A 365-Day Long Sale Day — Ellingsons on Creating Cows and Customer Service to Serve Commercial Cattlemen

The Ellingson family knows consistency, in both cattle and customer interactions, plays a role in their success. Chad and Julie Ellingson, St. Anthony, N.D., have grown their family and their Angus herd in tandem, with that next generation now taking an active role in management and breeding decisions. This episode features the father-son duo of Chad and Stetson and covers how much emphasis to place on calving ease, creating a uniform calf crop, their favorite moment of sale day and much more. 

HOSTS: Mark McCully and Miranda Reiman 

GUESTS: Chad and Stetson Ellingson
Chad and Julie (Schaff) Ellingson started Ellingson Angus in 1995 near St. Anthony, N.D., when they married and merged their registered Angus herds.

Over the years, the Ellingsons have used artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transplant (ET) to expand their herd, taking advantage of the best genetics available. They strive to raise balanced-trait cattle that will perform well for their customers.

The Ellingsons host a production sale the first Saturday in February at the sale facility on the ranch where they market yearling and age-advantaged Angus bulls and open and bred females. They also help market their customers’ thousands of feeder calves each year. 

Chad and Julie have five children: Stetson, Jameson, Sierra, Medora and Sheridan.

Stetson and Jameson returned to the family operation full-time after graduating college, and along with their brother-in-law Keenan Pierce, help operate the ranch. 

This podcast is brought to you by Westway Feed Products. Visit westwayfeed.com for more information.  

Don't miss news in the Angus breed. Visit www.AngusJournal.net and subscribe to the AJ Daily e-newsletter and our monthly magazine, the Angus Journal.

Transcript

Miranda Reiman (00:00:03):
Welcome to the Angus Conversation. I'm your host, Miranda Reiman here with my co-host, Mark McCully, CEO of the American Angus Association. And Mark, I'm thinking you might have wanted to have traded places with me today. I think we had two different kinds of days here and that I was out at a bull sale and I think you were,

Mark McCully (00:00:23):
I was in an office.

Miranda Reiman (00:00:23):
Yeah, you were in meetings kind of all day back to back, so it was

Mark McCully (00:00:29):
Yes, envious.

Miranda Reiman (00:00:29):
Yeah, it was a great day out here in Nebraska. It was

Mark McCully (00:00:32):
A beautiful day in St. Joe though. It's like sixties, I don't know. This airs here in a couple of weeks. I hope I don't jinx our spring-like weather, but it was pretty beautiful. I got to see it through my window.

Miranda Reiman (00:00:44):
Yeah, well, I was out walking among bulls and talking to breeders, so that was kind of fun. But came back early enough to get a podcast in here kind of over the supper hour. And as I was thinking about this podcast that we just recorded as a mom, I often get questions from people that they'll say, how do you get your kids to like to read? Or they'll say some thing that they want to see in their kids. And I'm always like, well, just let them see you doing it. Let them see you loving to read or bring 'em along with you when you go places or just all of those kind of things. And I think tonight's example is kind of that, fast forward 10 years, right?

Mark McCully (00:01:29):
Yeah, very much. We were fortunate to get Chad and Stetson son, Stetson Ellingson from North Dakota of course, and Ellingson Angus, and it was, I think, got to hear about doing just exactly that. And I think there's something, I think he's genetically designed to love cows. All those kids are,

Miranda Reiman (00:01:54):
Kind of double-bred for it, really

Mark McCully (00:01:55):
Double bred. Definitely double bred, homozygous, to get back in it. But yeah, fun to hear how they've nurtured that and then how the kids have followed thus far and some of the keys and some of the things that they've been doing to hand off and get that next generation as excited about the Angus business as Chad and Julie are.

Miranda Reiman (00:02:21):
Absolutely. This is not a how-to, we didn't talk legalities and setting up strict rules and things like that, but it's definitely more a example where you get to see the influence that next generation is now having on the Ellingson Angus program.

Mark McCully (00:02:39):
Yeah, absolutely. And it's fun. We get into talking cows and talking Angus genetics pretty quickly, and we got a little glimpse into it now of when the father's son, when it's time for making breeding decisions or deciding what goes in the donor pen, and I think they were very polite for us. Maybe at times I would think those discussions maybe get,

Miranda Reiman (00:03:06):
They didn't tell us who has the power of veto or they never did. When I asked if they arm wrestled, they didn't really answer the question. So if you see them,

Mark McCully (00:03:13):
Maybe they just agree on everything. I don't know. No, it was fun to hear back and forth.

Miranda Reiman (00:03:17):
Yeah, if you see 'em in person, you better ask, but I think that you're going to enjoy this episode. It's a little bit of reading philosophy as we talk. It's a little bit of sale day prep, it's a little bit of taking care of their customers, just kind of the whole gamut of things that Angus breeders are thinking about.

Mark McCully (00:03:35):
Absolutely. Take a listen.

Miranda Reiman (00:03:39):
So today on the podcast we have Chad and Stetson Ellingson, Chad and Julie Ellingson would've started Ellingson Angus back when they got married in 1995. That correct? Correct. That's merged their separate herds, merged 'em together. Have raised five children on the ranch up there in North Dakota and just came off a sale here in early February. So welcome to the program, and I guess I'll probably give you the floor and let you just give us your elevator speech here.

Mark McCully (00:04:09):
And we love these father-son teams because son can overrule father. So we like that Stetson. Don't let your dad push you around on this.

Stetson Ellingson (00:04:20):
Thanks for having us on.

Mark McCully (00:04:22):
You bet.

Chad Ellingson (00:04:23):
Yeah. We appreciate the invite to having Ellingson, Angus, Stetson and I part of your program tonight. Like you said, Julie and I started Ellingson Angus in 1995 when we merged a few registered cows each of us had at that time when we got married. We've grown the herd over the years actually to where we run about a thousand cows today. Part of those being commercial recipient cows. We have an annual production sale first Saturday of February each year where we market 350-plus bulls now. And like you said, we raise Angus cattle, but more than that, we're fortunate to raise five kids on the ranch here, brought them up and they are now a very integral part of our operation. Stetson, our oldest son, and Jameson, our second oldest son are on the ranch with us. Our third oldest is Sierra. She's married to Keenan Pierce.

(00:05:31):
Keenan is also part of the operation. Then our two daughters, Medora is in college and our youngest daughter, Sheridan is still in high school. So just a little bit about our program. Julie is very much a part of our operation, but also she is the executive vice president for the North Dakota Stockman's Association. She's worked in that capacity for a number of years, so she does, even if she's not here ranching with us, she's very much part of the beef industry promoting beef, lobbying at the state and national level. So that's a little bit of what we've got going on.

