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- [00:03]
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.
- [00:38]
Luke
Well guys, we are live. This is going to be episode four of Empower you on season four. The fact that we've come this far into I guess a season duration just surprises me and shocks me. And we keep on growing and we keep on running, so we're going to keep on going. And so with all that said you, I've obviously seen the title of this episode. So you know who this is. This is Willie Weiss. He is no one that has been unseen in the show heifer world or theoretically the cattle world as a whole. Willie's be made a huge impact in this industry when it comes to shelling, selling competitive show heifers. He's been someone that I look after and admire from a distance. I don't know him personally, but I'm glad that he's on this platform with us doing this episode and couldn't be more grateful. Luke's here as well and we're just very excited to have you on Willie. I hope you're doing well.
- [01:31]
Willie Weiss
Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
- [01:33]
Luke
Yes, sir. If you want to introduce yourself for the listeners to get to know you a little bit and then after that we'll get it on with questions.
- [01:40]
Willie Weiss
You bet. I'm Willie Weiss. I'm from Sandcar, Iowa. Currently own and operate Weiss Cattle Company or Weis Cattle with my wife Nikki and, and two daughters, Dallas and Rory. I work at the bank here in town or in San Ansar as a, as a lender work at Farmer State bank. And my wife is actually the controller at Grandmothers, which is a oatmeal here in San Ansker as well. So it's kind of funny this. Our cattle operation started out as a 4H project and then kind of grew into a way for me to pay for school and college and then kind of started as a side gig hobby and then has kind of exploded from there. My wife tells me, My wife tells me we can't call it a hobby anymore.
- [02:24]
Luke
We can't call it a hobby anymore. So what I'D like to start off with is kind of guide us through how your path started when it comes to breeding the show heifers. I mean, you'd mentioned earlier that it's kind of got you to college and essentially helped you with college. So I assume it started in high school. How did that get into high school and then lead from there?
- [02:44]
Willie Weiss
Yeah, it's kind of probably an unconventional story from what, what people are, are used to hearing. And honestly, Wes, when you kind of introduce yourself to me before we started, you talked about how, you know, 4H was kind of your gateway and that you didn't really even have, you know, an official livestock judging team. For me it was very similar. I grew up on a row crop farm and my family raised Holstein feeder camps. And earlier on, when I was, when I was a kid, we actually raised milk fed veal calves. So we have like all these, these barns where my parents live and they're like crated barns and we'd get day old Holstein dairy calves, put them in these crates and then, and then raise them up from there. And so my, I have an older sister and when she was 4h age, my mom's like, hey, these kids need a 4h project. They're going to show cattle. And my dad was just like, we got, you know, thousands of these Holstein bucket calves. Like what more could they possibly need than this? And luckily there was some neighbors, neighbors by that kind of got. My dad steered on track and said, oh, you can't send, you can't send those poor kids to the county fair with those, with those Holstein bucket calves. You're going to have to, you know, get a, get a beef calf for them. So we had a couple neighbors that set up my family for my sister to have a couple of show steers. And from there it kind of transpired into market heifers. And of course we went down the rabbit hole of trying to make market heifers cows, which I know can still be done but can be challenging. And then as I got into 4H, kind of continued to grow with it, got hooked. And then about the time my brother, my younger brother Ben started showing in 4H is when we kind of started moving more towards showing breeding heers and then obviously kind of built our cow herd from there. So I remember the first group of cows that we bought, they would have, they would have made poor recips in, in, in, in today's world. And I give, I give my mom and dad a lot of credit on, on this part of it. They turned me Loose, like, there was this group of probably a dozen black baldy, just terrible old cows. And I got like the livestock exhibitor magazine and flipped through it and just picked out a couple bulls and ordered semen and just learned how to AI and just started slinging semen. And honestly, from there, the rest is kind of history.
- [05:17]
Luke
Huh.
- [05:18]
Unknown
Well, that's a pretty unique way to get it all started.
- [05:20]
Willie Weiss
Yeah. Yeah. And then we were, you know, even today, I always say I'm. I'm a tight person. I mean, I am as cheap as it comes when looking for stuff and buying stuff. So our original cowherd, where it kind of started to grow as we bought these show heifers, was whatever was the best animal that I could buy that was the cheapest. So, I mean, from. It did not matter what breed, if I thought it was good and we could afford it, we bought it. It's awesome. So it is. It was. There's. It's still that way today. But there was a time when you could. Drove by the farm where I grew up, and it was like every size, shape, color, breed you could imagine was. Was running out there. So. Okay. And then there's a deal. Yeah, kind of as I got older, more into high school, I kind of lost as much interest in, like, personally showing, but really got into fitting and breeding. That was kind of the point where my wife, now, she was showing competitively, and then my brother was into showing. So I kind of took more of the searching, finding, breeding them and then kind of fitting and helping them, you know, get them prepared, obviously, and helping manage them. And then they were kind of actually the ones that took off showing them. And then it kind of got to where that blossom into. Had some local families asking for some help, you know, hey, help us find our calf, or, hey, help us fed our calf. So it was probably, you know, freshman sophomore year when I started helping some neighbors from in our county and other counties and kind of started trading some calves from there, helping kind of go on the road and help fit for some different people at some more national shows. That kind of bloomed into our, you know, cowherd. Growing, trading business. Growing helped kind of put me through college. And then I remember kind of my last semester of college, I really wasn't sure what I was going to do and didn't have a real tough class schedule. And it was just like, I want to see how many I can sell or how many I could trade and what we could make of it. And that's kind of probably the time when it really started to take off, huh?
- [07:35]
Unknown
Was there a specific. Like, a specific breed? You were, like, searching down, chasing the breed or make? Or was it just kind of whatever you could find? Whatever you think fits, whatever suits.
- [07:46]
Willie Weiss
I wasn't still in today. Just a scavenger. Like, it didn't. It didn't. It didn't matter. Like, if there was one that I thought had a shot and it was under the money, like, I was scooping it up, like, I didn't. Color didn't matter, breed didn't matter. And honestly, like, we were so cheap, like, the wilder the better. Like, if it was one, if it was a good one that somebody was deathly scared of, like, we wanted it, like, give us a shot.
- [08:13]
Luke
Yeah, that's awesome.
- [08:15]
Willie Weiss
Yeah. I honestly, like, we. My wife and I joke, like, I feel sorry for my daughters a little bit if, like, they decide they want to show because I still have some of that in me. Like, if there's, like. If there's a wild one that's, like, trying to steal the gate, but she's good, it's like, boy, let's put her on the bus and give her a shot, you know?
- [08:33]
Luke
That's awesome.
- [08:38]
Willie Weiss
Who knows where that could end up someday?
