← The Championdrive Podcast
The Championdrive Podcast
Episode 2.13 - ‘Talkin pedigrees with Lucas Tuck, Customizing Feed with Robert Cooper - Cooper Specialty Feeds, and Colby Williams - the ’25 NAILE Champion Market Lamb Exhibitor.
00:53:31
We caught up with Lucas Tuck, of Tuck Brothers Show Lambs where we learned more about their operation and his take on the role the bottom side plays in pedigrees. Robert Cooper with Cooper Specialty Feeds was on with the meaning behind their brand, where we learned about many of their products. Lastly, we got behind the scenes with Colby Williams, the exhibitor of the 2024 NAILE Champion Market Lamb.
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- [00:02]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
Now entering the ring, another episode of the Champion Drive podcast, presented by Novel Designs with your hosts, Kaitlyn Sister Urban and Steva Robinson.
- [00:22]
Steva Robinson
Did you know, Sister, that one year ago today, we were recording, actually, one year ago tomorrow, we were recording our very first Champion Drive podcast.
- [00:33]
Sister
No, I didn't. But I do remember that day like it was yesterday. It feels like because we were so.
- [00:38]
Steva Robinson
Bad, it took forever and we kept screwing up and we didn't know how to edit everything. And I'm not saying we're great yet, and I think today is a little rusty, as you guys will find out. But I remember, I distinctly remember it was after the LSU spring show. I went to the hotel before I flew out, recorded it. We kept doing it and doing it and doing it and thinking that we needed to have it perfect. And as you guys can see, we've accepted we don't need to be exactly perfect on all of it. So thanks for being with us for a whole year on the podcast. We hope you guys have enjoyed it. It's been a couple weeks. It's been a busy time in the show limb industry, so we thought it would be a good time to have our next podcast episode out. I'm really excited for this week. We've got three guests on, but let's talk a little bit about what's going on. Champion Drive first, Sister.
- [01:22]
Sister
Yeah, so I know you mentioned, you know, last time we talked, we had just gotten back from Denver and, like, Sioux Falls was kind of coming up. And so, you know, we've had a lot going on. I know that we've had, you know, sales out in California, live sales that have happened. And then now we're starting to get into the Midwest, live sales. I know Champion Drive is really, really busy right now, so just as a reminder, if you have any sales coming up or anything, like, we'd love to get your advertising up on Champion Drive. We have a lot of traffic on there, so we have several different homepage announcements up. The first one we have up is Bertram Showstock, and that is February 11th on NextGen. The full sibs to Lot 3 and 12 won the state Fair of West Virginia last year. And then the dam of Lot 1, 2 and 10 was grand at Indiana Stock show as well.
- [02:11]
Steva Robinson
Berry Farms has a couple sales coming up February 11th. They're going to be selling their mails in February 13th. The ewe lambs will sell. That's always a really deep set. So be sure to check out both of those sales on February 11th and 13th for berry farms, Lynn Grove Club.
- [02:25]
Sister
Lambs is selling on SC February 12th. There's a variety of different weathers and ewe lambs both on there, so be sure to check them out as well.
- [02:34]
Steva Robinson
Johnson Family Show Stock in Wisconsin has two sales coming up on February 12th. They're selling Ulams which include sires sired by Walk this Way, Bloodline and crossbones. And on February 13th they're selling their weathers as well as the Dorset Advantage Ram we option. Sires include Crossbones and Batman for that sale. The Shrock livestock sale is February 13th on NextGen. Shocks have a really nice set of South Downs, Blacks and Dorset selling that is February 13th on next gen. Bruno.
- [03:04]
Sister
Clublands also sells on Next Gen February 13th. They have a variety of different ones. They have rams used and weather options as well, so be sure to check them out. They are sired by Supernova, Notorious Fez and First Class, so be sure to check them out on NextGen.
- [03:21]
Steva Robinson
Diamond Sea Livestock has a private tag weather bid off on February 17th. In order to get the link for this sale, you need to go by the farm and check them out. They do that so to try and drive traffic to the farm so you have to see them. The guest consigner in that is Diamond Sea Genetics and they have an open house this weekend, February 15th and 16th in Leavenworth, Kansas. And once again, that sale is February 17. Well, speaking of all those ads, Sister actually was talking about a really good topic today that I didn't realize. A lot of people ask her and they were asking what's the difference on Champion Drive between a homepage announcement and a headliner. So the difference. Do you want to take this, sister?
- [04:00]
Sister
Yeah. So homepage announcements, they go up at the top of Champion Drive and they're on there for three days. And you also, with that, you also get a tweet and an app notification for Champion Drive and then a headliner goes up for a week and it, it kind of uses it like Steve describes it as like a social media post. You get like a caption to go on there with it. It stays up longer. It kind of drives more traffic to it. So I know that, that sometimes people don't always know the difference between those. But speaking of headliners, we do have several headliners up the brand, which Charlie Hild was on here on the podcast last year talking about the brand and kind of gave us a rundown about what all was going to come about it last year. So it's hosted by hillbros and it's February 28th and March 1st in Webster City, Iowa.
