Episode 2.4 - Science behind BioZyme & their products with Sam Silvers, Clipper Tips & Tricks with the Shear Genius himself, Alan Smith.

Summary

The Championdrive Podcast - Episode 2.4 Summary

Release Date: October 10, 2024

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Introduction

In Episode 2.4 of The Championdrive Podcast, hosts Kaitlyn Sister Urban and Steva Robinson delve deep into two pivotal aspects of the show lamb industry: the science behind BioZyme’s innovative products with Sam Silvers, and essential clipper maintenance tips from Alan Smith, renowned as the Shear Genius.

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Breeding Season Insights with Sam Silvers

Timestamp: 00:22 - 04:11

As the state fair season winds down, Sam Silvers, Director of Specialty Livestock at Biozyme Incorporated, shares his experiences navigating through the bustling breeding season. He highlights the shift in conversations from future breeding plans to evaluating past breeding outcomes and managing fall lambing.

Notable Quote:

“The conversation now kind of changes to instead of what are you going to breed to? It's what did you breed to?”
— Sam Silvers [00:37]

Sam expresses his enthusiasm for the upcoming breed sales, mentioning various breeders like Hobbs’s and Nathan Diamond C. He emphasizes the importance of these events for networking and showcasing quality livestock.

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DuraFirm Mineral – A Game Changer

Timestamp: 04:43 - 13:46

Sam delves into the unique benefits of Biozyme’s DuraFirm Mineral, distinguishing it from other mineral supplements in the market. The precision prebiotic component is designed to promote gut health and enhance forage utilization, setting DuraFirm apart.

Notable Quotes:

“Dura Firm kind of sets itself apart, being that it has that precision prebiotic in there.”
— Sam Silvers [04:43]

“We make Mineral because that's what we do. We don't make a lot of feeds or anything. We buy quality ingredients.”
— Sam Silvers [05:49]

He further explains the importance of using full organic trace minerals for better bioavailability and faster utilization compared to competitors. The discussion also covers the strategic use of loose mineral versus mineral tubs, weighing the pros and cons of each based on regional and situational needs.

Notable Quote:

“If they're consuming the loose mineral very well, then I think that can help you curtail some costs.”
— Sam Silvers [07:48]

Sam emphasizes that cutting costs should not come at the expense of essential mineral supplementation, warning against the common mistake of reducing mineral intake to save money.

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Biozyme Product Innovations

Timestamp: 07:59 - 13:46

The conversation transitions to Biozyme’s range of gels designed to address specific challenges in sheep management:

1. Clinch Gel: Developed as an all-natural remedy to curb scours without relying on treatments that could show up on tests. It combines AMA Firm for gut health with natural binders to alleviate scours.

   Notable Quote:

   “Clinch to offer something that was all natural, that actually works.”
   — Sam Silvers [08:59]

2. Appetite Plus Gel: Versatile for both home use and show environments, it supports appetite during stressful times such as transitioning to shows or when animals are under illness.

3. Climate Control Gel: Contains capsaicin to help regulate internal body temperatures, particularly useful during heat stress in summer jackpots or early fairs.

4. Liquid Boost: A favorite among producers, it serves as a crucial supplement during medicated situations, antibiotic treatments, or when animals are under stress, ensuring they remain healthy and "peppy."

Notable Quote:

“Liquid boost is a good choice anytime maybe they go off feed, give them a squirt of liquid boost.”
— Sam Silvers [11:01]

Sam underscores the significance of internal health management, drawing parallels to human wellness trends that prioritize gut health as foundational to overall well-being.

Notable Quote:

“We need to fix everything internally before we can fix everything externally.”
— Sam Silvers [13:46]

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Clipper Maintenance Tips with Alan Smith

Timestamp: 18:41 - 75:22

Transitioning from livestock management to equipment upkeep, the podcast features Alan Smith from Sheer Genius, an expert in clipper repair and maintenance. Alan shares his journey from an agricultural teacher to a full-time clipper repair specialist, emphasizing the critical role of proper tool maintenance in the shearing process.

Key Topics Discussed:

1. Blade Sharpening Frequency: Alan advises shears should be sharpened based on performance rather than a set schedule. Increased pressure during shearing indicates dull blades and the need for sharpening.

   Notable Quote:

   “If you have to add exert more pressure on the clipper to push through the wool, then it's probably time to change them out.”
   — Alan Smith [35:39]

2. Spray and Lubrication: He critiques aerosol-based lubricants, highlighting their rapid evaporation and lack of lasting lubrication. Instead, Alan recommends petroleum-based oils like motor oil or baby oil for effective, long-lasting lubrication.

   Notable Quote:

   “Oil is what you gotta have something that's petroleum based.”
   — Alan Smith [41:28]

3. Common Clipper Issues: Alan identifies frequent problems such as kinks in clipper cords caused by tight casing molds and advises using heavy-duty, waterproof clipper boxes to prevent moisture damage and cord deterioration.

   Notable Quote:

   “Every company makes their boxes too small or the case they sell them in it's too small because they're trying to save space in their warehouses.”
   — Alan Smith [66:25]

4. Blade Storage Solutions: Proper storage involves using airtight containers filled with petroleum-based oil to prevent rust and corrosion, contrasting sharply with improper methods like soaking blades in vinegar, which can damage them.

   Notable Quote:

   “Use a Tupperware container and put oil in about halfway up in that container.”
   — Alan Smith [57:21]

5. Turnaround Time and Customer Service: Alan emphasizes efficient turnaround times for repairs and the importance of clear communication with clients regarding their needs and deadlines.

   Notable Quote:

   “If somebody's in a bind, I'm going to help them out.”
   — Alan Smith [72:42]

Personal Anecdotes and Experiences:

Alan recounts challenges faced during severe lambing issues, learning about the Cache Valley Syndrome, and the emotional toll of losing lambs due to unforeseen health problems. These experiences underscore his dedication to providing reliable support to fellow producers.

Notable Quote:

“When someone tells you that you didn't kill those babies, that was, that meant the world to me.”
— Alan Smith [83:57]

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The episode wraps up with mutual appreciation between the hosts and guests. Sam Silvers commends Alan for his invaluable insights into clipper maintenance, recognizing the importance of such expertise in maintaining high standards in the show lamb industry.

Notable Quote:

“I think you've been really good to work with. And as someone that also has a service business in the industry, like, I really respect that and appreciate it.”
— Sam Silvers [75:00]

Alan echoes the sentiment, encouraging listeners to prioritize internal animal health and proper equipment maintenance to ensure overall flock quality and operational efficiency.

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Takeaways

• Internal Health is Paramount: Proper nutritional support, particularly with BioZyme’s DuraFirm Mineral, is essential for maintaining the health and performance of show lambs.

• Equipment Maintenance is Crucial: Regular clipper maintenance, appropriate lubrication, and proper storage can prevent common shearing issues, ensuring longevity and reliability of tools.

• Expertise and Communication: Leveraging expertise from industry professionals like Sam Silvers and Alan Smith can significantly enhance breeding strategies and operational practices.

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For more insights and detailed discussions, tune into The Championdrive Podcast weekly for the latest in show lamb results, interviews, and industry tips.

Transcript

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Now entering the ring, another episode of.

[Steva Robinson]

The Champion Drive podcast presented by Novel.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Designs with your hosts, Kaitlyn Sister Urban and Steva Robinson.

[Sam Silvers]

Well, I think we have made it through state fair season. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I feel like this was the longest state fair season of all time. What do you think?

[Alan Smith]

I agree 100%. I don't think October can get here fast enough.

[Sam Silvers]

Well, we've definitely made it to October. I know up here we are busy, you know, ultrasounding, getting ready for bread use. Sales people are kind of wrapping up breeding season and I feel like the conversation now kind of changes to instead of what are you going to breed to? It's what did you breed to? How'd your AI or your flush go? And how's fall lambing going? So that's kind of the conversations that I've been a part of. But I guess let's get right into bread you sell season. I love bread you sell season. It's my favorite season to market. It's. I like it because I get to talk to a bunch of different breeders. There's a couple of ads on Champion Drive right now. The first one is Hobbs's and several other Kansas breeders are having an Open House weekend, October 25th through the 27th that includes Hob show lambs, Nathan, Diamond C and Silversmith. They're all having like bread you sell preview that week or that weekend. So be sure to check out Champion Drive for more information on that leading up from each of those firms. And then myself, Steven Robinson, Showstock. Our bread you sale is Monday, October 28th, and that'll have primarily used bread to Chief and Frog, and there'll be more information that on championdrive.com and we've got a few cool things lined out for that as well, so be sure to keep an eye out for that. What else is on Champion Drive, sister?

