stint at the American Angus Association, four years as a regional manager and then two years strictly as working for the Angus Journal.

Mark McCully:

Oh, that's awesome.

Miranda Reiman:

What a cool date to be able to... You wouldn't have remembered that date on your own and that that's the date it happened, Roger?

Roger Jacobs:

No, it was just coincidence that I-

Miranda Reiman:

Oh.

Roger Jacobs:

... found that date book this morning. I just couldn't believe it, so it was fate I guess, but that started my career and that was my big opportunity. I owe most of what I've accomplished to that date and that hiring as far as my career anyway. It's the, Angus Association has been so good to me and it's been so much fun to watch the history and the changes over the years and the type changes that I've seen come and go. It's just been a lot of fun.

Mark McCully:

That's awesome, and then from there you went out on your own, correct? Been an auctioneer since the mid-'70s and also a licensed real estate professional I know, and partnered there in Premier Intermountain Properties. Auctioneered all across the country and Canada and other countries. Have you gotten to... You go to-

Roger Jacobs:

Yeah [inaudible 00:06:57]-

Mark McCully:

... Hawaii occasionally. Do you do many sales in Hawaii?

Roger Jacobs:

I'd like to, but we just seem to spend money when we go there on vacation. Matter of fact, we're heading there in June again, but yeah, I've sold in 25 different states and Canada and actually started in 1983, and so 40 years of it. The spring sale last month at or in late March there, Gartner-Denowh Angus Ranch was the 40th sale that I sold for Gartner-Denowh. Russ Denowh was the first person to ever hire me-

Mark McCully:

Hmm.

Roger Jacobs:

... and so now I'm working for his grandkids.

Mark McCully:

Aah, that's awesome. What a legacy. Three-

Miranda Reiman:

[inaudible 00:07:40].

Mark McCully:

... grown children, seven grandchildren? [inaudible 00:07:43]-

Roger Jacobs:

Eight now.

Mark McCully:

... eight? Eight-

Roger Jacobs:

Yeah.

Mark McCully:

... grandchildren.

Roger Jacobs:

Yeah, they're a lot of fun.

Miranda Reiman:

And can I interject-

Roger Jacobs:

That's what life's all about.

Miranda Reiman:

I was going to interject that you talked about his great opportunities, but you forgot to mention probably the great opportunity of marrying his wife.

Roger Jacobs:

Yeah, I married way up. There's no question about that.

Mark McCully:

He was quick to correct that Miranda by saying his professional career, you know?

Miranda Reiman:

Yeah, that's right.

Roger Jacobs:

That's right.

Mark McCully:

Our other guest, Mr. Ron Frye of Three Forks, Montana, and Ron Frye Marketing. A Wyoming native, correct, Ron?

Ron Frye:

That is correct. I grew up in Cheyenne.

Mark McCully:

In Cheyenne, and then from there you were with the Wyoming Farmer and then Western Livestock Journal, do I have... and then to the American Angus Association, Angus Media, API probably at the time in the early '90s?

Ron Frye:

Correct. I started out in Wyoming, Wyoming Farmer-Stockman. Had a chance to go to Spokane and worked for the Farmer-Stockton Magazines out there for a couple of years. Went back, worked for Western Livestock Journal, and then after a couple of years there, I made my way to Billings back with the Farmer-Stockman Magazines. I was there the right place, the right time I reckon when Bruce Weeter left the American Angus Association and applied for the job and was fortunate that Dick Spader and John Crouch hired me. I owe them two men a lot. They... One of the great things I had a chance to do a couple of years ago was I saw John Crouch at the Angus Convention and was able to bring him over and I can't remember which one of my kids made me, Jill and Randy were both there and my wife, Lanette, and to thank John for all he had done for me that 10 years I was with the American Angus Association.

He was a tremendous boss and him and Dick worked so well together that it was just so nice and it was so nice to bring John over and to tell him that. You know, "Look at the impact you made on my life and how much I appreciated that." That was pretty neat. I appreciated doing that. Then, like we were talking about, I worked for the American Angus Association from '92, in February of '92 to 2002 in February, about to the same date. A great experience, just tremendous and was so thankful that I had Jake when I got to the American Angus Association and he had been there before me, quite a while before me, but to get in the vehicle-

Mark McCully:

That was quite a gig-

Ron Frye:

... with him

Mark McCully:

... he got you there, Roger, and quite a while before he got there.

Roger Jacobs:

No question.

Ron Frye:

... but every Monday to get in the car with him and get a history lesson and about Angus cattle and the breeders in Wyoming and North Dakota and Montana, it was a real opportunity for me and very appreciative of all he did for me, so...

Mark McCully:

He kind of give you the roadmap, and I know you said it meant a lot for you to say something to tell John Crouch, the impact. I'm sure that meant a lot to John as well. You then went after the Association, after your time of service there, you went over to Edwards Angus Ranch, and then I believe to KG Ranch before then venturing out on your own in 2015. Do I have that right when you started up-

Ron Frye:

Yeah.

Mark McCully:

... Ron Frye Marketing? Yeah.

Ron Frye:

Yeah, that's right, and it was time. I was leaving the Angus Association. People asked why you're leaving and when I was gone I felt like I should have been home, and when I was home I felt like I should have been gone. It was time, 10 years there was enough, although I missed it, but it was a real learning experience to go to work for Cliff Edwards and the crew there, Dwight Barber at Edwards Angus, I learned a lot. It's a very short time there in Denton, but like Lanette and I talk all the time, it seemed like we were there forever. It was such a unique community and we enjoyed it so much. The marketing at KG was really good as well. They had a lot of cows and that's why I liked going there. They had, oh, probably 13, 1400 registered Angus cows at that time, so to come in there and be able to be not only part of the marketing deal, but be part of the breeding program and all of that, that was a real education.