- [04:48]
Steva Robinson
Kaiser Club Lambs also has a headliner up there and this is promoting their sale that is March 3rd. They're selling December and January Borns. They are located in Minneapolis, Iowa, which is in southeast Iowa. Be sure to stop by their farm and plan a visit to check out their sale set. They're sired by Rad, King Kong, Navajo, Clyde, 563, Friendly Fire, Duke, Skinwalker, FF son. That's father Figure Son. That's my fault. You can leave that in without even editing it. Casey's gonna give me a hard time. Father Figure Son and rc. And I bet you RC is a Ray Charles son getting good at these abbreviations. So, speaking of headliners and advertising, I know we're pretty advertising heavy on the front end of this, so let's get right into our first segment, which is someone that I know Sister was pretty excited to have on, but it was a really good episode that I enjoyed with Lucas Tuck on. He just is coming off a really good run the past couple years and I think he's someone that I've gotten to know because someone keeps bringing him around Sister. And so I've gotten to know him over the past couple months and he's really fun to talk pedigrees with. So it's interesting, I think, how he has an outlook on the importance of the U base and what the bottom side of a pedigree brings to the table on things. And I thought his segment was really good. So let's get right into it and listen to his segment.
- [06:17]
Lucas Tuck
Hey guys, I'm on today with Lucas Tuck of Tuck Brothers Show Lambs. Thanks for joining us.
- [06:22]
Steva Robinson
Lucas. Let's get started.
- [06:23]
Lucas Tuck
How did you get started in the show lamb industry?
- [06:26]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
Well, first off, thanks for having me be a part of the podcast here and, you know, kind of answer your first question. Like, like many others, it kind of started as a 4H project. You know, back up even further past that. When I was really young, my grandma used to watch me, my brother and my sister, uh, during the summers and, and uh, we'd, we'd go to her farm and, and there's cows and, and pigs and sows. And there was nothing more that I enjoyed than to be out there at the farm and to take care of, care of the animals and, and kind of be a part of that. And I, ever Since I was 3 or 4 years old, I've always wanted to do something like that. All my cousins, they showed cattle and pigs and, and when I got around to kind of 4h age my parents were like maybe, maybe you guys should, should do something a little bit different. And so we got involved with the sheep. The first, my first year we showed pigs and then after that it was kind of history. We showed sheep every year and it kind of evolved into maybe a little bit of a breeding aspect. They're kind of middle, middle of our 4H years we, we bought a U when I was probably, I don't know, 12 or 13 years old. And that kind of kick started into our passion for it. We were never able to, you know, go out and buy really, really high end weathers. We, we and truthfully we never really competed at the, the ultimately the top end of the game. But our true passion kind of lied in, in raising and breeding the sheep. And, and that's, that's where we, we kind of uh, had found a little bit of a niche uh, in, in the show lamb industry. And that led us to a bunch of different areas. She I, I credit sheep to a lot of positive things in my life. I, I judge collegiately at Butler Community College there in El Dorado, Kansas and, and that opened so many doors for me. Some of my best friends have came from the sheep and, and judging. Peyton Dahmer is one of my best friends. We were roommates in college and boy, he's a great mind when it comes to sheep. And we spent many hours at night in college talking about sheep. And you know, I went to senior college at Kansas State and there I met a plethora of people and it was truly awesome. And the connections that I made through college as far as sheep, I've paid dividends. The first couple years that I graduated, the first couple years that we were selling sheep, I would say 90 of the people I met in college bought all of our sheep and, and still to this day those connections come through every spring when we're trying to sell sheep. And so that kind of was a little bit of a rough way to put together how I got involved in the show lamb industry.
- [09:29]
Lucas Tuck
Yeah, it's interesting you talk about connections. Like I often say that about novel design stuff. Like a lot of the people that call me up to do a random website as someone I went to college with or someone that knows you from someone you went to college with or whatnot. And you know, like, as my kids get older I keep telling them like, well, when you go off to college, like part of why you're there is, is for class obviously, but a lot of it is for the friends you're going to make or the opportunities you're going to have. So I definitely agree with everything you said there. Now it is called Tuck bro. So how does your brother tie into the operation and what's his story story?
- [10:03]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
So my brothers, everybody kind of thinks we're twins and he's actually a year older than I am. And we do a lot of different, we, we're very similar but we also think maybe sometimes a little bit different. He's kind of the quieter, more introverted partner. He, he kind of likes staying in the bar and he loves doing the chores. He loves do the day to day stuff. He really, really despises going out looking at sheep and you know, going to shows and stuff like that. And I'm not gonna say he hates it. He just prefers being in the barn. And my brother, he's an extremely sharp person. Not, not many people ask his opinion on, on things when, when we're kind of looking at sheep, but ultimately he is the guy that, that puts a lot of stuff together. Being kind of a quiet guy. He never, never gives his opinion. Until we get in the car, go home or, or till we're in the barn, it's just me and him and boy, we've got a, we've got a gate that's wore out from us throwing our, our boot over it and watching sheep at night. We don't get much done because it's just me and him watching the sheep and I, I'd say every night we spend three or four hours just watching the things walk around in the pen. And he is a very, very sharp person. He just, he doesn't get as much credit because, because of his personality, but he is extremely sharp. But like I said, he's the type of guy that does kind of go with the flow. He kind of lets me make the calls and he just goes with it. But he definitely weighs in on, on his opinion every now and then when it's just me and him and not many people understand just how hard headed he could be sometimes. But we, we kind of even each other out. I'm, I'm pedal to the floor and he is nothing but brakes. And so we, we definitely counter each other pretty well.
- [12:00]
Lucas Tuck
It's funny usually that's how things usually work in good partnerships.
- [12:04]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
Absolutely.
