The Gamble that Worked: David and Carol Medeiros Share the Rancho Casino Story

HOSTS: Miranda Reiman and Mark McCully  

GUESTS: David and Carol Medeiros 

Starting out as first-generation Angus breeders wasn’t easy, but David and Carol Medeiros were determined to make it work. In the tough agriculture climate of the 1980s, they balanced off-farm jobs, raising kids and managing cattle near Denair, Calif. With teamwork and hard work, they grew their operation and partnered with the Dal Porto family to launch an annual production sale — now the second-longest running Angus sale in California. 

While their vision of the ideal cow has remained steady, their business has evolved, including the expansion to a ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills. In this episode, David and Carol share their story and how they’re now helping the next generation of Angus families build dreams of their own. 

GUESTS: David and Carol Medeiros own and operate Rancho Casino, in both Denair, Calif., and Purdum, Neb. They both grew up in the agriculture business, and the Angus herd began with David’s first 4-H heifers that he showed during high school.  

David earned and Carol both earned degrees from Cal Poly State University, where they made connections that helped them in their career. Carol is a certified public accountant and was a partner in her own firm until they sold it a few years ago.  

The pair raised three children on the ranch in California, and now split their time between the home location there and the ranch they acquired several years ago in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Their goal remains to raise maternal, high -fertility, low -birthweight cattle that get “better every year.”  

SPONSOR: Ready to see how Vermeer can help you get more done in a day? Visit Vermeer.com/angus to learn more and find your local dealer.  

 RELATED CONTENT: Common Goals, Uncommon Success  

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Transcript

Miranda Reiman (00:00:02):

Welcome to the Angus Conversation. I'm your host Miranda Reiman with my co-host, Mark McCully, CEO of the American Angus Association. And Mark, we're doing it just a little bit different for a couple of episodes now. I'm under a little bit of a deadline here and

Mark McCully (00:00:18):

A little bit,

Miranda Reiman (00:00:19):

Yeah, baby number seven is on the way, so we're pushing these just a little bit earlier than we normally would schedule them in advance, but you've also had kind of a,

Mark McCully (00:00:30):

Maybe we should record one from the maternity ward or something. That would be fun.

Miranda Reiman (00:00:34):

I don't think you'd get the same audio quality.

Mark McCully (00:00:37):

Oh, okay. Okay.

Miranda Reiman (00:00:39):

But I also think it's been to get on your schedules a little bit of a challenge too. You've been traveling and one place that you are right now is in Rochester, Minnesota, at the Feeding Quality Forum.

Mark McCully (00:00:50):

Yeah, the Certified Angus Beef Feeding Quality Forum. Gosh, I don't know how many years now this has been going on. Miranda, you and I would've probably been around for the very first one. Yes,

Miranda Reiman (00:01:00):

Yes

Mark McCully (00:01:00):

Has been, I think the idea back, gosh, 15, 18 years ago, whenever these started, was a feedlot focused set of meetings that were truly focused on quality and that at the time was maybe something a little bit unique and different, and these meetings have evolved and grown over the years. We've got a great attendance here, move these meetings. We have one a year and it moves around a little bit up in Rochester, Minnesota, so a part of the country that we haven't had and hosted one of these, ever. So a little different crowd and yet we've got folks from Texas here and Kansas and folks that have traveled in and so no, it's a great program. Again, an agenda with a lot of focus. I know it'll be covered heavily in the Angus Beef Bulletin and encourage folks to go over there. I think this evening one of the things that has become special about this meeting is the recognition of an industry leader through the Industry Achievement Award and this year,

Miranda Reiman (00:02:04):

One of my favorite parts of it, by the way, because you get to learn so much cool history about mean, how much progress we've made in the business. It really is fun.

Mark McCully (00:02:12):

It is fun, and this will be a fun one tonight, Dr. Gary Smith. So probably someone that doesn't need a lot of introduction across our industry as a meat scientist, truly one of the leading minds and influences in beef quality and the meat industry, gosh, for forever. And so to recognize Dr. Smith tonight will be an awful lot of fun and the program is really loaded with some great topics. We'll be talking about things that while this program was originally designed for cattle feeders, what we found is we have quite a few cow calf folks, commercial and registered folks that come as well. So it's kind of evolved even a little bit. We'll have some discussions tomorrow about how do we balance this cow and the carcass, right? Kind of an ongoing discussion that we're having across an industry, but also talking about some of the things going on even in research. Kelli will give an update on the bovine congestive heart failure research that Angus has been leading and through AGI and so great agenda. Again, stay tuned to Angus Beef Bulletin, catch all the highlights. If you weren't able to be here in person,

Miranda Reiman (00:03:26):

Which is what I will be doing, I am very sad to miss it. I think the very first event, either the first or the second event when it was out in North Platte, I had a six month old at the time and that was when I was moving to Cozad. So it's been a long history that I've been headed to them. One thing that I am sad to miss is Dan Basse always gives his real big picture update for the year. So I know that this will be a month past that and sometimes you know how market predictions can go, but I want to know what was his big message for cattle producers?

Mark McCully (00:04:00):

Well, Dan Basse from Ag Resource Company, he would be very bullish for the cattle producers. We're all smiling of course. I think he's got a very bullish forecast on where the cattle industry is going and at the same time where feed costs are going to be, his projections around our feed grains that we're going to have pretty cheap feed and pretty expensive cattle. So most of the folks in the room were smiling pretty big depending on how big of farmers they were. If they were more grain farmers than cattle producers, they were probably not as thrilled with his message. But he thinks and works in a very global as the markets are in a global way. So he's always very good at connecting all these geopolitical and global events and of course discussions around tariffs and how does that impact trade from not just for the US but other countries that then have been exporting maybe beans to us now that are going to go someplace else and what's the ripple effect? So it was very always a very enlightening discussion and pretty high level. You got to sit on the edge of your seat to hang with Dan. He runs pretty fast and has a lot of information to share.

Miranda Reiman (00:05:19):

Yeah, I think he sometimes does like 55 slides in 45 minutes or something like that.

Mark McCully (00:05:24):

It's rapid fire. I started trying to write notes, so it's like, no, just pull my phone out and take pictures of slides. Not enough time to write notes.