Mark McCully:

Awesome. You mentioned Lanette. She's an important part of what you do there. We were teasing you earlier, she was your head tech support getting you all wired in for this Zoom interview, so no, and then three children?

Ron Frye:

Yeah, yeah, Randy, Kyle, and Jill, and Jill, the youngest one, just graduated from college the other day, and me and Jake were talking about this the other day. She just took a job or she's going to take a job with the Northern Ag Network in Billings and we're very excited for her, so...

Mark McCully:

That's fun.

Miranda Reiman:

Well, you guys have quite a history in the business and then also have a really unique vantage point, I guess, on getting to see as many Angus cattle out in the country as probably about anybody. You've kind of already told us a little bit of your start into marketing cattle, but I'm curious, is that something that you always saw yourself doing? Jake, were you the guy who grew up as a little kid selling off stuffed animals? Or was that something you grew into later on?

Roger Jacobs:

I never thought about being an auctioneer as a young kid, but I always tagged along with my father to the stockyards every now and then to a sale. I was the youngest of six boys and we're all a year apart and for some reason, I guess because I wasn't big enough to work like the other ones, Dad would take me along every now and then and I'd sit there and watch the auctioneer and thought it was pretty cool. Then, as I got into college listening to some of the greats like Jim Baldridge and Pat Goggins and Bob Schnell, they just inspired me just listening to them. I thought, "Man, that is so neat," and to be able to do that, and at North Dakota State, I was on the judging team and we had a very successful team and had a lot of fun doing that.

That gave me the kind of confidence, I think, to get up in front of people and think I could do it. I went to auction school right out of college, matter of fact, the next week after I graduated, and of course, stumbled around for two years fitting cattle and showing and having a great time doing that. The big opportunity came when the American Angus Association hired me and I spent six years networking with people and meeting the right people and then just a lot of breeders the opportunity when I decided to hang my shingle out. It was pretty much hand-to-mouth for a few years, but it got better pretty quick. It's been a fun 40 years and a fun ride, but just watching those great auctioneers when I was a young man, that was a big inspiration for me.

Miranda Reiman:

Right. Well, you named a lot of the greats off in that. I'm sure, Ron, for you having that network was also important to you being able to go out on your own, but is this what you imagined you'd be doing someday?

Ron Frye:

I'm not sure that I had those kind of dreams when I was young. I was just trying to find my way and I was very fortunate that when I was going through college there and trying to find my way, I judged a little bit and I rodeoed a little bit. Then, a man named Arvin Arthun, who worked for the Farmer-Stockman Magazines, took me aside and said, "You know, son, maybe it's time you got a real job and figured out a real path." He introduced me to the business, really.

I didn't know much about it, especially the purebred end of it before he got ahold of me. Then, through all of those jobs I was very fortunate that a lot of people saw fit to take me under their wing and to teach me and mentor me along the way, and so many great people in our industry that really are mentors to a lot of the young guys coming up today or certainly in my time. You can't put a value on that and you can't even explain it well enough to thank those guys for all that they did before we came along.

Miranda Reiman:

I've heard that as a theme in several other people as we've interviewed them on this podcast, start naming names and I think we all get to that point where you're like, "I don't want to name names for fear I'm going to leave somebody out," but I think Mark, I see you nodding your head and that you're absolutely right. There's lots of those people in this business, so it's cool when their paths have crossed yours.

Mark McCully:

It is still a people business, and when we look at our paths of it, it all... It's amazing how we can all point back to a handful of people that really change the trajectory of what we're doing and why we're doing it and where we're at.

Miranda Reiman:

Yeah.

Mark McCully:

As you guys think about your early days with the Association, I hear stories about today we spend... We've got a pretty organized... we call it an onboarding process and an orientation process that we bring new employees on and spend quite a bit of time trying to get them up to speed on all the things going on. I hear kind of some of the early days you guys were thrown a set of car keys and said, "Go get them," and maybe an atlas. Is that somewhere in between? What was the onboarding like in the early days when you started?

Roger Jacobs:

I'll take that one to start with. I did spend, I think two, days at St. Joe meeting the staff, but basically, yeah, I was given a... You weren't even given car keys back then because you had to own your own car and you got paid mileage. You got sent out on the road and I got sent to a field day right off the bat, but then they did send a couple people, a couple other regional managers up to travel with me, and Raymond Barton was one the first week. I learned some lessons there, and then Dwayne Dietz the second week, and you all know Dwayne. I might even learned a few things I shouldn't do that week. Then, they sent Crouch up the last week and he lined me out pretty well, so I learned a lot those first three weeks, but boy, it was learn as you go, really. There wasn't a lot of tutoring going on, but I did it my way and just enjoyed the heck out of it and it seemed to work.

Miranda Reiman:

What were you driving, Roger?

Roger Jacobs:

I had a 1977 Ford Thunderbird-

Mark McCully:

Wow.

Roger Jacobs:

... [inaudible 00:18:49] yeah.

Miranda Reiman:

That's probably better than the ride that I think all the RMs would probably trade you maybe.

Roger Jacobs:

[inaudible 00:18:57].

Miranda Reiman:

What were you driving, Ron?

Ron Frye:

The Association had a car, and so because it was sale season when I got hired, there was no really going back to St. Joe or any of that. They just said, "Look, you'll meet Bruce Weeter in Bozeman and Bruce will give you the keys to the car and whatever else he happened to have." It was a big boat. I don't... Some kind of a Buick I think, and there was no front-wheel drive back then and the thing really got down the road. Bruce threw me the keys and I don't know if I saw him again for years after that. I mean, he was literally gone and, like I said, it was sale season and we were in the middle of it.

I was fortunate enough that I'd been going to sales a lot with my other job, so I was pretty well knew what the gig was, but it was a lot. There's a lot of sales in North Dakota. I hadn't traveled North Dakota before and we spent most of February back then over there, so it was like Jake said, it was a learning experience, but like for me, it was pretty easy and guys like Jake and Pat and the other field staff, they made it pretty easy for me.

