Episdoe 2.11 - Show Lamb Shopping Etiquette, Essential Feeds with Barrett Carlisle and JD Pruitt, Special Guest Ashlyn O’Brien and Man of the Year week!

Summary

The Championdrive Podcast: Episode 2.11 - Detailed Summary

Release Date: December 27, 2024

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Introduction

In Episode 2.11 of The Championdrive Podcast, hosts Kaitlyn Sister Urban and Steva Robinson delve into essential aspects of the show lamb industry. This episode covers topics ranging from shopping etiquette and nutrition with industry experts to honoring outstanding show lambs and featuring a special guest. The episode culminates with highlights from the "Man of the Year" contest and an insightful interview with Ashlyn O’Brien, a prominent figure in livestock judging.

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Show Lamb Shopping Etiquette

[02:48] Steva Robinson: Steva initiates the discussion on proper etiquette when visiting breeders during sale season. He emphasizes the importance of understanding and respecting the breeders' efforts in preparing their sheep for show.

• Key Points:

  • Breeders' Excitement: "Everyone's excited when their phone rings and someone wants to come look at babies" ([02:48]).
  • Preparation Efforts: Breeders invest significant time in feeding, bedding, and managing their flocks to present their best lambs.
  • Scheduling Visits: Informing breeders of your arrival time helps them manage feeding schedules to ensure the sheep are calm and presentable. For example, Steva mentions, "if you can stay kind of on schedule... it goes a ways in helping everyone else's day" ([05:46]).
  • Communication: Keeping breeders informed about any delays or changes in schedule is crucial. Steva advises, "Just communicating with the breeders... just kind of keeping them in the loop" ([06:59]).
  • Respecting Logistics: Unpredictable aspects like multiple species or ongoing chores require breeders to plan meticulously. Kaitlyn adds, "Just being mindful at all times for whatever everybody else has going on is... goes a long way" ([09:42]).

• Notable Insights:

  • Avoiding Overcrowded Visits: Steva shares his preference for individualized visits to avoid overwhelming both the breeder and the livestock. "I don't like looking at sheep in, like, big groups of people" ([06:59]).
  • Balancing Breeder Commitments: The hosts discuss the challenges breeders face when multiple groups arrive simultaneously, stressing the need for punctuality and respect for breeders' schedules.

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Essential Feeds Segment: Interview with Barrett Carlisle and JD Pruitt

Sponsored by Essential Feeds, this segment features sales representatives Barrett Carlisle and JD Pruitt, who provide valuable insights into livestock nutrition tailored for show lamb producers.

[10:09] Transition to Sponsor Segment: Steva introduces the segment, highlighting the importance of nutrition in the success of show lambs and sheep reproduction.

[11:05] Background of the Guests:

• JD Pruitt:

  • Grew up in central Texas, transitioning from cattle to sheep farming.
  • "We've been doing sheep ever since the early 2000s" ([11:05]).
  • Recently joined Essential Feeds, focusing on livestock trading and management.

• Barrett Carlisle:

  • Originates from Lubbock, Texas, with extensive experience in sheep and goat showing.
  • Transitioned from animal health to Essential Feeds a year ago.
  • "I feel like Essential as a brand... had the momentum and the steam behind it" ([12:46]).

[14:55] Introduction of New Products:

• Repro Plus:

  • Formulated to enhance reproductive efficiency in sheep.
  • "We were able to formulate that feed where there's actually not that much actual corn in it, but yet it's high energy" ([15:16]).
  • Designed for donor ewes, bucks, and even commercial sheep, promoting overall health and reproductive success.

• Crystal Creep Feeds:

  • 418 Essential: A sweet, textured feed with reminsoy, promoting healthy growth and fleece quality.
    • "Everything ate real good. ... hollowed up in all the right places" ([20:35]).
  • 417 Essential: Similar to 418 but without reminsoy, offering a denser option for specific nutritional needs.
  • Money Maker: A 17% creep medicated with Rumensin, offering a cost-effective textured feed alternative.
    • "It's a reference product that helps in sleep and muscle hydration at a show" ([21:59]).
  • Other Options: Pelleted feeds like the 330 and 340 cater to breeders preferring pellet over textured feeds.

[23:35] Full Line of Essential Supplements: Kaitlyn discusses the comprehensive range of Essential Feeds designed to optimize the physical condition of show lambs.

• Uniform: A high-calorie liquid feed aimed at adding fat cover for a smoother appearance.
• Fluff: A molasses-based feed highly palatable to goats, addressing the challenge of keeping goats eating.
• Belly Down: A corn cob-based additive that maintains a full flank without excessive weight gain, essential for weight-restricted shows.
• Chub: Enhances rib cage prominence for a robust, muscular look.
• Touch Tone & Amino Crease: Muscle-focused supplements that improve bulk and skin quality.
• Sasquatch & Keep It On: Key wool and hair care products, with Keep It On being a staple drench in show barns.

[33:44] Shipping and Availability: Barrett explains the expanded distribution network and emphasizes the ease of obtaining Essential Feeds through their dealer locator or directly contacting a representative for shipping solutions.

• Quote: "We can LTL feed just about anywhere it needs to go and try to make that as fair as we can from a shipping perspective" ([33:44]).

[36:41] Testimonials and User Experience: Steva shares his positive experience with Repro Plus, highlighting its effectiveness and reasonable pricing. "I was really happy with it and I felt it really kind of filled a gap that I needed to improve on" ([19:15]).

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Man of the Year Voting

[36:49] Introduction to Nominations: Steva announces the nominees for the "Man of the Year" contest, sponsored by Essential Feeds. Each nominee is a distinguished sire with remarkable achievements in state fairs and influence in the industry.