Miranda Reiman (00:06:19):
Did I see somewhere that she took on that leadership role while she was on maternity leave with your youngest kid?

Chad Ellingson (00:06:27):
So she actually started soon after we were married with the North Dakota Stockmans Association as the communications director. She did that for I think 13 years. And that is probably correct. When she did take on that, you're

Miranda Reiman (00:06:45):
Politely saying you don't know, aren't you? I'm catching you.

Stetson Ellingson (00:06:48):
2008.

Chad Ellingson (00:06:49):
2008. You're right. When our youngest Sheridan was born, she did take on that role and she's served as executive VP since then.

Miranda Reiman (00:06:58):
Yeah, just pointing out how awesome she is even though she wasn't able to join us because she's working and doing that.

Chad Ellingson (00:07:04):
Yeah, she had meetings this week. They had foundation meetings today and for the North Dakota Stockman's Foundation, so that's where she's at.

Stetson Ellingson (00:07:12):
She's the hardest worker of anybody here. By far and away.

Miranda Reiman (00:07:17):
That's why we invited him on, right, Chad?

Mark McCully (00:07:21):
Does a great job and I know as I see her and her leadership across the industry and just that work on the policy side, just advocacy side in general, she does a great job. So we're all indebted. Yeah,

Chad Ellingson (00:07:36):
She likes that. And she likes the beef industry is very dear to her heart fighting for the good of the industry.

Miranda Reiman (00:07:44):
So take us back earlier than the start of Ellingson Angus, I read that you guys had gotten, you met in high school, is that right?

Chad Ellingson (00:07:53):
Yes, we were high school sweethearts, but we actually met through FFA. That's what brought us together. I guess we are indebted to FFA and we like that organization. We continue to promote it. Stetson, both Julie and I were state FFA officers and did a lot on the national level too. And I have a lot of national friends still today in the beef industry in fact. And Stetson also was state FFA officer. So FFA has been a big part of our family's life through the years.

Miranda Reiman (00:08:30):
That kind of feels fitting. This won't run for a couple of weeks now, but we're recording it actually during national FFA week.

Chad Ellingson (00:08:39):
Exactly.

Miranda Reiman (00:08:40):
What I really want to know is how did you meet? Did she beat the pants of off you in livestock judging, or?

Chad Ellingson (00:08:47):
Well, we were pretty competitive and a lot of times she did beat me in livestock judging, but there was a few times that I did beat her. So she was a very competitive livestock judger.

Stetson Ellingson (00:09:00):
Think you guys were seated next to each other for delegates because just based off of alphabetical order with Mandan and Maddock.

Chad Ellingson (00:09:09):
Yeah. So that was our two hometowns and at state FFA convention, just how our town names were. We were in alphabetical order. We got to sit beside each other. So it was fate. I guess

Mark McCully (00:09:21):
If one of you had been from Bismarck, you wouldn't have ever met, maybe.

Chad Ellingson (00:09:25):
Exactly. Yeah.

Mark McCully (00:09:28):
Perfect. And Stetson, I got to meet you. The only time I've had a chance to visit your place, I think your dad was out and I got to jump in a side-by-side with you. And I tell you what, I was incredibly impressed your knowledge of the operation, the cows. It was, Chad, I don't know if you can give a better tour or not, but the bar was really, really high. So it's fun to have you on and watching you take over and do all of what you're doing there at the place too.

Stetson Ellingson (00:10:00):
Thank you. It's been an incredible opportunity. That was a few years ago. We'll have to have you back soon. I think you were out with Rod that day. I think that was right ahead in the fall, I think. Right ahead of the North Dakota Angus Association meeting. Yep.

Mark McCully (00:10:15):
Yep. Good memory. Good memory. So talk about your path back. Was there ever a question whether you were coming back? Was there ever a time where you thought, yeah, man, this is a lot of work?

Stetson Ellingson (00:10:27):
Oh, well, I mean, yeah, through the tribulations and trials of weather and the work that goes into it. Yeah, I mean seeing it firsthand growing up. I mean, it's not an easy lifestyle to pick, but it certainly was what my passion was. So I don't know if I ever questioned it, but yeah, here we are today and it just becomes more ingrained with you I think, each year. And it would really be hard to see myself doing anything else, so sure. Fortunate to be back here.

Mark McCully (00:11:01):
That's cool.

Chad Ellingson (00:11:02):
So yeah, you talked about tours and so forth, and Stetson is our main tour guide. I always tell anybody visiting here, if they got to go on a tour with me, they get second tier tour and Stetson does know the cows inside and out and for generations. So he is our best tour guide and takes a very much a passion in knowing and breeding these cattle here. And so he does give the best tours, Mark.

Mark McCully (00:11:34):
Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough.

Miranda Reiman (00:11:38):
So starting out, you guys were doing, building your cow herd, had full-time jobs too. You didn't start out full-time in the Angus business. Talk through a little bit of that transition from having it be something maybe you had to get done on nights and weekends to being full-time in it.

Chad Ellingson (00:11:53):
When Julie and I got married, I worked for, at that time it was called 21st Century Genetics AI Stud. And then in 1998, 21st Century genetics, they would've consolidated with a couple other AI cooperatives to form Genex. And at that time I was selected. And prior to that I had been doing a fair amount of work around the nation in the beef programs department. And at that time in 98, I was selected as a beef sire procurement manager for Genex in their newly merged company. So over the next 13 years or until 2010, not only did we run registered Angus cows, I traveled the nation and actually the world in that role as beef sire procurement manager for Genex and selecting and negotiating all the bulls and all the beef breeds that Genex would've marketed semen on at that time. So that gave me an excellent opportunity to work beside and learn from the best beef producers, not only in the nation but in the world because I would've spent time in not only United States and Canada and Mexico, also Argentina, quite a bit of time in Australia, Scotland New Zealand.

(00:13:27):
So that gave me an excellent opportunity to see the world and more importantly see some of the greatest beef programs in the world and learn from those guys. So yeah, during that time we would've been breeding Angus cattle and continued to kind of shape the program that we have come to develop today. Of course, not at the numbers we are today, but during that time we would've marketed a number of Angus bulls and then we would've marketed in conjunction for a number of years with a good friend of mine, Brent Thiel, that would've been very prominent in the Charolais business at that time and is now growing into one of the really good Angus producers. So then in 2010, we had our first annual production sale and have had an annual production sale since then. Of course, Julie, her roots would've been very deep in the Angus business. Her grandfather, of course, Julie is a Schaff and her grandfather would've started, Paul Schaff would've started in Angus business in 1944. And here today we still have many of those cows or cow families that would trace back to those original cows that her grandfather would've started with in 1944.

