Episode 2.15 - O.Y.E. Time with Tyler Norvell & Vince McGolden

Summary

The Championdrive Podcast: Episode 2.15 - O.Y.E. Time with Tyler Norvell & Vince McGolden

Release Date: March 11, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 2.15 of The Championdrive Podcast, hosts Kaylin Sister Urban and Steva Robinson delve deep into the world of the Oklahoma Youth Expo (O.Y.E.) with esteemed guests Tyler Norvell and Vince McGolden. This episode offers a comprehensive look into the intricacies of O.Y.E., the challenges faced by livestock events, and the impactful roles played by industry leaders in shaping the future of youth involvement in agriculture.

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Interview with Vince McGolden

Background and Career in Agriculture

Vince McGolden, a longstanding advocate in the agricultural sector, shares his rich background and journey within the industry. Growing up in Amber, Oklahoma, Vince's passion for agriculture was ignited through his involvement in FFA and livestock judging. He emphasizes the importance of mentorship and surrounding oneself with knowledgeable individuals to foster success.

Vince McGolden [16:52]: "The more experience you get in life, the wiser you are... it's all about good people and people that work ethic. People have honesty and integrity, really."

Role in Oklahoma Youth Expo (O.Y.E.)

As a pivotal figure in O.Y.E., Vince discusses the organization's evolution since its inception in 2002. Originally struggling with volunteer fatigue and funding, O.Y.E. transformed into a robust 501C3 nonprofit, significantly expanding its reach and impact. This year marks a bittersweet milestone as O.Y.E. transitions from the historic "Big House" to a new state fair arena.

Vince McGolden [20:21]: "This year will be the 110th edition of the spring livestock show in Oklahoma City... but this will be the last year that we have O.Y.E. in the Big House."

Challenges Faced: The Impact of COVID-19

Vince recounts the harrowing experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the abrupt shutdown of the livestock show. The emotional toll was immense, with many participants distraught over the cancellation. However, O.Y.E. adapted by raising funds to support affected seniors and expanding their operations to other states, ensuring the organization's resilience and continued support for youth.

Vince McGolden [24:03]: "It was the worst thing I've been involved in... but we were able to adapt and overcome like we have done time and time again."

Building and Leading the O.Y.E. Team

Vince highlights the dedicated team behind O.Y.E., from board members like Bob Funk and Jimmy Harrell to operational leaders like Cass Newell and Bray Haven. Their collective effort ensures the smooth execution of events and the continuous growth of the expo. Additionally, Vince underscores the importance of having staff who have firsthand experience with livestock shows, fostering a more empathetic and efficient management style.

Vince McGolden [27:12]: "Cass, she's the backbone of that office... Jacob Sanderson has come on board. He's director of Livestock data."

Youth Involvement and Internships

A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the role of interns and youth in O.Y.E. Vince emphasizes that involvement in livestock shows and internships provides invaluable life skills, such as teamwork, work ethic, and resilience. These experiences not only benefit the individuals but also strengthen the agricultural community as a whole.

Vince McGolden [33:57]: "When these employers call me... the first list I have cast go to to recommend me names or me to look at names is the intern list or the Oale list from Hawaii or Congress."

Balancing Family and Professional Responsibilities

Vince candidly shares the challenges of balancing his professional duties with family commitments. As a dedicated father, he strives to support his children's involvement in livestock shows while fulfilling his responsibilities at O.Y.E. This delicate balance underscores the interconnectedness of personal and professional life within the agricultural community.

Vince McGolden [35:10]: "I try as much as I can to be around when the girls show and be supportive of them... It takes, as you know, it takes a village."

Advice to Show Parents and Youth

Drawing from his extensive experience, Vince offers heartfelt advice to show parents and young exhibitors. He stresses the importance of teaching children to handle both success and failure gracefully, emphasizing integrity, hard work, and the value of constructive feedback over blame.

Vince McGolden [39:56]: "We can't go out there and talk to our kids about it and run judges down to our kids because then they become us... it's okay to lose because we're going to lose a lot more than we win."

Personal Anecdotes and Memorable Moments

Vince shares touching personal stories, including the bittersweet moments of announcing the COVID-19 shutdown and celebrating his daughters' achievements in livestock shows. These narratives highlight the emotional and communal aspects of participating in O.Y.E., reinforcing the organization's mission to support youth through agriculture.

Vince McGolden [38:15]: "Madeline showed her first animal, a miniature Hereford, in the summer of 2014... it's just something I hope every parent gets to experience."

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Sheep Breeding and Agricultural Practices

The episode also delves into modern sheep breeding practices, discussing the transition from natural breeding to artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET). Vince and Tyler explore the genetic advancements and selective breeding strategies that have refined livestock quality, ensuring competitiveness in show circuits.

Vince McGolden [66:34]: "AI and the embryo deal has made it that much better... you really got to be cautious of the dwarfs."

Stud Ram Showcases and Sales Highlights

Towards the end of the episode, hosts highlight various stud ram showcases and upcoming sales, providing listeners with valuable information on new and noteworthy livestock available for purchase. This segment serves as a beneficial resource for breeders and enthusiasts looking to enhance their flocks.

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Conclusion

Episode 2.15 of The Championdrive Podcast offers an in-depth exploration of the Oklahoma Youth Expo through the eyes of Vince McGolden and Tyler Norvell. The discussion sheds light on the foundational changes, challenges, and triumphs of O.Y.E., emphasizing the organization's pivotal role in fostering youth engagement and excellence in the livestock industry. With heartfelt anecdotes and expert insights, this episode serves as an inspiring guide for current and aspiring participants in agricultural youth programs.

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Notable Quotes:

• Steva Robinson [02:06]: "This is the last year in the Big House. Right. And isn't that what you call it?"
• Vince McGolden [16:52]: "It's all about good people and people that work ethic. People have honesty and integrity, really."
• Vince McGolden [33:57]: "When these employers call me... the first list I have cast go to to recommend me names... is the intern list."
• Vince McGolden [39:56]: "You can't go out there and talk to our kids about it and run judges down to our kids because then they become us."
• Vince McGolden [41:02]: "Absolutely, that's the way it should be."
• Vince McGolden [82:58]: "You couldn't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets."

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For more insights and updates on livestock shows, breeding, and youth involvement in agriculture, visit ChampionDrive.com.

Transcript

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Now entering the ring, another episode of the Champion Drive podcast, presented by Novel Designs with your hosts, Kaylin Sister Urban and Steva Robinson.

[Steva Robinson]

I gotta tell you this, this is really funny. I was on a phone call today was like, before I tell you this, I'm going to need a drum roll. And whoever I was talking to is like, well, I can't do a drum roll. I'm like, how do you not know how to do a drum roll in the car? Like, we're back. Like, how do you not know how to do that? You can start with that too, if you want. Like, you were impressed by the drum roll, weren't you?

[Tyler Norvell]

Well, I didn't really know where you were going with this, honestly.

[Steva Robinson]

We always start the same. So now we've got a drum roll. Does it sound good?

[Tyler Norvell]

Yeah, that's perfect.

[Steva Robinson]

Well, I just got back from a little bit of a sheep tour. I went and looked at sheep in South Dakota and Texas, and while I was on there, I had a little bit of time to do a little bit of recording for this we with Vince McGolden. We have him on this episode. And for those of you that don't know Vince, he's a longtime ag teacher and sheep breeder from Oklahoma. You're probably familiar with his kids. And definitely we thought it'd be good to have him on because of. We want to get someone on from Oklahoma with oie. Coming up. Sister, who did you talk to for this one?

[Tyler Norvell]

Yeah, I caught up with Tyler Norvell. Who Anybody that is in Oklahoma that's any sort of involved with Oklahoma Youth Expo knows how important the role he plays in behind the scenes. And we. I caught up with him and honestly, like, I didn't know everything that he did for Oie, but I knew that he was a big time supporter for it and he was one that I really wanted to get on. And I thought, you know, he's very level headed. I thought he'd be someone that would be really great to get on. And it's my favorite week of the year. Siva. Believe it or not, it's not lambing season. It's oie. So I thought he was perfect to get on and I was very excited that he hopped on with us as well.

[Steva Robinson]

I do. Like, o, this is the last year in the big house. Right. And isn't that what you call it?

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes. And it's kind of bittersweet. It's kind of going to be sad, but I'm very excited. I'm sure that they'll have something special up their sleeve to kick or to end the last OIE there.

[Steva Robinson]

For sure. Yeah. And you said guilts went in today?

[Tyler Norvell]

Yep. Guilts are there now. We show the use on Sunday and Marcus shows next week.

[Steva Robinson]

I thought it was interesting when I visited with Vince, like, he talked about how, you know, OIE is in the same as it was. It used to be more egg chapters showing against egg chapters, and, you know, like, kids are team showing. Um, so I thought that was interesting. And I know that, like, I always think it's interesting. I was trying to take advice from people who came before me. Like, that's how you get, you know, like, the easiest ways to learn from your mistakes. Well, a lot of people that have come before you have a lot of insight or whatever, and I know you kind of feel the same way. You're always, like, very respectful of what others have to say or whatnot. But you kind of felt like there is a line in Vince's that he talked about. Do you want to talk a little bit about that when you were editing the part that you thought really stuck out to you?