- [08:40]
Unknown
Yeah, right?
- [08:41]
Luke
So talking about all of this, you talk about these people that you met at shows or kind of mentored you to go and find these cows. Who were those people who got you to that point? Your starting point? Who was the mentor?
- [09:00]
Willie Weiss
One of the earliest one, and it still is a big mentor to me today, is Terry Cruzy. So cruising Angus Farms. He lives just probably 20 miles south of me. And that first group of cows that I. I joke about, they were from him, you know, and he had bought a large group of cows to make recips out of and cut the bottom dozen off that he hated. Sold those to us and then. And then we bought some showcase from him, bought some steers from him, then eventually some heifers. I helped go to shows with him and his. His kids kind of growing up, and then now we still source some Angus from them and sell some calves for those guys. And they actually own. Him and his son leo own the 9271 Annie Lucow that's had our high seller this last year and have some high sellers for us last couple years. So it's been fun that he was kind of the one that got me started. And it's still a very big part of what we do from there. I mean, he's kind of the one that, you know, first got Me going to show first got me, you know, clipping was the first one to kind of get me engaged in mating and breeding cattle from there. There are some other people. Kendall Bremer is one that I went to some shows with, some national shows with Early. He kind of helped, you know, get me on path as far as clipping and fitting goes. He introduced me to Jess Reckner and then at that time, Jared Bedwell. They were working for CYT Shore Horns and Pete Hunter was also there. He was kind of more in the breeding cow side. So I'd say all those guys had a. Had a. Had a pretty, you know, important role and kind of guiding me and pushing me at a young age to get. To get better and, you know, kind of keep at it, huh.
- [10:47]
Unknown
Did you ever have any idea, like outside of the livestock industry or do anything else? Was just kind of from the beginning, that's what you knew what you wanted to do is what you were comfortable is kind of what it was comfortable.
- [10:57]
Luke
Oh, my gosh.
- [10:58]
Willie Weiss
Yeah. I was always, always passionate about. About livestock and then especially about, you know, kind of like show cattle. Once, once I got into, you know, it, I got hooked. I was an addict from the beginning. And I remember my dad, you know, would always give me crap because we had, you know, barns full of these Holstein feeder calves. He would just give me all kinds of crap because he's like, well, you know what? We can feed 500 head in an hour and you, you know, mess around with three head for six hours, like, what's going on? You know, you need to get your head straight, get your head examined. So from the start, I always kind of was. Was hooked on it. And then, you know, through college, I'll be honest, I never really ever thought that it was something that could be full time or could be even to what it is today. It always just kind of treated it as it was a passion of mine. I knew I wanted to be involved in it. Didn't ever know, like, how big or what it could turn into. Right. Kind of similar to what Weston said. I was on our, you know, our local FFA judging team and we had this ag instructor's name's Andy Johnson, and he. He's stopped teaching now and just went to farming. But he was great. And I remember when I had interest in livestock judging, it wasn't really anything that anybody in our town had ever done before. He went out, kind of learned the ropes on it. We recruited a team. So my now wife, she had some interest, was on it and there was another kid that had some interest. And then we actually recruited just a town kid that was a buddy of mine, and we bribed him with Casey's pizza to come be our fourth person so we could fill a team to go to the ffa like our state of a contest. And somehow I give all the other kids that I met at Iowa State later crap that we won, but we won the contest. So we went to the, the national contest in Indianapolis and my. Our FFA advisor googled livestock judging training. Okay, this was after we won the state contest, before we're going to Indianapolis. This is true story. I believe it. Blackhawk East Community College popped up. Okay, so my advisor, Matt Quest finds out that we're going to drive basically right by Blackhawk from our school to Indianapolis for the national contest. Dials them up, just calls, calls Blackhawk east, inquires about the livestock judging team. Okay, Brian Arnold and Dan Hogue talk to him, line up a tour. So we stop on the way to Indy. On the way to Indy. We stopped there and they set us down and we didn't even know reasons format. I just, we would give reasons, like there was a show, just first is the best, second's the best, third, fourth, whatever. Brian Arnold and Dan Hogue taught us reasons format that day. And then we went to Indianapolis a couple days later. I, I ended up, I don't know, top 10. And then they recruited me and I went there before that. I had no idea that you could even go to college to judge livestock or get scholarship.
- [14:12]
Luke
I didn't even know. I didn't even know you went to Blackhawk to judge. Let's. We gotta talk about that. What was it like judging under Dan Hogue? The Dan Hogue? Because if you've seen our platform, Mark's been on here twice. Mark's a g. That's a. That's a awesome dude. I love Mark.
- [14:29]
Willie Weiss
So this is another funny story. Before we get into that. I, I love podcasts, but I don't really listen to livestock podcasts. I'm one of the weirdest humans you'll ever meet. I listen to all sorts of stuff. I love listening to like spy and crime podcasts, finance podcasts. So when you sent me the link today, I like dove in and I was listening to the Mark Hogue and Brandon callous ones while I was getting ready for some of my bank meetings today.
- [14:54]
Luke
But that's awesome twist for me, so that's awesome.
- [14:59]
Willie Weiss
So, yeah, like I said, I'm. I'm as, as weird as you'll Meet. Can. Can. You know, I'm really gonna get us off topic here, but go for it anyway. I went to Blackhawk for one year. I went for my freshman year, met some awesome people that still, you know, connected with today. Learning from Brian Arnold was awesome. You know, Dan obviously is. Is great and phenomenal. And he. He would. Had an ability to just tell stories and, you know, give life advice. Like, just spewed from him just constantly, and that was great. My sophomore year, it transferred to Iowa State and worked out with the team that was a year older than me and then was, you know, ready to judge the next year kind of with as the Jucos were transferring back in.
- [15:49]
Luke
That's awesome. What was that experience like, being with the older kids and traveling and practicing with them?
- [15:56]
Willie Weiss
It was. It was incredible. That team that was ahead of me at Iowa State was full of like, crazy talented individuals. I don't know. I'm sure you guys know him. Troy Sloan with Team Sloan Showbigs. He was on that team. Hunter Shoemaker. He still here, lives in Iowa, but he was, you know, probably one of the most talented livestock evaluators. Like, there is some stories of him from college and just his ability to evaluate livestock like none other. Tyler Stutzman's a cattle kid. He was on that team. Colby Tabor. I'm probably missing some of them. But anyway, I mean, that. That team was loaded with talent, so it was great for me to have the opportunity to go work out with those guys. They, you know, kind of welcomed me and. And pushed me. So even though I lacked some contest experience, when we got ready to judge, my year still had like, plenty of just reps and. And good training.