Miranda Reiman (00:05:31):

Absolutely. Well, I think when you talk about being bullish on the cattle business, that is something that Dan would share with our guests today who have had a long time career in the Angus business as first generation Angus breeders and just do a great job of sharing both their optimism and their, I guess can-do attitude of what got them from just starting out to where they're today.

Mark McCully (00:05:59):

Yeah. Yeah. David and Carol Medeiros, of Rancho Casino. Probably most know them best out of California, but as they share and have shared their story here, making a move and a transition to a place in Nebraska as well, and they talk about some of the unique challenges of how you make a move like that and the differences between and the similarities of course between running a registered Angus outfit in California and Nebraska and first generation folks that have had a lot of success. And so again, we've got a great story to tell

Miranda Reiman (00:06:37):

Today we have David and Carol Medeiros from Rancho Casino in both, do I say both Denair, California, and also in Purdum, Nebraska, or do you claim one or the other?

David Medeiros (00:06:49):

Right now we're still claiming both

Miranda Reiman (00:06:53):

Very good. So we've got 'em at their Nebraska location today. We understand just straight in from the hayfield.

David Medeiros (00:06:59):

Yes. And weeds, mowing weeds.

Miranda Reiman (00:07:02):

That's a

David Medeiros (00:07:03):

Range here, but the weeds get really good, so we're cleaning up.

Mark McCully (00:07:08):

And you're in Nebraska right now, correct?

David Medeiros (00:07:11):

Yes, yes. We're in Nebraska right now, and so we had a nice storm last night, a little more rain, but it's a nice 95 degrees and a little muggy today, so air-conditioned tractor,

Miranda Reiman (00:07:21):

That rain will bring both the weeds and the bugs too.

David Medeiros (00:07:25):

Yeah, it hasn't been a big, bad bug year, but first drive we were in May and the way all the country looks, it's been a really nice summer. Good.

Miranda Reiman (00:07:33):

Very good. Well, we'll let you tell a little bit of your own story, but of course CAB Commitment to Excellence award winners sometime back, and

Mark McCully (00:07:41):

I think I first met you guys during the National Angus Carcass Challenge that Certified Angus Beef hosted. Would that be correct? You guys were doing some work feeding some cattle in Nebraska with the Beller family, and that would've been a few years ago.

David Medeiros (00:07:57):

Yes. We had dinner in Denver, I think, and when they had, well, they had the awards at the stock show the first time Thomas family in Idaho. We bought bulls from us a lot, started feeding at Terry's and they won the heifer division or a couple of divisions or whatever for a couple years in a row. So yeah, that's how we got to know them and got to know the Bellers. Yes.

Mark McCully (00:08:19):

Yeah. That was a fun contest. It was, gosh, now I am going to date myself 15, 20 years ago maybe now, but really it was a neat time at Certified Angus Beef highlighting some folks that, it's funny you look back on some of those contest winners at the time, and they were probably, I don't know what those heifers did, maybe you might remember probably 35, 40% Certified Angus Beef and they were probably 10% Prime and they were winning the contest. Maybe they were a little

Miranda Reiman (00:08:47):

People thought that was almost an impossible level of grading at that point,

David Medeiros (00:08:51):

Right? I think that's right where they were at, and I mean, they were a hundred percent Prime and they were, I mean, a hundred percent Choice, excuse me. But yeah, that's where those cattle did.

Mark McCully (00:09:02):

Yeah, we've made some progress now. That's what we run every week as a national average anymore. Isn't that crazy?

David Medeiros (00:09:09):

Yeah, that's true. It's pretty nice to see.

Mark McCully (00:09:11):

Yeah, and then I would've also seen you guys most recently back in May in Australia, you guys also attended the World Angus Forum and had a good trip there. I suspect that was a fun trip for you guys.

Carol Medeiros (00:09:26):

It was absolutely wonderful, wonderful hospitality. Actually got to meet new people from the United States as well. There's something to be said for hanging out on nice buses, driving from one place to another. You visit with people and we met very nice people and the hospitality was second to none. The Australians were so welcoming and it was nice. It was fall there, so it was very nice to be there as well.

Miranda Reiman (00:09:55):

Kind of the ultimate road trip,

Carol Medeiros (00:09:58):

Right. It was.

David Medeiros (00:09:59):

Yeah, it was a really nice time. We saw a lot of good cattle, really good operations and nice country. I was very impressed, very impressed.

Mark McCully (00:10:08):

We have some Australian listeners, so I know we've thrown a lot of kudos their way they put on a first class event and that was, yeah, it was a lot of very impressive operations. Also fun to see some U.S. Angus influence across many of the herds there and how they're using some of our genetics and yeah, great event all the way around for sure.

David Medeiros (00:10:31):

Oh yeah, it was, I thought we might find a complete outcross Australian bull that I really liked. There was an Angus bull back in there somewhere, usually up close every time we found 'em, the ones we really liked. So yeah, they're using a lot of our genetics is working there.

Miranda Reiman (00:10:47):

Nice to see him in action in another continent then too.

Carol Medeiros (00:10:51):

Oh yeah.

Miranda Reiman (00:10:51):

So maybe we'll just jump right to the beginning here and you guys can tell us a little bit of your story, and I think I heard you quoted in one of the videos that you did through Angus Media with Cate on our team that you said something like, "Back then we were just three kids and 40 cows." So how do you go from three little kids and 40 cows to what you guys have got today?

David Medeiros (00:11:14):

Well, the whole thing started. My folks sold their dairy when we were young and my brothers and I bought ... Angus heifers, showed, and did that, and that's what got us interested. The three kids and 40 head, was because that was the mid eighties and things weren't great in ag, high interest rates, so we basically started all over. It was two kids and a

Carol Medeiros (00:11:38):

Baby on the way

David Medeiros (00:11:39):

A eight-month pregnant wife. But yeah, so to make it work, it just took both of us working. We rented ground, we ran cattle for other people, had help from friends, clip cattle, did whatever it took. Carol basically went to work instead of part-time once Danielle got old enough and just stayed after it. Fortunately, it worked out because six or seven years later we partnered with David Dal Porto and we had our first bull sale, so we managed to turn it around somewhat anyway, fairly rapidly,

Carol Medeiros (00:12:14):

But it did take 20 years before we actually purchased that ranch because we saved as much as we could as time went on, it was a slow process, but we got this ranch that actually is the one we purchased a year and a half after that happened, and that's where we've been ever since. And so we just kept going and kept believing and we weren't going to be able to find anything else close around. So we decided to stay the course and keep going and just keep saving money, and thank heavens, the landlady lived in 93, so we had saved up enough by the time she passed away. So then it was a big stretch even then, but we had saved enough, pretty scary, the attorney, because the relatives were all fighting, put it to seal bid, so we had to go to the banker, knew the appraiser. We had to do our very best to do the best we could and we made it so we're very grateful that all worked out and my business was in Turlock, so we would've had to move two hours away to find anything comparable. So it worked out. We felt very, very grateful when that all worked. So

Miranda Reiman (00:13:36):

Holy smokes. Do you guys ever think about what would've happened if it went the other way? What have you...?