Mark McCully (00:14:52):
And I was just thinking as you were talking about all the perspective and all the places you got to travel and heard you, what a learning opportunity. Do you think it shaped or changed maybe what you thought the ideals were or the kind of cows you were kind of trying to make at the time? Or did it just refine it or how did that influence what you're doing today, you think?

Chad Ellingson (00:15:14):
Well, I think it gave me the opportunity to see a lot of different cattle in different environments. I mean, it gave me the perspective of, there's different needs and different types of cattle and in different climates, but it also really gave me a feeling of I needed to evaluate these cattle and it gave me a perspective of the kind of cattle that I thought would work best in our environment and for our bull customers here and some of the traits that we really needed to focus on specifically maternal traits, structural correctness, and getting cattle that will perform in an optimum growth curve. Cattle that have tremendous weaning and yearling performance because we sell to commercial clientele, which most, I guess most Angus seedstock producers do, but in our environment here in the Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska, where most of our clientele are, but also when I was in Australia, I learned from them that it was very important to look at structure. They 25 years, 20 years ago, feet were extremely important to the Australians. They still are today. And that ingrained in my mind that feet are very important to cattle. And I think that was really something that I took home and started really focusing on in our own herd, and I think it's paid off.

Miranda Reiman (00:16:44):
Why don't you describe a little bit the environment you're creating cattle for, what your ideal cow looks like?

Chad Ellingson (00:16:52):
OK, I'll let Stetson talk on that a little bit.

Stetson Ellingson (00:16:56):
Well, I think first comes down to, who are we selling bulls to? And I mean we're dealing with commercial family ranches that a lot of times they're running 500 to a thousand cows and I mean, with a really limited labor force. So they're cattle have got to be practical and need to go out and have some foraging ability and be fertile and wean a big calf and stay sound and have that optimal performance, that type of growth curve, explosive growth early on, but shut down and be a modest-sized mature animal. So just really focusing on cattle that have that look, but using all the tools with the genomics and our phenotypic performance tools and still using our cowboy sense and so forth to make it all mold into what we think is the right kind. That's really what we're trying to do, I guess. So to serve, to make the product, to serve the commercial bull customer, which the majority of our bulls here would stay in the Dakotas and Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska. So that's kind of what we're chasing.

Mark McCully (00:18:21):
You mentioned labor and we just did some this industry insights survey and still the number one thing we hear from commercial bull buyers, the breed of choice is dictated by calving ease. Talk about calving ease a little bit in your country with your customers. What's your bull customer looking for? Maybe kind of talk to your philosophy around calving ease, birth weight a little bit.

Stetson Ellingson (00:18:44):
Well, I mean I think first and foremost, I think we got to point out there's still a difference between calving ease and light birth weight. Just because an animal's light birth weight doesn't automatically make 'em calving ease and just because of animal's, high birth weight doesn't necessarily make 'em not calving ease. So what we're after here is cattle that probably do have some birth weight to 'em, tied with that high calving ease just because we think it's tied to caves that have more vigor and get up and go at birth and are probably or are coming closer to that due date, which we think with those cattle coming closer to term, have that vigor and are healthier and there's just less problems with those cattle. So the majority of who we'd market bulls to, those guys are wanting two to four pound birth weight bulls, but are also really selecting on high maternal calving ease because those cows are calving out and about and I mean they're not watched at all, so they're having to do it on their own.

(00:19:57):
So yeah, I guess we don't chase the extremes of extreme light birth weight, but try to shoot for that optimum range because we think those cattle from a phenotypic standpoint probably are built more structurally correct if they have that little extra birth weight. And we don't make some calving ease bulls here to satisfy some needs of customers needing to breed heifers, but the majority of who we'd market bulls to, they're coming here to buy power bulls and bulls to cover their cows, and they don't want negative birth weight bulls to breed their cows to because they know they're just sacrificing performance at weaning.

Miranda Reiman (00:20:39):
What I'm hearing is if they're unlucky enough to get born into a North Dakota winter, you want to give them the best chance of surviving. Is that what I heard?

Stetson Ellingson (00:20:46):
They're disappointed if they go out and find a calf that's less than 80 pounds out of a cow. I mean those calves can handle a lot more weather and cold and yeah, I mean, they make life more enjoyable than trying to chase around a little rat of a calf.

Chad Ellingson (00:21:06):
We think really an 80 to 90 pound calf on a mature cow is probably ideal. Those cattle just have more substance to 'em to get up. They withstand the weather a bit more when guys are range calving, and the cow. I mean, we don't want a hundred pound calves, don't get us wrong. We're not chasing the high birth weight cattle. We think there's a mid range there.

Miranda Reiman (00:21:30):
We've already named the podcast that, now what are we going to do?

Chad Ellingson (00:21:32):
Exactly, but I think there's an optimum range, and we've had numerous commercial producers say, we don't need 60 pound calves on our mature cows. We're sacrificing performance, we're sacrificing calf health, everything that goes along with that. So on a mature cow, yeah, like Stetson said, we want to produce those calving ease bulls for the guys breeding virgin heifers. But the guys that are breeding mature cows, I mean the percentage of bulls we sell, there's a small percentage that are going to go on heifers and a majority of 'em are going on mature cows. So we don't need negative birth bulls to go on mature cows

Stetson Ellingson (00:22:17):
And ingraining in those bulls that they have the genetic potency to sire daughters that have strong maternal calving ease. So we're not siring just one calf crop that's got calving ease, but daughters that last a lifetime that have strong maternal calving ease and are really problem free.

Chad Ellingson (00:22:35):
We've looked at that fairly strong. We think maternal calving ease is a lot better number to be looking at than the calving ease because you're going to have multiple calves out of them daughters, you're only going to have one calf out of that bull. So they got to lay down and have calf every year without a problem for years to come. So that's what we want, to produce daughters out bulls that have high maternal calving ease.

Stetson Ellingson (00:23:01):
Then hopefully those two to four pound birth weight bulls will translate more pounds of calf at weaning time. And we think those cattle, we can achieve that greater performance, but keep the structural correctness in those cattle. We're not chasing extreme birth to yearling curve benders. We think those cattle are built more true and square to the ground and they got more base width and probably cover their track with more trueness. And they're cattle that got rib capacity and volume to withstand some tough times of the year when they got to get out and forage. And they're probably built more for a ranchers type of environment. So we've really tried to focus on that and the main thick of what bulls we're selling.