- [16:54]
Luke
Man, I've tried getting Troy on so many times, and problem is, like, we had a set time last summer. I was at Brent Gromos. I was working. It was one of these nights where I didn't pick up and level of worn out good and so I had to go do it. So I had to cancel my episode with him. And then since then, I have not been able to get him on. So I was always like hammering on myself because I didn't finish the job. And then I couldn't record with Troy Sloan, and now it's been almost a year and I still can't get him on.
- [17:23]
Willie Weiss
I'll have to pressure him.
- [17:25]
Luke
We got to. We got to. We gotta get Troy on.
- [17:27]
Willie Weiss
When you get this all done and send me the link, I'll forward it to him and tell him it's his turn.
- [17:32]
Luke
Oh, that. Okay, awesome. We can make that work.
- [17:35]
Willie Weiss
And no matter what he. If he tries to sandbag you when. When you do get him on here, he was always good. I mean, even when he was in college. I mean, he was. He's awesome.
- [17:45]
Luke
That's awesome. So now what I want to talk about is when you started buying all of these cattle, you're telling me, like, I don't care what they are, how wild they are, what color or anything, was there a certain type and kind you were looking for to build your base?
- [18:04]
Willie Weiss
I've always kind of considered myself a structure fanatic. And I know every. Everybody says, like, nobody gets on a podcast and says, I like straight ones. You know, like, it just doesn't happen. Like everybody says. Everybody says they like build. I always felt like I was able to read it at a high level and kept it at a priority. And that was one thing everybody. I mean, my mentors early, always told me that, you know, structural issues are one of the hardest things to. To breed out of one or to improve on breeding. So start the foundation there. You know, muscles highly heritable. So that's an easy thing to kind of breed into something. So that's where we kept our focus. I mean, right from the beginning was having them built right in their structure. That way they could kind of make it for the long term. We could feed on them and clip on them and fit on them to kind of improve the other holes.
- [18:59]
Unknown
So while we're talking about what you like to base your operation off of, like, nowadays, I feel like everybody's wanting to make any cow or any bull cab they have a donor, a promo bull. Like, what do you think or what. At what point does a quality is where, yes, this one has potential to be a donor, or this one has potential to be a promo bull. Like, is it their success in the show ring, their genetics, physical traits? Like, what separates this one from that one? Like this one, this one has potential.
- [19:23]
Willie Weiss
I think that you're leading me down a slippery slope here. Well, I. I just feel like, you know, the. The honest answer that is, you could ask anybody, and they're going to tell you something different. You know, if. If you ever hear, you know, values in the eyes of the beholder, right? I mean, an animal is worth what someone will give. Give you for it. And to some extent, I think. I think quality is. Is. Is the same way. You know, what I consider quality in a donor prospect might be totally different than Luke. You know, he might, you know, have different priorities, have a different breeding or mating plan than I have. And it could be totally different for him. And I think the important thing in the livestock industry is that we accept that and that everyone's type and kind is different. You know, for a funny story based on that. I was judging a county fair in southeast Iowa right out of college, and there was this cow calf class and there was this cow that was straight up limping. I mean, she was three legged and I put her last in class and, you know, gave my reasons and whatnot and just rolled on like there was no, just a normal day. And I was polite and just said, hey, she's limping. And they're hard to get a look at today. Well, I'm getting my free cheeseburger at the beef stand when I'm all done judging the show. And this guy like storm, like, storms up to me and he's like, you know, Mr. Weiss, I need to talk to you about the job you did today. I'm like, holy, here we go. Just like, yep, sounds good. Like, happy to talk to you. Like, you know, what class or what do you have a problem with? Well, I thought you did great all day, except for one class, and that's the class my daughter was in. And I was like, holy, of course. Here we go, you know. So then I was like, okay, well what class was that? And he said, class, three cow calf pears. The one with the limping one. Yep. Okay, I know where this is going. And he's like, you put my daughter last in class. And all you had to say was that she was limpid and hard to look at. And I was like, yep, I remember. And he said, well, I want you to know that that cow is a donor. We flushed that cow. And I was like, okay, yes, sir. And he said, well, I want to know if you think that if we think she's good enough that we take embryos out of her and put them into other cows. Why she could go last in class. And that's like when it hit me. Anybody can flush any cow. Like.
- [21:59]
Unknown
Any cow can be flushed.
- [22:01]
Willie Weiss
Yeah. There is no price. Like you're saying, oh, they have to meet a certain bar and then they go get flushed. There's some days when I'm paying my ET bill or when my wife's paying them, and I'm like looking at the bills like, holy smokes. What are we doing here? The only people making money is the et cetera right now, you know, there you go. They got making money hand over fist, right? Yeah. So to get, to get back on track, I think Everybody would answer that question differently. For me it is, it's physical traits that I sold. Like if I'm gonna flush a cow or you know, make a bull, a promo bull, there are traits that that animal possess that I feel are rare or you know, hard to find or pieces that we haven't put put together or combined yet that we want to be able to either at a faster rate or you know, preserve those genetics for a later time or, or something of that capacity. So for me it would be if I was going to rank them like physical traits first, you know, we kind of take that with genetics. I look at genetics, cow families especially for consistency mostly and kind of potency of some of those genetics and then we go from there. Honestly, this is going to sound terrible. Really couldn't care less about, you know, show ring success. When we're, when we're mating a cow or choosing what's going to be a donor or not. I mean everyone probably has but you know, seen it before where an animal that wins at the highest level just never quite raises them like they look. And then we've had them before where that animal got, you know, stomped in her class every time and you know, makes a pile of money. So the cow that I hit on earlier, that 9271 that the Cruz, he's on, I'm pretty sure when she went to Louisville she was like fifth or sixth in class, you know, and she, I, I think the ones we've sold for him, I mean we're probably averaging north of 30. So I mean it's, we don't, there's not a cow that we source calves from that's more consistent than her. And she never got along in the show show ring. I mean she might have won her county fair if I remember.
- [24:10]
Luke
Alright guys, we're gonna take just a minute to recognize the businesses and operations.
- [24:14]
Weston Hendricks
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 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. Trace 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.
- [25:59]
Unknown
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, strategic, intentional approach, planning years in advance to maximize the potential for their customers to succeed in the showroom.
- [26:30]
Weston Hendricks
In addition to breeding competitive show cattle, Reed Vessel Ranch's team is dedicated to.
- [26:35]
Luke
Offering a full range of services for.
- [26:37]
Weston Hendricks
Show preparation, from clipping and fitting to feed management and expert show assistance.
- [26:41]
Luke
RVR ensures that their clients are fully.
- [26:44]
Weston Hendricks
Supported throughout the entire process.
- [26:46]
Unknown
For more information about Reed Vessel Range Ranches, including their private treaty cattle, SARS donors and upcoming sales, visit their website@reedvesselranches.com.