Carol Medeiros (00:13:42):

Nope. Never looked back. It was 20 years.

Miranda Reiman (00:13:44):

That's really wise.

Carol Medeiros (00:13:46):

That's where we'd always had the bull sales, so it was really a rundown place that we worked hard in those years to clean up, but that's where the bull sale has been held, including this year at the 34th year, we still have it there a big great big old hay barn that now has a new roof. It got blown off twice, and so we keep on going and it's nostalgia at this point. I don't think we'd like to think about doing it in a different place right now, so it's worked out well.

Mark McCully (00:14:15):

That's cool. So help us with geography for your, Denair is where, give us some landmarks and help us with geography a little.

David Medeiros (00:14:24):

We're in the Central Valley about halfway between Sacramento and Fresno, probably up against the foothills on the east side and the home place is irrigated with some dry ground and then farther a little south and farther east in the foothills is our winter ground that we've leased and we've had that lease for about 40 some years, 40, 45 years first started with some other folks. I think between the two families, we've leased it since, I thought they said 1938, but it's worked out really well. Yes, so a lot of farming around us used to be a lot more irrigated, pasture and cattle. It's dairy and mostly almond trees now, so part of the reason for doing the Nebraska is we're getting squeezed right there. California's noted for more regulation attacks than most places, but the appreciation on the ground because of everything around us has been really good and made it possible too.

Mark McCully (00:15:25):

Sure. Irrigation, mostly irrigated pastures there where you're at?

David Medeiros (00:15:30):

At the home places largely. Yeah, mostly irrigated and then most of the winter grazing, which is not what you do everywhere else, but California we do winter and spring is in the foothills. In

Mark McCully (00:15:43):

The foothills. So you've seen some changes in water regulations and the whole irrigation scene over the last several decades for sure, then.

David Medeiros (00:15:52):

Yeah, and because we've pumped so much water in the valley, we haven't recharged a lot, so there are places that are worse than us. We sit in a nice spot. We have some district water, surface water, which makes a difference and pump water, but we pay fees into three different agencies now for water quality, water monitoring and everything else. The newest one, we got a notice about four months ago and it's $52 an acre just for them. Well turn in our stuff and in theory they're monitoring groundwater. I used to irrigate the whole ranch for $52 an acre and it wasn't that long ago. So like everything else, it's ... change, so they moved to Nebraska. There's a lot of water here. We don't irrigate, we don't have pivots, but the Ogallala Aquifer apparently a very good thing and there's a lot of water, and its cattle country, so that's part of the reason for the move here

Miranda Reiman (00:16:52):

And we don't like as many regulations here.

David Medeiros (00:16:56):

No, definitely. People ask me, doesn't it get really cold there? I said, yes, it does. But everything we do I think is easier except for the winters.

Miranda Reiman (00:17:06):

That's fair.

David Medeiros (00:17:07):

Compared to California,

Miranda Reiman (00:17:09):

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Miranda Reiman (00:17:54):

Now let's pick up right where we left off.

(00:17:56):

And how far in California then would you guys be away from Dal Portos and maybe talk about how that relationship got started.

David Medeiros (00:18:05):

He was west of me more towards the coast, probably no more than about 70 miles. Basically where it started is when we were younger. We showed cattle at the same time, but he was in college at the same time. He was at Chico State, we were at Cal Poly. We were on judging teams at the same time. As it turned out, we each had a brother on each of our teams, so we got to know each other better. After that, we were basically doing the same thing, trying to build our herds up and trying to just be in the Angus business. Neither one of us was big enough to do it on our own. At the time we did it, there was only two Angus bull production sales in California, so we were the third, and right now we are the second longest continuous, Bill Borror at Tehama got the jump on us by quite a bit. My brother and I, and Dave actually worked his first bull sale while we were in college, put bulls and put bulls through the ring and everything for it.

Miranda Reiman (00:19:05):

Did it feel like a big jump at the time to have a production sale?

David Medeiros (00:19:09):

Yeah, probably because there wasn't a lot of people doing it and we weren't sure we were completely ready. The market was pretty good. We thought we had enough to offer. As it turns out, we were hoping to just average enough to pay the sale cost and net what we'd been doing private treaty. As it turned out, it was better than we expected. We were about $900 over that at that time. That was a difference between $2,100 and a little under 3000

Carol Medeiros (00:19:42):

And they sold in an hour and 45 minutes and they all wrote a check that day and I told David, well, this is a good thing, I think this was a really good idea because before that, private treaty, driving bulls around, consignment sales, that was very difficult. But we had a nice group of people that day and all of our friends came, parents came, friends came, Bob Day, who was a good friend that goes clear back to Idaho, I think in the Angus business days, he brought his barbecue, barbecued hamburgers. It was a hands-on, let's have a bull sale, and it really worked out well and it's gone well since.

Mark McCully (00:20:24):

Never looked back.

Carol Medeiros (00:20:25):

No,

David Medeiros (00:20:25):

No.

Mark McCully (00:20:26):

I don't think I've ever asked you Rancho Casino, what's the story behind the name? I hope it's a good, you hit it big at the blackjack table one night and

David Medeiros (00:20:35):

It should be. You go to the grocery store, we would get calls, they think we're a casino in the middle of the night, where's it at? Or whatever. But in California at the time, a lot of places were named Rancho this or that, I guess it was the old Spanish deal or whatever. But when we first got the heifers, we came home one day from school and my dad had sketched Rancho Casino out with the dice and everything exactly like we're using now and being 14 years old or 13. It looked pretty cool and we have stuck with it ever since just because he did it. There's probably no reason that I should change it I guess. We thought about it at times or just your name, but no, it was his doing. He came up with it, the whole thing, and we're still using exactly like he sketched it out.

