Blueprints & Bloodlines... Featuring Joe Rathmann

Summary

EmpowerU Podcast: Season 4, Episode 9 - "Blueprints & Bloodlines" Featuring Joe Rathmann

Release Date: August 8, 2025

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Introduction

In the ninth episode of Season 4 of EmpowerU, hosts Weston Hendrix and Luke Domingue welcome Joe Rathmann, a seasoned professional in the livestock industry. With a rich background in cattle breeding, showing, and coaching, Joe shares his journey, insights, and expertise, offering valuable lessons for individuals looking to excel in the livestock sector.

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Joe Rathmann's Background and Journey

[00:03-02:50]

Joe Rathmann introduces himself as a lifelong cattleman from Bastrop, Texas. Growing up as the youngest of three siblings, Joe was immersed in the family business of raising club calves, which served as the sole income source for his parents. His passion for livestock led him to Blinn College, where he honed his skills in livestock judging, and later to Texas A&M University. After completing his education, Joe returned to Blinn to coach alongside Brandon Callis before ultimately moving back to his family's property to run the cow herd with his wife, Joellen, and their son, Brig.

Notable Quote:

"We run the cow herd there on that place, raising club calves and trying to make a living at it." — Joe Rathmann [02:50]

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Evolution of the Livestock Industry

[02:50-06:26]

Joe discusses the significant changes in the livestock industry over the years. From his early days focused on basic cattle care, the industry has evolved with advancements in agricultural science, grazing techniques, and genetic improvements. He highlights the increased quality of show steers, attributing it to technologies like embryo transfer, which have democratized access to high-caliber genetics.

Notable Quote:

"The quality of the cattle has increased rapidly... everybody has a shot to raise higher percentage or create a higher percentage chance to raise the really, really good cattle." — Joe Rathmann [04:30]

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Genetics and Breeding Strategies

[06:26-35:15]

The conversation delves into the role of genetics in cattle breeding. Joe emphasizes the importance of selecting bulls that enhance structural integrity and performance consistency. He discusses his experiences with different sires, such as "Uptown," and the challenges of maintaining a balance between physical traits and economic viability. Joe also touches upon the complexities of embryo selection and the potential of genomic advancements in predicting calf performance.

Notable Quote:

"Make livestock as wide as you can and still structurally sound. That's number one goal." — Joe Rathmann [33:07]

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Building and Managing a Successful Operation

[35:15-50:06]

Joe shares his journey of transitioning from coaching to managing his own club calf operation. He attributes his success to seven years of experience in evaluating livestock and understanding diverse breeding practices across the country. Joe discusses the expansion of his operation through partnerships, such as with a cousin for co-op purposes, allowing him to increase his herd size and improve genetic diversity. He also addresses the economic challenges of running a livestock operation, emphasizing the importance of sustainability and financial planning.

Notable Quote:

"I spent seven years driving around evaluating the things that I needed and studying and researching all of the things that I needed to learn." — Joe Rathmann [21:08]

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Challenges in the Club Calf Industry

[50:06-56:24]

Joe identifies key challenges facing the club calf industry, particularly the rising costs of entry and operation. He points out that the financial burden of starting and maintaining a show cattle program is substantial, making it difficult for newcomers to participate. Joe also discusses the need for breeders to focus on producing economically viable cattle without compromising on quality. Additionally, he highlights the psychological stresses ranchers face, balancing daily operational challenges with long-term goals.

Notable Quote:

"If you're not clearing twenty-five hundred dollars on what you try to raise as a club calf, you're probably just barely breaking even on the deal." — Joe Rathmann [49:15]

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Private Treaty Sales vs. Online Sales

[42:49-45:59]

The hosts and Joe explore the differences between private treaty sales and online sales. Joe expresses a preference for private treaty sales, citing the ability to build personal relationships with buyers and ensure that cattle are matched with suitable families. He emphasizes that private treaty sales align better with his operational pace and provide a more controlled and satisfying selling experience compared to the often impersonal nature of online auctions.

Notable Quote:

"I like being able to walk out with a family and be like, what are you capable of?" — Joe Rathmann [44:10]

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Youth Involvement and Mentorship

[56:30-61:29]

Joe underscores the importance of early involvement of youth in livestock activities. Drawing from his own experiences, he emphasizes that engaging children in cattle showing and management fosters confidence, responsibility, and character development. Joe advocates for a family-oriented approach to livestock projects, ensuring that young participants receive adequate guidance and support to thrive both personally and professionally.

Notable Quote:

"Socially, stock showing has vastly improved from where it was. We're pushing youth to do sales talks, speeches, and other contests to build character." — Joe Rathmann [60:00]

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Industry Insights and Future Outlook

[61:29-75:37]

Towards the end of the episode, Joe shares his excitement for the upcoming Texas major show season, highlighting the importance of experienced judges like Scotty Griner and Blake Nelson in elevating show standards. He discusses the evolving criteria in judging, advocating for a focus on future potential rather than just present attributes. Joe also touches upon technological advancements and their impact on grazing management and livestock performance.

Notable Quote:

"When you judge prospect shows now, you're just being open-minded. There's a number of cattle capable of winning that day." — Joe Rathmann [52:45]

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Personal Reflections and Motivation

[75:37-77:04]

In a heartfelt conclusion, Joe reflects on what motivates him daily. He credits his son, Brig, as a primary source of inspiration, providing him with purpose and positivity. Joe discusses the mental challenges of ranching, emphasizing the importance of focusing on daily tasks and celebrating small victories to maintain momentum and resilience.

Notable Quote:

"Brig empowers me to be better. He needs me, and that makes me feel important." — Joe Rathmann [73:17]

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Closing Thoughts

The episode wraps up with a Bible verse from Isaiah 41:10, reinforcing the theme of perseverance and divine support. Hosts Weston Hendrix and Luke Domingue express their gratitude to Joe Rathmann for sharing his invaluable experiences and insights, highlighting the episode as one of their favorites due to its depth and relevance.

Closing Quote:

"Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God, and I will strengthen you and help you." — Isaiah 41:10

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Key Takeaways

1. Genetic Advancements: Modern technologies like embryo transfer have revolutionized cattle breeding, enhancing the quality and consistency of show steers.

2. Economic Sustainability: Rising costs in the livestock industry necessitate strategic financial planning to ensure the viability of operations.

3. Personal Relationships in Sales: Private treaty sales offer a more personalized and controlled approach compared to online sales, fostering better breeder-buyer relationships.

4. Youth Engagement: Involving youth in livestock activities is crucial for developing future leaders and sustaining the industry.

5. Daily Resilience: Focusing on daily tasks and celebrating small successes helps ranchers manage the inherent stresses of the industry.

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This episode of EmpowerU provides a comprehensive look into the challenges and triumphs of running a successful livestock operation, enriched by Joe Rathmann's personal experiences and professional insights. Whether you're a seasoned cattleman or new to the industry, the discussions offer valuable lessons on genetics, economics, mentorship, and personal resilience.

Transcript

[Weston Hendricks]

Welcome to season four of Empower youw and I'm your host, Weston Hendricks. And I developed this platform alongside my team with the objective of aiding to your interests as an individual in the livestock industry. Our goal is to empower you while gaining insights and trust and consuming it from some of the most significant people in our industry. With that said, a new episode is released every Friday with a sneak peek available on social media platforms a day prior to. So as usual, thank you for tuning in and enjoy the episode. Here's to empowering you. All right guys, so this is going to be episode nine, season four for empower you. We finally got Luke back. He's been back for just one episode here so far and we're pretty happy. He's been trying to be a big steer jock or whatever. He thinks he's good at smoking back legs. But anyway, now I'm fairly excited about the guest we have today, Mr. Joe Rathman. And gonna be completely honest with you, I've been wanting to get Joe on for quite some time now, but it's been at the back of my head and. And we were at Blend camp and me and Luke were sitting there, the side panel just listening to Joe talk about this class of heifers that he had there for campers. And Luke looks over at me and he said, hey, we got to get this guy on at some point. And so we found a hole for this season and we just said, you know what, let's just do it. And so Joe, we're very, very happy that you came on. I know Luke is as well. I think the questions are awesome. But before we dive into all of those, I want you to introduce yourself for the listeners to get to know you a little bit.

[Joe Rathman]

Awesome, man. I'm excited too. I looking forward to kind of dive in on everything here. So yeah, no, my name is Joe Rathman. I. I grew up outside of Bastrop, Texas. So we're kind of south Central Texas where we're at and our background, I've got an older sister and I got an older brother and I was the youngest by a pretty long shot. And our background has been just raising club calves since I was born. It's been my parents sole income source. It's just raising a show steer herd. Grew up showing plenty and then went on to Blinn College judging on the livestock judging team there and then at A and M. And once I finished at A and M, got the opportunity to come back and kind of fill the spot that Brandt Poe had created here at BLINN. And got to coach alongside Brandon Callis that first year here at Blinn. And then after that coached for seven years. Seven years and finally gave that up. Got to move back home to a piece of property that we bought whenever I was a 10 year old that we were running cows on. And now currently Joellen, my wife and my son Brig, we, We run the cow herd there on that place. And that's what we're doing is just raising club calves and trying to make a living at it.