[Alan Smith]

I saw that Dura firm, you know, I know that they advertise quite a bit and they have quite a few homepage announcements up, but right now they have a new mineral backup on ChampionDrive.com and be sure to check that out. And speaking of Durafirm, I actually talked to Sam Silvers on this episode and he had a lot of good information on all their products and be sure to give it a listen. What do you say? Let's get right into it. Well, thanks for joining me on this episode, Sam. Do you mind telling me a little bit about your job and what all it entails?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Yeah, sure. My name is Sam Silvers. I'm the director of specialty livestock at Biozyme Incorporated. So basically what that means is kind of in charge of the small ruminant sector, specifically sheep and goats, and then as well as some of the show livestock aspects. And to drill down a little further that my main workload is going to be dealing with the Dura Firm line of products. So I work with all the asm, all of our area sales managers on the team, helping them out with any small ruminant questions they may have and then, well as attending some of the national events. So that's. That's kind of it in a nutshell.

[Alan Smith]

So tell me a little bit about what you. What got you started in your job.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Well, I grew up showing lambs and goats and then judged livestock in college at juco, and then once I graduated from Texas Tech, worked on my masters at A and M Kingsville and started in the county extension role, did that for a few years, and then transferred into the animal health sales. So that's just kind of being in the stock show barn. And it's one of those things they say, it's not what you know, it's who you know. So just meeting the right people and getting involved that way is kind of how I got my start.

[Alan Smith]

Yeah, and I think that's a very good point about not. It's not just about meeting the people or just about who you know, but that all kind of leads you kind of to where you are now. So I think it's really important to surround yourself with good people. For sure.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Absolutely.

[Alan Smith]

So earlier, I guess, at the end of season one on this podcast, we had a roundtable discussion and the breeders were talking about using Dura Firm mineral. What do you feel like this mineral provides that other mineral doesn't?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

So obviously I'm going to start with AMA Firm. Everything that we do at Biozyme is centered around AMA Firm. And that's basically what we call a precision prebiotic that promotes gut health as well as some utilization of forages and things like that. So, you know, to start it off, I would say that Dura Firm kind of sets itself apart, being that it has that precision prebiotic in there. Secondly, having a good source of essential trace minerals, full organic trace minerals, really helps the bioavailability of those minerals and really puts them to work faster and better than. Than some of the other competitors out there. And lastly, I would say that, you know, mineral is our job. We don't. We don't make a lot of feeds or anything. We buy quality ingredients. We make Mineral from daylight till dark. And I think that's what we can hang our hat on is that we make a quality product and minerals about all we do.

[Alan Smith]

No, I agree with that and I think you guys did a very good job. When do you suggest using loose mineral or when do you suggest using mineral in a tub?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

So that's the million dollar question. And it's a hard one, right? I think it, I think it varies from, from region to region and I think it varies depending on your, your scenario, your situation. Personally, I use protein tubs when they're needed. If I'm say I've got some ewes out on, or even does out on grass and my grass plays out early in the summer or maybe it plays out, you know, we have an early fall and that grass dies off and I need some added protein, then I'll introduce tubs. If I'm dealing with some ketosis or pregnancy, toxemia issues, then I'll introduce that tub. But for the most part, if I'm not seeing any of those issues, it's loose mineral all the way.

[Alan Smith]

So what do you feel like are the pros and the cons versus using mineral in a bag versus a tub?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

So I think the, the pros to me, the pros to me is, is using a loose mineral versus a tub is, is inevitably probably the cost. Right. Because us, us as producers, this is still a business and it has to be viable. You know, even though we're in the shill world and we're probably selling things at a premium, we still need to look at ways to cut costs. So if they're consuming the loose mineral very well, then I think that that can help you curtail some costs. Now some of the cons to that is you're not getting that added protein, you're not getting that sugar intake and some of that extra protein that you would out of a tub. And obviously at a tub, you know, there's going to be a more constant or consistent intake of that mineral. And amiferm versus a loose mineral.

[Alan Smith]

No, I agree with that. And let's switch gears a little bit and kind of talk about some of the gels that you guys do. Do you mind telling me a little bit about the clinch gel?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Yeah. So I would say probably about five years ago we were, we were trying to look at some new products to bring onto the market. And not just me, but I kind of had the idea of, you know, there's really nothing at a show that we can give to curtail scours. We can't really give spectan because down here at Texas majors those things would show up in a test. And at that time we were using all kinds of home remedies to try to curtail the scour. So we came up with the idea of clinch to offer something that was all natural, that actually works. And it has some different things in it. It's got ama firm in it obviously to help that gut and then it's got some other stuff in it that can naturally bind in there and help clear up the scours. And it's been a great product. It works really well.

[Alan Smith]

Yeah, I know that we've had some success using it, so I just really wasn't for sure kind of how they all came about.

[Steva Robinson]

Yep.

[Alan Smith]

And then I know you guys also have the Appetite plus gel. Do you recommend using this at home or just at shows or kind of. What's your recommendation for that?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

I think you can use that however you see fit anytime you're having a problem. If it, if it's at home, obviously I think it has a place there. For me personally, I really like using it. When we start drenching on those things and introducing new stuff to their guts, maybe they're under a little added stress. So as we're, as we're peaking to get ready for a show while we're in transition to a show and while we're at a show, I think it's a great product, but it can definitely be used throughout the year on those animals that maybe are seeing some stress or having some appetite problems.

[Alan Smith]

And tell me a little bit about climate control. What does it do and when should it be used?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Okay, so our climate control gel again has ama firm in it to help with that, but it also has some climate control properties in there, specifically some capsaicin in there that helps helps regulate internal body temperature. So it's great to use at summer jackpots or maybe even some early fairs. Like I know it was really, really hot at aye last last week. Probably was. I'm venturing to guess it was probably hot at Tulsa too. So just when they're feeling some stress of the heat, you can can get control their internal body temperatures and get them to consume more liquid, more water, things like that. Just overall heat stress, it's kind of where it helps.

[Alan Smith]

No, yeah, that makes sense. And tell me a little bit about the liquid boost. What is the best way to use this? What scenarios do you like to use it in and for along.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Yeah, so probably one of my favorite products on the sure champ side by far. I tell people probably the one thing I couldn't live without is liquid boost. I know people that use it in their medicators, that have some, some medicated situations. I know when we get young lambs in, we will keep it in their water buckets for a while. Cell prep on baby animals, we keep it in their water buckets, but then we also use it. And I tell everybody too, anytime we're given an antibiotic shot or introducing anything that may stress those animals, liquid boost is a, is a good choice. I, I think if you're going to do some things that might. Could affect the gut or, or if they're under some stress due to an illness or a sickness, it's good to keep them on some liquid boost. Anytime maybe they go off feed, give them a, give them a squirt of liquid boost. That's kind of how I do it all the way through the shows every time, just to keep them up and going and kind of peppy.

[Alan Smith]

No, I agree with that. And I think that sometimes something that people are missing too, you know, they kind of, they figure that out too late, I feel like at times.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

But absolutely. Yeah.

[Alan Smith]

So one last question I have for you. What do you feel like people are missing or not paying close enough attention to nutritionally?

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

So that's a very good question. I, I think myself as obviously as being in the mineral business, but, but being a producer too, the things that keep me awake at night are what's going on internally. I think, I think as producers and, and stockmen, we get tied up with how everything looks externally, right? What's our feed look like, what's our hay look like? Our use look great. But the thing that keeps me awake is what's going on internally, right? Are they. Are they as fit and healthy as they can be internally? Is there trace mineral status where it needs to be? Because I think that's the basic building block to everything that we do is making sure that they are correct and completely healthy from the inside out. And we see it in the human world a lot now. Gut health is a big thing, and we're seeing a push across the human industry of, of what's going on internally. Right? We got to fix everything internally before we can fix everything externally. And to me, I think that that's one thing that we probably miss out on is we don't really pay attention to that or if we want to cut costs, we start cutting. The first thing we usually cut is, is our mineral. And I think that's a big mistake that we make.

[Alan Smith]

No, I agree with that. And I think you had a lot of good advice for us today. I really appreciate you being on and be sure to to holler at Sam if you have any questions on any of his products. Thank you, Sam.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

Thank you all very much.

[Sam Silvers]

I thought that was a really good segment. I learned quite a bit from it on how to use their products. I know we already use some of them. I think it's a dura firm's a fairly popular product across the industry. So hopefully you guys found that really useful. Thanks for sitting down with them.

[Alan Smith]

I really enjoyed that. Down with Sam, actually. He made a really good, honestly perspective point that I hadn't really thought about, about how we need to take care of our animals from the inside out and not necessarily just from like what they look like on the outside. So that I thought that was a pretty cool, interesting outlook on it. Steva, what do you have up for this week? So you suck.