Miranda Reiman:

Tell us about what the industry was like at that point. What was kind of the climate at the sales you were going to? What kinds of things were people talking about at that time that were just big news?

Roger Jacobs:

Well, when I got hired at the American Angus Association, we talked about pedigree and we talked about structure and we were in the infancy of performance testing really. I mean, it just became fashionable within five to 10 years before I was hired to even performance test. When I first got hired, there were no EPDs on the pedigree yet, so all you had was a pedigree. I've seen so much change, it's just hard to even fathom. As a young man, I watched the first type change from belt buckle cattle while I was judging in 4-H to the bigger frame cattle. Then, we saw the advent of estimated breeding values. That was the first thing to come on a pedigree before EPDs, but it was tough times.

I mean, I went to a lot of sales where the sales as a regional manager where we wouldn't average $1500 on bulls. I would have went to one or two sales way back then that wouldn't have averaged a thousand dollars, and so this spring I sold 5,500 bulls that average $6600. I've seen it all from A to Z as far as prices, as far as demand, and just so much change over the years. That's exciting, though. I love change. I mean, I've resisted change once or twice during my career and I've been wrong every time I resisted it, so you got to be ready to at least look at it and be willing to change somewhat.

Mark McCully:

Roger, you came in the late '77, '78 right around there. I mean, there was a lot going on. As you mentioned earlier, the Angus Journal being purchased in '78, '79, CAB being started. Was that much or much of that... That was before Facebook, right? I don't know how we communicated. Was there much talk with the breeders at that point in time about those things going on? Were people anxious about them? Were they just kind of trying to soak-

Roger Jacobs:

Well, it-

Mark McCully:

... it all up?

Roger Jacobs:

... as Angus breeders, it was a fairly stressful time. We weren't the number one breed at the time. Hereford cattle were still king in the North Country at that time, and registration numbers, Hereford cattle were way out ahead of us. I watched that transformation where Angus just seemed to take over the West and became the common denominator in the beef cattle business, which was a lot of fun, but late '70s through the '80s, there sure were some tough times. A lot of stress on a lot of people as far as interest rates and the markets, but most people survived it and we went on and came to better times.

Miranda Reiman:

You know, Ron, I would say you weren't really... you didn't start really at an easy time in the business, either, though, right? Like what you said, early '90s?

Ron Frye:

Right.

Miranda Reiman:

Right.

Ron Frye:

Right. Yeah, it didn't seem... Because I had come in and started my career probably in '85 or '86 with those other publications, I felt what Jake felt. I mean, some days, if you sold half of them, average 1300, you had a heck of a day. That was as we were progressing and Angus felt stronger going along there. I think the thing that I saw change or I felt was that we went from the bulls and the bull sales being a byproduct of guys building a cow herd and we went to where now selling bulls is a true business and maybe even an art. It's tough. I mean, you've got to be with the program and you've got to have the T's dotted or the I's dotted and the T's crossed. You just cannot fall behind. Otherwise, you'll just get left in this bull marketing. It just really didn't feel that way back in the day.

Miranda Reiman:

Sure.

Mark McCully:

You guys have both alluded to changes. Maybe we get into some of that. What are some of those changes you guys have seen over how... You know, you mentioned the focus on selling bulls and, Roger, you mentioned EPDs weren't even on the pedigrees. As you guys look back maybe over your career of marketing seed stock and registered Angus seedstock, what are some of those big changes that you would point to that you would say are most significant?

Roger Jacobs:

I think the use of data is probably the biggest change. I've seen people, in addition to the improvement of the cattle, we've seen so much improvement in performance, but we have really done an excellent job as an industry educating buyers, and they do use the data that we provide them anymore. Some of them maybe to a fault where they might chase one single trait or another, but people just... they demand it anymore. You've got to give them data or they're not going to buy the cattle. They're not going to pay the premium for any of them if you don't give them the data to help judge what they're looking at.

Mark McCully:

Ron, how about from your perspective?

Ron Frye:

You know, certainly the data and following up on what Jake said there and they... working with the DNA, I think that's the real thing that has changed for... and certainly in the last few years, but man, I think that was a real Y in the road and the breeders trying to wrap their mind around that. I think as EPDs, we all accepted them and off we went and we tried to figure out how it was working. We saw the data getting put into the EPD and all of that. The DNA to me was a different animal altogether and I think you had guys that embraced it right away, guys that wanted to embrace it, but wasn't sure. I think that was the real linchpin in it for me was that, "Boy, this is a game changer here." Still today, breeders look at it differently. Some really embrace it, some do, but maybe don't believe as much as they ought to, or however that might look, but for me, I think it was how we use DNA in the deal.

Miranda Reiman:

Okay.

Mark McCully:

You mentioned technology of DNA, but also the use of technology as... You know, we went from satellite, video, TV to online options to expand the reach of a sale. Speak to that a little bit. We went through that time in COVID where we kind of had to do more online and we could do less in person. We kind of come back now. I see a lot of I'll call them hybrids. They have both online and in-person options. Thoughts on the online versus in-person? Where are we going on that? Things you like, things you don't like?

Roger Jacobs:

I just had a sale the other day where we sold 130-some bulls and sold over half of them online, so that's... boy, that is a game changer there. It's unreal. Just how well people have embraced buying bulls, buying females over the internet or calling in and looking at video while they're bidding, but it's made a big difference. It's made it so much easier for people to participate and they've gotten so much more comfortable with it. There's been several days this spring where over half the sale growth has been on the internet for me.