[Luke]

Sweet. Sweet. So that's what it sounds like. Kind of. You've been in the industry and dealing with cattle majority of your life. So now that you're kind of a little more experienced in it, I guess I could say kind of growing up showing wise and maybe even just the cattle industry as well. How is maybe has it changed or kind of grown from how it kind of was then towards how it is now? Because I know it. It's a lot different in a bunch of different ways.

[Joe Rathman]

It has changed a bunch. So like, I like that you ask it about maybe just like cows in general. Like, yeah, so I grew up as a kid just work. I mean, we'd work and I was in and out of, you know, taking care of stuff. And so I have that background about pulling calves. Man. I can tell you a story about pulling the calf I, I that we raised that was reserve grant at the state fair of Texas, right. Like as a kid, I was, I was a sixth grader whenever I showed it, right? And I remember pulling this gigantic calf. A cow had to weigh 120 pounds, you know, like he's probably gained 20 pounds since I, you know, since then telling the story. But, but that part of it is kind of funny too because I feel like the science of what we do from an agricultural standpoint has just greatly increased. Right. Like just way past a bunch of what we're doing. It's fun to kind of bounce things back with my father and tell him like, hey, this is what I'm thinking about doing. And he's like, I never heard of ever doing that. And I was like, well, the research is back out. That is, you know, and we've changed a whole bunch around here as far as grazing what we do. Just kind of like with a rotation and stuff like that. A lot of that's changed. But the, the show world, probably a big part of it. I think the biggest change just like from show steers has got to be just the, the quality of the cattle has increased rapidly. Right. Like we've highly adapted embryo transfer work and it's just blown things out of the water. I feel like is. Is everybody has a shot to raise higher percentage or create a higher percentage chance to raise the really, really good cattle. Right. Like, if you ever go back and look at pictures, the stuff I won with is probably just junk now for the most part. Right. You know, and it was good then. Yeah. And so it's those, those cattle you see that won in the early 2000s. You see those backdrop pitchers and then what they look like now, like that's progressed. But if I can remember. Well, I honestly think probably what like that middle 50% of the classes and the quality of the cattle, like that's what's changed the most. That has increased more. Right. There's not a tier of only these calves really have a phenotypic chance to be able to make the sale or to get a banner like it kind of used to be in that percentage might be maybe a quarter of the class. You know that, that was it. Right. Three fourths of the class really didn't stand a chance once you got in there. But now I think three fourths of the class, it does stand a chance. Right. And like more cattle are started that are sure enough good to make it in there. And so to me, the challenge of now you can't give up any little step, right. Like, if you think there is something you can improve, you better improve it. Right. You better be on top of that. I felt like we used to be able to feed cattle a little more defensively. Don't let the problems, you know, try to get too big. Now if you're not maybe being a little more offensive and trying to make your best parts even better, you may not be as progressive as what you want to be. So that's probably the biggest change. Just, just the depth of quality and in, in that competitiveness that maybe drives like the, the, the detail orientation of what you just how, how strict you have to be about exactly what you're doing, you know, to make things go right.

[Luke]

So one thing I want to add in real quick. I've been hearing a bunch of talk on the, on the genomic side even like maybe on like the commercial cattle side or even, I guess kind of even getting into the show cattle world on how they can even like start to study the embryos themselves and tell which calves are going to be like, should be better.

[Joe Rathman]

Yeah.

[Luke]

I think isn't that crazy how far that's came?

[Joe Rathman]

Absolutely. The game changer of being able to pull genetics On a. On an embryo early on in stage and be like, oh, well, you know, like, he tests well for this and across the board, you know, like, hey, that's a high percentage mating and pull it, you know, or. And let it sit. Or say that, man, that was no good. Let's. Let's. Let's slough her and let's move on. Yeah, I think I've thought about that for a long time. That's a crazy idea that maybe when it comes to. Or. Or better yet more practical in the club calf world, just breed th. On pha. On ds, right. Just slam it all together and then go through and test all those things and be like, well, here's the deformities. Slough all those deformities out, and then what you're left with, you know, like, there's. There's people with probably a lot deeper pockets and. And. And more ambition than me. They're kind of doing that, you know, and. But they're taking the hit for it. You imagine if we. We were able to figure that out ahead of time to get rid of that. I think that could be very interesting.

[Weston Hendricks]

Very, very interesting. I'm anxious to see where the flushing environment goes in the next 10 years, because, I mean, we even did a podcast with Will Winners, and we'd asked him, hey, how far away are we from, like, flushing hogs? He's like, we're closer than you think. And that excites me as well. Like, how crazy the barrel world in just in general could expand after that. Like, that amazes me already trying to.

[Joe Rathman]

Crank out multiples on a. On a sow. Yeah. But on the cow side, the. The deal was important to do. Right on sals. I can't imagine the. The progression you can make, how fast it could happen.

[Weston Hendricks]

Absolutely. Yeah. Well, now that we've talked about maybe a little bit of your high school career, I want to know how that led to blinn college and then A and M, and then you end up going back to blend to be a coach and maybe talk to us about, you know, the differences of being a student and then a coach and maybe how the two impacted you as a whole.

[Joe Rathman]

And so that's a lot. That's a lot to throw probably into just a whole answer here. Okay. But in a. In the gist of it is I got hooked into livestock judging mostly through my brother Ryan, because at the time that I was probably fairly impactful of middle school, early high school age, he was at A and M and finished up his career in Coaching and I started to do a little bit of lifestyle judging. But locally here, we didn't have necessarily any support for it and I didn't necessarily have a team. And my brother said, just don't worry about it. Just don't worry about lifestyle judging in high school. You know, you're going to want to later on and to do that, just leave it alone. You'll have plenty of time. If you make it to a juco. You can have. You can be able to educate yourself and you can catch up. Catch right up. Won't be any issue. So honestly, that's probably the biggest reason why I wound up at Ajuco is. Is my. My brother saying, hey, in this position he was in, this is what you ought to be doing. He didn't necessarily push that. It just was at Blend. But where we grew up here, we're just an hour away from the campus. And so it was a great fit. Really up and coming at the time. Po Poe had really geared down right then the years before we came in and we had a really awesome team over here and it. And so that's where that kind of stuck. And that probably stuck with me. Why when I went to A and M and judged, I enjoyed that experience. I liked kind of the big feel of things of like fit you, you were already in the mood of or mode of judging competitively. And then it was a little bit more of just honing in the small things and trying to gear for one. One contest rather than the whole for the year, which can make a big difference. But honestly, I always, always just wanted to go back to Blend. That's what I. What I had enjoyed the most. It was. It was a huge impact to leave home and to find a really solid family that liked all the things that I liked right in a livestock judging team there at Blen. And just the way you got to incorporate your daily life of living in those apartments with livestock judging almost every single day. And then, well, your classwork kind of came in there and fit in. And everything began at a point where most of us were pretty ignorant kids and we didn't know a lot and we did a lot of learning that way. And to me, that was so impactful that I like the education part of things. I enjoy trying to work through how to get someone to understand something in their own way so that they can apply that later. And so I probably fit with my style of what intrigued me better in an early, you know, like in and trying to coach kids earlier in their career to build from More of an education standpoint. So yeah, Poe definitely was the. Was a huge impact there on, on making sure all that work because I got to be at A and M and then also work on the Masters and, and just help with coaching the. The team there as the assistant and, and that worked out great and pretty much just kind of stair steps us right into hey, this is what we're going to do. So we're going to make it. Make it easy. Make it an easy transition to make that happen thereafter.

[Luke]

So now that you. I mean, I know, I know we all know that you're pretty competitive and successful and in judging and coaching and a lot of what you do now. So now I want to talk about do you find success is maybe like something each person can have different. I know a lot of people's. In their mind success can kind of range from a bunch of different things, whether it's like a contest or coaching or even maybe something in life. Or do you find success to be similar to a goal or does that or do they kind of vary a little bit?