• Blindside:

  • Sire of champions at the American Royal and Iowa State Fair.
  • Owned by Babies TKM Dale Family and Berry Farms Chief.
  • "He's bred by Neff Livestock and owned with Esta Show Lambs. He's a unicorn. Drop the mic." ([37:12])

• Company Man:

  • Renowned for his presence at Louisville.
  • Breeder: Impact Camps; Owners: Kennedy, Robertson, and Estes Show Lambs.
  • "He's a Mississippi hippie on Fat Jesus." ([37:25])

• Ceasefire:

  • Sire of multiple rookie of the year nominees and several state fair champions.
  • Breeder: Nathan Club Lambs; Owners: Beatty Club Lambs and Lambright Club Lambs.
  • "He sired two rookies of the year top nominees, Trace, Amigos and Bloodline." ([37:39])

• Ride Time:

  • Hill Brothers buck with multiple champions at Iowa State Fair and American Royal.
  • Breeder: Schroyer Showstock; Owner: Hill Brothers Truce.
  • "He's a Gable by Laney, which Laney is their unicorn." ([38:56])

• Walk This Way:

  • Bred by Carmichael; sire of winners across various state fairs.
  • "He sired many winners this year so I'm excited to see what's to come for him." ([39:35])

• 2.0:

  • A younger sire showing significant promise with early successes.
  • Breeder and Owner: Alan Newcomb and Rural Sheep Company.
  • "His first lamb crop... reserve at Arkansas State Fair and the Reserve View at Cheyenne." ([39:53])

[40:47] Voting Process: Voting remains open until December 29th. Listeners are encouraged to visit championdrive.com to cast their votes for their preferred nominee.

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Interview with Ashlyn O’Brien

[40:47] Introduction to Special Guest: Steva welcomes Ashlyn O’Brien, a distinguished livestock judge with a successful showing and judging career.

[41:28] Ashlyn’s Background:

• Originates from Perrysburg, Ohio; influenced by her farming background.
• Initially showed pigs and cattle before focusing on small ruminants.
• "I had some good friends in our county. The Tuck brothers helped me out with my sheep" ([41:28]).
• Academic journey through Butler State College and Ohio State University (OSU), where she excelled in collegiate livestock judging.

[42:47] Path to Livestock Judging:

• Started reluctantly due to parental encouragement but grew passionate through mentorship.
• Influenced by mentors like Dan Frobos, Taylor Frank, and Parker Henley.
• "Taylor Frank... pushed me really hard and really helped me out a lot" ([43:31]).

[44:28] Educational Choices:

• Chose Butler for its familiarity and strong livestock judging program.
• Transitioned to OSU for broader career opportunities and a supportive environment.
• "OSU just really felt right, just felt like home." ([44:28]).

[45:24] Advice for Transfer Students:

• Prioritize success in judging teams and career aspirations beyond judging.
• "It's important to remember your career and what you want to do after judging." ([45:24]).

[46:05] Reflecting on Her Career:

• Appreciates the support and experiences without regrets.
• "There's not anything I would probably change about my past four years because I've been surrounded with the best people in programs." ([46:05]).

[46:44] Biggest Challenges in Judging:

• Differentiates between the mental challenges of judging contests versus shows.
• "Judging in a contest is more challenging because you're trying to figure out what the committee members are going to officiate." ([46:44]).

[47:37] Favorite Judging Memories:

• Highlights memorable contests like San Antonio and Denver.
• Shares humorous and camaraderie-filled experiences with fellow judges.
• "You have a lot of fun memories and probably inappropriate stories of how bad people act when you've been around them for so long." ([47:37]).

[48:50] Advice for Aspiring Judges:

• Encourage openness, coachability, and networking.
• "Don't compare yourself to other people. Really just go into it open-minded and be coachable." ([48:50]).

[49:35] Future Plans:

• Secured an internship with Cargill, transitioning into a business management associate role.
• Will focus on pricing analysis in animal nutrition post-internship.
• "I'll be a pricing analyst through the animal nutrition side of Cargill." ([49:35]).

[50:07] Closing Remarks: Ashlyn expresses gratitude for the opportunity to share her journey and insights.

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Conclusion

Episode 2.11 of The Championdrive Podcast offers a comprehensive exploration of vital topics in the show lamb industry. From establishing respectful and effective breeder interactions to leveraging specialized nutrition for optimal show performance, hosts Kaitlyn Sister Urban and Steva Robinson provide valuable guidance. The episode also celebrates industry excellence through the "Man of the Year" nominations and inspires listeners with Ashlyn O’Brien's successful transition from showing to judging. Sponsored by Essential Feeds, the episode underscores the importance of quality nutrition in achieving competitive success.

Listeners are encouraged to participate in the "Man of the Year" voting and to explore Essential Feeds' product line to enhance their show lamb operations. With engaging discussions and expert interviews, this episode serves as a vital resource for both seasoned breeders and newcomers to the show lamb community.

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For more information and to cast your vote for "Man of the Year," visit championdrive.com.

Transcript

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Now entering the ring, another episode of.

[Steva Robinson]

The Champion Drive podcast, presented by Novel Designs with your hosts, Kaitlyn Sister Urban and Steva Robinson.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, Steve, I know you're on your way to Phoenix. I know you've mentioned multiple times before that this is your favorite trip of the year. You love spending time. I know you mentioned that. With your dad on the road road and your family. So why is this your favorite trip?

[Steva Robinson]

