James Coffey: ‘Customer First’ Mentality Wins in Business and Breeding

HOSTS: Miranda Reiman and Mark McCully  

GUESTS: James Coffey

James Coffey’s granddad discouraged him from returning to the farm. But he did it anyway.

This episode covers Coffey’s path from business owner back to the Hustonville, Ky., farm, and details his No. 1 focus: the commercial customer. Knowing their needs turned into a large customer buyback program, which is an additional source of both revenue and data for Branch View Angus. Coffey covers how the tobacco industry shaped the cattle business in recent decades, lessons from his outside business that he can apply to his Angus operation and how he views progress.

 GUESTS: James Coffey is a fifth-generation Angus breeder raised on the family’s cattle and tobacco farm, Branch View Angus, near Hustonville, Ky. Coffey has spent his life working alongside his father and grandfather helping with the cattle, and previously the tobacco operation.

After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, James worked for Coopers and Lybrand, Louisville, Ky., a Big Six accounting firm. With a desire to be closer to the farm, he joined Kerbaugh and Rodes, CPAs, Danville, Ky., and finished his CPA certification. In 1993 he purchased Pitman Creek Wholesale (PCW), a sporting goods distribution company. While expanding PCW, James set out to grow the family Angus operation. Since 2011 the family has hosted the largest annual Angus sale in Kentucky, one of the largest sales in the east.

James and his wife, LuAnn, have a son, David Reid, who is the sixth generation to grow up on the farm. James also has two sons, Addison and Bennett. 

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Transcript

Miranda Reiman (00:00:03):
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, you're not home very many nights this time of year. I think you're fresh off the Certified Angus Beef Convention last week in Austin.

Mark McCully (00:00:19):
Yes, just, unpacking the bags from a really, a great trip. It's an event I kind of wish every Angus breeder could at least spend a little time there to just soak up the excitement. For many that know, that conference is really designed for our retail and foodservice partners, chefs, food service salespeople, restaurant owners, packers, processors. So it's really the end users of our product and come together once a year in an event had almost, I think if it was a record number of actual licensed partners. And I think maybe a record number of first time attendees, nearly 300, almost first time attendees. And they're just so excited about the whole conference is about Certified Angus Beef, the successes of the past year, celebrating those, but then also business strategies. How do they grow their business, how do they grow their sales? And just how to get one inch better was one of our keynote speakers that talked about the opportunity to continually improve our position. And that theme continually was discussed for the multiple days.

Miranda Reiman (00:01:34):
One thing as someone who's attended it a couple of different times with sort of more rancher eyes and ears, I guess to it, the one thing that I always find interesting is even though it is focused on the foodservice and the retail business, how many similarities there are in our businesses. And that's one thing that, I mean, I guess you would say, even coming off the podcast we just came off of and what they were talking about at CAB conference about taking care of their customers.

Mark McCully (00:01:59):
Absolutely. Yeah. And it's also fun. One, there's a lot of family businesses, a lot of multi-generations in the business, which is always, again, something we

Miranda Reiman (00:02:10):
Another parallel.

Mark McCully (00:02:11):
Another parallel, right? In many independent businesses. But yeah, taking care of the customer and I think that was something that there wasn't, without some concern about our price levels and availability and those kinds of things. But at the end of the day, making sure that at these price levels, whether you're a grocery chain, putting this product out in the meatcase or putting this product on your menu or making sure that with these price levels that the product quality and the experience with that product better be very much top notch. And taking care of that customer is always a paramount top priority.

Miranda Reiman (00:02:55):
It probably also explains why maybe in this time it might seem counterintuitive, but CAB Prime has been really having a moment right now.

Mark McCully (00:03:04):
It is. It does. Counterintuitive, I think is the right word. You would think it would be a little bit of a challenge, but lots of growth, lots of, with this supply that we have, and we're seeing the increase in grade of more cattle grading Prime, which has allowed some licensees to access some product and not just ribs strips and tenders, not just the, I think that's, when we think about Prime, we think about just those middle meats, but it's the ground beef, it is roast, it's some new value added products like Prime inside rounds to make a top round and the number one product. Briskets, right? Briskets, lots and lots of excitement about CAB Prime briskets, which might be also surprising to cattlemen.

Miranda Reiman (00:03:51):
Yeah, absolutely. So you probably came back from that conference with a kind of renewed sense of optimism that we're all in this beef business together.

Mark McCully (00:04:00):
Yeah, that conference does tend to recharge your batteries. It was obviously talking to cattlemen, they're enjoying the best times and love these high prices. That was a large room full of people that are trying to sell these high prices. But yeah, there's lots of optimism. It was said multiple times, protein is hot, beef is hot, and we've got, so yeah, you come back pretty encouraged and want to just dig in and do better because I think the opportunity out there for our producers to take advantage of that market is only going to grow

Miranda Reiman (00:04:41):
Well, one thing that we really heard loud and clear from today's podcast guest was a focus on the customer getting to know your customer, how important it is to serve the customer. So I think that that dovetails nicely. We're going to hear from James Coffey and I think you guys are going to enjoy this one.

(00:05:00):
So today we're virtually headed to Houstonville, Kentucky, to Branch View Angus, where we're visiting with James Coffey. How are you doing today, James?

James Coffey (00:05:10):
Excellent, outstanding.

Miranda Reiman (00:05:11):
Very good. We of course got to know you as American Angus Association board member from about 2015 through, I know that 2020 was involved in your list. You got used to Zoom calls during that time.

James Coffey (00:05:27):
Yeah, it's been 10 years ago, probably 2021 I guess is when I rolled off. So yeah, I lost track. One of my favorite things is I don't like to look backwards. I like to look forward. So I think it's 2021.

Miranda Reiman (00:05:39):
Yeah, very good. And you have been, I think it's a fourth generation farming operation there?

James Coffey (00:05:46):
Yeah, fifth actually, yeah, our first family member was my great, great grandfather joined the American Aberdeen Angus Association in 1928. So we're actually coming up on a hundred years of Angus membership. My grandfather bought his first Angus heifers, like the story so many people have, he bought 'em in the forties. So we've been Angus ever since 60, 85 years now. Been straight Angus and the entire time.

Mark McCully (00:06:20):
Good. Now, how popular was Angus in that country at that time?

James Coffey (00:06:25):
Oh, I think it mirrored to hear my granddad talk about it. And then I think about the seventies and eighties when I was starting to get large enough to pay attention. I think it was dominated by Herefords, like it was across a lot of the country. And he started with Angus. He liked them. Him and my mother and my aunt showed cattle in the sixties and seventies everywhere. They traveled everywhere. And actually my granddad paid for his first ton truck with premiums from shows. I don't know that premiums have gone up much since then.