[Sam Silvers]

Well, there's a lot going on. We have a breadyoup marketing package that is always a really good way to get your website updated, get advertisement and exposure on Champion Drive and get social media graphics put together and you can kind of make your whole marketing scheme work across that. So be sure to check that out on ChampionDrive.com I know we mentioned it on a podcast episode before. That's been one of our more popular packages. And then we also have an October web design special. We get a lot of people that want to redesign their website or update it, which is a great idea. Some people have websites that we designed 10 or 15 years ago, which is perfect. But over time think about how much technology has changed and how much different cool things we can do now versus a year ago versus five years ago. So a web redesign is always a really good idea and we're running a special on it this month. More information on that is on ChampionDrive.com as well. But if you're thinking about revamping your website or if you're interested in a new one, maybe you have a product that you need e commerce capabilities for. We make some of the nicest ones in the industry. I think maybe you're just wanting to give a new updated look, is more modernized or has more features that's all included in it. Just reach out to any of our [e-mail] or our information's on Champion Drive. And my other little marketing tip is, even though it's only October, Christmas season is not that far away and one of our most popular times for online apparel stores is in November and December. Since all those items are custom made, like we need to get started on those stores here pretty quick. So even though it still seems like fall and the holidays are a long ways away, now is a great time to get started so we can get everything built, customized and shipped out to your customers well before the holidays. What's our second segment, sister?

[Alan Smith]

Well, you know, we're getting ready to go into Kansas City next week. And before we get into this any further, I thought it was really interesting when looking at Champion Drive Thrower results that Berry Farms had actually raised the Reserve Grand Champion Market Lamb at Kansas City in 2021 and in 2018. So I thought that was pretty cool. I know we had him on last week's podcast and he's gonna be the market lamb judge this year with his son Tannerberry, but I thought that was a pret interesting little fact for you. But speaking of Kansas City, I know we're all about to be getting ready and sharing and doing all the things for that. So tell me a little bit about who you talk to.

[Sam Silvers]

I talked to Alan Smith of Sheer Genius. I actually caught up with him earlier this summer and we're just finally getting around to airing this episode now. But Allan does clipper repair. He raises sheep. He's really knowledgeable and I thought his segment was really, really good. He's also been a big podcast fan. He probably sent me the nicest note that anyone has sent me in quite some time about some of our podcast episodes. So he's a really nice guy and I learned a ton. Did you know how much stuff I do wrong with my clippers? Like when he was talking, I thought, oh my goodness, I do that all the time. I guess I shouldn't. No wonder my clippers always blow up. So it was a really informative subject that we probably don't talk about nearly enough. He's a great resource. Give his website a look on ChampionDrive.com if you ever have any clipper needs that you need. He's very quick and he's easy to work with. Let's get right into his episode. Well, today guys, I have Alan Smith on from Sheer Genius, and I think this is going to be a really good episode. I've learned a lot from Alan just in the little bit that I've done business with him on having our blades and our clipper sharpened. And Alan has a really interesting mindset, I think, on the sheep industry and a ton of knowledge to share with us on clipper repair maintenance and just Kind of that aspect of things that we maybe don't talk about all the time. So thanks for joining me today.

[Steva Robinson]

You bet. Thanks for having me.

[Sam Silvers]

You bet. Let's talk a little bit. Tell us about your background and your sheep involvement. Let's talk about your flock, your sharpening business and all of that.

[Steva Robinson]

Sure. I taught, I'm from Oklahoma originally and I've taught agriculture in cushing, Oklahoma for 27 years and enjoyed every bit of it. Best job I ever had. And I thought that I could. I thought the grass was greener on the other side of the fence and so I jumped that fence. And Cushing is considered the crude oil pipeline crossroads of the world. And there's more miles of pipeline underneath our community than any other place in the world. And it's because there's so many storage companies here and, and all, all of our oil gets gathered up here in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado areas and then pumped on down to Houston to the big refineries. And so there's several. At one time I counted 12 crude oil companies in Cushing and one of them happened to be managed by a former ag teacher. And if they always said you had to know somebody to get one of the good jobs. And so I finally knew somebody and I went and interviewed and spent a day job shadowing just to make sure I'm. By the way, Steve, I'm afraid of heights.

[Sam Silvers]

Me too.

[Steva Robinson]

And those, Those tanks are 55ft tall and you have to climb them. You know, you don't have to climb them every day, but if a situation arises, you may have to climb them every day. But at least once a month every tank got. Client gets climbed. And I didn't know if I could do it. So I had to come out and. And job shadow just to make sure I could do it. And I was able to do it. I think in fact there's a handrail that there's an amount of safety there. But I won't get on top of my little barn. So little. Little. Just strange. I didn't, I really didn't think I could climb those tanks, but I could. And so I ended up getting the job. And so I did that for six years. And so I didn't reach. Everybody thinks I retired from teaching, but I didn't retire while I was teaching. I quit. Quit. And in order to make more money, and it was more money, a lot more money, you actually got paid overtime. And I didn't know in the, certainly in the teaching world that doesn't exist. Ag teaching world, that doesn't exist. So I was making more money. The only problem is with more money eventually came more pressure and the pressure was really heavy and I didn't take it very good. I'll just be honest with everyone. I just didn't take it very good. And one day, or let me back up before I had. Before I actually quit the crude oil business, I had started a side hustle of sharpening these blades back when I was teaching my very first teaching partner back in 1986. He taught me how to sharpen blades and we used a little small machine. I won't mention the brand name but little small machine that if you sharpen your own blades at home you probably have this machine. And I just knew that it. It wasn't. It wasn't able to handle everything we had as an ag chapter that I needed a real commercial machine. So I did some research and I. I ended up buying a commercial machine from the Edge Pro in Iowa. It's a Nebraska blades machine. Really good machine. Since then, since I've been in business, it's. I bought a second machine because I got so busy. But anyways, this side hustle turned in to be almost a full time business. But it wasn't until I've got a. I've got some former students that have shown sheep since they've been old enough to walk. And that's the Hubbard family. It'd be Chris and Lisa and then their kids, Aaron, Ryan and Lauren. And they told me to the. Every one of them said we go to these national shows and it's a big concern. Everybody asks who sharpens your blades and this and that. And there's just not. There's some places where it's. They can remember and it's always goes like this. And now I'm that person. I remember there was an old man that used to come around all these shows and sharpen these blades at the shows. And I haven't seen that old man in forever. And so it's just hilarious that I may have. I may be that old man. I don't know. But anyway, they encouraged me to think nationwide. Forget Oklahoma. I mean not forget Oklahoma, but that's, that's where I thought my audience would be. My clientele would just be Oklahoma Ag chapters and, and individual Oklahoma families and. And wow, was I wrong and the Hubbards were right. It's a. It's nationwide hit and miss. Some states have several good. Like Oklahoma. We have several really good sharpeners here in Oklahoma. But there's some states that don't have anyone as I've found out. And there's some states that have people that are. Maybe they're missing one of the. One of the main concerns that these people have. And so as I was doing my research, what I learned was people, they want sharp blades and a quick turnaround, and they want good customer service. And so I try to provide those three things to the best of my ability. And I think. I think that, along with Facebook, has helped me tremendously. And I met with. I've got a. For. I got another former teaching partner who's a professor at Oklahoma State University. And he. We had just talked, like, the week before, and I was telling him, he'd asked me how the blade business was going. I said, you know, it's going all right, but I wish I was busier so I could quit my oil job. And he said. So he calls me the Neck, like, the next week, and he says, alan, I got. I got somebody you need to meet. And he said, I just set in on a dissertation or a thesis presentation on how Facebook can help small agricultural businesses. And her focus was on ag tourism. So the ag tourism really didn't relate to me, but how it could help small agricultural businesses. I was all over that. And so I said, yeah, give me her. Let me reach out to her, give her my number or whatever. And he goes, oh, there's a problem. She's from Virginia. And she goes home tomorrow because they had graduated at OSU in May, and they. And she was done, and she was going home to Virginia, and I'd never see her again. And so I scurried around, got a hold of her and had lunch with her, and she shared with me in a few hours everything she could. I've tried to do most everything she's told me to do. Her name is Brittany Bowman. She teaches ag, I think, in. In. In a middle school in Virginia. But she was. She was so instrumental of me and my Facebook presence. And she told me I had to be a. Appear as an expert in the field. And I told her I'm not. I'm not an expert in the field. And she said, you've been doing this for over 30 years. You've been sharpening blades. You are. You don't realize it, but you are an expert, and you've just got to think of some neat little creative content ideas to post. Well, one of the. One of the most receptive posts I get are when I post something really bad, somebody that sends me blades that are so rusted that you wonder why in the world did they send these. Or somebody sends me really dirty gummy blades, and you think to yourself, what did. What was that sheep going through when they were finishing that last sheep with those blades? Because gosh dang, those, they're nasty. And I would get phone calls from friends of mine that would have blades sent my way, and they'd say, hey, you're posting my pictures of my blades. You shouldn't be doing that. I don't want to see pictures of my blades on your Facebook. And I just laugh and tell them, well, then clean them first before you send them to me and you won't have to worry about it. But, yeah, I've got a few friends that, that they tell me when they hand me the blaze. And I don't want to see these posted on your Facebook page. But they make some of the best content. I get some of the best comments, likes or frowny faces, angry fate, whatever you want to call. I get a lot of exposure due to the problems. And I take pictures when I'm working on a set of clippers, for instance, I take pictures when I see something that's not right because I want to send them to that owner of those clippers to show them. If they were sitting in there with me, this is what you'd be seeing. And this is why your clipper's not running good. Maybe it's a. A piece come unsoldered on the circuit board, or the motors rested up, which tells me they were left outside in the rain, or. And a lot of people say it's just from wash rack exposure. You know, they. They clip in their wash rack. A lot of people do that. The same room that they use to wash in, they clip in. And if those clippers are setting out, they don't think about it, but the moisture from the air is getting inside that clipper somehow, some way, and that can be a problem. So anyways, that's my. My background as far as the sheep goes. You know, it's. It's funny. There's a. There's a heck of a connection between you and, and me and. And sister. And one of them is when I first. When I first started with looking into getting. Before I was doing the blade sharpening, I needed something. I needed a hobby. And so I thought, I'll. I'll raise a. A couple of. I get a cup, buy a couple of bread used. And so I called you because you were having an online sale coming up, and you turned me. Well, back up. I called Cash and Urban first because I knew Cash and he spent during college, he spent quite a bit of time in Cushing and he was a great help to me. And Cash in told me to call you and said that there's there's honest people in the the show lamb world but there's none of them. I in my opinion and this is Cash and talking putting words into his mouth that he already had. There's nobody more honest than Stephen said. If Steven tells you you need to look at this one or you need to stay away from whatever she tells you, she's speaking, she's got you in mind and so you can thank Cash in for that later. And so you turned me on to a you that Scott had in your sale and I bought one of those and gosh, she, she stayed around here till oh, she stayed around here at least 4 years, 5 years probably good producer for me. And she had already been a, she wasn't a ulam when you know, she had already had a couple sets of lamps. But anyways, I had a good experience there and then I, I bought one. When Allison McGolden first moved to Texas her dad was doing a, a sell off or whatever you want to call it. And I bought one of Allison's use and those two were my foundation of my flock. And we've kept a lot of sheep. Of course Allison's you unfortunately only had weathers but they were really good weathers. They would win counties around here in Oklahoma or be reserved. So I was waiting on her to have a U lamb and she never did have one for me. And then Scott's you always had U lamb. So I had the best of both worlds there. And so I was able to build a U base around the, the U from Scott and then, and since then I've, I've broken into some Dorsets from, from Debot a few years ago and there's been some other things there. I had a, a buck Brian schedule. He's been absolutely bending over backwards helping people in this state and Brian sold me a, a buck that we had for a few years that, that did real well for us. And but anyways that's the, that's the sheep involvement and, and back on real quick, the, the type of post that I get the most mileage from. There's so many people that are fortunate enough to get background pictures at the big shows and that's. Or backdrop, excuse me backdrop pictures at the big shows and that's what they post. Well that's great. I but there's not very many kids that get to take that backdrop picture that worked really hard to get their sheep ready. And so I started that first or second year on Facebook, I started requesting from my clients pictures of their kids doing the work. And I would get post those and I would get so many shares and likes and you know, it, it was just, it's just I still do it. It's amazing what a good action picture of the kids actually using clippers or blending shag or just working shag or whatever. They like seeing kids do that. So I get, I get as probably as much positive exposure to those picks as a breeder does posting backdrop pics every week. So I just found a different way to let those kids get some Facebook Internet time. Get, get on the. To get some exposure for themselves. They may not have won, they may have stood fourth out of five or something at their little local or county show, but they work just as hard and they got a picture of themselves working posted on my website. So those, those were, are really the big hit.