- [26:57]
Luke
But if you're looking for proven club.
- [26:58]
Weston Hendricks
Calf sires, then stay tuned in at Hartman Show Cattle.
- [27:02]
Unknown
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.
- [27:14]
Luke
They have focused on promoting bulls that.
- [27:15]
Weston Hendricks
Are backed by pedigrees, knowing that their cow families have a proven track record.
- [27:20]
Luke
And their cow families and legacy is.
- [27:22]
Weston Hendricks
What helps ensure predictability and consistency when using their bulls on your cows.
- [27:27]
Unknown
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.
- [27:39]
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.
- [27:53]
Unknown
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.
- [28:05]
Luke
If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to reach out to Aaron.
- [28:08]
Weston Hendricks
Hartman himself at 502-655-8323.
- [28:13]
Luke
So you're talking about now these heifers that you're selling for boatloads of money and you have now all this diversity in terms of breeds and types and kinds. What I want to know is you've partnered with people in your sales, your online sales more so. Like Ferris Simon, for instance. He's been on the podcast. I've talked to Ferris a couple times on the phone as well. And so what I would like to know is who has, who else has helped you like Ferris or if other people build or help you build your online sales to make such success and help grow it?
- [28:50]
Willie Weiss
Yeah, I mean, that, that list would be, that list would be long. Holy smokes. Because I'm, I'm a believer that we can't ever stop learning, we can't ever stop evolving. I mean, as soon as, as soon as we stop trying to get better, I mean, we're, we'll be so far behind, our head will spin. So I think, you know, one thing that I've always tried to do is no matter who I meet or who I work with or who I talk to, try to take something away from that. You know, anybody that knows Ferris Simon or has talked to him, I mean, he is, he is crazy intelligent. And I'm not talking just about livestock business, just a high IQ individual. It does not matter what that guy does, he's going to crush it in any way in anything. And if you can take a look at his cowherd, he has some of the coolest beasts running around his pastures that you'll ever see. I mean, I don't know if there'd be a herd of cows that I've ever seen that are wider and denser and more powerful, but still built right structurally. I mean, he, he's done an amazing job of that. So if I'm going to Ferris look at animals, I mean, those are the pieces that I'm, you know, I'm going to try to bring back. What I'm getting to on that is just, you know, there's lots of different people that have that have helped me or that I've taken things away from? You know, I think John Declerck, was he on your guys podcast too? You know, Johnny D, you can talk to that guy for, for five minutes and know he thinks at another level too, you know, and when it comes to not only his evaluation ability, but he has completely helped us rework our nutrition. So as far as the, as far as the feed that we feed our sail calves, our creep feed, the rations that we have, our families feed when they buy calves from us, I mean, he's helped with, with all sorts of that. You know, we work with a couple different, you know, sale firms. We do our, you know, some of our heifer sales on SC Bodhi Schlifts are our rep for that. He does a great job of, of not sugarcoating things for me, which I appreciate. If he comes through and says, hey, that calf sucks, you can't put her on the sale. You need to cut her. You know, it's like, yep, sounds good. Like, that's good to know. Or, hey, you need to run your sale this way. This is how you need to run the clock. This is how you need to market. That's great. We have some live sales. We use innovation marketing for that. So Graham Blagg, Tim Anderson and Jared Shipman, you know, and those guys, once again, I mean, they see thousands and thousands of animals a year and help market tons of tons of livestock. So when any of those guys speak, I mean, I want to make sure that we're listening and trying to improve what they're telling us.
- [31:37]
Unknown
Absolutely. So now that you brought up the feed ration side of things, one, it's a challenge, and it's not something that's very easy and especially for like, newer families getting into it and stuff. Any advice or something you can give to one trying to figure out how to build their program and how to feed a heifer, because I think it's definitely something you can bring a good one to. Great. And bring a great one to a little more average.
- [32:01]
Willie Weiss
Yeah.
- [32:02]
Luke
Luke wants to know because it's really hard to feed a heifer in Louisiana. And so his feed scoop gets kind of dry.
- [32:10]
Unknown
It's a little warm down wet down here.
- [32:13]
Willie Weiss
I'm probably, like I told you right from the beginning, I'm, I'm cheap, I'm stingy.
- [32:18]
Unknown
Well, I'm with you.
- [32:19]
Willie Weiss
I'm with you when it comes to it. I, I, it's the basics, to be completely honest, when, when people call and they say, hey, how should we Change or what should we do? I want to know. Just. Just tell me every. Every little thing in half the time. We find the issue in is they're not feeding them enough hay or they don't clean their water dish. You know, their water's out, or, you know, they're not making sure that their feed is. Is fresh. Maybe it's a little moldy. I think there is way more to just the flat out basics of buy an animal that is fundamentally correct and let them be cattle. I think everybody gets so worked up about. You know, some of my feed sales friends are probably gonna kind of beat on me for saying this, but you can additive and top dress and spend hundreds of dollars and thousands of dollars on stuff that isn't gonna help you at all. Like, just to be completely honest, like, I feel like if you just have basic feed, hay, water, start there and then just keep an eye on your animal and say, hey, let's feed them for a little bit and then see what happens and then make an adjustment. Weston, you brought up. You brought up Brent Cromwell, and he is. He's a straight stud. He is. And they've. I've been lucky enough to sell them a couple. Couple heifers for their. For their son to show. Okay. And the funny thing is, is Brent and I could not be in any farther opposite spectrums on that. He. He manages those cattle like people do show pigs. It's like he makes a feed change, and then in 12 hours, he's looking at them like, under a microscope, like, what do you think? You think we should add another quarter scoop, another half scoop? What should we do? And I'll laugh because sometimes he'll text, like, in a group, group message with his wife, and I'll ignore him for a week just because. Just because of, like, we are not making that call today. You.
- [34:29]
Luke
I'm gonna get in so much trouble.
- [34:32]
Willie Weiss
We changed that yesterday. So let's. Let's wait a week, see what happens, and then we'll adjust again, you know, because I feel like if you throw so much stuff at them and change so much, how are you supposed to know what's actually working, what's actually. Actually not? So my advice is stick to the basics. Some additives can be good at sometimes, but there's a lot more time than not that when people think they're missing something, instead of adding an additive, they just need to make sure all their bases are good.
- [35:05]
Unknown
Yeah, I agree. Because, like, I mean, not saying, I know how to feed, I'm a feeding expert and know all kind of stuff about that. I've had people ask me just for my opinion. I'm like, they're like, what I need is an even. I'm like, well, you're giving her every single supplement. I feel like at this point it's kind of doing the opposite of what you want to do.