Mark McCully (00:07:00):
You sure can't pay for a truck with them.

James Coffey (00:07:02):
Absolutely not. But that was one of his favorite stories is that they went to enough, I think they did it like in a year, they went out to enough shows in a year and paid for that first ton truck. And of course that's how you hauled cattle back in the sixties

Miranda Reiman (00:07:18):
That means they won a lot though, James. They had to win quite a bit

James Coffey (00:07:22):
Yes, they did. They were very successful for their time. And to Mark's point, Angus was not probably as competitive during those few years, 60s, seventies. And then of course the eighties, you had the continental influence come up, but he stayed the course selling bulls. That's the backbone of our entire operation. He sold his first bull in the forties and we've sold bulls since then. That's the evolution I never have since I came back to the operation around, I started making decisions in the nineties, never have chased the female side or the extreme female side. We were extremely commercial focused. The operation always has been.

Mark McCully (00:08:05):
So James, talk about that path back for you back to the place on the nineties. So you went off to school?

James Coffey (00:08:12):
Yep, sure did. I took a little different path than a lot of people in our industry. I was in 4-H, FFA, went to high school and actually started in ag econ at UK and thought that was a path I wanted to go. And it's really kind of sad really, but there's a lot of stories like that across the country, probably as my granddad did not want me to come back to the farm because of financial. You talk about the interest rates in the eighties and he was like, there's no way you can come back to the farm and make a living. And so around that time, that's when I made my decision, well, I'm going to go do something where I can make enough money to farm. That was honestly my decision. And so I went and got accounting degree, finished out my CPA, spent two and a half years being a CPA and was fortunate enough to buy a company and I kind of accomplished my goal.

(00:09:05):
I made enough money to farm and we've grown the Angus operation to where it's a self-sustainable operation, has been for many years now. But I came back in the nineties, granddad's still farming just like he always did. He was getting up in age. And of course at that point where I had an off-farm job, like a lot of people, he was glad to have me back. At that point, under those circumstances, was not encouraging of me to come back as a partner in the farm, I guess. And you have that in the east, I think especially in Kentucky, a lot of smaller farms. That's an evolution. To go off on a little bit of a tangent, the evolution of beef cattle in the east, probably particularly Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina. We were tobacco dependent for so many years and I called all of our farms around here are a majority, a high majority of our farms around this area.

(00:10:01):
I call 'em sustenance farms. Back in the fifties, sixties, seventies, everybody had beef, cattle, tobacco, a few chickens, a pig and a dairy cow. And I mean that was the makeup of farming in this region around here. And in 2000, the tobacco buyout occurred. We had every acre of land had an inherent pound allotment for tobacco. So that was inherent in the value of your property in this region. And in 2000, the federal government stepped in and bought the poundage out. And so everybody got a settlement payment and then there was a continuing payment from the tobacco companies to the states. And Kentucky was fortunate. We were fortunate enough in Kentucky that's a legislature dedicated half of our funds to agriculture. And so it's been phenomenal. Some people across the country here, the bull money or the heifer money, the cost share money, well that's where it originates is from that tobacco buyout.

(00:11:00):
So it has truly been a game changer for us selling bulls. I mean, I was actively selling bulls in the nineties to selling bulls today, the customer education of the industry of cattle industry, their knowledge of beef cattle, the working facilities across the state has really, really risen since the early two thousands. And it's direct correlation to that buyout that tobacco money. So anyway, pulling it back to my part where I came back and in the nineties I bought my, late nineties, I bought my first farm, which had joined our home place, my great grandparents' place, and the place where I actually grew up, mom and dad still live and started out, AHIR. That's the first thing I got my granddad to convert to. He was getting up in years in all fairness. I don't know if he's a trailblazer, but he did a lot of progressive things in the sixties and seventies when he was my age, I guess at that time.

(00:12:03):
He AIed in the seventies among other things. I mean on the tobacco side of things, he was very progressive. But as he got older, a lot of people, he put it on cruise control I guess a little bit. And so I was able to come back in the nineties we started a AHIR, we started doing AI, artificial breeding, we did embryo work and really started on the path. And then by the two thousands when I bought my second farm that joined our original home place, really started to take off in terms of participation with the Angus Association making the most of the programs that were available, the EPD suite that was available. The Angus membership's pretty amazing in that they are quick adopters of new technology very quick, much more so than the general population or even the general population of cattle breeders or cattle producers.

(00:12:57):
I think Angus breeders are much more progressive than that. So I felt, I mean I've followed right in those footsteps of trying to adopt new technology and be on the front end. And one of the best things I ever did, Mark and Miranda, is we're up to feeding quite a few cattle every year. And it's been three or four years ago I thought, well, it works. I haven't gone back and taking the time to do it again. But I took a group of steers. We actually DNA, we can talk about that here in a few minutes, but we DNA'd the steers we send to Kansas to feed and then they're harvested at USPB. So I lined up those bulls $Bs. This was back when $B was going before $C, so it was actually probably six or seven years ago. And I lined up the sires of those steers and they almost lined up perfectly on $B. And so once they lined up like that, not exactly, there was a few inverts. I mean they were inverted, but for the most it was very, if you took it in percentiles, there was no doubt that the sires lined up according to dollar, the way the steers dollared up. That's the way the $B represented the sires. That's been the path of our farm is trying to utilize that technology and stay on the, as my wife says, I don't want to be on the bleeding edge. I want to be on the cutting edge.

(00:14:14):
I don't want to get that far out, but I do like to stay pretty up to date and use the new technology when available.

Mark McCully (00:14:24):
So James, talk a little about the cow herd today. Roughly what have you grown to, you doing some ET work as well?

James Coffey (00:14:32):
Yep, we sure are. It's the largest it's ever been. My granddad with the tobacco crop. And like I said, the varied operations that we had in this area always ran about a hundred cows. We're up to about 400 some a little over, well, we'll run counting heifers and everything. And then we have our annual production sale in April. We'll run five to 600 females at all times. So we're doing everything gets AIed, all the registered cows get AIed at once. I don't run my ET program like a lot of people or a majority of people I guess I pick out my top 10, 12, whatever the number might be. Every season we calve spring and fall. So we'll flush those top cows. Actually this fall, I think it's like 25 cows we're going to flush. And so we will take those eggs out of those top cows, we'll put 'em into the lower end of the registered. And then commercial heifers too that we have that are part of our buyback program from our bull customers. So one of the best things I guess about the size of the farm and the acreage that has happened over the last few years is I've had first, about five years ago, one of my neighbors came to me and a friend of the family from multiple generations and he said, you're going to lease my farm? And I said, I am.