[Joe Rathman]

I. I'd say again the ignorant word, right? Like when I've probably looked at my show career and showing success was winning the big show, that was it, right? Like there was this clearly defined goal of that's what we're accomplishing and, and we worked at that and that maybe led into when we started being. When I started judging at. At Blend. Success was that banner, right? Like fitting that, you know, and you're maybe just a little. I honestly probably moving into A M. I matured significantly in those two years right in that transition just from my life hit me in a different way, right? Like I had to focus more on the way that I was handling my schoolwork and what I was doing there and just relationship wise with all my friends and everything, it made me focus a little bit more. Like hey, I don't necessarily have to be first at everything I do to feel like I'm successful in what can improve me there. And I think some of that maturity helped out a lot. Now I won't say that I lost that. I lost that immediately when I went back to coaching because it was like, hey, we have to win, we got to win. We got to go across the stage last, right? Like that's where we got to be. We got to be the last people standing up there where the last name called and that's what they got to remember, right? Like that was success in. And to be honest, man, that first year we got our butts whipped right Like, I mean, badly. And it was, it was a tough year to try to figure that out. And I started learning a little more about, like, hey, we gotta. I gotta improve the kids mental capacity to handle this kind of stuff, right? Like, and to start a better situation of, hey, we can throw success or a goal out there. Like, hey, our goal is to finish the year as an All American and have won a couple of contests. That goal probably is very different from success. Yeah. Like in, in what we finished at the end. An improvement situation, if you're. You're best at improving everybody a little bit than the team as a whole has improved immensely. Right. Like that's, It's a. It's a multiplication factor. We improve every little, Every kid just a little bit. The team as itself as a whole really, really, really improves. Now, I, I could go from saying more successful about my coaching career is being. I can think of some kids that came to me to get recruited that I didn't know who they were before, and I'm gonna pick on a couple of kids. So, like Connor Hardy. Ida had no idea who this kid is, right. And if you know him, he's still quiet, little short, little redheaded boy, right. I'm gonna call him that. But he's kicking ass, man. He's getting after it. He's involved in all things. He's a highly competitive area for steers and working with a lot of people. And when I met him, when I got introduced to him, it was by his parents at a TUSA showmanship clinic. Right. And I hadn't really seen the kid before. They came up to me and said, hey, our son Connor would absolutely love to come livestock judge for you. I didn't make. I didn't necessarily have a spot or scholarship money or anything, but they were fairly persistent about it. And I was like, I don't know what I'm about to do with this inner city Houston kid to try to figure this out, because that's what, that's what it was at the time. Yeah. Well, long story short, we got him on the team. Yeah. And he wound up being a staple in the group about how good he was at being a teammate. Right. Like, what he learned, he made everybody else learn. What he progressed in, he made everybody else progress in. And like, to me, I have that. And Austin Naumann, I probably wouldn't have known before. And I. And he's the same thing, just kicking around. He's about to be the, the, The Keystone down in Jade, livestock over there at Mason and. And kick Things off, be competitive in a whole bunch of. Multitude of different rings and stuff In Austin, same thing. East Texas kid with the, you know, father. It's a principal like that and everything. And I had no idea, man. And. And just giving that opportunity, probably, I. I look back on those things probably as the most successful part of a lot of what we did there, and I could come up with a whole bunch more of them, you know, that made it seem like that. Now my success shoe, I want to say it's like, raise better cattle. Keep raising competitive cattle and doing that. I'm going to be honest. There's a lot of days when you're ranching and just doing this that I. When I finish the day, I'm like, I'm done with the day. That was success. Yeah. Like, I finished. I made it to the end. And it, like, lifestyle was weird because you, You. You pretty much start with a full points, right? You start with all your points and then you just lose points all day. Right? Like, it's just. It's. How much do you fail? Like, the person to fail the least all day long is the one that succeeds the most. Yeah, that really could beat you down is what it is. Puts you on a. On an island all day where you can't talk to nobody and you just kind of get beat down in your head. Right. Man, that is absolutely valuable for you in life, I can promise you, because you're gonna spend a lot of time just getting beat down and living in your own head when trying to find that teammate. At the end of the day, be like, I did the same thing, you know, like, yep, I buried that effort too. I didn't see it, you know, and it have. Have a teammate as you go along to help you kind of recognize some of those failures don't necessarily mean that you can't be successful in another way. Right. Like, that could be a big change for sure.

[Weston Hendricks]

I'd like to know, maybe you got some favorite memories while coaching or just some funny. I mean, I'm sure you got some funny stories as well. Just from your time at Blinn, man.

[Joe Rathman]

I. I could have a lot of stories, a lot of memories. I. One of my most significant memories I have. I don't know if it's a great story, but that this is second team that we had, second team that I helped coach there. We went through the fall. We went through the fall, man. We were like 10th at Kansas City and 9th or 9th or something at Louisville. Right. Like, we didn't have great days at all. Fall was kind of rough like that and they were really good team. Like I had a lot of high hopes for them but we never could put it all together. And that team won Denver and won the carload contest. Right. And that memory really sparked something in me of seeing kids that had tried so hard, like pushed but didn't ever gave up. And to succeed like that, you know what they did to have a good day like that just start their entire spring. I would look back and saying that was a big turning point for me to recognize that. Like, hey, I got to keep pushing kids forward. As bad as the days can be, we got to keep going and we can get a lot better in that will pay off that they will stay with with doing that. That's probably one of my favorite memories just because of how impactful it was. Finishing off when we won Louisville was a. Was an awesome time. We had made some predictions. We never could win Louisville as a ju team. Right. It's really difficult to go up there from. From Blend. So I've always said so always made a deal of you had to drop less than 100 points. So mark your five best talkers and then hope that we can drop less than 100 points. If we drop less than 100 points then we got a chance to win. Right. We dropped 99 points and then we won by one point. Yeah. It's like if we dropped 100, we would, we would have lost the tiebreaker and reasons because we'd gotten tracked down. Yeah. And in the whole experience of me just telling those kids of the night before, I'm like looking at him like y' all are going to win the contest. I've never felt more correct about this ever. Like, and they're just looking at me, back at me just dumbfounded like, we're not about to win this contest. Like that's where the kind of kids, you know, they were, they were like, we're going to do what we can. But like you're far fetched. I'm like, we're going to win. We're going to. We're going to drop the 99 and we're going to make it. And that's what it wound up being. I got a lot of good. I got tons of good stories, but they're not necessarily great stories to tell out to the public. Yeah.

[Luke]

Whole episode with just some stories.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

There's lots of. Yeah. The late night mock contest all nighters. Yeah. Everything go, man. Probably one of the. My worst ones. Making fun of one of my kids, little brother's pigs at a. At a. At a workout because I was tired of the way that the kids were placed in the class and had no clue that it was their hog at all. Yeah, that was an interesting day for sure.

[Luke]

So now that you're now kind of the point where. Where you're done judging, you're done coaching, how maybe has kind of going through that helped you kind of start, run and even build kind of your own operation back at home.

[Joe Rathman]

Helped me build it. Absolutely impactful. Okay. So my father, I had every intention of. Whenever I finished with school, I was coming back here and running the cows. Like that was what I wanted to do. No doubt. Had known it forever, right. And I was the one in line. Ryan. Ryan, my brother is good at several things, but probably just running the cows wasn't going to be his forte. Right. Like, and so that was my. My deal was I was going to get to take over. So I was excited to be able to do it and. And come back. And my dad said, nope, you're not going to do it. You're not going to. You're not coming back when you. Whenever I got the chance to. So he said, you got to go do something else. I'm not ready for. For you to be here yet. And. And so that's why that worked out so well with Po Po moving on to A and M at that time, me getting to move in and the coach was just kind of a almost perfect transition. Right. Like, I spent seven years driving around evaluating the thing that I needed and studying and researching all of the things that I needed to learn. Right. Like the diversity of the way livestock are raised across the country is lost on anybody that hasn't actually gone and experienced it. Right. And just judging for two years, one in juco, one in senior college and seeing all that stuff, you can see it too, right? But. But you don't get to see, like, when I went as a coach, I got to back and talk to those folks and. And they're all your leader, you know, they're. They're at the top of their game. That's what we're trying to strive to, is go the best places, right? And so you got. Not only this deal of seeing all these livestock, seeing all these cattle and knowing how to breed stuff, but you got everybody's ideas, right? Like, that's what you got to gather. You got to see this person's way to breed cows was different from the next person's way to breed cows and how they managed, what their nutrition was and different things. I, I. And that I, I don't know if I would be nearly as advanced in what we're doing around here if I wouldn't have spent those seven years. Right. Like I could have spent those seven years here on the place and I probably still wouldn't have been as far as what I did whenever I, I got to coach like that.

[Luke]

Right.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah. To follow up with that. What drove you to go to the club calf operation and go full time with it, pursue it, progress it and build it.