- [12:06]
Lucas Tuck
So let's fill us in a little bit. Like what does the current Tech Brothers operation look like? Like number of donors, number of AI use, Like when do you lay them? Kind of give me the overview.
- [12:16]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
So we've, we've currently got right around 20 donors and we're in the grand scheme of things, we're, we're not that big. We, we take those 20 donors and a handful of them get flushed three times a year. We will flush them for falls to make first October's, we'll flush them for first Decembers and we'll flush them to make January 15th to 20th babies. Not all of them get flushed three times, but, but a good chunk of them do. We've got around 150 recipes and, and then we also have a small group of AIs. We've got about 20 to 25 AIs that kind of fill the void. Each time that we would flush donors, we breed a small group of AIs to try to offset maybe some, some risk that goes with flushing. But that's kind of the current operation. We've, we've just started doing the October borns two years ago. That would have been our first set of them. It's, it's been a learning curve to try to flush donors there 1st May, but it's worked out pretty well what have you.
- [13:22]
Lucas Tuck
This is not on the question list and so I'm going to kind of throw a curveball at you, but two questions. How do you decide which ones to flush three times a year and what is like talk a little bit more about the learning curve on flushing like in May for those fall deals.
- [13:35]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
Sure. So, so figuring out which ones to flush three times a year. I'm kind of a pedigree type of a person. We, we really love to hone in on, on our, our rehab line. We've got basically, I guess now about four, five, six generations of ewes and females that stem out of our rehab line. And so we, we, we've got those and then our, our other big U family would be our green line U family and we've got that kind of kickstarted that U line and so we put a lot of emphasis on going four, five, six generations deep of how did those sheep feed, how did those sheep turn out? How did they flush? Like that is a big one. We our green line you family flushes insane. We can't hardly ever have a bad day with those use. Our rehab U line, those used are a little bit more difficult to get flushed. And, and so we, we kind of mix the pot a little bit. We throw in our high averaging green line use with, with our maybe average to below average rehab use and hopefully we, we kind of end up with an even score, if you will, on, on flush day. But we, we put a lot of Emphasis on how successful those use are as far as generating weathers dollars and then and generating females off of that. We like a certain type of phenotype. We like those good looking, shallow, kind of upheaded ones. Sometimes we're a little bit behind the eight ball in terms of muscle width. And we know that we stay true to the kind that we like. And regardless of trends we, we like sheep the way we like them. And for us it's fun to go out to the barn to look at sheep that kind of resemble the type that we like.
- [15:34]
Lucas Tuck
Yeah, I definitely can echo that in terms of raising the kind that you like because it seems anymore it's so easy to get caught up in the different hypes and trends or what's popular and what's not. And man, it's a lot more fun when you go out. And even if no one else thinks those babies are good, if you like them, it makes chores a lot easier on the bad days.
- [15:52]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
Absolutely. Absolutely.
- [15:54]
Lucas Tuck
What do you feel that you need to do different on those Fallborns? Fallborn flexibles.
- [15:59]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
So the fallborn deal for us it's tough and we, we plan almost a year in advance for the fallborn deal. So we, we keep a chunk of our donors open. We don't breed them back and lamb them naturally. And all of those donors that are open throughout the winter will be our, our fall born donors. And so the management is just totally different. I mean obviously you can't run those with, with the donors that are carrying a baby. They get too fat, they just don't compositionally, they just don't fit the mold of a donor getting ready to be primed to get flushed. So we pull those out and we'll seclude those from the rest. And those donors are just on a totally different program. Over winter we just kind of keep them thin, just management is a little bit different. And then as we get closer to their February March we start cranking them up just a little bit in terms of intake and all that. And, and that's how we've kind of done it. We actually rarely ever breed our donors back. Every year we'll do three or four of them but, and those are on our, our low stimulating type of views. We'll breed those back but we usually try to lamb them once and then leave them open for, for the rest of their life as long as they're flushing good.
- [17:19]
Lucas Tuck
Gotcha. That makes a lot of sense. Let's talk a little bit about some of your recent success. You guys are coming off A real hot year.
- [17:27]
Steva Robinson
You had a lamb that was up.
- [17:28]
Lucas Tuck
For show lamb of the year. This year you had just had the grand at Denver. What were the pedigrees on those champions?
- [17:35]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
Yeah so our our Louisville sheep that was a Phoenix Green Line 2105. And and actually the the Green Line 2105 would have been the the U that was a pick of our donors at Bluegrass Babes. And and she kind of kick started a lot for us obviously that Louisville win. But we also got to that weather. There was only three in that flush. We got two flushmate you let use out of that. And and they are generating incredibly the the one was the mom to Brian's champion natural at Denver there a couple weeks ago and that was just her first baby naturally as a U lamb. And then we got a flush on the ground right now that's maybe as good of a flush as we've ever had. And those were the January 15th borns. And so those those two use that weather definitely kick started a lot for us. The Tulsa grand would be out of the same exact U that green line 2105 that was a unicorn. And then the grand at Denver was a truce out of an anarchy eroc donor. And that you has done a phenomenal job. We flush her in partnership with with Keith Bruns. He actually raised her and and we we bought her it's kind of a funny story. We bought that U from Keith Bruns outright. Showed it successfully all summer and and then Keith decided to buy buy her back and and we were we were white enough to sell her back to him and and so we flush her on partnership every now and then. And that used like I said has done a great job. We've got a green line daughter out of her that flushes really well. And and yeah so those those winners have done great. The grand there at Pennsylvania that would have been a truce out of our herald donor. That same wind draft pick you and so that some of those donors are really starting to pick up the pace and and I think more so here as of late the amount of views that we've got out of those donors I think are going to be next next up and coming this set that we're going to flush for to make 20, 26 babies. We're worse fired up about those as any as we've had.