Mark McCully (00:24:00):
I appreciate you sharing that philosophy. I think that's really interesting and I think aligns with, even though we continue to hear, and I brought up that data because resoundingly, we see this data and it's calving ease, calving ease, I think at times maybe that sent a signal that we just got to keep going right? More, more. But I hear especially up in your country, okay, we maybe gone plenty. I mean, when you're calving in January and February in a North Dakota winter, all the things you talked about in terms of vigor and calf health and not to mention the dimensional things, all makes sense, I think tend to align with some other things. So I appreciate you sharing that. I know that's a really interesting perspective

Chad Ellingson (00:24:40):
And I think some of the data that you guys, some of the data that Angus came up with was a direct correlation to feedlot health. And I know I reviewed some of that data a couple of years ago that as you had extreme light birth weight calves, those cattle had more health problems in the feedlot stage of life and so forth. So I think there's a direct correlation. And Stetson also I think talked a little bit about this was, the calves that are more closer to their due date. I think there's more. I think them calves are healthier. You take cattle and you think even the humans,

Stetson Ellingson (00:25:25):
Stronger respiratory development.

Chad Ellingson (00:25:27):
The last things to develop is their lungs. So you get calves that are two weeks early, well all of a sudden you probably don't have that lung development and then you're going to have more respiratory problems. And even if it isn't at the ranch level, it's probably going to be at the feeder level or when them cattle get to be heavy and near finishing and then we see some respiratory problems.

Miranda Reiman (00:25:55):
So you talked a little bit earlier about all the data and the tools using phenotype and genotype, but walk me through how those decisions are made. You've talked about the kind of cattle you're trying to make, but how do you ensure you're making them or how do you, at what points in the decision making process and also, is it like a vote or does Stetson decide everything? I want to know all that

Chad Ellingson (00:26:17):
Well, I guess we kind of have some parameters. First, we need the cattle here to be structurally right, so we put a lot of emphasis on that.

Stetson Ellingson (00:26:28):
It's a team process here on which bulls we're using. And the two non-negotiables are, they got to be structurally correct and hopefully at an elite tier level. So we're mass producing to improve cattle. And then the other one is they got to be out of a great cow and after that we figure it out. But

Miranda Reiman (00:26:52):
Does that mean you arm wrestle?

Chad Ellingson (00:26:55):
Oh, I mean, we'll bounce stuff back and forth and whether it's bulls and go and evaluate 'em and so forth, but one of us usually gets the opportunity to go see the bulls, hopefully see the dams. That's very important to us. And we use all the tools. I mean, we just don't evaluate 'em from a phenotype aspect. There is so much data, the American Angus Association now from the genomic data to the performance data and the parentage, all that's extremely important. And we use every bit of it because why wouldn't you? Because it's there as a tool to use. So we put all that data together and try to come to some conclusion.

Stetson Ellingson (00:27:39):
I mean, just put a really high emphasis on obviously at points in time, we need to go out and find outcross bulls. That'll complement what we're doing here.

(00:27:49):
But really have put a strong emphasis on utilizing the bulls we're producing here because if we are trying to get our customers to entrust us with their bull battery, we sure should be utilizing them just as heavy or more. And we think we can utilize those bulls more appropriately. And every animal has a hole and it needs to be complemented appropriately. So we think we can utilize them and breed 'em to try to make a more consistent even product. And when we can tie some of them outcross bulls to some of the various superior cows here and then just mass produce that throughout the cow herd, we're hopefully breeding everything towards the middle, more and more every generation so we have less fallout and less outliers.

Speaker 5 (00:28:52):
Westway feed products, liquid feed supplements, increase forage utilization, delivering consistent nutrition to your herd, creating efficiency and sustainability for your operation. To learn more about the best way to raise beef, please call 800-800-7517 or visit westwayfeed.com.

Mark McCully (00:29:19):
How about proven sires versus younger underproven sires? Do you try to sample a few or what's your philosophy there as it relates to some younger unproven bulls, you let other people make those mistakes or do you venture in yourself?

Chad Ellingson (00:29:33):
We use, I mean we definitely use proven bulls, but the unproven bulls that we usually utilize are ones that we have raised. We know the background of those bulls and we probably, like Stetson said, there's a hole in every bull. If you think you've got a bull that there isn't a hole in, then I would challenge that idea because there's something probably a little bit negative about every animal that's out there. In those younger bulls. we think we know the background of them cattle, we can best utilize 'em in our program to maybe make less mistakes with those young bulls versus an outside bull that we don't know. The generations deep in 'em. And obviously we use bulls in a high degree here. And when I say that is we don't just kind of sample a bull. We kind of use 'em this spring. We'll get over 200 calves out of Ellingson Badlands.

(00:30:35):
So we dive into a bull, we entrust that. We hope we're doing the right thing and we have confidence in that. And when we use them, and we do that for a couple reasons. First of all, when bull customers come here to buy or purchase bulls, we give 'em the opportunity to select from a number of half brothers. Last year we had 130 sons of one bull, of Ellingson Profound in our bull sale offering.

Stetson Ellingson (00:31:09):
Beyond that, hopefully a lot of three quarters and then full brothers as well. But just with those commercial ranches I mean and everything comes back to hopefully serving those guys. And a lot of the guys we deal with, I mean they want to buy half, three quarter full brothers. So hopefully what we're doing here to build in that added degree of consistency and less outliers, hopefully when they go and select them brothers, they're building that into their program.

(00:31:39):
And so they're selling a more even set of feeder cattle and selling a more even set of replacement quality heifers.

Chad Ellingson (00:31:49):
We have a lot of guys that will come and buy, and they'll do that for a couple years. So they've got large sire groups of the same matings, and then they'll move on to different sire grouping and they build consistency like Stetson says. And we do market a lot of feeder cattle for our bull customers. We market a lot of replacement heifers, and when we market those, we want consistency. When we go to sort those cattle, we want a consistent group of steers to send to the feedlot. We want a consistent group of heifer calves or bread heifers that are, they're similar bred in they're like and kind because the guy received 'em on the other end. He likes a consistent set of cattle when he's receiving.

(00:32:41):
So I got a little bit off track there as far as the sires, but that's why we use a lot of the sire and

Stetson Ellingson (00:32:51):
Try to keep it pretty narrow on how many we use. We try not to get too out of bounds on using a lot of 'em, and it can be tempting at times to want to try a lot of things, but to try to stick with the ones we're going to use and then use a lot of 'em and use them on a lot of half sisters and I mean just make that hopefully consistent product out of 'em.

Mark McCully (00:33:16):
Well, it helps your customers manage their inbreeding too. I mean probably again, if you've got somebody choosing a sire group for a couple of years, I mean you can really probably give them some better counsel of finding some outcross genetics for their next round versus sometimes I think maybe at times we've got more inbreeding in our commercial herds and maybe what our commercial operators may recognize. And this probably allows you to really help them manage that.