Ron Frye:

Yeah, I agree. The internet auction part of our business is... I think I only had one sale this spring that we didn't have some type of internet there. Man, it's comforting to have those guys with you, and part of it probably starts out to be that it's insurance for a storm or bad weather or something like that. Through COVID and that time, Mark, you're correct in that that's when we really taught people and people really got comfortable with, "Look, we can do this online." Now, I think the thing that changes isn't that. I'm not a great one to look at video after video, and after a while they all start to look alike to me, but I think the guys that do a good job are the guys that still maybe call up and go, "Look, here's a list of bulls that I'm thinking about bidding on. Can get through them? Or can you tell me what you remember about them?

Then, you confer and you talk about them, and then they're like, "Okay, I'm good. Now, I'm going to go off to the internet and you do your deal, Ron, and we'll be on the internet and get our bulls bought. I think those are the guys that are probably happier with their purchases because I think there was a time there where those guys were still trying to find their footing at looking at the videos and buying the cattle they want. They probably weren't buying as good as cattle as they were when they were there in person. I think there was a year or two there that it was kind of a learning thing for all of us that we needed, although they were going to be on the internet, we still needed to be involved in what they were going to purchase.

Miranda Reiman:

Do you think that you still have the same sense of community at a bull sale? You're still getting the crowds there even with the online option? Are those just additive people? Or do you think it's taken people out of the seats?

Ron Frye:

I personally think it's taken people out of the seats, I mean, and I hear that from my... the breeders I work with all the time. It's like, "Hey, it'd be good to see So-and-So." They're like, "Well, it'd be great if he was coming," and that hurts a little bit because sometimes that the interaction we need where we don't maybe don't get to talk to them about, "Hey, what's going on on your ranch?" Or, "How have you been? How's the winter been?" Or, "How's your moisture situation?"

I think it hurts from that standpoint, the really interaction between the breeder and the staff is we try to help them and the commercial guys out in the country buying the bulls, I think it's a... I don't know. I think, like I said, we're navigating it, but like the sale that I had in Idaho, that is a big community deal and we didn't have an internet there. I don't know that it hurt us, but these people are exceptional. It's a big community event and they don't send their bulls very far out and that's one of my cooler sales just from that standpoint. Love the community aspect of it.

Miranda Reiman:

I wonder if that's put the pressure on people to maybe do a better job at getting people there or things like that to have a draw or to have a reason that you would want to come see him in person? I don't know. Roger, do you feel this same way? Or do you think it-

Roger Jacobs:

It has sure taken some people out of the going to sales. Our crowds are probably not as big as they used to be, but at least they're still participating.

Miranda Reiman:

Yeah.

Roger Jacobs:

They're still there on the internet. Yeah, I got to have it right now just before we start. I go ask Logan or Jay or Bo, whoever might be manning the internet, "How many people do you have approved?" That's my last question. It kind of like, "Okay, I feel more comfortable now that you've got 40 people online that are approved buyers and I've got 50 people sitting in front of me or a hundred people. Yeah, it has lightened our crowds, but they are still participating and that's been a big change over the years that I've noticed. There are still so many sales anymore. It's an everyday occurrence.

Matter of fact, in this country in the Northern Tier there's days there's days there's four or five sales on the same day. That is a total change from when I started in the industry. As a regional manager my first year, I only went to 30 spring sales all spring long, from January 1 to May. Now, I've sold as many as 70 in that time frame over the years, so its more of an everyday occurrence and it was more of a special occasion to have a sale back then. Everybody had to have a social afterwards and that aspect's went away a little bit. That's one big change I've seen, but thank God for the internet. That's one of those changes I resisted over the years that I was wrong about.

Ron Frye:

Hmm. You know, with the winter we had this winter, I mean, it started early and it got over late and them guys real... that internet deal really paid it's way this winter. I mean, it was just... it was tough for them guys to travel, and especially when you get into calving season, you can't ask them guys to be gone. They can't lose three or four calves just to come to your bull sale, and I think that's been kind of a nice give and take in the whole thing.

Mark McCully:

You know, Ron, you mentioned it, and I think it's key. I've heard breeders talk about the concern if people aren't coming to their sale, you lose that personal connection. You lose maybe some loyalty to a program if it's pretty easy just to go plug into somebody else's sale and start bidding. Do you guys believe it puts more pressure back on or responsibility back on the breeder to outside of the sale or the weeks leading up to the sale to be more in contact with their customer and do a better job that way?

Roger Jacobs:

Yes. I think that's one of the real keys, not just right ahead of the sale, but maintaining that connection throughout the year, checking on their customers and making sure that they're satisfied with the product. It's pretty easy to jump on the internet and all of a sudden get enthralled with something you're seeing and maybe all of a sudden you've bought three bulls at this sale that you never really intended to and all of a sudden this great breeder that you've been working with over the years, he's wondering, "What happened to this guy?"

Well, that opportunity come along, it looked like a good buy, and all of a sudden you filled your bull needs, so it's key. It's marketing is the key to being a successful breeder. You've got to maintain connection with your customers throughout the year if you really want to be successful.

Ron Frye:

I think if you work with your... If you're a breeder and you work with your customer base the way you should, it creates some obligation there and I think that obligation is what gets you through that period of time. Maybe there's a little grace period in there that maybe you didn't get them called like you should, but if you've been to the ranch, if you're one of those guys that delivers the bulls yourself and takes some time to visit with that guy, and I'll tell you, it's a sales deal.

When you show up, if you know about the wife and grandpa and the history of the deal and what the kids are up to and all of that, that obligation goes a long way. Those guys don't forget that because it is, like Mark said earlier on, it's a people business and it's maybe even getting to be more of a people business as we charge along here. For those guys that really sell a lot of bulls and stuff, it's critical.

Miranda Reiman:

Okay. You mentioned how the number of your sales was 30, Roger, when you first started. First, I think Kurt Kangas is going to listen to this and think you need to raise the bar. And second, I'm wondering how that's changed. How many sales did you guys go to in the past like past year? Do you keep it on an annual basis? How many sales do you typically go to in a season?

Roger Jacobs:

I'm at about 80 right now between last fall and this spring.