Well, for one, I hate cold, but I live in Wisconsin, so if you can give me an excuse to sneak away from Wisconsin winter and go to Phoenix. And not so much cold temperature. That's always a favorite. But I really like the drive. It's one of the first shows that Braden could show at when he was younger. And so it was just kind of a fun trip. And they really make it about the exhibitors. There's banners all around the grounds. From the time you pull in, they make it really, like, exhibitor friendly. They're like, hey, thanks for making it. I'm sure you probably know the process, but here's how this is going to work. And that show's really grown since we started going to it. We're taking pigs and sheep this year, and it's a show where it's doable to do multiple species, which I think is challenging, as many of us know that show multiple species. It's really hard to cover your bases in not only one barn, but two barns, but it's pretty doable as long as you bring a pretty good pit crew. So we've got a full truck, a full trailer, and it's just kind of a fun way to end. Not necessarily end, because we still love Denver, but it's just kind of a nice, like, Christmas vacation type thing. We're done with our lambing group. We can leave Wes at home to keep an eye on the barn, and we can kind of leave and it's just kind of a nice trip. We don't really take many family vacations, so for us, it's kind of what we do. And like you said, my dad comes along, he helps us drive, and my dad is the one that got me started in raising sheep. So it's kind of like a full circle type moment for him to be able to come and hang out. And we usually get like an Airbnb or something, and there's usually quite a few good football games to watch or basketball games to watch on the drive. And it's just always been kind of one of my favorite shows. So you're getting ready for Denver, right?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, we are getting Ready for Denver. I think we move in and I don't know, less, less than three weeks. So it's kind of crazy. It doesn't, it doesn't feel like it's already that time of the year. But I mean, I guess we're here and there's nothing we're going to do about it. So we're going to lay them some use out and get to Denver and then go on after that. So why don't you talk a little bit kind of about lambing etiquette? I know that, you know, you just slammed out a whole group, and I know that this is something that's really big that you've talked to me about before. So why don't you kind of give your. Your input on lambing etiquette, on when you want to stop by and all the things. Thanks.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah. So this idea actually came from when we first started the podcast. A couple different breeders mentioned, like, you guys should talk about what is like, proper etiquette for stopping by during sale season and to look at babies. And I never really thought about it. I always just kind of thought it was assume, like you always call ahead and it turns out that maybe not everyone has ever gone over what to do or not to do. So we kind of had this as a subject we wanted to touch on for quite a while and we thought the timing would be really good. On this episode, I guess the first thing to remember is all breeders want to show you sheep. Like, no. Everyone gets excited when their phone rings and someone wants to come look at babies. And I think it doesn't matter if you're one of the most heavily trafficked places or a place that doesn't get many visitors. Everyone's excited to show their babies because that's what we work for all year. Right. But you'd be amazed how many people don't understand the amount of work it takes for a breeder to get their sheep ready for you to come look at it. For example, like at our house, if we know we have people coming at 4:00 and at 7:00, we'll probably feed grain after the 4:00 group. But we're going to wait and feed hay until that 7 o'clock group is almost there, because then that way those ewes aren't bellering and they're quiet because there's nothing that drives me more nuts than a bunch of bellering ewes. I like looking at sheep when it. When the ewes are eaten and when they're quiet. So by Us knowing when you're coming, that's really helpful. And I think other people would say the same thing. And it's a lot of work to get everything bedded and get everything sorted. And sometimes, you know, like those babies are locked off. If you have people that are kind of staggered out throughout the day, say you have a 9:00am group and then a 12:00 group and then a 3:00 group and then a 6:00 group. It's really hard to figure out when to let those babies back out to go out so they can nurse off their moms so they can just kind of relax and not. I'll make any time work. And I think most people will say that. Like when Keith Barry's episode, he talked about like, if someone calls and wants to look at sheep, you make it happen. I think most of us will make it happen. But we also have some logistics to work into there too of like, we've got to make sure those babies aren't getting over work and that they're getting plenty of times with their mom still. So if we know who's coming and if you can stay kind of on schedule, which travel delays happen. I've been on my fair share of trips where you start running behind, you just drop that breeder attacks and say, hey, we're on schedule, looking forward to seeing you at 7 or hey, we were running behind, we ran into some weather. Our last place took a little bit longer. It's going to be 8:30 now. No one gets mad about that. What gets really frustrating is when you're supposed to be the 7:00 stop and 7:30 rolls around, you've got the babies set around, your family's waiting in the house and no one's there yet. And at 8:00, hey, we're not going to make it. And I think just all of us want to sell sheep. All of us want to show you sheep. We're proud of it. And I don't want to sit here and sound negative, but like, just make sure that you remember, like these are people too. They've got family, they've got work obligations or I know, like for you, like when you're in Elk City, like it takes, it's, it's not a 10 minute stop. Like it takes someone, I mean it's probably a couple hours to go through all the babies here, right?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. And we also have, you know, you mentioned about chores and you might be trying to bed barns and you, you kind of want to get all your stuff Done instead of dragging out all of your chores all day long. So I think that's also important. Just communicating, just being able to say, like, hey, I'm gonna be there at this time. That's perfectly fine. We will work around your schedule, or. I know you said that you'll work around their schedule, and it's not that big of a deal, but if we're right in the middle of, you know, treadmill on the show lambs or doing something with the pigs or who knows what. Like, it's really hard to just drop everything and leave, you know, somebody else there with everything that two people were supposed to be doing, because now somebody needs to go show babies and stuff. And it's not that we don't want to because, like, obviously, like, like, that's. That's why we work, and that's how we do all this. Like, we want to show you the babies, and we want you to do all the things. But also, like, logistically, there's a lot of stuff that goes into it, too. And. And I think it's kind of the same way. Like, you don't just jump. Jump in the truck and drive blindfold. Like, you kind of have an idea where you're going. So just communicating with the breeders, just kind of keeping them updated on your trip, and everybody's will be excited, and everybody will be happy to show you babies and do whatever, but I think just being honest and just open about what all is going on with your trip is also very helpful.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah. And I think the other thing, too, is I don't like to have a bunch of people there at one time. I like to. I don't like looking at sheep in, like, big groups of people. Like, it's kind of like when you go golfing. I'm a golfer, so you might not understand this, but it's like when you go golfing and then all of a sudden you get thrown in with someone else. Like, well, I didn't really want to golf with that person. I just want to golf with me and my buddy or me and Jason wanted to golf, and now all of a sudden, we got paired up with another two sim, and we're golfing with two people we don't know. I'm kind of the same way at looking at sheep. I don't really want to look at sheep with people I don't know. I kind of want my time to take. Take, you know, like, go look at them at the pace I want to or ask the questions I want or double check and, you know, Grab this one up a couple times because I really like it. And when you kind of don't have a schedule or a plan and then all of a sudden it's the breeder. If you're the only one there to show sheep and you've got two groups, all of a sudden it's like, hey, do you guys mind looking through them together? Because what else are you supposed to do to say, oh, well, you wait here for an hour while this guy goes. Like, it kind of puts you in a tough spot. And I've never once gone to anyone's place where I've been like, man, they didn't want me to look at their sheep. So it's not that at all. I'm not trying to be negative, but I think there's just a lot of people that probably don't understand what goes on, you know, behind the scenes. And then a lot of us have kids and all of a sudden someone has a basketball game at 11 o'clock and I'm the person who's probably not as good about making sure I attend every event. But you still have to tell your kids, like, hey, I can't make it. I got someone come in to look at sheep. Where if I would have known, I could have tried to adjust someone around and. Or, you know, like, if we have to miss basketball game, that's fine, it's not the end of the world. But all of a sudden that happens quite a few times. Well, then you get a kid that's upset with you, too. So, like, we're all just trying to do right by our kids, trying to do right by our customers and, you know, keep a lot of. A lot of, you know, irons in the fire. So I thought it was interesting that a couple breeders mentioned that that would be an interesting conversation, I guess. Let us know what you guys think. I know. I love, as a breeder, I love it showing babies. I'll show them at any time of the night. Actually, probably the most fun I've had showing babies is like the last stops of the day where they stay until 9, 10 o'clock at night. And you just kind of get, you know, visiting about the sheep industry or about different babies or whatnot, where it's not a rush deal. Like, I'm not the most chatty person, but those are probably some of my favorite parts of raising sheep are those visits that are. Or you get to know someone. Like, for example, last year, Montana Beck stopped at my place. I had no idea who he was. I'd heard his name before, but I actually had a really interesting conversation with him, and that was all just from looking at sheep. And so by all means, like, I think every breeder wants people to come look, but just a little bit of heads up and keeping them in the loop, like you said, like, hey, I'm on time. I'm running ahead with schedule, running behind schedule. It goes a long ways in helping everyone else's day. And some of us are still, you know, lamb and another group out too. So our day's already really unpredictable too. So you're juggling that as show babies that are for sale.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So one other thing to add, you know, about just proper etiquette is I know, like, at Brian and Missy's house, we live 30 minutes from town. So if we had ran to town to go eat or something, and I can't tell you how many times Brian had got a text is like, hey, I'll be there in five minutes. Well, like, I mean, we're 30 minutes from the house and we may or may not have eaten yet and stuff like that. So I think just being mindful at all times for whatever everybody else has going on is. Goes a long way.