[Joe Rathman]

So, so two things in a lot of people's cases for. Well, I think a lot of folks that are maybe in the, in our position. I want to say that I'm feel very fortunate to be as young as I am and Joelle and as young as she is to be able to have control over doing something like this. Right. Like the, the cost to get into running cows is enormous if you, it takes, it's a generational thing. Like, let's just be frank about it. That's what it is. You gotta, you gotta have a family in it to be able to necessarily have it set up. So like, I'm blessed to be able to do it at the time I did. I can because I feel like I've got a lot of time to still get better at it. Right. A lot of folks don't necessarily get into doing ranching maybe full time until their parents have maybe passed or further on in age. In my case, I was just the youngest kid and my, my father was at a time where it was like, hey, the workload is probably more than I want to take care of. And the deal is now I'm either going to reduce my numbers significantly or I'm ready for you to kind of come back and take over a lot of that. And then. So whenever I got to come back, that's what, that's what it was. Mostly it's just continue to add on to the workload. We had a chance, an opportunity to expand slightly in our own operation. And then since we've been back, one of the biggest things that's, that's helped us out a lot is, is I have a bit of a partner or co op situation with a cousin that's really close here that's allowed us to add quite a few more recent cows. And that's the biggest change we've had is to be able to kind of take after the flushing deal. And so we've added almost 100 recipe cows that we can run through and that's helped out a ton Right. Like, I just get to go back and take my best cows that maybe I'd flush every once in a While and maybe 15 recent cows that I could put eggs into. And we filled that up really fast now. Now it's like, hey, I've been really wanting to flush this cow, you know, because she's consistently knocked out nice calves. And we get to turn her loose because I got room to put them in. And that's, that's been huge to, to advance to that point.

[Weston Hendricks]

All right, guys, we're gonna take just a minute to recognize the businesses and operations that have powered this episode. And we pride ourselves in standing by businesses and operations that make an impact in this industry. And Trademark Genetics is one of them. At Trademark Genetics, they are committed to excellence in every aspect of their family owned and operated business specializing in elite Red Angus and Red Brangus genetics. They pride themselves on breeding cattle that perform exceptionally in real world conditions, delivering superior quality and lasting value. Whether you are in search of a project for a young exhibitor or looking to enhance your herd with fresh, proven genetics, their mission is to produce high caliber livestock while fostering lifelong relationships. Their bull battery and donor females are rooted in generations of proven performance, maternal strength and impeccable structural integrity traits that add tangible value. Whether your focus is on cow power or carcass quality, they are pleased to offer embryos and semen from standout sires and proven donors across both breeds. Whether establishing a foundation or elevating an existing program, their genetics are designed to advance your operation with confidence. Owned and operated by John Mandy and Madison Fisher, Trademark Genetics is dedicated to exceeding customer expectations through unparalleled quality and service. We encourage you to connect with Mandy at 713-204-7535 or Madison at 832-963-4233 to explore how they can support your goals. Discover the latest cattle offerings and stay informed on their journey by visiting trademarkgenetics.com and follow them on Facebook and TikTok. But if you're looking for a club calf producer that's diverse in almost every aspect, Reed Vessel Ranches is your answer.

[Luke]

Reed Vessel Ranches is a premier ranching operation specializing in the production of top tier show cattle offering a wide range of American, British and exotic breeds. Over the course of just five years, RVR has grown from four donors and 20 AI cows to over 50 donors and 500 AI cows, ensuring their commitment to quality and excellence. Their success is rooted in a strategic, intentional approach plenty years in advance to maximize the potential for their customers to succeed in the showroom.

[Weston Hendricks]

In addition to breeding competitive show cattle, Reed Vessel Ranch's team is dedicated to offering a full range of services for show preparation, from clipping and fitting to feed management and expert show assistance. RVR ensures that their clients are fully supported throughout the entire process.

[Luke]

For more information about Reed Vessel Ranches, including their private treaty cattle, SARS donors, and upcoming sales, visit their website at reedvesselranches.com but if you're looking for proven.

[Weston Hendricks]

Club calf sires, then stay tuned in.

[Luke]

At Hartman Show Cattle, they believe and stand by the saying, in order to predict the future, you must create it. Which is one of the reasons why they have become so profound in terms of promoting their bulls and show progeny.

[Weston Hendricks]

They have focused on promoting bulls that are backed by pedigrees, knowing that their cow families have a proven track record and their cow families and legacy is what helps ensure predictability and consistency when using their bulls on your cows.

[Luke]

Speaking of promoting bulls, have you heard of Pure Reflection? Well, if you have, you've noticed many of his high sellers and contenders in big ring settings. He speaks for himself and is only DS positive.

[Weston Hendricks]

And when I say he speaks for himself. He sired the next promo bull named Born to Win, and he's a TH&DS carrier. And the Dame herself has produced over 175,000 in 2024 on just six head.

[Luke]

But if you're looking for no genetic defects, that's built into a gray hided bull named Return on Investment. This triple clean Bulls dam also produced the grand champion steer at Denver in 2024.

[Weston Hendricks]

If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to reach out to Aaron Hartman himself at 502-655-8323.

[Luke]

Oh, that sounds a game changer. So I know, like, y' all raise, I guess, probably mainly steers and kind of clubby stuff, right? So I want to know. I know, like, maybe on the cow side, like keeping a cow, I know they can be a whole lot trickier to kind of find one that's maybe functionally built, right? Because I know you're trying to add as much power. We're still giving them much look, I know they can kind of throw off their angle. So how do you kind of make sure you're keeping your cow side, your base kind of strong and solid, to be able to put some clubby stuff on top of them or maybe something you look for in your donors or something?

[Joe Rathman]

Most frustrating part of, like raising, like, club calves right now. All right. I'd imagine, like, I'm not going to be this other species, but probably close. The same things in the other ways is the, the ones we're using to win are absolute freaks. I mean, they're, they're freaks. They're, they're, they're the epitome of every genetic thing that could have gone exactly right of two a bull and a cow that maybe necessarily should not have gotten mated together, you know, in that case. Right. Like, because the odds of that happening were pretty low to begin with. Right. So you, you're trying to balance out. Like, okay, my, my, my workload is. If I spend all day doctoring feet and pulling, you know, big bags to get a calf to a nurse and all, like, I'm tired, I'm wore out, and I spent too much money. If you don't keep those traits, you know, going, okay, you're going to, you're going to wind up just spinning yourself down in a hole. Like, I, I'd love to go raise the one show steer that brought a hundred thousand. Right. Like, that'd be awesome. But the reality is that we don't really get to do that, you know, like, you gotta make sure most of them are working and paying, paying off what you're putting into them. And so for the most part, I thought I got to be in a position where cattle are geared way towards being much sounder than what they used to be. Right. Like, structural correctness, skeletal quality is so, so much the game that you have to play now that it's actually, I think, benefited what our cowherd stuff look like. Right. Like, I got to come off of my dad's ideas of Club Chaos were just showsteres, right? Like, make them powerful, make a muscular move well enough and they will be sellable and they will get along well enough that you can keep selling them. Right? Then I go and I get explored into this whole breeding cattle situation of the northern stuff, you know, while I'm a coach. And you see, like, dude, these are not like, what we got. Like, this is, this is a different situation. And, and you really kind of got to. I felt like I gravitated to that kind of an animal, right? Like you saw, like, hey, when they kick her out, maybe if they haven't gotten her, like, way too fat as a show heifer when they kick her out. Like, she's got functional parts that are supposed to relate to, you know, all these things working and functioning well, hey, if we're going to keep picking show steers and the way they can set their pastures down and how level they can stay in their hip on the move. You know, like I'm okay with that because the cattle got to be sound. They've got to stake it up that way. Yeah. And so that's probably big deal. My thing is just make livestock as wide as you can and still structurally sound. Right. Like number one goal, all livestock got to be structurally sound. And then from there make them as wide as you possibly can on that structure. Right. It all the other things fall into place, but the more skeletal width you add to the sound, like to a sound structure, the better that animal keeps getting. Right.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yes.

[Joe Rathman]

That's. That's probably the only point that I try to make good feet sound structured and make them wide as possible. Yeah.

[Luke]

Because I like that. I know like at camp this year and another past couple years, you've brought some and I know especially kind of the top ones, top towards the class that were. You were saying like this year was some of your, your best ones you thought you raised. It was pretty impressive. They were that style, that wide looking, that huge rib, but still like perfectly structured. And their feet were just, everything was just matched so.

[Joe Rathman]

Right.

[Luke]

I thought that was impressive.

[Joe Rathman]

Yeah. It's what that is. That's a cow that's not overly wide and powerful, but she is awesome on her feet and legs and she's got a square skeleton. And so just that little kick out on somebody else's freaking nature bull, you know, produces that. Yeah. And you can keep it in a consistent fashion. Right. You know, like you got to keep it sound. I'm glad we don't have as many of those like throwaway hammer legged things that we used to have. Yeah. I used to be a staple of every club calf herd in America. Yes. Like you, Everybody had their 10% of like Hammer legged midgets that didn't move around. Some folks still got plenty of them. Right. I, I'm glad we can go away from that. Last year I felt like I'd raised the best steer crop we'd ever had. You know why? It wasn't because we had the best calves. Okay. It wasn't. It was because I looked around, I said we have one, one of those hammer legged ones out of everything we race. Like that's what I was proud of. Yeah. That's awesome.