Miranda Reiman:

Do you count miles? I'm curious how many miles that adds up to.

Roger Jacobs:

Oh, I quit counting miles a long time ago. I think it used to be 80 to a hundred thousand miles driving a year, maybe 110. I've ratcheted that back a fair bit. I fly a lot more than I used to, but yeah, I'm probably approaching three and a half million miles since I started with the American Angus Association in '77.

Mark McCully:

Wow.

Miranda Reiman:

You got a ways to go to catch up, Ron, I guess. He's got a head start on you in years.

Ron Frye:

You know, he can have it. He can have that mantle, I'm good with that, but yeah, absolutely, so-

Miranda Reiman:

Right.

Roger Jacobs:

Sure. Ron and I spent a lot of time in a car together in those 10 years he was working as regional manager, though, so matter of fact, we had to laugh every now and then. We'd be driving down the road and I'd think of something and he'd say it or he'd think of something and I'd say it. That's how much time we spent together.

Mark McCully:

You guys get to share some of those, that 3.5 million miles or whatever you had there.

Roger Jacobs:

Yeah.

Ron Frye:

Yeah, absolutely.

Roger Jacobs:

Yeah.

Mark McCully:

Over the... if you just look at kind of this last sale season, as you guys would size it up, I mean, we all kind of see the numbers. We see the sale reports. I think Kurt put together in his territory this year I think 11,000 Angus bulls. Is that on the fiscal year? I'm trying to remember his... He just put some numbers together-

Miranda Reiman:

I think-

Mark McCully:

Miranda?

Miranda Reiman:

... that was on the what he considered the sale season. I guess I'd have to go look at when he starts.

Roger Jacobs:

That was through-

Miranda Reiman:

I think that was-

Roger Jacobs:

... spring, Mark.

Mark McCully:

Through just spring, yeah, so that probably didn't include some of the couple of fall sales and he averaged up $6,186 average I think. Jake, you mentioned 5500 bulls at $6600. I guess what do you... Obviously, some optimism and some demand. I guess just what are you guys seeing overall? Are we getting them all traded? Or is there just an extreme top end? How do you guys size this up?

Roger Jacobs:

No, I think we did as good a job this year of getting them all traded as we probably ever have. I didn't have as many extreme tops this year as I've had many years, but the sales were so consistent and throughout the entire spring and most days we got every bull in the bank and found a new home for them. The market was probably at least 10% higher than a year ago, maybe 15%, and people just seem to be in a good mood this spring and very optimistic about the industry and the market we have right now, so I think we're positioned pretty good.

Ron Frye:

Yeah, I would say, and I think when Jake and I were talking the other day, I want to say that he told me, and he can answer this when we get off here, but that he had a sale the other day maybe topped at 8500 and averaged 6500-

Mark McCully:

Wow.

Ron Frye:

... which is just amazing.

Mark McCully:

Yeah.

Ron Frye:

A lot of my sales, honestly, they were up anywhere from 20 to 30%. One sale was up a hundred percent, and I tell you what we saw was that it was good early, the Januarys and the... I mean, it felt good, but the difference this year was we'd been telling these guys since COVID hit that these late sales, these late March/early April sales for me, "Hey, just hang on. It's going to be good" and stuff. I'll tell you what, every year we said that, the drought, it just persisted. We got there and we had less bull demand and it was a struggle. The averages weren't very good. We had more bulls left over. This year the demand was awesome. I mean, that late March early... Wouldn't you say, Jake, that early April deal-

Roger Jacobs:

Yeah.

Ron Frye:

... I mean, we just rock and rolled right through that.

Roger Jacobs:

Sure did.

Mark McCully:

Did you guys... I mean, a lot of cows have moved out of your country over the... You mentioned the drought, Ron. I mean, if you go back over the last three, four years or so, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but a lot of cows have moved out of that country. Did you guys expect it? Obviously, there was a lot of optimism in the feeder market and what we're going to trade these calves for, but did you guys see this coming, being this good? Did we just also cull a lot of bulls and guys just needed bulls?

Ron Frye:

Absolutely, Mark. I think that was the big deal and if you talk to the guys, and that's always a barometer for me, when you talk to the guys at the sale barns and the auction markets, "How many bulls are you seeing come to town?" When those guys were sending those cows to town, the bulls went with them, and especially right now with the cull bull market and the cull female cow market, I think that's made a huge impact on our bull business this spring.

Roger Jacobs:

Oh, well, I agree with Ron, but I guess I was pretty optimistic starting last fall early on when I watched the West Coast sales start up in September and late August and September, the California sales and see the averages that they were getting done out there. I knew it could be pretty good through the winter and through the fall sale season, but I guess I was really shocked and pleasantly surprised at how good the spring sale season was. I mean, we tapped off in January with some 6 to $9,000 averages on some of these sales that hadn't been anywhere close to that in the past.

It just maintained through the spring. It actually snowballed and probably got a little better at times, but I tell you what, this cattle market got on the move and people noticed it and they wanted to get ahead of it, not only the bulls, but what our commercial heifers brought in some of these sales. Boy, I mean, it was a big surprise and obviously people in this country are ramping up and breeding a lot of heifers. That's another thing that really drove the market. The calving-ease bulls sold extremely good this spring.

Miranda Reiman:

When you look across to your guys' sales and maybe some of the ones that do the best consistently, how much of that do you credit to the type of cattle they're breeding and how much do you credit it to the type of marketing, maybe customer service, kind of all that extra that they have?

Ron Frye:

I would say off the top of my head, I don't know if it's 70%, that relationship they have with them. Obviously, the bulls have to work at some point. If they don't and their cow herd's changing, not for the better, maybe they're going to move on, but that relationship with those guys, I think it dominates the... it's the underlying effect of how good a bull sale is. If they have that confidence and that relationship with the breeder, that breeder's going to have a good day.