Chad Ellingson (00:33:40):
Yeah, we have a lot of our commercial clientele now do kind of keep track of sire groupings. If they've got a lot of daughters out of a certain sire, I mean they keep track of those and then they breed them a different way the next as they move on to a new sire and so forth so that

Stetson Ellingson (00:34:00):
They can at least turn those half brothers at the bare minimum out in pasture so they know at least the original sire to keep it that focused. But yeah, so they did a pretty good job tracking that.

Mark McCully (00:34:15):
That's bulls. How about philosophy on donor calves? What makes it into the donor pen?

Stetson Ellingson (00:34:21):
Well, I guess I get to be the fortunate one to work with the cows a lot day to day I probably do more of that, of deciding what we're going to utilize there. It's got to be a combination of a lot of things. They got to be structurally sound, they got to have a strong maternal heritage that's proven behind them. Got to have the production record and the foot quality and the udder quality and look the part and have the flushing ability and all the bells and whistles that go along with it. But we try to stick with cows that have a pretty true proven track record. Now, I won't say we've never flushed a young cow, but when we do, it's a cow we feel very strongly about, because we've probably flushed her mother a lot and probably her grandmother and it's got some track record behind her already where if she's only got one or two calves, we got a fair degree of predictability because of her parents before.

(00:35:24):
And then the other tools with the genomics and so forth that we have at our disposal to make it, but we don't flush a ton of cows here, but we've really, really grown our ET program and nearly half the bulls we sell here every year are derived from embryo transfer. So circling back to hopefully creating that added degree of consistency for commercial guys, hopefully when we're invested in that, we can make those more of them full brothers, and we take them full sisters usually we'll mate all them the same way for it's really throughout their lifetime. So then on our natural native cow herd, all those flush sisters are really producing another added degree of full brothers and blood. So hopefully tying all the, I know I keep beating the dead horse, but making things more consistent.

Miranda Reiman (00:36:17):
What I'm hearing is you don't want to make a mistake.

Stetson Ellingson (00:36:19):
That's right. Because

Miranda Reiman (00:36:20):
Otherwise you've made it big time.

Chad Ellingson (00:36:22):
We want to make sure that we're making the right ones, and that's what we really focus on. Everybody can AI to the same bulls, but if we can mass multiply those very best cows and get a large percentage of our bull offering out of those, we think that's a real winner. And I probably don't enjoy too many things more than culling on cows. So I mean, every year when you can keep cutting the bottom end to hopefully drive the top ones forward, like my dad said, everybody can AI to the same bulls, and we think it's really important to use the best ones, but I think it's just as important to continue to cull the ones that aren't cutting it out. So hopefully we're driving the whole thing forward.

(00:37:13):
Right.

Miranda Reiman (00:37:14):
So we've talked a lot about making the right kind of cattle. I mean, that's really a driver in getting people to your bull sale, but we know that that's only part of the work and putting on a sale and getting people in the seats. And I guess since it's fresh on your mind, probably having the sale here just recently, and

Mark McCully (00:37:32):
Congratulations on your sale. My goodness, 357 bulls over a $12,000 average. I know that average was from a lot of herd bulls and herd bull prospects and things in there, but man, congratulations. What that was. Well-earned, successful day.

Chad Ellingson (00:37:50):
We feel really blessed and we've got a tremendous clientele to customers that are longtime customers that we feel very fortunate that they come back year after year and keep investing in our program and our success is only because of the great customer clientele that we have.

Miranda Reiman (00:38:09):
So walk us up to sale day. What's the average day as you're leading up to sale day? What's the stress level in the Ellingson family?

Mark McCully (00:38:20):
Couple of hours on the phone, those sorts?

Stetson Ellingson (00:38:22):
The stress level would be fairly high. Really, it starts the sale for next year. We've already started the time clock's already started now for 2025. But yeah

Chad Ellingson (00:38:38):
Stetson's, right, the time clock started, whether it be we're in the midst of calving cows now we're getting next year's bull or bulls on the ground for next year's bull sale. But beyond that, and more importantly or as important is working with our customers 365 days a year. I mean, two days after our bull sale happened, I was at Fort Pierce, South Dakota, helping our bull customers market feeder cattle. So it's a year round. We feel like we want to be part of their program 365 days a year. And we don't ask that they just come here and support us one day a year. We want to have a working relationship with them 365 days a year.

Stetson Ellingson (00:39:33):
So yeah, just getting, I mean, my dad would head up most of the feeder calf marketing and just commercial marketing in general when comes to replacement efforts and so forth. But between one of us or one of our other crew here, we try to get boots on the ground at a lot of the places we do business with each year and see what's working and probably more importantly, see what's not working. And a lot of times that's a huge driver in where we need to focus our breeding program off of.

Chad Ellingson (00:40:04):
Yeah, I mean like said since says we do or we do get boots on the ground at most of our customers' places, and you get to see firsthand what's working and what's not. Surprisingly enough, not everything works. I think all of us seedstock producers think once our bulls get beyond our ranch gate that everything's rosy, but it isn't always. And so we need to see that firsthand and a lot of our mating decisions based on what we're going to breed to and what kind of cattle we need to raise for our customers, those decisions are made because we put boots on the ground at our commercial clientele and we see which genetics are working, which aren't working for them, and it gives us a true perspective of what we need to do. And I thank our customers for that opportunity to see firsthand and learn from them because that's been a great benefit to us.

Mark McCully (00:41:15):
So what are they telling you, Chad as they're thinking about their operation and looking down the road. Are there things you see that, is there much changing? Is it a lot of the, still it's about the fundamentals, but are there some things changing that you're preparing for as you think about the genetics they're going to need down the road?

Chad Ellingson (00:41:37):
Well, I think we kind of talked a little bit about that, labor forces is scarce. We need cattle that kind of take care of themselves. These, like Stetson had said too, a lot of our customers are 500 plus, or they run 500 cows to a family operation now, and it's limited labor force. So one guy may be calving 500 cows by themselves, so they need cattle that'll lay down, have a calf get up and go on and don't take a lot of extra management. So some of the fundamentals of that is very important, but they also need cattle that have some performance. Obviously most of our commercial customers will sell their calves at weaning time or they might background them. And I think some extra performance is extremely important. We all sell pounds yet, especially as we are in the cattle cycle as we are today.