[Steva Robinson]

Let's get into this week's segment. Now that we've kind of been on our little soapbox. This week is the man of the Year voting week, which this year's man of the Year contest is sponsored by Essential Feeds. And let's go right into their segment. I visited with Barrett Carlisle and J.D. pruitt. They both are sales reps for Essential, and I thought it was a really informative segment. Those guys are both a really good resource for any questions you might have. And it's kind of interesting, both of those guys kind of signed on with Essential not all that long ago. So I asked them, like, why did you both decide to, you know, put your name on Essential? Why did you jump on board with them? And I think it was a really good segment. And let's get right into it. Well, I'm here today with our man of the Year sponsor, Central Feeds. I have Barrett Carlisle and J.D. pruitt with us. Thanks for joining us today, guys. Let's get started. J.D. can you tell us a little bit about your background in the livestock industry?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Yeah. So I grew up in central Texas, about 30 minutes north of Waco. My father was an ACT teacher for 30 something odd years. He grew up in the cattle side of it. And when we. He had three kids, when we kind of got older, he couldn't afford the cattle that he wanted so what was the closest thing to show cattle? And he thought it was sheep. So we've been doing sheep ever since the early 2000s with my older brother starting it. I went to graduate from Charleston State. We run about probably 250 head of use and probably 100 head of does, and both of them are. Are flush and AIs. So I started on with Essential about two or three months ago. We raised livestock, and I buy and trade all over the country and kind of do this full time.

[Steva Robinson]

How about you, Barrett?

[Barrett Carlisle]

Yeah, so I grew up in Texas also Lubbock, Texas, or just outside of Lubbock, so in the Panhandle. Grew up showing sheep and goats there. Family there started Diamond C at the time Club Lambs. And that's what me and my brother and my dad did. Later went to school at Butler Community College and then into Kansas State from there. So that's kind of what brought me to Kansas and have been there ever since. So I worked in the animal health sector for a little while, and then me and my wife, Jera Settles run Diamond Seed livestock currently. And then I left Zoetis, or the Animal Health World about a year ago and started with Essential Feeds. So I've been with the team for about a year now.

[Steva Robinson]

I think it's interesting both of you are somewhat new to Essential, but you have a ton of livestock industry experience for years. What made you guys want to switch to Essential and represent their product?

[Barrett Carlisle]

Yeah, I'll start first. I guess. I feel like this is an industry where I think you can sense and feel momentum on things and when things get hot or when things kind of start kind of dying off. And I felt like Essential as a brand, you kept seeing popping up again. Essential's been around for a good while, and people may have been familiar with it, you know, a while back, but as things cycle back around, I think you could start feeling some momentum on the. On the sheep side for within our world, kind of building within terms of the names and feeders pushing it. And then I got approached by Rowdy Ray about potentially coming on and felt like it was a brand that had had kind of again, had the momentum and the steam behind it and kind of looked into, is that something I want to put my name on and go tell other people about? And after kind of feeling that out for a little while, felt like it was a good fit.

[Steva Robinson]

How about you, J.D.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Yeah, kind of the same thing as Barrett at the beginning. Just seeing it everywhere. When you see a couple of families feeding it, you're like, okay. And then you start seeing more successful families. I think this industry is a lot of perception and then reality, and you start seeing more families that get more successful, more successful. And you're like, it kind of sparks your interest. And then, honestly, the first time I got my hands on the product, first bag of feed that Rowdy sent us, the quality was good. The consistency has been great every time. It's very palatable. Everything eats. I can always say I can feed any species of livestock if they'll just eat a ration and stay consistent on it. And then you can kind of choose what you want to do from there. But the main thing is consistency and just more it grows, the better it is. And that's kind of why I've gotten onto it.

[Steva Robinson]

Well, let's talk about a new product that came out first, Repro Plus. This is a new product that came out that's formulated especially for show land producers. And it's one that I've actually fed myself. But let's kind of tell our listeners what's. What was the thought process behind developing this feed and what does it specifically do? Barrett, do you want to take this one?

[Barrett Carlisle]

Sure. So I think this industry, both sheep and goats, has obviously been made a big push on the reproduction side in terms of getting more and more AI, but more specifically, a lot more flushing. And as people reduce their herd numbers and flush a higher percentage, I think that's an aspect where people have gotten a lot more aggressive in terms of spending. Ultimately, we kind of felt like being in the nutrition business that your biggest limiting factor on the success of that is the nutrition side. And there's been some things pop up here, there in terms of feed and things that you can do from a donor and buck perspective to help you out. But. But we kind of felt like that was a space where we could jump into and formulate something that would allow people to have more success when it came to flushing or on buck fertility. So that's kind of where Repro plus was born. You know, we kind of tried to formulate something with, you know, more, you know, higher levels of zinc and manganese. There's a Zimpro product in there for that, high levels of omega fatty acids, and it's a high energy feed. And yet there's kind of been data to show that, you know, when it comes to reproduction, you need energy, yet corn kind of works against you. So we were able to formulate that feed where there's actually not that much actual corn in it, but yet it's high energy. And so the Kind of combination of all those things have, have kind of proven to kind of help success I guess when it comes to advanced reproduction.