Mark McCully (00:21:22):

Well, that's a great story too.

Miranda Reiman (00:21:25):

It's really neat. Carol, I understand that you have a sort of accounting background or that's, talk about what your day job was for all of those years has kind of how that shaped your ranch maybe or your business.

Carol Medeiros (00:21:38):

Yeah, I came from a small farm. We both grew up on farms and we were four girls. His family was four boys and then a sister later. But my dad wanted us all to be able to take care of ourselves. It was a very big thing to him. So his idea, became a CPA. We met actually at a county fair in between one of those years that we were both going to Cal Poly, but went on, graduated, became a CPA two years later, and then we started having kids. So worked part-time, but fast forward, the person that I became a business partner with that we actually owned a firm for 20 years together, he and I met at the CPA review class and stayed friends, worked there, some worked in a different place, came back and then I think I was in my early forties that we decided we were going to start our own firm.

(00:22:33):

And actually that worked out great. The kids were older, we really appreciated that we raised our kids. We didn't have immediate family living where we lived, so he and I both did that together. He was often the pickup, I was the drop off, but at that point in time, we kicked into a much higher gear and actually David doing what he did for a living helped me build my clientele in a tremendous way because they felt like I knew what they were talking about and we were primarily agriculture and that included beef, but also dairy, all sorts of row crops. There's so much agriculture in the Central Valley. So that part worked out well too because I did know what they were talking about and they did know what we did for a living. So that was very helpful too. And we actually sold the firm to a Midwest national firm seven years ago, and actually a little bit longer than that. We worked for them for a couple of years. So that was in my early sixties, and then that's when David said, I think let's go do something new. Let's go try this. So it worked out well. I did it for over 40 years. It's a great occupation. You learn so much, you work with great people. We had great clients and built a staff that was something to be very proud of. So it worked out well and we kept on going from there.

Miranda Reiman (00:24:02):

Do you still do all your books today?

Carol Medeiros (00:24:05):

Oh gosh, yes, I do. I do more accounting than I did. We did a lot of estate planning, so the final 15 years, we were very heavy in estate planning, and so I've watched all this, including the Common Ground summit and all of that, seeing how important it is because I was working with clients with families that really had a hard time when those levels were lower and very unfavorable to agriculture and still even today with the values that have gone up. So that became a big part of our, we were doing a lot more consulting. I had rockstar accountants. I didn't need to be doing that work, so I'm doing it again now. I'm taking care of all that, but it's good. He does all the registration, cattle part though, that's all his job. So I do the other

Miranda Reiman (00:24:58):

He doesn't get out of the bookwork completely then?

Carol Medeiros (00:25:01):

Well, no. He sits at the computer as much as I do. So how's that? He takes care of that. So it was a great occupation. It worked out really well for us and I was so fortunate to be in business with someone. His dad was an Illinois farm boy that ended up in California, so they had great Midwest values. He was a really good guy. So very grateful for that. That worked out well.

Mark McCully (00:25:25):

I heard you speak Carol on a panel a couple years ago, I think, that was on estate transitions and obviously some of the real challenges with estate tax and some of the challenges that you saw firsthand and helped families work through and navigate. And I know that was an excellent discussion. I know a lot of folks benefited from hearing your perspective on that day. That was good.

Carol Medeiros (00:25:50):

Well, thank you. The biggest challenge, and I'll say it always, is to get families to come together and go to work on it. It's a work in progress always, but those who don't come to try and work through it, it doesn't turn out so well. And it's not easy. It'll never be easy, but it's so necessary. So no, that was an honor to work with a lot of good families and help them through that for sure.

Miranda Reiman (00:26:14):

I wondered if it had any, the fact that you are kind of a financial mind and involved in the business side so heavily when you guys go to make decisions, does that factor into it? Do you give him a budget when he is going to buy a herd bull, or how does that work out?

Mark McCully (00:26:30):

Budget, what's a budget?

Carol Medeiros (00:26:30):

No

David Medeiros (00:26:33):

Got that right, Mark. Pretty much. Carol watches it and it's conservative and pays attention to all of it. I usually just charge on and figure out it's going to be okay or turn out Okay.

Miranda Reiman (00:26:46):

You don't call it Rancho Casino for nothing, right?

David Medeiros (00:26:49):

No. Always a gamble

Carol Medeiros (00:26:54):

But so far so good that he has made me catch my breath a few times. It's like, well actually when he and Dave Dal Porto, before we started the California bull sale, they went to Bill Borror's sale and they were going to buy a bull, a bull and start breeding for what they felt would really be good. And in those days he stopped on the way home at a payphone to tell me that they bought two bulls, not one. And he didn't want me to hear it from anybody else. He said it was just a really good deal, Carol. So we bought two bulls that day at Bill Borror's and that worked out great too. But it was one of those things kids don't even know what payphones are today, and that's the only way we even talked to each other back then it was like, it'll be okay. But we bought two, not one of 'em. So yeah.

Miranda Reiman (00:27:44):

Did he start out with that? It'll be okay. That was the first thing he said.

Carol Medeiros (00:27:49):

Well, basically I think it went along those lines. Yes, it was like, okay, that's pretty much how we've gotten along. We worked through it. So

Miranda Reiman (00:27:59):

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Miranda Reiman (00:28:45):

Now back to the episode. So I want to know if that's how the decision to move to Nebraska went as well. Did David have to do a lot of convincing or he just gamble and go, or how'd it work out?

Carol Medeiros (00:28:58):

Well actually we started coming here. Gosh,

David Medeiros (00:29:02):

We've been coming for about four or five years.

Carol Medeiros (00:29:04):

Four or five years, and we went in a partnership on some cows with friends and we started coming to their sale and making one, two trips a year back here. And so that was in Bedford. And so I remember thinking at the time, it was so nice to get away from all the hustle bustle, everything in California. It would be a good trip. Nice people, got to know it. Well then I was in the second year of the two year contract and was going to be finished up in November. It was in the summer. It was in the spring, and we were on the Western Livestock Journal tour. We had met nice people from North Platte. One was a real estate person and David said, well, why don't you start looking? Why don't you just see what is around there? So we knew we wanted to be in this area and lo and behold, the place that we are at today was on the market.