[Luke]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

It it. And I was more proud of the fact it was an embryo I bought. It wasn't even our cows. Right. Like if I wouldn't have bought that embryo, I wouldn't have had the one hammer legged one. And I could have said we Were free and clean. We had all sellable cattle.

[Weston Hendricks]

So talk to me about you saying that last year was the best calf crop that you probably have ever had so far. I want to know what genetics you're looking for right now. Like, I talked to Joellen before and she'd said like, y' all have been a huge fan of Knock knock here recently and some other stuff as well. But I want you to walk me through like some of the genetics that y' all have gravitated towards to make these high end show steers and, and what y' all see working your herd so far right now.

[Joe Rathman]

Okay. So I, I feel like that I go around sometimes and I see a lot of cattle and, and learn their sires and then when I go home and I breed those, they don't come out the same. Yeah. Like I don't, I don't have the same animal that I go and see that and, and I'm not real sure where that is. Right. Like, you don't get the chance. You, it's easy for us to go to a prospect show and peg around and ask everybody what their calf is. Right. You see the calf, but you don't see the cow side of things. Yes.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

And you can learn a lot from that. So. But you don't get to see the cow. So I don't know necessarily where the difference is, but I do get along with bulls that other people don't necessarily get along with and I don't get along with bulls that I think a lot of people do get along with. Like I, I have beat my head into the wall of wondering why, like in God won't work on a certain cow. When I look at it, I'm like, it's perfect by all means. That's a perfect mating. And I just can't quite get it to, you know, snap. Like a lot can. And yeah, so like my, my genetic idea here was to, to improve the consistency of what we had really fast. Right. Like, and try to do that as, as rapid as I could because I, I, I first started, we didn't necessarily have a great way to flush cows and to get more out of the very best cows. It was a deal of, hey, we got to continue to make all of the cows better and go from there. Right. And so I, I, I, it's hard necessarily to find a sire that you want to say, like I'm going to tie totally into the sire and just keep using them. Yeah. Because I don't believe that that sire, even if you know how consistent they are. I mean every Here I Am is very easily consistent. Right. Like we're going to have high quality necks. We're going to be big, stout, square hip. We have big stout back leg. If we put in a flank into them and their back leg is soft enough, then they are a really good animal. Right. I mean that's exactly what they are. There's been so many of them, you can easily find them. But there's still some inconsistency about it when you go to try to use it. Well, all that really matters is well, just breed them too. You're soft bellied, big, smooth made ones and that's going to work out. Right. So here I am. Should be as predictable as anything. But I've probably got two cows that I'd like to breed to. Here I am because that's what I think. You got to label that. That's where those two work. I never felt strongly about Knock Knock worked awesome for us. We had this really awesome set of heifers. Mostly it's because we wound up being. And we had one bull calf. He won his class at San Antonio. Yeah. And so they were a really nice set of cattle. And I, you would think like, oh, you'll go back and breed a ton of Knock Knock. No, actually in reality I bred less the next year. But it was one of my best sires still. I bred less because what I read in the cattle was they have this one flawless. I can't go breed that flaw to a cow that has that flaw also. And I eliminated a lot of cows to mate that bull too. And it improved the consistency in the sire group. Right. Like that's what I wound up with better ones. But I didn't breed as much of it. I find that to happen to me a lot. It's my favorite bull. I wind up not using as much, but I use them in the best places and then that's when they really. Yeah. So like genetic lines. Honestly, I think a bull we raised probably has got the biggest impact on our herd right now. He's a bully called Uptown. He went back to some ollie who made who Meyer stuff. And then on the cow side, a white lake lead on Charolay Dill. And he's got a really awesome back leg in a beautiful neck. And the cattle probably consistently aren't as stout boned as I'd like them to be. And they can be a little hard later. Maturing a little taller, a little bit bigger frame. Cattle that you know are a little. You got to push the list A little bit harder. But that deal has been really impactful in a way that I didn't realize it was as I was doing it. Like, I love the consistency of the cattle. They had the right type and kind to mate two clubbier bulls. And so I kept keeping all these daughters out of the deal. But what really improved is that bull was really good at slicking his hair off, getting smooth and dealing with the climate that we have down here and in our place. And I still probably sell 75% of our cattle further south and closer to the coast from where I'm at right now. And if they don't perform in that kind of climate, then they're not going to be the calf that they need to be. And that bull just. Man, I'd sell these 3500$4000 steers out of this bull. They'd be really solid. And we were knocking out county fairs like crazy because they'd be one of the only cattle that go down into these difficult climates that folks are feeding in. And they'd eat every single day and they'd get better every single day. And I looked around this year and half of the cattle that I sold for really good money were out of uptown daughters. And so that's probably one of the more impactful things I've had here. It's just kind of happening across that bull. Underrated bull for sure. Loaded for bear. A lot of my cows go back to loaded for bear. On the other side, it's like the different. The different side of MAB with the 805 cal there on the. On the here I am thing. Yeah. Of Gretzko's 805 cal. To me, those cows have worked really, really good for us. That's. So that's my stout, powerful th bull. My other stuff is my uptown that's clean that we raised. And we kind of intermingle and mix some of that stuff. And that's been a whole bunch of it.

[Weston Hendricks]

Awesome.

[Luke]

Yeah, I like that. Now to kind of kick it back maybe a step or two. I know like me and Wesson are kind of slowly starting to build our. Our own herds. And I know a bunch of people that I'm sure are listening are doing the same.

[Weston Hendricks]

So Renata is in the making. Renata is in the making.

[Luke]

So what's maybe some advice or something you can give to kids like us to maybe kind of limit some mistakes made kind of early in the game on building. Building their own operation up.

[Joe Rathman]

Make the mistakes and keep making them. Only way you're gonna learn fast enough. That's it. Right. Like, yeah, don't. Don't be hesitant. Don't be hesitant because they have. They don't have a place for that anymore. Yeah.

[Weston Hendricks]

So let me ask you this.

[Joe Rathman]

You've got to get after it, though. And so just run through the wall.

[Weston Hendricks]

I want your opinion on what we should breed this cow to. And I'm gonna tell you her pedigree and what she is. She's GB419 popsicle. She has no relation to in God we trust. She's triple clean. She's as sound as they come, as cool looking as they come, and huge bellied. And she has no calf inside of her. What should I flush her to know?

[Joe Rathman]

She sounds like the perfect calf to Perfect. Right. Oh, man. But like that good business. 419. There you go. A bull that you don't need to use a lot of, but you need to use them in a couple of places because those things were consistent about back shape and hip and man, just putting a good show steer look to him. Right? Yeah. And, oh, man, I. I'm not sure that sounds like the end Got deal is what you need to be doing, you know, But I just got done telling you to beat my head against the wall trying to.

[Weston Hendricks]

That's the first one we're gonna do.

[Joe Rathman]

Everybody else. Yes. Yeah.

[Weston Hendricks]

So with all this said, I've watched a couple of y' all sales over the last couple years, and I've never seen y' all do an online sale, and that's kind of intrigued me. But I like it because yalls private treaty sales have had a lot of impact and y' all are able from outside looking in personalize yalls relationships with the families. And I'm not saying that you can't do that in an online sales setting, but being in a background with Colton Thickman and the heart of a champion and all his private treaty stuff, I've been able to watch that as well. So I want to ask, you know, what is your take on private treaty versus online sale, and why do y' all do one rather than the other?