(00:15:53):
He said, yes you are. He said, I've got to get out of farming. He said, you're going to lease my farm. I said, okay. So then about two years later, my banker came to me and he said, I want you to lease my farm. He said, I can run it but I don't want to. He said, I want you to lease it. So when your neighbors come to you and ask you to lease their place, I think that's probably as good an endorsement as you can get.

Mark McCully (00:16:16):
Good compliment.

James Coffey (00:16:18):
So from an acreage standpoint, got a couple of leased farms and then the acreage to the farm has grown up over a thousand acres too. So it continues to grow, but sure does make you feel good for, we've been here a long time, the family has been, and for your neighbors to come to you and say that, that's always rewarding, I guess if not more than anything else. So in terms of our focus has always been on growth genetics in the east, all of our customers, not all high majority sell at weaning, pounds matter. So I've always focused on growth and now I'm seeing the downside of not focusing a little more on marbling 10 or 15 years ago because of as we harvest these cattle, got a group of 82 that came in last week, the Prime premium was 300 bucks. So the reason I didn't focus as much on marbling 10 or 15 years ago, and Angus breed focused on marbling to qualify for CAB, but 20, well I should go back 20 years ago, go, I guess there's a lot of high marbling bulls you didn't really want to look at.

(00:17:30):
They weren't the most pleasant animals to look at. So I always tried to balance some phenotype and then make sure I had the high growth with a phenotype. Nowadays you can get all of it. That's why one of the most rewarding, or not rewarding but greatest strides that the Angus breed I think has made is you've got these well-rounded animals now that would not look, some of them would not look out of place at the National Junior Show, but yet they've got top of the breed EPDs and we've really made strides across all facets of the beef production chain and the EPD power and the EPDs. Like I was using an example earlier of the $Beef example, my favorite or my saying about EPDs is they're better than they were yesterday, but they're not near as good as they'll be tomorrow. And that's true about all of them.

(00:18:26):
I remember we were on the board and the board, we approved $C. You had some members, man, they were kicking and screaming that they didn't want $C. But in actuality, as I use it every year to select AI sires or internally inside the herd, it's one of the greatest tools we've ever had for balancing all the traits. If they don't have a high $C, there's some deficiency in their EPD profile. That's probably something you don't want. The $C has been a huge summary, easy tool I guess. And it's easy for our bull buyers to migrate to something like that. These guys that don't are unwilling to devote the time to understand the entire EPD suite. They can go to a $C and not get hurt by certain aspects that might not be desirable in their herd. So that's the growth, our growth of our herd and improvement in our herd mirrors. A lot of the tools that come out of AAA, they really do. And I'm not paid for this endorsement. I mean I'm just a believer, we've used it. I can show you financial records, weaning records over the years and the tools have come out have been a tremendous asset to our program.

Miranda Reiman (00:19:50):
We're going to pause for just a moment here for something you're not going to want to miss.

Speaker (00:19:55):
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Miranda Reiman (00:20:20):
Now back to Kentucky. Hearing you talk about the numbers and thinking about your background as an accountant and as a business owner. I wonder how do you approach, I mean there's a lot of numbers out there. How do you sort through 'em all and make decisions? And I want to know how methodical you are about this.

James Coffey (00:20:38):
Well, very much so. That goes back to my point about not focusing on marbling, which now I'm kind of paying for because the bulls that I sold five years ago are siring the steers that we're feeding out now. So I wish I would've been able to focus more on marbling, but I just couldn't find those high marbling bulls that I wanted to use several years ago. So I focused, very diligent about focusing on the traits that mattered. And 20 years ago, that was weight, that was our customers sell by weaning, they wanted weight. So I focused on that. And then as our calf buyback program has evolved the last 15 years, obviously more on carcass traits for selfish reasons because if I'm going to buy 'em back, I want to maximize the dollars that we do here. And what it's allowed us to do these, I'm not sure what they're called now for our time, they were called convenience traits, maternal traits and convenience traits.

(00:21:35):
Those traits are, I've heard some people criticize 'em or some people say they're good ideas. I've seen all over the board, I guess observations. But I think they're phenomenal. And what they do is they allow us to stay out of the ditches. You start talking about udder scores, teat and udder and feet and hair shedding, all those allow us to stay out of the ditches. So when I look at an AI bull, some of those traits, I'm not going to use a bull that's in the higher percentiles, which is the wrong direction on those. Try to stay somewhere around breed average. And so as I was talking to Mark or made the comment a minute ago about some of these animals don't look out a place at the National Junior Show, I mean because they're that good with high EPDs, so try to stay in the upper percentiles on growth and carcass. And then on the so-called, used to be called convenience and maternal traits breed average because if you're staying at breed average, you're still plenty of good on those traits.

Mark McCully (00:22:35):
James, maybe give us a little bit of, I know this is the Angus Conversation, but you do have another business, I believe in Pitman Creek Wholesale. Maybe talk just a little bit about that, and I know you've had a lot of success there. I would think also helps you refine your business approach to the Angus business as well.

James Coffey (00:22:56):
No, absolutely. I've owned that company 33 years. I was a CPA for two and a half years, bought that, and it's been a crazy ride. Started out very small, had a couple of employees, and over the last three years, well not three years, probably six years of experience, we've grown consistently for 33 years, but the last six years have been phenomenal. It's been unbelievable. And this year is kind of the culmination in our industry of Pitman Creek arriving as the leader that actually the largest in our industry in our space. We bought a competitor three months ago, which was a very strong regional competitor around Great Lakes. And then one of our largest competitors was bought by private equity. I mean, that does bring up a very good point about that aspect, Mark that I'll expand on it in a minute. Our competitor was bought by private equity and they absolutely drove 'em in the ground.

(00:23:54):
They fought, they forgot who their customer was, they forgot who they were serving. And I mean, this was a really, really big company and they absolutely drove 'em in the ground and we've been the beneficiary of that. And so we've expanded. We've moved into a new warehouse five years ago. Today we have two warehouses, one in Wisconsin, one in Kentucky, and we've been able to absorb a lot of that business from our competitor. So we do business with everybody, Walmart, Dick's, Academy, Bass Pro, Cabela's, Shields, the farm and ranch chains, Rural King, Fleet Farm, Farm and Fleet, Big R. We do business with all those people. And it's been

Mark McCully (00:24:37):
Always fishing tackle?

James Coffey (00:24:38):
Yep. Yeah. Unique enough. It's a unique industry.

Mark McCully (00:24:47):
Were you a fisherman that pursued a hobby that turned into something really big?

James Coffey (00:24:51):
No, it was a business opportunity from that standpoint. Yeah, always like most rural people, I mean, I hunt and fish, love to hunt and fish, and now I have time for neither because I've got a bunch of cows to take care of. And I got a pretty good size business. Yeah, we're up over 200 employees, so yeah, I got plenty to do there. But one of the analogies I was going to draw there, and you asked about the business and applying it to the Angus industry and our operation, that company getting bought out by private equity, they forgot who their customer was. They were big business. It was a numerical game. It had nothing to do with servicing the customer. One of the things that we have throughout our entire building is committed to superior customer service. It's written about three foot letters in about four or five different places throughout our building.