- [35:20]
Willie Weiss
For sure. They're all working against each other. Yeah, that's all we have. We have the best luck. I mean, for the most part, I hate fat animals. I do. Like, I like them probably a little on the lean side and to where as our sales have grown, I've had to push myself to get them honestly a little fatter than I want them to be personally, just because that's kind of the rig people like to buy them and they want to get them home. They want to see that they're ready to go to the show. I really like keeping, keeping those breeding like 30 days, 30 days away from 12 o' clock. So, you know, and then we'll bloom them going into a show and then we'll get them back home from the show and we'll crash them again, you know, kind of where they're 30 days away and then you can re bloom them again and that way you kind of keep some life in them, you know, you're not, you're not getting them stale. And once again, you know, my, my feed sales friends are. They're really going to hate me after this. You guys are, you guys are getting me some trouble these questions you're asking. But I don't truly believe that they ever sell a true holding feed in a bag. Okay, like to us, like if you have an easy doing, let's pick on the Angus breed, okay? If you have an easy doing Angus heifer that's borderline fat to fat, okay, they don't sell anything in a complete bag that's going to do what you need to do with her. She needs a round bale and a protein tub. She needs turned out, she needs crashed, loosened up, leaned up to the end where you can re bloom her up for a show. And all of that complete feed that they sell doesn't matter if they sell, hey, you just feed it to them and they'll just stand still. They'll stay fresh, they'll stay great their entire time. They won't. They will not. And when it comes down to it, nobody wants to pay 20 a bag to watch their calf go backwards, right? Nobody, yeah, nobody wants to do that. But ultimately like they have to in order to show them as long as we want to show them in today's world, at some point in time, you have to actually pull bloom back off of them, lean them up. That way they can stay fresh long enough to kind of re go to the show you want to go to next. So there's, I mean if we're going to show heifer for a year, let's say, you know, because a lot of our early jackpots, if our October heifer, if our October sale heifer sell mid October, it's not uncommon for 75% of those he first to be to a show by Christmas. And then there's, everybody has their goal of wanting to show those heifers, you know, Kansas City, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Denver. Right. So it's not uncommon for those heifers to show for 14 months at all. Right. And if you're truly going to have one competitive at for that whole duration, you can't ever burn them out. They can never be one o' clock or if you get them that far, you're just going to have to pull them back that much hard, you know, harder yet than maybe we already talked you would.
- [38:20]
Luke
Let's talk about that process right after show and they were 12 o' clock. Your, your, your schedule of breaking them down, getting them back lean and then you hit that 30 day mark to the show, what's that look like, those 30 days as well, getting to that show?
- [38:41]
Willie Weiss
I mean, so we'll, we'll always do kind of a dry run. And I, the families that we work with that are, you know, trying to compete at the highest level. I always challenge them, you know, when we're, when they're selecting their calf. Hey, what are your goals? Let's make sure that the calf you're picking out, you know, is built to compete at the shows that you have at your highest priority. And then let's map it out, let's schedule that out and make sure that the timeline fits. Because if you have a, you know, a super easy doing one or one that's a little bit hard doing that, that equation is going to change for each of those animals, you know, and then it's going to be different if they're open versus when they're bred, you know, and especially in the summer, it can be challenging if you're trying to keep them in a barn and you can't, you know, keep them outside or keep them out underneath the sun. So we kept to kind of see how much time we have in between each of these, each of those shows. For instance, sometimes from the last Junior national to the first state. We don't have 30 days. You know, we might only have three weeks. So it might be. Split it. 10 days of pulling them back, 10 days of pushing them. So.
- [39:50]
Luke
Gotcha.
- [39:50]
Willie Weiss
But I like to. I like to have a. Have a dry run on a calf. So, like, a lot of those dry runs are kind of happening now where, hey, those calves are coming in from being out on a round bale. We're bringing them into the barn, we're starting to work on them. Let's feed them here for a few weeks and let's see how, how fast we can cover that gap of bloom, you know, and that way then we can kind of back calculate from what our target show is and kind of have a little bit of an idea how they're gonna. How fast they're gonna respond and how many days we need.
- [40:20]
Unknown
So now you're getting. So now you're at the show, you had your calf bloomed, you got them ready. How do you manage them at the show? How do you keep them there?
- [40:27]
Willie Weiss
Well, once again, I'm gonna pick up my buddy, Brent Cromwell. No, I'm just kidding. Once you get to the show, I'm once again, like, I. I'm a basics guy. Don't change anything. You have some. Sometimes, I mean, I've seen some of the craziest stuff where people will tell you, like, oh, we didn't give them water for a whole day. They'll sure be there. It's like, no, that's not good. They're dehydrated. You know, I don't want you to change anything. When we have a plan of kind of, you know, how that animal is going to be bloomed up going into the show, what that feed's going to be like. I want you to go to the show and I want you to feed the exact same, just like you were at home. Keep as much the same as you possibly can. Putting those animals on the trailer, hauling them to a shelter, different environment, changing up, you know, that maybe the taste of their water, maybe the climate or temperature, they're in their surroundings, there's enough change. We don't want to be changing their feed. You know, if. If on the show day or the day before, you're saying, heck, I want to fill them up just a little bit more or I want to maybe pull a little fill back so that maybe they handle their spine a little bit better. Totally different. But I don't like the fact when all of a sudden you're. You've been feeding one thing at home and you're packing the trailer and you're loading a completely different feed like that. To me it's just a disaster waiting to happen. So I, I like to keep it as simple as possible. Just, just once again, the basics don't change anything.
- [41:52]
Luke
Right?
- [41:53]
Willie Weiss
Right.
- [41:54]
Luke
So now what I want to ask you is we're gonna do like a little vice versa.
- [41:59]
Willie Weiss
Okay.
- [41:59]
Luke
You're watching shows back when you were a kid as to a now.
- [42:03]
Willie Weiss
Yeah.
- [42:04]
Luke
I asked this to Kendall Reidenstein. We had recorded her earlier today and I asked her the same question. What are the differences in between types and kinds of show heifers now versus.