[Steva Robinson]

So this is something we can feed to ewe lambs donors, if you wanted your regular mature ewes, bucks and everything. Correct.

[Barrett Carlisle]

Yeah. So we, you know, kind of came up with this with the donor and the buck in mind. But there's been a couple of areas where I feel like we've seen it grow and make sense. One of those is, you know, ultimately I'm of the opinion it doesn't do any good to create more embryos if you're going to neglect what actually has to carry and maintain that embryo into a pregnancy and live lamb. So one nice thing about Repro plus is I feel like it's at a price point where people can feed that to their recips as well and have seen advantages in feedback feeding that kind of higher end feed to the resips. I think it's kind of been industry standard that we baby our donors and bucks and then we kind of neglect our commercial sheep and make them act like real sheep or. That's been the thought process. But I think there's kind of value in putting a little more higher end nutrition into those. And then one aspect too is the ewe lambs and growing and developing ewe lambs. I think a lot of people get stuck in between. You know, do we feed them a higher price show feed through the summer and fall to kind of grow and develop those or do we put them kind of on our cheaper maintenance type ration that we have for a mature ewes? And most everybody that goes that route will tell you that those ewe lambs are probably not quite as appealing to them just visually. They're. They don't look as healthy. I don't think they look as full. You know, I don't think they mature quite as well as they would on a, on a higher end feed. So this is kind of a higher end feed that's at a price point that allows you to grow those U lamps through the summer and into the fall and winter and kind of maximize their maturity. So that's been an aspect where it's taken off and people have been very, very happy with it. There's.

[Steva Robinson]

I know you told me about it when we were in Reno for the show and that was kind of a key aspect that I've always struggled with in our flock was after you take them off your creep, do you move them to a show feed and they get too fat and it's At a price point that doesn't make any sense or do you move them to like a local co op you feed and then they kind of get like the lackluster wool quality and like you said, they don't look full, they don't look as healthy. So I was all ears when you mentioned this when we were in Reno and we tried it after that and I was really happy with it. The price point. I'm not a big breeder by any means. I was able to order a pallet in at a time. I could get a couple more pallets if I wanted. The shipping is quick, the pricing is ltl shipping and it's not bad for that. And the product was really good. I was really happy with it because I'm sure there's other companies that maybe have a similar feed but I've never heard of one that's specifically marketed for show sheep to increase reproductive efficiency. So not to sit here and be the testimonial person but I was really happy with it and I felt it really kind of filled a gap that I needed to improve on and had never really found a good option to do so. So for those of you guys that are interested in it, be sure to ask Barrett or JD about it or any of the essential reps. It's a really good product and like I said the shipping on stuff has been pretty easy. What about crystal creep feeds?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

We started creeping last year had been our first full year of creeping on on essential and by far the the fattest and the healthiest babies that we ever had on our on our January set we creeped with the 418. The 418 essential. It's a sweet feed, textured feed. It has reminson in it. We had real good success with that on all of our January's. Everything ate real good. And then coming our February group we wanted to try something different which was the 417. It was just the medicated without the remains in this time. Just wanted to try something different, try to get them all. And I think that fed extremely well as well. I, I would probably say it's, it's very dense. It might be a little bit more expensive on some of your local co op feeds or something like that depending on where you're at located on creep wise but the main thing about it is if you're wanting them babies to eat so much it's gonna take about half of this to get them in the same flesh or the same bloom. Hair quality was good, their fleece was good back Shape. Everything was creased up in all the right places. The Money Maker I just ordered a just got my first term ton of Money Maker in the other day for our Decembers that we're going to get on it. Barrett probably knows more about the Moneymaker creep than I do, so I'll let him kind of take over on that.

[Barrett Carlisle]

Yeah, the Moneymaker again came was kind of born from a place of. We like the performance of the 417 and 418. You know, do you have a textured fee that's maybe a little lower price point and that's kind of where Moneymaker was was born. I think the first batch of Moneymaker went down to Texas. Probably last. Oh, it's probably May. I would guess it was kind of late in the season. So that didn't catch kind of the midwestern push. But it's a 17% creep medicated with Rumensin textured feed. And again probably a little, little cheaper price point than our 417 or 418. So it's been very well received where it was tried at last year and actually had a text a couple nights ago from somebody that had just looked at a set of fall born lambs that were on Moneymaker and asked what the story was on it because they looked really, really good. So. And a couple other creep options would be our 330 and our 340 feed, 330s medicated deckhawks and 340s medicated through Menson and those would be pelleted feed. So I know depending on where you go, there's opinions on pelleted versus textured in the creep space. Some people like to start with the pelleted and then move to a textured. So we've got both. And if you want to start with a pelleted feed, 330 or 340 would be the ones to use.

[Steva Robinson]

For our listeners in the south, stock show season is just about to go into high gear. Let's talk about the full line of essential supplements. When do you guys want to go through each one and kind of when you would utilize it or what it's used for?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

I can kind of start off on that. So I mean down here in Texas and still the north northern states are almost done. Got Denver and Phoenix left and then Oklahoma's got a few left and then Texas, we're just not really getting going. We're gonna show it four or five big majors in a matter of about six to seven weeks. So it gets pretty, pretty fast and furious. The main thing that I I have all my families and a lot of our animals on is, is just making sure we get them fat enough, make sure we have the fat and the COVID that we need. I think today in the, in the trends that are out there is we want ones that are smooth from all, from all angles across the ring. We want them to be flat back, we want them to have the right cover on the ribs. The sleep still had the muscularity. So always my philosophy is try to get one fat and then let's break the muscle because you can't have muscle without the fat. So we use a lot of uniform. Uniform is a fattening product. It's a liquid. It's kind of like a dime essentially, but we use a lot of uniform. It's real high calories just trying to get that extra layer fat on there. Another product that I use quite a bit, probably more the goat side that I do on the sheep side is a product called Fluff. Fluff is heavily molasses based. Gets those goats eaten extremely well. The goats, the most finicky animal in the United States. But I think you can do real, have a lot of success on a goat if you can get those things just to eat. I mean, that's the number one, I would say issue on goats is keeping them hungry, keeping them going. So we use a lot of fluff on our goats and I've seen a lot of success in that over the past few months. And then a product that's really taken off for us is called Belly Down. Belly down is a, is a feed additive that you top dress, mix in with your feed. That is a corn cob base. It's low protein, low fat, high fiber, very palatable. It's a product that we're trying to maintain one or trying to get that rear flank. Everybody wants that, that, that pretty show sheep or, or steer or goat or whatever with that deep flank in them. Try to get that right underline and belly down. I've been using that for a little over a year now, using last year as well. Talking about just getting the right silhouette in them I think is incredible. If I got one that's, hey, we got, we got weight limits at San Angelo and San Antonio. San Antonio, you can't weigh over 175. San Angelo's 170. And you're sitting right now at the end of December and you're weighing 160. 165. You say, oh, we got to hit the brakes and we got to figure something out. How are we going to keep this animal full looking and fresh looking without. Without putting a lot of weight on them. And you can feed up to half a pound to three quarters of belly down. You're not going to gain a bunch of weight but you're going to remain. You're going to keep that, that flank and that rear flank and stomach full and fluff. And I think that product's really extremely gotten big and the cattle side, it's gotten huge in it as well. Another product that I like a lot is Chub. Chubb is one that if you're trying to get that extra rib cage, we're in the industry and everything better be burly and wolfy. Doesn't matter what species it is. Chub is going to start from the inside out. It's going to get them just more springer ribbon, more burdeness on the rib cage. I think that product works real well. And then Barrett, you want to take over on a few of them?