[Sam Silvers]

Yeah, I think for those of you who haven't been on Alan's website, I feel like there's a ton of really good information. You, when we built the website for you, we added training videos that you supplied and like there's a link, you know, your Facebook feed is right on there. There's some really good testimonials and like an FAQ section. And it's just a really detailed, good reference. If you guys haven't checked it out, make sure you do because there's a ton of good information. And I feel like every time I go on there, I always am coming across something new that you posted or added. That's really good information. And before we started the podcast today, Alan and I talked a little bit about just like, there's a lot of stuff that people don't know, whether we're rookies or whether we've been in it for a long time. And a lot of the information that you post, I find is stuff that even though I've been in the industry for quite a while, I usually think like, oh, well, this is probably why I'm having a problem with my clipper. Like Alan was just talking about, you know, like, don't wrap your cord around your, or your cord around your clipper. The next week, sure enough, mine breaks down and I sends it to us. I know exactly what I did wrong, but can you help me out? So, yeah, like, you've been a really good resource for it. So let's get into some more of the in depth questions about the equipment let's talk first about how often do you recommend getting your blade sharpened?

[Steva Robinson]

You know, I get that, I get that question at least once a week and, and people can feel free to message me, text me, call me, it, it doesn't matter, I'll return them. But, and it's like I like the segment on the, on the Kelsey Brothers New Heights podcast. They have that no dumb questions section they do at the end and they say there's no dumb questions, only dumb answers. And they're referring to themselves. But I get so many, I get that question asked. And you would think that people, people would know when they need to, to get their blade sharpened, but they don't. And if they're inexperienced, that's, that's easy. That's why it is. If they're experienced, it's, it's a little bit different. But if they're inexperienced and they're, they, they just really don't know how often they should get them re sharpened. I tell them when the pressure, when you have to push through the wool, when they're first sharp, you need to, you need to feel how easy they push through the wool. No matter which clipper or type of blade you're using, it doesn't matter. You need to get used to that feeling because that feeling is going to slowly diminish. And it's not going to unless you hit a big old patch of dirt right on top of their rump because you didn't wash them first or blow them out first or you know, maybe you're just rough shearing your use, but you try to avoid those places that you know there's dirt because your blade should slowly wear to where you know, you get to that point where are they dull or are they okay? And if you have to add exert more pressure on the clipper to push through the wool, then it's probably time to change them out before you do do any harm to them. And I say that, to say this, if you're rough shearing a U and you've got twenties on because you don't want to cut them much, you've got 20 tooth comb on and you're going through that wool and, and you don't recognize that a really good rumped ewe will have a pile of dirt right on top of a rump that's underneath the wool and you can't see it till you hit it. It's kind of like fungus or ringworm. You can't see it until you hit it with those clippers. And when you do, you'll know it. And those blades may go from, man, these are still cutting pretty good to. They're not cutting at all now.

[Sam Silvers]

Right.

[Steva Robinson]

You need to avoid that patch. If you know where the dirt is, which, that's usually where it is on a really good rump. You avoid that spot until the very end. And then hit that spot, maybe, maybe rub, you know, take your hand and rub it out or go halfway through the wool and not to the skin. And then you can take a blower maybe and blow that sand out of there, that dirt, and you can make your blades last a lot longer. But I, I typically say the pressure and, and what we get into. The reason I say there's a difference between an inexperienced shear and an experience shear. A lot of times an experienced shear will try to make that clipper and those blades work harder than they should. In other words, they, they'll go, I don't want to change my blades out now. I'm almost done with this one. I'm gonna, I'm gonna finish this one. And then they get to start the. Oh, I can do one more. I can get one more done. Well, they're having to crank the tension down on their clipper, which does two things. One, it makes them, makes them hotter. Makes the blades in the head hotter. When you crank them down and it scratches. It makes that four point cutter, it actually scratches that comb. And so when I get them to sharpen them and I see those scratches, I know exactly what they've done. They've tightened them down too much and run them too long. And now when I grind them down, I have to grind past those scratches. So therefore you're, your longevity of that particular blade is diminished because I had to take them down further than I normally would have had those scratches not been there. So, so there is. I, you know, there is a difference there. I, I feel like when it comes to the operator, experienced ones, sometimes we think we can go one more, but.

[Sam Silvers]

But yet that is definitely me. And I, you should see how red my face is right now. Oh, I bet you when he sharpens my blades, he's like, he just kept tightening that thing down. And I bet you there's a whole bunch of people listening right now that are like, oh, boy. No.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah. That's why my friends will always say, I don't want to see these on Facebook now. Because I know, I know what I've got to do because you've already told me. Right? And so when somebody sends me a message and says, do you, do you Repair clippers. First of all, I say, well, I attempt to repair clippers. And second of all, tell me what's. It depends on what's wrong with them and what kind they are because sometimes we can't get parts on anymore. And if it's a certain thing wrong with them, then I can tell them. I can save you, save you postage. You don't need to send those because I can't fix them. So that's. Go ahead.

[Sam Silvers]

Let's talk a little bit about like spray and lubrication. Do you recommend oil space spray or aerosol or what. What should we be using?

[Steva Robinson]

You know, there's, there's two things that. There's two things that really get under my skin. And you mentioned the aerosol spray and it's because one certain company, and I think the other one uses the term too, but they call it cool lube or cool care, something with the word cool in it. And that does. It is cool. You spray it on your hand, your hand's cold. That's because there's out. It's the primary ingredient in any aerosol cool lube is alcohol. And alcohol, if you've ever used alcohol like on a Q tip to clean your ears or, or something, you can feel the cold instantly. And the problem with it though, it evaporates so quickly. And so by the time you spray that aerosol, that cool lube, cool care, cool whatever on your blades before your blades are back into the wool or the hair, they're back hot again.