[Tyler Norvell]

Yeah. So I was editing his podcast out, and it kind of felt like almost like I was. I was kind of living, like, back through the times that he was talking about, you know, I remember. And even me and Tyler talked about OIE before it was OIE when it was the spring show. Anyway, so inventors. He talked about how kids feel. He said he talked a lot about how they were good kids everywhere. No matter where you're at, there's good kids. And he talked about how some kids are starting to feel maybe a little bit more entitled than others, kind of as they grow up. But he mentioned that if you just work hard and if you do what's right, and then you'll be successful. And that really stuck out to me because I feel like that's something that most kids need to hear that sometimes we often stray away from. That's something that I try to stay true to. And so I thought that was really, really good.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah, I agree. And if you think about the number of kids that came through his program, whether it was he talks about some of the student teachers he had or interns that he had, and when he starts naming them off, like, there's a lot of people that are still in the industry that he obviously had a lot of impact on. So, yeah, I think his advice definitely carries a lot of weight. I know his is a really long episode. I think it's well worth the listen. I know you said Tyler's is really good. I'm excited to listen to that one. But before we get into that one, let's talk a little bit about what we've got going on in sales because it is a busy, busy week. The first one up, Fisher Club Williams have has a sale tonight, March 11, one of their coat of many colors sales. They've definitely got a really good set in there this time. Just like every other time. I felt like this was maybe one of their deeper sets. Go check that one out. It closes tonight, Tuesday night. And as Dwayne always reminds us, eat more onions.

[Tyler Norvell]

Johnson Family show stock have has an add up on Champion Drive and they called it the Genetic Gems. That's Kyler Lee's pick and I thought that was interesting because I hadn't really seen anything like that on there. But they said that that they let him come through there and pick out the best show use that they can offer. And so all those use on there from my understanding are ones that he picked out. They sell tonight March 11th on SC and they are sired by Contagious Bloodline Predator and Company Man.

[Steva Robinson]

May Valley also has a sale tonight. It's on sc. Their lambs look really nice and they are sired by Trace Amigos, Ceasefire, Sling Blade and say When Am Such show.

[Tyler Norvell]

Lambs sold their weathers last night on SC but tonight it's their ULAM sale. They're all eligible for the show which is a big time supporter of the whole industry and all the kit and they give great opportunities back to the kids. But they are sired by Splitter, Different League and American Gangster.

[Steva Robinson]

Home and Livestock in Illinois has another online sale tonight on SC. Those lambs are sired by Trace Amigos, Company Man, CeaseFire and Broke Ass Kid. And I know there's some Ram weather options on there so be sure to take a peek at those.

[Tyler Norvell]

Schroyer showstock. This is our first online new sale. It's tonight on SD and they are sired by Truce Bloodline, Riz, Hell's Bells, backseat driver and Levi 501. Be sure to check them out on Champion Drive or on sc the Girls.

[Steva Robinson]

Gone Wild online use. Um sale is tonight on SC as well. That's a group ULAM sale that several of us are in and it's kind of an interesting sale because it kind of forces you to put a real nice one in and I've been a part of it for a couple years now and it's a really good group of breeders. Breeders in this one include Hobbs, Swanton, Buckham, Diamond Seed Livestock and Diamond Seed Genetic Hillbros, Wheaton Williams, Diamond W Gouldy, Myself, Steve Robinson and gahano livestock. There's 15 lots of really nice shoe lambs in there. They sell tonight on Scott when we move into There's a click to claim sale of babies up that is open now and through March 17th and it includes Trace Amigos, True, Ceasefire and Blindside Wit.

[Tyler Norvell]

Club Lambs sells tomorrow, Wednesday, March 12th on SC and they're sired by Trace Amigos, Navajo, Ceasefire and Chief.

[Steva Robinson]

Babies also have their customer appreciation sale coming up on Wednesday, March 12. I always think those customer appreciation sales are kind of a neat way to kind of give back to your customers and provide a platform for them to sell on. And there are a ton of breeders on this one. Buckle up. G.C. brandt, Wagner, Miller Family, Picture Perfect Raising Cane, Thunder, Coteau. Sorry if I butchered that. Circle C, Brushy Mountain, Litman Barrera, Coleman Schultz, Intensity Under Construction, Liberty Stolberg, Corbin, Hickory Ridge, Alpha Omega and WSBV Livestock among others. Be sure to check that one out. Those would all be out of either bucks or use or babies genetics. That's March 12th on SC Acre Club.

[Tyler Norvell]

Lamb sells Thursday, March 13th and they're sired by Trace Amigos, CeaseFire 2.0, Navajo Company man and Pond Water and then.

[Steva Robinson]

The last one we have up is the there's an add up for the two ulams that I'm selling this week. One is in the Girls Gone Wild sale which we mentioned already. She's a Chief liger, she that I actually just got back this morning. I thought that ulam had bulked up a bunch. She's a December Ulam. She's QRFD and she sells as Lot 10. She sells tonight on Tuesday and then we have our main event consignment which is a Chief Uncle Keith. Uncle Keith was an awtr buck that was a Donkey Punch Tundra when they were real tight with rules that did a nice job for us. And so she sells Saturday at the main event which I know there's a whole bunch of ads coming up that aren't posted yet that will go up towards the end of the week for the main event so be sure to visit visit Champion Drive to check those out. And if you're headed to Des Moines be sure I think Casey and I will both be there. So if you have any questions for anything novel designs wise, be sure to ask Casey and I if you see us. So and we're both kind of shy so you'll probably have to speak to us first, but we're pretty friendly once you start talking to us. We're just pretty shy in general, though. You're laughing at me.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yeah, it's kind of funny. I'm not shy, so I don't know why you have to be shy.

[Steva Robinson]

I'm not outgoing like you. That's why we hire you. Hire someone with strengths that are not your own and quiet. Let's get right into Tyler's. I'm excited to hear what he has to say. He's definitely been a big influence on the livestock industry and agriculture. Let's get right into his.

[Tyler Norvell]

Well, Tyler, thank you so much for joining me today. You're definitely an industry leader. Do you mind telling me a little bit about yourself and your family?

[Vince McGolden]

Yep. So I grew up in Amber, Oklahoma, went to school at Amber Podcast. My family's been there for 100 years more. And I was an FFA, real involved in the community, showed a lot of livestock, played a lot of sports. And then I ran for state FFA office and lost. And it's probably the best thing that ever happened to me. And I ended up going to Butler county to judge livestock and then went to Oklahoma State from there and graduated from Oklahoma State with animal science degree, was on the national champion livestock judging team in 2005. And I met my wife, Beth Robinson, now Norvell, through ffa. Her dad was the ag teacher in Hollis, and we dated mostly through college and then got married in the fall of 06. And she worked at Oklahoma Youth Expo. She interned there and then worked full time there after college. And that's how I developed my love for Oye. Not only showing there, but volunteering when she was on staff. And then we had a child in 2010, which is Madeline, and she quit working at Hawaii and came home to raise kids and then had sailor in 2014. And I believe Madeline showed her first animal, a miniature Hereford, in the summer of 2014 when Beth was pregnant with Sailor. And we have been showing nonstop ever since. Madeline is now 14 and Sailor is 10. And we show cattle and pigs. Madeline showed a few goats several years ago. But it's our life. We love the livestock industry, in particular the show industry. And it's what we do all day, every day and have a lot of fun doing it together as a family and a lot of great people that help make us happen.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes. And I know that you play many roles. You know, I didn't know your whole background growing up in the industry, but I think it's very, I guess, ironic, if you will, that you just mentioned about you running for state office and losing. Because in Oklahoma, you we just did have nomination committee for our state officer. So I'm sure there's many kids right now that are. That are probably feeling defeated, but I guess hearing stories like yours kind of going forward, I think that's probably good for kids like that.

[Vince McGolden]

Some of the kids that have won, it's the best thing ever. My wife Beth, she was state officer the year before I ran. She won. Is the greatest thing ever happened to her. And whatever happens, those kids, it's meant to be. And so I always tell kids, don't get your heads down if you lose, it'll be okay, and it'd probably work out for the better. So I've had many phone calls with students that have not got through NOMCOM or have not won and tell them my story. And like I said, it's great for the ones that do, and it can be even better for the ones that don't.

[Tyler Norvell]

You've played many roles in the ag industry. You know, you've grown up in the industry. You've been the vice president of public policy, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, and also serve as a board member for both Cattlemen's Congress and Oye. How has playing those different roles helped you while making decisions both in house or during the livestock events?

[Vince McGolden]

Yeah, I think the more experience you get in life, the wiser you are. And the main thing it's done for me, being with Farm Bureau and all my different roles, is the people you meet and you run across, people you respect and you trust and you want to gain knowledge and wisdom from. And it's built a base and a web for me folks to go back to and seek advice from. Some of my best mentors that I look up to the most and have paid attention to their careers. What all of them have in common is they surrounded themselves, they all say with people smarter than them, but I would just say with people that are very smart. Now, I surround myself with folks that are way smarter than me, but that's how you're successful in anything you do in life. It's all about good people and people that work ethic. People have honesty and integrity, really. People have the rural way of life for the most part. That's what we instill in kids in rural Oklahoma, and they. They do in urban areas, too. But we're so lucky to get to grow up in the country. And I have so many of my urban friends that talk about they wish their kids could grow up like my kids do. And I understand that. And that's why I made the conscious decision when I moved home and started working at Farm Bureau. We were going to live in Amber, and I was going to drive an hour to work every day one way. But I wanted to make sure my kids grew up in rural Oklahoma. But I've been blessed to have a lot of different experiences, but I've been more blessed to meet a lot of great people that I lean on for advice, whether it's in the political world, my personal life, or in the stock show world.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes. And I think that was. That was great. I always say, you know, you are who you surround yourself, good or bad. So let's talk about your career as an agricultural lobbyist. What does that mean for those who might not be familiar with that career?