(00:30:05):

So we came in June, I think we came in June of that year after we'd been on that tour and myself and six men came to look at the ranch. But David was in luck that day because now I know that a lot of these ranches, they're beautiful, but the house is usually the last thing that everybody's fixing up. They're getting everything else taken care of and equipment and fences, corrals, whatever. And the people that bought previous that we bought from built a new house on this place and she had really nice taste. It was really nice. And that did get my attention because the house in California was built the year I was born, so I knew how old that house was. It had been there a long time. So we looked around and it was a good rain year that year, right? I mean it was so green, there was so much grass and drove around and that was it.

(00:31:09):

It's about 40 minutes from Bedford, but an hour from Valentine. It has a great location and we have landed in the nicest town and valley, Purdum has wonderful people. We have met wonderful people here. So sometimes in life it's just nice when things are meant to be and then, that's how they turn out. But realize I've also gone back and forth to California through these years, so I didn't make a complete move right away, and we still haven't done that. I had to get adjusted to going 40 minutes to go to the grocery store. That was a change, especially coming from where we had. But no, it seemed to make sense. I mean, I could see the writing on the wall too with what's going on in California. We still have a great clientele in California, but things are just getting harder and this is a much more pleasant way to live. So

(00:32:06):

Many people have said, what are you guys doing? People start retiring at your age and I say, we're living, that's what we're doing. David's dad worked well into his eighties. He doesn't look like there's any slowdown for a while, so it's really, we couldn't have picked, I don't think, a nicer place to actually have a ranch and buy a ranch. And the neighbors have been wonderful to us. We've actually started this bull sale with the neighbor's son who was just getting started in the registered Angus and interested, and that's who we had our third one this year here in Nebraska. And that's part of what's really been rewarding too, helping young people keep going in this business. That's really rewarding. So didn't have to convince me a lot. We've been hanging out a long time together, so very supportive when I was working probably way too many hours and doing too much, taking care of a lot of things. So I figured it was his turn and not sorry that we did not at all, not in any way. It's really turned out well.

Mark McCully (00:33:16):

That's awesome. So talk about the transition. So did you move cows? Did you just kind of start, are you running cows in both places now?

David Medeiros (00:33:25):

Yes, yes. We're running the same number in California. What I did the first year is I sent a whole heifer calf crop

(00:33:33):

In November, weaned heifers, wintered them at our yard that develops heifers not far from here, got 'em bred and then brought 'em to the ranch and then we traded with Tyson Cox, our neighbors, some pasture for him watching and just kind of taking care of this because there wasn't a lot going on at the time, so we didn't have to hire somebody. Then the next two falls, I sent basically my March calving cows, a load each year from California and after three years were pretty much fully stocked here. So I started with heifers that I thought should acclimate. It was a winter to acclimate. It was cold. Cold and a lot of snow. And actually we didn't lose any and they did well, bred up well, and quite a few of them are my older cows here now, I guess. So since then, everything that's here has been born at the ranch.

Mark McCully (00:34:27):

Gotcha, gotcha.

Miranda Reiman (00:34:28):

Did you change your breeding philosophies at all to, you talked about Carol, you had to make the change from being 40 miles away from the grocery store, but those cows went into quite a different environment. Did you change anything with your breeding philosophy when you moved north?

David Medeiros (00:34:43):

Not a lot, but in California our biggest market and dependable year in and year out with calving ease, everybody calves out. You don't have to worry about weather. A lot of it's in the fall, so it's calving ease with giving 'em as much performance as we could get, and that's been our driver. If we sold 150 bulls, they could be 150 calving ease there. When we get to Nebraska, it is not quite they are not quite as particular about that. I guess they're calving in, they're going to need cattle that a little more to 'em. They've got to have plenty of substance, a little stouter maybe to handle the cold and the elements. So we haven't had to be, we're still pretty conscious of the calving ease, but we haven't had to be quite as much as we were in California and concentrating on maybe a little more of the, weaning weight, phenotype, maybe just a little stouter, a little heavier kind of cattle.

Mark McCully (00:35:39):

Does your ideal cow look a little different in Nebraska than she did in California?

David Medeiros (00:35:45):

Not really, but she's fatter in California than she is in Nebraska. It's pretty forgiving to be on irrigated in the summer and go to the foothills in the winter, here they're going to toughen a little more. So I'd say she's a little tougher critter, but she's not much different than what we selected for before. We really haven't changed that over the years. The first thing we look at is that her quality, I guess the cow try to measure fertility, but she's basically the soundest in production of 'em, doesn't change the phenotype that much on the cow side.

Mark McCully (00:36:22):

How about talking about your, you had built for decades, a bull base, a bull customer base. How do you still continue to maintain that customer base and then grow a new customer base at the same time or what's your strategy there?

David Medeiros (00:36:37):

Fortunately there's two of us. So when we had the first sale, we each had our own customer base and we had a few people that had bought from both of us, so that helps. So we were dependent on both of us since we started that. I think just about everybody that's ever bought a bull from us has bought from either one of us and some it doesn't. We try to treat it as one, even though we have two separate herds, raise the bulls together at weaning and from then on, I guess it's just trying to give them a critter that works for 'em in their environment, standing behind our product. Probably the biggest challenge, it's less of a challenge when the market's as good as is now or has been, is that we were the youngest and most of our customers were quite a bit older when we first started.

(00:37:21):

Been in business a long time. They're not around anymore and you've got to continually find somebody. There's still a lot of people our age in it, but I guess it's, you try to keep your reputation as they say, if they're happy with you, nobody will say anything hardly or they might, people are really happy, but if they're not, when they go to the coffee shop, they will be pretty quick to tell everybody that they weren't. So we encourage anybody that has a problem for any reason, to let us know and we take care of 'em. We don't make you vet check, we don't go through the hoops, and to my knowledge, nobody's ever abused that. People have been very fair with us as far as on our guarantees and everything.

Miranda Reiman (00:38:09):

And now you're still selling bulls in California as well?

David Medeiros (00:38:13):

Yes. About a month from now we'll have our 34th sale, yes.