(00:25:46):
Everybody in that building, I tell, well, both buildings now, I tell 'em when you go do anything, whatever you do, it has an effect on the customer. At some point, the customer will sell our product to make a profit, to pay their bills, to send their kids through school to pay their electric bill, to pay their phone bill, everything. So everything you do has an effect on our customers. And so that is the mantra that we try to live by every day. I think it's what leads us to our success. There's a lot of parallels, I think, and the way the Angus Association has been over the years has been a member driven organization. And that's one of the things that I think people, some breeders don't, or just cattle producers in general don't understand the migration to corporate. That can happen overnight. I mean, they do on the vertical integration, people understand that.

(00:26:48):
But how do you get to the vertical integration with the data and all that if that data gets concentrated in those public corporations, it's a whole different ball game than if it resides with AAA. And it's 180 degree different scenario. And that's why it's so valuable for AAA to continue to move forward, continue to provide the tools that they do. It's just vital for the longevity of the members and the longevity of the association. So you asked me about my company, but you got an answer about AAA and how I view, it's a little bit about how I view both, I guess.

Mark McCully (00:27:29):
Sure. Well, and I think taking care of the customer, taking care of the member, we always think of the member. We're member centric. We think of the member as the customer and any part of the entities, whether it's association or Angus Media or CAB or AGI, right? And making sure that that customer is successful, which is what you've done on your non Angus business, but also in your Angus business. Right?

James Coffey (00:27:56):
That's right

Mark McCully (00:27:56):
Your whole breeding philosophy is around your success of your commercial customers buying your bulls.

James Coffey (00:28:01):
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, our whole focus, and as I stated earlier, we're commercial focused and we publish it in our catalog. We want to maximize the value of our customers' calf crops. And so our bull business has exploded. We were selling, granddad always sold plus or minus 50 bulls a year. We're up to selling over 200 a year actually to where our bull demand's outstripped our supply. We've got, fortunate to have a great crew of people. I've got four full-timers and then a name that's known to a lot of people. Danny Lynn came on board a couple of years ago, so Danny and his son, they have 30 or 40 bulls a year, and we market those. And then Tim Dietrich is on board. He ran the Kentucky CPH 45 for 20 years at KDA. He retired and then came on board. But so our demand for bulls has outstripped our supply, and that's a good problem to have.

(00:29:00):
And so we always have a demand for bulls no matter what time of year, whether it's in sale or private treaty or what have you. And then the calf buyback's been a big part of that too. As I said, we want to maximize the value of our customers calves. We calculate, we use USDA Kentucky average, and then we add a premium to that. They're weighed on site when the customers deliver 'em here, it's grown out from started that 18 years ago and with just a few head, we had an outfit in northern Kentucky that was putting together some cattle and sending them out west. And so we started participating there. And then our big, I owe a big shout out to Bill Rishel too. I bought a group of heifers about 20 some years ago from Bill 25 years ago from Bill. Bill's the one that really piqued my interest in feeding cattle.

(00:29:53):
I mean, coming from Kentucky, and it's not uncommon, you've got a pretty narrow view of the beef industry. Put 'em on a truck and you sell 'em at weaning. That's about it. And as my friendships with Bill and Barb grew over the years, he really piqued my interest in the value and the importance of the entire beef chain. And so a few years after I bought those heifers, we started feeding cattle and just a few head, and it's grown now to where the last two years or a couple years, we're over a thousand head the last couple years that we've fed out there in Kansas. I put a pencil to it a few months ago and just estimated we've paid back over a hundred thousand dollars on calves to our bull customers. So that's real money when most of our customers are like the Kentucky average of about 30 cows per head.

(00:30:50):
You take in 15 steers, they're going to split 'em three or four ways at the yards. You're going to take a discount on probably every group. You might get one group that'll bring a pretty good premium, but you're going to take a hit on some of those. And with us paying average plus a premium, they're getting a fair price. And we figured that a lot of times we'll have some customers that'll take 'em to the yards, and whether they know it or not, we'll find out what they brought. We'll figure 'em. And our price is usually just as good, if not better than what they would've got, getting 'em at the yards or selling 'em at the yards. So it's really grown over the years.

Mark McCully (00:31:27):
You bring those calves into your place? Do you have a background in kind of a backgrounding yard? You get 'em put together and straightened out before you send 'em west?

James Coffey (00:31:38):
Optimally about 45 days. We've got three barns. I've got one time capacity of, oh, I'm at 1, 2 50, 3 50, about 400 head under roof. We had a terrible rainstorm when I was on the board in 98 or not 98, my decades run together. 2018 we had a terrible winter and 18 and then 19 followed up and was just as wet. And so I said, we've got to do better. So I built a barn, then I built another barn, then I built a third barn.

(00:32:10):
So now those barns have been in Kentucky where moisture is such a winter. Moisture in particular is such a problem. Just mud, let's call it mud is such a problem. Those barns have been a huge, animal welfare. Help us with animal welfare, put it that way.

Mark McCully (00:32:28):
Sure.

James Coffey (00:32:28):
Well, I'll give you an example. The 18, we had our fall bulls outside in a lot right beside where we built the barn. And those bulls gained zero for about 60 days. I mean, they held their own, but they didn't gain anything. And here we were coming into an April sale and my bulls aren't gaining anything. The next year. We had a very similar winter, as I said, 1920 I guess it was, and a very similar winter. And those bulls gained three and a half, so just keeping 'em dry. So animal welfare issue. And so those have been huge additions to the overall operation and allowing us to run more cattle. We don't raise cattle in there, but we use 'em strategically throughout times of the year. We've been in an extreme drought this summer, actually. We've got oh a couple hundred head under roof right now in the hopes. We did get some rain last week, hopefully that we'll be able to put 'em in there, feed 'em for 60 days, and then turn 'em back out on grass before Christmas or before the first of the year so they don't eat the pastures into the ground. We're able to utilize those at different times as needed.

Miranda Reiman (00:33:39):
So you've talked about the premium that it adds for your customers, but what value do you get. And also finding out how those cattle do, you said your view of the beef industry got larger. Did that also help?

James Coffey (00:33:51):
Absolutely.

Miranda Reiman (00:33:52):
Yeah.