Mark McCully:

Jake, you mentioned calving ease earlier about... Then, there's always, obviously, a focus on... We always see that as an influencer of price and the kind, but do you see much change in the kind, maybe some traits, some things guys are looking for or hunting? More diversity? What are you seeing out there in terms of traits of a preference?

Roger Jacobs:

Well, I think a lot of people are studying carcass more than they have in the past. CAB's big driver in the cattle market anymore. Common denominator of the beef cattle business as far as I'm concerned, and so people trying to select cattle that'll hit the premiums, the CAB premiums and that sort of thing. They're all cognizant of that, but really in addition to that, they're all thinking about their cow herds. They're watching maternal, they're watching heifer pregnancy pretty much.

A lot of people paying a lot of attention to heifer pregnancy and stayability. People that go into places where they think the bulls will sire some females that have longevity. One of the most important traits, if not the most important trait in the business, fertility and longevity. I think people are studying that and paying more attention to that than they ever have.

Mark McCully:

Ron, do you see it different than... maybe see it different across regions of the country that you run in?

Ron Frye:

Oh, not necessarily. I think one of the things that makes our breed maybe unique and makes it great, quite frankly, is that our calving-ease bulls, our bulls that these guys buy to put on their first calf heifers are eventually bulls that go right to the cow herd. I think that's what makes these bulls worth 8, 9, 10, 11, $12,000 to a commercial guy. When it's multifaceted, the calving ease is there, but you can move on to the cows, and I think we've heard a lot of talk about, "You know, I need to buy more cow bulls to put on my cows, and a little more birth weight and stuff." A lot of time that's all it is kind of more birth weight at birth because the calving-ease bulls on paper and in real life actually, they'll outperform those bulls.

I think that calving ease is a big, big factor in our business and I think we need to be really thankful that we have that kind of performance in our heifer bulls. The one thing you do hear a little bit about is that some of that, "Oh, calving ease can get too much for our country." When we're getting into the really big CEDs and the really low birth weight EPDs, it's getting to be a little too much for the winters that we've had.

Miranda Reiman:

Especially a winter like this one to illustrate it, right?

Ron Frye:

Exactly.

Miranda Reiman:

Yeah.

Mark McCully:

As you look at, and I guess were there other... Before we switch gears a little bit, were there other big takeaways from this sales season as you guys drive down the road? I mean, not only do you guys see a lot of cattle and attend a lot of sales, you talk to others that see a lot of cattle and attend to a lot of sales. Other big takeaways that, again, you guys represent a pretty big footprint of the country, but things that you noticed or...

Roger Jacobs:

You know, it's fun to go down the road and just after the sales, if you got the crew in the car with you and just visit about what went on that day and just talk about what different people saw and what different people demanded and just things like that. We're always studying, trying to figure out what we can do better, and so just reviewing what you did in the day and talking about what this guy bought and that guy bought and why, it's always fun to study those kind of things and go back over it.

Ron Frye:

I think one thing that I heard a lot of and was that breeders, they were really looking, okay, sire group-wise, what am I going to use AI? I think this spring they really had a hard time and I'm not sure why that was because when you look back across this thing and you went, "Look, guys, whatever you gave them, they bought. It didn't seem... It doesn't get picked apart sire-wise the way that maybe me and Roger pick it apart or the guys that we travel with pick it apart. That commercial guy goes in there and he finds what he's looking for and we seem amazed, but in 150-head bull sale where they all sell and it gets stronger at the end and at the end of the day you're selling it for 6, $7,000, apparently we're doing a pretty good job and maybe we're being a little too tough on the cattle.

Miranda Reiman:

As you guys are going down the road and talking about what worked and what didn't, are there particular marketing strategies that you think if more guys repeated this, they'd have more success? Or there's certain... I'm not asking you to name a specific program or a customer here, but are there certain strategies you think that are super effective that are repeatable across the industry?

Roger Jacobs:

My big one would be personal contact. I mean, the breeders that know their customers on a personal basis and keep in touch throughout the year, they are the most successful, and the ones that offer customer service, whether it might be helping marketing some steer cattle or a load of heifers or helping them any way in their marketing, I think that's one of the real keys. We're seeing more and more people do that, getting involved with video sales, maybe being a rep and helping their customers get cattle consigned to the videos and then promoting them and helping them sell. It's a big deal.

Ron Frye:

Yeah, I'd like to add to that, but I think Jake just nailed it. I think that's everything in what we're doing today.

Mark McCully:

How about for a new breeder? I'm guessing the result or the answer's probably the same, but we have new folks getting into the breed all the time. What if a new breeder... When a new breeder comes to you asking for marketing advice, what do you find yourself sharing with them?

Roger Jacobs:

You know, I would tell a young breeder to find a successful breeder that can be a mentor for them. Somebody that's got a great program, got the ball rolling downhill, has a great set of cows and has a successful sale, and get involved with them. Get to know them, learn from the people that've been there before you. That's what I'd say.

Ron Frye:

Yeah, I think that's great advice. I think the one thing is that when they get into this business and then they go to some of these highly successful sales and they can't understand why that guy that's sitting on the seats there doesn't want to come and buy their program, why he doesn't want to be involved with them, I think what they need to realize is that they need to go cut their own path. They need to go find their own guys.

Maybe it's a commercial guy that's not doing so well. They need to go to him and convince him, "Hey, let us be your seedstock guy, let us create them from the group up." because that's those guys sitting on the seats that have been at some of these sales 30, 40 years. Jake can attest to that sitting on the seats. Them guys aren't going anywhere. They're happy to be there, so you got to go kind of find your own guys and create your own program and your own customer base.

Miranda Reiman:

They got to go convert the last 20 or 30% to Angus, right?

Ron Frye:

There you go, there you go.

Mark McCully:

That's great advice.

Miranda Reiman:

Yeah, that's right. It is great advice. I thought maybe you were going to say, "Go hire yourself a really good auctioneer."