- [42:18]
Willie Weiss
Then or so anybody that tells you that we haven't made them better is, has not looked at pictures from 10 years ago. Incredible progress. And I, I think this is a great question because I like them different than I did 10 years ago. I mean, in 10 years ago, if they were smooth and sound and feminine and flat, like that's how I wanted them, I don't want that at all anymore. I still like them sound, but they have so much, so many more intangibles now to compete. I feel like, you know, as people talk about the trends changing, I don't know if the trends have necessarily ever like completely changed, but we find ways to make them better. Right. There was a time when they were too stout, too hard, too coarse, not sound enough. You know, we came back and countered that with probably too narrow, too flat to get them sound and smooth and pretty. And I feel like now it's possible to have, you know, one that's smooth, muscled, maternal looking. And you can have be sound, but then step behind them and be like, holy smokes, they're wide and they still have some bone. Like really have bridged the gap and kind of found a really nice medium spot in there where there's no doubt that we're all trying to push, push power. You know, we want to open them up, you know, give them more horsepower, give them more bone. But in doing that, we don't want to make them bad structured, we don't want to make them hard bodied or hard doing and we don't want to make them ugly. And I think with, you know, modern genetics, I think with, you know, embryo transfer and all the technologies that we have today, you know, that's possible. And I'm not saying every show you go to that there's one of those there an animal that's built like that, but I think there's more of them out there and that's kind of what everybody's, you know, striving to do.
- [44:20]
Unknown
So where do you think cattle now, forward are going to go? Like, what's going to be improved next? Is there anything you think of that? Just going to. Everything is just going to get a little bit better.
- [44:31]
Willie Weiss
I think it'll always be, you know, everything's going to try to get a little bit better, and we'll have some regressions in some areas. I mean, just. There's always a sire group or a breed that kind of catches some steam, that all of a sudden we're two, three, four years down the road and realize, oh, that maybe wasn't what we should have been doing. You know, we gave up. Gave up too much of this, and we kind of have to go backwards to, you know, to go forward. But I really don't know if there's a certain spot where they're going to get, you know, exponentially better. I just kind of hope we just keep improving in general.
- [45:06]
Unknown
Agreed. You got any progeny, highlights or favorite shows, favorite heifers, donors that you might want to bring up for the last couple years?
- [45:14]
Willie Weiss
Oh, I don't know. There. There's. There's been a few. I have a hard time picking favorites. I really do. This year, kind of taking a different approach. We haven't flushed more than two cows more than once, so we've kind of been really working on for. For too many years. I kind of caught myself, you know, being studied. We were flushing the same cows, you know, felt we were progressing but hadn't been aggressive, acquiring kind of new young genetics. And then the last probably two or three years, we've been on a war path, just really trying to, you know, go out and buy. Buy cattle again to kind of, you know, improve our genetic base. And I'm a big believer in buying cattle at the same stage we sell them at. So I will buy all of our, you know, donor prospects or our breeding pieces as open heifers. I think that's important as we sell the majority of our stock as open heifers. And there's a lot of truth to an animal will breed like they look at a certain age. So I like to buy them as opens, you know, maybe have somebody show them or, you know, watch them be shown. That way we can see how that animal, you know, matures and grows and, you know, kind of goes through that show stage. And then that way, when I'm mating them, I keep all that in my mind of, okay, well, at this stage, they got a little gangly, or at this Stage, you know, they got a little fat. We had to turn them out. And we'll kind of keep all that data, you know, in my mind as we start to mate those animals down the road.
- [46:56]
Unknown
Like, I've seen y' all been promoting the. That only one bull, he looks pretty legit.
- [47:02]
Willie Weiss
Yeah. One thing that he's done. He's done great for us is he will. He will add bone in. In density just immediately, you know, in the semital sector of our operation, you know, in trying to make them better looking, we gave up a lot of bone. We. We did. You know, we were. We were trying to breed to kind of get them to tie their neck a little higher, make them a little bit more extended. In doing that and keep trying to keep them maternal looking, we gave up some iron and. And even probably just some stoutness, you know, from behind. And I think that bull has done a great job for us and bringing that back.
- [47:45]
Luke
So I want to ask you a question. In terms of using club calf sires to any of your females, have you done that? And did genetic defects help in any way, shape or form or worsen any cattle?
- [48:04]
Willie Weiss
Yeah, we have always dabbled. I should. I should say in. Because there is nothing cooler than a show steer, right? And I tell all my buddies that I could get addicted way too easily. So I have to, like, refrain from doing it too much because I feel like someday if. If I just turn myself loose. We'd have no breeding heifers. We would just breed them all because. Because it is addicting. And we've had some heifers or some donor cows that have generated offspring stouter than maybe I thought they would to where maybe some of the bulls that. That particular breed, you know, the scimitars would be an example or maybe even in some of the mains where some of the better bulls that we were trying to use were stout. And the donors we had that time were powerful, and they were making them too round or too bunchy to where we would say, okay, hey, this one probably could make some steers. If we can't utilize her to make, you know, the right kind of breeding heifer that we need, you know, we're going to use her to make breeding. Breeding pieces for our breeding program. And then also maybe some show steers. Just because we're limited in. In cow numbers and don't ever have enough recips for. For what we need to do the way it is. I've usually kind of outsourced it at that point, you know, whether I have a partner on those cows or just have friends or, you know, colleagues that want to breed show steers. I'll let them. I'll say, hey, this cow, she throws them like this comes see some of her offspring. How about you just take her and flush her to show steers and let me know? And we've done some of that. There's actually. I have a good friend named Lane Robinson. He comes up in the fall every year for October sale and helps us during the week while I'm at work. And we have this cow that we're just kind of starting to roll out. Her number's 9116, and she's a doctor. Doctor who? Ali Heat Wave. And she. She's cool. And the problem with her is she blurs the line. Like, you'd look at her like, oh, we need to flush her for show steers asap. And I've been doing her for heifers. She raised a red and white promo bowl. We almost feel hall back to be called devil. You know, that's a high main. And Lane was just on me. He's like, you need to do her to how great? And I'm like, well, she probably does need done to how great? But I'm not gonna do it. So how about I haul the cow to the ET center, you flush her, and then just let me know how it goes. And he did it, and he put, like, five of them on the ground this spring, and he's been sending me some Snapchats of a couple of these little steers, and they look amazing. So it's like, once again, that ourselves, but, you know, it'll be all right.
- [50:58]
Unknown
Yeah.
- [50:58]
Luke
That's awesome. That's awesome.
- [51:01]
Unknown
Is there anything in this industry you think that we're lacking in certain places or anything that can be fixed or change in your mind?