- [19:47]
Lucas Tuck
How do you go about keeping your like your ulams back on the donors or out of the out of the flushes? Like what do you try and keep all the females do you sell Some of them, yeah.
- [19:57]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
So it is really hard for us to sell some of those but in order to cash flow the whole deal, we've got to let some of them go. And we try to at least keep two use out of each donor if we possibly can. And being tight on numbers, we're not really in a room to expand our numbers so we kind of have to keep that in check. So for about every one or two ewes that we keep, we're going to have to get rid of one or two on the backside. And so we put a lot of emphasis there obviously on the U families. Like I said, generations deep and, and, and phenotype goes into it. I mean just having the right kind to keep back and breed on. As far as show use go, that gets a little bit trickier. We've bought in quite a few of our donors over the years and that kind of got us rolling. Every year we try to go out and buy a kind of an outcross piece to bring into and that's been really good. We like to dabble in that. And, and I guess if you're not making progress and trying to bring in an outside piece, I think maybe you get a little bit left behind the dust. And, and so the last last couple years we've, we've tried to buy as good of use as we could afford. I guess first and, and foremost they're, they're expensive to find. The right ones are incredibly expensive and, and so we've, we've done that and you know, trying to just find the, the right kind and you never really know until you get that first baby out whether you're smart or you were dumb to sell something. But that's kind of the approach we've always taken on it.
- [21:35]
Lucas Tuck
Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. I had on our questions list and we kind of touched some of this. Like I know I consider you, as I've gotten to know you this year, I consider you to kind of be one of the pedigree whizzes in the business. And we talked, you've talked a lot about like going back four or five generations. But what about like when you're going out and looking at weathers or when people are buying weathers. What sort of an importance do you think the bottom side of the pedigree has on.
- [22:03]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
That? That's a great question. We, we, yeah, we try to place a big emphasis. We, we trade a few weathers here and there every year, year as well. And I think the bottom side of the pedigree is equally as important or if not more important than the top side. We've, we've, we've bought random sheep that we have no idea, you know, the bottom side and, and how far back they go. And those sheep rarely pan out for us the last three or four years. Place more emphasis on that that is paid and you can tell, I mean some of the sheep that, that come out of you families, they feed weird. I mean we've got, we've got one you that we flush and those sheep are always skinny, always hard doing and middle of summer they pick up pace and I don't know if their metabolism changes but those sheep always get chubby late and it's just how knowing and being comfortable with the kind of of you families you know you're feeding weathers out of. So I, pedigree wise I, I probably place as much emphasis on pedigrees as, as nearly anything and probably more so sometimes it works to my disadvantage. I miss out on maybe the big picture. But yeah, like I said, placing more emphasis on the pedigree is probably where me and my brother kind of fall.
- [23:37]
Lucas Tuck
Gotcha. Outside of raising sheep, you mentioned that you trade some sheep. You also have a full time job. You help some families with, with their showroom projects. How do you juggle everything?
- [23:49]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
That's a great question because some days I don't, I don't think we do, we don't juggle it very well. I, A year ago I actually, I had decided that either it was time to give more of an effort into the sheep or try to scale back and, and not be, not have as many and so I've got a great boss and he understands. I actually met him through sheep and, and he understands how much time it takes and we had a conversation and I actually went part time. I, I've been involved in the commercial swine industry and, and I was able to go part time and, and place more focus on the sheep and it's been nothing but great. I was a little skeptical kind of starting last spring we were, we were lambing. I had just went part time and, and a few things didn't go right. But overall we got through the spring and it was a great change. There was less stress for sure throughout the summer. I'm kind of a stressy type of a person and as we got in through the summer, busy times started picking up. That change was dramatic and I was able to place more emphasis on customer service. We go out and try to look at as many sheep as we sell and throughout wherever, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and we try to go out and, and those. I work two weeks on, two weeks off, and those two weeks off I was able to get a lot accomplished. We put a lot of our breeding days on those two weeks off. And you know, there's a lot of times my brother picks up the slack as well. He's, he's the type of guy that just gets stuff done and he doesn't really complain about it when I'm out screwing around as he calls it. He gets a lot of stuff done at home and I guess without him it'd be nearly impossible to do what we do.
- [25:48]
Steva Robinson
Gotcha.
- [25:49]
Lucas Tuck
One question I wanted to ask about flushing that I meant to ask earlier, being so donor heavy. How do you absorb things when flush days don't go as well as planned?
- [26:00]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
So I mean we've had our fair share of bad flush days for sure. We've had great ones, we've had bad ones. And how we kind of maybe mitigate the risk just a little bit. We've got some AIUs, not as many as we'd like, but we've got some AI use that we could fill in. And we've never really had a terrible AI day. And so filling those AIUs in there kind of throws some risk to the wind and covers our butt just a little bit. And like I said earlier, we kind of know our use good enough to know how they average. We've got a great U line that flushes like a toilet and we've got a U line that maybe is below average. We will pair those use up every flush day and if one uline tanks, hopefully the other picks up the slack. It's, it's discouraging at the end of a bad flush day. I mean you write the check and man, you don't have anything to show for it. And it is incredibly discouraging. And so starting out, me and my brother, we never used to mitigate our risk. We were throwing our hundred dollar bills on the line and whatever happened, happened and it burned us quite a few times. And I guess, I don't know, we haven't really gotten any wiser as we've gotten older, but we've tried to cut back on that just a little bit. We love risk. I love risk. But some of those days just. It really nips you in the butt. And we've tried to pair those up and really hone in on averages. And every flush day we've got data from and we try to study that data and pair use up the Same way we'll do consecutive days of flushes. We'll do about three days worth of flushes. And our last day, we risk it quite a bit. But our first two days, we. We've kind of paired. Paired up use and donors that we know are. Are going to work.