[Vince McGolden]

Yeah. So when I was 21 years old and Oklahoma Farm Bureau reached out to potentially interview me to be a lobbyist, I asked them that day, what's a lobbyist? Because I didn't know. But a lobbyist is somebody that advocates for certain industries. And I've been fortunate enough to advocate for a lot of industries, but nothing's dear to my heart than agriculture. And what I do is build relationships with elected officials. And when there's legislation or laws we need passed to benefit and help the agriculture industry, I go and encourage legislators to vote for those bills and help shepherd them through the process of passing the House, passing the Senate, getting signed by the governor, advocating for why we need those things. What I've spent a lot more time on lately is defeating bills that would be detrimental to agriculture in rural Oklahoma. You know, this week we defeated two bills in particular that would have really hurt the agriculture industry in rural Oklahoma. And we were successful in defeating those bills, but spent a lot of time defending what we do in our way of life. So that's. That is the bulk of an agricultural lobbyist, really, any lobbyist, no matter what industry. Because every industry you can think of, from health care to insurance to oil and gas to agriculture to finance, all of them have lobbyists advocating on their behalf at the state capitals across this country and mostly in Washington, D.C. so I. It's something I truly love doing and especially love doing on behalf of agriculture.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes. And I guess we don't have anybody better to. To do that than you, because I know that, you know, just your background growing up and, and you being active in all industries, I think is like, we don't have anybody better. So we really appreciate you doing that for us, especially in Oklahoma. What has been the most challenging and alternatively the most rewarding part of Your job as a lobbyist.

[Vince McGolden]

The most challenging can be shifting through the truce. There's a. I spend 80% of my time correcting misinformation because there's so many people that spread lies that, you know, that's why the public doesn't trust elected officials, because there are a lot of awesome people that are elected. And it's a lot of misinformation and lies that tarnish their reputations and us as lobbyists, too. So the most frustrating part is just correcting the lies that our adversaries spread. The most rewarding part by far is knowing you're making a difference and protecting the most important industry in this country, in this world, and that's producing food, agriculture, feeding people, and knowing that I help make that more affordable for needy families, knowing that I'm making it where my kids have the opportunity for their kids to be involved in agriculture is rewarding. Knowing my family's farm can live on that's been in our family for over 100 years, that's rewarding. That's the part I enjoy the most, knowing I'm making a difference.

[Tyler Norvell]

Absolutely. And how did you get interested? You know, you said that Farm Bureau kind of came to you and asked you to be a lobbyist. So how did you get interested? And kind of started in that, like, what was it like at the very beginning to now?

[Vince McGolden]

Yeah. So I was boys state governor my senior year in high school, and I always had an interest in politics. I was a big George W. Bush fan when he ran For President in 2000, my sophomore year of high school and junior year high school. And I just. I love that I. I would work, volunteer and work on a few campaigns of local friends that ran for office, my parents friends, really. And I had interest in it then. I was judging livestock. And Beth, my wife, her boss at the time, who many people know, Justin Whitefield, who since has passed away, was a lobbyist and kind of does what I do now. And I kind of thought that was cool. And when Farm Bureau was looking for somebody involved in production agriculture that had some communication skills and some reasoning skills, he encouraged them to reach out to me, and they did. And when I learned what I would get to do every day, I was like, oh, this is exactly what I want to do. Because a lot of the things I learned in FFA from public speaking, in particular with livestock judging, too, I learned how to reason. Look at a problem for animals in a class and reason at a logical placing, and then defend that. It's a lot what I do My client has a position, we formulate a plan and then we go defend it. And so I tell so many young people the best lobbyists in the world are kids involved in FFA because the skill set they have and we have to get more kids to go do it, to run for office, to lobby, to advocate. I say that all the time and I genuinely mean it because there's not enough people going into the industry. And the ones that are pretty can tend to be a little self serving and driven for an agenda that's not beneficial to us. And so any young person out there listening, there's a great career and a great opportunity to work in public service, but also as an advocate and a lobbyist for any industry, but in particular agriculture. So that's how I got involved. And once I got hooked, I was in. I mean, it's a livelihood that I'll be involved in until they put me in the grave. It's something I truly enjoy being a part of.

[Tyler Norvell]

And I also liked kind of how you, I guess, describe through 4H and FFA how that kind of prepares you for things like that. So the main thing I wanted to talk to you about today was oie. Would you mind telling me a little bit about how OIE got started and kind of the history of how it's grown to what it is today?

[Vince McGolden]

Yeah. So this year will be the 110th edition of the spring livestock show in Oklahoma City. It's had many names over 110 year history. It's been the Oklahoma City Fat Stock Show. That's what it was in 1915 when they started it. It's been the Oklahoma 4H and FFA Spring Livestock Show. And then in 2002, my senior year, high school was the first year the Oklahoma Youth Expo was Oye was started out of necessity because when I was in high school, you know, the premium sale, you might make the sale with your steer and you might bring eleven hundred dollars. And we were grateful for the money, don't get me wrong. But it was tough. And the state fair ran the livestock show, the Sirloin Club, Southwest Livestock foundation, two nonprofit volunteer boards where we put it on. And so anybody that raised money or ran the show was a volunteer. They took vacation off their job to come do it. And that was a struggle. And the Oklahoma State Fair said, we just can't afford to do this anymore. We're just going to have to do away with it. Well, that couldn't happen. Well, the Department of Agriculture along with Bob Funk and Jimmy Harrell, they stepped up. And they said, we're going to start a 501C3, a nonprofit that will be associated with no.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

1.

[Vince McGolden]

They will rent the fairgrounds from the state fair, and we're going to put on a livestock show. And the first year of Hawaii, they gave out one $1,000 scholarship, and the premium sale grossed $300,000. This year at Oye, we will give out close to $400,000 in scholarships, and our premium sale will exceed $1.5 million. So that's the growth we've seen. I don't know for sure the numbers we had in 2002, 2003, but put in perspective, you know, now we'll have, you know, five, 6,000 hogs show up, closer to 7,000 hogs show up, 500, 600 steers, 2,000 heifers, a couple thousand sheep, couple thousand goats. And I mean, it's just overwhelming because in O2, the first year, they didn't even have a goat show, didn't even have a guilt show. All those things have evolved. And we've really seen the breeding side of Oklahoma Youth Expo expand and develop. Clearly, we've seen the ag mechanics contest develop, the shotgun sports. So in the Skillathon. So we're always looking for reasons to get more kids involved. And the reason we started ag mechanics, the reason we started the Skillathon, the reason we started shotgun sports, is we don't want any student to say, I can't be a part of Oye because I can't afford it. And there's always an option for you to come be a part of our event and win scholarship dollars, win premium cell dollars, and many other things. So it's been a blessing to be a part of, you know, the vision that Bob Funk and Jimmy Harrell had To start a 501C3 now, which many states are going to, was extremely visionary, 20 years ahead of its time. And it's. We're really lucky to have that freedom. Now, the unfortunate part is, unlike a lot of shows, like shows that own the facility and put on the show, they don't have to pay the rent. We have to pay. They already have the facility. And it cost us significant amount of money to rent Hawaii, rent the state fair ground, I mean, and put on the show. But we have so many great sponsors, we're able to do that and still reward the kids very healthily. So anyway, I hope that kind of explains where we've been and where we're headed, but a lot of great history. And this year is going to be in particularly special for me yet a little sad is this will be the last year that we have Oy in the big house. June 1, they will open the new state fair arena, and they will begin to tear down the big House. And so this year will be the last year that state basketball championships held, their state wrestling championship event. You know, three of the most important events for young people across the state are those three events that all happen in the big House. And it'll be a little sad to see it go, but couldn't be more excited about the future in the new arena.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes, and that's kind of funny that you brought that up, because as you were talking about, you know, what Hawaii kind of went through to become to what it. To what it is now. I remember, and I. I've seen pictures of, like, my oldest brother, Cashin, shown at the spring show, and if I remember right, I think they showed in the arena just kind of like how we do it. Eyo, is that correct?

[Vince McGolden]

Yes, that's right.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yeah. And so I was thinking about that, and then now, you know, this is going to be the last year in the big House, and I think it's kind of bittersweet for all of us. So I know that, you know, the progress going forward, I'm sure that OIE will continue to only get better. I mean, I know just from, like, when I showed, like, starting out, which is not that long ago, to when I ended, I know that there were significant progress all throughout my show career. So I don't doubt that you guys will continue to do great things for the youth of Oklahoma. So I know that you face many challenges over the years regarding oie. One of the biggest was probably the year Covid hit, and we had to shut down and not finish the show. So what did that look like from your perspective and how has it affected OIE since then?

[Vince McGolden]

Yeah, it was the worst thing I've been involved in, and it was just so unfortunate, and it was out of our control. And if you'll remember back, we were the last event that the government knew about to be shut down. I remember Blaine Arthur telling me she got a call from the White House, the AG director at the White House, saying, hey, you guys are about the only event left going. She's like, the only AG event. She's like, no, the only event that we know of, really, still going. And looking back, we could have easily finished, but we didn't know it at the time. And we hung in there three or four days past the Houston Livestock show, and I Remember that night, it was like out of a horror movie, just seeing parents and kids crying. I mean one, one dad told me the best is like we were more than a death. And we were. And there's so many visions I still have imprinted on my mind from that night. They're just awful. But you know, one thing that I, that I, that was a positive from it is we were able to go raise money for all the seniors that didn't get to show and give each of a thousand dollar scholarship if, if they didn't already win a scholarship. You know, we were able to tell others, the seniors too, you can come back for one more year and show if you want to. A market animal, not a breeding animal. Because we got through all the breeding animal shows. But you know, we were able to adapt and overcome like we have done time and time again at Hawaii with our awesome board of directors and the awesome staff that works for me. But, but also what we learned is you don't take it for granted. It's not a ride, it's a privilege to get to have the stock show we get to have. And the other thing we learned is that other states, you know, just started calling us, asking how do you pull off your show? How'd you do what you do? And of course that led to California Youth Ag Expo and us putting on that livestock show in California. It led to a lot of neat opportunities for us that we have been able to go and help people and run shows, but yet make revenue for oye off running those shows that we put back into the kids here in Oklahoma. And so it was an awful event, it was awful experience, but yet we grew from it and learned from it.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes. And I remember, I, I feel like every person there, it was kind of like a horror movie. I remember there was people crying ever. I mean, I was crying. That was like my senior year. So I remember that and I think about that vividly. I. And if I remember right, you were the one that came over the like and made the announcement that we had to shut it. Shut it down, if I remember right.