[Joe Rathman]

I would tell you nothing about what I'm gonna say. Do I feel 100% about okay. Like, when it comes to, like, selling the cattle, it's probably what I struggle with the most about changing my mind all the time. Like, well, this worked out this time and this didn't work out that time. And by far and away, the most stressful time of my year is selling them. I can deal with all the other stuff it's on me. When you go to sell them, it's the more stressful time to try to be, like, done a lot of work. I need them to pay off, but I also need them to pay off from a mental and emotional state as well. I want my calf. I just spent the last six months really struggling to make sure I kept them the best I possibly could and alive and maxed out to go spend the next 12 months at a place where they're going to take care of them and they're going to get them to the end and see that. Right. Like to say, have the same pride in their production that I had and that we had here and trying to get them to that point. Right. So the online versus private treaty. I've stuck with private treaty a lot because it doesn't scare me as much. I like the pace of it. I like being able to just walk out with a family and be like, what are you capable of? What are the things that you feel like y' all do the best? What are the things that you feel like you struggle with the most and you still need to learn and progress the most with? And then let's go eliminate some calves that don't fit those things, and let's try to work with figuring out which the calf is the best fit for the family. Right. And I can do that when I go. Like, I could do that if we had a sale and I could go push them along, but I also don't get to know the family, and sometimes. Sometimes that the extra dollar you make is not worth the experience that you have to take for making that extra dollar. Right. Like, I'd be better off taking a little less money and lining up a situation to where I'm going to enjoy the entire year, and I'm going to feel like everything that could have been done is going to be done. Right. But I don't have a good answer for that, because I'm gonna tell you every time I finish our private treaty stuff or I finish our phone bid, and I don't want to necessarily go back to that phone bid because it takes way too long. Finished her phone bid. And I'd just be like, I'm never doing this again. Not doing this again. We got to do something different. Yeah. And. And we try to come up with a new idea. I wish I'd have been more prepared for this. I might would have slung my new idea out here to everybody to break down, you know, before. But, like, so we may try to run a female sale this fall. Or winter. I got a huge set of breads and open calves that I think are an awesome set of females. I mean I hardly had a call anything and I've just been hanging on to them and. And I want to try to make a really nice female cell. We might do some kind of first come first serve private treaty, bid board type, you know, situation where it maybe get adds in the bid board, adds in the private treaty aspect, but also maybe take some of the pressure off me to try to find the. The perfect home for a lot of things. So yeah, I'm not, I'm not sure there's a great way. But the private treaty fits our speed and that's kind of what we've stuck with.

[Weston Hendricks]

Awesome.

[Luke]

So like now that we know you move quite a bit of stairs or club cavs in general and even judge some shows and. Or a bunch of. Add a bunch of shows. What's maybe some of the. Some problems going on in the club calf world you might find or maybe even some places where they might be struggling or even if on the other side. Some ways, some, some ways or ideas you might think that we could help kind of improve the industry kind of as it's going forward.

[Joe Rathman]

So some things I go around and look like. Look at a frustrating standpoint. It was some of the stuff we talked about is trying to improve when you use, when you use certain genetic lines that structure is more consistent and performance is more consistent. Right. Like I'm still a fall calving herd. That's what fits our climate down here. And so we don't really start like first due date we got this year is August 22nd and that's the first ones we're going to knock out and we're going to hammer a lot in. Don't do a lot of springboard stuff. So I need performance to stay in the cattle. That's maybe some of the stuff I see from a phenotypic standpoint. But I think more so economically is some of our challenge going forward. The costs, like the cost up front for a family to start showing livestock is enormous now. Right. Like we're just piddling around with this little heifer that we've got in the barn right now with brig showing and we're having a great time with it. And then I turn around and look and to go to junior nationals and get everything lined up, man, I've spent several thousand to just go do that. Right?

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

And it. And I don't have the cost to buy the animal, which is the biggest cost up front. Right.

[Luke]

Oh yeah. Right, yeah, yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

I think cost of cost of entry is our biggest thing going forward in so economically our country's in a pretty good place to not necessarily like to see folks that still have expendable money for their favorite hobby. Right. And people always, always overspend on their kids hobby. Right. Especially in a competitive nature. It doesn't have to be like show, show stock. Right. Like any sport or whatever, man. Folks are just throwing it at it. We're focused in the. Highly focused there. And so we still have those people. But where I think in the past I could sell three or four steers to a family that fed, you know, some backups. Now I sell them one, one calf per kid. Right. Like total numbers of the stock we're being able to sell is going down. And I think that's what our currently our adjustment for how expensive it is is that most folks are stepping back on how many livestock they feed. Yep. Then going forward though, are we creating a situation for the eight year olds, the, the first of the family, eight year olds to want to get in and be able to. Right. And I don't know if there's a great answer to what it is because I really doubt you're going to go around to a bunch of steer jocks and tell them that hey, you got to sell your calves cheaper. That's not gonna happen. You know, and the cost of raising them, staying high too.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

You're not clearing. If you're not clearing twenty five hundred dollars on what you try to raise as a club calf, you're probably just barely breaking even on the deal. You know, if you're not doing some other things correctly.

[Weston Hendricks]

Right.

[Joe Rathman]

And, and so like where is that buffer to try to make, make this a more affordable project? Yeah, yeah. I think that's a lot of lots, lots of what we're going to be dealing with in the future is just economically turn it out. Especially with this. We talk flush and deal. We've got way a way higher percentage of really high quality animals. And now we're talking maybe not everybody can afford that ten thousand dollar steer and feed them for 2500, three thousand dollars for the year. Well, we're gonna write those folks off. Yeah. We don't give them a chance. And that, that's I think where the, where the trouble is about to come from. Right.

[Weston Hendricks]

And just outside looking in. I think y' all have done a phenomenal job with finding very good families and I think that's probably also a bit of a challenge is just finding those Families that are, I guess, budget friendly is the best way to put it and yet still can have an open mind and want to learn. Yes. And I think we have a struggle with a lot of families coming into the ordeal of thinking, well, we watched this, this and this, and went to this clinic and this clinic, and so we know what to do and then not go through the next 30 to 60 days without talking to the breeder. And then here we go, we got issues. So that's. I mean, and that's just for outside my perspective looking in. Not that it matters, but that's just something to think about too. But the next thing that I want to talk about is. Is crazy because I talked about this certain particular question with a few people and pretty much got all the same answer. So more so. I just want to get your perspective on it, Joe. But, like, I mean, you've been to a couple jackpots this year, and so do you think that prospect shows as a whole have been neglected in terms of how judges are evaluating the stock? And shouldn't we be judging these prospect shows by projecting the cattle in a future tense rather than picking them for what they are that day in the ring?

[Joe Rathman]

Man. Excellent question. It's a hot topic right now, too. People bumping that around a lot.

[Weston Hendricks]

A lot.

[Joe Rathman]

I. I don't. You say you've had pretty much the same answer. I'm not sure I'm the same answer, though. Like, I. I think when you. From when I judge and I step into the ring. Yeah. I gravitate more to what I see as the future because I enjoy that part of it. Find the parts, see what we fix. How do we get to the end. Right. Or I. I got early in my judging career. Right. Later, like judging some bigger prospect shows, I got pegged for being a. A banner chaser. That's what they called me. It was a banner chasers. I picked the skinny ones that looked like the possibilities were there, you know, and that was it. Yes. And I was that way. I don't know if I judge that way anymore, though. I think when I step up to a prospect show, I go in with the mindset of, yeah, the background is these cattle have to finish. Right. But. But when you go and you judge the prospect shows now, you're just being open minded. There's a number of cattle that are capable of winning that prospect show that day. That's what I think. Yeah.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

And where we divide things now is so minute. Right. We divide on very minor things, not big, major things, but just Little bitty, you know, traits that we're gonna, we're gonna nitpick on that. It does become a very difficult situation to sit out there and evaluate some cattle and be like, hey, I'm good with picking the skinny one because I believe in the future of that animal over one that's got 150 pounds of just flesh. Right. Like, that's further in their deal. If I believe that the calf that's further along and maybe like more primed up at that time, not fresher, that's not the right way to put it. But more primed up at that time is still capable of being managed to the end, then I don't, that doesn't hinder me. Right. Like, I'm not going to necessarily say that's way better than the skinny one that has the ability to keep going, but it's. If it's pushed past a realm that probably best meaning, like, I don't need to go to a prospect show and use the 1350 pound steer that we're expecting to show four months from now, you know, and he's finished. Like, maybe he's incredible, but that doesn't seem right to me because that doesn't relate to good productive cattle to gain like that. Right. But. But if you're going to just step in a show, just use the best ones. That's what I think too. Right. Like, we can project some as long as we want to, but I would, I would think it's. It's just gotten to be a difficult situation to try to nitpick through those. Like the other day at Battle of the Cattle, I mean, there were several times we pictured some calves in the back, little skinny things. I'm like, oh, this is, this one's in my top 10 for the best calf out here. Right. But they were, they were second or third in class. Yeah, they didn't have those things. But like, if I'm just going to go in here and pick ten head, dude, this, this is. There's two or three of those that were second, third class, you know, second or third in their classes. And they were the cattle I'd have taken home. But if I was, if I was exhibiting them or, you know, and I raised them, I wouldn't have been felt bad about where I was placed. Right. Like, that's not the way I think you ought to approach it, like thinking like, well, I believe this calf will be there, so that's the way they should evaluate them. I think sometimes you need to look around and be like, a lot of other folks are in the same boat as us. We're going to get why this situation happens. Now we. They asked that judge to evaluate it and on their manner and what they're going to do. And let's just stick with our own deal. Right. Spent a lot of times telling kids that are upset about the way they place at a prospect show. I spent a lot of time telling the kid nobody else here matters. Right. The only reason you're here at this show is to figure out how you take care of what you're doing from a showmanship standpoint. And we see the calf amongst other contemporaries, so we know what we need to be improving and getting further along. Right. Like, that was the goal of the prospect show. So we don't need to sit here and talk about what. Why we're upset about this other calf that beat us. Like, sure. But we're not doing anything with that calf. We just worried about ourselves. Right. Like, we gotta win from that standpoint. I think that's part. Part of maybe just getting in that mindset of knowing that's what you're doing.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Luke]

Definitely gives you something to think about. Like, especially maybe some cavs that. That went further down on the. Down the line. You might not even notice at some of the jackpot shows because you're not watching every class or only really paying attention to the winners, but Maybe it's the 1 second or third that. That are. That are. That are built right and could get right. That just takes. Need some more time to kind of get ahead over the rest of them.