- [28:03]
Lucas Tuck
What do you figure? Like, on average, like, what's your goal going into a flush day? Like, if we can average X amount of transferables per donor, what's. What's your number, man?
- [28:12]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
Four or five years ago, I'd say if we were averaging three, I would have been happy. But as we've, as we've gotten more into it, I'd say if we average a six or six and a half, I'm, I'm really pretty pleased.
- [28:25]
Lucas Tuck
What do you do for recips? This wasn't on the question list. This is just a Steva question.
- [28:29]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
So our, our recips are mainly all like, dorper or easy cares. I went to school at K State, and my last year K State decided to disperse all their hair use, so I bought them all. And those are easy cares. And that's. That's what we use.
- [28:47]
Lucas Tuck
Interesting.
- [28:48]
Sister
Yep.
- [28:49]
Lucas Tuck
So my next section of questions. Sister seemed kind of interested in this podcast episode for some reason. I can't quite figure out why she might be interested, but he wants to know who owns 51% of Tuck Brothers.
- [29:07]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
Well, I know she'd say she's the 51% owner of Tuck Brothers, and me and my brother share the other 49%, but. But I don't know. It's. It's. It's pretty even across the board. I would say I'd make more of the difficult decision decisions. He. He maybe does a little bit more of the physical work. So I, I'd say we're pretty even. But at the end of the day, I think I, I'm gonna boast on this one. I'm. I'm 51 owner.
- [29:34]
Lucas Tuck
Excellent. The next one is one we're not gonna tell Sister. Well, Sister, for those of you that don't know, Sister edits all of the podcasts. Like, her and I kind of split up who takes each segment. But she wanted to know your honest opinion or your opinion on white sheet. But I added the word honestly. The question, your honest opinion of white sheep. And then she can edit it as we see fit.
- [29:59]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
Well, my honest opinion of white sheep. Well, I'll get. I'll tell you a story about our white sheep deal. So the first two, I, I used to like white sheep, so I bought Two Dorsets, and my brother hates them with a passion. So I never told my brother I bought them. And it was right after Sedalia. I picked him up and I got him home, and my brother asked what we were doing with the white sheep, and I said, well, we bought them for somebody else. We're just keeping them for a while. Bought them for somebody else. We're gonna keep them. And he never. Never said much. Well, after a week, he's like, hey, when are these people gonna pick up these Dorsets? I said, well, actually, I. I kind of bought them. And he freaked out on me. He didn't. He didn't talk to me for a week. Well, I thought I was smarter than I actually was and bred them, and the babies were terrible. And those turned into recips the following year because my brother hates them. And so I started getting discouraged, and I hate white ones. And last year, we started to dip back into it, and. And we. We bought half of a donor, and that's as much as we'll own, and I'll keep it at that.
- [31:12]
Lucas Tuck
Oh, well, I think she might have another opinion of that, but I guess I don't know. Well, you. She'll boss you around, I'm sure. I bet you will. So the last question I've got for you, obviously, being from Ohio, the Buckeyes just won the national championship in college football. What was a more satisfying win? Raising the grand at Denver and then also trading the reserve or watching your Buckeyes win the national championship?
- [31:42]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
Well, I. Like I said, I'm a K Stater. My brother went to Ohio State, so he kind of roots for the Buckeyes, but there's nothing more that I like than seeing the Buckeyes lose, so I'll answer that question pretty easy. Watching the sheep show at Denver was definitely, definitely higher on my priority list that night.
- [31:59]
Lucas Tuck
Well, good. I was hoping you'd answer it that way. I'm. I'm a Wisconsin Badger, so I cheered for the Buckeyes. I'm a Big Ten backer, but I didn't know the Denver route, so.
- [32:10]
Steva Robinson
Well, thanks.
- [32:11]
Lucas Tuck
Thanks for joining us. For those of you that don't know Lucas and his brother, they're really fun to talk to, and I definitely meant it when I said he's a pedigree whiz. I've gotten to know Lucas this year, and it's. He's a really fun guy to talk sheep with. And for being a younger guy, just a ton of knowledge. For those of you who are out and about, they are located in Ohio and they have some sales coming up later this month. This podcast will go out in February, which I believe will be after your first sale. But they'll have some other opportunities coming up and they've been on a really good run. So make sure to stop by Tuck Brothers when you're out and about.
- [32:44]
Steva Robinson
Thanks again.
- [32:45]
Kaitlyn Sister Urban
I appreciate it. Thank you.