[Vince McGolden]

You remember right. It was awful. It. My voice cracked. It was very emotional. So yes, I'm the one that got. I took the sheep ring and they were showing for Supreme Heifer down in the big house at the same time. And Mr. Harrell went down there and told them and it was just. I forgot I was the one that had to do the sheep ring. But it was awful. I'll tell you one of my favorite moments too, of Hawaii, of All time was that night when they went ahead and did showmanship and the state fair said, you can stay till midnight, then you have to be out. And they did the showmanship for the seniors and play thunderstruck and the sheep arena. That's one of my. It was sad, but it's one of my favorite moments from OIE that year.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes, I agree. So, you know, you mentioned OIE has an incredible crew behind it. So do you mind telling me a little bit about the team of people behind oie, kind of what all roles do they play?

[Vince McGolden]

Yeah, absolutely. So Bob Funk is our chairman. He's been chairman since day one. Jimmy Harrell's our vice chairman. He's been vice chairman since day two. They're two of our biggest donors. They've been involved with it since 2002. There are rocks. They're incredible. People in other states ask me, how do we start an oie? I say, you got to have a Bob Funk and a Jimmy Harrell. Randy Gilbert is on our board of directors from Tecumseh. He's our secretary treasurer. He's been on the board for almost 15 years now. Randy and his wife Suzanne are so dedicated to the program, not only with their financial resources, but their time, too. They're just the best. And then Chad Warmington, who is the CEO of the Oklahoma State Chamber, is a board member. He is. He brings in the business community to our organization. He's a dear friend of mine, dear friend of all the board members. An urban guy that is a gigantic supporter of our program. And he's been a huge asset to us to bring in a different group of folks that we haven't been able to reach. Then I'm the fifth board member city being the executive director of the Onward Foundation. And so today my role is mainly fundraising and working with the board. The person that runs Oye is Cass Newell. She's the executive vice president. She runs the day to day. She handles the book, she hires the judges, she coordinates volunteers. She does so much to make it happen. Cass, she's the backbone of that office. Then Bray Haven, who is the executive vice president of Cattlemen's Congress. He helps us with OIE and he's kind of our chief operating officer. He just handles logistics. Bray does a great job. He also helps me lobby at the Capitol. Then we also have J.D. roseman who does our. He's the VP of Communications. He's been with us a lot of years. All the cool social media. You see the videos, all those things, that's JD People always Say you guys do awesome at your pr. I say, that's jd. He's been doing it for years. Then we have Emily Middlestadt, who's awesome, has come on to help JD. She nothing she can't do, but she's JD's right hand. Jacob Sanderson has come on board. He's director of Livestock data. He handles all the entries. The show works. Jacob interned for us all through high school. He showed at Oye every single year, interned for us through college. I mean, so he, he absolutely knew we never missed a beat when Whitney left and he stepped in. And then also we have, we call her the mother of the Oye, Melissa Eisenhower. Melissa worked with my wife back and I think she started in 03 or 04 at Hawaii and has been here ever since. She used to have Cass's role, but back in 2013 or 14 she went part time to help raise her kids, Katie and Mason. And she now is our director of events. She helps put on diamond hats, the Sterling Club events, and then she runs our trade show and our clothing store. So Melissa has been around forever. We call her, like I said, the mother of oie because nobody knows more history and has more passion for the Youth Expo in our brand than Melissa does. So a lot of great people that make it happen. We have tons of interns. I know we're going to talk about those here in a little bit, but appreciate each and every one of them. My number one rule is if you're going to come work at Hawaii, you have to have grown up showing and you have to know I have a real passion for the industry. And every person that is on our staff grew up showing and knows the frustrations it can to be to go to a livestock show when it's not exhibitor friendly. And we will always be exhibitor friendly at the Oklahoma Youth Expo because of the staff and their experiences growing up.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes. And that is an incredible crew that a lot of people, you know, don't even realize all the behind the scenes that you guys do. So I know that I was very thankful when I got to show at Hawaii and I'm still very thankful for the kids or for the opportunities that you guys do for the kids. So it's funny that you mentioned that Jacob was an intern because that's actually what I was going to talk to you about next. So I know that you've guys allowed college students to gain experience during Cattlemen's Congress. And Oie, what are some of the pros and cons of having different volunteers throughout those Big events, yeah.

[Vince McGolden]

So you gotta have people involved in livestock shows. So when I started in 2012, it took people three hours to unload. And it frustrated me so bad, I went out there myself and started directing traffic. And we just had hourly workers that were from Oklahoma City directing traffic, kind of like you would sit state fair. And it was a nightmare. There was no passion. There was nobody. Well, I had been in Oale, Oklahoma ag leadership encounter when in 06, when Justin was running it and he made Esco direct traffic. But I had more passion and urgency for getting people through line when I had my experience doing that because I'd been to a stock show and knew the frustrations of sitting there all day. And I said, no matter what happens, I'm going to make it my mission to get people unloaded in less than an hour. So the next year we flipped it. We unloaded going from north to south. That didn't used to be the way. And I went and got college interns that had been to show and the ole kids and we ran traffic and we did that for three or four years. I did it myself and then turned it over to Dalton Newell, then Bray Haven and now Bray and JD and all the interns run it. But I think it's imperative that at Congress or at Hawaii, the people that are helping you get in that are coordinating the show, they have to have shown and been in the show. And the more reason they've done that, the better. But also those kids develop a true appreciation for what it means to go out there and run traffic and do those thankless jobs. And. And I learned more doing it when I did it than any a lot of experiences I had in college. And so I think we pass that along, that these kids get to be a part of a team. They get to learn to interact with people. Some people that are awesome and kind and some people that are terrible and ruthless. There's all the whole spectrum. And so getting developed those internships, the ole kids, it lets us know them. Everybody that works, all that list of people besides Melissa Eisenhower, because she was already at Oye when they started the Oale all went through Oale or were an intern, every single one of them. You know, that's almost another criteria. You got a shown, you got to probably gone through that program for us to bring anybody on full time. And so that's what it leads for us. But the other thing it does for me is when these employers call me, no matter what it may be the first list I have cast go to to recommend Me names or me to look at names is the intern list or the Oale list from Hawaii or Congress. And I can tell you we've had some really, really good interns and some that haven't lived up to par, but those ones that we remember, we do everything we can to help find them employment opportunities when it arises.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yeah. And I know that, like, I know several of my friends that were part of those different programs were very thankful for everything that you guys did for them. So kind of talking a little bit more about oie, what is your favorite thing that OIE does for the kids?

[Vince McGolden]

My favorite thing is it allows them to build a network of friends. I watch my daughters and the friends they know from across this state, and they're leaps and bounds ahead of where I was knowing people and just the opportunity it gives them and the people they get to meet. The second thing that I love about OIE is that it teaches kids how to work. We have to have more kids that know how to work, and it teaches work ethic. I can thank so many kids. You know, sometimes people accuse, well, these kids really don't work with the animals. Just their jocks or the handlers do. Well, that's not the case because you get exposed if you haven't worked with your animals. Very rare. Have I ever seen a kid be successful at OIE that hadn't put the time in the barn that it requires. Do they have help? Absolutely, but they have to go to do the work. You can't fake it. So those are the two things that I think we benefit the most. The third would be the financial opportunities, in particular with the scholarships to help offset the cost of higher education or technical training that all these kids get.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes, I agree with that. And you know that you're a show dad yourself, and you've already mentioned about your two girls, and I know that they can both show at oie. So how do you juggle running a show as well as being there for your kids during oie?

[Vince McGolden]

Yeah, it's hard. It's hard. Especially when they started. I went to the board of directors and said, I probably need to resign and step down because my kids are going to show. I mean, we just don't have the opportunities they do in Texas with five majors or six majors. Now. Here we have one in the spring. And I just said, I don't need to be involved. And they said, hey, as long as you're not picking the judges, we don't. We don't care you're going to stay. We need you to stay. We want you to stay. And I said, okay, I'm comfortable with that. And the more it's evolved, the more I've stepped back. People call me all the time now with questions, and I'm like, I can't answer them. I don't know. Cast, you have to call Cass. You know, if you're wanting to talk about raising money, we can talk all day long. But I removed myself from all the processes, rules and picking judges and. And then I try as much as I can to be around when the girls show and be supportive of them. They understand the difficulties that it provides for us. But I. I can't believe in a program as much as I believe in Hawaii and then expect my children not to do it. And I think people are very sympathetic of that and understand that. And, you know, for the most part, it's always been a really good experience for us as a family, but it does provide challenges in terms of time to do. To do my role and then. And then be showed at. But they've got a lot of great people around him, great ag teacher Mr. Scott for all those years now, Mr. Nunley, to help them, you know, and a lot of people that help us with our cattle and our pigs that. That we've purchased those from or. Or help us at show. So it takes, as you know, it takes a village, it takes a team to be successful. So my kids actually tease me. They enjoy it a lot more when I'm not around, so maybe they actually prefer me not being around.

[Tyler Norvell]

Well, that's funny, because I think that's probably how most kids feel. You know, I bet their parents kind of make them a little bit nervous. But.

[Vince McGolden]

Yeah.

[Tyler Norvell]

So my last. One of my last questions, I guess I have for you is what does a typical day look like for you? Just a normal day?

[Vince McGolden]

Well, it all depends on what time of year it is. So I'll tell you in the month of February. Right now, I wake up about 6am and I'm at the state Capitol by about 8. I mean, I help most mornings. I help get the steers in the cooler and feed the pigs, and I head straight to the Capitol. And then Monday through Thursday, I'm from the cap. I'm at the Capitol in February because there's a lot of bills being heard early in session, usually from 8 till 6 or 7. And then after that I'll go to dinner with a group of legislators that evening. And so I'm not home much this time of year. And then on Fridays, I spend my time Raising money and dealing with any oye issues I have. But that's a lot of the spring for me in the summer and fall spent a lot of time going around, meeting with businesses, with my lobbying clients, with Oye donors, just building relationships, going to shows with the girls. But this time of year it is extremely busy trying to balance the capital and oye. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Tyler Norvell]

So my last few questions I have for you are some fun type questions. I know your daughter Madeline just recently exhibited the grand champion market steer at Denver. What did that win mean to her and your family?