James Coffey (00:33:52):
No, it was huge in our own operation and understanding the beef industry top to bottom and how it works. I mean, what it's boiled down to is just profit, the profitability for the farm. It is been huge. And my justification 20 years ago, 18 years ago when we started feeding cattle was if you're going to invest in genetics and health and backgrounding and all the things that we invest in, you ought to own 'em all the way to the rail. I mean, that's the only way you capture the full value of your cattle. And so that was one of the big motivations in starting to feed cattle. And it's really played out. And as it's evolved over the years, the last, well since Tim Dietrich came on, last four or five years, we've started DNA in all those years. I mean, I invest the money to DNA parentage.

(00:34:46):
And so those that parentage verified, those get turned into that data gets turned into the Angus Association. So then I know exactly. Plus it's also a check on my customers and make sure they don't buy two bulls from me and eight from somebody else for our bigger guys. So most of our customers have one bull, that's easy. Some of the guys have got 6, 8, 10 bulls. Well, I want to make sure they're getting 'em all here. So that data, watching that data, that analysis of the data as it comes in, and we provide all that back to our customers. So we buy their steers, we're giving 'em back the data so they're able to, if they choose, they can certainly use that and improving their herds and identifying the lower performing cows.

Mark McCully (00:35:28):
James, do you have any of your customers that after you fed their cattle a couple of years, they decide to go feed 'em themselves? Or are they pretty comfortable with the arrangement they've got with you?

James Coffey (00:35:37):
Yeah, overall they are comfortable with, it's a Kentucky Eastern mindset. They're comfortable with what they've got with us. I've got people that have sold cattle well over 10 years. Yeah, there's quite a few of 'em that have sold us cattle for 10 years and they have no desire to own 'em all the way. They know I'm making money, but they just don't want the risk and they don't. And you know in some situations, especially younger producers, they don't want to skip that paycheck.

Mark McCully (00:36:07):
It's cash flow

Miranda Reiman (00:36:09):
For the operating loan and yeah,

James Coffey (00:36:12):
Especially in this time, in that day and age of where cattle are worth what they're worth. So there's different reasons, but it's kind of an eastern mindset. They don't want to risk it. So I'm thankful for those that do, have hung with us for a long time. And there's quite a few of 'em. I don't think they'd sell their cattle any other way. So that's encouraging and we appreciate that. Yeah.

Miranda Reiman (00:36:34):
Was there a learning curve when you first started?

James Coffey (00:36:37):
Yeah, absolutely. Early on, once we got the load lights, probably 12 years ago, something like that, 12, 13 years ago, I was much, and that was before the barns, so I was much too quick to throw these cattle together, send them out there, and death loss was, I don't know, probably double one and a half times what it is now. And what we've found is a sweet spot is 45 to 60 days after those cattle are brought in and backgrounded, we try to get 'em to eight weights. So some of those, if we've got a bunch of fives and sixes, well they'll stay here even longer. But those sevens and up, they need to stay here 45 days. And that's kind of the sweet spot where you minimize your at least BRD death loss out there.

Mark McCully (00:37:22):
You mentioned that the tobacco settlement program, and I know that's been a real boost in a state like Kentucky, I think Tennessee, and maybe I know a few other states, maybe for our listeners that aren't familiar with that, maybe just a little glimpse into what that program is and how it benefits the producers that use it, but you as selling seedstock as well.

James Coffey (00:37:45):
Yeah, absolutely. And it probably started about, the buyout was in 2001, and I think it was 2002 or three that the cost share was rolled out, and it was very narrow when it started. One of the big things was in the beef side of all the cost share was just bull cost share. So you could get $1,500 toward a bull. Of course, that's been almost 25 years ago,

Mark McCully (00:38:11):
Had some EPD specs.

James Coffey (00:38:13):
Yes. And they had to meet the EPD specs for different categories if going to buy a heifer bull, they had to be about breed average for Angus. All the breeds, breed average to qualify for a heifer bull. Then if they wanted a high growth, it had to be in the upper 25th percentile or something and so forth.

(00:38:31):
And that's really one of the big reasons that allowed a lot of our producers to even know what EPDs mean, was about 25 years ago was the cost sharing. Everybody realized what EPDs mean. And oddly enough, about three years ago, they added the DNA component. They wanted the accuracy, UK wanted the accuracy piece of it, and Tennessee did too. I think Tennessee was first and then Kentucky followed 'em, so they got to be DNAed, so everybody can pronounce genomics now. So that was a big move forward for everybody. But going back 25 years ago, it's expanded since, but it started out with bulls and then a few years later it started to females where you could do pelvic checks and they had to meet the thresholds. And at that time, probably weight requirements and then cattle handling, that was one of the big things too. You could buy the low end chutes for $3,000 back then you get half of it cost shared. So just cattle handling of our producers being able to wean, vaccinate, do the things they should, a real, as I spoke to earlier in the conversation, it's been a real evolution the last 20 plus years for the positive for our beef industry. And it wasn't per producer, it wasn't enormous amount of money, but certainly it allowed them to give 'em motivation to go in the right direction.

Miranda Reiman (00:40:03):
And we'll be back after a quick word from Angus Media.

Speaker (00:40:08):
Ready to connect with some of the most progressive breeders in the industry? You can get your operation in front of one of the most engaged audiences by advertising on the next episode of the Angus Conversation. Take a quick 30 seconds to introduce your herd or spotlight an upcoming sale. Call Angus Media at (816) 383-5200 or talk to your regional manager to reserve your spot today.

Miranda Reiman (00:40:38):
Now let's jump right back in.

Mark McCully (00:40:41):
Now, does that apply today to genomic testing? And I know you've worked with your customers on GeneMax. Does that money apply to genomic testing of commercial heifers or not?

James Coffey (00:40:52):
I think it does. I think the program has expanded to the point now. I think they will, because it's been 20 some years. I don't, it's not quite as integral to selling bulls as it was 20 years ago. So I think that they do allow the GeneMax test. And we did, speaking of our own operation and adopt a new technology last spring and April, we tested over a hundred, 150 heifers. And to my knowledge, we were one of the first, if not the first, to have a sale with Gene Max heifers.

(00:41:25):
So we tested all those. We'd been testing them with another provider prior to that, but it was a no brainer when the GeneMax Advantage came out with the dollar indices, and that is trying to lead more of our customers toward, if you want to numerically differentiate the bulls, okay, you got five bulls picked out. If you want to numerically differentiate, here's the easiest way to do it. Well, now they can do that on the females. So that was a huge step in the right direction and we were glad to do that.

Miranda Reiman (00:41:56):
And you guys have been developing heifers for customers, right?