- [32:52]
Steva Robinson
Well sister, I'm sure you approve of that segment. You're a pretty big Tuck fan, so let's talk talk about so you suck this week. You asked me what I want to talk about on it and I think it's time to talk about Sale Signage. A lot of the Midwest live sales are coming up. Sale signage is a great way to advertise. Maybe some past winners. Or just have a nice looking sign for brand recognition above your pens. We can do everything from vinyl signs to dry erase boards to vinyl pen wraps that go around the bottom, pop up retractable banners and then we also do we're also running a special this month at Branded as well for kind of like the sale essentials and that'll be coming out over the next few days. But now's a great time to have some giveaway items on hand to take with you to set out at the sales or to give to your customers when you're meeting them in the parking lot, maybe getting your online sales sheet delivered. And so reach out to Novel Designs if there's anything else we can help you with. Signage wise, turnaround time is pretty quick. Obviously the more time you give us, the better job we can do because we have more time to kind of be creative about it. But I get people all the time that get on the road and say oh my gosh, I'm on the road and I forgot my sign. Can you help me? And absolutely. We'll do our best. We can usually turn them pretty quick, but if you can usually order a week or two ahead of time, that gives us a ton of time to do a really good job on them and get them to you and not have to worry about any shipping issues. So give us a shout at Novel Designs if there's anything signage wise we can help you with. Or from Branded show gear if there's anything from hats, pens, koozies, those bar top tables and director's chairs have been real popular. All stuff like that. Or maybe you want to have some shirts to hand out. All stuff like that is a great way to help grow your brand and show some customer appreciation. So there's anything we can help you with. Give us A shout. Who's next on our podcast, Sister, the.
- [34:43]
Sister
Next one we have up is Robert Cooper with Cooper Specialty Feeds. And, you know, they were one that I was pretty excited to get on. I work with them a lot on their website, which is. You can find that on Champion Drive as well. But their kids showed kind of around the same age that I was, like, growing up and stuff. So I've always known the family. They've been very easy to work with. And I haven't personally fed a whole lot of Cooper Specialty feeds, but we fed a little bit. And I really like the fact that it's super consistent, and I think that's something that most feed companies struggle with right now. And so I always think that their feed is consistent. And I thought that his was really good. So let's get right into Robert Cooper's. Well, I'm here with Robert Cooper, who many know has played many roles in the industry. He was a show dad, and now he plays a vital role in the nutrition side of the industry. Robert, do you mind telling me a little bit about where you grew up and what led you into getting your PhD in ruminant nutrition? Sure.
- [35:45]
Robert Cooper
So I grew up in central Indiana, just outside of Greenfield, Indiana. Showed livestock there. Not. Not extremely competitively outside of county fair and state fair, but showed livestock there as I was growing up. Then attended Purdue University, got my bachelor's in animal science at Purdue University. From there, I went to graduate school at University of Nebraska, got a master's and PhD in rument nutrition, and have been doing consulting for primarily cattle. Cattle feed yards ever since.
- [36:24]
Steva Robinson
Yeah.
- [36:25]
Sister
And you guys recently started Cooper Specialty Feeds? Well, I say recently, but it's been a few years. So how did you guys start that company up and kind of what led you into deciding to do that?
- [36:36]
Robert Cooper
Yeah, so it's been about, I guess, seven years ago. You know, prior to that, our family, our kids were involved in showing livestock, primarily lambs and steers, and we fed every feed. Every feed you can mention. We probably fed it over the years, learned a lot from those feeds. Some things we liked, some things we didn't like. We tried to make some of our own blends through some feed mills. Just because I'm a nutritionist, I wanted to dabble in that. Never was completely satisfied with that. So basically, growing out of that, we. We built a small, small feed mill where we thought we could make feed to our. To our standards, you know, focusing on the things that I really wanted in the feeds and also really, really focusing on consistency. So, you know, that every bag is like the first bags, like the last bag is like every year, every day. It's exactly the same.
- [37:41]
Sister
Yeah. And I know that, you know, you guys cover a lot of areas with Cooper Specialty Feeds and you have core products and you have different specialties. So kind of tell me a little bit about what all your feeds do.
- [37:53]
Robert Cooper
We primarily make feeds for. For ruminants. I'm a ruminant nutritionist. So cattle, sheep and goats is what we focus on. And in those we make feeds, starting from creep feeds all the way up through the finished feeds and then the various supplements, whether those are protein based supplements or whether those are fill based supplements. We have several supplements for all those species as well.
- [38:22]
Sister
And I know that you had said that, you know, your kid, you fed a lot of different feeds. Your kids showed and you kind of dabbled a little bit in and out of kind of making your own feed. So I know that you say the thought behind Cooper Specialty Feeds is making sure everything is consistent, which I think is huge, because there's a lot of feed companies that aren't like that, in my personal opinion. So kind of what are the goals you have for Cooper Specialty Feeds going forward and what do you hope to see in the future?
- [38:49]
Robert Cooper
Yeah, so we continue to, you know, we enjoy this industry. We love being a part of it. It's kept us involved in this industry beyond our, you know, as our kids have aged out of showing, we've been able to stay involved and that that's really important to us and probably what keeps us going in this, in this endeavor. But as far as the business side of it, you know, we want to continue to grow, but we want to, we want to grow in the right way. We want to make things that are. That are right, that are consistent, that are. That are exactly what people are needing when feeding their show stock.
- [39:24]
Sister
So let's go into your feeds, specifically the sheep feed, since this is the Champion Drive podcast. So when would you advise people to use your sheep and goat products?