[Vince McGolden]

Oh, it was an incredible experience. We had never shown a steer there and I didn't know what all that entailed and just that it was so relaxing to be there and just not have thousands of animals like we usually do at the show. And it not be oye and just get to be a true show dad. Enjoyed was an emotional day. It was a fun day. And then the Brown Palace Hotel experience and what the steer brought, setting the record, it being the last year on the hill at Denver. It was an incredible opportunity that I hope Madeline will remember forever. With lots of emotions and a lot of fun and a lot of family and a lot of friends involved. It's just something I hope every parent gets to experience. To watch your kid work hard and then be, be successful, it's just Beth and I talk about that often. We hope every parent enjoys the opportunity to see their kid work hard and be successful, whatever that level may be that your goal is. That may be winning your class at Oye, that may be making the sell at your county. Whatever it is, there's just nothing you can't replace. And we're really proud of both the girls and the work they put in. And you know, one thing showing livestock teaches is how to lose. You're going to lose a lot more than you win. But I hope, I hope my girls always appreciate it when it's good and they're winning because those don't always come around.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes, I agree with that. What is your favorite hobby to do outside of anything ag related?

[Vince McGolden]

Well, it used to be play golf before my kids had 9 million show animals and we were just showing every weekend. But my hobby now is just being show dad. But before that it was playing golf. I. I really enjoy playing golf. And when Sailor graduates, I will play a lot more golf again.

[Tyler Norvell]

What advice do you have for young professionals or show parents?

[Vince McGolden]

You know, show parents. I gave. I judged Illinois Beef Expo this past weekend and it was the speech I gave at the grand drive. But my biggest regret as a show parent is always blaming the judge when we first started showing if we didn't win. And we've got to always blame it. Quit blaming on the judge. You know, there are times judges may not do the best job, but most of the time, it's probably the parents or me, the exhibitor or the fitter, the jock, getting upset. We've got to get back to realizing we don't always have the best animal. Sure, sometimes we lose some when we shouldn't, sometimes we win when we shouldn't, but we can't go out there and talk to our kids about it and run judges down to our kids because then they become us. And I wish I would have handled that differently as a young show parent. But the opportunity and the showing is not cheap. It takes a lot of time and resources, but at the end of the day, it's worth it because what we teach our kids. And we just got to remember to be respectful and. And realize it's okay to lose because we're going to lose a lot more than we win. But. But you don't have to be a loser. You just got to learn to handle losing in the correct fashion.

[Tyler Norvell]

Yes, I agree with that. And something I always kind of try to remember growing up is as long as if I did my job and if I went out there and I showed my animal to the best of my ability, if I got beat, hey, it was going to be all right. Like, I did everything in my power that I could do.

[Vince McGolden]

So good for you. That's the way it should be.

[Tyler Norvell]

Well, thank you so much, Tyler, for joining me. I know that, you know, you just told us kind of how busy you are in February. So I really appreciate you taking the time to be on this podcast and give your advice back to the youth of the livestock industry. So thanks again for joining us.

[Vince McGolden]

You bet. Thanks for having me and look forward to seeing you and everybody at Oye in a few weeks.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah. Give me a drum roll, sister. Give me a drum roll. You can do better than that. Come on. Another one. That's more like it. All right, let's talk about some of the stud ramp showcases. We have a fishers from Idaho. Have one up. And he's definitely deserving of a drumroll, although you need to work on it a little bit. I mean, that was an average drum roll. Three stars. You can do better. Bart is their new Dorset buck. He's a sub zero on sugar, which is an NOC on drain. The swamp. The dam of that one is the dam of Princess Poppy which was actually on our last episode. I believe Eddie Cortez showed that dorset you last year. So it goes back to that same you family. Definitely a really interesting white buck to check out. He's on Champion Drive. He's RRFF and he's owned by Dwayne Fisher and family.

[Tyler Norvell]

Bingo. Is our next stud ram up. He's rrfd. He's a trace Amigos. Happy days. Gunsmoke Mullikin Club Lambs bred him and baby Club Lambs own them. Own him with them.

[Steva Robinson]

Another one that's up is Joker, which is a speckle buck, right?

[Tyler Norvell]

Correct.

[Steva Robinson]

And he is raised by Tuck Brothers and Platinum Shelton and owned by Tuck Bros. Platinum Shelton and D Brothers. He's a no return Phoenix. Not afraid. He's up on the Sud Ram Showcase. Be sure to check him out. And they had us do a video, which I shouldn't say us. You did the video. Sister did the video for that. But kind of as his debut or whatever and how they rolled him out and that turned out really good. So if there's ever anything like that that you guys need, be sure to holler at any of us at Novel Designs.

[Tyler Norvell]

I know that like as we were reading through those, the sales and like who are who all they're all sired by several of those bucks are in the Sudram Showcase. So if you guys don't know what the bucks are that we're talking about or anything, feel free to check them out on Champion Drive as well.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah, I go to the Sudram Showcase a lot. I don't have. I have a pretty good memory but I always have to kind of like go and double check because I remember what they are. But a lot of times I have to kind of like freshen up on the bottom side of stuff and I always kind of go back to that study. I'm showcase too as well. So we do have a few headliners up, which for those of you that don't know what headliners are, they're just a different type of ad on Champion Drive in a different section. So that's why we talk about them separately in the podcast Fox show. Lambs is headed to the main event. They've got two Gable you Lambs that I think look pretty spiffy. And the main event is in Des Moines March 14th and 15th. So check them out there. I'll talk about the next one. Branded has a hat special going on. We picked three of our most popular hat styles which are Richardson 220A Richardson 225 and Richardson 256. That's kind of like the most popular ones. And the 220s are most popular. The 225 is a little bit more structured, and the 256 is a little more trendy and more popular amongst, like, the younger crowd. So basically you get 18 hats in the package and you can kind of mix and match color options. And it's a really good way to have some options to hand out for, you know, maybe people are a little bit younger, maybe people that are a little bit more traditional, kind of a little bit of everything. We've never done a hat special like this before, and it's been going over really well. So if there's anything that you'd like to get started on for that, be sure to email Aubry or brand or I at branded. Our contact information is on Champion Drive, and you can get to our website from there as well. Let's go right into Vince's. And Vince's is pretty long, but I think it's really good. I talk to him a lot from, like, where he started at and where they're at now. We talked about how the industry changed. For those of you that are probably sister's age and don't remember when I started going or started was old enough to, like, remember going to sales or whatnot, the McGoldenbred you sale was like the pinnacle event you had to go to that they had some live sales at their place with ots. I remember being in college and you kind of made sure you circled that date on your calendar and a group of you hopped in a car and you made sure you went to it. So for those of you that are too young to remember that just kind of as a reference point, that's kind of. That was kind of the first of the. That kind of sale for what they did. And then he talks about how they, you know, transitioned into doing the. You pick the buck sales, which are still popular to this date. And just a lot like, I think there's a lot you can really take from it. So let's get right into his. Well, everyone, I've got Vince McGolden on today. And for those of you that remember back to the days of the McGolden bread you sale and all of that, Vince was definitely one of the people we all looked up to and was kind of a front runner in the deal. So we wanted to get him on this week and I'm really excited to have him on. Thanks for Joining me Vince, tell everyone a little bit about your background going up in the industry. For those of you who might not.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Know, I graduated from OSU and they. I had no sheep background and OSU wanted me to student teach at a program that had sheep. And I went to Elgin in 1984 and student taught there under Mr. Boggs and we, he had lots of sheep there and we, we had a good connection and, and Mr. Boggs helped me many years after that student teaching experience and anyway, I first started teaching at Hennessy and the legendary Leonard Hunter was at Kingfisher. He was in our county and I just, I just got what I had learned at Elgin. I grew up in a, in with a cattle background and we raised and showed our own cattle and got into the club calves and did some ET and AI work back then. And anyway it, it, I got into the showing a few sheep and the sheep deal uh, at Hennessy was very minor. But it worked out that we were semi competitive. Anyway. I learned a lot there the first couple of years. I looked up to Leonard Hunter and he was kind of the renowned ag teacher in the sheep industry at that time. And we just learned. And then I was there at Hennessy for two years and then Mr. Boggs went to be our state executive secretary with the Oklahoma FFA and I moved to Elgin and took over his position. And at Elgin we had a large number of kids that showed sheep and the. I was there for 13 years. My last year at Elgin we had 101 head of sheep on feed. We took 22 to the, to Denver there in January and then we showed the rest. I think there was 88, 89 head of lambs that we showed at Oklahoma City back then. Back then it was not oie, it was Oklahoma City. It was quite a bit different than it is today. And the competition was more. We talk about going back in time. Back then we, we, we were competitive or we, the schools were competitive against the schools. Elgin was competitive back then. Sentinel was tough, Cordell was tough, Indiana was tough. Kingfisher especially tough. And so we've competed against this more of the schools than how it is in today's market.

[Steva Robinson]

So when you were having like 100 sheep on feed, would you, were these ones that you raised or would you go out and look for them and buy them?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

No. Well, I was raised in sheep by the, that by that time. But originally we traveled and we bought. Back then the, the sales were totally different. It was mainly at a sale, some show and sales, but mainly just club lamb Sales and then we did a lot of buying off the farm. Uh, we traveled up north. Uh, I, I used to go to Kankakee, Illinois two times each year to buy Dorsets from Dale Heinman. And we went to Birches. We went, we traveled everywhere trying to find, you know, the top end sheep. There was no cell phone or social media so you really, you had to travel to the farms and, and find the sheep that would win.