- [51:10]
Willie Weiss
Once again, that could be. That could be a loaded, loaded, loaded topic. As you can. As you can tell, I'm kind of. Kind of a blunt guy. I'll just tell you right what I'm thinking. I don't know if this is necessarily something we're lacking, but one thing I think I would like people to have a better perspective on is I wish people would just do what they want to do. If that is breeding livestock, if that's showing livestock, going to shows, just do whatever that person or their family, you know, wants to do. I think everybody, and this is kind of just in general, in the world is too worried about what their neighbor's doing, what somebody else is doing. You know, it kind of you kind of get some of the, you know, keeping up with the Joneses stuff where, you know, person A gets a new truck, all of a sudden person B's got to have a new truck. You know, person A, Person A is like, maybe, maybe they don't like showsters, but they're breeding show steers because that's what all their friends are doing. It's like that doesn't matter. You figure out with you and your family what, what you want to do, what your goals are, what your abilities are and just go at it, you know, just, just do it to the best of your ability and let everything else just figure itself out. You know, I don't know about you guys, but it just sometimes like I'll pull in once again, you gotta remember, I'm cheap, okay? I drive an 05 Buickless Saber every day to work. So like when I pull into some of these shows in my Buick or I bought a repo minivan from at one time and we pull into the shows and some of these rigs and you know, and see, you know, couple hundred thousand dollar rigs, right? And I'm not saying that that's bad, but sometimes I think people forget they don't judge the show in the parking lot, right? Like the year that, the year that my brother won the state fair heifer show, we had an eighteen hundred dollar heifer that won the state fair. And our old diesel truck was in such bad shape, we had to use ether to start it in August. I mean, it does not matter. Like it has, it has no effect. How nice your trailer is, how nice your truck is, how new your blowers are, when that animal walks in the ring, none of it matters. And I just wish there was more perspective on what does matter, you know, the fact that, you know, breeding good livestock matters, using those livestock to raise our kids matter, you know, making sure that these events are fun for people to take their families to, like that's the stuff that matters. And I think that gets lost in the shuffle a little bit. You know, when it comes down to it and you say, you know, what is the future of livestock showing look like? I think that could get really interesting. When it comes down to it, livestock shows are competing against a lot of things for people's time and money. You know, I get to see it every day at the bank when I'm working with, you know, customers that maybe, you know, we're working on budgeting or working on, you know, maybe they're changing something in their business. You know, that livestock show is competing against, you know, summer vacations. It's competing against, you know, little Billy's traveling baseball team or gymnastics or whatever it is. And we need to make sure that these livestock shows are fun and enjoyable experience for the whole family. Because when, when you're competing against that, you know, when they can all get in the truck and trailer and go to a show and have fun and come home no matter if it was win, lose or draw and they're excited to go back, that's good for our business, that's good for our industry, that's good for everything, right? So I think that's kind of the stuff that we need to keeping perspective now. I'm as competitive as anybody you will ever meet. And when I go to a show, I mean, I want to, I want to win and I want to compete to the best of my ability. But I've tried, especially now with having, having young kids and, you know, and having a family. It's like, what does this need to look like in 10 years for this still to be an event that we can all get excited to go to? Because it's expensive. You know, even doing it at a local, you know, moderate level is still expensive. You know, just buying a feeder calf in today's world and feeding it feed till it's finished is expensive, you know, let alone anything extra on top of that. And I think we just need to keep that in perspective.
- [55:41]
Unknown
That's amazing.
- [55:43]
Weston Hendricks
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- [58:12]
Luke
You had mentioned just a minute ago that we need to raise our kids in a barn. To me, that's what success is described. Making sure it's a good environment and a safe place for all kids. Because that was my safe place, that was my environment all my life or majority of my life. I want to know what in your mind success looks like.
- [58:38]
Willie Weiss
For me, success is. I consider success like constant and consistent progression. So I'm big on goals, you know, and I'm one of those people that when I set a goal and I hit it, I'm going to make sure that I've got three others in place that I'm not going to hit for a while. You know, I, I have to get up every morning and chase something. You know, I'm just wired, I'm wired that way. So for me, when I look back, you know, I don't ever, I have yet to think that we've been, you know, truly successful. But one thing that I think we're, you know, doing right is every year we're analyzing and improving and trying to get better. And our goal is to do that year over year over year over year. And I think someday if I am able to look back and say, hey, we were successful, it will be maintaining, you know, some, some form of progression for an extended period of time. You know, a long career would be, would be what I would consider Success. I think there's a lot of, A lot of people that do things really well in a short stint. You know, they get in, they go like crazy, they have a lot of success, and then all of a sudden they're gone. You know, when I think about some of the successful operations that I consider successful, it's like, holy smokes. They've been doing it at a high level since before I was born. You know, multiple generations of it.
- [60:02]
Unknown
So do you have a, like every day you have a favorite quote, a Bible verse, something you tell yourself every day? Kind of what keeps you motivated every day?
- [60:10]
Willie Weiss
Well, we're going to really. Okay, this is, this is, this is, this is a good one. I, I have lots, lots of quotes, you know, to the Bible verse part. I mean, I don't start my day until I read my Brandon Horn devotional every morning. I mean, that is I, I with having my day job all week long. Weekends can get, can get busy. I'm usually gone every weekend, you know, running somewhere to look at cattle or go to a show. So I don't do a good enough job of going to church on Sundays, but, you know, try to stay, you know, connected whatnot through, you know, reading devotionals, kind of, you know, listening to maybe inspirational podcasts or, you know, religion based podcasts. And I have some really good mentors that keep me grounded and keep me on the right path there. But when it comes to quotes, I actually, one of my favorite things that motivates me is actually a famous speech. Do you guys know Hernando Cortez?
- [61:11]
Luke
I do not.
- [61:14]
Willie Weiss
What's that?
- [61:14]
Unknown
I can't say I do.
- [61:16]
Willie Weiss
Okay, so Hernando Cortez was a Spanish conqueror, okay? And you need to look it up because I'm not going to give the speech near like he can or tell the story like, like they do on YouTube. But his speech is called burn the boats, okay? And the story is that this Spanish conqueror, you know, loaded up this, this army of, of warriors on these ships and they sailed to this foreign land that they were going to go conquer, okay? And they land on, they land on the beach, they all pile out of the boats, and he gathers them up, you know, to give them this big speech about how they're going to, you know, run into this country and they're going to take over this land. And the first thing he says to him is, burn the boats. And right away they're all worried, well, if we burn the boats, how are we going to get home? And he turns to him and just Says, if we're going home at all, we're going home on their boats. And I think that speech is so good as far as, if you choose to do something, put your mind to it and do it. Don't give yourself a plan B, because if you give yourself a plan, you're going to find excuses of reasons why you can't do something, and then you're going to use that as an escape route to get out. So when whatever you choose to do, whatever you're passionate about, you burn the boats, you make a plan A, and you put your head down and go. And I think that's some of the. The philosophy that we've used, you know, and not just me, my wife and my family as we've, you know, kind of started this adventure of, like I said, my wife and I each having day jobs, having two young kids that keep us busy, and then this cattle business that's kind of growing on the side is there's a lot of days where we just have to remind ourselves, like, it's burned the boats. Like, we're doing it and we're going, and no matter what it takes or how little sleep we're getting, we're going to do it.
- [63:09]
Luke
That's awesome.