(00:42:38):
Cattle inventory is low. I think we're going to be making these cattle bigger. At the feedlot level, you're already seeing that. You're seeing a lot of cattle that we used to kill a lot of these cattle at 12, 1300 pounds. We're seeing a lot of 15 and 1600 pound cattle go up to the rail now. So I think these cattle that have that extra performance, these feedlots are wanting to feed them a little longer. Right or wrong, the packers are encouraging it. So these cattle have to have that extra grow in them, and pounds do pay. So from what I'm gathering from our commercial clientele, they want an easy-doing cow that's pretty light in maintenance, but then also produce a calf that that'll make 1500 pounds. We deal a lot with the feedlot, so it's definitely a balancing act. We need them cattle that have the correct growth curve to accelerate and have a bunch of performance, but still make a modest framed cow that'll survive and breed back every year.

(00:43:44):
So that's kind of what I'm seeing our customers want or need. And maybe it's a lot to ask, but I think the Angus breed did a tremendous job over the years as far as getting cattle that have that extra performance. But we're still the most efficient cow in the business. So it's a cow that is pretty maintenance free and they'll lay down and have a calf and have it every year and be profitable. So I feel very fortunate to be part of this breed.

Stetson Ellingson (00:44:15):
Yeah, I mean, these commercial guys, I mean, they need to run a lot of cows now to make a ranch and a living. And so I mean, a lot of it still comes down to the practicality, especially I think with probably more my generation now to make this thing appealing to come back to.

(00:44:34):
We can all be passionate about it, but we sure we question our passion when we got to deal with the problem. So cutting out the nursing calves or dealing with bad feet or poor fertility and just the things that make it not so fun just so we can make this deal more enjoyable each and every day, that's what it'll really come down to.

Chad Ellingson (00:44:57):
Yeah, I think Stetson hit it on the head there. I mean, there's no need to ever fool with a calf because a cow is got a pour udder. I mean, that's just uncalled for. No commercial or registered person should ever have to do that in their lifetime. There's too many good udder quality cattle out there, and people just don't have the time for that or deal with bad footed cattle. I mean, bad footed cattle or cattle that turn into poor performance cattle, they turn into cattle that don't breed back. And so all those basic traits are, I think first and foremost,

Stetson Ellingson (00:45:38):
It adds up to make it an enjoyable lifestyle to have.

Chad Ellingson (00:45:43):
And you need cattle that'll work on their own and not have a lot of extra care.

Mark McCully (00:45:49):
That survey I referenced, I think disposition's now made it up to third, and it just seems like over the years, it just keeps working its way up the list and the rank, but it speaks to labor, it speaks to time. It just speaks to, you don't need it. Right?

Stetson Ellingson (00:46:05):
There's always a better one to replace 'em with.

Miranda Reiman (00:46:07):
And we heard cattle feeders tell us that too, which was a little bit, I mean, I guess it shouldn't be surprising, but it was surprising to me that they mentioned that that's something the Angus breed could work on. And I thought if cattle feeders are paying attention to it, you know?

Chad Ellingson (00:46:20):
Right, well, there's no need to get run over by a cow, I guess. Yeah. Yeah.

Miranda Reiman (00:46:25):
So Mark asked you kind of looking at the future, what's changed? I want you to go back in time a little bit here. You told me 2010 was your first sale, is that right?

Chad Ellingson (00:46:35):
Yes. Well, our first sale on our own. So prior to that, for nine years, we did market our Angus Bulls in conjunction with Lindskov Thiel, Brent Thiel and Les Linskov, of course, they were predominantly Charolais breeders at that time, had a small offering at Angus and have increased their Angus offering since then. So in 2010 though, we had our first bull sale and we had 115 bulls in that sale.

Miranda Reiman (00:47:08):
So I guess I'm doing the math backwards here, and that you had, Julie had been in a role two years, so you probably had a 2-year-old and I dunno, five kids, what? 12 and under maybe at the time. I don't know. Everybody's birthdays

Chad Ellingson (00:47:24):
Here. You're spot on. Yep.

Miranda Reiman (00:47:25):
Yeah. And you just quit your full-time role to be back on the farm. So take us back to how you decided, hey, now's the time that we think we can make this work. And also how you managed a sale with all those little kids running around all the, I mean, I bet it feels a lot less chaotic now. Am I assuming that correctly?

Stetson Ellingson (00:47:47):
It's more chaotic

Chad Ellingson (00:47:48):
I think it's more chaotic.

(00:47:51):
At least we could corral 'em at, the kids at that time. We can't corral them if they're adults. No, we'd grown our cow herd to where we thought we had enough cattle at that time to support a bull sale. We'd kind of fine tuned it to where we thought we had the right cattle at that time that we could kind of venture off on our own. And I was, to tell you the truth, I was kind of getting tired of the road and the miles and the airplane miles that I was making, I'd been on the road

Miranda Reiman (00:48:23):
Speaking of those little kids at home. Right,

Chad Ellingson (00:48:25):
Exactly. I'd been on the road pretty aggressively for a dozen years or more. And so I was kind of ready to just be a rancher. So in the 2011, and I did give up my full-time career at Genex, and which was a tough decision. I very much valued the people I worked with and the ranchers across the world that I had the opportunity to become very good friends with. So that was a tough decision, but I knew our passion always was to be an Angus business, or over the years, we decided we'd try to grow our herd to be of enough size so we could make it on our own. So I guess we just ventured off on our own, and I guess it's kind of worked,

Miranda Reiman (00:49:16):
Jumped in, Stetson, do you remember that first sale?

Stetson Ellingson (00:49:19):
Oh yeah. Very well. I remember cleaning bulls for it. I remember being the guy that had to clean the hocks on 'em in the back of the chute. It was a dirty job.

Miranda Reiman (00:49:31):
Yeah, you were already good help by then. Yeah,

Chad Ellingson (00:49:32):
Stetson actually, our two oldest, probably our three oldest kids, Jameson, Stetson, and Sierra, they would travel with me a little bit, even in my Genex years. So I know Stetson got to be friends with a lot of Angus breeders. In fact, Clarence Van Dyke was, he kind of took Stetson under his wing, and he thought Clarence thought Stetson was his little buddy for a number of years. So Stetson had the opportunity to meet a lot of longtime established Angus breeders that actually aren't even with us today. But he had the opportunity to step foot on a lot of those ranches. And I think that was not only a good opportunity for me to get to know those guys, but also my children.

Stetson Ellingson (00:50:21):
You bet. There's a lot of fond memories of that. So I remember with, even in the days we marketed our bulls with Brent Thiel, I mean, that was a really highlight of my year because a lot of times the sale day would fall on my birthday. It was like the best ever to get to go there Friday afternoon to get out of school early and get to go there for the bull sale.

Miranda Reiman (00:50:50):
And all your friends gathered for the party.

Chad Ellingson (00:50:52):
Yeah, he thought everybody was coming there for his birthday and not the bull sale.