[Steva Robinson]

Gotcha. So how old are you at this point?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

I started teaching at 21, so I'm 24, 25, 26 years old.

[Steva Robinson]

And were you raising sheep at this time yet?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

No, I tell you, we, my wife and I had went to a farm sale and we were not able to get it bought. And Marlon Wimberley was at the farm sale and he talked to me and he said to him and that his wife wanted to come over and talk to us. And anyway, this would have been in 1988 I think. And he approached Jackie and I about buying his farm, his house, his barns, his dogs and all his sheep and a turnkey deal. And in 1989 we bought the Wimberley flock. There was about 300 head of ewes and rams when we were. We actually they were not sheared and the rams were with the ewes. We, we really didn't know how many we had of each until we got them all sheared and figured out what was the use and the rams. But that's how. That's when we started. Our first lamb crop was in the spring of 1990 and we stayed there. We bought a farm in Fairview in 1988 and our first lamb crop in Fairview was in 2000. So we stayed there 10 years basically. I quit teaching in 89. Right, 89. And we kept the sheep at, at Wimberland at our old house there. And the kids and my wife moved up here to Fairview. And then the. That next summer we moved all our sheep up to Fairview.

[Steva Robinson]

So in the meantime Fairview would have been like where I would have came to look at sheep at. Right?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Yeah.

[Tyler Norvell]

Perfect.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Yeah. That would like said 2000 was our first set of lambs there. In the meantime we had, I had those Wimberly used and we were. It was just a Suffolk operation. That'll show you the date. All we had were suffix. And I ended up buying out Martha White at Union City and then Bob and Becky Kerr there at Elgin. A couple. Oh, and 85. 86. No, it'd been 95, 96 right in there. And that's when we started the actual first bread you sale, they were doing it in the. In the pigs. And I thought there wasn't any reason why the sheep industry, we couldn't do it in the sheep industry. And I bought those flocks, I added them to my 300 and some head and we sorted. I was up to about 800 head abused. And we sorted the first set of those bread ewes and we sold 160, 165 head. We hauled them to El Reno and sold them there at a sale. And that's when the actual first bred you sale started. And then later, after we moved to Fairview, Brad and Deb. Deb kind of came up with the idea about the pick your buck bread you sale. And we started the pick your buck bread you sales where we would. We. People would buy a U or a yearling or a U lamb and then they would pick the bucks that we had offered to breed those used and then they would pick them up after we sonogrammed there the end of November, 1st of December.

[Vince McGolden]

So.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah, and that was. You guys were the first ones to do that, right? Yes, that's what I thought. And remind me, that used to be both of those were live sales when they originally.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Yes, they were. That is correct. Yeah. And okay, we also. Let me throw in Mike and Mark Hindman actually. Well, we'll back up a little bit more. Alan McHugh was at Lawton. He ran the corporation sales and he got into the bread you sales there with me. And it was Alan and Brad and Deb and I or my family. And anyway, Alan McHugh passed away and Mark and Mike sold or bought Alan McHugh's used. And they bought into this or they came into the sale at that time. And we had that sale at Fairview for, I think, 11 years.

[Steva Robinson]

Gotcha. Yeah. Like I was telling you before we got on, like, that was. I remember being in college, like, that was one of the sales you had to go to, like, oh, hey, let's all jump in a car and go to. To the McGolden sale, whatnot. So that was kind of like, for those of you who are not familiar with it, that was kind of the. The sale of the. Of the year that you always had to go to.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Well, that they. It was the winter sale and there was a lot of deliveries and a lot of pickups and it was kind of like the fall classic and the hog deal. It. It was the, the sale. Everybody came to and, and picked up and hauled sheep and delivered sheep there.

[Steva Robinson]

So yeah. So at that point, like, you talk like there wasn't social media, there wasn't Champion Drive, there wasn't a bunch of cell phone pictures going around. Like, what was your customer base mainly at that time, not just for the bread you sell and that you pick your buck, but in general, like there was more off the farm sales at that point, right?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

That is correct. We, we sold sheep. We advertised in the magazines, the agues show circuit. We did, we advertised there. But people would, would come and, and like it was just the baby lambs were born later. We wouldn't start lambing until February. Our first sale back then was the black and white, the end of April. And then you would have some. A large number of club lamb sales there in May. So our, our lambs were not born early really. And then people would start coming in and have a lot of barn traffic and they were from California to, to Florida and we would sell them and, and then we would take and go to the black and white sale, the corporation sale at that time. Alan McHugh had bought it and it became, you know, the really the sale there for a long time.

[Steva Robinson]

Absolutely. Like, let's talk a little bit about how your flock changed over the years. Like, so you're at. I think we're at like the 2000s now. We're talking a little bit later past then. Like, how did that change from what it was then to how it is now?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Like, one thing I was gonna say or wanted, wanted to bring out. When we first got into the sheep deal, there was this thing called spiders and I really had no idea what a spider was until we had one. And it is, it was just a deal where they had a kind of like a spina bifida. They had a genetic defect in their newborn and you actually had to knock them in the head. And the first one, our first pair I ever had, I called Joe Harold and I said, joe, what. What is this? They sheep look tremendous, but they've got turns in their back. And, and he just chuckle and he said, well Vince, that's a spider. And. And so anyway, we ended up being able to test blood tests for spider genes and the whole United States was able to basically clean that up. Then we got into where we started working on the scrapey deal and the blood was figured out. There's a lady had a deal in Oregon or Washington and, and she had figured out a code on 171 and we went into the scrapey deal and everything had to be bled and we, we basically wiped out the Scrapy deal with that blood test and the people using RR rams, the spider deal is kind of since went away also. We really don't even test for the SS NS NN anymore. And the scrapy deal is, has kind of went away a little bit now. Now we're into the dwarfs and testing for the, the dwarfs and trying to buy, buy sheep. And I was telling my son the other day, it's this sheep deal is buying and we have a lot of good sheep out there now. And you, you really got to be cautious of the dwarfs and, and because they sure look good and look what, what we're looking for. They're, they're moderate and they're stout and they're good ribbed and all that. And so we, that's a problem or another thing that we have to do. So in my years, 30 some years in the sheep deal, we went from testing for spiders, testing for scrapey and now testing for dwarfs. And that was, that's a long, drawn out deal. The other thing, when I started, as I said earlier, Suffolks were king. If you didn't have a Suffolk sheep, you were not going to win, you know, grand or reserve grant at any of the shows. And now OIE for the first time this spring. There's not even going to be a Suffolk breed shown at OIE this year because of the, the trend and the, the type of sheep that we have moved to moderate fuzzy, you know, and the Hamp breed is really dominated and taken over. So we just, we have no suffix at our house there. I wouldn't know where to, where to go to to buy a true Suffolk anymore. Because the influence of the Hampshire breed.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah, absolutely. I know I have a sign in my shop that says Robinson Suffolks. When I first started raising sheep and my son Braden is like, why do you have that? Is that a joke? And I was like, Brayden, that used to be what you would, that's what you would want. And it's all changed so much. Let's talk about now. Everyone is AI and flushing. Did you guys do any of that? And when you did, when did you start and how did it used to be?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

I will, I'll go way back. We had a ram that we bought from Martha White called Jordan. There was Jordan and Rascal. They were both, they were brothers, different years. But Jordan is the buck that really, he's a Suffolk buck. That really put us on the map. I think one year he had seven grands or reserve grands at the state fairs. That was just out of Jordan and Anyway, we pulled semen. There was a married couple in Iowa gourlies that did it and we had semen pulled from him. We sold a little bit of semen. It never really took off. It was not really as researched, I guess, as what we have it today. And so the, there was some semen sales earlier in the, in the 90s, I would say, but it, it didn't stay. The marketability wasn't there and it just didn't stay popular. Then it came back and yes, we AI basically we AI every U. We run about 75 blackface use and we have about 12 donor use at this time. And my son runs about a hundred royal white ewes that we use for recips and that, that has changed from running four to 500 head and just pasture exposing them, going and finding, you know, several rams each year or using buck lambs each year and separating and, and putting each ram with so many U's. And yeah, it's changed a lot in that regard.

[Steva Robinson]

What made you change from that or from, you know, buying the bucks and running them naturally and, and transitioning into an AI and ET program?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Well, the, the bottom line is you had to get better. If everybody's doing the AI and embryo, the flushing, those, those flocks were improving at a rapid pace. And if you didn't do that, then you were left behind very quickly. And today's sheep, the, I mean I grew up in, or I was in the, the time when we had to block the, the butts on the sheep and the, you know, I was not a proponent when they went to slick shearing them. I just thought that was something that we had mastered as far as blocking and had an advantage. And then they went to slick shearing and, and really the. Now our sheep industry, our sheep today look like they are all perfect hipped and, and big legged. And so that the blocking, him getting out of that and going to the slick shear improved the sheep dramatically. The AI and the embryo deal has made it that much better.

[Steva Robinson]

So you mentioned the buck, Jordan. One of the questions on my list was what was the most influential buck in your program? Is that your answer for that question or is there different ones or which ones come to mind? I guess.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Oh, the. My wife and I talked about that. Jordan was the one that really put us on the map. And I always joked that he paid for our farm down there. And we ended up. He passed away and we buried him. I had a backhoe come in and we buried him under a pecan tree out there in our pasture. And he, he was pretty special. The Matrix ram that we bought there in Sedalia was a really good ram that produced a large number of females that we have and or used to have an odds. We bought him with Brad and Dad and uh, bought him from Harold McElrath and he was, he really did a lot for us and, and made great females and, and, and really good weathers as well. So yeah, the two popular ones.