- [63:10]
Willie Weiss
I love you guys. Got to look up Hernando Cortez. Don't do it till you go till morning, because you'll want to run through a wall. And you will not be sleeping tonight if you do it now.
- [63:22]
Luke
No, we got to do it before we go to the gym, Luke. That's what we gotta do.
- [63:24]
Unknown
Oh, you're right. That'd be perfect.
- [63:26]
Willie Weiss
I mean, those weights don't stand a chance.
- [63:28]
Luke
That's. That's some David Goggins.
- [63:31]
Willie Weiss
Yeah, they don't stand a chance.
- [63:34]
Luke
That's awesome. Well, what I'd like to ask you next, it's the last question of the episode, and I've kept it since season one. I love the perspectives I get on it from just about everyone. Every time I've asked, it's a little different. But, Willie, what. What empowers you to be better than who you were before?
- [63:55]
Willie Weiss
I can honestly tell you that that has changed for me as I've gotten older. It was always. It was always me wanting at a young age. It was always me wanting to be better. I mean, just kind of always had a drive to do better. And then those mentors I talked about, always pushing me because they saw something in me, you know, hey, you. You can be better. You can do this. You can do that. When I Got married. I feel like I caught another gear. It was like all of a sudden, it was not me doing it just for myself. It was me doing it for myself, my wife, and the family that we were going to try to build. And I will tell you guys that when I held my first daughter, Dallas, for the first time, it was like the burn the boats, you know, speech just playing in my head. Just like now it's. Now it's my wife and my daughter that I'm doing this for, you know, and then now as we've added the youngest Rory to the family, it's the same thing. It just kind of builds and builds and builds. Like I'm out here, you know, trying to be better every day my. Myself, to make my family's life better and to teach them, you know, you know, set the right example for my girls and then other kids that we. We work with. I always say there's times I wish that I was better at other things, not livestock. Like, hey, what if I. What if I would have been born to be really good at just trading the stock market, you know, and I wouldn't be gone every weekend. I could just do it for my office, right? But that's not. That's not the case. So I set out every day to be better, to build our cattle operation and provide for our family in the best way I know how. And then I always kind of joke with my friends, once again, my goal is to sell cows and buy land, because someday I would be a lot happier if my daughters had just a bunch of black dirt to own, didn't have to feed cows every day, right? I always. I always kind of, you know, whether it's. Whether it's, you know, bode with SC or, you know, Graham and shipment on innovation, I always tell them, hey, if. If. If I die, you. You line these cows and cattle up and stack checks for my wife and kids as fast as you can. Like, I don't want them carrying feed buckets. I don't want them out busting waters in the snow. Sell them and let them do whatever makes them happy, right? And I think, you know, a little bit to, like, kind of how I came along was, you know, people believed in me and pushed me to follow my passion. And I think that's important for everybody to remember. You know, maybe one of my girls, you know, gets passionate about playing the piano. Who knows, like, whatever that is, Just hope people rally around them, push them and allow them to do whatever it is they want to do and turn them loose.
- [66:53]
Luke
So that is, that's awesome. And I think anybody, like, with a mentor that's signified their spot in that person's mind or heart, they can relate to that in a lot of ways. So we usually end every episode with a scripture. Usually I say usually because sometimes I have long days and I just forget and then it's too late and just I'm bad about it and I need to get better about it. And I know that. So for the people listening, yes, I've recognized it. I'm going to get better, I promise. But today's scripture comes from Psalms 145, 14, and it says the Lord helps the fallen and lifts those who bent beneath their loads. So I guess what I necessarily could probably get out of that is don't take on too much all at one time and be patient, wait, have control, have faith. Because he's got a plan. Yep.
- [67:51]
Unknown
And it seems like no matter what, if you go for it and take a risk, if, if you fail, he's there to pick you up. So go for it.
- [67:58]
Willie Weiss
I know, I know. One of the things for me, like you said, like, how some days, some days you've had a long day and you're not, you're not always connected. Like, you need to be, you know, those, those mentors that I've had in my life here in the last few years, you know, have, have really helped me kind of stay connected spiritually. And I like being able to reach out to some of them if maybe there's something I'm struggling with and, and they can, you know, for dang sure, help get me back on track. So I think that's, that's great.
- [68:28]
Luke
Awesome. I sure do appreciate you coming on, Willie. This is, this has been one of my favorites so far. No doubt.
- [68:36]
Willie Weiss
That sounds, that sounds, that sounds terrifying. I'm gonna have to.
- [68:39]
Luke
Oh, no, not in a bad way. It's like conversation wise, like, we hit almost everything and I love it. Like, just awesome. Great content. And we've had cup several laughs. It's just been awesome.
- [68:50]
Unknown
Man.
- [68:50]
Willie Weiss
That's good. I'm, I mean, I, I feel bad when, like when you reached out and, and said, hey, do you want to be on? I'm like, absolutely. And then you sent it to me like I hadn't even listened to it. Like I said, I, I, I get kind of going down a pipe just of weird stuff. Like I have been on this, this CIA spy kick lately. I don't know what it is, but like, I can just be like clipping a calf and listening about, like, you know, spies in other countries getting caught or, like, weird spy stories and you just know.
- [69:22]
Unknown
Sounds neat. Sounds kind of cool.
- [69:26]
Luke
This is awesome. Right now I'm on a show, Netflix. It's called, like, Ransom Canyon or something. It's like a diluted version of Yellowstone. It's not very good, but.
- [69:37]
Unknown
Okay.
- [69:38]
Willie Weiss
I actually, my wife and I are big into reading books, so we try not to watch a lot of tv. And I've been reading it's. It's the. It's by Vince Flint, but it's this Mitch rap series. And it's about this. This guy that his wife or his girlfriend died in a terrorist attack. And he basically becomes like, the US's, you know, best assassin and that he's like an undercover, off book secret agent that they just, like, unleash on, like, the world's nastiest dudes. And it's awesome. Like, there's nothing, like, there's nothing about. You can't be weirder than, like, wake up in the morning, do your chores, eat your kids on the bus, go work and finance at a bank all day long, go home, you know, work on cows, and then just read about assassins at night before you go to bed. Right? Like, that has to be a different kind of crazy.
- [70:33]
Luke
That's awesome. That's a life. That's a life. Well, for anybody that's listening, we hope you enjoyed this episode. I know I sure have. And no, Willie and Luke have as well.
- [70:44]
Willie Weiss
Absolutely.
- [70:44]
Luke
With all this said, sir, I do appreciate you coming on, taking time out of your day. Know you're a busy individual. And with all this said, thank you all for tuning in. It's gonna be empowering you with Willie Weiss, y' all. See y' all next time.
- [71:04]
Unknown
Sam.