[Barrett Carlisle]

Yeah, a couple of kind of our. I would say our muscle based products would be Touch Tone Touchstone. Works really good as a daily fed supplement. Top dress. I typically say if you can be on that 45 to 60 days that's probably ideal. There's some people within the last two to three weeks depending on fat cover that'll double the recommended feeding rate on it and have seen good results with it. I think helps just in terms of volume of muscle and just total bulk I think is kind of where that is used. A relatively new product we have is amino crease Amino crees can be fed. I'd say it's kind of one of your. Can be one of your faster acting kind of right at the end type products typically about 10 days out is kind of, you know where you can start it and still see results but can be fed longer as well. It's a very high lysine high protein product that is designed to do what it says it'll crease them up and help in terms of just muscle texture and shape and skin quality as well. So. And can be fed longer than that without really burning them down and making them stale looking. But those are two products that again have been very well received when it helps to help us from a muscle perspective do two different types of things in my opinion and can be utilized together. But that's two very popular products that we have.

[Steva Robinson]

What about Sasquatch?

[Barrett Carlisle]

Yeah, Rowdy would kill us if we didn't didn't mention Sasquatch. That I'd say is kind of a bread and butter product. Melatonin based have seen incredible results in all species with it. And most generally there's a lot of people that maybe don't recognize Essential or maybe don't know what, you know, products that go with. But you can mention Sasquatch and Keeping on and most everybody's utilized those two. And so yeah, Sasquatch is a great product for leg wool hair care does, does a great job with that. And then as I mentioned, Keeping on is a drench based product product that if you need extra just shape and muscle hydration at a show, just about everyone's used Keeping on at some point.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

I would say as a, I mean way back when, even when I was still showing, the one thing I associate with essential is always Keep It On. I mean it doesn't matter, matter what barn you're in, you're going to see the little red bottles to Keep It On. And I would say to any family out there, if you're not sure what you're show day drench is or what to add and sometimes that gets real confusing and sometimes we make it a lot harder on ourselves than what it should be. But if you'll get you a bottle of Keep it on and just go by directions, you will see a change and you will see a difference for the better without even knowing what you're trying to do.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah, I was going to say for those of you that don't know Keep it on if you see like a red drench, Keep it on is typically the product that is in that in some format. And that's probably the first product that when I first heard of Essential that was the product that I was like, oh okay, we use that all the time. We already use their stuff. And then Sasquatch was probably the next one. Let's go back to Sasquatch a little bit because I feel like shag and wool is such a big topic. What is like the recommended daily usage on that?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

I would say you could go anywhere you can. I mean there's a lot of people in this industry. A little bit's good. A lot more is better. With talking with Rowdy I think the, the daily dose is usually about 10cc's per feeding. So 10cc's twice a day will get you a big change in thickness and overall quality of your leg here. When it comes to sheep and goats, I've heard some people, hey, we're gonna do, we're gonna do a pump more in the night. If you're trying that there at the end, trying to get the most Bang for your buck. But I would say if you're gonna start it and you starting it now and you're getting ready for the Texas majors or the spring majors, I would say a daily dose would be 10cc's per feeding.

[Steva Robinson]

The last question, I guess I have two questions left. What about we covered our creep feeds in the repro plus feed. What about if I'm someone who's thinking about switching my feed this year and I show or as a show land parent or show mom or show dad, whatever, what are our base feed options and like what are most people feeding for that?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Yeah. So talking when we were talking about the creep feed. So I creep feed last year with the actual show feeds. So I, I creep feed with the418. Most of my families and most of my customers, them babies have been on the 418 since the first day they took a bite of feed until until now and all the way through. So that just kind of tells you the diversity of the feedback feed. The 418 is probably the, I would say our most popular feed down here in Texas with essential. It's the one that has the remains in it, kept them healthy all the way through the summer. It's big on our goats too. There's a lot of goat families. I know the Strubies here there in San Angelo have had a lot of Success feeding the sweet feed418 to the goats as well. As far as the other sheep feed, probably the most common One is the 417 which the label is the exact same as the 418. It just doesn't have the reminson in it. So it just kind of depends on where you want to lay your priorities. I, I fed both. I have some families that are on one, some families that are on the other. I think both of them are consistent. And that side of it, on the goat side of it, I have a lot of families that are on the momentum which is the, the pellets and feed pellets of goat feed. We feed that pretty pretty much year round and we kicked our baby kids with that. And then if we have a goat that says hey, maybe it's kind of getting towards later and we want to try to get a little bit more mass. We will then switch it over to the 418 as well as the sweet feed.

[Steva Robinson]

Okay, the last question I have is I, when I was kind of introduced to essential feeds, I was like, well, I don't have a dealer in my area. How do I get essential feeds? What's the Shipping process, like, I guess, how does some of our listeners go about getting a hold of it?