[Steva Robinson]

I remember the Matrix deal that was in my era. That's the beginning of my era. Not I don't know if I have an era but I remember. So yeah, I just think I remember the Sedalia backdrop picture of him.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Yeah he was a, he was a cool looking sheep. Yeah he could be competitive. He, he may be in a little big frame for right now but his body type was, is very true to where we're at right now. He's a little more moderate than, than when we were when, when we bought. He was kind of the changer that started moderating the, the frame and the size of a lot of those sheep.

[Steva Robinson]

So, so, so now that you raise sheep with your son I guess what is your advice for younger breeders just getting started or I guess what would you tell you know 24 year old Vince McGolden that's just getting started raising sheep like if you.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Yeah.

[Steva Robinson]

What's your advice?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Well let me, let me tell you how I really got into it. A little before I bought the Wimberley flock we bought 10, I'm trying to think 10 u lambs and 10 yearling used from Joe Kavnis and Alan McHugh kept them for me and they were all, I don't think they were all out of the exact same buck but they were both mainly all consistent in their genetics. That was back in like I think 801 was what they were mainly out of. And anyway I would suggest staying starting small, staying consistent with your genetics on your use and then you could find one Ram or a couple of rams and if, if you do the AI and then you can do whatever but the I, I would try to find one ram to breed to those 20 years and it worked. If, if that ram would work with them then you were in the game and, and you could sure raise some quality sheep and that's probably the stay consistent with your U base and you should be good. Now today's, in today's light go buy two or three donor used and, and get some recent views and, and flush them and, and see you know, see how you get along that way.

[Steva Robinson]

Too. Sure. What was your favorite part of raising sheep? Or what is your favorite part of raising sheep?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

I like the competition. I like the shows. I like to show in sales. I do enjoy doing chores. My son, he doesn't enjoy doing chores very often and I, I do chores all the time. I, I enjoy just being out there and being in the barn really. So there's a lot of things I, I have friends all over the United States. When I was there at Elgin, we went with McHugh Allen, had a Georgia corporation sale. We traveled to Georgia. We travel, had a California corporation sale and we traveled to California and lots of, lots of memories. Lots of time in the pickup and we go to Reno now and really enjoy that. And Sedalia was super popular and still is. And so I, I just enjoy the sales and, and the people.

[Steva Robinson]

So one of the questions I had for the end of this, but we'll throw it in now. What's one of your best sale road trip stories?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Sale road trips. Jackie and I talked about this probably the, and this is kind of a, a weird one, but we went to California and I took my niece Allison and I took Jody Rexwinkle and Jackie and I went out there and, and I, I don't think Chase and Maddie went, but we were out there and there was a gas station that had two dollar. A sign that said two dollar gas. And we pulled over. This is. We didn't have cell phones or anything. We had little Kodak cameras and we, I told those girls, take a picture of that two dollar gas because you will never see that ever again in Oklahoma. And that was kind of a farce. But anyway, I always remember saying that and, and we had a great time.

[Steva Robinson]

Let's go back a little bit to your ag teaching. You mentioned that at one point you'd retired from ag teaching. You're teaching again now. I guess kind of fill in the, fill in the gaps for us there.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Okay. Started in 1984 at Hennessy and I. It was great. I had a ag mechanics instructor there with me. I was at school from 8 to 12. I actually, I had four hours in the morning and I was gone in the afternoon looking for animals. When I, when I first started, you had to have some type of specialty or you would not get hired specialty in the livestock deal. And really I went to Hennessy as a cattle person and we showed lots of steers and, and calves there. Like I said, we started kind of getting into the sheep deal and I really like the sheep deal at the start because if we, if we worked really hard. We could beat a lot of people with a little cheaper sheep. And that, that's probably not the same anymore. But originally that was what I liked about it. And then when Mr. Boggs went to the State Department, we went to Elgin and had lots of kids that had a lot more dollars to invest in sheep and we were able to become very competitive. We fed, we had, I drove to Burlington, Oklahoma to get the Burlington ration back then and then Mormons came and they were no, I'll back up. Prater Gibbs came and we started feeding a feed that he had developed. Him and Miles, while Miles was showing it was called Fast Forward was the name of the feed. And Mormons came and they wanted Elgin to stop feeding that and start feeding their sheep feed. And I said no, we, we were going to stay with that. We were successful with the Fast Forward feed. And they ended up, Mormons went down and bought, bought it out from Prater Gibbs. They still have it. It's Mormons. 11, 155 or 157. 11 157. And, and anyway that was kind of a neat deal as far as we were able to get the feed. We didn't have to travel and, and, and it was current and, and fresh and consistent and, and it was available and and so we came to, we got, we just got too big in the sheep deal at my house and we got too big in the sheep deal at the school and I tried to do both and I ended up quitting and going to just full time sheep. Chad Sharmason came to Elgin there for a couple of years. Ron Sides came there for a couple years and after I left and we moved to Fairview and we started running about the same amount. We had a new facility and running around 300, 350 use. I was out 10 years and we had an ag teacher at Fairview that got, he had to resign and Birchfield, the superintendent came to me and said hey, we're going to lose our funding if we don't hire a teacher now. And, and I said yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll do it and then we'll find somebody. Madison was a sophomore at that time. Chase was a freshman. So it was very important to me that they had a, had an act, had a good ag teacher and actually Fairview was a two teacher program at that time. And we just, I stayed and I'm here this actually I just retired February 1st and I've been here since 2008. They hired my son two years ago and I've been able to teach with Chase, which has been really cool. Former student Maggie Neufeld and Chase and I have been together for almost two years, I guess would say, and it has been really good. I've had, I've been blessed to have great teaching partners at Elgin, Jerry Renshaw, and then I had several here at Fairview over the years that have been extremely good. It got along and, and we were successful.

[Steva Robinson]

So I know we have several AG teachers that do listen to our podcast. Do you have any advice for them? I didn't have this on the questions list, but, but any advice for them or working within a multi teacher program?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

My son taught six years, seven years at Ripley at a single teacher and I just, I, I couldn't see how he could do it, but he didn't have kids, wasn't married, and that was his life. I have never been in a single teacher program, so I really don't know about that part. But the multi teacher is the way to go. You can kind of divide by your interest and, and your strengths. And I, I, I, I really like the multi teacher. I think it's the only way to go. So. Especially if it's your son. Everybody thinks I give him the orders. My mom, she was worried that I would order him around all the time and, and it's really totally the opposite. Life has cycled around and now he orders me and I do all the chores and do all the grunt work and he, he kind of manages and, and barks out the orders.

[Steva Robinson]

So how has teaching changed over the years?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

I, I don't know if teaching has changed that much as, except maybe the kids and the, the parents. People have changed. My wife wanted me to say cell phones have changed, social media has changed a lot of things. Uh, I'm not going to say for the worst, but, uh, it is changed. I, uh, I was telling somebody the other day, first two years I was at Elgin, I carried a rifle in my AG pickup to shoot coyotes and that, that wouldn't, you know, fly today. And things have definitely changed in that regard. They're still good kids, lots of good kids everywhere. Every. Raymond Cochrane, my, uh, district supervisor, he, I was telling him something, we were talking about Elgin and I said, oh, Elgin is just full of good kids. And he said, well, there's good kids everywhere. And that is so true. You just gotta find them and build them and if they will work then they can be successful. So everybody's got a talent, everybody can be successful at something and you just got to find it and and they've got to work at it. My wife, she teaches pre K and she's been a cornerstone of our sheep deal. And we were talking the other day, she was pregnant with Madison and Rocky Burchville and I were up north looking at sheep and Jordan and two other rams had got together and she's out there very far in pregnancy with Madison. And I told her that she needed to get those separated and she couldn't let, she couldn't let Jordan get killed. And, and that was before cell phones, so I only could talk to her when we stopped at gas stations. And she, she remembers things like that that I kind of have forgotten.

[Steva Robinson]

But let's talk about your life lessons beyond the classroom program, like explain what it is and kind of everything about it.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Well, I, I don't know. I, I try to emulate or I try to teach my own kids as well as all the ad kids that your work ethic, honesty and integrity have got to be, they've got to be found solid and, and founded. I, I just see too many kids that come through and, and that feel entitled. And I, I don't think anybody's entitled. If you work hard and have some integrity to go with it, then you're going to be successful at whatever you, you try. Try to do or, or wanting to do. But I, I pride myself and, and my FFA program with, with those basic things and integrity. So I, my favorite quote is in my ag classroom and Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know the profound person he is, he said you couldn't climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets. And I preach that all the time.

[Steva Robinson]