Miranda Reiman (00:38:18):

So keeping two sales going in two different time zones, is that a challenging juggle?

David Medeiros (00:38:25):

Well, it's a spring and a fall, so it's probably no more challenging than try to do everything else in two places. We're very fortunate the people that take care of the bulls or feed for us that we found about seven years ago in California do a really good job, conscientious and do a lot for us, do a real good job. So that part of it, as far as raising the bulls, they take care of it pretty well. Then here it's a matter of getting established and getting to know people and starting a new customer base. And fortunately we feed right here. Tyson's dad has a feedlot, feeds our bulls for us. It's not a quarter mile from the house. We can look at 'em every day, more than once if we want. So because it's a spring and a fall, I guess it's not any more challenging than the rest of what we're doing.

Miranda Reiman (00:39:10):

I heard you in that same video that I mentioned earlier, say that the biggest mistake you can make is to think you've got the best there is and believe your own story. Explain that to me. I loved that quote.

David Medeiros (00:39:24):

Well, I guess I've seen it before. You just quit making progress. Our philosophy is to just try to make 'em a little bit better every year, see what we need to improve. If we're happy with one thing and it's going well, what else do we need to improve? I think as soon as you get complacent about it, I guess is what I mean, and what you think you have, better than anybody else. You're going to quit making progress and everybody else is going to go by you. I guess when we first started, we did a lot of AI. We still do quite a bit, a lot of ... bulls. That was the biggest thing. I think that helped a smaller breeder because then we had to access to the same bulls, the same genetics that everybody in the country had. So basically our philosophy and looking around at the successful ones is the man with the best cow herd was going to do the best as far as cattle. So we really concentrated on making that cow herd better every year. We cull very heavily and we keep a lot of replacement heifers, so it's probably not a sound economic thing in the short term, but in the long term I think we're making that cow herd just more functional wherever they're at.

Miranda Reiman (00:40:36):

That's cool. I like that philosophy and angle. That's great advice. What do you think that when you look back at the cow herd you started with to the cow herd you have today, what are you most, I guess, proud of that you've been able to make some strides on, or what things do you think you've improved the most in?

David Medeiros (00:40:54):

When we first got started, on my budget, we bought a lot of cheap cows and bred them out, they took a long time. If I had to do it over again, I would buy some better cows, spent a little more money because after a few years when I did buy some bred heifers and young bred cows that were better, they improved much more rapidly. So I guess just the fact that they're what these cows produce today, not just in my place, but across the country, what they produce for bulls compared to what they were when I got out of college in 1976 or so. There's no comparison to quality of the cattle. I mean, they are so much better do so more things. I don't know if the cow herd's any better, but they're producing as far as productivity, but they're producing cattle that are just way better than what we had before.

Mark McCully (00:41:44):

As you breed cattle, I mean we know in our membership and folks listening to this podcast, we have a very diverse opinion on how much from use, every tool, every technology, every piece of data, to really just leaning heavily on phenotype. Where would you place yourself or your program or your breeding philosophy in there as you go about trying to make that next generation just a little bit better?

David Medeiros (00:42:12):

We try to balance both. We wouldn't have made the progress we've made without the phenotype and the EPDs. We just did not have those tools to identify cattle before, and no matter how good they look or how good a judge you think you are Mark, you can't tell till you get the data and do it. On the other hand, I think if I can't look at 'em and they could have the best numbers in the world and I'm not going to enjoy going out and looking at 'em, so I'm not going to do that either. No place is perfect for either one. Everybody's got, like you said, Mark, a little different philosophy. We've got so much performance in these cattle now and what they will do compared to I think maybe our environment and what they'll do everywhere is that we're probably gearing to lean a little more heavily on phenotype and things like foot quality, docility, hair shed and that, because we might have all the performance that these cattle can express for what we can do with them.

Mark McCully (00:43:13):

Yep, yep. What are you hearing from your bull customers? Are there things they're looking for you to do differently or they need in the next couple generations?

David Medeiros (00:43:25):

Not a lot there. What we've done is they're different. Everybody used to get there early, go through all the bulls, they don't get there that early. Now they've got them catalog marked. They know EPDs, they know what their herd needs. I'd say they're conscious of the carcass traits in some of 'em, like I say, California calving ease and a weaning weight to go with it is the biggest driver for most people, but sometimes they're stricter standards than what we'd like 'em to have to sell a bull. But we did that telling 'em what it means and everything else. So they pretty much know when they get there, most of them what they're interested in, and it doesn't take 'em long to look and see if it fits their deal. They go to lunch and we try to start our sale on time or five minutes early every year. And I think we made it all but one year and there was a traffic jam about a mile, about

Carol Medeiros (00:44:20):

The 99,

David Medeiros (00:44:21):

About an hour away from our place. We're a half hour late, letting a bunch of good customers get there when they started calling.

Mark McCully (00:44:28):

That's probably a good call. You probably won't have that in Nebraska.

Miranda Reiman (00:44:30):

Yeah, I was going to say that had to have been in California.

David Medeiros (00:44:34):

We haven't had a traffic problem since we got here at all, but we've avoided being blizzarded out too.

Mark McCully (00:44:41):

So you've got some other challenges.

David Medeiros (00:44:42):

Yeah, it could happen, but so far we've been very fortunate there.

Miranda Reiman (00:44:47):

I think it's interesting when you've talked about what your customers want and your philosophy and all of that. I haven't really heard you mention carcass quality and yet that's where this conversation started is that we know you've been recognized by CAB for that and that you had customers winning those contests and things. Where does that fit in your list of priorities of things that you're trying to breed for?

David Medeiros (00:45:09):

I would say it's important, but it's acceptable carcass quality. We're not looking for the extreme end on it. We're going to be on calving ease, weaning weight, udder and the cow herd probably first, and then that. Where that came about is we had a good customer in Idaho who was feeding his own cattle and they were doing well where they were at, and that's when he won the contest. He was commercial breeder of the year, Thomas family in Idaho, and they met the Beller family at the CAB convention getting their award, and he started feeding with Terry, and that's how we met the Bellers. And then we started feeding some of our cattle there and partnered with Terry on some of the customers' cattle just so they could get the data and see what they did.