[Kaitlyn Sister Urban]

You, you.

[Steva Robinson]

And the lubrication is not there because there's not any oil. And so oil is what is. Is what is. You gotta have something that's petroleum based. Now I will say this. When I was in high school and college, I shared she and first few years of teaching, I sheared sheep to make a little extra money. And I used diesel fuel at the time as my, as my lube. And I was just fine with it. But once I started teaching and I used it on a couple of users, it started. It would make, it would burn them actually, and it would make their, their fibers, they wouldn't grow wool back. They would grow fibers back in the areas where. Because I know where I start. You probably know right where you start. Let's say, let's say we start on a right front leg, for instance, and I've just dunked them in my diesel fuel and they're good and lubed up. That's the area that's going to grow back, that forearm and neck shoulder area. It's Going to grow back in black fiber instead of wool. And so I never used diesel fuel on show lambs, don't get me wrong, but I used it on the big long wool lanolin cake sheep that hadn't been sheared but once a year, once every two years. So diesel fuel, I've been told. I've got a former student that's in the convenience store business and they have gas pumps. He says they've changed their additives in the diesel fuel so many times he thinks that's why they, they turn them black now that it's burning them. Now when it didn't used to, when I was in high school, it didn't burn them and I never had them come back in black. But, but nowadays if you use diesel fuel and the wool grows in black fiber, then that's according to my former student diesel fuel expert. I believe him because they change the additive. You know, they've got fall additives, they've got winter additives, they've got summer additives and depending on what they didn't used to be, it was just all diesel fuel. And so I fully believe them. So anything with that's petroleum based. So let's go the exact opposite of, of burning them and let's, let's think about baby oil for a minute. And I've got Aaron Hubbard, I've already mentioned the land run Shrops outfit once. That Hubbard family turned me on to baby oil years ago. And it's cheap, you can buy it anywhere. So if you run out, you can go to Dollar General or a convenience store or something, you can always get some more baby oil. My shear he uses motor oil. And so if you're just sharing use and you don't mind them turning, you know, brownish in color, you know, you can use something as thick as motor oil, but it needs to be petroleum based. Now all these clipper companies, in the case of if you buy a brand new Lister Star, there's a little bottle of oil in there and I will guarantee you what's in that oil. A little bottle of oil is probably just mineral oil and which is what's in baby oil. But I like baby oil because it smells better, smells pretty and so I like the smell of the baby oil is why I use it. But those, let's see, Andis they have a brown colored oil that comes in their cases. I think it's. And so like, let's say you've got a lamb on the stand and you, and you don't intend to go back to the Wash rack again and you get that lamb on the stand and you notice you've missed a couple of spots on the show side even. And. And you've got to re. Do some touch up there. Well, if you'll use a clear oil or. Now I'm kind of going against what I just told you. If you'll use that cool lube. If you're just doing touch up, it's clear and it's not going to stain your sheep. You probably all had a show lamb that you went and done touch up on and it left little black streaks on it and then you panic and then you got to hurry up and get it to the wash rack or get a bottle, bucket of soapy water, maybe a can of hocus pocus or something to get on there to get that out real quick before you head to the show ring. But if you're using a clear oil and you oil them down and then maybe even wipe them, a lot of people use their jeans. Some people carry a rag in their pocket. I like those little towels, golf towels basically. And you can pull that out of your back pocket and you can wipe the excess off and then hit those spots that you've got to touch up. And you won't leave an oil trail on that lamb. So there's some advantages to both. I hate the aerosol because of the name, what it's called it. Yeah, it's cool. It's cool, but it's not much of a lubricant because it evaporates so quickly. And if anybody thinks I'm wrong, just go outside on a hot sunny day and put some oil on a piece of pipe somewhere that you piece of steel and then spray that aerosol and that aerosol will evaporate and be gone. And you'll still have an oil stain on that, on that steel and it just sticks. And the aerosol does not stick. The other thing I'm going to mention right quick, it doesn't have anything to do with that. But I deal with it at least once a week. And that's the receptacles that are on the blowers. I wish I told you there was two things this industry really has done us, led us astray. One is making the cool lube and trying to make everybody think that's what you need to use to keep your clippers cool, but it's not. And then the other is the receptacles they put on the blowers because people use that as an extension cord. And then they plug their clipper into, let's say it's a Lister. I keep using Lister as an example, but in this case it would have to be a Lister. A Lister Clipper in and you're, you're shearing on one sheep and somebody's blowing shag with the blower, it sends that, a fluctuation in the electrical current to the receptacles because it's going to keep that. It's, it's meant to, to keep the blower going as full blast as you got the switches turn. But, but if you try shearing plugged into that blower while the blower is running, when it hits that fluctuation, it pops that reset button. And there are a lot of people, Steve, and there's people listening to us, I'm sure, that are going to go look at their clippers when we're done. Because every Lister Clipper has a reset button that when something is not right with the electric in it, it's a protector to keep you from getting shocked or catching it, catching on fire. It's there for your protection. And when it pops, it's, it's going to pop out and you have to use to push it back in. You've got to. In your, in the case, it comes with a, a brush to brush your clippers off with. But on the other end of that brush is a little knob sticking out and that's to push on that reset button because for it to actually reset, some of us with fatter fingers or thumbs, we can't get it pushed in far enough inside the housing for it to completely reset. I get calls at least once a week. My clippers have just quit. I'm in the middle, I'm at a show. I got, I got people that have called me from Houston and they're, they're in the, they're like two classes away and their Listers just quit on them. And they didn't know it had a reset button. And if they do know it has a reset button, they try to push it with their finger and they can't get it to reset. And so I tell them, okay, if you still have the case, yeah, open it up. There's a brush in there. Yeah, okay. On the other end of that brush there's a knob. Take that knob and push that button all the way in until you hear a click, click. And then turn your clipper on. And it works every time, Every time. And it's all about knowing your clipper. And here's the problem. We need to get out of challenges here pretty soon. But the, the challenge is people are buying these Clippers, they don't want to pay full new price, they want to buy them off marketplace or ebay or somewhere, you know, like that where they think they're get. The problem with show equipment is they hold their value pretty high. And so a $260 set of stars, people still want 230 bucks for them and you, you don't know if they're about to go dead on you or not. You have no idea how they've been handled, how they've been used. And it's pretty good risk because with a new set you get a two year warranty and with a set off of marketplace one you don't, usually don't get blades with them. And for 260 new you get at least one set of fine blades or that's what you get. And then you also get the warranty and that's a big deal because most anything that's going to quit on that Lister clipper costs about a hundred dollars. And so the one thing I would tell people if, if you buy from one of those, if you buy used and you don't get it, doesn't come with the owner's manual. I know it sounds ridiculous that people wouldn't think of this, but there's a lot of people that won't think to get on the Internet and Google it up and print off a set of instructions for a Lister star and then keep them in their, in their box. And that's to me it's common sense, but to a lot of people they don't think it, they just, they don't even. And the problem is whoever's they've been using, let's say they've been using the AG chapters, you know, the AG teacher or the 4H agent or whoever it may be, the, the fitter that's helping them has, has put the blades in on themselves and not taught the new users how to adjust those blades. I've got clients who thought they were doing right and they were tightening the tension down all the way down and they weren't backing it off. On a Lister you're supposed to back off one and a half turns and then on Premier you're supposed to back off two turns and they were wondering why they were getting so hot. Well, they weren't, they didn't have the tension, they had the tension cranked down all the way because they didn't know you were supposed to back it off one and a half turns because they bought them used and they didn't get an owner's manual. So one problem is connected to the next. You're. You're trying to save a little money and it ends up maybe costing you later.

[Sam Silvers]

So, yeah, that makes sense. I'm gonna quit plugging my clippers into the blower now, too. I've learned so much.

[Steva Robinson]

Okay, all right. You're one of those.

[Sam Silvers]

And I am one of those people.