So that's very good. Let's go into one thing we haven't talked about yet is your kids showed livestock and did so at a very high level. Let's talk a little bit about that, like, explain to our listeners like what they showed and, and kind of the scope.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Okay. Madison is my oldest. She is 12 months, 12 and a half months older than Chase. And then I have a younger son that's seven years younger than Chase. Parents tell me all the time, well, kids are so different and that is so true. And I have three totally different kids, I guess, to an extent. But they. We started with a southdown weather from Duran. Howard Duran said he wouldn't make it to Oklahoma City. We showed him at the summer Fest back then. We had a big show in Oakland, Stillwater, during the summer heat of the summer. And they used to have a peewee showman or a peewee sheep show. And this Southdown lamb won was champion South Town but won the peewee show. And he was a really nice one, a really good one. And Madison actually wasn't old enough to show at Tulsa and so we took him to. He was champion at Louisville. Champion. Oh my wife and Madison would load up in the pickup in the fall and in the spring and they would haul this south down two shows and he, he was champion of reserve at every show and he ended up. We didn't nominate him for Oklahoma City in the spring where she was eligible to show. And anyway he, he ended up. He was reserve champion with Clint Cummings at our district show. He was the heaviest champion or reserve champion in the grand lineup that year. Clint was on a, a weight kick I guess and he was using 125, 130 pounders. But, but anyway, Madison ended up had a Suffolk sheep that we had raised that made sale at Oklahoma City. She is my only kid that had made the sale at Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Every time, every year she showed champion south down at Tulsa five years in a row and had several champions other than that as well. And we Chase started showing. Chase was ultra competitive. He, he and I are very, very similar in that way. His first animal was a pig and he won at three years old. He won a jackpot pig show that paid a thousand dollars and the big. When they gave him the big check and took pictures, the guy said oh, the sheep kids winning the hog show or something like that. And and so we didn't show pigs very long. But one of Chases and our whole family's favorite animal was a pig. We bought a hemp pig from Kimmy Carver and Chase showed him many times. He was champion or reserve and grand or reserve like nine times. Ended up being the reserve champion hamp at Oie Chase's eighth grade year and he was. They didn't have bronze medallion back then, but he was the third uh, pig in the sale back then. And then he also had. Chase had a sheep from Jim Miller. We called him Miller and Miller was a. He was the grand lamb at the state fair of Oklahoma. And Candy Schmincke judged him at Oklahoma City Oye and she asked him three different times what the sheep weighed. And he was 10, 10 pounds too heavy for her. And he was the third hamp out. But to my knowledge there has never been a sheep that wins the state fair Oklahoma and wins Oklahoma City. Back when I was teaching at Elgin we had a shrop lamb that from Cabnesses that won champion Shop at the state fair and Champion shrop at Oklahoma City. But we really had a sheep. I thought we could win with Miller and, and she thought he was too big. So my youngest son, not he is more the athlete and he showed a lot his first oie he had the champion south down at OIE and but he wasn't into it as much as my older kids, I guess I would say he was still competitive and showed a lot of really good sheep.

[Steva Robinson]

So what do your kids do now?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Chase is the ag teacher here at Fairview. Madison is a physical therapist here at Fairview. And Chad is, I'm gonna just say he's assistant manager at Walmart. When he, he went to college, played football and started working for Walmart and then Covid hit and he, they, he went to OSU or went to Stillwater and kept his job at Walmart and he has worked for Walmart ever since. And he is graduating from Purdue University right here this spring through Walmart's online college that they pay. Chad told me the other day he Never paid for one, paid $1 for college because he had a scholarship early and then Walmart paid for his schooling after that. So. And we have Chad has a little boy and a little girl. Madison has two little boys and a little girl and Chase had a little boy this fall and in September. So we had six grandkids.

[Steva Robinson]

Very nice. So looking back on their careers, what was your favorite memory with them?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Oh, gosh, we've had a lot of good wins and had a lot of good time. My wife, as I said earlier, is a big part of our family and, and she keeps them in line and keeps them on task and very nice.

[Steva Robinson]

Well, obviously you've had a bunch of success aside from your wife and kids. Who else would you say has been influential in the success of my Golden Club Lambs?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Well, probably I have to start with my brother. When we first started Magolan Club Lambs, he helped immensely. He helped with the labor a little bit, but mainly helping with selection and, and trying to figure out what you went to what Ram and we always had some really good knockdown, drag out fights back then. In those days another person that was really helpful was Rocky Burchfield. And Rocky and I, he was an ag teacher at Walters when I was at Elgin and then he actually moved to up by Fairview and he was at Fairview when I moved from Elgin to Fairview. Rocky and I traveled many miles along with Rocky, Brad and Deb Ott. We, we did a lot of hunting and a lot of traveling together back then. And so those, those people have been a big help and really influential. Part of my Golden Club lambs. A couple other people probably Dan Willoughby, he, he helped us a lot in the, and the bread used sales and, and just in, in marketing and selling. He's very, very updated and really on top of it and really helped us a lot all the way through from our online pick your buck sales to actually hosting the, the bread you sale with a live feed and the Internet as long as, as well as the, the actual personal be there in the barn part of it. So a couple of others. Bob May out in California when we, when we did the California Corporation sales, I got introduced to Bob May and Bob, he was a big help. Actually got to hunt with him a little bit and now he travels and he and I are, are very good friends and, and he, he's changed kind of jobs. He hauls sheep all over the United States now. And probably the last one, uh, a former ag teacher, uh, the Larry Peck, he was ag teacher at Sentinel all the time that I was at Hennessy and Elgin and part of the time I was at Fairview and we competed against each other. Have lots of stories and I consider him a really, really good friend. So those are influential people that, that help propel us up and in the producing really good sheep.

[Steva Robinson]

So speaking of influential, I'm sure that in your position you probably had several student teachers or interns that came across through your years. Tell us a little bit about them.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Okay, that is very true. When I was at Elgin, we were able to start getting student teachers from osu. I, when I got out of teaching, we started kind of getting. It just kind of fell into place. We started getting some interns out of Michigan and, and California and, and I've ended up having 10 interns and I've had 28 student teachers. And the uh, not very many of them had sheep background, but Ted Greiner was one of my student teachers for all you people and.

[Steva Robinson]

Really?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Yeah. And Bart Cardwell was one of my student teachers. Amanda Twitter, she's an ag teacher in Missouri. She came from the University of Missouri. They did a swap. OSU and Missouri did a swap and we got her as a student teacher here at Fairview. And so we've, we've had some awesome student teachers and a lot of them are still teaching today. So. And a lot of great interns. I better, I better put that in there because we. The Fidel Suarez Red Ryan Patrick pageant there. We've had numerous, numerous ones. So really good.

[Steva Robinson]

Definitely been a lot of people in the sheep industry that have, you know, come and kind of learned under your. You know, been taught by you and learned under your program. And so it's very neat.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

Well, thank you.

[Steva Robinson]

So speaking of, of influence, let's talk about. Let's go back to the bucks. What would you say the buck. The buck or bucks that had the most influence on your flock is okay.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

We talked earlier about Jordan and Matrix. I. I think probably one of the more popular ones was a buck that we bought from Teddy Harrison at Carnegie through the corporation sale. His. We called him conspiracy. And the reason it was a conspiracy I guess was I had a dad there that we were trying to buy his daughter sheep. It was Bobby Baxter there at Elgin. And I told Bobby that I was really interested in the second sheep of Teddy's and, and I, I made the mistake. I said if we can get him bought for under a thousand, you can have him as a show lamb. And. And I really thought he'd bring more than that. And. And if not, I would buy him for a buck. And this sheep brings $900. And so Bobby later, he took him home and later he said, you know, you need to probably keep this sheep. And I said, well I'll trade you. We'll just go to cabness's upcoming sale and I'll buy you whatever sheep you want. And we bought a sheep from Joe Cabness and. And that sheep actually made the sale at Oklahoma City. And it was. He was really nice sheep. And I got to keep conspiracy. Conspiracy was a blue hamp looking sheep and a tremendous female producer. The only problem was with conspiracy is when we ended up testing for scrapey. He was a QQ and he a lot. We had a large number of his females but luckily the Jordan ram was an RR ram unknown to us. But at that time we had no idea about it. But conspiracy, we kept a bunch of females. He ended up. We. He ended up living until he was 17 years old. I had a friend in California that lived on the coast and he always had bought a bunch of conspiracy females. And he used him on about five or six years and he, he bought him when he was 14 years old and he took him out there and. And he passed away at 17 years old. Was really important to us in the move. Conspiracy started the movement towards hamps. We bought a buck. Brad and Deb and I bought a buck from Joe Cabness. We called him Cimarron and he was a full fledged hamp ram. And we really, he. He really started stamping females and got us Moved to the majority of our use became hemp, hemp based use and Cimarron didn't live real long but we, we kept an enormous amount of females out of him three or four years that, that we had him.

[Steva Robinson]

So yeah, I definitely remember those, those pedigrees you know, popping up a lot and, and I can see how they would have been very influential. So they definitely mark on the industry. Well, is there anything you'd like to add before we get off here?

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

The sheep industry has been awesome for, for our family and we've had a lot of good years and, and I wouldn't have it any other way I guess. And even through the, the major changes that we have went through, it still is a great, great thing and, and uh, it's a great life. I want to thank uh, thank you for uh, letting me be on and just remind everyone that I did thank my wife. She's a big part of our deal and, and, and my kids, all my kids were big parts and, and hopefully they'll chase will carry it on and, and continue to raise quality sheep.

[Steva Robinson]

Absolutely.

[Kaylin Sister Urban]

I do want to have a shout out. Frank Schwartz was our sheep shear since two 1991 or 1992. Madison was born in 1991 and Frank's oldest boy was born then and they were our sheep shearer from then. And Frank just passed away about a month ago or two or three weeks ago and people in Oklahoma and he used to travel everywhere. They lived in a travel trailer and traveled the circuit of shearing and then he moved up at Mulholl and, and has continued to shear, continued to shear. But he recently passed away and it was a big loss for the sheep industry and the sheep community.

[Steva Robinson]

Absolutely. Well, thanks for joining us. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode with Vince McGolden. You can learn more about the golden flock on champion drive.com.

[Tyler Norvell]

Well, Steva, I know that we're fixing to be really busy on Champion Drive. I know that every day that I'm at the Oklahoma Youth Expo I always try to put together some sort of tick tock or something to post from the show that's live results. So be sure to check us out on TikTok. We're also on Snapchat. We try to at least post something every day on there while we're at a show. If you missed any classes during the show, we're going to be at Houston Oie Austin and then also later on we'll be at the spring Kansas City show. So be sure to check out any results from any of those shows as well as any other previous shows we have done as well. You can check out any results on Champion Drive. We have started doing these hall of Fame graphics that we put up before each show. And I thought it's been interesting going back and looking at the breeders and the kids that have won over the years. And you kind of like I noticed that a few of the Texas majors, you kind of saw the same breeders for two, three, four years maybe in a row that were the breeders of the grand reserve lambs at any of those shows. So I do think that's really cool. So be sure to check those out as well. And you can check out any previous ones that we've done on any of our social media accounts.

[Steva Robinson]

Absolutely. So. Well, we'll see several of you this weekend at Main Event and some of you will see Sister at Oye. But until then, safe travels.