James Coffey (00:42:00):
Well, not specifically for customers, but part of our program. So although steer mates, we buy those back that we'll buy heifers or steers, we calve two seasons ,spring and fall. And so with our sale being in April, we will utilize the fall born heifers. When they come to yearlings, we use 'em as recips, and then those that don't take eggs, we will put those in the sale as fall bred heifers in April. Then the opens, we sell those. We'll usually have 125 of those in April, so they will sell, but then we offer to keep 'em 30 days and breed 'em one time AI. So as an added customer service, we'll keep 'em till the middle of May and synchronize 'em one time. AI, no charge. And that's been an added bump in the value of those heifers over the last, we've been doing it probably 10, 15 years, and it's a substantial bump in value on those heifers, I think for us to have that service.

Miranda Reiman (00:43:00):
Sure, if you got good conception rates, it makes the lottery or the gamble on that really a good thing.

James Coffey (00:43:08):
We get really good feedback. If a guy buys three heifers, well, that's a crapshoot. If the guy buys 12 or 24 heifers, well he's going to probably average out. And we get really good reports on conception on those heifers and the people very pleased with the calves that come from 'em. And actually the whole heifer buyback deal, we've evolved. I've got several customers who have got all of our genetics. They bought the females at the sale, they bought the bulle at the sale, and so they're smaller producers there. Again, they're not large, but they rely, that way they don't have to keep their own heifers.

(00:43:44):
We're providing that customer service as well. Okay, I'll just go over there and buy bred females. Or conversely, those commercial cows, if they don't take an embryo, they end up, if they're still age appropriate, they go in the sale as well. If they get bred to the bull.

Mark McCully (00:43:59):
What are you hearing from your commercial customer or maybe describe your commercial customer a little bit in that country. I mean, you mentioned earlier you handle a lot of smaller outfits, maybe looking for one bull or two bulls. What are they? Calving ease is always a pretty big priority, I assume in your country. Anything other trend-wise that you're picking up that your customers are looking for?

James Coffey (00:44:26):
Well, to describe our customers, our customer would mirror state customer breeder, average. I think it's down in the twenties. I think average breeder has 20 some cows, and by default, they just need one bull. And most of those guys have off-farm jobs. We've got a fair number of breeders across the state that have a hundred plus cows, but percentage wise, it would be extremely low. I think the number of cattle breeders, because I'm active with Kentucky cattlemen as well. I think we're at 30 some thousand people that have beef cattle in Kentucky or something. I mean, it's a huge number. There's 15,000 members of Kentucky Cattlemen, so a lot of people have cattle. They just don't have a lot of 'em. And so dealing with those, and the biggest trend that I'd say I've seen the last five years is a moderation of birth weight. It was always the bull, the cost share money drove that because all of a sudden they learned what calving ease meant because some of them weren't too sure about that. The cost share money ingrained the calving ease into 'em. So after all these years, I'm starting to see a moderation of that, even to the point of some people saying, well, I want a little more birth weight,

Mark McCully (00:45:48):
Taking a little more. Yeah.

James Coffey (00:45:50):
So that's been probably one of the larger widespread changes I've seen. Still not a lot of motivation for the other traits. BQA is big in our state. That was all part of the funding of the tobacco money. It funded a lot of those programs, so that's taken root and taken hold, and we've got really good cattle education programs. But still the biggest motivation among our customers is that check it weaning. I mean, that's what drives most everything. And so marbling's not a big driver. The carcass rates in general are not a big driver.

(00:46:29):
And the biggest thing probably for us is I think back over the last few years is our goal. They're talking about customer service. Our goal is to provide the best bull we can to our customers. We want them, that bull to sire a better calf crop than that customer had last year. I mean, that's the summation of it. If we can do that, we've done our job and that's what those customers are looking for. That's what brings them back to us is a customer service aspect. Really, they're just wanting a check at weaning. I mean, that's what a lot of 'em want. And if we can help them and assist them and take the risk out of it, if I go buy a bull from branch view, they're going to stand behind the bull. If he gets hurt in the first breeding season, I just take him back or get a vet statement and say, here's what happened to him, and they're going to take care of him. And so that means a lot to the, especially the smaller guys. They don't want to travel the country looking for a bull. They want to know who their supplier is.

Mark McCully (00:47:27):
Appreciate all of that perspective. I spent a little time in Kentucky before I got to CAB and working in the livestock marketing business there and feeder. I've always been fascinated with Kentucky, Tennessee, the amount of feeder cattle that are traded in that country. I mean, you've got some pretty big players that trade a lot of feeder cattle out of the southeast, all right there in that country and lots of,

James Coffey (00:47:53):
Lot of backgrounders

Mark McCully (00:47:54):
A lot of backgrounders.

James Coffey (00:47:55):
When you talk about volume and thousands of head of cattle, there's a lot of backgrounders. And that's what our extension agents are good at, telling us that the best thing Kentucky's got grass and what does grass do really well is it takes four and five weights to 6, 7, 8 weights on that aspect of the industry. That's really where a lot of the bigger players are in this country, in this area.

Mark McCully (00:48:23):
James, switching gears here a little bit. I guess I want to speak a little bit to have you speak to your time in terms of various leadership roles, but your time on the board, and again, you mentioned earlier you're on there for two terms and one of the things is I think about our timelines overlapped a little bit, so I got to watch you in the boardroom. One of the things I do know, you were always very passionate about the Foundation, served as chairman of the Foundation. Talk a little bit about where that passion came from specifically for Angus Foundation.

James Coffey (00:48:58):
Well, I think the passion for the reason I ran for the board, let's back up a little bit and it'll flow right into the Foundation. The reason I ran for the Board was, well, one, my regional manager got fired the week of my sale back about 12 years ago. And so I was aware there was a lot of turmoil on the Association at that time. I'd gotten several calls, Hey, you need to run for the board from past board members, people that knew people that I highly respected. And they said, yeah, you need to run for the board. And so as it evolved over the months and declared candidacy and ran for the board, so it was a passion for the Angus business, then it became a passion for running for the board. I mean, because out of obligation, really if I want to stay in this and hopefully one of my sons will end up taking this over and being the next generation here, it evolved into that. As I got on the board and we had some of the greatest cattle minds in our breed were on the board at that time. A natural fit for me became, Dave Nichols is one. We were having the post-convention board meeting and they said, Dave Nichols is, somebody nominate him for president, or however we did that at the time for chairman of Foundation. Dave said, Nope. He said, I nominate James Coffey. And I took that as a compliment. I hope it was from Dave. I always thought a lot of

Mark McCully (00:50:31):
I'm sure it was, yeah

James Coffey (00:50:32):
It was, yeah, Dave was a pioneer in so many ways. But Dave is the reason that I got to be chairman the first year and then the second year we were in the middle of all the changes. But when took over the Foundation, the AAA was funding the Foundation to a large sum to balance the books. The old saying, we were spending more than we were taking in at the Foundation. And it's been rewarding the last several years to the best of my knowledge and the financials that I've seen as the Foundation is running with a balanced set of books or to the positive on the operational side. So that's very rewarding that that structure was changed while I was chairman and the board had the foresight. We as a board had the foresight to do that and to change the structural makeup of the Foundation and put us on a good path. And I think we've got, as we deal with so many positions in the Association, my wife and I are very involved with FFA foundation in Kentucky. And the best people you can get are alumni, I mean, of the particular association. And we're in that situation with the Foundation today. We're in that situation with FFA foundation in Kentucky. Those are the most passionate people you can get that are alumni. And I think we're absolutely on the right path for the Foundation of where that's headed.