[Joe Rathman]

Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah. Do you. Do we really want to ask the judge to be like, hey, you should have found those and put them at the top and beat them in other ones? You know, like, no, that's a hard. That's a hard press. That's a hard thing to find, you know, like what you're looking at, so.

[Weston Hendricks]

For sure, yeah.

[Luke]

Because I know we've had some that. That whenever jackpot they go to and we get to the. Get to the end and that's it. They prime soon or we get something that's like, we go to every jackpot, it's like, oh, my. We're right there. Right there. Then we get to the end and we get it. It's like, we waited so they turned out at the right time. That's right.

[Joe Rathman]

That's right. Just. It's a learning process to get better at feeding and doing all that.

[Luke]

Oh, yeah.

[Weston Hendricks]

Absolutely. Yes, sir.

[Luke]

So now that you're kind of on the other Side of the fence and have a son in the mix. I know, like I've seen on Facebook and Tick Tock and everything about how your, your son and all the videos of them at the fitting contest and junior nationals. So I just want to know how important you think it is for the youth to get involved early and kind of just actually start getting in and doing as much as they can, man. That they can.

[Joe Rathman]

Okay. So this would be a little surprised. I didn't really show until I was older. Yeah. So my, my father, my father graduated at A and M. He went to talk AG at Elgin. Okay. At Elgin, Texas down here. He taught there for 11 years. My father was easily, I mean this is back in the like 75 to 85 area. Okay. Easily one of the best there was on the steer side, right. Like in his stretch of 11 years there, he had averaged more than three calves to Banner and go to the Astrodome at Houston every single year. Right. Like they won every single major double Banner took a few times. I mean, just absolutely smoked him down as incredible. Like what his track record was at that time then. And then he went through that, you know, with my older sister and older brother, right. And by the time he got to me, he just flat out told me so. My brother was a senior when I was a third grader, right. And I was around life, around the cows. Like I've told you the story, some stories about I was engaged with. What we did on a day to day basis that was the best part of my life growing up is that I was a little kid from day one. I was there engaged every single day, right. And what we did. And so I had that to us. But my dad told me when, when my brother finished, he goes, I'm tired. I don't want to necessarily do this, right. Like at the age of a fourth grader, the parent is doing most of the work, you know, Like, I always think that's weird that we say, like, well, it's a kids project. No, it's not a kids project. It's a, it's a, it's a parent's. It's a family project. It's a family project for sure. Right. We can't expect all those things. And if you're really engaging in what you're trying to probably trying to get out of a showstop project, right? Like, yeah, it's definitely a family deal because you got to teach a kid how to take care of that. Oh, yeah, right. And so he knew it was going to take too much, so he Waited. He didn't let me. He didn't necessarily let me show. Man, I showed a terrible runt twin at our county fair. They was. He was so terrible that we. That he went and found me a pig late so that we won the pig show instead. And it just like, we didn't. I didn't show. Not until my dad said that I showed some ambition to do it on my own, just because he was worn out and tried to do it, do it right. And so I got after it one year with a couple of steers we had had, and. And then the next year, he's like, I'll get you a good set. You want to work hard like that, I'll get you a good set. And we had a heck of a run the next year after that. But I. I think there's two sides to this, is what I'm saying. So I had to wait a while before I really got handed the reins to be able to get after it. Right. And it took me a second, but I. But I think I took it in stride, went after it. But I had a different situation with being around the cows, you know, otherwise. Yeah. Now, for. For a lot of folks, starting early is what builds their confidence, is the biggest thing is those kids being able to be more competitive faster. I think it's a lot of it just being capable of getting out there, being in the ring and knowing what they're going to be, you know, getting into and not being strung to it. So that's why we're doing that. Yeah. Is I want our kid to be able to be as comfortable and enjoy it as anything. What I also like to be about going early here is socially stock showing, I think, is vastly improved from where it was. Right. Like, we, we do push a lot of this youth to man, do all these sales talk, to do these speeches, to do all these other contests to get involved on a, On a, On a breed, on a. On a breeds board, you know, and doing those things builds a lot of the character stuff that maybe just working in the barn and going to the show doesn't do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I felt like I missed a lot of that by being just a, you know, kind of South Texas steer kid. We didn't get that, you know, breed association type experience. And, And I think that could have bettered me from, say, a public speaking standpoint, from a relationship standpoint. And I, I then, you know, Mary Joellen, and that's her only background is that kind of thing. Right. And so she said, hey, we got to get. We got to do some of these things. And I fell in love with it. I was like, this is awesome. This is the way to do all this because it's not focused solely on our stock. It's focused on building the kid and improving that situation. And then the stock kind of comes along with it. And I that's why, that's why you see us tagging it along as I want to. I want us to go out and be seen and be seen and get other people seen that need to be seen. That's what we're doing.

[Weston Hendricks]

It's time to recognize the other operations that have powered this episode.

[Luke]

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[Weston Hendricks]

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[Luke]

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[Weston Hendricks]

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[Luke]

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[Weston Hendricks]

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[Luke]

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[Weston Hendricks]

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[Luke]

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[Weston Hendricks]

You can find them at over a thousand dealers across the United States or check them out at their [e-mail] so we're talking about all these shows and what it all does for the youth. I want, I want to tack on now. What are you most excited for for the upcoming Texas major show season? And what do you expect of these more seasoned judges and the lineup as a whole this year?

[Joe Rathman]

It's a good lineup, right? Like that's what I'd be excited about. I think it's a good lineup. I mean, come on, you got the staple of Scotty Griner going this year. Always feel like, man, you got to have Griner judging a show once every year. My, my, my sales ability, like my ability to sell some cattle really goes up very highly when grinders on the list to judge. Right. Like get rid of that, you know, real thick stout one that maybe is a little funny legged, you know, but not crippled. Man, I'm, I, I like seeing Griner like we get along under grinder well and because I think some of our cattle fit his style. Like they may be a little uglier, but as far as skeletal width and stoutness and still being sound enough, you know, they kind of fit that bill.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

And then, and then you. Man, I, I was really pleased with the job like that Blake Nelson did at San Antonio. So great to see him right away. Man. I, I think that's important is us finally taking a judge that says, hey, he did a really good job with this show. Let's put him in another one.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

And let's not only like let's just give him one, not even just give him the year. That's it. Let's not let him take a year off because there's a man. It's the same as a judging contest. That aspect of learning how to be the judge at a show that's got over a thousand head is, is tough. Right? So, yeah, like I love seeing like I thought, I thought and Scott just did a really good job of just the consistency of what happened there right in San Antonio. So I'm glad to see him back and to think that he's in a stride where he can stay athletic, youthful, and get on his feet and move around and do a good job. Right. Like that. I think that helps. Helps, too.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

And so. Oh, and callous. You bet. Glad to see that out at Angelo.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah, for sure.

[Joe Rathman]

For sure. Callous. You're gonna pick good stock and. And. And it's hard to not be pleased with the job callous does. That's what I like about it.

[Weston Hendricks]

Absolutely.

[Joe Rathman]

Finished today. And you're like, I feel like I got a fair shot and feel like the better cattle kind of won, you know, like, maybe not my favorite, but there's somebody's favorite out there, that's for sure. And it's not just calluses, you know, like, he never finishes a day where he was the only one that. That was their favorite favorite. Like, he's. He's got people on board.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

So I'm excited about that. Economically, we're in a good spot for cattle to sell well at our auctions. I think if you look at a lot of the. The shows, they've improved sell lot situations. That's good. Yeah.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

Don't always think. I, like, don't always think about just the top end stuff. The. The. The kid that's able to sneak into an extra cell hole back there at the ends, why he gets to repeat showing again the next year, and that's pretty dang important for all of us. So.

[Luke]

Yeah. Now, Jo, I thought this has been a pretty dang good episode. But before we start to really bring it to a close, for some of y' all that may not know, Joe has a pretty mean man bun.

[Joe Rathman]

Yeah. So, Joe, I gotta.

[Luke]

I got to ask. What. What was your inspiration or want for this? Or maybe how long have you been growing it? When did it start? Like, what's the story behind.