Roger Jacobs:

That's a given.

Miranda Reiman:

Yeah, that's right. As you guys look ahead to kind of the future, we've talked a lot about the past and then changes, but if you look ahead to seedstock marketing in this next decade, what do you think are some of the changes we're headed for?

Roger Jacobs:

Ooh, that's going to be interesting. We've seen the internet just totally take over some other parts of the auction business, I mean, almost a hundred percent where they're not even having live auctions anymore. It's going to be interesting to see whether that grows. I've watched several breeders try it over the last couple years and not very successfully, so I'm not a big cheerleader, obviously, but it has taken over other facets of the auction business, the club calf business, the show land business, the equipment business. The internet has totally taken over some of those, and it'll be interesting to see if the seed stock business leans a little more that way. I don't believe it will. I think there'll always be live auctions and the excitement of a live auction's going to trump the internet in the seedstock business anyway.

Miranda Reiman:

I've always wondered if that discussion is a little bit like the discussion that right away when digital publishing came out, people thought that print would be dead. I think that the relevant print publications have stayed along and grown and still been really good. It's just that it kind of maybe caused more separation in the market between those two or some things, so...

Mark McCully:

Well, I think that as you guys think about down the road and I struggle a little bit with what do we want to happen, and it's not always what we want to happen's going to happen, but I go back to we're still in the people business. I do get a little nervous some days about commoditizing this to a point where I can just log in and buy my genetics for my operation. That's not really who we are as cattle producers and I'm not sure that's probably most of us that are around this business want us to go that way. I don't know. I have a question in that more than just taking the chance to editorialize I think, Miranda, but I don't know. That... It's definitely going to change no doubt, I think.

Well, what about your thoughts, and I hear this from time to time and maybe have heard it over the years of, do we see more contracting of bulls and guys coming saying, "Hey, this is really what I need and this is the way I want them to be developed and I don't necessarily need to go through an auction type of thing?" Maybe I don't want you to push these bulls to their... I trust the genetic prediction tools behind them some. Do you see more of that going on in the seedstock world? Or are we going to kind of stay with the model we have today?

Roger Jacobs:

I haven't seen any of that or I've seen very little of that up to this point, but I think we're going to see part of the industry head that way. I think the DNA companies are basically going to be some competition to the purebred breeders. I think they're going to try and sell genetics, and not... They're going to be selling genetics as bulls, but they're not promoted as a bull sale. They're going to promote their product as DNA and genetics. I see that happening to some point, so I mean, we've really got to be aggressive to keep our part of the market share.

Mark McCully:

Yeah.

Ron Frye:

Yeah, I think when you see, say a guy has five flush brothers in his sale, and you would think logically that a commercial guy would, if he wanted to buy one, he'd want to buy at least three of them or four of them or maybe all of them. That would be a great way to go, but it doesn't happen that way. They buy the one they want and they buy three or four other bulls that are not out of that flush. If you would have asked me that a decade ago, I would've thought that's where we're headed, but some guys kind of dipped their toe into that deal and then back out they came. They went, "You know what? I just want to buy the bulls that when I go there, I really like them." They were not comfortable doing that. I'm not sure why that was, but it's kind of how it turned out it looked to me like.

Mark McCully:

Yeah.

Miranda Reiman:

Probably all that advice we got when we were little about not putting all our eggs in one basket, right?

Ron Frye:

Could be.

Miranda Reiman:

Yeah.

Ron Frye:

Could be.

Miranda Reiman:

I would agree with Mark that I feel a little bit like, "Don't tell me that there's going to be fewer sales or we're going to go all online," and those kind of things. Let's flip the other way. What gets you most excited about the Angus business in the next decade?

Roger Jacobs:

I think it's the grandkids of the people I used to work for. This next generation, these younger breeders that I get to work with now, they're charged up and ready to take over and charge on. That's fun to see these young people getting involved in these herds of cattle and these programs evolve and move on and get more aggressive as time goes on. I just appreciate the change that's happening.

Ron Frye:

I knew I should have went first there, Jake. because he is exactly right. One of my best days this spring or this winter was we went and videoed a set of bulls and they were shorthanded. They asked if I could run over and do that and they were shorthanded. We had grandpa, we had dad, and we had the grandson, and it was the best day. I mean, to be three generations on that place, all them guys working together and having fun and had such pride in the cattle. It was a fantastic day and we need to keep that in mind.

That's what those guys need to do. They need to grow that next generation, take them with them as much as they can. Get them involved because what happens so many times is that we see kind of that gap between the commercial kids that are coming back to the ranch, if there isn't somebody in that purebred outfit for them to cling to to them to be friends with, sometimes that age gap is what drives them to some other breeder.

Miranda Reiman:

Sure. Yeah. I love those generational stories and sometimes those are my favorite story trips and we'll say, "Oh, sorry, we're going to have to all pile in one pickup and the kids are going too," and I'm like, "Perfect." Yeah, that's what we want. Wonderful. This week's random question, I want to know, what's the biggest travel nightmare that you've ever had in trying to get from one sale to another?

Roger Jacobs:

Can I go first?

Miranda Reiman:

Yeah. Too many to count?

Roger Jacobs:

It just happened last year, as a matter of fact. I had a sale in North Dakota in Bismarck, and my brother-in-law, Joe Goggins, had a sale in South Dakota same day. We get out of Sunday mass and I'm talking to Joe and he says, "We'll fly over this afternoon. Trey says it's going to start storming this evening, so we'll just go to Bismarck and then I'll hop on down to South Dakota in the morning." I said, "That sounds great. Let's get out of town as quick as we can, then, and make sure we get ahead of the weather." Well, Joe says, "I got to go out to Pryor Creek south of the feedlot and go through a bunch of heifers, so we'll leave about 3:00 or 4:00." Well, Joe goes out to the feed lot. I get a call at about 3:00. He says, "I have a flat tire and I'm having a heck of a time changing it, but I'll get it done and I'll meet you at that Edwards Jet Center at 5:00."