Miranda Reiman (00:51:56):
I am sure that, I mean, when I hear you talk about that, it's a very business-like approach. I am sure that your business and accounting background also helped you in the boardroom.

James Coffey (00:52:06):
Oh, absolutely. Well, more than once I got cornered as I was going into the board the first year and they said, Hey, you need to look into this. You need to look into that. You know, just from an understanding standpoint, where did the money come from? Where did the money go? There was nothing wrong with what was going on. I am not insinuating that. But I did have people who wanted, encouraged me, said, Hey, you need to look there. And the Foundation was one of those because AAA was funding. I mean, that's a well-known fact. AAA was funding the Foundation to balance the books. We had some other areas that were not as operationally lean as they could have been. And so I'm not saying that I did it, I'm just saying I had a financial background and understanding. Then I could go to the other guys and say, well, here's what I see. And then we could go to the CFO and say, is this right? Are we seeing this correctly? So it helped, Miranda, I guess it helped with the understanding as much as anything. It was very valuable, my background on the board for that understanding of what was really happening. And then when you had those conversations in the hall at convention, the guy says, well, what about this? What about that? Well, I can speak from a knowledgeable standpoint of this is what's really is happening.

Miranda Reiman (00:53:27):
Sure. When I think about your leadership and I think about running a business and running an Angus business, the question I want to know is how do you do all that? How do you balance all those responsibilities? Keep everything going at the high level?

James Coffey (00:53:41):
I got three shifts. I got at the farm in the morning till whatever, till noon, or as long as it takes. And then I go to my second job and then I come back home and it's third shift of whatever needs to happen. Sometimes that's AHIR. Sometimes that's breeding records, sometimes that's company financials. So I run pretty well, three shifts. My wife comes from a business background, and so she fully understands, has good understanding. So that's a valuable part of the equation as well. And then my son's back. I can't say about the business part, fortunately or unfortunately, he's not back at the farm. He's in the business. And my oldest son, he's 28 and has been an integral part of the business for about the last four years now. He went out and got some outside experience and has been fabulous in the business. So that's a big help on that side of things for me. And then we've got a little one here at home, LuAnn and I do, and maybe one of these days he, he's already starting, he can drive tractors. He's 10, but he can drive tractors and starting to do all the things on the farm. So he's getting some good experiences there.

Miranda Reiman (00:54:49):
I am understanding why you don't have time to fish anymore though, hunting.

James Coffey (00:54:54):
Or hunt. I love it as most, most farmers and ranchers are. They love the outdoors, but they don't have time to do it. No,

Miranda Reiman (00:55:04):
Absolutely.

Mark McCully (00:55:05):
So James, when you think about the future of this business, the Angus business, the beef business, what things are, you've got a very unique perspective, what things are you most optimistic about? What things are you most excited about?

James Coffey (00:55:18):
The technology where we've been able to go, just in my lifetime, mean, that's hard to say. When you feel like as most people, I feel like I'm 30 years old. Well, I'm not 25 years worth of or whatever, about 35 years in this business. I've been in the business a long time. It's hard to believe. But in my lifetime, to see the technology evolve over time has been amazing. And to help the profitability, I mean, there's some pretty good producers out there who had their eye on the ball. Bill Rishel, one of 'em. But there's some others that are still going today that are going strong and they're reaping the rewards of that $300 Prime premium that we were talking about earlier. They're reaping it on like 80 and 90% of their load lots. That's what's encouraging is that technology that allows us to produce animals that'll do that.

(00:56:17):
But now, and we touched on it earlier, the convenience traits or the maternal traits and those other descriptive traits that keep us out of the ditches to produce the best animal we can. So it minimizes the chances for bad feet, bad udders, an animal that won't shed, you don't need to use the top 1% on those traits. I don't need every cow in the herd to shed off at the green up of spring, but I sure enough, don't want her to carry a winter coat into July and August. So all those traits get me are the most exciting thing I think about how well we can use those today. But then at the same time, growing up in the Angus business, the Angus breed association, is the only breed association I've really been associated with my entire life, is that data. I'm not even on the board.

(00:57:10):
I really don't from that standpoint, I don't have a dog in that fight anymore, but I'm still a member. And the longevity of the Angus Association is a concern when you've got all these for-profit entities out there that would like to have that data, or they're doing DNA tests and they're representing that data and those percentiles, they may not say it but they're insinuating that, well percentiles are just as good as those percentiles. Well, that's not factual, but they're not saying it, but they're insinuating it. And to the guys that don't know any better, they don't know. So that's a big concern of mine is for the longevity of our association. And I think the association's done phenomenal with the focus on bringing value to the commercial cattleman. We've always, as an association from the outside looking in, and then when I was on the board and now I'm back to outside looking in, as an association, we've always kept the commercial cattlemen in mind and the profitability of that commercial cattleman. And as long as we do that and we lead, we can't just be resting our say, well, we've got enough EPDs. We're not going to come out with any more EPDs. That would be the absolute wrong approach. We've got to continue to look at new technologies and how do we make that commercial guy more profitable?

Miranda Reiman (00:58:31):
Kind of leads right back into your equity firm buying the other competitor and not, it's a full circle podcast there.

James Coffey (00:58:39):
Yeah, I mean, absolutely. It's the member association driven, bringing solutions to the members, and then by inherently in that you're bringing that profitability to the commercial customer.

Mark McCully (00:58:53):
Sure. What do you think will be most different in your business or maybe more importantly, your customers' business in five to 10 years?

James Coffey (00:59:05):
In the cattle business?

Mark McCully (00:59:07):
Yes. Yes. Yeah, I should, you've got multiple businesses. I should be more specific there. Yeah.

James Coffey (00:59:12):
I mean, what, the biggest thing I think is we're losing producers.