- [39:34]
Robert Cooper
Yeah. So let's start with the creeps. Our creep is a texturized feed. We don't make a complete mini pellet type creep feed. We found really no need for that. We get very early and very good consumption with our texturized feeds. We focus a lot on consistency, palatability and particle size in that texturized feed. So creep feeds from very, very early on, as people ask me, when should they come off a creep feed? The lambs will usually tell you that. It seems to us as we have fed it and our Customers have fed it right around weaning time is when you'll start seeing a little bit of looseness in those lambs on the creep feed because they're eating so hard. That's when it's time to step up to either the 18% show feed or the 17% show feed which has just a little less fat, a little more fiber, it'll firm those stools up and those lambs almost hit another gear and really take off on that feed.
- [40:35]
Sister
And you mentioned two of your base feeds for the show lambs already, but do you mind mentioning the third one and then kind of when do you transition from one of those to the other and kind of what's the process on that?
- [40:47]
Robert Cooper
Yeah, so we don't see it so much as transitioning between those feeds. I think those feeds fit the type of lambs that you have, if you have some. And the three feeds I think you're talking about is we make a 15%, a 17% and an 18% in those feeds. The 18% is probably the most popular across the board. It fits a lot of different types of sheep. If you have some sheep that are a little later maturing in their growth pattern, the 17% seems to put a little more bloom on them than the 18%. And if you have those sheep that just really need that extra step, our highest energy, the most gain, performance and condition you put on one is the 15% that is the highest energy, lowest fiber feed we have.
- [41:37]
Sister
So to wrap this up, I have a few fun questions for you. You mentioned already that your kids showed sheep, sheep as well as many other species. So did you ever feed Cooper feeds to their stock? And if so or if not, how has feeding the animals yourself kind of driven you to create the brand that you have? I know you already mentioned a little bit about on the consistency side, so I'm sure that has something to do with it, but if there's anything else that does, I'd like to know.
- [42:03]
Robert Cooper
Yeah, sure. So the last, I guess the last five years that our kids were involved with showing, yes, they, they were on our feeds. We also kept quite a few animals around and still do even though we're not showing them so that we can learn how these feeds work in these animals. So yes, the last five years that we were showing, we were, we were on Cooper feeds.
- [42:25]
Sister
And you have a really great wife, Jody. She's always really good to work with when doing anything on your guys website. So what is her role with Cooper specialty feeds?
- [42:35]
Robert Cooper
Well, first and foremost she is the majority Owner. So I guess you could say she's the managing partner in the company. But more important than that, she's in charge of the business. She's kind of the business manager and the marketing manager and takes care of those aspects of the business.
- [42:55]
Sister
And what is the reason behind the name of the feed?
- [42:59]
Robert Cooper
Yeah, so we struggled a lot when we was developing this company seven, eight years ago with a name probably wasn't extremely creative, but we called it Cooper Specialty Feeds rather than Cooper Show Feeds. Because, you know, as a, as a nutritionist, I didn't want to limit myself to show feeds. We really don't have any interest in commercial feeds, but any specialty feeds. And we do a lot of specialty feeds. As far as, you know, we're doing some things for the reproduction, for the donor programs and for the buck programs, you know, that aren't really feeds, but in our mind, specialty feeds.
- [43:38]
Sister
Yes, absolutely. And the last question I have for you is what is the favorite animal that your family showed?
- [43:46]
Robert Cooper
Well, I'd probably get myself in trouble if I named one because between my daughter and my son, if I named one and not the other one, we had some animals that we thought were pretty, pretty neat to us. A few lambs that we were able to have some success with and then some steers. I really can't. I really can't name one that I think would be the most special.
- [44:13]
Sister
Yeah, well, it sounds like you've laid that answer, that's for sure. Well, thanks for joining me today, Robert, and thanks for the insight on Cooper Specialty Feeds. We really appreciate you being on.
- [44:25]
Robert Cooper
All right, thanks a lot.
- [44:31]
Steva Robinson
Well, yeah, like you said, I thought that was a good visit with Robert Cooper. Him and Jody are really good to work with. They're located in Nebraska and so make sure to check their website out on Champion Drive. Let's go into the Sudram showcases that we have up. The one we have up this week is Friendly Fire, which was bred by Neil family show stock and owned with kites or club lands. He's a mythical on a popcorn and he's ff. Just a reminder that we're also offering our marketing mix package to help with sale advertisement this spring. That's something that's of interest to you. More information on that is on Champion Drive, but it's a marketing package that allows you to be able to have graphics and content for social media, your website and it kind of covers you on all of our platforms as well. On the Champion Drive, Snapchat, on our email list, on Champion Drive, on our social medias and Everything like that. So we call it the mix. It's been a popular package as far. If that's something you're interested in, be sure to reach out or you can simply click fill out the form on Champion Drive to get started. Our last segment, we've had this one ready to go for a while. Colby Williams, who was our TikTok famous guy from Louisville and is also sister's roommate. Colby was the exhibitor of the grand at Louisville and has a really good history. For those of you that don't know, grew up in Minnesota with William Sholem dad Heath and his sisters, his mom, a family that's got a ton of ties back into the show lamb industry and sister sat down with him. This one was recorded a while back after Louisville and they had a had a good little, little conversation for us. So let's go right into Colby's.
- [46:14]
Sister
Well, I'm sitting down with Colby Williams, who many of you guys know is my roommate. So before we get into this podcast, Colby, I gotta know, how was the sandwich you just ate?
- [46:27]
Colby Williams
It was by far the best sandwich I've had all day.