Miranda Reiman (00:50:58):
So did you ever think that in, I mean, really less than a decade and a half, that probably about a decade's time that you would have the ability to bring not just one kiddo back to the ranch, but several of them back to the ranch?

Chad Ellingson (00:51:13):
Well, I mean, it was always Julie and my passion was to have our kids involved with agriculture or whatever they chose to be. I mean, obviously our families are both ingrained in agriculture, and so we had a strong feeling towards agriculture. But we have been fortunate that their passion has also fell into agriculture, and we've been able to grow our operation to allow them to come back here and be part of carrying on a multigeneration ranch here. So hopefully they feel as strong about it as we are happy about them being part of our operation.

Stetson Ellingson (00:51:58):
I mean, we've been fortunate, like my brother and I, and now my brother-in-law, being here with our parents, I mean, they've given us a lot of opportunities to head up a lot of the management decisions here. I mean, my dad's on the road a lot of days with customer relations stuff and so forth.

(00:52:16):
So he's turned the reins over a lot of that stuff to us. And probably initially we maybe weren't the best option to be in charge of that, but afforded us those learning experiences at the expense of their pocketbook. So I think they had the foresight to see that if they turned that over to us, some of those major decisions that we'd learn in quick order, how things probably ought to be done if we were the ones making those decisions. So good thing we didn't have to pay for a lot of them.

Chad Ellingson (00:53:01):
No, they did good. All three of our older kids that are very much part of our operation, like Stetson says, we've allowed them to take on their own roles. Stetson very much is involved on the cow side of the management there. Our second oldest Jameson, he's very involved with the agricultural side and the feed side of the operation. And also Jameson does a lot of, with our commercial customer feeder calf marketing program. He helps me on that some. And then our son-in-law now Keenan, he's kind of the day-to-day on the bull and heifer development, kind of heads up most of that. So I mean, we think that it's very important for them to turn over some of those decisions to them if they want to be part of it and move forward with it. They need to be part of the management decisions, also

Mark McCully (00:54:03):
I just say, good for you guys for doing that, because I have watched, and I think we've all are aware of some of those where that handoff hasn't come as early as it needed to or a little bit of resistance. And pretty soon you lose that generation as, you know, what if I'm just going to be the hired man for another 30 years? And so what you're doing I think is a great model, and it's a great example candidly of I think how we all talk about making sure this next generation is excited about this industry, is getting into this industry. Well, the way we do that is, I think doing what you're doing and the opportunity you're putting in front of 'em and letting them learn, which learning means making some mistakes occasionally, but taking ownership and having responsibility for big decisions. Right? So that's cool. And thanks that, like I said, I think it's just a fantastic model of what you guys are doing.

Chad Ellingson (00:55:00):
Well, luckily it is worked out pretty well for us, and we feel fortunate that they have the passion to move on with, at the beginning of our bull sale, I introduced all of our family, and I said, as you can see that the next generation's very passionate about being in the registered Angus business. It's just Julie's and my hope now that we don't screw it up for them. So that's our goal now. And they're off and running. Julie and I are very much still part of the operation with them, but we want to give them some of the rein to make those decisions to have a vested interest in what we're doing here.

Miranda Reiman (00:55:43):
Stetson, what was the scariest thing to have him hand over to you? Or what was the thing that you were like, are you sure, Dad?

Stetson Ellingson (00:55:51):
Oh, I probably maybe forced his hand a little bit sometimes.

Miranda Reiman (00:55:56):
So you were always sure

Mark McCully (00:55:57):
You handed it off, you took it from him.

Miranda Reiman (00:56:00):
You didn't know it was scary until you'd made the mistake. Is that what you're saying?

Stetson Ellingson (00:56:03):
Yeah, probably. That's probably the best way to, oh, I mean, yeah, there's a lot of things. I mean, the best learning tool is still, I think, screwing it up so you can see firsthand how it probably ought to be done right next time. That's one thing I try to always follow through on. If I, hopefully I'll screw it up once, but hopefully not do it a second time. And I've made some pretty big mistakes and like I said, good thing I didn't have to pay for a lot of them or any of them.

Miranda Reiman (00:56:34):
I heard you say expenses, and I thought probably your dad looks at as an investment, right?

Stetson Ellingson (00:56:39):
Yeah, true.

Chad Ellingson (00:56:40):
That's right.

Mark McCully (00:56:41):
R&D.

Miranda Reiman (00:56:44):
So as you guys look ahead to the future, what worries you? What keeps you up at night?

Chad Ellingson (00:56:49):
As we look at the protein industry and so forth and all the competition that meat has out there, beef is still by far the most nutritious and the highest quality, highest quality eating experience there is. But obviously we've got a lot of outside interests that are trying to knock us out at the knees, whether it be substituting meat production, beef production, or just trying to eliminate animal agriculture. So a lot of those things are probably what worries me more than actually raising Angus cattle. And as we raise Angus cattle, there's also things we need to be very aware of from gene altering and some of those things of how that'll come to play out in the registered seedstock business. As new technologies evolve, we're going to have to take hold and see how we evolve with them in the registered business. And so there's a lot of things that we need to be thinking about. It's not just old cattle breeding as normal. There's new things on the horizon that are going to change our industry. And so those are some of the things that come top of mind to me. I don't know what Stetson's top of mind things are.

Stetson Ellingson (00:58:23):
Yeah, I mean, just kind of piggybacking on what he said. I mean, just keeping the beef industry competitive and keeping our product affordable to consumers, so we've got a sustainable lifestyle.

Mark McCully (00:58:41):
How about what excites you the most?

Stetson Ellingson (00:58:44):
I really get geared up on just continuing to fine tune our cow herd here and trying to meet the challenge of making a better calf crop each and every year. And like we talked about earlier, I love culling off bottom end cows to try to keep that rising, keep the tide rise, and just the challenge of that to continue to do it year in and year out. The fine tuning of it really gets me excited.

Chad Ellingson (00:59:16):
 I would say that I'm excited about our cow herd here, as Stetson has alluded to, that we want to continue to raise the most consistent calf crop more and more each year. I mean, everybody always says, this is the best calf crop I've ever had. And hopefully it is because you try to strive to improve yourselves year in and year out. And like Stetson had visited about is use the best genetics in the world, but also cull the bottom end because you raise your average by doing both.

(00:59:54):
I mean, there's always something that can be culled off the bottom that you never have to replicate again, and you want to also utilize the best genetics and make the best mating decisions. So your average calf is better each year. So that's what I'm most excited about. It's a good time to be in the beef industry as far as a place to raise a family. You couldn't get a better place than on a ranch, and we've been able to do that. So it's great times, I guess is what, the future looks bright. I like the business that we're in. I like the Angus business, and the cattle industry as a whole is exciting.