Well, I get up there and Joe finally shows up at 6:00 and our pilot's there and we're ready to go. They just... It's storming, it's snowing, and it's snowing and storming in Bismarck as well. Our pilot checks with the gal at the office and she said, "They just shut the runways down. We can't leave, but they'll get them cleared in two hours. He can get out of here." We went down, we had lunch or dinner, came back and they said, "The airport's closed for the night." Next morning, still could not get to Bismarck because the weather in Bismarck was bad. Finally got out of town about an hour before my sale in Bismarck started. Flew over there, got off the plane, walked into Kist Livestock. Jumped on the auction block 15 minutes after the sale was supposed to start and rattled through the sale. The moral of the story is if you have the time to spare, go by air, so it was a nightmare.

Mark McCully:

Did you give Joe a hard time for making you late and creating all of that? If he'd have been on time and gotten his flat fix quicker, you wouldn't have had the problem?

Roger Jacobs:

Absolutely, I did. Gave him a big, bad time

Miranda Reiman:

Now, he's told the story on air, so it will live on.

Roger Jacobs:

Yeah, there you go.

Miranda Reiman:

All right, Ron, we've given you ample time to think about it.

Ron Frye:

I would've came up with something in all that time, but I don't know if it caused me any discomfort getting to whatever I was going to do then the next day, but same kind of deal. Me and Joe were flying back from some sale in the Dakotas somewhere and we had... I don't know what he had back then, maybe a little King Air that he leased. We're coming kind of across that Gillette, Sheridan out through that country and I'm not a big flyer. Joe's sitting in the back of the plane and he's looking straight ahead towards the pilot, and I'm facing out the rear. We start dropping and going sideways and it's getting pretty western. Joe kind of chuckles, "You might want to grab ahold here. This thing'll get a little bumpy going through here." I'm like, "All right." I mean, it's getting wild, but I'm doing okay and I'm holding my own.

The pilot turns around and he said, "Hey," he said, "We're not going to be able to land in Laurel." He said, "We're going to have to put it down in Billings." I'm like, "Well, thanks for telling us, but I really don't care where you put it down. Just put it down." We bounce around and finally I look out the window and we fly right by Billings, Montana, and I'm like, "Hey, what are you thinking up there?" He's like, "You know what? I think we can make it into Laurel, so I'll just kind of tip that wing into the wind." It was horrible. "I'll just kind of tip that wing into the wind and then it we'll kind of bounce a little bit, but we'll be fine I think." I'm like, "Well, good."

Miranda Reiman:

I think.

Ron Frye:

Well, I-

Mark McCully:

That's never-

Ron Frye:

... I think-

Mark McCully:

... what you want to hear a

Ron Frye:

... "Well, surely-

Mark McCully:

... pilot say. "I think we can-

Miranda Reiman:

No.

Mark McCully:

... "do this." Yeah.

Ron Frye:

I'm sure he is not going to kill Joe, right? I don't think he probably cared about me, but I didn't think he was going to kill Joe. We go in there and, I mean, it's bumpy and we're going to put her down. You feel we're getting closer and closer. Well, I can't see anything, but I'm just looking right at Joe and he's leaned up on his seat and he's got a hold of it from underneath, and I'm kind of waiting for Joe's cue like, how is this going to go? He looks out and he looks back and he looks out and he finally looks at me and he goes, "I don't think we're going to make it." About that time, the plane bounces onto the tarmac and we skid a little bit and we're good. I'm like, "Boy, that's really leadership there, Joe. 'I don't think we're going to make it' was not what I needed to hear." That was my story.

Miranda Reiman:

You did. You did make it-

Ron Frye:

Yeah.

Miranda Reiman:

... so that's good.

Ron Frye:

We did make it. Yeah.

Mark McCully:

I find it interesting that Joe's the common denominator between both of your travel nightmare stories. I think maybe there's your problem, guys.

Ron Frye:

[inaudible 01:05:35].

Miranda Reiman:

Right.

Roger Jacobs:

Yeah, I think you're right.

Ron Frye:

Yeah.

Miranda Reiman:

Well, we hope-

Mark McCully:

Guys-

Miranda Reiman:

... that after this sale season that you get to spend a little bit more time at home, maybe have a few less travel nightmares and a few less, we appreciate the moisture, but a few less rescheduled sales in the upcoming seasons for sure. Really, really appreciate you guys being on with us. I think that's what Mark was about to say, too.

Mark McCully:

Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you. I know we thought this was a perfect way to end season two. You guys, just a wealth of knowledge of the Angus breed and your background and history with the breed and passion for the breed, and just being able to come on and share what you guys see and what you anticipate I know is of a ton of value to our listeners. We just greatly appreciate it. You guys are super busy guys, and we are glad we could find a time here that kind of fit in your calendars, and we appreciate your time and your thoughts and just appreciate all you do, guys. Thanks.

Ron Frye:

[inaudible 01:06:35] for having us.

Roger Jacobs:

Thank you as well. Enjoyed it.

Miranda Reiman:

That's a wrap on season two. Thank you so much for joining us. From myself, from Mark, from the rest of the Angus Journal team, we've really appreciated all the feedback we've gotten and comments and personal notes of encouragement. It's our sincerest hope after this season you feel more connected to some of the latest topics in the Angus breed or even learned a little bit more about your fellow Angus breeders. Perhaps we've fostered a few conversations of your own.

We'd love to see you out at industry events this summer and even are planning a few special episodes, so be on the lookout for those. Then, be sure to join us back here in August as we start season three. In the meantime, to stay up on the latest in the Angus breed, visit angusjournal.net to subscribe to the monthly magazine or our daily E-news. This has been The Angus Conversation, an Angus Journal podcast.