[Steva Robinson]

And see, I've got clients that will say, well, I do that all the time. Well, does somebody come by and turn on that blower and 100 every time, you know, and maybe that's what's. If, if you're get, if you're getting by without that button popping that reset button, that circuit breaker, you're lucky. You're lucky. You are lucky because it's going to one of these days and because it, it hasn't bit you yet, you know, you're going to be wondering my, my blade or I, I get calls, I see it on Facebook group sites. My Listers or my clippers have just quit me. It'd be listers in this case. Again, you'd think, you'd think by my talking. I don't like listers, but I actually love listers. But they, they say my clippers just, just quit on me. They're dead. Where can I buy another set? Or is there somebody I can send these to that can fix them? Well, if they just. And I usually will, if I see that if somebody tags me into the conversation, I will say, call me at and my phone number and we'll talk about it. Because I've talked so many people into how to reset that circuit breaker and then don't plug back into that blower again. So many times. And so I've saved people from. And sometimes people send me their Listers without telling me first. And I just get them in the mail. I open them up, my wife will laugh at me because she's seen me open them. I pick them straight up and I look to see if the buttons pushed out. Yep, buttons pushed out. And so I'll reset the button, plug them in and start them up and they run just fine. And I could have saved on the problem the trouble if they had just called me, I'd have talked them through that. But they thought, they thought they were dead. And everybody will say, they'll always say, it's the motor. I need a new motor. Do you have a motor for a list? I have never changed a motor in a Lister Star. Really never have. Nobody, nobody uses them that long. The Lister Star is really almost made to last forever, but I've never changed. And somebody's out there saying, well, I had to, or yeah, you probably did, but I haven't had to. It's always a circuit breaker problem and it. And sometimes you can't get it to reset and we have to change out that circuit board. That circuit board right now is $105. Why? Because it's like a computer chip. And everybody, if you've watched the news, you know what's going on with computer chips. They can't find enough, you know, they're in short supply of lithium or whatever they need for those computer chips and vehicles. Well, it's the same thing with the Clipper. And so they're expensive and so you don't want to have to change out a circuit. We want to try every. Everything else first. Before we do a motor or a circuit board in a Lister Star or.

[Sam Silvers]

Legend, let's switch gears a little bit and talk about the storage of blades. That's something that I think a lot of us probably, like we get done, you get busy, you're sharing a bunch of sheep and you just kind of set them to the side. And then before long, they've sat there for way too long and you're not sure what to do with them. How should we be storing them? Do you have any good ideas that we can implement?

[Steva Robinson]

I do. And typically, Steva, you probably shear in the same location. When you shear something, whether it's a show lamb, you may be indoors, but if it's, you know, there may be a certain windbreak you use when you're rough shearing ewes, for instance. But in that area you probably got a table or a cabinet or something. But I like just a really stout Tupperware container and, and some oil. And it can be motor oil, it can be baby oil, just oil in about halfway up in that container. And when you get done with a set of blades, even though they may still be have lanolin stuck to the teeth, when, when you. You're done, you know they're dull or maybe they're not dull, but throw them in that Tupperware container and put the lid on. And when you clean up, make sure all the blades that, you know, sometimes you guys may have a bunch of sheep this year. So you've got several clippers running, several different people. Just walk back through the area, make sure somebody didn't change them out and leave them in the dirt. I get a lot of, a lot of 20 tooth and 13 tooth shear combs that have, have definitely spent too much time in the dirt. And so all you got to do, though, is just throw them in that Tupperware container. Buy a small one that's big enough to, for the, for the blades, but it'll fit in your clipper box for the most part. And if it doesn't, then you surely got an area by where you clip that you could keep them. So when it's time to gather them up, to send them off, to get them sharpene or to take with you to a show to leave them with somebody to sharpen, then you know where to find them. And they're not, they're, they're not corroded, they're not rusted. They've been in an oil in a airtight container, and therefore they won't rust and they won't corrode. There is a difference between corrosion and rust. Rust can lead to corrosion. But sometimes our best efforts in cleaning blades can cause corrosion. And the best example I have of that is somewhere on some. I had a, I had an ag teacher tell me one time they saw on Facebook that vinegar was good to soak your blades in to clean them. And so they soaked them overnight in vinegar. And when they went to get them out, besides being discolored, it what it does corrodes the protective coating. And I'll switch gears and talk premiere for a second. Premier blades have that kind of chrome finish on them, real shiny, and it's gonna retard rust and corrosion. But vinegar is about a ph of 1.2. And we gotta inject a little science into this because neutral is 7, and if you use something that's close to 1 or close to 14 to clean your blades, then it's going to corrode them because it's, it's, it's harder than the steel they're made from. These blades are not, they're not 100% steel. They're an alloy, a mixture of different types of metal. And this ag teacher had sent me at least 30 sets of blades, and she didn't know anything was wrong with them until I receive them and I see them and I can't smooth them back out once they get corroded and pitted. And, oh, it was, it was incredible. I'd never seen the damage done. And that's when I, I called her to ask her, what did you use to clean these with? And she, well, I saw on a Facebook site vinegar was good. Well, vinegar may be good for a few seconds, but not overnight. Overnight will eat them. Plumb up. And there's lots of other product. Ring out is a great product and people want to protect their blades from fungus and ringworm and so they'll soak them in ring out. Well, that little bottle of ring out straight is like a 1.8 ph. And so the same thing can happen if you, if you know, somebody wants to, if they're positive they went over fungus on their lamb and they want to make sure it's, they go overboard is what they do. And they, and they soak it in that full strength ring out and they get the same corrosion effect that vinegar would do. Whereas what you really should have done was used what was in your bot in your spray bottle, which would be, I think, 32 ounces of water to that little bottle of Ring Out. So it's diluted enough that it doesn't burn your sheep, it's not going to corrode your sheep, but it hopefully will get that fungus or ringworm. And all you got to do is spray them real good, heavily coat them, or if you want to dip them in there, but just dip them in for a few minutes and then pull them out and then rinse them with a petroleum product. Now here's where WD40 comes in handy. Now we already talked about aerosol sprays. WD40 is an aerosol spray and it is a solvent, not a lubricant. People say, well, my grandpa used WD40 and he got along just fine with it. Yeah, maybe so, but there's better products we have for it for that now. But WD40 is good to go behind, go, go after whatever you use to, to kill your fungus. And maybe it was vinegar, you trying to kill it with vinegar. Maybe it was the ring out, maybe it was any number of products. The fluid film, the neat thing about fluid film is it's advertised to be a fungicide, but it's also a lubricant and it's a petroleum based product. And so if, if you asked me, which may be your next question, which is the best one to use, I can't tell you that, but I can tell you which would be the safest to use. And that would be fluid film because it's also a petroleum product and it's not going to eat your blades up because it's meant to go on machinery.

[Sam Silvers]

So your suggestion would be after you're done shearing, take the blades off, spray them down with fluid film or whichever, whatever your product.

[Steva Robinson]

And everybody's got, everybody's got their own product that they think Works great. And, and so I don't want to tell them to change. I just tell them whatever you're going to use.

[Sam Silvers]

And then you, after that, you wipe them off and then submerge them in the oil in the Tupperware container, is what you're saying.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah, put them back in. Put them back in oil. You betcha.

[Sam Silvers]

And you leave them there the whole. Until you're ready to send them off. Or do you just leave them in there? Really interesting.

[Steva Robinson]

And then pull them out, wipe them off. You know, you want to put them in a Ziploc bag if you're going to mail them because you don't want the oil to seep into the cardboard. And then somebody at the postal service thinks there's something bad in there. And, and they, and they hold it up at the post office because there's oil leaking out. I've had packages arrive like that with nasty notes from the postal service. So, you know, you got to use your, your sense about it. But, you know, I would say, you know, that the fungus. If, if any of us were to go back to college and major in anything. My gosh, if. Just think what if would be like if you invented the surefire way to kill fungus and ringworm or better yet, a vaccine against it so they wouldn't ever. You could expose them to ever show in the country and they would never pick it up. How rich we would be.

[Sam Silvers]

Oh, yeah, we'd be able to do a lot of fun stuff.

[Steva Robinson]

Oh my gosh, we'd be wealthy. So anyway, that, that's off subject. But anyway, use the product you think works, but then rinse it with a petroleum product because that's going to keep your blades from corroding and. Or rusting.

[Sam Silvers]

Excellent.

[Steva Robinson]

And you could wrap them in a paper towel and throw them in a Ziploc bag and you wouldn't have to put them back in the Tupperware container if you didn't want to, you know.

[Sam Silvers]

Sure.

[Steva Robinson]

It's just the Tupperware. You know, the Ziploc bag's hard on. Or blades are hard on a Ziploc bag and they're going to poke little holes. And so I, I prefer a Tupperware container.

[Sam Silvers]

Gotcha. Let's talk about clipper boxes and clipper bags. How important are those? What do we need to watch against?