Miranda Reiman (01:00:42):
Love that. And we definitely want to be respectful of your time knowing that Stetson came right in from working cattle and we

Mark McCully (01:00:51):
Make sure chores are done, yeah.

Miranda Reiman (01:00:52):
Yeah. Go clean up or grab supper or anything like that. But is there anything that we haven't touched on that you guys hoped we would talk about?

Stetson Ellingson (01:01:01):
I mean, just wanted to show our appreciation to the American Angus Association for all the good work you guys do and the leadership that you guys bring. We rely heavily on you guys and what you're doing, and you've really given us many of the tools and opportunities to fine tune the breeding of what we're doing here and hopefully measuring cattle more accurately and just providing an added degree of predictability for what we need here to serve commercial guys. So just wanted to show our appreciation to you guys and couldn't be more thankful for the work you guys do.

Chad Ellingson (01:01:46):
The Angus breed is a great breed. I mean, it's a breed that we've got a lot of diversity in the breed, which I think is good. There's different kinds of breeders, there's different goals of breeders, and I applaud 'em all. I think we try to focus on a certain kind and type of cattle that we raise here.

(01:02:05):
We put a lot of emphasis on what we think we need to raise to make our commercial bull customers profitable, but in different parts of the country or different management areas, it may take a different kind of animal. And I applaud that diversity within our breed and the diversity of breeders. And I think there's a lot of forward thinkers, no matter what their goals are or the type of cattle that they're raising, I will never put anybody down for raising a different kind of cattle. Everybody's got a different thing in mind and lots of independent thought, a lot of independent thought that we're very fortunate to be part of a breed that has that diversity and can provide a number of different kinds of cattle for a number of different environments and a number of different management situations. So like Stetson said, we're just happy to be part of the Angus breed and what the breed is doing as a whole for the beef cattle industry.

Mark McCully (01:03:09):
I concur wholeheartedly. I think that diversity in the breed is, I always say we're 80% of the gene pool in the beef industry today, and I think we'd all like to make that a bigger number, and with that kind of contribution, we better have diversity, right? And I think at times on social media and such, we spend a little too much time back and forth of critiquing the other rather than let's just get really good at raising the kind that worked for you, worked for your market, worked for your environment, your customer, and man, I think that is a huge, huge strength of the breed right now and excited about where that's going to continue to go. So

Chad Ellingson (01:03:52):
I echo that. Yeah, I would echo that. And I mean, I think some of the great breeders that I've ever known have, they would breed a different kind of cattle than I would prefer to have in our operation here that serve our clientele. But I respect 'em very much because, because they've got a goal in mind and they're breeders and they keep that goal focused and they breed those cattle. And I think no matter what kind of cattle you're breeding or what kind or type, if you've got a certain goal in mind at the end of the day and you continually breed for that type in kind, whether you're chasing the extreme performance or chasing the maternal or a balanced trait effect, if you've got that kind and type in mind, you need to be a respected breeder for doing that.

Mark McCully (01:04:42):
Amen.

Miranda Reiman (01:04:43):
Well, we always end on a random question of the week. So given that it's sales season and we just came off your sale, I want to know what your favorite moment of sale day is.

Chad Ellingson (01:04:55):
Well, probably my favorite moment is that when we got through the whole day and it was a relief just to be done. And I mean, it is always refreshing to see customers in the seats that you've seen for years and have that opportunity to market to them. But as you talked about prior, the stress level is high on sale week, and it is always a relief to be done with that sale week or that sale day. And there's a lot of very sleepless nights that go into to pulling off a sale. So just having it all wrapped up is always a relief.

Miranda Reiman (01:05:39):
So when you're clicking off the sale barn lights or maybe when you're pulling off your boots headed in the house

Chad Ellingson (01:05:43):
Exactly. I guess I'll see what Stetson says. I think sale night, obviously we have a lot that goes into sale day, so we spend some pretty late hours here through the week and field a lot of calls. And I left here, our office here at 2:30 in the morning on the night before our sale. And I came back here a little after six in the morning and Stetson was pulling in at the same time up to our sale barn office here. And I said, looks like you might've not got a whole lot of sleep. And I think he'd only left here for an hour, so he had a lot less sleep than I did actually.

Stetson Ellingson (01:06:26):
There's a lot of things that I think are really enjoyable about that day. I mean, really, like we talked about before, it's a whole gamut leading up.

(01:06:38):
I mean, really for months on end, I mean, I'm fortunate to put a lot of my focus towards getting ready, the preparations of the sale and so forth. But probably the thing, and maybe this isn't specifically sale day, but it does come into sale day to a certain degree, but maybe more so the weeks and so forth leading up to it. I really enjoy visiting with people and helping 'em probably narrow their selection needs for bulls and so forth. And that's probably the thing that I probably get the most enjoyment and satisfaction out of. And then once we get through the sale and so forth, seeing that, that's where those bulls landed and got to the right homes. And so hopefully we're directing those guys in the right direction to set 'em up for the most success.

Miranda Reiman (01:07:30):
I love to hear that. When I talk to breeders, sometimes they'll tell me it's after. Well, sometimes they'll say after they get done with their comments, I found universally, most people don't like to have to worry about that speech, but sometimes it's like after the first one sells, they can breathe. And some people say their favorite moment is when they pull up first thing in the morning and it's kind of the quiet, everything's ready. And then some people say at the end of the day, so it kind of tells me you guys are maybe a little more analytical. You like to wait until it's over, and then well, thank you so much for taking the time to visit with us and taking time out of your chores and getting you guys both probably in the same place at the same time doesn't happen all that often, either.

Chad Ellingson (01:08:10):
No, it worked out good, so we appreciate it.

Mark McCully (01:08:14):
Stetson, you complimented us and thanked us. I tell you, your passion and excitement for this breed and this industry, that's what makes us get up and get better. So thank you for, not that we're not paying attention to you too, Chad, but seeing your passion for this. And again, that turns our crank, so thank you for that. And we'll keep working hard and trying to get better.

Stetson Ellingson (01:08:42):
Thank you. We really appreciate it.

Mark McCully (01:08:43):
Thanks for joining us here tonight, guys.

Chad Ellingson (01:08:45):
Thank you guys.

Stetson Ellingson (01:08:46):
Thank you.

Miranda Reiman (01:08:47):
And thank you for listening, and also thanks for your feedback. We really appreciate that when we're out and about or when you text or email us, we do this podcast for you. So we love to hear what you guys are enjoying and what you want to hear more of. For your daily dose of Angus news, go sign up for AJ Daily at angusjournal.net. In the meantime, this has been the Angus Conversation, an Angus Journal podcast.