(00:45:57):

It's people we would've never met before that have really been good friends. I don't think anybody's met Terry that didn't like him. We actually, that Carol talked about the partnership cattle we had. Terry was one of those back here that was in with us. We called it Triple L Cattle Company and Terry named it, and it stands for Living Life Large. And that's pretty much his philosophy is work hard, but play hard too. And he is done a really good job and he's got us both customers too coming to the sale and visiting just because they were impressed with him, and people that have sent him their cattle to feed also that did not feed their own before.

Miranda Reiman (00:46:38):

This ag business is pretty small when you get down to it, isn't it?

David Medeiros (00:46:42):

Yeah, it can be. Yes.

Mark McCully (00:46:44):

And I had actually forgotten that the meeting between Jimmy and Terry was at the CAB conference, correct?

David Medeiros (00:46:51):

Yes. That's how they met each other. Yes, yes.

Mark McCully (00:46:55):

I had forgotten that. I was thinking it was all through the National Angus Carcass Challenge, but it was that CAB conference and them both being award winners that made that connection first.

David Medeiros (00:47:04):

Yeah, Terry, he was feeding at Agri Beef I think at the time, Jimmy, when they were at the contest and then he went to Terry's, I'm sure you guys heard about it when you quit doing the contest because he liked that $1,500 he was winning every year.

Mark McCully (00:47:18):

We told him we had to quit doing the contest because he was winning it every year and it wasn't generating a new story.

Miranda Reiman (00:47:27):

So as you guys look to the future, I mean especially with your background in estate planning and things, Carol, what's the future look like for you guys there? What do you still want to accomplish? And

Carol Medeiros (00:47:40):

Right now we're living our life, enjoying it very much. We have three kids, but no one loves cows. And so we raised them to find their own way and they're all doing well. They love to come back to the bull sale. They love the people that they meet. We are going to keep going and just stay in the day and however long we can do this and enjoy it. And you never know. There's grandkids coming along now too. You don't know what'll happen with that, how long we'll be doing it. So for us, just keep track of everything really. Well keep going I think is the main thing. One thing that I watched David do too is through the years, there's a family in California that lived down the road and this man was a dairyman, but his grandsons wanted to get, they wanted to be around it more.

(00:48:35):

They liked the beef cattle more. They got involved. Today, they have a really nice herd of Angus cows and have done really well with them. And they come and they help. They're a part of it. And so those contacts just to also keep introducing people just like working with Tyson and Rachel Cox to share our knowledge on how to run a bull sale. So now we're teaching them, we came in with the knowledge of how to do it, how to set up what it's all about, and that'll be for them someday to eventually take over and keep going and get it established. And so those types of encounters are very rewarding. So it's not always about family. I think family's wonderful. David and I have said along the way, we think our kids watched how hard we work and thought maybe there's a better way to make a living.

Mark McCully (00:49:25):

I don't want any of that,

Carol Medeiros (00:49:30):

But they do like to come visit definitely and be a part of it whenever we're having an event. So you'd never know who else you're going to meet that maybe is a first-generation Angus breeder. That's what we are.

(00:49:43):

That's what we formed. This didn't come from family on either side. And so when we were interviewed for the other video, the message that I wanted to get across as sometimes it feels to young people, it can only happen for those that come from a family that have a lot of program assets, land going, we're proof that you can do it a different way and you can still have cows and you can still be a part of it. And this family that I'm talking about, they have their jobs, they all go and do, but they have a nice small herd of Angus cows now that only continues to grow. And so it's I think important to encourage people. You don't have to be great big, you can be smaller and still really enjoy the rewards of being in this business for a lot of reasons.

Miranda Reiman (00:50:34):

That's cool.

Mark McCully (00:50:35):

Well, and I think what you guys are doing, and we hear this discussion like you do of who's going to take over these ranches, who's going to be back? And we see cases as you have of maybe it's not the kids that want to come back, but there is a young couple that are kind of just looking for a little bit of a leg up or a place to kind of help learn the ropes and get established and a partnership maybe. And so

(00:51:04):

Good on you guys for finding those and growing those. And I think there's a lot of that out there. We've talked organizationally. Are there ways we can help connect some of those? Because we tend to see it sometimes on both ends. You see some folks that maybe don't have a family or kids that are interested or for whatever reason and yet then there's a young couple that are just dying to have a shot and they neither were born into it, but they're just looking for an opportunity to get plugged in somewhere and just get a little bit of a start. Good on you guys. And that'll be fun to watch. Be fun to watch.

Carol Medeiros (00:51:43):

Yeah. It refreshes you being around young people. There's a few around here that bought a few heifers or bought a few cows and they get so excited and they want to learn all about it. It does. I remember when we had the accounting firm training young people, they keep you fresh, they bring you to the table, they help you think about it in a different way and their excitement is contagious when they're trying to learn a new occupation or learn about a new business. So that's something that's fun. Yeah, there's no replacement for youth. I don't think that's a good thing,

David Medeiros (00:52:21):

But we don't have to worry about passing it down. So I guess it's easy. I guess if there was young people really wanted it and you were in a position, you'd finance 'em or you'd carry it because the bank's probably not going to do everything. That's what you can do for 'em. But ours is pretty easy today. We don't do it. The kids don't want it. We can sell cows, we can do whatever

(00:52:46):

They'll have to sell this place. I'm not going to do it probably, but that's what they can do when we're gone. That's up to them. But I could feel for the one, especially large families, to try to feed enough families to pass it down. It would be very difficult. We were never in a position, however it worked that I don't think we could have supported more than ourselves and got where we're at. It's pretty difficult to do. Yeah.

Miranda Reiman (00:53:12):

So I hear in your answer there that Nebraska feels like home now.

David Medeiros (00:53:17):

Yeah, it does to me. I don't know if Carol is quite there with me and everything, but yeah, it's my preference to stay, we can't hear any traffic from the house where we do live. It's a nice place in the country, but there's an egg plant down the road from us and a dairy and a calf deal. And there's probably a couple hundred trucks a day drive within a hundred yards of the house.

Carol Medeiros (00:53:41):

Our house in California. Yeah,

David Medeiros (00:53:45):

It's too quiet for some, but I'm fine. We're in a nice spot. The river's in front of us, you could sit out on the bench, on the front porch with a cocktail in the evening and just do nothing or sit there and enjoy it. So I can do that.