(00:59:19):
When you watch I, I'm on Facebook to observe and for a business point, sometimes my wife says, no, you're just trolling. No, I really am on there for business. I like to see what everybody's doing because a lot of our, both customers in both my businesses are on Facebook with their businesses. And so I follow and I see what's going on. And it's amazing when you watch the stockyards posting how many dispersals there's been in the last two years because of these high cow prices. It's amazing. The people that are of any age really, it doesn't have to be 60 and 70 year olds. The number of cows that I've seen dispersed has been amazing. So it is concerning, the high prices, the market has worked appropriately. We've got the lowest cattle numbers since some time in the fifties. They've been able to make up some of the tonnage with carcass weights, but not all of it and earned some months I guess I can, but not all months. So the prices hopefully will lead to a rebuilding of the herd at some point. But I'm not sure we've seen it yet. I don't think the metrics are showing us that the rebuilding has started. So when I look at my customers, who's going to buy my bulls, I mean, is somewhat of a concern. I like where we are positioned as an operation, as an outfit, but you've got to always have those new customers and it is a concern of who's going to get out there and do the work. There's always the talk about the younger generation. They don't want to work as hard. Well, I don't know that we're not really seeing that in real time. A little bit right now. If you're in a generational deal, it's fine. A lot of those will continue on, but there's no new people coming into agriculture or at least into cattle producing, like there have been years past maybe. So I mean, that's what locally in the east in Kentucky, it's the decline of the number of producers. You hope the high prices will keep sufficient numbers of producers going.

Mark McCully (01:01:26):
Right, right. Incentivize, and again, do what the market's supposed to do and incentivize some more production. But you're right, it's going to be, I'm sure you've seen ground come out of grass and get into crops and things that probably is not going to be getting converted back. So we need to make

James Coffey (01:01:42):
Sure, I'll say whether they act on it or not. Talking about social media and information is at our fingertips nowadays. So producers are better informed than they've ever been. They know whatever issue it is, they are better informed. Do they act on it? Not so much in the East. I've said it many times. They're worried about that check at weaning, but they are much more informed. So will we see a gradual shift toward retaining ownership longer or at least holding them to yearlings or something like that? Maybe. I don't know. I have not seen that yet. But I will say our producers are much better informed than they've ever been.

Miranda Reiman (01:02:23):
You bet. And don't you think in some cases that the technology that's available today has sort of maybe leveled that playing field a little too for producers in your area to maybe have the same information that big outfits out west would have on bigger numbers than some of that too?

James Coffey (01:02:39):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, anybody can access any genetics that they want to access at an affordable price. I've had, we went through those discussions in the boardroom. We were talking about AI certificates and things. People said, oh, they'll corner the market on genetics. And then we had, I remember distinctly some $C conversations I had with members, well, it's going to narrow the gene pool. Well, none of that came to fruition. I mean, we've got probably, in my estimation, it would take somebody at AGI to verify, but I'd say it's probably the broadest gene pool that we've had in years in terms of, it's not concentrated in certain sire lines like it might've been 25 years ago, 25, 30 years ago. Everything had New Design and Precision, and we are so far away from that nowadays that it's not even close. Miranda, to your question, the information is available to anybody that wants to use it.

(01:03:42):
Nobody has a monopoly on different technology or sire lines. Talking about the AI certificates. Some people were worried, well, people would buy bulls and then they would not provide access to the rest of the breed. Well, there's a lot of bulls that have got a lot of numbers that are really close. The whole breed, rising tide rises all boats. And so we've got a lot of bulls that are compatible. I think anybody trying to buy a bull and take him out of service and using for limited use is that's not a long-term profitable solution, which by default would be to the detriment of the rest of the membership. I just don't see that happening. I don't see that on a large scale.

Miranda Reiman (01:04:27):
So we've covered a lot of ground tonight. We've talked about your customers, we've talked about your background. Is there anything that we haven't covered that you were hoping we get to before I ask my random question of the week?

James Coffey (01:04:39):
Random question of the week? No, not that I know of. I think we've kind of bounced all the way around the operation and very far out of it on some topics.

Miranda Reiman (01:04:51):
Sounds good. Well, my random question of the week, I want to know, when you were growing up farming with your grandpa, what chore or activity did you do on the farm that made you, I guess, defy his advice to not come back and farm?

James Coffey (01:05:09):
Well, all of it. I'll tell you that one of the most impactful experiences, and it was a repetitive experience that kind of helped shape me even all these years later, is we had an acre lot where I kept my show heifers and it had a pond in the middle. So I would come in, I'd feed 'em of the morning, I'd come in at three o'clock in the afternoon. So this time of year, we've been in the nineties, it's almost October. So I'd come in to get my show heifers up and try to, it was hot then apparently that summer too. So I'd chase 'em around that pond trying to get in the barn. They would not come to feed because they'd already eaten. And it was about two hours before I was going to feed 'em that night. And I vowed then and there that I would have excellent facilities whenever I started making decisions for the farm.

Miranda Reiman (01:05:58):
Do you still have that pond?

James Coffey (01:06:00):
We still have the pond, but there is no fence around it. We've moved the cattle working facilities over to the side. And so now we have about eight or nine different chute locations with working facilities and pens. And so anyway, but to go back to your question, that was a side chute. That's one of those things that stuck with me for all these years is like, I'm going to make a decision about that specifically. And that was good working facilities,

(01:06:28):
But like so many people in our industry and our breed, is just being, I started following my granddad around when I was four or five. I mean, I was little and just the whole experience, it was every bit of it. Just enjoyed it. I enjoyed the tobacco even though it's been 25 years since we've raised the crop. I enjoyed that. And just the family, it's all those aspects that so many people in our industry enjoy, the family and the hard work and the rewards of that hard work, that's what it all boils down to.

Mark McCully (01:07:02):
Awesome.

Miranda Reiman (01:07:03):
Yeah. Nodding my head in agreement. I love that.

Mark McCully (01:07:07):
Well, James, we sure appreciate you jumping on here. We've taken you late into the evening here, but it's really been an enjoyable to get caught up. Someone I always admired when had the opportunity to watch you in the boardroom, always a very thoughtful board member and someone that always, always checked your ranch hat at the door and always came to that board table with the full membership in mind. And I always appreciated that and with a very analytical approach to the business side of what we do as well. And so just fun to hear you talk about your story and all the good stuff you're doing there and the great state of Kentucky and all the success you're having. So thanks for sharing with us.

James Coffey (01:07:48):
Greatly appreciate it, Mark. And I'd encourage you and Miranda to keep up the good work. You all are doing a phenomenal job of stewarding the Angus Association into the future. And I admire the outlook of, as my wife says, not on the bleeding edge, on the cutting edge. And that's a great place to be is right there leading this association forward and greatly appreciate everything that you all do.

Miranda Reiman (01:08:16):
And that's a wrap on another fun episode to see what the Angus Journal team has been seeing. Be sure to follow us on your favorite social platform, Angus Journal on Facebook, Instagram, and X, and now Angus Media on TikTok. You'll see special behind the scenes coverage and never seen anywhere else, video clips and photos. Until next time, this has been The Angus Conversation, an Angus Journal podcast.