[Barrett Carlisle]

Yeah, so I would tell you that, well, one, one relatively new thing with Essentials, we finally got a new website. So I would go go to the website, go to our dealer locator and find somebody that is close to you. What I will say is we keep expanding our coverage area and seems like it seen a lot of growth in the Midwest and as you push further east, looking for new dealers all the time there. But as Stephen mentioned earlier, we can ltl feed just about anywhere it needs to go and try to make that as fair as we can from a shipping perspective because we want to get the feed into your hands. So even if it doesn't look like there's a dealer super close, I would tell you to reach out to a rep and we can figure out a way to get it to you.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

I would just say that probably the most thing, I've fed a lot of different feeds over probably the past 10 years. And I, I could. I say I'm lucky because I could do this for a living. I get to see a lot of different animals and different climates and on different feeds from A to Z. And I would probably say that one of the main reasons when Rowdy called me to get on with Essential was the consistency that I've seen, which that's always big for me. Some of the feeds off in the past, I'd get three tons. Half of them would be heavy molasses and half of them would be too dry and it would just knock the sheep or the goats off of it. And that was the main thing. And that's what I told Rod. I said, hey, if I take this on and I, I go sell this to my customers or if I tell my customers, hey, it's a big jump for anybody to say, hey, I'm switching from feed A to feed B. When they fed a for 10 years, it is hard to make that change. And I said, consistency's got to be a big part of it. And I saw that Roddy said, hey, there's going to be no issues here. Meet with Jason, the owner. And I would say all my families were hesitant, but now they are all team aboard and they're excited that we get to move over to it. And that was probably the biggest thing I saw on the field feeds and changes. How quicker we got them to where we wanted them down here in the summer in Texas is, is we're just trying to keep them alive. When it's 110 and 90 degrees, 90 humidity. We're not really worried about that. We like to get them fat because the fatter we can get them, the harder we can track. Track them, treadmill them, exercise, do all that. I mean, I've had sheep that have been weighing 140 from October and went looked at them the other day and it's December, now we're weighing 142 and so we've got them to where we want them and now we're getting more mature, they're more dense in their shape and I think that's just a big quality to the feed is just getting them where you want them, get that maturity out of them and you can hold them for longer periods of time. I think that's what it's taking to win the big shows, I would say now.

[Steva Robinson]

Perfect. Well, thanks a bunch, guys.

[Barrett Carlisle]

Yeah, thank you.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Thank you.

[Steva Robinson]

Well, this year for our top nominees for man of the Year, Blindside is our first one and he is the sire of the grand at the American Royal, the champion you at Iowa State Fair and then Grandad Ohio. He's a Truce Unicorn Chapo. He was raised by Dale Family Club Lambs and he's owned by Babies TKM Dale family and Berry Farms Chief which.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Was our man of the year last year. He's bred by Neff Livestock and owned with Esta Show Lambs. He's a unicorn. Drop the mic. I know that he's had another dominating year in the show ring, so I'm excited to see what's to come for him as well.

[Steva Robinson]

Company man is the next one up. Company man probably had as part of a Louisville as anyone. He's a Mississippi hippie on Fat Jesus. He's bred by Impact Camps and owned with Kennedy, Robertson and Estes Show Lambs.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Ceasefire is also up for man of the Year. He's a truce 3626 which which is a collision U. He is the sire of two rookie of the year top nominees, Trace, Amigos and Bloodline. His first lamb crop has came out and he won several state fairs including the Minnesota State Fair, the New Mexico State Fair, the Maryland State Fair and then they also had Grand Champion U at the Ohio State Fair. I know he's hired several division champions across the country. He is bred by Nathan Club Lambs and owned with Beatty Club Lambs and Lambright Club Lambs.

[Steva Robinson]

Ride time is the next one that's up. That's a Hill Brothers buck and he's tired. He's a Gable by Laney, which Laney is Their unicorn zoo creature Helga. You sired multiple champions including the Reserve Grand U at Iowa State Fair, Reserve Natural at Louisville, 5th overall Crossbred U at Louisville, Champion Division 3American Royal and several others. Like I said, that one is bred and raised by Hill Brothers Truce which.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Is a bombshell bar that's bred by Schroyer Showstock and owned with Beatty Clublands. I'm pretty sure that he was used pretty heavy across the across the country this year so I'm excited to see the babies out of him and see what's to come for him.

[Steva Robinson]

Unicorn was our man of the Year a couple years ago. He's a drop the mic hot message and as the as their ad says the ultimate legend. I think his track record over time, especially now seeing like what his daughters and granddaughters or grandsons have been doing is pretty interesting. I believe on Donnie's Fagalka's podcast segment he talked about unicorn and his influence. Anyways, that's a drop the mic hot mess spread known by Alan Newcomb.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Walk this way is a How high Clementine, which Clementine was a unicorn Woody to you. I remember she was a pretty good show you for Clay Randall and then she went on to be a very successful donor. It seems to be like so she's up for man of the Year. I know that he's FF bred and owned by Rule Sheep Company. He sired many winners this year so I'm excited to see kind of what's to come for him in the next few years.

[Steva Robinson]

I believe the champion you at Louisville was a walk this way, correct?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Correct.

[Steva Robinson]

Look at Mina 1 style. The last one that's up is 2.0. That's a unicorn Pegasus. It's bred by Alan Newcomb and owned by by Alan Newcomb and Rural Sheep Company. 2.0's first lamb crop was this year and started off with a bang. Siring the grant at multiple state fairs including Wisconsin and Kansas, the reserve at Arkansas State Fair and the Reserve View at Cheyenne. I believe the Reserve View at Kansas city was also 2.0 and they've got an add up with several of his winners. So his his he's just kind of getting started as he's one of probably probably one of the younger ones on here. I would guess so. Voting is open until the 29th so go over to championdrive.com to cast your vote for who you think should be man of the Year just sponsored by Essential Feeds. Let's go into our next segment. This is one that is a young lady that I think is Going to be pretty special in our industry. Who did you catch up with, sister?

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, I caught up with Ashlyn O'Brien, which many of you guys probably know her. She's been livestock judging the past few years collegiately, and before that, she had a pretty successful show career in Ohio, and she actually just finished up her judging career at osu. She. She kind of talked about the success that she had and looking in every doors and taking every opportunity. So I thought that was really good. Let's get right into Ashland's. Well, Ashlyn, thanks for joining me today. I know that you've had a very successful judging career, and you had a very successful show career as well. So do you mind telling us a little bit about how you grew up in the industry?