[Steva Robinson]

You know, the main thing, we've already talked about it somewhat. Either it, it doesn't matter the clipper. It does not matter the company. Every company makes their boxes too small or the case they sell them in it's too small because they're trying to save space in their warehouses. And what they do is the molding. And everybody can imagine this because you've all had them. I don't care if it's a shear master, a clip master. I don't care if it's a premier or a lister. When. When you go to lay that cord in that little molding that they. They provide for you so that you can. It's kind of like when you take everything out of a box, but you can't put it back in the right spot. They provide you with that molding, but what it does is it makes you put. Makes a pretty tight turn on the cord. Not far out, maybe three or four inches coming out of the back of the clipper. Now, that molding forces you to make a tight turn so you can get the rest of the cord in the box. And what that does is just sitting in the box will cause it to kink right there. And the most. The most common fix that I have to do is the cord. And I don't just replace the cord because it's a waste, because I know where the. And I've got a. I've got a little tool that helps me find shorts and chords, but that short is always right there up next to the core to the clipper. And so the. The thing I do is I'll cut about 8 inches off of the clipper end of the cord, and then reattach it, open up the clipper, reattach it, usually clean the clipper if it's very dirty inside, and then put it back together. And it's just like having a brand new cord. Because the only piece that was bad was what was coming right out of the clipper itself and having to make a tight turn. So I can. For $35, I'll just say that's my $35. An hour is my fee, and a new cord is $35. And so I can save you $35. And now it is different. If I feel along that cord and it. Look, it feels like it's been run over with the heavy. Oh, dolly with a showbox. Heavy showbox sitting on it. And there's lots of little dings along the cord. Now, I'll replace that cord cord, But. But I won't. I won't charge you extra. I mean, I'll ask you first. Hey, this cord's in bad shape. You want me to put a new one on? But it's easier just to. But that's all caused by the case that it came in and, and people think they're doing good by keeping it in the case that they bought them in and that's great. But you're gonna have, you're going to be sending them to somebody or if you're, if you can do it yourself, you're gonna be changing that cord because it's setting in the. I've had to do mine. I had to learn the hard way with a set of premieres that, that I had to do. So the thing to do, I tell everybody, I, I bought a 24 inch long. It's 24 inches long. It's a. Dewalt is the brand and I'm not here to promote a brand because Milwaukee's got a great heavy duty box too. But if you do very much of this, especially those of you that are fitters and you're constantly traveling with your, with your clipper box. So sometimes it might be in the back of your truck, it might be in the. No, I've had it in the nose of a gooseneck before and the, it's gotten soaking. The, the box has gotten soaking wet because of the, the air vents were open and it was raining in to the nose of that gooseneck and it's soaked the box down. And therefore the clippers inside are standing in 2, 2 inches of water. And so we've got. I like a, I like a waterproof heavy duty toolbox from a reputable company and make sure it's long enough for your clippers. And so I have a 24 inch long DeWalt box. As I said, I can carry my Shear Masters, my Premieres and my Star. I use Legends, my Legends, all three in the same box. And it's not too heavy and they all fit without crimping that cord. And, and I still have room for a box of blades. I've got my little Tupperware container of oil for the old blades and then I got my bottle of baby oil to use when I'm working. So I've got my, my little wrench in there. I usually keep a three way cord in there in case I need it. But that clipper box, I like Lister's canvas bags that they make too. And it doesn't have to be a Lister bag. I mean you just buy a canvas bag, go to the army surplus, probably they would have one. But that, that's really important. And, and I prefer I have so many people. You don't, you don't, you don't plan to leave that clipper box in the back of your truck to get wet. But you get home, you're tired, you gather your stuff up that you just got to have and you go, go in the house and you leave that clipper box out in the back of your truck. And it rains that night. And now your clippers are run and your blades probably, if you don't catch it right away, then your blades probably, probably are too. And then you've got to, you know, you've got to buy all new equipment that's expensive.

[Sam Silvers]

Right. Let's talk a little bit about your turnaround time and how someone would get started doing business with you. We talked, you know, you can find you on Facebook, we can find you on your website on Champion Drive. But like, what's the first step? So I found your Facebook page, I found your website. What do I do now if I want to send my blades or my clippers off to you?

[Steva Robinson]

So my frequently asked questions section of my website and my Facebook page is the same. And it's not necessarily what questions like we've been talking about in this interview, but it's how to send them to me. And so most everybody wants, they want to know the address, they want to know which it's on there. They want to know how much do I charge per set. It's on there. How do I package them, it's on there. Gosh, Basically everything you need to know about sending me your blades, the turnaround time. You know, I've been blessed beyond belief how busy I am right now and have been since before the black and white back in the mid April. It's just been crazy. And what I used to be able to get done in two days, I've had to stretch to like five days. And now what I'm telling people currently while I'm slammed is they need to put a note in the box. And this is important. And it says it in the frequently asked questions I want from because I use QuickBooks and QuickBooks wants you to gather an email address and at least one phone number from all of your clients. And so most people don't include that when they send their blades off. So I like for them put a note in the box with their email address, their phone number and when they absolutely, positively need their blades back by. And so I like to say I do them in order received and I do for the most part. But if somebody's in a bind, I'm going to help them out. So, you know, just, I just ask people don't take advantage of that because I can't work miracles, but I can, I can help you out if I need to. Because you waited, you know, just admit it. Just, you know, hey, I waited too long to send them to you. I know, but is there anything you can do?

[Sam Silvers]

And I'll give you, I'll definitely give you a plug. We've sent stuff off to you several times and the turnaround's been really quick. And I think the last time I sent stuff in, I didn't even have a chance to drop you an email to tell you what was wrong with my clippers.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah, that's right.

[Sam Silvers]

An email back like, hey, I got your package. What's going on with these? So you've definitely been really good to work with. And as someone that also has a service business in the industry, like, I really respect that and appreciate it and I know how hard it is to keep up with everything. But yeah, you like. Alan's definitely one of the best in the business to work with and I'd highly recommend him to anyone, so.

[Steva Robinson]

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

[Sam Silvers]

You bet. Let's go into a couple fun questions. A couple, I guess it was last spring there was RSG did a benefit sale for their foundation and one of the lots on there, there were some interesting lots on there. One was like a day at Neff Livestock and one was a day or a weekend with the Hill Brothers or Hill Brothers internship. And you actually were the person that bought the Hild lot. Tell me a little bit about your experience and also why, you know, I think when most people saw that, they probably thought it was going to be an 18 year old kid or a 20 year old kid that bought it. Yeah, Sister and I talk about mindset all the time and when I found out that you had bought it, I thought that is really interesting because that's, you know, like sister and I talk all the time about like always wanting to still keep learning and everything like that. So tell me a little bit about why you bought it and the whole experience.

[Steva Robinson]

You bet. I'm glad you asked that because that is in fact Charlie and Monica and I were emailing back and forth or texting back and forth just yesterday, just last night. Boy, a relationship. You talk about a family and you know, Tanner just had a wedding and Bridget his, his, his new wife is. She is, I met her. She's incredible. But you know that family is when you're there, your family. Yep. The Charlie's. Charlie and Tanner's mom and dad. I mean Everett, Garth and Basil and I mean everybody takes you in and, but to, to regress just a little bit. The. Not this last February, but the February before. I had some bad lambing problems and I thought I was doing something wrong. And I talked to my vet and they couldn't. They didn't understand what might be what I would. Was doing wrong and what was happening. Steve. And I just hope nobody has to do this, but I was getting presentations of feet and sometimes legs, front legs, legs. And I would reach in there. The legs would be out before I knew it, and I'd reach up in there and the head would be turned back. And I hated that because I couldn't ever. Everybody says, well, push it back in, straighten its head out, and then it'll just, you know, it'll come out. Well, I couldn't straighten the head out for the, for the life of me. It was, I mean, it was like they were like that neck was fused and I pulled and I never lost a U. Now this happened two February's ago and granted, I was Lamin, say 12 head and three or four, I'd say four of them had this condition. And I would get the lambs out, they would be dead, occasionally alive. I saved one that just basically had a knuckle, a pastern on a front leg, bucked over and I splinted it and wrapped it in vet wrap and. And we got her standing up and nursing. But anyways, I really was doubting my breeding program. My. And I was living down there with them because I'm retired. My business is based here, out of the house. So I was there. I. But I was so frustrated. We all get that way. I know we do. And then I had a south down this last December, January doesn't matter. This last year. I started off. The very first one was the same way, and she had quads. And Steva, all four of them had their heads turned and presented front feet.

[Sam Silvers]

Oh, wow.