[Joe Rathman]

I know, I know.

[Luke]

There's got to be something.

[Joe Rathman]

Man, I'm gonna get my years mixed up here. Okay, so. Okay, long story. Long story short, I'm actually really quite bald right now. Okay. Like, the hair's been growing for almost two years, and it hangs below my shoulders, but the hair on top of my head is only about 2 inches long, so. So really, I'm just bald. And I thought this would be an interesting way to cover it up. Right. So it's working. Like, you didn't ask me. So what's going on with you being bald? You asked me what's going on with the man bun. Right, Right. Covering up the baldness. That's really what Happened started as a joke and I got shot down. I had it pretty long before. Before Joellen and I judged Illinois State fair steer show. Yeah. And. And I was stoked about that, but obviously I had to cut it to be able to get into that. Okay.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

So take the beard off and the long hair. And then I got back and we got kicked through calving and breeding, and it kind of got away from me. And I was like, I'm going back for it. We're gonna pull it back around.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

Honestly. Honestly, it's just there to cover up my bald spot. That's what it's doing right now. Yeah. How long it stays? I don't know. That's awesome.

[Weston Hendricks]

That's awesome.

[Luke]

Gotta say, there was no way you had the man bun running in college, because I know we got it.

[Joe Rathman]

Prototypical kid with the steno on the back, you know, of the. Of his pants had the little flare up front flip. Yeah.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah. That's awesome.

[Luke]

Oh, now, Joe, you always seem like a pretty amped, up, higher firing person, so I know there's got to be maybe some. Some inspiration, some quotes, some model verses, music, even something that keeps you rolling. What's something that keeps you going day to day?

[Joe Rathman]

Now that's an interesting question. Okay, because. Because most of the time, yeah, like I said, when I'm around people, I get fired up. I don't know why, but I do. Like, I get excited to be around people and I talk and I like being around kids. Especially, like, I would tell you easily, the thing that I miss the most about not coaching is that team aspect. Like, every day to the day to day. You know, you had kids on your. On your team. I felt like I was a part of their team. They kind of push you along, you kind of get pushed. You push them and they push you. Right. Like. And if I have a success and we all have a success, or if one kid has a success, then we all get that success. Right. Like, did you get that kind of push and all? And. And I miss having that kind of speed all the time. Yeah. Because like, around here, it's. What we started with is most of the time as a rancher, you. You wake up in the morning, you got a nice cup of coffee, things seem about right. And then as soon as you go out, what you really spend your day is. Is just ticking off the things on your checklist that are wrong. Right. Like that. That are a problem. I gotta fix this problem. I gotta fix that problem. I gotta do this. Yeah. It's just hard to hustle and kind of go through that with the same deal. And also my. My probably push there is like, Brig hangs out with me all the time. He's with me all the time. When he wakes up, he just pops on that UV and we just go through things. And for several years here, he has been probably my push to stay, stay going. Because it's fun to just have the kid in the back and be like, hey, do you see this? And him have a totally different outtake on everything you're doing to kind of try to keep at it. Right. Like in positivity from that standpoint. So, like, yeah, I might miss the team aspect, but I pretty good team. And in Brig and Joel in there and in my parents, you know, being close here. So that probably kicks me pushing along the most. If I'm not listening to music, I don't hardly get to listen to music anymore because with having Brig, you put the headphones in your ear and then you turn around, you're going doing something, you're like, oh, crap, I done lost the kid. He's wandered off doing this, you know, and like, the ranch is not necessarily a very safe place all the time. Yeah. So I had to kick off the. The earbuds I don't get to listen on my podcast and stuff that used to be like, grazing. This probably is way, way out of your realm here, which are doing with empower you. But like, I've listened to probably, I don't know how many hundreds of hours of grazing, podcasts and education about how to manage grass. Right. Like, that was my big deal for a while. That was the thing I really wanted to learn. I can promise you. When we finished in the last year that I was coaching, we finished in Houston in March. And for the rest of the year, I sat in my office and listened to YouTube and podcast grazing and. And graded papers, did stuff like that. Right. Like, that's all I kind of like dove into that probably pushed me the most. And now I'm kind of at a point where I want to find something else, you know, find something new to be the intriguing part of what I do day to day. That we're challenging.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah, right. Yeah. Interesting for sure. And so now, I mean, we're. You're gonna be episode nine of. Of the season and there's always going to be, you know, 10 episodes per season. So we're wrapping up the end of the season and I'm just. Throughout this entire episode, I'm doing reflecting of like, man, this lineup that we had for Season four has honestly been one of the best I think me and this team could put together. And. And the episodes themselves have improved, like. Like exponentially. Just like the questions that me and Luke have been able to come up with and ask and pinpoint, you know, some of the issues or things that need to be discussed in the industry, it's just been awesome. And so. But I've always kept this one question, and I think everybody at this point who listened to the podcast, like, well, yeah, he's gonna ask the same question and ask the same question, but I don't get annoyed by it because I love the perspective that we get from it. And so, like, Joe, like, what empowers you to be better than who you were before?

[Joe Rathman]

Every. What empowers me to be better? Every day is different almost every day. Yeah.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

Don't. I. I felt like I. I use Brig would be the first thing that comes to it. Right. Like, he empowers me to be better.

[Weston Hendricks]

Yeah.

[Joe Rathman]

That kid at that age still needs me. Right. So I feel important. That empowers me to do that. Right. So that's probably a staple. But what empowers me are little hopeful things. And I try not to make it one thing all the time. Right. Like, it's a. It's a deal of finding. So I've been. When you, like, kind of work more by yourself and all in ranching, it's really hard on you mentally. Right. Like, the stress that you go through, the ups, downs, it's. It's. It fluctuates hard. So, like, mentally staying in the right zone is a very difficult thing to do. Right. And I probably underestimated that kind of struggle of what you had to do for a long time in where you get empowered can be from a lot of different ways. Right.

[Weston Hendricks]

Right.

[Joe Rathman]

Current time, it's. It's focusing more on the day rather than the. The weeks or the season or the year. Yeah. And. And it's. And it's trying to make sure that I wake up every single morning and be in a positive mood and go find the positive things that happened. Right. Like, go be in a. It. Be cognizant of being a part of every single day. Right. If I want to. If I got a chore to do, I want to stop. I want to focus on that chore and not worry about all the other things. Right. Like, I gotta accomplish it one way or another. There's no point in belaboring the. The negatives of what the rest of the day is going to be while I do A chore that I like to do. Right. And I try to find what. Well, hey, this worked out, right? This did go okay. Yeah. Because there's probably one of those things that went good versus, like 10 of those things that went wrong and trying to find that. So I. I've been. I've been on a push of just trying to find that empowering point. And. Hey, check it out, man. Look at that grass. Finally is actually picking back up in the spot that we had an issue, you know, like that. That might be the one thing for the day that just really helps you go, you know. Yeah, doing it.

[Weston Hendricks]

So that's awesome.

[Joe Rathman]

That's probably. That's probably mine. It's finding the little things all the time.

[Weston Hendricks]

That's awesome. I love that. So usually we end every episode with the. With the Bible verse, and I think it's just important to me to. To keep that going. And. And we're gonna do a season five, too, and it's most likely gonna happen in the fall. At least that's the plan as of right now. And. And so, I mean, I'm gonna do it in that season too. And because I. I wouldn't be able to do any of this if it wasn't for the good Lord. I wouldn't have a cohost sitting beside me if he wouldn't have led me to quest. And then going to blend and then dorming with Luke. Like, it all intertwines. And so. But today's verse comes from Isaiah 41:10, and it says, do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God, and I will strengthen you and help you, and I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And I think that's really, really important to keep in mind and knowing that. Don't be discouraged if something bad comes upon your life, and don't try to stray away from God because something bad came into your life. I'd say encourage even more to grow a relationship with the Lord if something does. And maybe that's not for everybody. Maybe. No, there's people on here that don't want to hear that, and that's cool. But I. That speaks to me personally, and I'm sure it speaks to Luke as well, and maybe even you, Joe, or whoever's listening. I hope it does. And so with all this said, I think it's a good episode. It's been absolutely one of my favorites. We talked about a lot of stuff, and I do appreciate you taking time out of your day for coming on and hanging out with us and just chatting.

[Joe Rathman]

Enjoyed it?

[Weston Hendricks]

Yes sir. So with all this said, this is gonna be episode nine of season four with Mr. Joe Rathman. We will talk to y' all next time. Make sure to check out our new and improved [e-mail] where you'll find the team's background, our sponsor stories and merchandise. But also check out our social media on Facebook and Instagram @empowerupod, where you'll find sneak peeks of episodes and their release dates, as well as sponsor recognition and much more. We are proud to have you as a listener on and hope you enjoyed. Make sure to give us a five star rating and have a blessed day.