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

Yeah, absolutely. So I'm originally from Perrysburg, Ohio, which is in the northwest corner. And so I guess background from there. My mom grew up in Pennsylvania, and she grew up on a farm, and so that kind of introduced me to livestock. So I actually started out showing pigs and cattle, which not everyone knows that about me. We only went to the county fair, and. And so nothing too special, but eventually I kind of took it upon myself and I wanted to try. Try out the small ruminance. And so thankfully, I had some good friends in our county. The Tuck brothers helped me out with my sheep and really just kind of elevated from there. I heavily showed in, like, some jackpot shows, state fair, and then some national shows, but loved sheep, and so big passion there, but that's kind of where I'm at. And then after that, obviously involved in 4H and FFA, then I did livestock judging in 4H, and then I wanted to go to Butler and then osu, where I was on the collegiate livestock judging teams.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So, you know, you kind of mentioned a little bit about kind of how you started showing. How did you get interested in livestock judging?

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

So my mom obviously wanted us to show, and so I never really wanted to do it. She kind of had to force me to go to practice and whatever, so I started doing it. And then the Frobos family, a lot of people maybe that did livestock judging in college, know their family, and they kind of pushed me to keep going. And so Dan Frobos was my coach when I was younger, and he kind of was the big start of kind of me being able to figure it out and kind of start to love it.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And I know that you mentioned Dan, and I know that you probably have several others that you would like to thank for getting you to where you are. So who would those people be for you?

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

Absolutely. So obviously my parents were my number one supporters, but I've had a lot of awesome coaches in college. And so Taylor Frank at Butler, man, he kind of found what, like, I guess when I went there, I was horrible at reasons, and he kind of just knew, like, I still had it in me. And he pushed me really hard and really helped me out a lot. And then Parker Henley at Oklahoma State. Love Parker. He is probably the reason I even kept going and doing good in contests and then some. A couple assistant coaches, Phoebe Rogers, Pace Middlestadt and Ty Drock. Good friends too, that really care about me and wanted me to be successful in my judging career.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So, you know, you mentioned that you went to Butler and then you went on to osu. Kind of what made you decide to go to Butler and then kind of what transformed that into going to osu?

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

Like I said, kind of the Frobos family and then Hannah Frobos and then Hyatt, they also went to Butler. And so it seemed like a. Just a familiar place for me. And so Frank really wanted me to come. And there's a couple others from my county, like Lucas Tuck and then Logan Brown, Lane Kemner and Kirsten Omling. They were just like kind of my role models when I was younger. They all went to Butler and then I visited. Loved Frank and just the program they had there. And so it felt kind of like an easy decision. And then obviously osu, you know, then you want to start thinking about careers and surrounding yourself with people that motivate you. And OSU just really felt right, just felt like home.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So do you have any advice for any transfer students? I know that, you know, you. You moved away from home to go to JUCO and then farther south for senior college. So do you have any advice for transfer students on anything like that?

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

Obviously, you want to pick where you're going to be successful on a judging team and start, like, waiting for people to commit. But I always remind people that it's important to remember your career and what you want to do after judging. So picking a college that's going to push you to go further and really educate yourself. Good classes, good professors. And then obviously, like, I've been able to get some internships through Oklahoma State that have even given me a job. So really thinking past judging as well is really important.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And if you could go back and redo your judging career, what would you do differently about it?

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

I always have a problem, like, thinking about just little pairs and like, Louisville was close and I always remind myself, oh, if I switch this pair, I could have talked to set higher. But truly that's just the little things, and it doesn't matter. And there's not anything I would probably change about my past four years because I've been surrounded with the best people in programs, and there's truly nothing I would change. I've been very, very fortunate.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah. And I know that, you know, you just mentioned that sometimes you want to go back and swap your pairs around. So what do you feel like is the biggest battle that you fight when sorting livestock?

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

I feel like there's two different things. So judging in a contest and show in a contest is more challenging because you're trying to figure out what are the committee members going to officiate this. You know, you're just all these scenarios in your head, and then in a show, you can kind of do what you want, and then you have the mic to defend yourself. So a judging contest is a little more of a mental challenge, and so those little, little things can make it harder. And then afterwards, then you're like, shoot, I wish I did this or that. And to show you're just like, I can do whatever I want. So, yeah, there's challenges for sure, but it's more just your own personal mental challenges right there.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And to wrap this up, I have a few fun questions for you. What was your favorite judging contest or judging contest memory?

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

I have a few contests that were really, like, my favorite. I think every person that judges in college will say that San Antonio is probably one of the best quality contests all the way through. It's really fun. You kind of get the Texas environment, which is different for most people from the north. And so I loved San Antonio, and I was always lucky to do good there, too, but. And then probably Denver is pretty awesome as well. But past contest, you know, you're in a van with 15 people or so for a long. A long time and too many trips. And so I have a lot of fun memories and probably inappropriate stories of how bad people act when you've been around them for too long, or fighting and playing cards and yelling at each other. So that's something that you'll never experience again, being so close to other people.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah, I know. Those are memories that I'm sure that you'll hold special to your heart for as long as you live. So, yeah, my last few questions I have for you is, what advice do you give kids wanting to further their judging career in college?

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

Yeah, I always tell people, you know, don't Compare yourself to other people. Really just go into it open minded and be coachable. Anything in life, just be coachable and you'll find success. Because if you surround yourself with the right people, you will be going in the right direction already. And then I guess also you're going to several places around the country. Just introduce yourself to people. It's probably the best time of your life. You don't have to worry about anything. Just meet people and have fun and look at good livestock.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I think that was very good advice. And the last question I have for you is what's next for your career?

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

Yeah, so I like I said earlier, I got an internship with Cargill before my senior year. So I got a job with them afterwards right outside of Kansas City. And so I'll be doing a business management associate program and it'll be for like 18 months and kind of rotates through some things. And then afterwards I will be pricing feed. I'll be a pricing analyst through the animal nutrition side of Cargill.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Perfect. Well, that sounds really fun.

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Thank you so much for joining me, Ashlyn. We really appreciate you taking the time to do it.

[Ashlyn O'Brien]

Yeah, no problem. Thanks for having me.

[Steva Robinson]

Well, I think that wraps up this episode. Just as a reminder, we still have the Novel Designs gift certificate year end specific special going. A lot of our customers like to use that as a year end prepay type deal. Get with any of the Novel Designs girls or Janie for that. And I think I'm gonna head off to Arizona and keep on my drive to warmer weather. And you better get back to work because you got a bunch of use to lay them out in a couple weeks or in a couple days, I guess.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yes, I do.

[Steva Robinson]

But we hope you guys had a great Christmas. Happy New Year. We'll catch you next time.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Ra.