[Steva Robinson]

I'm sitting there going, what is happening? And it was really. If for people out there that know me, you probably realize I. I wear my heart on my sleeve quite a bit. And I was just crushed that I was killing these lambs. And it was just. I just. I got to get some experience. How do I do this? And I'm convinced God had me look at the, at that rsg. RSG auction because I normally. That's a. That's the one. The foundation auction with just random items. That's normally not something I would click open. And I clicked it open and I saw Birch had one that you could, you know, you could, you know, have Your choice of things. But what Charlie had his written up, they had theirs written up to be help lamb out our ET use for three days in January. And so I'm coming off the south down with quads that I that convinced I killed all four of them. And I'm going, I got. That's it. Because I called them and Charlie or I emailed him and he sent back this is before the auction. He said, yeah, we're. Here's the dates they should lay them in and we're going to have 80, 80 plus. And I'm going, that's where I need to go. And so I bought that lot and then made arrangements to go go up there. And my gosh, I hit them. It was, it was minus like minus 10 down here, it was minus 20 up there. And. But yet they have such great facilities that yeah, inside the barn it was still in the 30s because they had to keep their ventilation fans running or not. They didn't have to keep them running, but they were on a circuit on a cycle and it was cold in there. But I was so amazed at how well the. And they had polypay recipient used. And they're just different. And Charlie taught me about them and he said now on they're not even going to get used to you walking through them till your third day, till your last day here. But that's just the way they are. And he told me about the differences in the way they lamb. You know, one of the use would lamb have a bait, have the first one and go off about 10 foot to have that second one. And about three or four of the other polypa they're yet to lamb would come over and clean those babies off or that first baby off for her. And I'd never, I'd never seen that before. My blackface used don't do that. They run from them, right? And, and I'm going what? And he. They said, hey, that's their, that's their western instincts. That's if they understand that if they don't get that scent cleaned off that baby, they're all dead because of coyotes and other predators. So it totally made sense then. It just a different mindset of learning how a different breed of sheep thinks. But anyway, getting back to my problem, when I explained to them why, you know, they, you know, that's what they want to know. Why are you at 59 years old? What, what, what can we help you with? How can we help you? And I told them my story and they said sounds like Cache Valley syndrome or Cache Valley virus. And, and I, the Hubbard family had told me about. They didn't have it, but they had heard of people having it and, but I did. My vet didn't know anything about it. And so I showed them some pictures and they go, yeah, that's, that's cash value. There's nothing you could do to avoid that. You are going to have that no matter what. You didn't kill those babies, Stephen. My heart just did a flip in my chest because someone was telling me without a doubt, you didn't kill though all those babies.

[Sam Silvers]

Right.

[Steva Robinson]

And every one of them was out of a first time. You, which is what they say you gotta have, are the ones that are affected by it. They say, you know, they're bit by a mosquito in the first 45 days or 35 days of pregnancy, you know, all that stuff. And I just, I, and, and so they just told us, they said, or told me, they said, you're not going to see me that here because all these polypays of land before. So you're, you know, we don't have any virgin recips, but if we have one, you know, not saying we're not going to have one with a head turned back, but if we do, you're gonna, we'll let you land, we'll let you reach up in there and get some experience. Experience on that. But we didn't. But either way, the just being told that, hey, that you didn't kill those babies, that was, that meant the world to me. And so anyways, gosh, the, my responsibility was mainly was watching the use because once they develop some mucus, they don't usually present a water bag like my black faces do. They'll put feet out. And that's when I would. My responsibility was to get one of the three, Bryson, Tanner or Charlie, one of the three of them. Plus they had an intern up there that had been with them a while. One of them needed to be there. But they said if, if we don't get to you in time and you see feet, these are our expensive lambs. This is our best, best of the best. And that recip is the most valuable right now as she's ever going to be. And if, if you don't get one of us here and you see feet, you go ahead and. And lamb them out. Well, because they're not very happy with me. They don't know me. They, they caught them with a shepherd's crook. And this is the funny part, I used the shepherd's crook after watching them do about 50 head. I didn't pay attention to how they used it. Yeah, they put the crook around the neck of the. Of the recip. But I didn't realize there's a certain way you gotta go with that and you gotta turn it and in order to get that U down the quickest. And I bet it took me five tries to catch that one. And I'm glad I told them when I. When they got there, because I'd called them and they said, hey, you're gonna have to do it because we're too far away. I told them when they got there, don't go look at the cameras because you're gonna laugh too hard. So don't promise me no looking at the cameras. And I got both lambs out there. They're all nursing. Everything's good. But I learned how to use a crook, I must say. And I've never used that before, never had to in my life. But I will say this. Tanner. Tanner being a former wrestler, that was really good. I understand in his high school days, Tanner would. Would give it one or two tries with the crook, and then he would bull rush those use and bulldog them. And they would be. It's quicker than using the crook. Tanner could flat maneuver. And it's his wrestling background. I'm convinced of it. I saw. I saw Division 2 college wrestling, man versus sheep, and. And Tanner won every time. Forget the Crip. Just get Tanner.

[Sam Silvers]

Yeah. I bet you when Tanner listens to this, his head will be possible now that everyone knows about his wrestling act. Blades.

[Steva Robinson]

Oh, I'm. Oh, I'm telling you, I. I don't think you. I don't. I think you better have a lot of experience before you try to take him down, because I've seen what he can do with those poly pay use.

[Sam Silvers]

Yeah. Anyway, so I thought, like I said, like, I thought it was interesting that, you know, you were so excited to get into that. There's a lot of people that aren't willing to learn. There's a lot of people that aren't like, how do we get better whatnot. And one of the things that I didn't realize would come from the podcast. We did the roundtable discussion podcast a couple weeks ago. And yeah, a lot of people reach out like, oh, that's stuff I never knew or I never had anyone to ask those questions to. And that was never an intent of mine of starting the podcast. It was more just to be able to visit with people because we don't get to sit at Sedalia for a week like we used to anymore or there's, you know. And one of the nicest notes I got from season one was from you. You'd sent me an email and it was something that I had said about like that if you take a look at the quality of your keeper Ulam pen, like, that's not a measurable number. Like that doesn't show on a bank statement. That doesn't show in a profits and loss or anything.

[Steva Robinson]

It's not an epd.

[Sam Silvers]

Yeah. Anyways, but you can see it.

[Steva Robinson]

Yeah.

[Sam Silvers]

And you had sent me this note about how much it meant to you. And it was like I was, you know, looking in your keeper Ulam pen and, you know, it really resonated with you. So I thought that was really interesting. And it's not. I didn't want to bring it up to like toot my own horn about something I had said, but I thought it was interesting that it impacted you that way. And oh, yeah, you know, like, we all have those hard days like you were talking about the Cash Valley deal. Like, oh, there's so many tough days with raising livestock where there's more downs than ups. So that was probably one of the most, like, nicest notes I probably received this year. So I really appreciate it.

[Steva Robinson]

Good. Good. Yeah. What she's talking about is, is one of the advertisements for that podcast was a quote from her. And, and it's true. I can go out into my yearling you batch that we're about to breed for the first time, and I can actually, I can without a doubt tell you the quality of my herd is improving. We're getting, we're getting better. And because each one of those used on their own merits look good. But then when you throw eight of them together and all eight of them look like peas in a pod and the eight of them may not even be out of the same buck. Now, most of these were out of big city because we had AI'd to him right off the bat. But there, there is a couple others out there that are not big cities, but they look just like the others. And I can say without it, but you can't put a yardstick on that. There's. But yet you feel it. You just know it. If, if you don't like going out into your yearling, you group and you don't like what you see, you know, then you're going backwards, in my opinion. Yeah, there's no data to support that. But, you know, they don't all have to be show yous that that that won Something great. Not, not in my flock, but I mean, it would be, it'd be great if they did, but just that they look good and I enjoy going down to the barn and feeding them. That's what I like. And I can tell by looking at them I'm getting better. And that's what your, your quote was exactly about. You don't have any data to support, support that, but you can look out there and you can see it.

[Sam Silvers]

Yeah, it's definitely a lot easier to go to the barn each day and do chores or each morning chores when you're excited about the group you're feeding rather than going, oh, boy, what are we gonna do here?

[Steva Robinson]

So, yeah, like, or like I was when I had was lambing those cash values. I didn't know anything about it at the time. And so every you, we, my wife and I were on pins and needles when another you would start pushing. Are we going to have another one of those? You know, but if it was a experienced you, we didn't put two and two together. We had lambs, presented normally and everything went well. But every time we had a bad one, it wrecked the entire batch. You know, you just felt awful because you lost a cut, you lost a couple, three lambs. But what about the ones you did save? And that's, that's where I'm. A glass is half. What is it half empty instead of half full? Because I am a pessimist. Ask any of my former students. They'll tell you. And I, I, I do dwell on the negative more than I should. And when I saw a quote like that, Steve, I mean, gosh, it, it's, it's just true.

[Sam Silvers]

Huh. Well, I'm glad that it meant something to you. It's something I definitely believe in. And we definitely appreciate your support of the podcast and we're really excited to have you on this season. I thought that everything you talked about on the clippers, like I said, and blades and whatnot, like I said, I'm someone that's been around quite a while and I think I make a lot of the mistakes that you talked about. So I've taken a step quite a bit. This is my mini internship from Alan Smith that I learned a whole bunch of things that I can do better. But we'll kind of wrap the episode up here. But for those of you, like we said, you can find Allan's website under Sheer genius on champion drive.com. you can find him on social media. And he's a great resource. He's really good to work with, so make sure to look him up.

[Steva Robinson]

Well, thank you, Steve.

[Alan Smith]

Well, I thought that was a really good episode with Alan Steva. I know that, you know, Kansas City's just right around the corner and so is the rest of the majors. Just a quick reminder that we do make a lot of TikToks when we're at the shows, so be sure to Check out our TikTok@Champion Drive.com Also, I think we are going to put up a poll where you can vote for your favorite fall major. So be sure to be on the lookout for that for Champion Drive. And let us know if there's anything that you would like to hear or like to see on Champion Drive or on the podcast when you see us at Kansas City. We'll see you next time.

[Steva Robinson]

See ya.