Miranda Reiman (00:54:02):

Well, I must say that Megan Silveira was trying to convince us to come do this episode in person. We'd have gotten to see it and she said she'd volunteer to drive us up there and take photos. But between this new arrival that's coming in my life and Mark's schedule, it just didn't work out quite that way. But maybe we'll have to take a rain check on that and come visit you some other time. Sure,

David Medeiros (00:54:26):

Sure. No, Megan's done very well. I mean, she bought her first heifer not knowing anything, and showed and did well. Always good public speak, but it's really gratifying for us to see how well she's done and what she's getting done at her age. For a girl that had no ag background to start as a little girl, she's gone a long way with it. It's really nice. And her grandpa still helps us at the sale every year, drives a water truck, never quits. Works for two days afterwards and he's got to be about 80 or a little over

Carol Medeiros (00:55:01):

At least, yeah.

David Medeiros (00:55:02):

And Al still helps with every bull sale, also. So another connection.

Miranda Reiman (00:55:07):

I love that. Well, we're sure glad to have her on the team and she contributes an awful lot and has made us all better. So she thinks a lot of you guys too. And I wanted to pass along that she said hi as well, but

Carol Medeiros (00:55:19):

It's so fun to see her so grown up at the Angus Convention and when she speaks and does the presentations, it's like I tell her mom, I go, oh man, she's doing well, that's for sure. So, good.

Miranda Reiman (00:55:35):

Very fun. Love that. Well, I guess we always end on a random question of the week. Do you guys have anything else you'd like to add or anything I've asked you about before I ask you a random question?

David Medeiros (00:55:45):

I don't think so.

Mark McCully (00:55:47):

You're just nervous about this random question.

David Medeiros (00:55:53):

I can sound smarter, I can sound dumb and, we're going to trust you guys. Whatever works we'll, make it work.

Miranda Reiman (00:56:03):

So my random question of the week is I want to know what was maybe either the biggest learning curve when going to Nebraska or maybe a piece of gear or equipment that you had to buy for this region that you wouldn't have used in California?

David Medeiros (00:56:19):

Okay. I've always been fairly equipment poor. I want to run cows, didn't want to farm and it doesn't take a lot in California. We're fortunate most of the stuff was done here, but I had to buy a bigger tractor than I ever have had.

(00:56:33):

It had to have a cab and a heater and a hay buster to feed in winter, and that's not something that we did at all in California. So those were the two biggest purchases or changes. It would be equipment. As far as everything else, my neighbors have been really good at helping us make the transition. Whenever I ask 'em how they do things, because not everything's different or the same in places how they do it. They've been really good about helping us and doing everything. We trade a lot of help with 'em. So that part's been really good. I don't do everything exactly the way they've always done it. They probably look at me and think he's going to screw this up. But so far it's been OK. It's worked out all right. So yeah,

Carol Medeiros (00:57:20):

I did put the OK on putting a heater in the barn. That way he can calve his cows. We have a Christmas party now every year. We started that, what, three, four years ago. And it's an event that people look forward to now. We do it the Sunday before Christmas and we gather everybody, but then that barn is also where we have the bull sale. So if it is a blizzard, it's going to have a heater in it so people aren't freezing. So that was the other thing. California would never think of something

Mark McCully (00:57:52):

You didn't need that.

Carol Medeiros (00:57:54):

No, but we needed to have that.

David Medeiros (00:57:55):

They just looked at me like I was a wimp. We didn't care. I told 'em, we're from California. It does not get below zero. Never when we can. It's a nice balmy 45 to 50 degrees in there when it's below zero. That's just fine with me.

Miranda Reiman (00:58:13):

You don't let any of them fool you. We can say that we're adapted to this weather, but it doesn't mean we like it.

David Medeiros (00:58:20):

I have figured out they hate the below zero and a lot of snow just as much as somebody that moved into it. They've just learned to deal with it. Yes. But the folks are tough that have been here a long time. I'll give them that. Yes, they're dedicated and they're tough people.

Miranda Reiman (00:58:39):

Well, thank you guys so much for taking the time to visit with us today and getting him in off the tractor, Carol, we appreciate your role in that as well.

Carol Medeiros (00:58:48):

Gave him a phone call going, it's 10 to three, so thank you very much. It's really a pleasure to visit with you both and to hear about what we've done in our lifetime and are still enjoying doing. And I've made good friends back here in Nebraska now, so it's pretty easy to get me to come right back and come to visit and it's grown on me a lot more as well. There's no doubt. And now I say a good friend in the cattle at home says, I hear you say now, well it's only 40 minutes to town. And I say, yeah, that's the new way to say it, and no traffic. I appreciate that. So we feel very, very blessed and fortunate to have had this second chapter, that's for sure

Mark McCully (00:59:39):

Awesome. Well, we appreciate you guys coming on and sharing that and your story, and I know you guys are a fun couple that I've truly been a pleasure to get to know you over the years and know your story and some of the uniquenesses of where you run in California and then this transition to Nebraska and kind of sharing all that with us. I know this will definitely be for somebody that wants to be, or getting ready to be a first generation Angus breeder. I think your story is one, absolutely, that's inspiring, and thank you for sharing it with us.

David Medeiros (01:00:10):

Well, thank you, Mark. Appreciate that.

Carol Medeiros (01:00:12):

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

David Medeiros (01:00:14):

Alright. Thank you, Miranda.

Miranda Reiman (01:00:16):

Thank you.

Carol Medeiros (01:00:17):

Yes, nice to get to know you as well and hope the future brings lots of fun and happiness.

Miranda Reiman (01:00:24):

Thank you. That was a fun conversation and I do really hope I get to their place up in the Sandhills sometime in the near future. If you want to travel to ranches across the United States without ever leaving your home location, be sure to follow the Angus Journal on Facebook and Instagram and follow the Angus Media accounts on Snapchat and TikTok. We'll give you a behind the scenes look. And if you want the latest coverage on the Feeding Quality Forum that Mark mentioned in the beginning, head on over to our sister publication, the Angus Beef Bulletin, and get signed up for their free Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA. You'll get a twice monthly dose of health, management, nutrition, marketing and more. This has been the Angus Conversation, an Angus Journal podcast.