- [46:30]
Sister
Probably your only sandwich. So let's get right into this. I know you just finished up your junior show career in the same ring that you began. Tell me a little bit about how that felt ending it on the green chips.
- [46:44]
Colby Williams
At the moment, it felt like a dream because the first time I stepped foot on the chips, that's when I knew I had that bug in me. I didn't know if I was going to be all in on the sheep deal on the showing side until I stepped in those green chips. And as soon as I stepped in those green chips, I knew it was over.
- [47:04]
Sister
Yeah. So I know you, you showed a lot from your time, from your first time on the green chips to your last time on the green chips. So what was your biggest obstacle that you overcame in your show career that you feel like was a huge part in getting you to where you are today? Today?
- [47:18]
Colby Williams
It was. It was difficult because I was the first person in my family to start showing a national show right off the bat. And many of you don't know when I first started showing, I started at the bottom. I didn't, wasn't planning on showing that all year. And the last deadline entries, I kind of just got a little bug in me. And I mentioned my dad, like, do you think we could show it Louisville? And look on his face, I think he was just beside himself. And within a couple days, my good mentors, Brandon Thor, he helped me find A set of sheep for Louisville.
- [47:58]
Sister
Yeah. And, you know, I know you said that you were the first one of your family to show, and you have three younger sisters. So what has it been or what has been the best thing that they've taught you while working in the barn together?
- [48:11]
Colby Williams
Well, between the three of them, they taught me a lot of lessons. Number one, I will. I've learned that I'll never be right, and they will always be in charge and be the ones that are right. They've learned to help me get along with people. My three sisters, they are probably the most friendly girls I've ever met. It just taught me a lot of life skills.
- [48:36]
Sister
Yeah. I'm sure your future wife will thank you for knowing that you're not always going to be right.
- [48:41]
Colby Williams
Yes. And our roommate, she's also taught me a lot of that.
- [48:47]
Sister
Yeah. I make sure that, you know that you're. You're never right, but it's okay. So I know you have an interesting role right now. You're a mentor to so many young exhibitors that you help. What was it like seeing them support you on your success?
- [49:01]
Colby Williams
When I see those kids faces from ringside, that was probably the most meaningful thing I've experienced all throughout my show career. Because when I was started showing the people that helped me get to where I'm at, I am so thankful, because if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be where I'm at. And knowing that those kids had the same meaning to me, it meant it was one of the greatest feelings I've ever had in my life.
- [49:29]
Sister
Yeah. And I. I know there's kids from all across the country that have looked up to you, Colby, and. And not only your success in the ring, but just your success as a person. So to see them support you and. And even to see, you know, other breeders and mentors and, you know, people across the industry support you, I think says everything about you and the legacy that you've left in the show ring. So I know you've had many people that you've. That have been part of your success, and you've already mentioned a few of them already, I feel like. But who would you like to thank for getting you to where you are?
- [50:03]
Colby Williams
Well, most importantly, I would like to thank the Alan Newcomb families, along with my very first mentors, Brady and Thauer and Ryan Habager, along with my supportive family and the rest of my show family.
- [50:21]
Sister
Yeah, I know that there's been quite a. Quite a few people behind you. So, you know, Louisville was Your last show to exhibit at, and now you're retired, so I don't know now if you're, like, super old or what, but.
- [50:34]
Colby Williams
I do feel old.
- [50:36]
Sister
So what is next for you and your plans in the industry?
- [50:39]
Colby Williams
Well, I got a number of things going. First of all, my job now that I'm done is I'm trying to help the youth and give back to what everyone else gave to me. I'm planning on starting to sell sheep and raise sheep and help kids throughout the country, whether that's get their animals ready at shows or trying to create that next winner.
- [51:05]
Sister
Yes. And I know that there are several people that gave in to you, so I think it's pretty cool that you're turning it right back around and giving it back to the next generation. Well, Colby, to wrap this up, I have a few fun questions for you. You had one of the most viral handshakes that I'd seen in a while, and I really wasn't for sure if you're about to tackle the judge or what. So what were you thinking when that dream finally came true?
- [51:30]
Colby Williams
Well, it's been nicknamed the gorilla handshake lately. When the judge came over, my initial reaction was, is this a dream? And when I realized this is not a dream, I got out of there and I told myself, let's get this over with. Let's get this sheep out of the ring, and let's get to the picture.
- [51:51]
Sister
Yeah. And so you almost tackle the judge doing that.
- [51:55]
Colby Williams
That's one I'll never forget.
- [51:57]
Sister
Yes, I agree. So my last question I have for you is, how have you handled the instant amount of fame that you've gotten?
- [52:06]
Colby Williams
I've always wanted to get to the top, and I always wanted to win Louisville. That was one of my biggest goals. And knowing that people appreciated my passion and my work ethic to get to accomplish my goals beyond blessed and thankful.
- [52:25]
Sister
Well, thanks for sitting down with me, Colby. We're really proud of you and your success and are looking forward to what's to come for you in the future. Be sure to check out his family's flock William Sholams in Minnesota, and maybe I will convince you to make some shirts with a viral gorilla handshake on them soon. Thanks, Colby.
- [52:44]
Colby Williams
Thank you.
- [52:49]
Sister
Well, that was a good episode with my roommate, Colby Williams. We want to wish everyone a good luck at the Texas Majors and OIE and the spring shows and online or live sales. I mean, so we'll be back in a couple weeks with our next episode, but until then, I hope you guys catch up on some on the road.